First-Time Entrepreneur Finds Purpose With iBoost Talent

Innovative Staffing Solutions and a People-First Approach Attracted the Corporate Refugee

William Ulmer had become disillusioned with the traditional staffing industry — at least as corporate America and the large established firms had shaped it. Ulmer had worked as a recruiter straight out of college; then managed a large-scale enterprise contingent labor program for Waste Management; built the global contingent labor program for Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite; and developed and implemented the global contingent labor program for FanDuel, the online sportsbook. After a few layoffs, he considered his next career move.

The first-time entrepreneur says he always had the mindset to seek innovation and take initiative and calculated risks, “but I never knew how to focus that energy in the right way. When I took a hard look at what I wanted in my life, my career trajectory in the corporate world didn’t fit those needs,” he says.

Through networking, he met Don G. King, founder of the iBoost Talent staffing franchise. “It was an interesting introduction that ended up being so absolutely impactful in my life,” says Ulmer.

People-First Franchise System

In founding iBoost Talent, King had applied his 30-plus years of experience, which included his tenure in a staffing franchise system and as founder of iBoost’s sister company, Impact Workforce Solutions, a tech-enabled professional services firm established in 2001. King sought to offer innovative staffing solutions and advantages not provided by other staffing companies for franchise owners, as well as workers placed in jobs.

“I understood fundamentally what wasn’t working that I could fix,” King says. “If we create a people-first franchise system with a core value of improving the quality of life for others, and we encourage and surround franchise owners with a team of coaches, mentors and business developers to support them in operating their businesses, then I think we’ve got something extraordinary.”

Ulmer and a business partner signed on as iBoost Talent’s first franchisees, opening iBoost Talent Raleigh South in December 2025 in their home state of North Carolina. The first-time entrepreneurs are already looking at expanding with two additional territories in the next three to six months, Ulmer says.

Why iBoost?

Ulmer found King’s innovative, people-first approach with iBoost Talent to be an antidote to the frustrations he experienced with corporate staffing. “A lot of these staffing companies have been established for so long that moving the needle is like moving a battleship. There’s not much opportunity to bring new ideas to the table. But one of the things that was so exciting about iBoost was their openness to innovative staffing solutions. They were like, ‘We want you to help navigate this. We want you to help push this forward. How do we do things better?’” Ulmer says.

“They’re willing to explore those conversations at any level, and so for us it’s been a unique experience to be able to bring ideas directly to iBoost Talent’s executive team that we think are going to be very impactful across our business. I may be a first-time entrepreneur, but my business partner and I have a combined 40 years of experience, and iBoost is providing us the vehicle to leverage that and harness that experience in a fast and dynamic way. It’s a perfect marriage for us.”

That open-minded approach to innovation contributes to the staffing franchise’s flexibility in serving clients, he says. “So instead of having these rigid, longstanding, archaic processes that don’t allow the flexibility to meet the clients’ needs, which results in having to say ‘no’ a lot, we can come to the client with a ‘yes’ mindset, saying, ‘How do we meet you where you need us to be and how do we support you in the in the best way possible?’”

Multiple Service Options

iBoost Talent’s competitive advantage lies in its innovative staffing solutions, including the ability to offer multiple service options, Ulmer says. He cites a unique proprietary model designed by King called Core2, which enables franchisees to help customize solutions and solve workforce dilemmas for their clients, all while creating an additional residual revenue stream for their franchise businesses.

The Core2 residual revenue stream is key to the franchisee-first staffing model as it provides a “boost” for iBoost franchisees to help grow their businesses, King says. The Core2 model is also advantageous for clients and workers, who receive pay increases and benefits such as health insurance. “Under this model, productivity and efficiency is increased. We’re not just providing talent for the customer; we’re also providing an employment tool that increases retention.”

Robotics provide another innovative staffing solution offered through sister company Impact Robotics. Designed to help clients augment their human workforces, the robotics solution is particularly useful with repetitive activities like cleaning and moving materials from one place to another. “Instead of a client having us recruit for that role, find somebody and then see that job roll over three or four times a year, we can put a robot in place,” Ulmer says. “Then we can focus in and direct our attention to the most impactful skill sets or skill challenges that the client has.”

Corporate Support

Immediately after opening, the franchisees began receiving active job orders from Impact Workforce Solutions through its proprietary Boost Up! initiative, enabling them to begin recruiting and making job placements right away.

“For any new business, the first three months are rough – well, the first year is tough, to be honest – but we were already generating revenue and some profit from the second month, and that gave us a lot of momentum and confidence,” Ulmer says.

Ulmer says iBoost Talent provides the training, support and innovative staffing solutions to ensure success for any motivated franchisee. “With the team in place and the structure that we have, you don’t need to know staffing. We will teach you how to do it, we’ll teach you how to sell it, we will teach you how to open doors that you didn’t know were already cracked and that you probably can open pretty quickly.”

A-Ha Moments

Looking back over the past months as an iBoost Talent franchisee, Ulmer says one of his biggest revelations, “is that I can do hard things. Before becoming an iBoost Talent franchise owner, I felt very stagnant in my professional life, not really pushing myself. In the traditional staffing industry, there are artificial caps put in place – you’re not going to be able to grow to your full potential, you’re not going to be rewarded for your capabilities.

“As an iBoost franchise owner and first-time entrepreneur, I’ve learned more about myself professionally in the past nine to 12 months than I have in the past 10 years. I feel like I’m tapping into new things every day and into things that I haven’t explored in years,” he says. “I think life is about trying new things and failing at times and getting yourself back up to keep moving, and that’s the example I want to set for my children.”

Watch a live interview with iBoost Talent franchisee William Ulmer hosted by FranchiseWire Senior Editor Lisa Ocker, which airs at 1 p.m. EST Friday, Oct. 23.

Visit iBoost Talent for information about staffing franchise opportunities.