This is not how business works
Business as we now it is all the things - dog-eat-dog, cut throat, ruthless, emotionless, etc. It’s been this way since the beginning of time and will continue to be that way long after most of us take a dirt nap! And let’s make one thing crystal clear about business - most organizations in Corporate America operate as though they can do whatever they want, whenever they want. Right or wrong, good or bad.
Examples of When Companies Can Do What They Want
Increase prices of their products and services at any time.
Discontinue products that they deem are no longer profitable to sell.
Change their product offerings.
Raise shipping costs.
We can go on and on about when companies can do what they want, when they want. But you get the point right?
In our business we’re contracted (there’s a written agreement in place between us and the organization we’re working with) where everything is spelled out in black & white about how we’re going to work with an organization.
Depending on the relationship and the amount of business we’ve done together there may be parts of that agreement we don’t always enforce. We probably should, but we don’t. Same can be said for my fellow business owners in our industry.
Now, that doesn’t mean a company that we’re contracted with can change the rules of the game without expressed wrtten and/or verbal consent from us. And we don’t care how large that corporation is, they just can’t do and change things whenever they want to suit their needs.
Example of When a Company Can’t Do What They Want
We were contracted with MDelite Vision & Aesthetic since 2/1/24 and had placed 10+ people with them in sales roles. Mitchell Halpert - Vice President of Sales & Marketing was my primary contact. I submitted all candidates to Mitch and he along with the executive team of Jim Schoemehl - Chief Executive Officer & Blair Kohlmeyer - Chief Operating Officer made the decisions to hire.
Here’s a copy of our agreement with MDelite Vision & Aesthetic
Executed Agreement with MDelite Vision & Aesthetic
In the beginning we had to jump through some hoops to get our invoices paid, but after some persistence we were able to get them paid. For a minute it had me thinking this was a bad business decision on our part as we did the work, but had to fight to get paid. That’s never a good sign for a small organization in start-up mode. After this challenge we were paid pretty much the day the candidate started with them.
MDelite hired a lot of the candidates we presented to them. They were working with our agency exclusively, even though that wasn’t initially the nature of our contracted relationship. As 2024 went on and beginning in 2025 MDelite made a business decision to flip from calling primarily on aesthetic practices - Medspas, Dermatologists, Plastic Surgeons, etc. to Eyecare - calling on Optometrists & Ophthalmologists. With that being said a vast majority of peole they hired in which we provided to them were not suited for this change and MDelite decided to move on from them.
In 2025 it had been extremely difficult trying to find the candidate profile that MDelite was looking for. We were able to find one, and found another candidate who was really sharp.
This second candidate had experience with a competitor to MDelite, was not based in the most ideal area of the territory they were trying to fill, but were thinking they could make it work. The candidate was based in MS for a territory covering MS/AL/GA. Georgia would be an ideal candidate location. However, Mitchell Halpert - VP of Sales & Marketing said why not have this candidate cover LA/MS/AL and the Florida Panhandle. The candidate was on board with this thinking and the remainder of the executive team was as well.
Further this candidate wanted to work this territory differently than most others do for MDelite Vision & Aesthetic. Said person wanted to work from their home office setting up meetings 70% of the time, then travel to close deals. Typically, someone in this role is in their car every day travelling from office to office trying to do that in person throughout a multi-state territory.
Mitchell Halpert was open to it. He connected with Blair Kohlmeyer about it and he was potentially open to it as well. Since this is not something MDelite’s sales personnel do, they were going to try this with this candidate for 90 days - essentially they’re a 1099 and if after the 90 days if the new way of doing things is successful, they’ll bring that person on as a W2.
The candidate first spoke with Mitchell Halpert on 10/17/25, then they spoke with Blair Kohlmeyer on 10/21/25. Later that evening on 10/21/25 after the candidate spoke with Blair Kohlmeyer, the candidate received a text message from Mitchell Halpert saying he talked to Blair Kohlmeyer and they’re good to go. Mitchell was going to send over a contract for the candidate to sign.
Do you see anywhere in our executed agreement with MDelite Vision & Aesthetic that says since they’re trying something new with this canddiate that says it’s going to change how we’re compensated? Do I have any other communications from MDelite Vision & Aesthetic - either voicemail, written, verbal, new agreement that indicates there’s going to be a change in how we’re compensated?
No. Nothing of the like.
I called Mitchell Halpert on 10/22/25 at 4:06 p.m. and spoke with him for 23 minutes. I said that’s great. This candidate is now in the fold. I said, “Does the person start next week?” Mitchell said, “Yes” I said, “great. I’ll send you an invoice on Monday.” Mitchell says, “You can do that, but since we’re trying something different for 90 days, we’ll pay you your fee at the conclusion of the 90 days.”
AND THIS IS THE FIRST MENTION OF ANY OF THIS! NOWHERE IN THE ABOVE EXECUTED AGREEMENT OR ANY OTHER WRITTEN COMMUNICATION, LET ALONE VERBAL DOES ANYTHING LIKE THIS EXIST!
Now, MDelite Vision & Aesthetic has used our agency exclusively over this time, besides hiring people on their own. Don’t you think after almost 2 years that they would come to us and say. W’re trying something a little different with this candidate and it’s going to change the terms of our agreement. This is what we’re thinking are you okay with that?
Nope. Nothing. And part of that conversation with Mitchell Halpert of 10/22/25 included him saying if that candidate can sell a deal, I’ll see if we can get you paid. No! We spent time and resources trying to find this candidate we expect to be paid.
Additionally, Mitchell said, “The majority of candidates you gave us didn’t work out as well as the ones we hired on our own.”
What's interesting about that statement is you Mitchell Halpert - Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Blair Kohlmeyer - Chief Operating Officer, and James Schoemehl - Chief Executive Officer made the decison to hire those candidates. EK Recruiting didn’t. MDelite did. That’s rich trying to put the failures of the hires on the entity that didn’t make the decision to make those hires.
It’s we’re MDelite Vision & Aesthetic and we can change the game as we go and do what we want. Newsflash MDelite Vision & Aesthetic you can’t do what you want when you want. You may think you can, but you can’t.
This is not how you do business. Period!
Here’s an email that evening to MDelite’s executive team. There’s no way that this is acceptable business practice.
Email to MDelite’s Executive Team
The response from MDelite’s CEO - James Schoemehl speaks to an epidemnic in business. The person at the top of the masthead has no idea what’s happening in their own company. We’ll explain here shortly.
Email response from MDelite Vision & Aesthetic CEO James Schoemehl
What’s interesting to me is that MDelite as their CEO James says in this email - MDelite aligns with professionals who know how to communicate, not those who need to be reminded how business works!
That’s a choice of words. I didn’t realize doing whatever you want, whenever you want is how business works? I mean you signed an agreement to do business in a certain way. If we want to talk about professionalism - where’s the professionalism in you having a conversation about in this specific case it’s going to change the nature of our agreement? Are you okay with that? And if so, let’s document that in a separate agreement if need be should this situtation arise again. That’s what professionals do.
Here was our response to that email specifically - We pay our partners, on time, in full, every time. That’s not up for debate.
EK Recruiting response to MDelite regarding paying their partners.
We will further show in email communications that MDelite does not pay their partners on time, in full, every time.
Here’s the intial email from James Schoemehl discussing payment for our first placement with MDelite. Now James is asking for the invoice so we can be paid.
Email from James Schoemehl - CEO of MDelite asking about an invoice for our first placement with them.
We responded right away to James with our bank information for us to receive payment.
Email response to James Schoemehl with our bank information to receive payment.
This correspondence took place on 2/12/24. In this time we’re busy placing candidates with MDelite. Yeah, should we have been more forceful in getting paid? Yes, but it’s also on the company to pay their bills. As noted by James paying their partners on time, in full, every time is not a debate. Unfortunately, the facts tell a completely different story.
I had a conversation on the phone with Blair Kohlmeyer - COO of MDelite on 3/29/24 regarding unpaid invoices. When we spoke Blair indicated he would send a check. As of 4/5/24 we had yet to receive payment of any kind (you’ll see this in the email screenshot). This also includes the invoice for our first placement with MDelite where James Schoemehl - CEO wanted to get that invoice paid (now 31 days past due), thus I gave him our bank information and had not been paid yet either. Our payment policy is net 30 per our agreement and it’s been 61 days since the first placement started working at MDelite and we still had not received payment.
Email to Blair Kohlmeyer - COO at MDelite regarding past due invoices.
In this email there are 4 invoices outstanding. Invoice #1 - 31 days past due, Invoice #2 - 10 days past due, Invoice #3 - 9 days past due, Invoice #4 - 3 days past due. Remember the CEO - James Schoemehl says what? Paying their partners on time, in full, every time is not a debate. This must mean all their partners except EK Recruiting LLC?
I did not get a response from Blair Kohlmeyer - COO, or James Schoemehl - CEO so I sent an email to Mitchell Halpert - Vice President of Sales & Marketing.
Email to Mitchell Halpert VP of Sales & Marketing. We hadn’t been paid for a single invoice in 2 months.
Mitchell Halpert’s response.
Mitchell Halpert’s response regarding unpaid invoices.
After almost 2 months we finally received payment from MDelite. Now one would think since the CEO’s brazen response that they pay all their partners on time, in full, every time this wouldn’t happen again right? Wrong. Here’s another email to Blair Kohlmeyer - COO regarding an upaid invoice and this invoice was 24 days past due.
Email to Blair Kohlmeyer - COO Invoice 24 days past due.
This is not how business is done. However, it’s a growing epidemic that hasn’t lost any steam. There’s no synergy from the top down and it doesn’t matter how big or small the organization is. Not one CEO knows what the people they employ are doing or not doing. Because in this case MDelite’s CEO - James Schoemehl wouldn’t make the claim - we pay all our partners, in full, on time, every time. That’s not a debate! If he had his finger on the pulse of his organization.
The alarming issue is if this is how a company treats their “partners” then one has to wonder how do they treat their employees? Other partners?
In summation this is not how business is done and you can’t do whatever you want to do, whenever you want.