Most founders don’t have a hiring strategy. They have a hiring reaction.
Someone quits? Panic post the job. Pipeline slows? Panic hire a “growth expert.” But the biggest hiring mistake isn't who you hire, it's how and when you start the process.
We’re finally releasing our no-BS recording from LinkedIn Live on this topic through the Strategy Ladders Podcast. Join Brian, Kas, Josh and Austin as they expose the difference between hiring with intention... and hiring out of desperation. From choosing agencies that ghost you after the proposal, to consultants who solve one problem and quietly create three more. We even look at the in-house hires who drown under onboarding. This episode breaks down why most founders hire late, hire wrong, and stall growth as a result.
And yes, we’re calling out the myth that proactive recruitment is just for fancy corporates. Spoiler alert: if you’re waiting until the seat’s cold to post the job, you’re already two months behind.
In This Episode:
✅ The real cost of bad hiring decisions (hint: it’s not just money)
✅ Why your “gut feel” is screwing up your hiring strategy
✅ Proactive recruitment frameworks for scaling smarter
✅ Consultant illusions that trap early-stage businesses
✅ Why treating agencies like employees (and vice versa) kills results
If you’ve been burned by agencies, ghosted by consultants, or hired a salesperson that couldn’t sell a pen, this episode is your roadmap out.
👉 Subscribe and watch now! Your future self (and your next hire) will thank you.
Authenticity or attention—do you actually need to choose?
Personal branding is the golden ticket for founders, creators, and business leaders—because let's be real, shouting into the void isn’t a growth strategy. But the hot debate sweeping LinkedIn and Twitter rants: Is content authenticity still a thing, or does playing the algorithm always win?
In our latest Strategy Ladders Podcast, Kas brings in our content lead, Gabriel, to tackle the debate no one talks about honestly (but everyone secretly judges). How much of your brand should be raw, unfiltered personality, and how much should be “I swear this isn’t just engagement bait” strategy?
Because despite people rolling their eyes at marketing psychology hacks and neatly packaged carousels, most still aren’t growing—because they’re just posting and praying instead of posting with purpose.
🚀 In This Episode:
✅ Personal Branding vs. Content Strategy: Which one actually builds influence?
✅ The biggest mistakes creators make when trying to grow on LinkedIn (besides posting inspirational gym selfies).
✅ Why "Content Authenticity" isn’t enough (but pretending to be a guru is worse).
✅ How to scale content while staying true to your voice (without sounding like ChatGPT wrote it).
✅ What founders get wrong about positioning themselves online (spoiler: it’s not just about "value” posts).
If you’re stuck between posting ‘whatever feels right’ or becoming a walking content calendar, this episode might be your wake-up call.
👉 Watch now and subscribe for more unfiltered conversations about scaling, content, and branding that actually works.
Businesses always scale fast in its early stages, but as they mature, most founders hit a growth plateau. The uncomfortable reality these business owners face? When a business is hovering around 20 employees, they are the reason it's stuck.
You think you're driving growth, but in reality, you’re the bottleneck. This is the Rule of 20—the invisible ceiling that keeps small agencies and service businesses from reaching their potential.
In this episode of the Strategy Ladders podcast, our full team of advisors meet up to tear apart the common hiring mistakes that keep founders stuck. You’ll learn the difference between growth hires vs. clone hires and how the habit of hiring people who "do what you do," sets your business up for guaranteed stagnation. Real scale comes from hiring beyond yourself - with teams that outperform and kick you out of operations — not replicating yourself.
The boys also tackle the biggest mindset shift you must make without excuse: transitioning from a hands-on operator to a real CEO. You can’t keep plugging gaps with quick fixes. Your team, your offer, and your leadership style all need to evolve.
Inside This Episode:
✅ What the Rule of 20 is and why it happens to so many businesses
✅ Growth Hires vs. Clone Hires—which one actually scales your company?
✅ The Founder Bottleneck—how YOU are holding your business back
If your agency or service business is stalling, this episode might be the wake-up call you finally needed.
👉 Subscribe & drop a comment below: Are you stuck at 20? What’s holding you back? Let’s talk.
Is relocating the ultimate founder growth hack? Or just another distraction?
When Kas packed up and moved to Mexico City, it was more than just a change in location—it was a catalyst for personal growth, sharper decision-making, and business expansion. In this episode of Strategy Ladders, Kas joins Brian in their first-ever in-person episode to take dive deep into how your environment shapes your mindset, and why moving (physically or mentally) is often the fastest way to level up.
But growth isn’t just about geography—it’s also about hiring the right people. They break down the clone hires vs growth hires debate:
Clone hires: Reliable, predictable, but often create stagnation.Growth hires: High-impact, challenge the status quo, but require trust.
Which do you need more of? (Spoiler: If you want to scale, you better choose wisely.)
- Why most founders struggle to hire ‘growth hires’—and how to fix it
- The real reason relocating forces entrepreneurs to think bigger- Personal growth vs business growth—do you really need both?- Mexico City: The next startup hub, or just another remote work trend?
If you’ve been feeling stuck—whether it’s in your city, your team, or your business strategy—this episode will challenge you to think bigger, hire smarter, and scale faster.
Hit play to rethink how you build your life and business. Don’t forget to subscribe for more no-BS convos on scaling a real company.
You’re not addicted to work. You’re just committed, right?
Wrong.
Entrepreneurs love to glorify the grind. They convince themselves that 80-hour weeks, constant stress, and sacrificing everything is just the price of success. But many founders are addicts to the dopamine hit of working non-stop. And worse? They don’t even realize it.
In this episode of the Strategy Ladders podcast, Kas and Josh step into an unexpected founder’s therapy to discuss this trap of workaholism:
- The addiction founders don’t admit and why it’s killing businesses
- Self-awareness as a survival skill: How to tell if you’re running on fumes
- Founders burnout: Why even the smartest entrepreneurs crash and burn
- The myth of toxic productivity culture (and why it’s a lie we all buy into)
- Why escaping the grind doesn’t mean you’re failing (but staying in it might)
Get ready to question everything about the working habits you think brings success. If you’re pressured to overwork through culture, escapism, or personal beliefs, then your business is probably running you instead of the other way around.
Think you’re not addicted, watch until the end. You might be wrong.
This conversation is meant to help you stop your excessive hustle long enough to recognize the value of today rather than deferring happiness to an elusive tomorrow.
👉 Subscribe now for more unfiltered convos on the highs and lows of entrepreneurship.
Cold email is dead? No. But your approach probably is.
In this episode of the Strategy Ladders Podcast, Kas invites Vovik Tsybulskyi to rip apart the biggest myths about B2B business growth, discuss why cold email is still a game-changer in 2025, and why most B2B agencies set themself up to fail before they've even properly started.
The #1 reason B2B agencies struggle to scale? It’s not competition. It’s not pricing. It’s a weak offer. If your pitch is “We do cold email” or “We run ads,” you’re just another name in the crowd. Kas and Vovik break down how agencies can shift from “service providers” to “problem solvers” who attract high-ticket clients.
🔥 What You’ll Learn (and Probably Need to Hear):
✅ Cold email in 2025: What’s changed and how to stop sending cringy templates from 2019. ✅ Why Your Offer Sucks (and How to Fix It): Learn how to package your service like a profit-generating machine. ✅ B2B vs. B2C: Why most people trying to scale a B2B agency still think like B2C founders—and why that’s a disaster. ✅ Fractional CMO vs. Traditional Agency: Who’s Actually Making Money (and Who’s Just Playing Business)? ✅ The Confidence to Sell Without Sounding Desperate: Stop begging and learn to own the conversation like a closer. ✅ Why Most Agencies Deserve to Fail: How relying on volume instead of strategy puts you one Google policy update away from extinction.
If you're tired of low-quality clients, ignored emails, and selling like an amateur, this episode will be a slap in the face you didn’t know you needed.
🚀 Hit play and get ready to take your B2B agency from "just another agency" to an actual business that thrives. Subscribe for more brutally honest insights from Strategy Ladders.
How do you build loyal and high-performing teams that thrive and scale with you? In this episode of the Strategy Ladders Podcast, Kas and Austin dig into the business models, leadership styles, and entrepreneurial mindsets that create strong, aligned teams for the long haul.
Too many businesses focus on hiring the right people, but then fail to keep them engaged. Austin shares how his past experiences with toxic, cutthroat team cultures taught him what not to do when building a company. Meanwhile, Kas explores how non-monetary measures of success are the real key to aligning a team’s personal priorities with the company’s growth.
Play now to uncover:
✅ Why team motivation and alignment are more valuable than individual talent. ✅ The unexpected downside of hiring "great people" without a bigger vision. ✅ Why people don't just leave for better pay—but for something deeper. ✅ How to attract and retain top performers—without just throwing money at them. ✅ The real meaning of accountability of leadership and why entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone.
This isn’t another “how to be a leader” discussion—it’s a raw, unfiltered look at the entrepreneurial mindsets and business models that make people stay, thrive, and build something worth showing up for.
👉 Watch now and learn how to lead a scalable team with impact and build something that lasts.
Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more no-BS insights from Strategy Ladders!
Are New Year's resolutions worth all the hype? Or are they setting you up to fail? In our first episode from Season 2 of the Strategy Ladders Podcast, we tackle why most resolutions fall apart and uncover how aligning with your personal priorities and values can drive true personal growth and business development that sticks.
Join our host (Brian) and our strategic advisors (Josh, Austin & Kas) as they break down why momentum, not perfection, is the key to sustainable success. Drawing parallels between fitness goals and business strategies, they explain why waiting for the “right time” or setting arbitrary milestones often leads to disappointment. Instead, they encourage you to focus on intrinsic motivation and the power of an integrated life—balancing personal and professional ambitions.
What you can expect to learn:
✅ Why most New Year resolutions fail and how to avoid the pitfalls. ✅ How a non-monetary measure of success can keep you aligned and motivated. ✅ The role of momentum in both business development and personal growth. ✅ Why discipline, not dates, is the secret to lasting change. ✅ How to set meaningful priorities that reflect your true values.
This start-of-year jam is loaded with actionable takeaways, relatable stories from business owners who’ve been in your shoes, and the no-BS advice you need to turn 2025 into a year of clarity, purpose, and exponential growth.
What got you to 2025 won't take you to the end of it….
👉 Ready to ditch excuses and align your business for success? Watch now, give us a like, and subscribe for more transformational content from Strategy Ladders!
Ready to transform your business in 2025? Buckle-up. It won't be easy, but we promise it will be worth your while! In our New Year’s episode for the Strategy Ladders Podcast, our founder Brian Smith steps up to speak to you directly by diving into the 10 powerful truths that every entrepreneur must embrace to unlock sustainable business growth...instead of avoiding it.
These aren’t just feel-good principles — they’re actionable strategies designed to break free from founder dependency and help you build a high-growth and high-performance business. From mastering a growth mindset to avoiding common pitfalls like bad fit clients and clone hires vs growth hires, this episode is curated with all the insights to help you scale smarter this year.
Key Highlights: ✅ Growth Mindset for Entrepreneurs: Why mindset shifts are the first step to scaling your business. ✅ Hard Decisions vs Hard Work: The role of decisive action in driving growth. ✅ Clone Hires vs Growth Hires: How hiring the wrong people can cap your success. ✅ Bad Fit Clients: Why repelling misaligned clients is critical for long-term sustainability. ✅ Incremental Growth: Why consistency beats big strategies in the early phases of scaling.
This episode is your first guide of 2025 in cutting through the noise and focusing on what truly matters: building clarity, systems, and momentum. Whether you’re struggling with operational challenges or stuck in founder dependency, these business cornerstones will provide the perspective and tools you need to scale on your terms.
👉 Watch now and discover how to reframe your approach, embrace a growth mindset, and position your business for a breakthrough year in 2025!
Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more no-BS insights from Strategy Ladders.
In this episode of the Strategy Ladders Podcast, Brian Smith and Rachel Hamlin dive deep into the transformative power of shifting your perception of obstacles. Real resilience draws it’s impact from embracing challenges, discomfort, and fear to become the foundation for true personal development and professional success. And in this installment, they show us why…
With her background in high performance coaching, Rachel helps us explore how aligning your business with a non-monetary measure of success can help founders break free from traditional definitions of achievement. She shares practical insights on moving from external validation to intrinsic motivation, allowing leaders to find clarity and purpose in their work. Brian builds on this by revealing why staying comfortable can be the greatest threat to growth, emphasizing that your capacity for discomfort is directly tied to your capacity for success. But it takes a dose of honesty.
This thought-provoking conversation covers fascinating angles like:
If you’ve ever felt stuck, uncertain, or too focused on external outcomes, this episode will help you reframe your mindset and take actionable steps toward becoming the leader your business needs most.
Ready to embrace a growth mindset and redefine success? Watch now and subscribe for more transformational insights from your favorite outsourced co-founders!
In this episode of the Strategy Ladders Podcast, Kas and Josh finally raise the curtain on the challenges caused by role confusion in growing service businesses—particularly when dealing with evolving teams and jobs in fast-paced environments. Founders often blur responsibilities, muddying expectations and overwhelming employees, which puts many limiters on business growth.
Josh introduces the structured approach of using root cause analysis to solve hiring struggles by focusing on capacity vs bandwidth. Many founders mistakenly evaluate an employee’s free hours (bandwidth) without considering emotional, mental, and operational capacity—factors that significantly impact performance.
Kas in turn shares his perspective on employee onboarding and rapid decision-making. They explore why role differentiation matters and how inconsistency in job scopes creates unnecessary context-switching that damages team momentum.
They also breaks down the mindset shift required for decisive leadership. Founders must move past emotional attachments to underperforming hires and recognize when it’s time to let go. As Josh explains, avoiding tough decisions often risks the stability of the entire team, slowing down the business's growth trajectory.
What You’ll Learn:
✅ How to apply root cause analysis to identify hiring issues. ✅ The difference between Account Managers and Operations Managers—and when to merge roles. ✅ Why employee onboarding and role clarity prevent burnout and inefficiency. ✅ The impact of capacity vs bandwidth in evaluating team performance. ✅ How role confusion limits growth in service businesses.
If you’re a founder struggling with hiring decisions, role clarity, or team performance, this episode helps remove the illogical attachments to team dynamics so you lead decisively and unlock your business’s next phase of growth.
👉 Watch it now! And don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more no-BS insights from Strategy Ladders!
Burnout, empathy, and resistance to change are a common challenge for leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives—but it doesn’t have to define their journey. With the right amount of inner work in personal and professional growth, performance and executive coach (Rachel Hamlin) believes that understanding your nervous system and embracing empathy can help you lead with resilience and confidence.
In episode 6 of the Strategy Ladders Podcast, Rachel shares her personal experiences with burnout and how it shaped her unique approach to leadership coaching. She explores how mindset, rooted in both emotional and physiological states, can be transformed to combat burnout and foster effective leadership.
From managing stress to maintaining focus under pressure — and harnessing unique solutions like somatic processing and therapeutic memory reconsolidation — Rachel provides practical tools and actionable strategies that every leader can use to reclaim the title of high-performer.
What you’ll learn:
→ Mindset Beyond the Mental: How leadership and decision-making don't just depend on mental frameworks, but create an important role for the nervous system in burnout that needs to be regulated for peak performance.
→ The Value of Empathy: How true empathy is about understanding and listening without necessarily solving every problem, and why practicing it with boundaries makes it a powerful leadership tool.
→ Somatic Techniques: How techniques like EFT tapping and breathing exercises can help interrupt stress responses, cultivate a constructive mindset, and help leaders stay grounded during high-pressure moments.
If you’re looking for practical, science-backed advice to shift your mindset, break free from limiting patterns, lead with empathy, and navigate burnout effectively, this is the leadership level-up you've waited for.
👉 Watch now to start building a truly resilient leadership style. Like, comment, and subscribe for more insights!
Branding isn’t just a buzzword. It’s the foundation of your digital marketing strategy and the secret to unleashing serious change that will help your business scale. In episode 5 of the Strategy Ladders Podcast, Brian (our founder) and Kas (our marketing maverick) tackle the art and science of branding, sharing real-world strategies and hard-earned lessons to help you build a brand that truly stands out — without becoming a roadblock to your business.
From navigating the tricky transition from personal brand to company brand to mastering platform-specific branding strategies, this video is packed with actionable insights on how to become a force through positioning. Join our advisors as they explore how to create a branding strategy that ensures consistency while it keeps evolving, helping your business stay relevant in a competitive digital landscape. Whether you’re trying to dominate YouTube, connect on LinkedIn, or simply keep your brand intact across all channels, we’ve got you covered.
We're here to drop the no-hype takes on:
Packed with practical tips, humor, and a dash of inspiration, this video is your ultimate guide to building a brand that grows with your business.
Ready to rethink your approach to branding and take your business to the next level? Hit play now!"
Remember to like, comment, and subscribe.
New episodes of the podcast drop every Wednesday!
Hiring the right talent isn’t just about filling seats—it’s about shaping the future of your business. In Episode 4 of the Strategy Ladders Podcast, Josh and Austin bring raw, unfiltered insights into the high-stakes world of recruitment. They’re sharing real stories and lessons learned from the trenches, exposing the costly mistakes that lead to employee turnover and toxic workplace culture.
Think resumes tell the whole story? This episode dives deep into why cultural fit matters more than what’s on paper, how ignoring red flags can sink your team, and why accountability in hiring is the ultimate game-changer.
We’re talking about:
🔥 Spotting the yellow and red flags before it’s too late. 🔥 How toxic workplace culture silently drains your business of energy and talent. 🔥 The hidden costs of weak onboarding processes—and how to fix them. 🔥 The game-changing impact of employees who genuinely care about their work.
Whether you’re building your first team or scaling a thriving operation, this episode will help you take a step back, rethink your hiring process, and set your team up for long-term success.
Key takeaways include:
✔ Why desperate hires often lead to disaster (and how to avoid them). ✔ The emotional side of hiring that no one talks about—but every founder feels. ✔ The surprising signs of a “bad hire” before they even join your team.
Don’t settle for less in your hiring process. Tune in to discover how to build a recruitment strategy that drives growth, minimizes turnover, and creates a workplace culture worth bragging about.
🔗 Like, comment, and subscribe to join the conversation on recruitment, employee turnover, and workplace culture!
Are you struggling to be the master, not the slave, of your debt, or find it difficult to control the cash flow in your business? Understanding how your finances are managed is essential for any founder looking to succeed and scale their business. In this episode of Strategy Ladders Podcast, Josh and Doug tackle the pressing financial issues many businesses face today. From cash flow management to the critical differences between personal finance and business finance, they cover it all! Dough takes us into the world of debt financing to discover how strategic use of debt can propel your business forward. "Is there a good scenario where you mismanage the company for a number of years and now you want to use debt to pull yourself back out of that hole?" This episode answers that question and more. We’ll also explore the importance of knowing your costs of service delivery to maintain healthy profit margins. Hiring underqualified staff can derail your financial health—find out how to avoid this common pitfall. Automating your accounting processes can simplify your financial tracking, but remember the key distinction between profitability and cash flow. Join us for this engaging discussion and sidestep the most common form of business mismanagement! Subscribe to Strategy Ladders Podcast for more expert tips on navigating business ownership where everything (including revenue) can start working for you. Are you a Founder of a $1M to $5M Business? Let us help you tackle challenges like: 🚀 Co-Creating a Clear Path to Growth 📉 Stabilizing Sales & Unlocking Hidden Revenue 🔥 Reducing Founder Dependency to Avoid Burnout 🎯 Refining Market Positioning for Maximum Impact 👀 Building Accountable and High-Performing Teams to Scale Schedule a free call with us: [www.strategyladders.com] Let’s Connect: 🔔 Stay in the Loop! Turn on notifications, so you never miss an episode. 💌 Join the Community! Subscribe to our newsletter for exclusive insights: [www.strategyladders.com] 💬 Share your thoughts in the comments below – we’d love to hear from you! 📢 Spread the knowledge! Share this episode with anyone feeling stuck in their business. 👍 If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to like and share to support the podcast. #StrategyLadders #cashflow #personalfinance #businessfinance
In this episode, Brian and Josh dive into the heart of entrepreneurship, tackling the grit and grind of personal growth, accountability, and self-reflection. If you’re a founder, business leader, or just someone aiming to grow, this conversation delivers no-BS insights on achieving success through focus, confronting fear, and cultivating a work-life balance that fuels growth.
Entrepreneurship isn’t for the faint-hearted—it’s for those willing to embrace discomfort, challenge themselves, and dig deep into personal development. Brian and Josh bring their perspectives on why fear and discomfort are more than just obstacles; they’re signals that you’re pushing boundaries. They explore the power of accountability and why setting clear, attainable goals creates a path to success in both personal and business life.
Key Takeaways:
If you’re serious about personal growth and want to develop the skills and mindset essential to impactful leadership, this episode is for you. Hit subscribe to never miss insights like these—where real entrepreneurs get honest about what truly matters in business and beyond.
Schedule a free call with us: www.strategyladders.com
Let’s Connect:
🔔 Stay in the Loop! Turn on notifications, so you never miss an episode.
💌 Join the Community! Subscribe to our newsletter for exclusive insights: www.strategyladders.com
💬 Share your thoughts in the comments below – we’d love to hear from you!
📢 Spread the knowledge! Share this episode with anyone feeling stuck in their business.
👍 If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to like and share to support the podcast.
In the first episode of the Strategy Ladder podcast, Brian and Austin sit down to talk about the importance of a growth mindset and how it radically shapes the trajectory of a business. Founders often exhibit irrational behaviors, particularly in hiring, which stalls business growth. Hiring alone doesn’t solve deep-rooted business problems and emotional attachments to employees complicate matters even more. Founders may feel they’re investing in people, but are they investing in the right focus?
Our advisors explore how C players in a team steals momentum from the A players, and why **stagnation in business growth often stems from getting too stuck in set approaches. Leadership requires making tough decisions, especially when it comes to fostering a thriving environment for a founder’s team. Brian and Austin stress that challenging relationships are essential for both personal and business growth. They give a no-bars-held take on the need for decisive leadership and the willingness to step outside of one’s comfort zone.
The episode also covers exit strategies, pointing out that many founders don’t have a clear plan for their business's future. It again stresses the importance of a growth mindset, the resource that allows leaders to continuously question, adapt, and make tough choices to roadmap their way to long-term success.
Keen to learn how a founder’s thinking, fearless leadership, and exit strategies play into sustained business growth? Then this video is for you. Watch now to gain cutting-edge insights and learn how overcoming these obstacles can put your business to work for you!
Are you a Founder of a $1M to $5M Business? Let us help you tackle challenges like:
🚀 Co-Creating a Clear Path to Growth
📉 Stabilizing Sales & Unlocking Hidden Revenue
🔥 Reducing Founder Dependency to Avoid Burnout
🎯 Refining Market Positioning for Maximum Impact
👀 Building Accountable and High-Performing Teams to Scale
Schedule a free call with us: www.strategyladders.com
Let’s Connect:
🔔 Stay in the Loop! Turn on notifications, so you never miss an episode.
💌 Join the Community! Subscribe to our newsletter for exclusive insights: www.strategyladders.com
💬 Share your thoughts in the comments below – we’d love to hear from you!
📢 Spread the knowledge! Share this episode with anyone feeling stuck in their business.
👍 If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to like and share to support the podcast.