Built To Lead – Details, episodes & analysis

If you’re running a business and you don’t have a personal brand, you’re already behind.  But for most founders they’re already time-poor as it is … creating content and starting a personal brand feels difficult, exhausting and like just another thing to add to their to-do list. Today I sit down with Dain Walker who is the founder and CEO of Rivyl, Host of Agency Podcast and Author of The 90 Day Brand. He’s worked with brands like Culture Kings, Nutrition Warehouse, spoken on stages with Gary Vee and Steven Bartlett, has over 600,000 followers and grown his podcast to over 1 million subscribers. We talk about why most founders don’t get the results they want from their content, why building a brand is no longer optional and the exact steps to make sure you stand out.  You’ll hear:  1:31: Why you need to have founder led content as part of your strategy in 2026.   11:25: The key to building a high performance offshore team regardless of their roles 13:01: How to know when it’s time to hire an EA and what that role should actually do 43:25: The 5 things that block most founders from building a personal brand and how to remove each one 51:44: Why your content isn’t getting traction and how to fix it   58:25: How to build a ‘crowd’ that actually want to engage with your content  1:07:10: The 3 circle exercise that will help you determine your audience, niche and content 1:16:52 How to create a product or service your audience actually want to buy  1:22:54: The leadership mindset shift that will put you back in control of everything Follow Dain over at https://www.instagram.com/dainwalker/ and @agencypodcast_ or over at https://www.rivyl.com/ Not sure how to start using AI in your business? Want to know what to delegate (and how)?Get your Founders AI Playbook to see exactly which parts of your workflow to automate, keep human, or cut entirely. Download your copy here. Find out more about building your off-shore team over at ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agentsync_/⁠ and ⁠https://agentsync.com.au/⁠ And see behind the scenes of the podcast over at https://www.instagram.com/built.to.lead.podcast/ And ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jesswhatman_agentsync/⁠ 

Usually you have to choose between scaling and building an epic culture, but TFM Digital is the exception to this.  They were named as one of the best places to work in Australia and landed on the AFR 100 two years in a row.  Today I speak with Taylor Fielding about how he attracts a-players, the biggest mistakes he’s made scaling so quickly and how he’s built a business that allows him to travel more and more every single year (in fact it’s actually an intentional strategy!)  We talk about the hire that nearly blew up the business, why they invest 46% of profits back into their team and the organisational chart you need to implement if you want to scale your own business.  If you've ever hired someone and regretted it, tried to hand off leadership too fast, or told yourself you'll take a real break once things settle down, this one's for you. Key moments: 00:00: The biggest mistakes growing from 1-29 staff  03:58: Where to start if you want to invest in your team  7:52 Attracting, retaining and developing a-players  11:56: How to use your culture to attract the right hires and repel the wrong ones 14:16: The organisational chart every founder who wants to scale needs  17:39 How to use AI to maximise your teams out put (and what not to do)  23:10: The key to setting any senior hire up for success  37:31 Stepping back from the day to day operations AND scaling your business  You can connect with Taylor on LinkedIn | Instagram: @taylorfielding | TikTok/Instagram: @tfmdigital Not sure how to start using AI in your business? Want to know what to delegate (and how)? Get your Founders AI Playbook to see exactly which parts of your workflow to automate, keep human, or cut entirely. Download your copy here. Find out more about building your off-shore team over at ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agentsync_/⁠ and ⁠https://agentsync.com.au/⁠ And see behind the scenes of the podcast over at https://www.instagram.com/built.to.lead.podcast/ And ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jesswhatman_agentsync/⁠ 

As a leader it’s not just what you say, but how you say it … and most CEOs? They get these 3 things wrong …  So today, I’m sitting down with speaking coach Annelise McCarthy to chat about what confident leadership actually looks like in practice. Annelise works with founders, C-suite leaders and executive teams around the world (from Australia to San Francisco) teaching people how to communicate with authority. We talk about the techniques you can implement to become a better leader, communicator and get (and give) feedback that will change the way your perceived forever.  Key moments: 0:00 - Why confidence isn’t something you’re born with + how leaders actually build it 10:18 - What to do when someone challenges you in front of others 12:01 - The reason why some people sound calm and self-assured even under pressure 16:19 - A breathing exercise to help you get more comfortable speaking at a slower and more confident pace 21:44 - Why a strong voice is one of the most underestimated leadership skills 26:05 - The 3 phrases that will change how you give feedback forever  33:37 - How to get people on your side when you’re pitching (before you even say anything) 40:32 -  The two rules that decide whether people listen to your pitch or tune out 44:55 - Why filler words creep in + what confident speakers do instead 54:41 - What surprised Annelise most about growing her team 10x last year 57:10 -  The moment she realised this work was bigger than just a business 59:48 - Why women still second guess themselves even at the top 1:03:28 - The first three hires Annelise would make if she started again  Want to book tickets to Annelise’s You’re on Mute Tour? Grab them here. Follow Annelise over at @herspeakingcoach and https://www.herspeakingcoach.com/ If you want help building your offshore team, send me a message over at @jesswhatman_agentsync - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jesswhatman_agentsync/⁠ Not sure what you could delegate or the next role you need? Ask Andy - https://agentsync.com.au/meet-andy Find out more about off-shore employees over at ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agentsync_/⁠ and ⁠https://agentsync.com.au/⁠ And see behind the scenes content over at https://www.instagram.com/built.to.lead.podcast/

What happens when a founder stops following the rules… and designs a business around how their brain actually works? Taki Moore, the founder behind Million Dollar Coach (and coach to Dan Martel, Erika Cramer, Jay Wright and so many other amazing founders ) built a multi-million dollar business with a huge team… and then made the decision to strip it RIGHT back.  But not only that…  He got rid of his entire sales team. Taking his business from 30+ team members to less than 10. Now he is booked out months in advance, feels more creative, gets to spend time doing what he enjoys the most AND loves working in his business again. So how did he do this? By ditching the playbook and finally listening to what makes him a great leader. Today I’m sitting down with Taki Moore, and his Head of Strategy Toni Bache, to talk about exactly how they're running their team, what was behind the decision to get rid of their sales team and how they restructured the business so it could grow without Taki burning out. You’ll hear: 0:00 - Why Taki Moore keeps his team intentionally small (and how having less people actually made the business easier to run) 1:49 - The reality behind hiring too many people… What happened when Taki’s business started to feel bloated 6:23 - The point where most founders get stuck when trying to lead a bigger business 8:56 - How to get clear on what you need in your hires so you can stop panic hiring, and start hiring people who lift the bar in your business 9:56 - Does leading your business feel exhausting? You might need to try this approach instead 15:24 - Who manages the team in Taki’s business and why that role changed everything for him 18:29 - They key to having a team that runs well without constantly needing to check in or fix problems 20:48 - The Talent Density Test: The secret behind how Netflix hires 25:30 - What actually happened when Taki told his team he was downsizing his 30+ team to less than 10 31:05 - How to design a team around the way YOU work the best (not the way you think a “proper CEO” is supposed to work) 37:48 - The 5 step process Taki and Toni use to decide what parts of the business they can cut down on to get time and money back 40:26 - Good hires don’t come from job listings - they come from this instead 47:16 - What’s next for Taki and Million Dollar Coach 55:46 -  If Taki had to start completely all over and rebuild his whole team tomorrow… What's the first three roles he’d hire for and why Want more of Taki? Find him on IG @takimoore or over on YouTube here. Follow Toni over at https://www.instagram.com/toni.bache/?hl=en  If you want help building your offshore team, send me a message over at @jesswhatman_agentsync - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jesswhatman_agentsync/⁠  Not sure what you could delegate or the next role you need? Ask Andy - https://agentsync.com.au/meet-andy  Find out more about off-shore employees over at ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agentsync_/⁠ and ⁠https://agentsync.com.au/⁠  And see behind the scenes content over at https://www.instagram.com/built.to.lead.podcast/ 

How do business owners manage hundreds of people… and most of them actually want to stay in the company in an era where people only stay 1 year? Emil Juresic is the founder of multiple businesses (including NGU Real Estate) with over 700 people across his companies. And within that, team members are staying for 5, 10 even sometimes 20 years. How has he become a leader that incredible people want to work for? What did he have to learn to be able to hold onto his talent? Today we’re talking about how great leaders think about responsibility, how to set expectations early in your team (including when you’re hiring CEOs) and how to create teams that naturally grow into leadership roles without needing to be replaced every couple years. You’ll hear: 0:00 - Why I got Emil on  02:40 - Emil’s perspective on employees after 27 years that quietly changes how long people want to stay working for you 06:15 - The life experiences that happen early in your life that might be shaping the way you show up at work 08:30 - The expectation founders always bring into hiring that causes BIG problems later down the line 11:05 - Why the first hires almost never fail (and it’s not for the reason you think) 13:15 - The one question Emil now asks to check if someone truly fits into his businesses 16:50 - How to get your team thinking about being a part of your businesses in the long term 24:00 - The strategy you need if you are going to bring in senior leaders  25:55 - What long term growth inside a business actually looks like in real life 31:05 - Should you recruit within … or bring someone in from outside?  33:55 - Why incentives alone don’t work 37:15 - How Emil stays across multiple businesses without being involved in everything 39:10 - The one factor that determines whether offshore teams become an advantage or a headache 45:05 - The shift leaders need to make to stay relevant in today’s world  47:00 - Which role Emil would hire first if he was starting over again  Connect with Emil over at https://www.instagram.com/emil_juresic/?hl=en and https://www.instagram.com/ngu_real_estate/?hl=en  If you want help building your offshore team, send me a message over at @jesswhatman_agentsync - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jesswhatman_agentsync/⁠  Not sure what you could delegate or the next role you need? Ask Andy - https://agentsync.com.au/meet-andy  Find out more about off-shore employees over at ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agentsync_/⁠ and ⁠https://agentsync.com.au/⁠  And see behind the scenes content over at https://www.instagram.com/built.to.lead.podcast/ 

What actually needs to happen before a founder can step back from their business… without everything falling apart? In this episode, I’m sitting down with Jack and Amanda Delosa to talk about what it really takes to build a business that doesn’t rely on the founder for every decision, every hire and  every problem. Jack has built, scaled and exited multiple companies, and now leads The Entourage with a team that operates without his daily involvement (his operational requirement is 1 hour a fortnight). And because one of the most important 'teams' you'll ever be part of I wanted to speak to his wife Amanda to talk about how they make they're relationship dynamic work and the biggest mistakes they see most founders make when it comes to their home life. You don’t have to choose between life and your business, but if you want a business that runs and growth with out you pushing every single day you do need to put some systems in place. That’s what we’re talking about today.  You’ll hear: 0:00 - Everything that had to be in place before Jack could step back from the business and move countries 3:28 - Should you bring your partner into the business? All the pros and cons 7:32 - The two roles every scaling business needs 13:59 - Why promoting your best technician to manager could be the worst thing you do 14:42 - Why you’ll never hire an A Player through a job ad 18:21 - Jack swears by hiring from this one industry (you won’t guess what it is) 20:28 - Amanda’s secret to balancing motherhood and her business 24:41 - Jack’s model for scaling a successful business 26:51 - What a founder’s role looks like once the business is no longer dependent on them every day 33:42 - How to spot the weaknesses in your team just by looking at your org chart 35:47 - The secret to building cash flow before building a bigger team 37:54 - The framework Jack uses to decide what to fix next in a scaling business 40:44 - The three roles Jack would hire first if he had to rebuild everything from scratch 41:16 - Amanda’s perspective on building a team when you know you’re just not wired for operations Want to work with Jack and his team at Entourage? Find out more at www.the-entourage.com If you want help building your offshore team, send me a message over at @jesswhatman_agentsync - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jesswhatman_agentsync/⁠ Not sure what you could delegate or the next role you need? Ask Andy - https://agentsync.com.au/meet-andy Find out more about off-shore employees over at ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agentsync_/⁠ and ⁠https://agentsync.com.au/⁠ And see behind the scenes content over at https://www.instagram.com/built.to.lead.podcast/

 We know that the foundation of any great business is their team, but most of us are never taught how to lead them.  So I wanted to sit down with the best leaders and founders in the world and find out how they did it.  Who did they hire?  What mistakes did they make? And what do they wish someone had told them years ago? These are the stories they haven't told before and the things that made the biggest difference in their business.  If you want to stop being the bottleneck in your business, delegate properly and build a culture that people can’t wait to be part of Subscribe now wherever you're listening because you won't wanna miss these episodes.  If you want help building your offshore team, send me a message over at @jesswhatman_agentsync - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jesswhatman_agentsync/⁠  Not sure what you could delegate or the next role you need? Ask Andy - https://agentsync.com.au/meet-andy  Find out more about off-shore employees over at ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agentsync_/⁠ and ⁠https://agentsync.com.au/⁠  And see behind the scenes content over at https://www.instagram.com/built.to.lead.podcast/

Some founders are firing their whole team and replacing them with AI…or pretending it’s not happening at all. But Joe Stolte thinks differently.  Joe Stolte has built 6 companies, exited 4 (including Lottery.com which went public at $526 million), worked at Microsoft and generated over $100 million in sales. He now helps businesses to deploy and integrate AI agents and knows exactly what separates the business that will survive the shift to AI, from the ones that won’t.  In this episode, we chat about building teams of AI agents, empowering your staff to use AI and ways you can 10x your business. If you’ve been waiting for a sign to get started with AI, this is probably it. Key moments: 00:00: Hire people or hire AI. What founders should actually be thinking about right now 1:19: The matrix that will help you decide what should be done by AI and what should be done by your team 3:09: How AI can completely change the game for sales teams before during and after every call  4:19: What your best employees are actually costing you when they aren’t using AI  5:07: What most founders get wrong when using AI  15:07:: The four stages of AI: what's coming next and why the timeline is shorter than most people expect 30:15: Chatbots vs Agents. What’s the difference and which one you should use  21:52: The three agents worth setting up today and how to actually get started 23:30: Is Open Claw worth it? What it can do, where it falls short and  45:33:How delegation changes when your team is AI-powered and what that means for you as a leader 1:01:00: The one daily habit that moves the needle and how to make it stick in your business Drop a JESS in Joe's DMs at dmjoe.com to get his free Constraint Test bot plus a stack of AI resources and training to get you started. No email, no pitch, just good stuff. And if you want to connect with him or follow what he's up to, that's the place to start. Not sure how to start using AI in your business? Want to know what to delegate (and how)? Get your Founders AI Playbook to see exactly which parts of your workflow to automate, keep human, or cut entirely. Download your copy here. If you want help building your offshore team, send me a message over at @jesswhatman_agentsync - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jesswhatman_agentsync/⁠ Not sure what you could delegate or the next role you need? Ask Andy - https://agentsync.com.au/meet-andy Find out more about off-shore employees over at ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agentsync_/⁠ and ⁠https://agentsync.com.au/⁠ And see behind the scenes content over at https://www.instagram.com/built.to.lead.podcast/ AgentSync

This one’s interesting because on paper, Kiki Keysers’ built the kind of business most founders say they want.  14 stores. 130 staff. A clothing brand people recognise. But the reason I wanted to get her on wasn’t to talk about growth. It was to understand what actually changed behind the scenes to make that possible… because she’s done something most founders avoid for way too long… She stepped out of running the business. In this episode, we get into what that actually looked like. The point where Kiki realised she was the bottleneck in Kivari the Label. The hires she made too late (and the ones she’d make immediately if she started again). And what really happens when you bring in a CEO and have to stop jumping in every five seconds. Key moments: 0:00 - The moment you realise your “side thing” is actually turning into a real business… and what changes after that 4:57 - Hiring your first employee when you have no idea what you’re doing (and why waiting too long will slow everything down) 6:40 - Why your business starts to feel messy as you grow across locations and what actually keeps everything aligned 09:01 - How to develop leaders who can run things without you being involved in every decision 12:06 - The 5 hard truths that keep founders stuck at the same level  15:46 - What ‘good culture’ actually looks like day to day 18:17 - What scaling to the next level really looks like when you already have stores, a team and momentum 19:18 - The one investment that changed how Kiki leads and thinks (and why most founders avoid it) 20:24 - Why putting money into yourself grows your business faster than putting it back into the business 22:08 - What it actually looks like to work with your partner, live together and build a business at the same time 27:52 -What really happens when you bring in a CEO and start letting go of control 29:26 - The hire that gave her back time and changed how the business operates day to day 31:00 - Building a fashion brand with zero experience and figuring it out as you go 32:33 - The first 3 hires she’d make if she had to start again (and why they matter early) 33:35 - Where to start with marketing if you’re building a brand today and don’t have a team yet If you want more of Kiki, follow her on IG @kiki_keysers or visit www.kivari.com.au Listen to Taki’s episode on Spotify or Apple or watch it on Youtube. If you want help building your offshore team, send me a message over at @jesswhatman_agentsync - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jesswhatman_agentsync/⁠ Not sure what you could delegate or the next role you need? Ask Andy - https://agentsync.com.au/meet-andy Find out more about off-shore employees over at ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agentsync_/⁠ and ⁠https://agentsync.com.au/⁠ And see behind the scenes content over at https://www.instagram.com/built.to.lead.podcast/ AgentSync

A lot of you have probably seen Laura Higgins online. Sharing content, building her brand, talking about business, but what you don’t see is what it actually took to get there. Like the pivots, the hiring decisions that didn’t work, the pressure of going from working for yourself to leading a team of 19, working with your husband… Laura started as a solo social media manager, grew into an agency, and then completely rebuilt her business into what it is today. Today we’re chatting about the journey and  everything that doesn’t usually make it online. We’re getting into what actually happens when you start hiring, why most founders get stuck with the wrong kind of team, and how your role has to change if you want the business to keep growing (but it can still be fun!) Key moments: 0:00 - The first hire that took Laura from freelancer to building a real business 4:30 - The moment you realise being good at your craft isn’t enough to run a business 15:10 - Why most businesses stay stuck when they try to grow  18:10 - The shift from hiring “doers” and “builders” and what unlocked for Laura when she made the switch 20:30 - Where the best hires actually come from (and you might have guessed but it’s not Seek) 25:19 - An HR backed approach to having hard conversations with your team that puts the focus on the business and away from the person 27:57 - Hiring friends: what works, what breaks, and how to protect both the business and the relationship 32:00 - The leadership shift no one talks about: from helping clients win to leading a team 34:14 - Working with your partner: boundaries, roles, what actually keeps it working long-term + why they work in separate buildings 39:41 - The two rules that make or break couples running a business together 41:14 - What actually changes when you go from solo to leading a team 49:48 - If Laura started again: the first three hires she’d make and why If you want more of Laura you can follow her on IG @laurahiggins, visit her website www.laurahiggins.com or watch along on YouTube here. If you want help building your offshore team, send me a message over at @jesswhatman_agentsync - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jesswhatman_agentsync/⁠ Not sure what you could delegate or the next role you need? Ask Andy - https://agentsync.com.au/meet-andy Find out more about off-shore employees over at ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agentsync_/⁠ and ⁠https://agentsync.com.au/⁠ And see behind the scenes content over at https://www.instagram.com/built.to.lead.podcast/ AgentSync