Episode Overview
In this episode of the John Kitchens Coach Podcast, John Kitchens and Joel Perso break down Milestone 5 of the Agent to CEO Framework: The Execution Roadmap—the critical bridge between strategy and real-world results.
Most agents don't fail because they lack ideas or effort. They fail because they work on the wrong things, in the wrong order, with no execution rhythm. John and Joel unpack why second-best problems kill momentum, how to identify the single biggest constraint in your business, and how elite CEOs turn long-term vision into focused 90-day sprints.
This episode is a masterclass in prioritization, accountability, and disciplined execution—designed for agents and team leaders who are done guessing and ready to scale with intention.
Key Topics Covered
Why Most Businesses Stall
-
The real reason businesses fail: working hard on the wrong problems
-
Why second-best problems only create incremental results
-
How to identify the one thing that can 2–3X your business in 90 days
The CEO Mindset Shift
-
Moving from task-based thinking to purpose-driven execution
-
Understanding your role as a leader in an AI-powered, consumer-driven market
-
Why your value must go beyond tasks that can be automated
Identifying Your True Constraint
-
The most common constraints at each revenue level:
-
Under six figures: no compelling offer
-
Six figures to $500K: not enough leads
-
$500K–$1M: conversion issues
-
$1M–$3M: delivery bottlenecks and owner dependency
-
-
Traffic, conversion, fulfillment, and retention—how to diagnose what's really broken
The Execution Roadmap Explained
-
Turning strategy into a focused 90-day action plan
-
Why one priority per quarter beats five half-finished initiatives
-
How to reverse engineer outcomes instead of guessing your way forward
Setting Objectives That Actually Work
-
Writing clear, measurable objective statements
-
Defining success before starting
-
Avoiding vague goals filled with buzzwords and zero accountability
Key Results & Accountability
-
How to define results—not tasks
-
Why numbers matter more than opinions
-
Creating key results that stretch the team without overwhelming them
Ownership & Execution Rhythm
-
The power of single-point ownership (one person, not a committee)
-
Using weekly sprints to maintain momentum
-
Why reporting beats brainstorming in execution meetings
-
How Scrum principles accelerate progress without chaos
Build, Fix, or Optimize
-
Deciding whether your next move is:
-
Building something new
-
Fixing what's broken
-
Optimizing what's already working
-
-
Why optimization often produces the fastest ROI
Resources & Mentions
-
Agent to C
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.