May 29, 2025 • 37 mins
Episode 104 From Burnout to Breakthrough: Business Insights with Leslie Hassler Frederick Dudek (Freddy D) Copyright 2025 Prosperous Ventures, LLC
We’re diving deep into the world of business growth with Leslie Hassler, the powerhouse behind Your Biz Rules, in this episode. Leslie shares how she helps small businesses break through their financial ceilings, focusing on creating alignment between their vision and operations for true freedom and profitability.
With over 17 years of entrepreneurial experience, she’s got the chops to guide business owners in scaling smart without burning out. We’ll explore the importance of building a supportive team culture that empowers individuals and drives collective success. Get ready to uncover actionable insights that can transform your business and help you live the life you truly desire.
Discover more with our detailed show notes and exclusive content by visiting: https://bit.ly/3ZCgR0k
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Engaging and insightful, the podcast features Leslie Hasler, founder of Your Biz Rules, who passionately discusses the pivotal role of aligning personal values with business strategies. Leslie’s journey from a draining first business to creating a thriving consultancy illustrates the transformative potential of understanding what truly brings joy and fulfillment in entrepreneurship. She emphasizes that many business owners inadvertently design their operations around burnout rather than freedom, a mindset shift she advocates for throughout the conversation. By focusing on creating businesses that reflect personal desires and priorities, Leslie inspires listeners to rethink their approach to entrepreneurship.
Throughout the episode, Leslie shares her expertise in business audits and the benefits of fractional CFO services, unpacking how these tools can help entrepreneurs identify inefficiencies and unlock new revenue streams. She highlights the common pitfalls of feeling overwhelmed and busy but unproductive, encouraging business leaders to evaluate their operations critically. This introspection is crucial for scaling their businesses sustainably and effectively. Leslie’s approach is hands-on, with actionable insights that attendees can apply to their own ventures immediately, making this episode rich in value for aspiring and established entrepreneurs alike.
As the discussion concludes, the importance of nurturing a positive team culture is a recurring theme. Leslie shares anecdotes of how empowering team members can lead to remarkable transformations in productivity and morale. She highlights the significance of fostering an environment where team members feel appreciated and valued, which in turn fuels customer satisfaction and business success. The episode leaves listeners with actionable takeaways on how to cultivate their own business cultures and the encouragement to prioritize their well-being alongside their business goals.
Takeaways:
- Leslie Hassler emphasizes the importance of aligning your business with personal values to achieve true freedom and profitability.
- A business audit can uncover hidden opportunities for growth and financial optimization, which many entrepreneurs overlook.
- Creating a supportive team culture is essential for business success; empowered employees contribute significantly to company growth.
- Understanding the difference between being busy and being productive is crucial for maximizing team capacity and efficiency....
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(01:53):
Hey, Superfan superstarFreddie D. Here in this episode 104,
we're joined by Leslie Hasler,the dynamic force behind your Biz
Rules, a consultancy thathelps small businesses unlock freedom,
profitability and sustainablegrowth. With 17 years of entrepreneur
experience and a sharp commandof marketing, finance and leadership,
(02:15):
Leslie has become a trustedguide for business owners who ready
to scale smart and live well.She's the author of first this, Then
that and a forthcoming ScalingRich, a sought after speaker on stages
like NAWBO and WBE and C E,and a proud alumni of the Goldman
(02:37):
Sachs 10K small businessprogram. Through her profitable growth
incubator, business audits andfractional CFO services, Leslie helps
entrepreneurs break throughfinancial ceilings and build businesses
that truly support the lifethey want. Get ready for an inspiring
conversation about reclaimingvision, driving profits and thriving
(03:00):
both in business and in life.
Welcome, Leslie, to theBusiness Superfans podcast. How are
you, Leslie?
I'm doing phenomenal, Freddie.Thank you for having me.
We're excited to have you onthe show and learn a little bit more
about what Biz Rules does andhow you help transform companies.
(03:24):
So what's your backstory ofhow did your Biz Rules came about?
Your Biz Rules is about what,11 years old right now. This is actually
my second business. I had aprior business that sucked my soul
dry ten ways come Sunday. Wenton a search to find out what I wanted
to be when I grew up. If itwasn't be this business, what was
(03:44):
it? And that led me into yearsroles between the two businesses.
I liken to say the first onewas a bit of my prison. It was a
self made prison. But your visroles is my playground. So it's been
a journey to get here. I'vegone through a lot of different things
in business and development asan entrepreneur, but I cannot imagine
being anywhere else.
(04:05):
So what was it that washolding you back?
Oh, I designed a businessdoing all the things that I thought
were the right things to dowhen other people were doing what
you saw. Now granted that was2007, so it's been a hot minute.
The entrepreneurial landscapedefinitely changed and shifted. But
(04:26):
what I didn't do in my firstbusiness is I didn't do the work
of understanding what wouldmake me happy the most, what my values
were. I knew what I did as aperson that I didn't know how to
translate that into a businessthat actually supported my lifestyle.
So while we had our moments ofextreme highs, extreme lows and a
high, again, had a lot ofsuccess in There at the end of it.
(04:50):
I hated going to work onMondays because I really didn't design
a business that would give mewhat I wanted from it. I think that's
normal in some ways because wesee it happen so many times that
I came into a business seekingfreedom. I did not design a business
to give me freedom. I treatedfreedom as a reward. That happened
(05:10):
someday. When I had put in mydues hustling grind and reached that
success. I didn't realize thatI could have so much more of that
from day one or day 10 ortomorrow. I really can change everything
about my business tomorrow andget it into greater alignment. I
didn't know that back then, Iknow that now. It took some hard
(05:31):
lessons, but that's in essencea lot of what we help do with our
clients. Majority of ourclients have been in business 3,
5, 10 years and they'relooking at a business, they're not
sure how it got to wherethey're at. It doesn't really support
them in the way that they wantit to. And we have to bring things
into alignment. I liken thatto driving a Fiat down the road,
(05:53):
taking it apart bit by bit andmaking sure it keeps going. That
ultimately giving you a Teslaor an Audi or a Maserati. I don't
know what it is you want, butit's doing that kind of live action
renovation in a business whileit's still operating. So you can
still enjoy all the hard workyou put into it, but get a whole
(06:14):
lot more out.
Oh, you're absolutely correct.Because you think of some people
that get started in business,they think, okay, wow, I'm a business
owner. Well, you end up reallyhaving what I call a glorified job
because you're basically doingeverything and you're working in
the business so much that youdon't have any time to work on the
(06:36):
business. And the same thingis you've got people that have been
working in corporate for yearsand then all of a sudden they retire
from corporate and they say,I'm twiddling my thumbs, it's been
about six months, I'm boredstiff, so I'm gonna start a business.
And they have no clue on howto start a business, how to run a
business, because they've beenin a corporate world and they says,
(06:57):
well, it worked there, so Ishould be able to do this. They're
basically in for a rudeawakening because as you just said,
it's not that easy. And youget caught up into the things that
you think you should be doing.Versus the thing that you should
be doing.
Yeah. We talk about aprinciple in our firm called scaling
(07:19):
rich and it's really aboutdefining quality of your life that
you live through yourbusiness. And you're correct. We
are learned how to have a joband our whole educational system
is set up to learn how to havea job, how to be a job. Graded innovation
starting to come to play. Butwith a lot of where you are is out
in real life. I alwaysremember my favorite definition of
(07:42):
a job in business is just overwork.
Yep.
Right. Because it's talkingabout all the things make a good
work or good worker, thetechnician. The job doesn't necessarily
make a good business.
Correct.
When you do get detached. ButI don't know what you've seen. I've
seen this is that our valuesystem, our self value is so wrapped
(08:05):
up in doing a good job thatit's really hard to detach and understand
that as an entrepreneur, it'snot really your job to get it done.
It's your job to ensure thatit is done and done well. It doesn't
mean you're doing, just meansit is reliable. That's part of your
delivery, part of what you'rebuilding a reputation on and basing
(08:28):
your pricing value on and allof these other things. I do think
it's part of the journey weall have to go through. If you've
never been in a businessenvironment before, you just may
not know.
You don't know what you don'tknow. I mean, the reality is you're
absolutely right on the moneythere because sometimes people get
(08:48):
in their own way becausenobody can do it as good as I can.
So it's me that's got to go doit. You know, I've Learned something
that 80% good by somebody elsedoing it is 100% good for me because
I didn't have to do it. SoI'll take 80% of the quality because
it won't be noticed anyway.But then that freed me up 100% of
(09:12):
the time to go do something else.
Yeah. And that's part of whereI think as you mature as an entrepreneur,
you start to really understandthat in order to grow, you're gonna
have to let go something youcan't scale. Yeah, exactly. And even
in my business, it's somethingwe talk about as a team is like I'm
(09:33):
getting too mired in X, whichmeans I can't do Y, which means somebody
is going to need to fill theshoes because I'm bottlenecking over
here. And If I bottleneck thebusiness, I stunt our growth. And
my job is to promote thegrowth, to create ease, to build
the team, to get us on thesame page with the vision. But that
takes a little bit. You've gotto have a certain amount of trust.
(09:57):
And I think you really alludedto that when you were talking about
nobody can do it as good asme. You got to have a certain amount
of trust and you've got to bewilling to teach somebody to be as
good as you.
Or like I said, close enoughis fine because you're not doing
it 80%, it's good enough,especially as a business owner. Focus
(10:18):
on building the business andbeing the brand of the business.
Then you can just spend thattime to scale. At the same time,
you're empowering other peopleand elevating them because you're
putting belief into them andtraining them. All of a sudden they
realize they have thisresponsibility and need to step up
their self worth and attitude.Transform. If you do it right, that's
(10:42):
the key.
Yeah. And I'm even thinking,as you're sharing this, a lot of
times, business, I can'tafford quality people, I can't pay
them, I can't give them perks,whatever the reason. And they're
really not reasons, they'reexcuses. Talking about fear. Because
what we've seen is in our ownbusiness and the work we do with
our clients to develop theirteams, you actually can get some
(11:03):
rock star people, you can getsome grade A quality people if you're
doing it the right way. Right.If you're looking for a culture fit,
if you're looking for skillfit, most people, 99% of the people
out in the world just want todo a really good job and get a thank
you. At the end of the day,they want to feel appreciated, they
want to be seen and they wantto know that they're going to have
(11:25):
an impact. When you can createthat kind of environment in a small
business, it is easy. We hadone client that when we came in,
just a lot of turnover, veryfrustrated. They were very frustrated
with their hiring process. Andwe put a lot of things in place.
Like you said, we were doingthe right things. And the client
was talking, she goes, youwill not believe this. I was having
a bad day and somebody came inand they looked at me and they looked
(11:49):
at what was on my desk andthey went, I am taking this from
you. I will do it and I willreturn to you. When do you want it,
bud? And walked out the doorlike, didn't Even take a moment to
let the owner fight with themabout whether or not they should
or could. But they wereempowered and they were confident.
They had been training.
You said a couple things rightthere. One is empowered, confident.
(12:11):
And what you just described iswhat I call creating internal super
fans. And that's where itreally starts. You really want to
create super fans of the teambecause if the team loves the company
they're at and appreciates thefact that they're being recognized,
empowered, appreciate it andeverything else. That whole energy,
(12:35):
that whole mindset transformsthat whole energy of the company.
So now when you're talking toprospective customers, that energy
comes across and we've allcommunicated with someone, and that's
flat. And you go, well, notsure about these people. You get
that feeling like we can sensethings. But then you recall somebody
(12:56):
and they're all bubbly andsuper excited. Hey, good morning.
Glad you called. How can wehelp? Oh, man. Wow. What's going
on? Were attracted to that.
Infections.
Yes. So now, you know, thattransforms the team. And from the
team that goes on toprospective customers, which in turn
become customers. It snowballsbecause the customers have a great
(13:18):
onboarding experience, so theyshare it with everybody else. Your
business can exponentiallygrow, and you're not spending a ton
of money doing it.
Yeah. And this is one of thepoints of momentum in a business
that most people don't thinkof our terminologies. Talk about
the upward spiral, because youcan have momentum that spirals positively,
you can have momentum thatspirals negatively. Right. Consciously
(13:41):
thinking of that as a strategyfor the longevity of your business,
that I think a lot of businessdon't realize that they have as a
superpower, as you'redescribing it. I was thinking of.
We went to two conferenceslast year. We did booths. I brought
team members because A, we'rean entirely virtual environment,
so anytime we can get togetheris always a good thing. But B, so
(14:02):
that they could see frontlines. You know, some of my people
are behind the scenes. Some ofthem are front of the house. But
it was so awesome to see themconfident enough to start a conversation
with a complete stranger.Wonderful for me to take a step back
and just watch. Like, justwatch them in action and their energy
and how they communicated. Andit was a test to me. Did all the
(14:25):
things we've invested in ourteam make sense? Are they internalizing
it in such a way that they canput it back out there in the world?
Your point? You're much morehappy to place for some greet you
with a smile than if you walkin and the person's always grumpy.
These little details and don'tcost you things. They cost you a
bit of time and tension. Butcomparatively, it cost you not be
(14:48):
able.
I mean, absolutely. One of myquotes in my book is people crawl
through broken glass forappreciation, recognition.
Yeah, true that.
And I look at it as the littlethings are the big things. You recognize
somebody on their birthday,you compliment somebody, or as we
talked earlier, you empowersomebody that you don't think is
(15:11):
qualified for the job. Butwhat you don't know is that person
might be dying for anopportunity to show who they really
are. Just nobody ever giventhem the opportunity to open the
door for them and says, oh,hey, let me see what you can do.
I've seen that transformpeople where you say, man, they're
(15:32):
never going to do this, andyou give it to them anyway, and all
of a sudden they surprise youand you go, man, they knocked it
out of the ballpark. Whathappened to this person? You just
empowered them. And they'vebeen dying for that opportunity.
Yeah, or hiring for a fewpositions. And last week I was going
through resume. I think I had200 resumes to review. Important
(15:54):
to me, who we hire, becausewe're still a small company, what
would be considered a smalltribe. Everybody knows each other,
so those interpersonalrelationships are key. That's why
I look at the resumes, becauseI feel like I'm the guardian of that
in the business. Going throughthem, you can tell people that are
phoning it in. That's an easyno. But there's such a preponderance
(16:15):
of people that are justlooking for the opportunity for something
better. And not everybodyqualified, not everybody had transferable
skills, because I can teachyou, but I need to see some things,
and on a sheet of paper,you're making some decisions. It
was like, there's a hundredpeople I wish I had a job for, just
to give them the chance tostep into their best version of themselves.
(16:40):
Because there are so many morepeople willing to put in the hard
work time on their own to dothe learning to have a chance at
something better. This getsback to our mission. We're here to
help people be better atbusiness. Anytime I see somebody
that wants better, I'm like,how can I make that happen for you?
If you feel good and whole,you pay it forward and do better
(17:01):
in the world. When we havemore of that, we start to have a
positive impact in the world.That impact and legacy is what we're
truly after, at least in Our business.
Yep. So that is a perfectsegue into you sharing a story about
how you helped transform oneof your customers.
(17:23):
There's so many great storiesto choose from. I think a lot of
times a common place that willcome into a business tends to be
in the mid six figures.Somebody that's had some success,
maybe a small team, but thebusiness owner is about to burn out.
Going down in flames. Afirefighter's not gonna put you out.
You feel burned out. Andthey're coming to us just to. Because
(17:44):
they gotta find a better way.They just haven't been able to. We
had a professional servicesfirm in about this area and just
working really hard, notmaking the money that they wanted
to make, but couldn'tnecessarily feel like they could
afford the team that theywanted to hire. There's that rock
and hard spot where you'relike, I can't work any harder and
I don't have the money to paythe people. I want to get out of
(18:05):
this role. And so you feellike pinned, not knowing what to
do next. This is a case whereone of the first things we do with
our clients is a businessaudit. We go into a super deep dive
into the nuts and bolts of thebusiness. And we're looking for opportunity.
We're looking for cash thatmaybe individually like penny, but
when you add together, it's100 bucks. Now, what if that was
(18:27):
$100,000? Because sometimes wefound that too. But it's so dispersed
in different ways that it getsdiscounted. So we're looking for
ways to activate the cash andto find the easiest path to get them
to what they said they want.This is a case where we did that.
What we found is that they hadcapacity. It's really interesting.
Capacity as an issue,especially with teams, is oftentimes
(18:52):
people can feel busy, but theystill have capacity. If you ask your
team, can you do more, they'regoing to say, no, my plate is full,
I'm busy. Busy isn't the sameas productivity. And so we sometimes
can see where people areinvesting their time. Going back
to the beginning of thisconversation, corporate mentality
(19:13):
is to look busy. If you don'thave something to work on, you're
going to look busy. You'regoing to find something to use your
time for. Sometimes when wehave too much time, we allow our
tasks to stretch. It's aprofit drain. We call it time slippage,
but it stretches the billyavailable time. What we often see,
even the teams that feel likethey're really busy, only working
(19:35):
at 60% capacity. Well, I don'tneed you at a hundred percent because
a hundred percent is notsustainable. People get sick, go
on vacation. The 80% goingback to our 80%. If you're at 60
and we can get you to 80%,just different. Right? And suddenly
we have the money. Suddenly wecan invest in those key staff members.
(19:56):
Suddenly we can invest intechnology systems. And this is a
client where we took her fromabout the mid six figures to 2 million
in nine months. She was ready.She did not feel that was possible.
We argued, you know, friendlyargued, but she was like, that's
not possible. And I was like,actually, I think it is. It's just
(20:16):
that all the signals you couldsee said no. But what you didn't
see is all the yeses. So doyou want to play? Because even if
we don't get there, thetimeframe is still going to be better
than where you are today. Goahead. You were going to say something.
What's important is to get buyin from everybody on the team. That's
where business ownerssometimes fail. They say, I am going
(20:38):
to grow the business. Butnobody else knows that. That's the
vision. Nobody else has anyidea of what the mission or direction
is. If you empower and sharethat information, you get everybody
into the same rowboat. Thinkof boat racing, where people are
rowing. They have to be insync. You get all those people into
(20:58):
the same direction with thesame vision, everybody's gonna level
up a notch because they wannahelp that goal. And then you put
a carrot up there, it says,okay, if we hit this number or this
achievement, we're gonnacelebrate with everybody. Because
you can't do it by yourself.You need the team.
Yeah, exactly. That remindsme, we had a client that we've been
(21:20):
working with for a coupleyears. One of the things we wanted
to do was inject a revenuediversification, a new service offering.
They were on board but not onboard. You know, kind of a thing
like, well, that sounds nice,but will it really do anything? And
it was hilarious because atone point we're working on like,
guys, it's taking us sixmonths. When are we going to get
this in the market? We had anopportunity where the owners went
on vacation. We're like, letus meet with your team in the midtime.
(21:43):
In the meantime, let us sharethis with your team. Let us talk
to your team about this. So wedid. We wound up talking to their
appointment center, who wasall on board. We're like, okay, how
many do you think you cansell? She was like, Let me answer
some questions. I'm excited ofthis. We need this. And then Stephanie,
she sold 20 of these packagesin weeks, and she's, I didn't even
(22:06):
think we'd sell three. That'swhy it took so long for us to get
out there. Now I'm like, canyou ask your team member what her
goal is? She and her teammember will go through and say, how
many should I sell this week,this month? Go for 40. To your point,
a lot of business owners don'tknow what that looks like. You could
turn around and say, we'regoing to grow. I have to tell your
team what you're going to do.They're like, yes. I ask the team,
(22:28):
do you understand what we'redoing? They go, no.
Nope.
We definitely enjoy when wecan involve the team and we can be
the mouthpiece for a littlebit so we can share and show what
education looks like. This iswhat empowerment looks like in engagement.
And then just watch. Becausehere's the funny thing happens when
the owners do it from ourperspective, the team either lights
(22:51):
up or shuts down. Usually it's99% of the team that lights up and
one person shuts down.
There's always that one.
Right. But it's either thatone. Like, we'll work with resistance.
We understand that. Butgenerally, too much resistance means
it's not a good fit.
Right.
And we find the quiet businesskiller because it's out of alignment
(23:13):
with where the business isheading and the owners and a multitude
of things. Right. But there'sjust so much power in treating your
team like adults.
It goes further than that,too, Leslie, is the fact that they
may have ideas that you had noinclination of whatsoever, but they're
(23:37):
busy looking and doing andworking, and they go, you know, this
is a pain in the butt. If wecould do this this particular way
or that way, this would saveme so much time. And a lot of times
owners will go, I'm notinterested in your idea. This is
how we've done it. This is howwe're doing it. You've just disempowered
that person. So you justkilled their energy. And the reality
(24:00):
is you just missed out onprobably something that could have
completely trans transformedyour business, or at least that section
of the business, into a muchmore profitable center. And I shared
it because I was working witha particular company not too long
ago, and there was a personhaving some challenges because they
got chastised publicly by themanagement team. So their self esteem
(24:24):
was pretty much crushed. Theyvirtually quit when they came up
to me to tell me that theyquit, I talked them out of it and
just said, you're going toreport to me and I'll deal with the
blocking back and I'll keepyou protected. They also had some
depression challenges. I'lljust say it out there, okay?
Yes.
And what I did is I empoweredthis person. I gave them more responsibilities
(24:48):
so they didn't have time toget all worked out and everything
else. Because I empowered him,I believed in him. And that person
came up with ideas to improvethis department and they contributed
to growing that department ina year's time by about 125%. So it
was doing about 100,000 forthat department. It ended up for
(25:10):
that year $225,000. They grewby $125,000 in revenue because they
got empowered, believed inthem, and got out of their way.
Yeah. Well, I do think thatthe people of the business, your
team, part of that equation,we consider the strategic partners,
(25:32):
your vendors, your client andyour team all to be the people of
the business. We want thiswinning environment because your
job as an entrepreneur is notto do all the work, it's to ensure
that the work gets done. Whichmeans you've got to get out of the.
Yeah, you got to empowerpeople. You got to create super fans.
(25:54):
And what you mentioned is whatI call total experience, which is
encompassing all stakeholdersinto the equation because they're
all involved. If you recognizea supplier, for example, and you
take care of that supplier andyou're in a bind and then someone
else is also requesting stuffat the same time, who are they going
(26:16):
to consider to take care of?They're going to take care of the
person that takes care ofthem, that appreciates them and everything
else. So the math is realsimple. Doing it is actually really
simple. You just got to do it.
You have to have theintention. And it can't be a chore.
If you view it as a chore,then it's going to be the last thing
you want to do. But if you seethe power like what you and I are
(26:38):
discussing so much of today,then it's a no brainer. It's just
like it's what you do becauseat the end of the day, it's what
works and works well. It worksin all situations. Even if you have
a bad day, you're given alittle grace to have a bad day because
you've given other peoplegrace to have a bad day. I believe
(26:59):
that too many peopleunderutilize their suppliers and
vendor, instead of sayingwe're paying for product, how are
we not using the product toits full advantage? We pay for the
system, but how could we getmore value from this? It's that constant
conversation knowing that wedon't know it all. So me, I make
sure we're using this 110%,we're utilizing everything to this
(27:23):
capability. Show me how we canbe a resource into my business. I
think for a lot of people,they care enough answer that question
and they're gonna feel goodabout the impede in New York.
Yep, absolutely. Spot on. SoLeslie, what would be a good tip
(27:44):
for our listeners that arebusiness owners that they can look
at themselves and take a timeout and that they could do to assess
where they're at.
In terms of their team ortheir business as a whole?
Let's go with in terms oftheir team. Because no team, no business.
(28:06):
Pretty much, I'll say when itcomes to the team, would you be willing
to have your team do a 360review of you? It's being vulnerable,
right? But if you areabsolutely terrified of what they
might say, might be anindicator that you need to take a
look at some things. Right.Straight up might be an indicator.
(28:28):
If your general feeling isthat people try to take advantage
of you, you might need to takea look at things because it is going
to stall and impact yourbusiness in ways you don't even understand.
You're spinning your wheels,you're wasting money and time. It
doesn't have to be that way.So on the opposite side of awareness,
(28:51):
write that perfect team, whatthat would look like and feel like.
What would happen at thebeginning of your day if you're in
office and in real life withpeople? What happened the moment
you walk through the door? Howwould the day go? How would your
interactions go with yourteam? I think to our point is people
don't put enough intentionaround what they're trying to create.
(29:13):
And so we do have to do somevisioning around what it is that
we ultimately want. I will letyou know. Here we are in 2025. I
have had a team that wentwrong. It's the only way that I can
sit here and tell you how Icome to go. Right. Because I've done
the wrong thing where my teamgot together on Friday night and
(29:34):
complained about me overdrinks. I never want that to happen
again. I never want to be thereason that people complain about
business. They may not behappy with me all the time, but that's
a colder issue. Right. Theydidn't feel that they could share
and that we really care as ateam. If I hadn't gone through that
(29:56):
experience, wouldn't be ableto say, this is what I want. I want
a team that workscollaboratively. I know that we handle
situations the day that theyhappen, not a year later, and let
things fester. I know theseare the aspects of my team because
I sat down and really thoughtabout them or I admired it in somebody
(30:17):
else's team. So I think youneed to do that evaluation regularly
and think about the vision ofthe team and when we can always be
improving and doing better andhow you as the owner can grow as
a leader and as a manager.
Absolutely spot on. When we'veworked in corporate America, we've
all gone out and had abeverage or two, and definitely the
(30:41):
conversation was notuplifting. It was everybody venting
about things they didn't like,things that should be better and
everything else, but nobodywould ever listen to them. So you're
absolutely right on the moneybecause that's negative energy. Even
though they're at the barhaving that conversation, it's still
(31:01):
Monday. When they come backinto the office. That mindset is
still there, and it's probablyworse. It was a collaborative discussion
going this way versus thisway. And so you come into Monday
and you're still thinking ofall the stuff that was talked about
on Friday night that everybodyvented. You're going completely this
(31:22):
way in the business culture.
Yeah, it's insidious. It's atime of cancer. This can have the
cancer into cancer. It is thatdeadly. I've lived through it. You
don't want to be there at all.And it's so easy not to be there.
It just takes learning andsome guides along the way that help
you tweak and manage and learnhow to be better. But every time
(31:45):
your business grows, you'regoing to be forced to grow as well.
Yeah. And you got to have somethick skin because you have to take
some negative statements aboutyourself as a leader. And you got
to be open to that criticism.And you cannot chastise for that
criticism. You've got toencourage it so that you can become
a better leader.
(32:05):
Because we are human and we dofeel things. Even as the owner, my
team give ways of discussingthings. We have frameworks that we
taught each other and use. Oneof the things I always say is, I
do react emotionally. I knowthat about myself. So if I ask for
a day or two of space so thatI can process and come back to you,
that's All I'm asking for,like, I want to address it, but sometimes
(32:28):
I need time to process becausewhat I heard, I got an emotional
charge from. I'm morecommitted to resolving the issue,
but I need a couple days toprocess through it. Generally, I
can come back to it and say, Isee where this happened. I see what
I did to contribute. Pleaseknow that this was my intention,
this is what I'm going to workon, and vice versa. If it's the reverse,
(32:51):
I don't expect a responseright then and there. And if it's
a case, we're just not goingto let things lie. So we're going
to address it. We'll talkabout it in a moment. And when you
talk about it in a moment,it's this big versus, you know, if
we need space to process, wetake the space to process, but we're
coming back and we're going toresolve it. When we do resolve, I
think this is the other key.Leave it in the past. Don't drag
(33:14):
it with you.
Yeah, it's over, it's done.The door's closed. Exactly. Drop
that suitcase and go forward.So. Absolutely think so. Why don't
you list off all the servicesthat your Biz Rules offers to our
listeners?
Sure. What we do is helpcreate more predictable profits in
(33:34):
a business so you can grow andscale without burnout. We like to
say we're your fractional Csuite. We have a lot of subject matter
experts. We do fractional CFOwork, strategic planning, business
advising and management. Wehave the deep skills, operations,
systems, technology. And webuilt the team by bringing in our
subject matter expertsphenomenal at what they do, so we
(33:58):
can answer issues that ourclients have in the business and
get them growing to where theywant to go.
Excellent. So as we wrap uphere, Leslie, how can people find
you?
Sure. So we have a specialcase just for your audience. It's
going to be at your Biz Rules.B S, F, P. So B as in boy, S as in
(34:21):
super, F as in fans, and P forpodcasts. If you go there, you're
going to see a couple ofthings. One is we have some great
books that Scaling Rich, whichwill be releasing in 2025. Some book
guides, ways to access. Andthen if you want to talk to us about
how we can help in yourbusiness, there is the ability to
do that as well.
Great. We'll make sure that wehave that in the show notes so that
(34:43):
our audience can find it.That's a great gift that you're putting
out there. And I'M sure ourlisteners will appreciate it. It's
been a great conversation,Leslie, and we look forward to having
you on the show down the road.
Thanks so much, Freddie, forhaving me here. It was great.
Yep.
(35:09):
Hey, superfan superstarFreddie D. Here. Before we wrap,
here's your three A playbookpower move to attract ideal clients,
turn them into advocates, andaccelerate your business success.
So here's the top insight fromtoday's episode. If your business
can't thrive without you, youdon't own a business. You own a burnout
machine. So here's thebusiness growth action step. Choose
(35:30):
one task you're still clingingto and delegate it fully this week.
Freeing your time is the firststep to scaling smart and living
well. If today's conversationsparked an idea for you, or you know
of a fellow business leaderwho could benefit, share it with
them. Support Support the showwith the donation and grab the full
(35:51):
breakdown in the show notes.Let's accelerate together and start
creating business super fanswho champion your brand.
Hey, Superfan superstarFreddie D. Here in this episode 104,
we're joined by Leslie Hasler,the dynamic force behind your Biz
Rules, a consultancy thathelps small businesses unlock freedom,
profitability and sustainablegrowth. With 17 years of entrepreneur
experience and a sharp commandof marketing, finance and leadership,
(02:15):
Leslie has become a trustedguide for business owners who ready
to scale smart and live well.She's the author of first this, Then
that and a forthcoming ScalingRich, a sought after speaker on stages
like NAWBO and WBE and C E,and a proud alumni of the Goldman
(02:37):
Sachs 10K small businessprogram. Through her profitable growth
incubator, business audits andfractional CFO services, Leslie helps
entrepreneurs break throughfinancial ceilings and build businesses
that truly support the lifethey want. Get ready for an inspiring
conversation about reclaimingvision, driving profits and thriving
(03:00):
both in business and in life.
Welcome, Leslie, to theBusiness Superfans podcast. How are
you, Leslie?
I'm doing phenomenal, Freddie.Thank you for having me.
We're excited to have you onthe show and learn a little bit more
about what Biz Rules does andhow you help transform companies.
(03:24):
So what's your backstory ofhow did your Biz Rules came about?
Your Biz Rules is about what,11 years old right now. This is actually
my second business. I had aprior business that sucked my soul
dry ten ways come Sunday. Wenton a search to find out what I wanted
to be when I grew up. If itwasn't be this business, what was
(03:44):
it? And that led me into yearsroles between the two businesses.
I liken to say the first onewas a bit of my prison. It was a
self made prison. But your visroles is my playground. So it's been
a journey to get here. I'vegone through a lot of different things
in business and development asan entrepreneur, but I cannot imagine
being anywhere else.
(04:05):
So what was it that washolding you back?
Oh, I designed a businessdoing all the things that I thought
were the right things to dowhen other people were doing what
you saw. Now granted that was2007, so it's been a hot minute.
The entrepreneurial landscapedefinitely changed and shifted. But
(04:26):
what I didn't do in my firstbusiness is I didn't do the work
of understanding what wouldmake me happy the most, what my values
were. I knew what I did as aperson that I didn't know how to
translate that into a businessthat actually supported my lifestyle.
So while we had our moments ofextreme highs, extreme lows and a
high, again, had a lot ofsuccess in There at the end of it.
(04:50):
I hated going to work onMondays because I really didn't design
a business that would give mewhat I wanted from it. I think that's
normal in some ways because wesee it happen so many times that
I came into a business seekingfreedom. I did not design a business
to give me freedom. I treatedfreedom as a reward. That happened
(05:10):
someday. When I had put in mydues hustling grind and reached that
success. I didn't realize thatI could have so much more of that
from day one or day 10 ortomorrow. I really can change everything
about my business tomorrow andget it into greater alignment. I
didn't know that back then, Iknow that now. It took some hard
(05:31):
lessons, but that's in essencea lot of what we help do with our
clients. Majority of ourclients have been in business 3,
5, 10 years and they'relooking at a business, they're not
sure how it got to wherethey're at. It doesn't really support
them in the way that they wantit to. And we have to bring things
into alignment. I liken thatto driving a Fiat down the road,
(05:53):
taking it apart bit by bit andmaking sure it keeps going. That
ultimately giving you a Teslaor an Audi or a Maserati. I don't
know what it is you want, butit's doing that kind of live action
renovation in a business whileit's still operating. So you can
still enjoy all the hard workyou put into it, but get a whole
(06:14):
lot more out.
Oh, you're absolutely correct.Because you think of some people
that get started in business,they think, okay, wow, I'm a business
owner. Well, you end up reallyhaving what I call a glorified job
because you're basically doingeverything and you're working in
the business so much that youdon't have any time to work on the
(06:36):
business. And the same thingis you've got people that have been
working in corporate for yearsand then all of a sudden they retire
from corporate and they say,I'm twiddling my thumbs, it's been
about six months, I'm boredstiff, so I'm gonna start a business.
And they have no clue on howto start a business, how to run a
business, because they've beenin a corporate world and they says,
(06:57):
well, it worked there, so Ishould be able to do this. They're
basically in for a rudeawakening because as you just said,
it's not that easy. And youget caught up into the things that
you think you should be doing.Versus the thing that you should
be doing.
Yeah. We talk about aprinciple in our firm called scaling
(07:19):
rich and it's really aboutdefining quality of your life that
you live through yourbusiness. And you're correct. We
are learned how to have a joband our whole educational system
is set up to learn how to havea job, how to be a job. Graded innovation
starting to come to play. Butwith a lot of where you are is out
in real life. I alwaysremember my favorite definition of
(07:42):
a job in business is just overwork.
Yep.
Right. Because it's talkingabout all the things make a good
work or good worker, thetechnician. The job doesn't necessarily
make a good business.
Correct.
When you do get detached. ButI don't know what you've seen. I've
seen this is that our valuesystem, our self value is so wrapped
(08:05):
up in doing a good job thatit's really hard to detach and understand
that as an entrepreneur, it'snot really your job to get it done.
It's your job to ensure thatit is done and done well. It doesn't
mean you're doing, just meansit is reliable. That's part of your
delivery, part of what you'rebuilding a reputation on and basing
(08:28):
your pricing value on and allof these other things. I do think
it's part of the journey weall have to go through. If you've
never been in a businessenvironment before, you just may
not know.
You don't know what you don'tknow. I mean, the reality is you're
absolutely right on the moneythere because sometimes people get
(08:48):
in their own way becausenobody can do it as good as I can.
So it's me that's got to go doit. You know, I've Learned something
that 80% good by somebody elsedoing it is 100% good for me because
I didn't have to do it. SoI'll take 80% of the quality because
it won't be noticed anyway.But then that freed me up 100% of
(09:12):
the time to go do something else.
Yeah. And that's part of whereI think as you mature as an entrepreneur,
you start to really understandthat in order to grow, you're gonna
have to let go something youcan't scale. Yeah, exactly. And even
in my business, it's somethingwe talk about as a team is like I'm
(09:33):
getting too mired in X, whichmeans I can't do Y, which means somebody
is going to need to fill theshoes because I'm bottlenecking over
here. And If I bottleneck thebusiness, I stunt our growth. And
my job is to promote thegrowth, to create ease, to build
the team, to get us on thesame page with the vision. But that
takes a little bit. You've gotto have a certain amount of trust.
(09:57):
And I think you really alludedto that when you were talking about
nobody can do it as good asme. You got to have a certain amount
of trust and you've got to bewilling to teach somebody to be as
good as you.
Or like I said, close enoughis fine because you're not doing
it 80%, it's good enough,especially as a business owner. Focus
(10:18):
on building the business andbeing the brand of the business.
Then you can just spend thattime to scale. At the same time,
you're empowering other peopleand elevating them because you're
putting belief into them andtraining them. All of a sudden they
realize they have thisresponsibility and need to step up
their self worth and attitude.Transform. If you do it right, that's
(10:42):
the key.
Yeah. And I'm even thinking,as you're sharing this, a lot of
times, business, I can'tafford quality people, I can't pay
them, I can't give them perks,whatever the reason. And they're
really not reasons, they'reexcuses. Talking about fear. Because
what we've seen is in our ownbusiness and the work we do with
our clients to develop theirteams, you actually can get some
(11:03):
rock star people, you can getsome grade A quality people if you're
doing it the right way. Right.If you're looking for a culture fit,
if you're looking for skillfit, most people, 99% of the people
out in the world just want todo a really good job and get a thank
you. At the end of the day,they want to feel appreciated, they
want to be seen and they wantto know that they're going to have
(11:25):
an impact. When you can createthat kind of environment in a small
business, it is easy. We hadone client that when we came in,
just a lot of turnover, veryfrustrated. They were very frustrated
with their hiring process. Andwe put a lot of things in place.
Like you said, we were doingthe right things. And the client
was talking, she goes, youwill not believe this. I was having
a bad day and somebody came inand they looked at me and they looked
(11:49):
at what was on my desk andthey went, I am taking this from
you. I will do it and I willreturn to you. When do you want it,
bud? And walked out the doorlike, didn't Even take a moment to
let the owner fight with themabout whether or not they should
or could. But they wereempowered and they were confident.
They had been training.
You said a couple things rightthere. One is empowered, confident.
(12:11):
And what you just described iswhat I call creating internal super
fans. And that's where itreally starts. You really want to
create super fans of the teambecause if the team loves the company
they're at and appreciates thefact that they're being recognized,
empowered, appreciate it andeverything else. That whole energy,
(12:35):
that whole mindset transformsthat whole energy of the company.
So now when you're talking toprospective customers, that energy
comes across and we've allcommunicated with someone, and that's
flat. And you go, well, notsure about these people. You get
that feeling like we can sensethings. But then you recall somebody
(12:56):
and they're all bubbly andsuper excited. Hey, good morning.
Glad you called. How can wehelp? Oh, man. Wow. What's going
on? Were attracted to that.
Infections.
Yes. So now, you know, thattransforms the team. And from the
team that goes on toprospective customers, which in turn
become customers. It snowballsbecause the customers have a great
(13:18):
onboarding experience, so theyshare it with everybody else. Your
business can exponentiallygrow, and you're not spending a ton
of money doing it.
Yeah. And this is one of thepoints of momentum in a business
that most people don't thinkof our terminologies. Talk about
the upward spiral, because youcan have momentum that spirals positively,
you can have momentum thatspirals negatively. Right. Consciously
(13:41):
thinking of that as a strategyfor the longevity of your business,
that I think a lot of businessdon't realize that they have as a
superpower, as you'redescribing it. I was thinking of.
We went to two conferenceslast year. We did booths. I brought
team members because A, we'rean entirely virtual environment,
so anytime we can get togetheris always a good thing. But B, so
(14:02):
that they could see frontlines. You know, some of my people
are behind the scenes. Some ofthem are front of the house. But
it was so awesome to see themconfident enough to start a conversation
with a complete stranger.Wonderful for me to take a step back
and just watch. Like, justwatch them in action and their energy
and how they communicated. Andit was a test to me. Did all the
(14:25):
things we've invested in ourteam make sense? Are they internalizing
it in such a way that they canput it back out there in the world?
Your point? You're much morehappy to place for some greet you
with a smile than if you walkin and the person's always grumpy.
These little details and don'tcost you things. They cost you a
bit of time and tension. Butcomparatively, it cost you not be
(14:48):
able.
I mean, absolutely. One of myquotes in my book is people crawl
through broken glass forappreciation, recognition.
Yeah, true that.
And I look at it as the littlethings are the big things. You recognize
somebody on their birthday,you compliment somebody, or as we
talked earlier, you empowersomebody that you don't think is
(15:11):
qualified for the job. Butwhat you don't know is that person
might be dying for anopportunity to show who they really
are. Just nobody ever giventhem the opportunity to open the
door for them and says, oh,hey, let me see what you can do.
I've seen that transformpeople where you say, man, they're
(15:32):
never going to do this, andyou give it to them anyway, and all
of a sudden they surprise youand you go, man, they knocked it
out of the ballpark. Whathappened to this person? You just
empowered them. And they'vebeen dying for that opportunity.
Yeah, or hiring for a fewpositions. And last week I was going
through resume. I think I had200 resumes to review. Important
(15:54):
to me, who we hire, becausewe're still a small company, what
would be considered a smalltribe. Everybody knows each other,
so those interpersonalrelationships are key. That's why
I look at the resumes, becauseI feel like I'm the guardian of that
in the business. Going throughthem, you can tell people that are
phoning it in. That's an easyno. But there's such a preponderance
(16:15):
of people that are justlooking for the opportunity for something
better. And not everybodyqualified, not everybody had transferable
skills, because I can teachyou, but I need to see some things,
and on a sheet of paper,you're making some decisions. It
was like, there's a hundredpeople I wish I had a job for, just
to give them the chance tostep into their best version of themselves.
(16:40):
Because there are so many morepeople willing to put in the hard
work time on their own to dothe learning to have a chance at
something better. This getsback to our mission. We're here to
help people be better atbusiness. Anytime I see somebody
that wants better, I'm like,how can I make that happen for you?
If you feel good and whole,you pay it forward and do better
(17:01):
in the world. When we havemore of that, we start to have a
positive impact in the world.That impact and legacy is what we're
truly after, at least in Our business.
Yep. So that is a perfectsegue into you sharing a story about
how you helped transform oneof your customers.
(17:23):
There's so many great storiesto choose from. I think a lot of
times a common place that willcome into a business tends to be
in the mid six figures.Somebody that's had some success,
maybe a small team, but thebusiness owner is about to burn out.
Going down in flames. Afirefighter's not gonna put you out.
You feel burned out. Andthey're coming to us just to. Because
(17:44):
they gotta find a better way.They just haven't been able to. We
had a professional servicesfirm in about this area and just
working really hard, notmaking the money that they wanted
to make, but couldn'tnecessarily feel like they could
afford the team that theywanted to hire. There's that rock
and hard spot where you'relike, I can't work any harder and
I don't have the money to paythe people. I want to get out of
(18:05):
this role. And so you feellike pinned, not knowing what to
do next. This is a case whereone of the first things we do with
our clients is a businessaudit. We go into a super deep dive
into the nuts and bolts of thebusiness. And we're looking for opportunity.
We're looking for cash thatmaybe individually like penny, but
when you add together, it's100 bucks. Now, what if that was
(18:27):
$100,000? Because sometimes wefound that too. But it's so dispersed
in different ways that it getsdiscounted. So we're looking for
ways to activate the cash andto find the easiest path to get them
to what they said they want.This is a case where we did that.
What we found is that they hadcapacity. It's really interesting.
Capacity as an issue,especially with teams, is oftentimes
(18:52):
people can feel busy, but theystill have capacity. If you ask your
team, can you do more, they'regoing to say, no, my plate is full,
I'm busy. Busy isn't the sameas productivity. And so we sometimes
can see where people areinvesting their time. Going back
to the beginning of thisconversation, corporate mentality
(19:13):
is to look busy. If you don'thave something to work on, you're
going to look busy. You'regoing to find something to use your
time for. Sometimes when wehave too much time, we allow our
tasks to stretch. It's aprofit drain. We call it time slippage,
but it stretches the billyavailable time. What we often see,
even the teams that feel likethey're really busy, only working
(19:35):
at 60% capacity. Well, I don'tneed you at a hundred percent because
a hundred percent is notsustainable. People get sick, go
on vacation. The 80% goingback to our 80%. If you're at 60
and we can get you to 80%,just different. Right? And suddenly
we have the money. Suddenly wecan invest in those key staff members.
(19:56):
Suddenly we can invest intechnology systems. And this is a
client where we took her fromabout the mid six figures to 2 million
in nine months. She was ready.She did not feel that was possible.
We argued, you know, friendlyargued, but she was like, that's
not possible. And I was like,actually, I think it is. It's just
(20:16):
that all the signals you couldsee said no. But what you didn't
see is all the yeses. So doyou want to play? Because even if
we don't get there, thetimeframe is still going to be better
than where you are today. Goahead. You were going to say something.
What's important is to get buyin from everybody on the team. That's
where business ownerssometimes fail. They say, I am going
(20:38):
to grow the business. Butnobody else knows that. That's the
vision. Nobody else has anyidea of what the mission or direction
is. If you empower and sharethat information, you get everybody
into the same rowboat. Thinkof boat racing, where people are
rowing. They have to be insync. You get all those people into
(20:58):
the same direction with thesame vision, everybody's gonna level
up a notch because they wannahelp that goal. And then you put
a carrot up there, it says,okay, if we hit this number or this
achievement, we're gonnacelebrate with everybody. Because
you can't do it by yourself.You need the team.
Yeah, exactly. That remindsme, we had a client that we've been
(21:20):
working with for a coupleyears. One of the things we wanted
to do was inject a revenuediversification, a new service offering.
They were on board but not onboard. You know, kind of a thing
like, well, that sounds nice,but will it really do anything? And
it was hilarious because atone point we're working on like,
guys, it's taking us sixmonths. When are we going to get
this in the market? We had anopportunity where the owners went
on vacation. We're like, letus meet with your team in the midtime.
(21:43):
In the meantime, let us sharethis with your team. Let us talk
to your team about this. So wedid. We wound up talking to their
appointment center, who wasall on board. We're like, okay, how
many do you think you cansell? She was like, Let me answer
some questions. I'm excited ofthis. We need this. And then Stephanie,
she sold 20 of these packagesin weeks, and she's, I didn't even
(22:06):
think we'd sell three. That'swhy it took so long for us to get
out there. Now I'm like, canyou ask your team member what her
goal is? She and her teammember will go through and say, how
many should I sell this week,this month? Go for 40. To your point,
a lot of business owners don'tknow what that looks like. You could
turn around and say, we'regoing to grow. I have to tell your
team what you're going to do.They're like, yes. I ask the team,
(22:28):
do you understand what we'redoing? They go, no.
Nope.
We definitely enjoy when wecan involve the team and we can be
the mouthpiece for a littlebit so we can share and show what
education looks like. This iswhat empowerment looks like in engagement.
And then just watch. Becausehere's the funny thing happens when
the owners do it from ourperspective, the team either lights
(22:51):
up or shuts down. Usually it's99% of the team that lights up and
one person shuts down.
There's always that one.
Right. But it's either thatone. Like, we'll work with resistance.
We understand that. Butgenerally, too much resistance means
it's not a good fit.
Right.
And we find the quiet businesskiller because it's out of alignment
(23:13):
with where the business isheading and the owners and a multitude
of things. Right. But there'sjust so much power in treating your
team like adults.
It goes further than that,too, Leslie, is the fact that they
may have ideas that you had noinclination of whatsoever, but they're
(23:37):
busy looking and doing andworking, and they go, you know, this
is a pain in the butt. If wecould do this this particular way
or that way, this would saveme so much time. And a lot of times
owners will go, I'm notinterested in your idea. This is
how we've done it. This is howwe're doing it. You've just disempowered
that person. So you justkilled their energy. And the reality
(24:00):
is you just missed out onprobably something that could have
completely trans transformedyour business, or at least that section
of the business, into a muchmore profitable center. And I shared
it because I was working witha particular company not too long
ago, and there was a personhaving some challenges because they
got chastised publicly by themanagement team. So their self esteem
(24:24):
was pretty much crushed. Theyvirtually quit when they came up
to me to tell me that theyquit, I talked them out of it and
just said, you're going toreport to me and I'll deal with the
blocking back and I'll keepyou protected. They also had some
depression challenges. I'lljust say it out there, okay?
Yes.
And what I did is I empoweredthis person. I gave them more responsibilities
(24:48):
so they didn't have time toget all worked out and everything
else. Because I empowered him,I believed in him. And that person
came up with ideas to improvethis department and they contributed
to growing that department ina year's time by about 125%. So it
was doing about 100,000 forthat department. It ended up for
(25:10):
that year $225,000. They grewby $125,000 in revenue because they
got empowered, believed inthem, and got out of their way.
Yeah. Well, I do think thatthe people of the business, your
team, part of that equation,we consider the strategic partners,
(25:32):
your vendors, your client andyour team all to be the people of
the business. We want thiswinning environment because your
job as an entrepreneur is notto do all the work, it's to ensure
that the work gets done. Whichmeans you've got to get out of the.
Yeah, you got to empowerpeople. You got to create super fans.
(25:54):
And what you mentioned is whatI call total experience, which is
encompassing all stakeholdersinto the equation because they're
all involved. If you recognizea supplier, for example, and you
take care of that supplier andyou're in a bind and then someone
else is also requesting stuffat the same time, who are they going
(26:16):
to consider to take care of?They're going to take care of the
person that takes care ofthem, that appreciates them and everything
else. So the math is realsimple. Doing it is actually really
simple. You just got to do it.
You have to have theintention. And it can't be a chore.
If you view it as a chore,then it's going to be the last thing
you want to do. But if you seethe power like what you and I are
(26:38):
discussing so much of today,then it's a no brainer. It's just
like it's what you do becauseat the end of the day, it's what
works and works well. It worksin all situations. Even if you have
a bad day, you're given alittle grace to have a bad day because
you've given other peoplegrace to have a bad day. I believe
(26:59):
that too many peopleunderutilize their suppliers and
vendor, instead of sayingwe're paying for product, how are
we not using the product toits full advantage? We pay for the
system, but how could we getmore value from this? It's that constant
conversation knowing that wedon't know it all. So me, I make
sure we're using this 110%,we're utilizing everything to this
(27:23):
capability. Show me how we canbe a resource into my business. I
think for a lot of people,they care enough answer that question
and they're gonna feel goodabout the impede in New York.
Yep, absolutely. Spot on. SoLeslie, what would be a good tip
(27:44):
for our listeners that arebusiness owners that they can look
at themselves and take a timeout and that they could do to assess
where they're at.
In terms of their team ortheir business as a whole?
Let's go with in terms oftheir team. Because no team, no business.
(28:06):
Pretty much, I'll say when itcomes to the team, would you be willing
to have your team do a 360review of you? It's being vulnerable,
right? But if you areabsolutely terrified of what they
might say, might be anindicator that you need to take a
look at some things. Right.Straight up might be an indicator.
(28:28):
If your general feeling isthat people try to take advantage
of you, you might need to takea look at things because it is going
to stall and impact yourbusiness in ways you don't even understand.
You're spinning your wheels,you're wasting money and time. It
doesn't have to be that way.So on the opposite side of awareness,
(28:51):
write that perfect team, whatthat would look like and feel like.
What would happen at thebeginning of your day if you're in
office and in real life withpeople? What happened the moment
you walk through the door? Howwould the day go? How would your
interactions go with yourteam? I think to our point is people
don't put enough intentionaround what they're trying to create.
(29:13):
And so we do have to do somevisioning around what it is that
we ultimately want. I will letyou know. Here we are in 2025. I
have had a team that wentwrong. It's the only way that I can
sit here and tell you how Icome to go. Right. Because I've done
the wrong thing where my teamgot together on Friday night and
(29:34):
complained about me overdrinks. I never want that to happen
again. I never want to be thereason that people complain about
business. They may not behappy with me all the time, but that's
a colder issue. Right. Theydidn't feel that they could share
and that we really care as ateam. If I hadn't gone through that
(29:56):
experience, wouldn't be ableto say, this is what I want. I want
a team that workscollaboratively. I know that we handle
situations the day that theyhappen, not a year later, and let
things fester. I know theseare the aspects of my team because
I sat down and really thoughtabout them or I admired it in somebody
(30:17):
else's team. So I think youneed to do that evaluation regularly
and think about the vision ofthe team and when we can always be
improving and doing better andhow you as the owner can grow as
a leader and as a manager.
Absolutely spot on. When we'veworked in corporate America, we've
all gone out and had abeverage or two, and definitely the
(30:41):
conversation was notuplifting. It was everybody venting
about things they didn't like,things that should be better and
everything else, but nobodywould ever listen to them. So you're
absolutely right on the moneybecause that's negative energy. Even
though they're at the barhaving that conversation, it's still
(31:01):
Monday. When they come backinto the office. That mindset is
still there, and it's probablyworse. It was a collaborative discussion
going this way versus thisway. And so you come into Monday
and you're still thinking ofall the stuff that was talked about
on Friday night that everybodyvented. You're going completely this
(31:22):
way in the business culture.
Yeah, it's insidious. It's atime of cancer. This can have the
cancer into cancer. It is thatdeadly. I've lived through it. You
don't want to be there at all.And it's so easy not to be there.
It just takes learning andsome guides along the way that help
you tweak and manage and learnhow to be better. But every time
(31:45):
your business grows, you'regoing to be forced to grow as well.
Yeah. And you got to have somethick skin because you have to take
some negative statements aboutyourself as a leader. And you got
to be open to that criticism.And you cannot chastise for that
criticism. You've got toencourage it so that you can become
a better leader.
(32:05):
Because we are human and we dofeel things. Even as the owner, my
team give ways of discussingthings. We have frameworks that we
taught each other and use. Oneof the things I always say is, I
do react emotionally. I knowthat about myself. So if I ask for
a day or two of space so thatI can process and come back to you,
that's All I'm asking for,like, I want to address it, but sometimes
(32:28):
I need time to process becausewhat I heard, I got an emotional
charge from. I'm morecommitted to resolving the issue,
but I need a couple days toprocess through it. Generally, I
can come back to it and say, Isee where this happened. I see what
I did to contribute. Pleaseknow that this was my intention,
this is what I'm going to workon, and vice versa. If it's the reverse,
(32:51):
I don't expect a responseright then and there. And if it's
a case, we're just not goingto let things lie. So we're going
to address it. We'll talkabout it in a moment. And when you
talk about it in a moment,it's this big versus, you know, if
we need space to process, wetake the space to process, but we're
coming back and we're going toresolve it. When we do resolve, I
think this is the other key.Leave it in the past. Don't drag
(33:14):
it with you.
Yeah, it's over, it's done.The door's closed. Exactly. Drop
that suitcase and go forward.So. Absolutely think so. Why don't
you list off all the servicesthat your Biz Rules offers to our
listeners?
Sure. What we do is helpcreate more predictable profits in
(33:34):
a business so you can grow andscale without burnout. We like to
say we're your fractional Csuite. We have a lot of subject matter
experts. We do fractional CFOwork, strategic planning, business
advising and management. Wehave the deep skills, operations,
systems, technology. And webuilt the team by bringing in our
subject matter expertsphenomenal at what they do, so we
(33:58):
can answer issues that ourclients have in the business and
get them growing to where theywant to go.
Excellent. So as we wrap uphere, Leslie, how can people find
you?
Sure. So we have a specialcase just for your audience. It's
going to be at your Biz Rules.B S, F, P. So B as in boy, S as in
(34:21):
super, F as in fans, and P forpodcasts. If you go there, you're
going to see a couple ofthings. One is we have some great
books that Scaling Rich, whichwill be releasing in 2025. Some book
guides, ways to access. Andthen if you want to talk to us about
how we can help in yourbusiness, there is the ability to
do that as well.
Great. We'll make sure that wehave that in the show notes so that
(34:43):
our audience can find it.That's a great gift that you're putting
out there. And I'M sure ourlisteners will appreciate it. It's
been a great conversation,Leslie, and we look forward to having
you on the show down the road.
Thanks so much, Freddie, forhaving me here. It was great.
Yep.
(35:09):
Hey, superfan superstarFreddie D. Here. Before we wrap,
here's your three A playbookpower move to attract ideal clients,
turn them into advocates, andaccelerate your business success.
So here's the top insight fromtoday's episode. If your business
can't thrive without you, youdon't own a business. You own a burnout
machine. So here's thebusiness growth action step. Choose
(35:30):
one task you're still clingingto and delegate it fully this week.
Freeing your time is the firststep to scaling smart and living
well. If today's conversationsparked an idea for you, or you know
of a fellow business leaderwho could benefit, share it with
them. Support Support the showwith the donation and grab the full
(35:51):
breakdown in the show notes.Let's accelerate together and start
creating business super fanswho champion your brand.
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