In this episode, host Josh Elledge interviews Lyndsay Stafford—founder and CEO of Stafford Solutions—to explore the essential building blocks entrepreneurs often overlook. Lyndsay shares insights from her corporate retail background and her work helping small business owners create clarity, strengthen their branding, and build systems that support long-term growth. Her perspective offers grounded guidance for business owners who feel overwhelmed and want a clearer path to scaling sustainably and confidently.
Lyndsay explains that many entrepreneurs struggle because they attempt to grow without establishing core foundational elements such as documented processes, consistent brand messaging, and organized operations. Without these essentials, even the best marketing efforts fall flat because the business lacks the structure needed to support visibility, lead flow, and client experience. She encourages business owners to start by performing internal audits of their branding and systems, ensuring every touchpoint—from online presence to client onboarding—reflects a cohesive, professional identity before investing more heavily in marketing.
She also discusses the importance of maintaining a strong and intentional online presence, emphasizing that outdated websites, inactive profiles, and misaligned advertising can erode trust. Lyndsay stresses the value of strategic content creation, setting healthy boundaries with social media use, and delegating platform management to experts when possible. By prioritizing creation over consumption and developing a sustainable posting strategy, business owners can strengthen authority and become the obvious choice in their market.
Finally, Lyndsay highlights the growing role of fractional services in supporting small business growth, especially for companies not yet ready to hire full-time specialists. Fractional support provides access to branding experts, operations strategists, and marketing professionals without the financial burden of full-time salaries. This approach allows entrepreneurs to accelerate growth, streamline execution, and focus on the activities that generate the highest return—making it one of the most powerful resources for businesses under $1M in revenue.
Lyndsay Stafford is the founder and CEO of Stafford Solutions, where she helps entrepreneurs develop branding, marketing strategies, and operational systems that fuel sustainable business growth. With a background in corporate retail and a passion for empowering small business owners, Lyndsay provides strategic consulting, fractional support, and hands-on implementation to help companies scale with confidence. Connect with her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyndsay-stafford/
Stafford Solutions (https://lyndsaystafford.com) provides branding, marketing strategy, operations consulting, and fractional support services for small and midsize businesses. The company specializes in building foundational systems, elevating brand identity, and helping entrepreneurs become the first choice in their market through cohesive messaging and consistent visibility. With both advisory and done-for-you services, Stafford Solutions gives business owners the tools and implementation needed to grow sustainably.
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.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
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