Built To Lead

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/⁠

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

Customers don’t buy for your brand because of a clever ad. They do it because of how your business runs when you’re not in the room. Bella Moro has grown mycavoodle into a seven-figure e-commerce brand with a small, values-led team and today her customers recommend her products without being asked. I wanted to get Bella on the show to talk about exactly how she’s done that, including the way she’s hired, delegated and structured her people so that the brand keeps building trust and revenue even when she’s not involved in every conversation. Key moments: 0:00 - How Bella scaled to seven figures with a lean team and what her structure actually looks like behind the scenes 8:21 - How she protected her cashflow in the early stages of scaling her business 11:45 - The moment desperation forced Bella to hire and why waiting until you feel “ready” can hold you back 13:09 - Why she started delegating before having the perfect system 16:06 - How Bella decides whether something should be automated, systemised, or owned by a real person 21:54 - What it was like giving over customer communication to another person 25:27 - To two things Bella focuses on when hiring to ensure a high-performing offshore team 29:58 - How she leads a seven-figure business in three working days a week without burning the team out 34:54 - The habits that are actively improving Bella’s leadership instead of leaving it to chance 37:59 - The marketing shift that helped her to grow even faster 43:58 - How Bella built brand loyalty strong enough that customers now sell for her 48:20 - The next phase of growth and what doubling revenue will require operationally 54:36 - The three hires Bella would make again 56:40 - The one mindset shift e-commerce founders need to survive the messy ride Follow along with mycavoodle at www.mycavoodle.com.au or over on Facebook here and IG @mycavoodle.com.au. If you want more of Bella herself, check her out on IG @bellamoro_ 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

Building a team sounds simple in theory. Hire good people. Delegate well. Free up your time. But it’s rarely as simple as that. Nick Sinclair has scaled his accounting business TOA to more than 4,500 team members across five countries, and scaled it to over $140 million dollars. A major part of that growth has come from building an offshore team that isn’t treated like cheap labour but like a core part of the business. In this episode, we unpack how he structured it, how he hires for capability and leadership overseas, and what founders need to get right internally before offshore will actually reduce pressure instead of creating more of it. Key moments: 0:00 - The hardest season of building TOA and what it taught Nick about leading a fast-growing business while everything feels unstable 11:51 - What to look for in a leader if you want your company to run without you, not just around you 13:40 - Why Nick is now exploring acquisitions and how to think about growth once organic scaling isn’t enough 18:40 - The real reason offshore hires fail for most founders and how to avoid becoming the problem yourself 22:43 - The level of high-skill, senior work overseas teams can actually handle when you train and structure it properly 25:14 - Why going deep in one niche made scaling simpler, more profitable AND easier to systemise 29:30 - The first role you should outsource if you’re overwhelmed and need immediate capacity back 32:51 -The specific tasks to hand to an EA in the first 30–60 days so they actually reduce your load 36:33 - How to maintain standards and consistency with an offshore EA without micromanaging them 39:37 - How Nick structured TOA so the business could operate without him being in every decision 41:32 -What to do if you can’t stop jumping back in and unintentionally becoming the bottleneck 43:21 - The leadership lesson Nick learned after nearly firing senior team members over a process mistake 46:09 - The one core metric Nick tracks now that he’s stepped back from daily operations 49:02 - The order of hires early-stage founders should follow to protect delivery and avoid burnout 56:10 - The culture and engagement plan that keeps offshore teams loyal motivated and aligned with the rest of your business 1:02:00 - How to handle resistance from your onshore team when introducing offshore support If you want to know more what TOA are doing, visit the website www.toaglobal.com/au/. And if you want more of Nick, then check out his IG @nicksinclair_ or on Linkedin 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

What happens when you’re working 100 hours in your business, and then one day at a cafe you start feeling pressure on your chest… and it turns out that you’re having a heart attack. You’re only 40. That’s exactly what happened to Andrew Handosa (Doza for short) and he realised he needed to change everything about how he lived his life and ran his business. He fired his clients, started going on solo CEO retreats and now he has one of the fastest growing businesses in Australia. Not only that but he’s built out his team to 30 people in 2025 (all of which are just as committed to his vision) and he even took them to Hawaii in December because they all worked towards his company vision and absolutely smashed it. So how did he turn his life and company around? That’s what I’m asking him today. Key moments: 0:00 - The moment when Doza couldn’t tell his pregnant wife that they were completely broke 4:13 - The time Doza caught a team member stealing and sleeping on the job 8:52 - The moment that changed everything for him… 16:20 - Why firing his clients and changing his entire business model was one of the best things he did 18:46 - Why Doza put $250k back into the business 20:02 - The 70% decision rule that Doza uses to take action on his ideas rather than wait till he’s ready 23:08 - How to know if you’re accidentally setting your team up to fail 26:00 - The Geronimo Vision Book: How Doza creates a vision his team WANT to participate in 33:39 - Doza’s hiring funnel and why he talks candidates out of taking the job 35:42 - The importance of offshore teams and how to nurture them in your company 39:10 - The stuff founders should NOT be doing if they want to get time back from the business 40:35 - How Doza coaches his clients to become better leaders 46:00 - Separation Sunday: the way Doza and his team stay on track towards their company AND their personal goals each week (it’s a game changer) 56:50 - If Doza had to start from scratch what are the first three roles he would hire for Message Doza on IG @hey.doza ‘empire-jess’ to get his company vision Empire 28 and see how you can apply it to your own business. 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/

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/