How Great Operators Turn Complexity into Growth with Jennifer Goldman

About this episode

Jennifer Goldman shares insights on running profitable advisory firms and the role of technology in operations.

Episode 133: This week, Kyle Van Pelt talks with Jennifer Goldman, Founder and Strategic Operations Transformer and Integrator at My Virtual COO. Jen is an operations expert with 30 years of experience helping 1,000+ service businesses to thrive. Jen talks with Kyle about what it really takes to run a profitable, scalable advisory firm. From defining what makes a truly great operator to navigating the messy middle of firm growth, Jen shares practical insights on constellation thinking, building operational leaders, and making hard profitability decisions. She also dives into the emotional and structural crossroads firms face as they scale, the evolving role of technology and AI in operations, and why clean data and strong systems still require human ownership. In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (03:33) - Jen's money moment (06:39) - What it takes to be a great operator (08:55) - How "constellation thinking" works (12:19) - Balancing SOPs with creativity in operations (14:42) - The profitability challenges in the growth process (16:57) - What determines whether you should build or join a platform (21:42) - How Jen utilizes AI in her work (23:01) - Why AI can't replace CRMs (27:27)…

People in this episode

Host: Kyle Van Pelt

Guest: Jennifer Goldman

Topics covered

• operations
• business growth
• technology
• AI
• profitability
• advisory firms

Keywords

• operations expert
• constellation thinking
• firm growth
• AI in operations
• clean data
• SOPs
• profitability challenges

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: My Virtual COO

More episodes of Next Mile

• How to Build a Scalable Firm Without Tech Overload with Dan Johnson · June 9, 2026 · 35 min
• The Hidden Economics Behind High-Growth Advisory Firms with Patrick Kelly · June 2, 2026 · 46 min
• How Modern RIAs Can Scale Fast with Vib Arya and Sean Meighan · May 26, 2026 · 36 min
• The Hidden Infrastructure Powering Modern Advisory Firms with Aaron Wormus · May 19, 2026 · 34 min
• The Difference Between Growing Fast and Growing Well with Tim Gavin · May 12, 2026 · 33 min
• Growth, Alignment, and the Future of Advisor-Led Wealth Firms with Scott Schwartz · May 5, 2026 · 46 min