The Hidden Cost of Being Buried in the Work

by noeh.tSalePosted on Comments are Disabled

Founder Bottleneck: Why You’re Solving the Wrong Problems as You Scale

“Many leaders don’t struggle because they lack drive. They struggle because they’re too close to the work to see what really matters.”

That opening line captures a reality many founder-led professional service firms face as they grow from $3M to $50M and beyond.

Growth increases complexity. Complexity increases noise. And when leaders stay buried in execution, they start solving the wrong problems.

When Everything Feels Urgent, Nothing Is Strategic

Sergio Santinelli, COO of Baseline, described stepping into complex operations that felt “messy, overloaded,” with “a lot of motion but not enough clarity.”

This is common in scaling firms:

  • Requests from every direction
  • Compliance and revenue pressures colliding
  • Teams debating solutions
  • Founders wearing multiple hats

When you are “receiving a lot of noise from all the different sides,” you default to busy work instead of strategic thinking.

Urgency replaces prioritization.

That is how the founder bottleneck forms.

The Pattern: Collect the Noise, Then Create Space

Sergio shared a simple but powerful process.

First: collect all the noise.
Acknowledge what feels on fire. List the signals instead of reacting.

Second: create space.
Take a walk. Remove yourself physically from urgency. Force abstraction.

That distance allows you to ask the right question:

“What are we actually trying to solve?”

Without space, leaders react.
With space, patterns emerge.

Clarity does not come from pushing harder. It comes from stepping back.

Trade-Off Thinking vs. Reactive Thinking

In regulated environments like fintech and lending, decisions carry layered trade-offs:

  • Revenue impact
  • Operational cost
  • Risk exposure
  • Cost of waiting

Instead of reacting emotionally, Sergio described assigning scale values to these variables and quantifying trade-offs. He emphasized evaluating reversibility and asking what outcome you are truly optimizing for.

Are you optimizing for revenue? Certainty? Guidance? Risk reduction?

Without structured trade-off thinking, urgency wins.
With it, prioritization becomes disciplined.

The Execution Hub Problem

Scaling often fails not because teams lack talent, but because founders remain the cognitive hub.

When team members bring problems without proposals, leadership bandwidth collapses.

Sergio’s rule is direct:

“What’s your proposal?”

That shift transfers ownership. It forces structured thinking at the edge of execution. It reduces decision fatigue and strengthens accountability.

Delegation is not complete until thinking transfers.

If you are still the final interpreter of every decision, you are still the bottleneck.

Checklists Reduce Cognitive Load

In lending operations, document reviews became circular. The same loan file required repeated mental processing.

The solution was not effort. It was structure.

Formalized checklists removed repeated decision-making and reduced cognitive drag.

For professional service firms, this applies directly to:

  • Client onboarding
  • CRM follow-ups
  • Reporting workflows
  • Document coordination

If you repeatedly solve the same issue, the problem is not capacity. It is missing structure.

Structure protects focus. Focus protects leadership bandwidth.

Context Before Autonomy

Sergio also emphasized onboarding with deep context.

When new hires understand the broader objective, they make stronger decisions independently. Without context, escalations increase and founders remain trapped in clarification loops.

Ownership is built through context.

When people understand the “why,” they bring solutions instead of questions.

Connect With the Guest

To learn more about Sergio Santinelli and his work at Baseline:

Website: https://www.baselinesoftware.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergiosantinelliv/?locale=en_US

The Immediate Move

Sergio Santinelli’s perspective reinforces a simple truth: proximity is the constraint in most growing firms.

When leaders stay buried in execution, clarity disappears. When clarity disappears, prioritization breaks down. When prioritization breaks down, growth feels heavier instead of cleaner.

Protecting leadership bandwidth requires:

Intentional distance
Defined decision frameworks
Structured trade-off evaluation
Clear ownership at the edge of execution
Systems that reduce repeated cognitive load

Growth should increase clarity, not compress your time.

If it feels heavier, that is the signal to rebuild structure — not push harder.

Create space. Define the real constraint. Transfer ownership. Then move.

Watch this before you hire your next support role.

Book a discovery call to see how the right executive support helps you scale with clarity, alignment, and control without burnout or chaos. Click here to subscribe.

Full Podcast Transcript

Hey everybody, welcome back to the Scale Smart Grow Fast podcast. Now, many leaders don’t struggle because they lack drive. They struggle because they’re too close to the work to see what really matters. Today, I’m joined by the COO of Baseline, who has scaled regulated fintech operations across multiple markets. We’re going to talk about why leaders often end up solving the wrong problems and how stepping back, building the right systems and creating operational space leads to clearer decisions, stronger execution and scalable growth. Welcome to the podcast. How are you today?

Thank you so much. Excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

It’s our pleasure. Now, tell us a little bit more about your background. What brought you to what you’re doing today at Baseline?

Thank you. So it’s actually quite interesting because I spend most of my career just stepping into business with complex operations. I’ve been in lending, obviously the SaaS now at baseline, and some other type of operations, usually, sometimes they feel messy, overloaded, and I’m just naturally drawn to solving these problems where there’s a lot of motion but not enough clarity.

into what we should be doing. So just quick, quick, story is that early in my career, I actually used to joke that there’s three roles where you never want to be in. Number one is operations, projects, and maintenance. And that’s because all the time you have that responsibility, but when everything goes well, no one actually gives you any credit for those. And exactly. But when something goes wrong,

goalkeeper.

You’re just observing all the blame, even if you had nothing to do with it, right? Just sometimes things break and but in any case those three roles you always they want to blame so Naturally, my intention was never to be part of operations, right? Which later in life, you know, I realized that some of my strengths Just kept me coming back into resolving this type of problems particularly when there was a lot of

you know, lot of motion, not enough clarity, feel things felt messy overloaded. And I instinctively step back and abstract myself from some of those, you know, problems, the noise, and that system of creating distance allowed me to see the problem more clearly. And that’s where I started to differentiate in some of the patterns and identifying the constraints.

And basically that’s what’s keeping me back into operations and the opportunity of bringing obviously that structure to the complexity and sometimes how it pays clarity.

Now, let’s dive into that a little bit. Maybe you could share or expand kind of what that aha moment was when you first realized that like being too deep in the work was actually limiting the leadership effectiveness.

Absolutely. So I think, I think there is, there’s a couple of moments in my life when I realized that, but let me go back into school for the very first one. Right. So I, I’m a mechanical engineer by training. So when I w when I was at school studying, there were some times where, you know, the problem was so complex that there was no clear answer on how to solve it. And that’s when I started realizing that just taking a step back and acknowledging what the problem was.

sometimes even sharing the problem with someone that had no clue of what you were trying to explain them help a lot. And that abstraction of the problem now consistently became part of my life. Later on in life, various roles, I was able to identify precisely that moment where there was this complex operation, we were, you know, drowning in requests or something in a system that broke specifically.

And I caught myself immediately taking a step back and say, okay, wait, what’s the actual deal? What are we trying to solve here? And that’s when I realized like, okay. So this is actually the process where I default to into solving or identifying what the problem is, or trying to bring some space between the problem and myself to really, you know, promote that clarity and understanding of the.

Yeah, I’m glad you mentioned that kind of stepping back and like trying to see what the real problem is. And, many leaders out there are often buried in the execution of the business. What types of problems do you see them consistently trying to solve? And maybe why are they not the real constraints or problems that they should be looking at?

I think that’s a great question. That’s primarily because when everything is urgent, nothing feels important enough, right? So you’re actually just receiving a lot of noise from all the different sides that you’re, you know, as an entrepreneur, you’re holding multiple hats at the same time, right? So there’s a bunch of things that seem to be urgent and you’re just, you know, doing busy work all the time before really stepping back into understanding, okay.

Yes.

What are the things that I should be actually solving and the things that, know, yeah, I mean, they’re urgent, but they’re probably not the most urgent thing and will nothing happen. if you decide not to. So yeah, I can, I can step and, and, know, dive deeper into how sometimes I resolve based on that problem. If you want me to go there, right. Awesome. So, for the most part, way I process this is.

Yeah, let’s do it.

The very first approach that I take is just collect all the noise. Sometimes you just have to take it in. Collect all the noise. You understand, yes, this is on fire. This is on fire. This other thing is on fire. Or apparently, it seems to be on fire. And then you take all that noise and you create some space. And that space sometimes is a physical space. So you go out, take a walk. A quick walk sometimes helps clear your mind. It’s like that.

Mm-hmm.

removes that all that urgency and it’s a five minute walk to really understand, okay, this is the thing that I should be solving, right? Summary times is it’s way more complex than that. It’s, and, and it’s not something that you can resolve within the five minute walk. So in that case, what I like to do or what I default doing is precisely taking that, explain the problem approach. Right. And when you’re explaining this, I usually

You know, I used to call my mom right back in the day, but nowadays it’s just like, just take someone that is willing to listen to the problem without providing too much of an advice. I’m not looking for advice. I’m not looking for solutions. I’m just looking for someone to react to the way I’m explaining the problem. And that helps a lot because, you know, it forces all these noise into a pattern and it forces your brain into providing something articulated for someone else to explain. Right. So I’m, if I’m facing, let’s say.

problem with a lot of issues in one particular aspect of our platform these days. I’ll just take a step back and say, hey, listen, listen to me. This is a problem that I’m facing and I just go and these are all the noise. These are all the signals that I’m taking. This is all, you know, the problem that seems to be popping up. And that usually creates the pattern that I was looking for. Like it helps me bridge those gaps of my understanding.

And helps my brain, you know, start connecting by words, connecting the problem when data actually does not help. Right. I usually default to, the missing questions. So when, when I go through these exercises and I still don’t have the answer, that usually means that I don’t have the answers to all the questions that I’m looking at. So it’s like, okay, what are, what is.

Hmm.

Right.

What’s the piece that I’m missing to solve these? Like there’s a, I see these as a puzzle. So I’m missing a couple of, a couple of, you know, little pieces of that puzzle for me to understand what the problem actually is. but I wouldn’t be able to get to that unless I’m trying to explain it. And all of a sudden it’s like, well, that doesn’t make sense. Cause I’m not making sense on my explanation to you. And I cannot devise the actual problem that I’m trying to solve.

Yeah. That’s an incredible framework and great step-by-step kind of natural progression there that I hope everyone was taking notes while he sharing that. Let’s kind of switch gears. You know, we’ve talked kind of in general terms about challenges and issues. Maybe talking about like teams and, you know, dealing with people, that’s a whole nother set of challenges that kind of come in there with personalities and things like that and human nature. You know, can you share some like moments when you’ve found that maybe stepping back and not pushing harder led to a better outcome with your team and what changed once you gained that distance.

Absolutely. So you know what? That’s it’s amazing that you, that you asked me that question because that’s something we experience, let’s say almost every week, right? you know, there’s like in your team, you need different personalities for your team to be complete. And that difference in person, and it is usually means that there’s frictions on the approach and even on the solutions that you’re trying to reach with each of the problems. Right. So for example, sometimes we’re trying to solve a UX problem.

Right. And the engineering team wants to solve it in a pragmatic way. Right. So yeah, we can, we can get really deep into the details of, look, this is a theory of the UX design and this is why the bottom needs to be this color and all those different pieces. And the same thing with the, with the technical side is like, no, no, but you know, the integration, the tables, the flow, like all those pieces come into place. And now what really happens is.

You listen to both of them and yes, they’re making their arguments. And obviously it’s not on purpose, but our egos are coming out, right? Like this is, this is the best solution. I’m very confident. feel very strongly about the solution. Now taking a step back is okay. What is the actual problem we’re trying to solve? Do we have, and sometimes it’s even what’s the cost of solving each of these two problems, which is, which is even more powerful sometimes because sometimes what you’re trying to solve those

Yeah.

two different problems at the same time. That’s because you don’t have a clear understanding of what’s a trade off between one and the other. So to me, what happens is we try to take a step back and say, okay, first of all, are any of these two reversibles? Like, can we make the mistake of going the wrong way? And what’s the cost of making that mistake? So if the cost is low stakes, we just take a head look, then.

It doesn’t really matter. It’s a matter of preference. We can test both of them and just move ahead and unblock us. Right. That’s number one. Number two will be, wait, this is actually very, a very complex problem that we need a certain solution for it. Right. So now we’re optimizing for the solution. that the solution is the solution really one or the other, or is a combination of both of them, but sometimes explaining what the actual solution is or what the problem is. Look,

We’re optimizing for certainty here. We’re optimizing for guidance to the borrower. We’re optimizing to, back in the day, we were optimizing for, let’s say, revenue collection. So revenue collection is the goal. So does that mean that we need to provide more friction or less friction on this particular thing? So that stepping back into, hold on a second. Let’s articulate what we’re solving for.

And what is the expected outcome sometimes. And that usually helps a lot, you know, just unblocking the team into focusing on the solution and become solution-oriented rather than providing more arguments into each of their opinions.

I love that. And I’m kind of curious because the next question I have, think might tie into the similar approach, but I want to hear it from you. When you’ve worked in different kind of complex markets where there’s a lot of compliance risks, know, FinTech, lending, all these things have a lot of wrappers and other layers that get added on it other than just what the user wants and the tech team wants. How do you balance speed, accountability and consistency without slowing growth of the organization?

That is a great question. So for the most part, it’s all about the trade-off, right? So the speed comes from focusing on the right things in my experience. So obviously you can do your 80-20, right? And that’ll help you focus into what’s the 20%. You know the rule. What’s the 20 % that will yield you 80 % of the outcome. So that’s number one. Number two is what is the trade-off? the trade-off will be in the past where

What we’ve done is we’ve assigned kind of a cost of, you can do it at cost of waiting or a cost of operation. that is what is the cost of revenue if I do this or if I don’t do this, what is the cost of operation and what is the potential losses or risks. If I do this, it’s kind of a bit of risk management, but the front with, taking into consideration more aspects of the business. wouldn’t take more than four in a particular time.

And you can assign, let’s say scales to each one of them. So for example, you’re going to sign, if we’re talking about operations, I can assign the scale of like, there’s no cost of operations. Like no one, it wouldn’t affect us to do something like this, or it’s not affecting us today. Whatever we’re doing, or you can go all the way up to this is on fire because this is costing us a ton of money to operate. And we’re basically doing, you know, concierge services for X specific tasks that we have.

So understanding that you can quantify basically the scale of these four aspects and then decide, okay, so these are like, obviously if you put from scale one to 10, one to four, in this case, you can, they can add them all. And then you will have kind of your cost of operation. You can even tie it to an estimated dollar amount for each one of them. So, same, same revenue, cost of operation and losses. can estimate what’s the cost of.

each one of them in revenue or in dollar amount. By doing that, what’s going to happen is you’re going to have a clear prioritization system, right? And that will give you the ones that you need to tackle on at the very first, because those are going to be the most expensive things. Now, you’re always going to have things that are way too costly to solve, right? So I’m thinking,

you

It’s not only costly to operate in the current way, but it’s also costly to execute a solution for that thing. Right. Now that’s where a lot of creativity comes into play and understand the, okay, now that I understand this is a problem that I’m trying to tackle. Now that’s where you have to do on your research and find your 80 20 into these are the actual drivers.

Of this problem. So I’m going to solve these two or three drivers and that’s going to reduce my cost considerably. Now I can wait until I have something else build, or I can. You know, wait until I hire the next person for that particular thing. So it becomes kind of a framework between what’s my next two action and what is the driver of that action that I need to solve for.

Now you’re kind of talking about metrics here and I’m curious, obviously in business, finance is going to be a strong metric we look at oftentimes in making decisions. Do you have other stories maybe where there was like some different metrics that maybe people may not think of intuitively that helped you clarify those priorities and reshape how the leadership team made decisions?

Absolutely. So let me see. Let me see. One of the examples that comes to mind is precisely, let’s say, in terms of risk assessment, right? Particularly in the lending industry, you know that there is always a risk of getting sued, getting the missing one compliance piece. And what is the trade-off between one or the other, right? Most of the metrics

I think there’s two currents in terms of metrics. let me take a step back. And I think that defining both of these is going to be super important. One current is you have to have metrics for everything. So now your team is focused on a lot of metrics instead of actually executing the drivers for those metrics. And usually what happens is if you define the wrong metrics, you’re going to drive your business to the wrong side of the business. Because you’re focusing too much into

into metrics that won’t actually help your operation. And then there’s the other size, which is no metrics at all. So no metrics and everyone’s just running like headless chickens, right. To figure out a way to execute. So I think balancing both of them, it’s the trick here. and the trick will be, you have to know what the trade-offs are for one or the other. So if we’re thinking again on that risk assessment, right, let’s say, well, if I don’t send my letter to the borrower,

Right on time. Right. That usually means that I’m not going to be able to collect default interest. Right. So if I don’t collect default interest, what does that matter? It doesn’t matter. Well, I guess I’m being more lenient with the borrower. Right. So it’s going to cost me revenue, but on the other side, I’m gaining goodwill with the borrower, particularly if I upfront say, Hey, you should be in default by now, but I’m trying to negotiate with you. let’s work together. So.

putting those two in the violence. And sometimes it’s just a very simple Excel into like a scale potentially, or a matrix, like a two by two matrix where you put your costs, like your cost of not doing it versus your cost of doing it. And then you can balance visual. I’m a very visual guy. So every time I put something on paper and visualize one way or the other, it just helps me, you know, define the pattern and define one of the metrics, one way or the other.

Well, going back to the human aspect and starting to hand off tasks, as leaders scale, protecting the focus becomes more critical. How have you seen delegation from executive and leadership teams work into workflows to help remove decision noise and strengthen follow through and creating space for better thinking?

Absolutely. I think, I think we both have, read a Dan Martell book, you know, buy back your time. And I truly love that book because it provides a good framework for that. And in my experience, the way, the way it works is if you don’t have, you know, a true passion for solving whatever it is that you’re doing, like that’s probably not the right thing you should be doing. Right. Obviously.

your time.

We know that businesses are made on the boring stuff, right? Being very consistent on the boring stuff. So in the past, let me talk about specifically when we’re in the lending business before we’re doing SaaS, right? So one of the most boring things we could do was reviewing the loans for closing, right? So, know, know, you’re probably a lender as well these days. And usually what that happens is

There is a process where you collect all the documents, you read through the documents, you make any corrections or request any corrections, and then you move forward. The problem is that is a circular reference, right? So you go back, you do these over again, and then something change and you have to do it all over again, and then something else changes, and then you have to do it all over again. And at the same time, you’re maintaining your information or your source of truth somewhere else, right?

Either it’s an Excel or you have a system and you’re trying to keep everything pieced together. So it makes sense. First thing is that is a lot of cognitive load every single time, particularly if you have to think about those single steps every single time. Right. So what we did very pragmatic approach was let’s do a checklist. Right. So this is the checklist for this document. This is for the checklist for this step. Right. And then if you have to review one document again,

You just have to review your checklist once again. And that usually provides some clarity into let’s not think what we have to review every single time, but just execute the actions that we’ve thought in the past of what are the things that you have to review. So that’s a good way of looking at the processes in terms of let’s put what we do today. So we don’t have to solve the same problem every single time or decide on every single time. Cause that

just becomes very draining if you have to solve the same problem more than once. So once you’ve done that, then it’s a matter of just execution of the same problems. Once you’ve done that at least once, you know whether that’s something you love doing, or it’s something that you have to hire someone for. That’s just my approach and I’ve seen it work pretty well in the past.

Yeah.

It makes a ton of sense. And I can totally relate to like having the checklist. There’s been many times in our businesses, have the staffing business. We also have our lending business. if a procedure might be in place, but there’s still some things getting missed periodically, we implement the checklist. it’s, know, using technology is great because you can have that like visual kind of indicator of like how much, how many of the checklist items were done. And it like changes color when you do that. And we found that just taking that checklist kind of extrapolating from the SOP,

and putting it in the task management portal really eliminates those issues. And it’s amazing. So I’m glad you brought that checklist up.

Totally. I think just to add on top of that, one thing that I would like to add is you got to be consistent into adding the things into the checklist, but also removing things from the checklist.

Yeah, you got it. So talking about people again, what I guess I’d like to hear from you, if you have any tips on like onboarding practices to help quickly shift the new team members from just doing task execution to having true ownership in the operation environment.

Absolutely. some, sometimes people, people like the direction, right? So whenever you’re on boarding, even, even like, I remember back in the day, when I was starting my career, every time I jumped into a problem without any clear direction, just felt very frustrating. Right. Cause you just have to, you’re both understanding how the company works. You’re understanding how the problem works, right. Or what your role is. And then at the same time, you’re trying to execute something that makes no sense. So.

I think context is the most important piece. So particularly for us, and coming from very regulated and complex industries, usually providing that context upfront, it’s the best approach and that, and that even starts from the interview process. I really like to have deep, detailed interview process where people get a lot of the context. And that is because I feel that.

for someone to make the decision to come on board with you, they have to be aware of what are the problems that they’re going to be solving or what are the tasks that they have to be executing. So I think it starts even there. You have to provide whatever is your process, but as much as context as you can. And I can explain more about what the process is that we follow, but ultimately comes from that initial context. And then it comes from what do you need to know to be able to execute your task, right?

starts from globally, what is the company doing? What is the purpose of the company? And this is where the vision and mission and some of the values come into play, right? But also sometimes if you have the opportunity to onboard these people through all the aspects of the execution, that just opens the mind, right? Because number one, it creates connections outside of the, let’s say bubble of the group or the team that they’re working with. And

It also provides a good understanding of why the other team is doing what they’re doing. Right. So it builds those connections upfront. And from there, this is where you started working on, you know, more of the execution and teaching them what the execution is. After a certain point, then you just have to let them go. And that means instead of where every time they come up with, you know, a problem for you to solve, my approach has always been, okay, what’s your proposal?

Yes.

Like you’re, bringing me this problem. That’s fair. I can solve it. No problem. And we all know like as owners or as founders or the founding team execute executive team, can solve those problems, but to really be able to help your team grow is okay. You have to bring me a couple of solutions. Like what it is that you think it’s the best approach. You have the most amount of information. You should be able to articulate what the problem is and what a proposed solution is.

Sometimes those proposed solutions might not be aligned to the strategy, might not be the best approach based on what you know. Right. But you can compliment that and you can say, look, I appreciate your approach. think that’s great, but ultimately you’re missing all these two or three pieces that are just going to compliment. Here’s my other proposal. What do you think or how do you feel about that? Sometimes there’s a back and forth and you go into even a totally different direction based on that additional information, but that.

just provides more ownership and that communication style that you can rely on people to solve their problems. And also every time they get the solution that they propose, it just empowers them every single time.

That’s a great point. That’s something we also train our executive assistants to do is anytime they have a question or concern, we encourage that. Like you said, when you’re going to bring that question or concern, always come with at least one proposed solution. It doesn’t have to be the final answer, but it’s also easier from the leadership team’s perspective.

Rather than having like that mental burden of like solving everything from scratch, it’s a lot easier to just say like, yes, that’s good. Or no, here’s some modifications and having to start from scratch and just like solve it. don’t know that if they’ve thought about it at all. So I’m really glad you brought that up.

Awesome. Yeah, absolutely. I also think that it’s very empowering. If I were to give advice to myself, when I was starting my career, that will probably be my number one advice. Make sure you bring a solution every time you bring a problem. Cause sometimes you don’t even need someone else to take, you know, to, give you guidance. You’re just advising. This is what I will do. Let me know if you’re okay with it.

Sometimes it’s just that and leaders will say, yeah, go for it, run with it. Let’s see what happens.

Exactly. As we wrap up here, for those leaders that are listening and maybe feel busy and reactive and stretch too thin, what’s one immediate action or advice you’d have for them to take this week to create space and start solving the right problems?

Awesome. I would say number one is get some space. Get some space by doing two things. Number one is when you’re taking as much problems as you can, write them on a piece of paper, and then take a walk. That would immediately free up some of your mental overload.

and guide you into what are the things that you should be solving and what are the things that you can delegate to someone else. That’ll be my step number one. Step number two will be prioritization, but that’s probably more than a week.

Awesome, great advice. Now as we wrap up, where can people best connect with you and start exploring more of your work and learn about what you’re doing at Baseline?

Awesome. Thank you so much. best, the best way to approach me will be LinkedIn. Um, my LinkedIn, you can find me under and particularly will be linked in slash. let me find it here.

So there’ll be linkedin slash in slash V. Santinelli with a double L.

Perfect, and we’ll make sure to have that link in the show notes and podcast notes on all the platforms when this gets published. To those that were listening today, if you got value, hit the follow and subscribe button or tap that star and like button. Every rating helps us equip more business leaders who want to grow the smart way. Thanks again for tuning into the Scale Smart, Grow Fast podcast. Here’s to building businesses that give you more freedom, stronger teams, and lasting growth. Until next time, keep scaling smart. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Delegation Doesn’t Fail. Structure Does.

by noeh.tScale Smart, Grow Fast PodcastPosted on Comments are Disabled

Why Scaling Feels Heavier Before It Gets Easier — And How to Fix It

For many founders and executives in $3M–$50M professional service firms, growth doesn’t create freedom. It creates weight.

The calendar gets tighter. The inbox gets deeper. Follow-ups slip. Projects stall. Every meaningful decision still routes through you.

If that sounds familiar, you’re not underperforming. You’re operating as the execution hub.

In a recent Scale Smart, Grow Fast episode, Nathan Barkocy shared how nearly losing his life reshaped his philosophy around time, leverage, and leadership — and how that mindset directly impacts business scalability.

This isn’t about motivation. It’s about structure.

The Real Bottleneck in Growing Firms

Nathan’s story begins with a near-fatal accident that forced him to rebuild from scratch. That experience sharpened one belief: time is finite, and how leaders use it determines everything.

Fast forward to running multiple real estate ventures, a restoration company in Dallas-Fort Worth, a personal brand, developments, and a growing family. Success was present. Leverage was not.

The common pattern many founders miss:

  • You are the follow-up hub
  • You are the decision filter
  • You are the escalation point
  • You are the final approval on everything

When growth increases complexity without changing structure, scaling friction increases.

This is where most delegation efforts break down.

Delegation Fails Without Structure

Many experienced operators have support. What they don’t have is structured leverage.

Nathan initially tried to delegate broadly. The result was misalignment. Too much handed off without clarity on:

  • What only he should own
  • What required proactive follow-through
  • What needed systems, not just assistance

True leverage required defining where his time created the highest return:

  • Investor conversations
  • Strategic partnerships
  • Business development
  • Vision and brand positioning

Tasks like content editing, posting, coordination, and administrative execution were transferred to structured support. Not casually. Not reactively. Intentionally.

The shift was not about doing less. It was about increasing the quality of leadership time.

Scaling a Service Business Without Becoming the Bottleneck

Nathan’s real estate restoration company in DFW provides a strong example.

Initially operating with a small team, growth was inconsistent. Revenue was present, but scalability was limited. Marketing experiments failed. Ad spend was inefficient. Execution depended heavily on leadership attention.

The turning point came when systems were built around:

  • Clear workflows
  • Defined ownership
  • Follow-up discipline
  • Operational delegation

Instead of competing with larger firms on ad spend, the company focused on organic growth and controlled operational expansion. Systems created predictability.

This is the difference between being busy and building scale.

The Time Audit Most Leaders Avoid

One of Nathan’s most practical recommendations is simple: track your time.

For one week, log every hour.

Then ask:

  • Is this where I create the highest leverage?
  • Am I doing $20/hour work inside a $500/hour seat?
  • Am I operating as a strategist or a task manager?

Executives often don’t realize how much cognitive load is consumed by low-leverage execution until they measure it.

Scaling starts with awareness.

Legacy Thinking Forces Structural Decisions

Nathan’s broader philosophy centers around “True Wealth” — legacy beyond revenue.

Legacy in business does not happen without systems.

Without structure:

  • Execution lives in the founder
  • Decisions bottleneck
  • Growth plateaus
  • Multi-year scalability becomes fragile

With structure:

  • Teams execute without rescue
  • Leadership time protects strategy
  • Growth becomes repeatable

This is how operators move from solopreneur intensity to scalable enterprise.

What This Means for Founders and Operators

If your firm is growing but feels heavier instead of lighter, the issue is not effort. It’s architecture.

Ask yourself:

  • Are you still the execution hub?
  • Does every meaningful follow-up pass through you?
  • Do you have support, or do you have leverage?

Scaling without structured delegation increases stress. Scaling with leverage increases capacity.

The difference is not headcount. It is clarity around what only you should be doing.

Final Takeaway

Nathan Barkocy’s journey reinforces a simple truth: leadership bandwidth is the constraint in most growing firms.

Protecting it requires:

  • Intentional delegation
  • Defined systems
  • Clear ownership
  • Strategic use of support

Growth should expand opportunity, not compress your time.

If it feels heavier, that’s the signal to rebuild the structure — not work harder.

Watch this before you hire your next support role.

Book a discovery call to see how the right executive support helps you scale with clarity, alignment, and control—without burnout or chaos.  Click here to subscribe.

Full Episode Transcript

Below is the complete transcript of the Scale Smart, Grow Fast episode featuring Nathan Barkocy.

Hey everybody, welcome back to the Scale Smart Grow Fast podcast. Today we’ve got a special guest, Nathan Barcosi, and he didn’t build his business by chasing more. He built them by getting clearer on what only he should be doing. After rebuilding his life from a near fatal accident, Nathan went on to scale real estate and entrepreneurial ventures around his true wealth philosophy. In this episode, he’s gonna share what changed when he stopped being the execution hub and created real operational support.

and reclaim the focus needed to scale income, purpose, and legacy without burning out. Nathan, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today?

Harley, thank you for having me. It’s an honor to be with you today.

Nathan, I’d love for you to share with our audience a little bit more about your background, especially that like near fatal accident that was mentioned in the intro.

Yeah, absolutely. this brings us back 10 years ago where the story really begins. I was a nationally ranked competitive cyclist. I was state champion in New Mexico, youngest to ever win the Tour of the Gila, setting records, going on the way to the Olympics, to the Tour de France, and becoming an internationally renowned competitive cyclist. That was my vision, my goal. And then in January of 2016, I was hit by a car.

at 60 miles an hour.

goodness.

So I died on the scene and the ambulance rushed me to the ICU. My parents got the call, right? My parents got the call that I was dead and that the officer had reported it as a fatality. so, I mean, God bless my parents, right? They were driving to the hospital thinking I was dead. So I was in a coma for two weeks and by God’s grace, you know, I opened my eyes for the first time two weeks later.

paralyzed. So I couldn’t move and then I went on a medical flight up to Craig Hospital in Colorado, which is where they do traumatic brain injury rehab and spinal cord injury rehab. And that is where they rolled me into the hospital on a wheelchair. I don’t remember being admitted to the hospital there, but my first memories start coming back during my recovery at that time.

And that’s where I learned how to live again. We learned how to walk again and function again. So that’s where life really started for me. And from that time, I was really passionate about bringing my message to the world about how important our time is. I thought, as a teenage boy especially, I thought that I was going to live forever. And then within an instant, within an instant,

All of that can be stripped away from you so fast. And so that’s why I really started to have a mental shift about the importance of our time, right? Because tomorrow is never promised. So I wanted to write a book. Since that day, I wanted to write a book about the importance of our time and what truly holds value in our life. Well, since that recovery, obviously I went to college and I was able to graduate high school with my class, which is great, you know, and I went through all of this

the different phases and that same passion was still driving me to create my own time, right? To create time freedom and to live today as if it’s our last day. Obviously we need to plan for the future, right? But tomorrow is never promised, right? So we needed to take action today in order to make our dreams come true, which is a very entrepreneurial mindset, right? Which is how we get into the business side of things. You know, I couldn’t trade my time as an employee.

for other people. I’ve done that many times and I was actually working with Josh McCallin up in New Jersey. He’s the owner of Accountable Equity and he fired me from when I was working with him because he told me I needed to go start my own business, right? And so that’s where we get to today, right? Which is where I’m sure you and I will dive into where we are now, how I’ve been able to scale, how I’ve utilized Workergenics to help me do so. And so I’m very honored to be with you today and to be bringing this message to your audience.

Awesome. That’s a great background, Nathan. I really appreciate you sharing that. Now, before we jump into the specifics of the business, maybe kind of stepping back a little bit, a little more meta discussion. Before you really started creating the real leverage in your businesses, what would a typical week look like for you and where were you still the bottleneck without maybe even realizing it?

Yeah, the question is, am I still the bottleneck? There’s a lot of things that I’ve realized through working with you guys at Workergenics, and also during the scaling process of my business, because there’s a difference between a solopreneur and a successful entrepreneur who is in a true capitalist, who is able to create work for others, to create opportunities for others.

and leveraging their expertise, right? In their certain fields, you’re able to scale so much faster and more effectively than having to do it all on your own. So if there was a time where I needed to realize this, was about, yeah, I mean, about a year ago when we started. And it was when I realized that I didn’t have time to do everything in order to have my businesses scale to the capacity that I needed them to. And so that’s when I really started to

put together the formulas of how to build a system. And that system is what’s going to allow you to scale. You know this too, Harley, right? That’s the only way to build your business effectively and efficiently is by creating those systems that are in place that others are able to execute and making it so easy for them to execute this, right? Not a lot of questions, just a lot of action to get it done, you know?

Absolutely, systems and people, excellent leverage there. So let’s talk more about what are your businesses that you’re focusing on now, and how did you create those systems in these businesses? I think a lot of people feel like their business is super unique and making systems to get them out of being the bottleneck is just impossible. So we’d love to hear your story with what you’re doing now and how you created some of those systems.

Yeah, it’s a great question. In reality, just point blank honesty, my systems and my businesses were spreading me thin, right? So I was pursuing multiple real estate investments at the same time. I was pursuing multiple brands. I was writing my book. I was building my personal brand. All of this stuff scaling. I’m also a father of two little boys and a husband of a beautiful bride.

I was running my family, running the businesses, running multiple developments, running investments, all of these different things at the same time. And that’s how I’ve been able to scale more effectively by bringing more people onto the team.

Delegation That Drives Sales: How Founders Free Up Time to Grow Revenue

by noeh.tScale Smart, Grow Fast PodcastPosted on Comments are Disabled

Delegation That Drives Sales: How Founders Free Up Time to Grow Revenue

Sales does not slow down because founders forget how to sell.
It slows down because leadership bandwidth gets buried in follow-ups, scheduling, and operational drag.

In Workergenix Executive Edge Live: Delegation That Drives Sales, Harley Green and a panel of experienced operators unpacked what real delegation looks like inside growing companies and why it directly impacts revenue growth.

If you feel like every deal still runs through you, this conversation was built for you.

Preferred listening on the go? Catch the full podcast episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

The Real Sales Bottleneck Is Not Effort. It Is Clarity.

As JB Herrera explained during the panel:

“Founders don’t lose revenue because they delegate too much. They lose revenue because they delegate without clarity.”

Delegation is not about offloading work. It is about protecting executive judgment.

When everything flows through the founder:

  • Selling becomes reactive instead of intentional
  • CRM updates fall behind
  • Follow-ups get inconsistent
  • Decision fatigue increases
  • The ideal client profile begins to drift

Revenue erosion rarely happens dramatically. It happens gradually through small compromises and unclear ownership.

Delegation vs. Abdication

Several panelists reinforced a critical distinction: delegation is not abdication.

Delegation requires:

  • Clear decision boundaries
  • Defined ownership
  • Operational discipline
  • Governance and values alignment

Abdication happens when tasks are handed off without structure.

Eric Sambaluk shared a powerful example of protecting integrity under pressure. When faced with a short-term financial incentive that compromised company values, he chose long-term trust over immediate optics. That discipline ultimately strengthened credibility and growth.

Sales velocity depends on trust. Internally and externally.

Why Operational Discipline Protects Revenue

WendyY Bailey emphasized that founders often struggle because they try to be both the pilot and the air traffic controller.

Founders must:

  • Set direction
  • Define the ideal client profile
  • Clarify what decisions remain human
  • Build systems that support follow-through

As Jennifer White highlighted, many delegation failures are not delegation problems. They are clarity problems. Without clearly defined success criteria and psychological safety, sales teams drift or protect themselves rather than protect the company’s direction.

Sales is not just activity. It is alignment.

The Role of AI, Governance, and Human Judgment

AI can be powerful in preparation, pattern recognition, and follow-up. But as JB Herrera made clear:

“Delegation doesn’t work when tools are allowed to replace judgment.”

When AI and automation operate without governance:

  • Ideal client profiles shift
  • Messaging drifts
  • Values erode
  • Revenue becomes unstable

Human judgment must remain central. Tools should support clarity, not replace it.

High-Impact Sales-Adjacent Work Founders Should Delegate

The panel reinforced that protecting selling time requires structured delegation around:

  • Calendar control
  • Inbox management and follow-up discipline
  • CRM hygiene and pipeline updates
  • Client communication coordination
  • Reporting and KPI visibility

When these workflows are owned consistently, founders reclaim time to focus on revenue-generating conversations.

Delegation that drives sales is about rhythm, not relief.

Connect with the Panelists

Continue the conversation with the experts featured on this Executive Edge Live session:

Eric Sambaluk
Business strategist and AI governance leader
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-sambaluk-mba-0a42323b/

Jennifer White
Operational transformation and leadership development expert
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifermw/

JB Herrera
Founder of Synergy AI, specializing in values-driven AI ecosystems
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbherrera/

WendyY Bailey
Fractional COO and leadership strategist for growth-focused founders
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendyybailey/

Final Takeaway

Delegation that drives sales is not about productivity hacks. It is about designing structure around executive judgment.

If founders want to sell more without adding hours, they must stop being the bottleneck and start being the architect.

Growth requires clarity.
Sales requires discipline.
Delegation is the bridge between them.

Like what you read? Get weekly insights on scaling, efficiency, and profitability—straight to your inbox. Click here to subscribe.

Full Transcript 

Harley Green:
Hey everybody, welcome to Executive Edge Live. I’m Harley Green, Founder and CEO of Workergenix. At Workergenix, we help high-performing founders and operators reclaim time and focus by pairing them with Ultimate Executive Assistants who reduce operational drag and increase leadership bandwidth. These live sessions are one way we support the broader business community with honest, peer-level conversations about what actually works when companies are growing and time is tight.

Today’s conversation is focused on delegation that drives sales. Founders know that sales drives growth. But too often revenue opportunities stall because leadership time is buried in follow-ups, scheduling, and day-to-day execution. When everything runs through you, selling becomes reactive instead of intentional. So today, you’ll hear real-world perspectives, practical trade-offs, and honest insight from operators who’ve helped founders remove themselves as the bottleneck without breaking momentum.

And a quick note before we begin, today’s session will also be featured on our podcast, Scale Smart, Grow Fast. So if something resonates with you, you’ll be able to revisit the conversation later, wherever you get your podcasts.

So today, let’s dive in and start by meeting our panelists. Eric, we’ll go ahead and start with you. Feel free to introduce yourself and let everyone know where you’re coming from and what your business is.

Eric Sambaluk:
 Thanks very much, Harley. So my name is Eric Sambaluk. I’m the owner and founder of Sambaluk Consulting. It’s a business strategy firm and we help companies with everything from initiatives to projects to market entry. I’m also the Chief Growth and Strategy Officer from Nomad Cyber Concepts, which is an AI governance firm.

Harley Green:
Awesome, thank you Eric for joining us. Jennifer.

Jennifer White:
Good afternoon, everyone. Jennifer White with The MJW Group. We specialize in enhancing operational efficiency and leadership capabilities, delivering time and cost savings for organizations.

Harley Green:
Awesome, thanks for joining us today. And JB.

JB Herrera:
Hi everybody, my name is JB Herrera and I am the Founder and CEO of Synergy AI and Insight Driven Business. We specialize in designing AI ecosystems that are values-based. They’re scalable, human-first, helping organizations move beyond shiny tools to disciplined execution. We’re here in Northern California and proud to work with a whole series of small to medium-sized businesses.

Harley Green:
Thank you, JB. And last but certainly not least, Wendy.

WendyY Bailey:
Hi everyone. I’m Wendy Y. Bailey. I’m a fractional COO for coaches, speakers, and trainers, millionaire coaches, speakers, and trainers. And I partner with them to look at their operational infrastructure and get rid of the bottlenecks that they create. As a former coach, I’m also a leadership coach. So I coach the founder to be sure the founder understands what it takes to grow, scale, and drive revenue in a way that represents that growth for them. I’m outside of Atlanta, Georgia. And the big thing I can say is companies need operational discipline.

Harley Green:
Absolutely awesome. Well, thank you for joining us, all of you guys for being here today. We’ll jump right in with the first question. This is just an open question to the panel, so feel free to jump in if you want to address it first.

So the question is, when you hear delegation that drives sales, what’s the biggest misconception you see founders make about that delegation as it relates to sales and revenue?

JB Herrera:
I would agree with you, Wendy Y. I mean, really, from my perspective, the biggest misconception is that delegation is really about offloading work and becoming more efficient.

I think really delegation that drives sales is about protecting the judgment that you have in your company. Founders don’t lose revenue because they delegate too much. They lose revenue because they delegate without clarity about what decisions they must stay human about and the direction that they’re going, which activity should never require their attention in the first place.

And if they do that, then they can hire the right people and implement processes, and then delegation works.

Eric Sambaluk:
I think those are both good points. I think another thing that’s important to keep in mind is people think about delegation and when they do think about delegation, they think of efficiency.

They really should be thinking about effectiveness.

When a CEO or someone else in the C-suite or a VP delegates some work, it’s not because they’re inefficient at it. It’s because they’re most effective at making high-level decisions. Somebody else to whom the task is delegated will be most effective at managing those decisions, right?

So making sure that the ball is in the right person’s strike zone is, I think, what delegation should be about.

Like JB was saying, like Wendy Y. was saying, it’s not just about, cool, I don’t have to do this task anymore. I didn’t like this. Or I don’t have to do this task anymore. This is going to take a long time.

It’s about every hour is spoken for, especially true of founders and entrepreneurs. So you want to make certain that you’re being as effective as possible with every minute, every hour that you have.

Jennifer White:
And I agree with Eric’s points as well.

Sometimes founders or C-suite may think of delegation as trying to get rid of something or delegating that task rather. I think a misconception is thinking that sales is a task. It’s a driver of growing revenue as Wendy Y. stated and Eric has stated already.

And I think a big misconception is thinking delegation happens after the company is successful, when in reality it should be driven all along the growth journey.

And having that buy-in of everyone involved in that process is what really grows a company.

JB Herrera:
You know, Wendy, that’s really awesome. It’s a great point. It makes me think of a metaphor like being an air traffic control system, right?

Sales doesn’t fail because you have too many planes in the air. It fails when one person is trying to fly direct, refuel, clear the landing zone, unload the packages, everything.

The founder, the CEO, the leader is really air traffic control, not the pilot of every plane, not getting into the detail of everything.

Clearly when you’re starting a business, the CEO, the leader at that point, you’re the only person that really can sell what is your passion. This is what you’re about. This is what you stand for. And that’s fine. Many CEOs continue to have that role over the long haul. There’s nothing wrong with that.

But we can’t do it on our own.

And sometimes we have this thing in our heads that says, I’m the only person that can do that. No, no, no.

You have to be the air traffic controller here and set that direction. Know where everything is at and give people and empower them with the right tools, the right processes, the right steps, the right things that they need to have to be the best that they can be.

Eric Sambaluk:
That kind of points back to what Wendy Y. was saying earlier about hiring the right people, right? It’s easy to say, well, you’re overwhelmed. You’re not managing these tasks that you should be. You should go ahead and delegate it. But before you delegate it, you want to make certain that the person you’re delegating it to has the skill set and, to her point, also the context to be effective in making those decisions or doing that work. And it’s not an easy thing to do, but it is really critical.

Harley Green:
Yeah, exactly. There’s a difference between delegation and abdication, right? I’m sorry, Wendy Y.

And there’s just some great insights starting off strong here. I love it.

Wendy Y., I want to go to you for this next question first. From an operational leadership perspective, where do you most often see delegation break down for founders who are trying to protect their selling time?

WendyY Bailey:
Awesome, thank you.

Harley Green:
JB, I want to go to you next. You work at the intersection of systems, judgment, and technology. How should founders think about delegation when tools and AI are introduced without losing clarity or that human decision-making in the sales process?

JB Herrera:
Yeah, that’s a great question. It’s the core of really what I’ve stood for going back to my first jobs coming out of Apple back in the 80s. Yes, I’m an old guy.

Founders need to stop asking what can AI do or what can these tools do and start asking what judgment must remain human.

Tools and AI are phenomenal at preparation, at pattern recognition, at follow-through. But sales still lives in human judgment — reading context, sensing hesitation, knowing when not to delegate, when to delegate, what kinds of things need to be done that are supporting that particular prospect at that moment in time.

Delegation doesn’t work to tools like AI.

And I know AI very, very well. While everybody’s doing this now, my first foray into AI was in 1993. So when you start thinking specifically about what the tool is designed for, it infers based on the kinds of input we give it, but it doesn’t have the judgment that comes from experience.

And that experience comes from being around people and having your own values, your own decision-making capabilities. Those are things that an AI can be given rules about, but that’s not judgment.

Technically the danger isn’t in utilizing automation. It’s that term again, abdication. When founders let their tools make their decisions, they haven’t consciously designed anything, then clarity erodes.

And when clarity erodes, your sales go down. You start to drift if you really think about it.

So you have an ICP, an ideal client profile. And let’s just say hypothetically there are five particular points for that ideal client profile. And then you have a salesperson who comes in and they say, you know what? We got this opportunity. It’s really awesome. But they only have four points, not five.

Well, okay, it’s four of five. It’s okay. We’re going to go for it.

And so you close the deal. So now your ideal client profile is here, and now you’ve started to have somebody that’s not your ideal client profile.

And the next person comes in and they only have three out of the five. So now you’re over here.

And pretty soon your ideal client profile is here and your sales are over here on this side. And that creates all kinds of problems because your systems are designed for that ideal client profile. They’re not designed for all of these other people that are over here.

Great people, good businesses, valuable and all. But you’ve started to drift away from the things that you stand for.

That’s why human judgment has to be continuously part of the process. AI and tools don’t do that.

And I’m a technology guy. I’m going to be the guy that says we need to build systems and build tools. And I do do that. But it’s always with humans first.

It’s human brilliance augmented with AI.

Eric Sambaluk:
Yeah, I think JB makes a great point. I think AI is really an exciting and kind of frightening new realm for a lot of companies, especially really every size of company.

More and more companies are starting to realize the need for governance in their use of AI. They have their policies, but they don’t necessarily have their guardrails up. And that’s in many cases because they don’t know where those guardrails should be.

So I think working with the right partners to help find where those should be for your business — because it is a tailored solution. It’s not a one-size-fits-all baseball cap.

I think that’s a really critical thing as you start to use AI as a force multiplier. It’s a really good point, JB.

JB Herrera:
Yeah, thanks Eric. We should probably talk from a governance perspective because we need to really advise leaders, especially when we come talk about sales and how the implementation of that works.

The danger of allowing it to run unfettered is really big for any company.

It doesn’t take very long for that little drift to happen.

Eric Sambaluk:
For sure.

JB Herrera:
And that’s on the sales side. And now if you have marketing people who are drifting in a different direction, and if you have your support team that’s drifting in a slightly different direction, all of a sudden the focus that’s absolutely required for success has failed you.

Eric Sambaluk:
Yeah, it can change the company’s whole DNA.

JB Herrera:
Absolutely. The one thing that I always remember is when Steve Jobs came back to Apple. And the first thing he did, he said, okay, we’re going to get rid of all these products, all these different lines. We’re going to focus on three products and three products only.

And that’s what they did.

I was fortunate. I was there to see that happen.

And really what every entrepreneur should be considering right now is making sure that they identify what they stand for and make sure they have their values and goals — not just something that sits up on the wall, but something that’s a living document that everybody believes in.

They’re pulling in the same direction.

And when they pull in that same direction, now you can implement tools on top of that. Now you can define processes that everybody believes in because they’re part of it all. And then you can use AI.

And then it’s powerful.

Jennifer White:
And I just want to bring up one more point that Eric and JB hit on and Wendy Y. just did as well is the governance piece.

You know, I get emails all day long about, hey, we can help you implement some KPIs, dashboards in your company and increase operational efficiency and productivity. And I’m like, how did that intent signal get to you about my company and what we do? Something’s off there.

So we have to be careful with utilizing AI and really honing in on our process, our ICP, like JB said, but our process. Because we know Deming always said, if you can’t describe what you’re doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.

And right now it feels like there’s just spray and pray all over the place when it comes to sales and lead generation.

Harley Green:
Yeah, excellent points. And it sounds like there’s a lot of overlap too from the first question of how you appropriately delegate to people as well as with the AI and technology tools. That’s interesting to see that intersection there.

Going over to you, Eric, with your background in strategy and execution, where do founders most underestimate the operational discipline required to delegate sales-adjacent work effectively?

Eric Sambaluk:
It’s a great question.

I think one of the biggest areas is for companies that provide a sales service. If you’re, let’s say you’re a plumbing service, you can tell what hours of the day you are focused on your actual bread and butter, the service you provide versus how much time you spend marketing yourself.

If you’re a small company, it’s the founder doing that. It gets a lot more complicated when you are a seller and a lot of companies out there have a service that is basically building referrals or helping to augment other companies’ presence in social media or broadening their sales funnels.

For those professionals, I find it’s very hard for a lot of them to differentiate and distinguish the time they should be focused on doing the work versus the time they should be focused on building their own brand.

Now, when you can delegate — when you have somebody who is the right person in the right seat and you have the full context they need in order to manage that properly — then you can properly delineate those things and work on them in the most efficient way you can.

But it’s very hard, especially when a company is starting out, when a founder is just starting out, to know where do I turn this switch off and turn this switch on.

They’re the same muscles that you’re using, but you’re using them in different ways and you have to be using them at the right times in the right ways.

JB Herrera:
That’s absolutely true, especially when you’re trying to handle multiple roles at the same time.

Marketing is so different operationally. If you have a trades business, the actual physical work requires a lot of discipline, energy, effort, knowledge, experience, and skill.

Marketing requires knowledge, experience, and skill as well, but in a different way.

Being able to understand what your strengths are and where your gaps are — where you’re not as strong — is one of the opportunities for founders and leaders to help them build the team around them.

What Wendy Y. was talking about — put the right person on the bus and help them operationally build the business of their dreams.

As a founder, as a CEO, as a leader, we have a direction that we want to go. I tried to do it on my own many, many years ago. It doesn’t work.

You need to have the right people around you and understand honestly what your skills are so that you can say, you know what, this is the time that I need to be out here learning more about my craft and I need to bring someone else on board who can help with that sales.

Or conversely, if that CEO is really great at sales, that’s great, but let’s bring the other people on so they can operate consistent with the direction that the company wants to go and use good human judgment making decisions to take the whole organization one step at a time toward that goal.

Harley Green:
Awesome. All right, let’s move over to a question for you, Jennifer.

You’ve seen how change initiatives fail when people aren’t considered. What human or behavioral factors most commonly derail delegation efforts tied to sales execution?

Jennifer White:
Very good question.

From the operational leadership development work that my firm does, we see a few things when it comes to sales-focused delegation.

First, I call the producer-manager trap.

This is where leaders tend to believe real work is activity-based. Every task should be assigned to someone versus creating a uniform identity and defining what you want your company to stand for and the services you provide.

These leaders rise through execution. They don’t always understand from a leadership capability standpoint how it feels to delegate without abandoning their core identity because all they know is do the work, do the work, do the work.

But what is the meaning behind that work?

So you have to be careful about the leadership versus management track of that type of behavior when you’re commanding a team.

Another issue we see is clarity masquerading as a delegation problem.

JB hinted at this quite a bit. Not being clear on what you need to delegate or when to delegate — not just the how, but the what and the when and the who.

One clarity gap we see often is not defining clear success criteria.

For a sales team, what does good look like?

Is it number of leads generated per week? Quality leads? Conversion rates? Getting into the category of business you want?

If you want to get into consumer products, what activities are you doing to make sure you are present in the consumer products industry?

A third factor is psychological safety.

Your team has to trust you in order to perform well. The more a team trusts their leader, the more engaged they are.

You have to play on empathy and emotional intelligence as a leader in order to drive a team.

Unless you’re cognizant of those areas, change initiatives and delegation tied to sales will struggle.

Eric Sambaluk:
 Yeah, it’s really interesting. Jennifer, what you said really just rang true for me on a lot of different levels.

When you think about bringing people together into an organization and all pulling in the same direction, the level of trust has to be very high.

And unfortunately, in the heat of battle — as we’re going to get to in public companies — it’s the end of the quarter, right? Because you have quarterly earnings that you have to announce.

And in small companies that are private, it’s not necessarily the quarter end, but it might be every month end.

So that ends up being a true test of the direction of your company, of your decision-making, and of the decision-making of all the members of your team.

They may decide that, you know what, I gotta close this. I gotta make this happen. I’m tasked with doing that.

And maybe our goals — the goals that have been set out and how we’re being compensated — incentivize the person to close more deals.

But that measurement may be inconsistent with the direction of the company.

We want to close deals, but we want to close the right deals.

So now you have a governance issue, right Eric? And then you have a human problem because someone says, “You told me you wanted me to close this deal, and now you’re telling me I can’t close the deal.”

It’s not that you can’t close the deal. It’s that you have to close the right deal.

If we didn’t talk about that before, now all of a sudden trust breaks down.

And now you have challenges all over the place simply because you didn’t understand that human component — the human factor of how we need to work together.

Jennifer White:
And I think that’s why change management is so important, but yet it’s always swept under the rug and people don’t really realize its true existence.

Someone has to be the white knight. They have to lead the charge.

The messaging has to always be clear and consistent, leveled with the integrity and values of the brand and the company.

Until someone steps up to challenge the status quo or challenge the bad habits that may come into an environment, you’ll always have those little seeps that get into a company and start making it negative.

And that’s not what we want.

There is truth to someone being honest.

In JB’s case, he was able to do that. And sometimes it allows people to see themselves in the mirror and realize what’s really happening.

Taking the time to acknowledge that with their team and turn it around — those are the types of clients we absolutely love to work with.

The ones that are transparent, cohesive, and not afraid to challenge the status quo.

JB Herrera:
You know what, it’s really interesting you use the word integrity.

That’s a broad term.

What my experience is, many people would not define it the same way and don’t have a story that explains it even in a similar fashion.

So for us as leaders of our organization, it’s incumbent on us to identify not only how we define our core values, but explain them in such a way that everybody feels it and can incorporate it into their role.

In sales, it’s even more important.

Because in sales, generally it’s a money-focused reward system.

And a money-focused reward system doesn’t necessarily translate into a values-based reward system.

So looking at it from that perspective, if we can identify what these principles are, it will go a long way toward making sure you have the right people on your sales team.

People who will acknowledge that maybe I shouldn’t do this particular deal, and I’m going to choose not to do that.

And report that up through the sales team and be rewarded for that — because that’s a great decision for the company.

But we don’t necessarily measure that.

So one of the things we try to build into our AI platform for small businesses is measurement of those types of decisions that are not traditionally measured.

Measure what matters.

And if that’s what matters in your organization, you better put the implementation in place that enables you to do that.

Harley Green:
Well, thank you everyone so much. We’re coming up on time here.

I want to have one final opportunity for those that have been listening and want to continue the conversation with you.

What’s the best way for people to connect with you, whether it’s LinkedIn, website?

We’ll start with you, Wendy.

WendyY Bailey:
You can connect with me on LinkedIn, Wendy Y. Bailey. I’m also at wendyybailey.com.

Harley Green:
Thank you, Wendy.

Eric, what’s the best way for people to connect with you?

Eric Sambaluk:
Yes, I am on LinkedIn. My last name is a little hard to spell, but it’s S-A-M-B-A-L-U-K.

I also have my website at sambaluk-consulting.com.

Love to have a conversation with anybody who wants to nerd out over strategy or initiatives or AI governance.

Excited to talk with you.

Harley Green:
Thank you, Eric.

Jennifer, how can people connect with you?

Jennifer White:
You can find me on LinkedIn at jenniferwhite, MBA.

Also our website, themjwgrp.com.

And similar to Eric, I geek out on all things numbers, Excel spreadsheets, KPIs, supply chain, manufacturing.

Glad to see everyone here.

Harley Green:
Awesome. Thank you, Jennifer.

And JB, what’s the best way for our audience to connect with you?

JB Herrera:
You can connect with me on LinkedIn, JB Herrera.

I also have a Substack that I write every week specifically on values-driven AI ecosystems and how you can implement them safely, how you can use AI effectively, and more importantly, with the right team — as we’ve talked about today.

So synergyai.io is my website.

But LinkedIn is primarily where you can reach me.

Harley Green:
Thank you, JB.

And thank you to all of our panelists for your clarity, honesty, and real-world insight that you shared today.

And thank you to everyone who joined us live.

Delegation isn’t about doing less.

It’s about building the structure and leadership capacity that removes you as the bottleneck and keeps execution moving without constant rescue.

That’s why we’ve created the Executive Efficiency Blueprint to help you turn today’s ideas into clear ownership, consistent follow-through, and better use of your leadership time.

You can get the Executive Efficiency Blueprint at workergenix.com/EEBlive.

We’ll drop the link in the show notes.

And again, thank you all for joining us.

We’ll see you all on the next Executive Edge Live and on our podcast, Scale Smart, Grow Fast.

Have a good rest of your day.

Why Entrepreneurs Feel Empty at the Top (And How Adventure & Purpose Fix It)

by noeh.tScale Smart, Grow Fast PodcastPosted on Comments are Disabled

Why Entrepreneurs Feel Empty at the Top — and How Purpose, Adventure, and Alignment Change Everything

Many entrepreneurs believe the next milestone—more revenue, more scale, more recognition—will finally bring fulfillment. Yet for many founders, growth only amplifies burnout, isolation, and a quiet sense of emptiness.

In a recent episode of Scale Smart, Grow Fast, host Harley Green sat down with Mike Brcic, founder of Wayfinders, to unpack why this happens and what leaders can do differently.

This conversation is a powerful reminder that how you scale matters just as much as how far you scale.

The Early Seeds of Entrepreneurship and Transformation

Mike’s journey began long before Wayfinders. At 20 years old, he took a six‑month backpacking trip through Southeast Asia, Nepal, and India—long before social media, travel blogs, or digital convenience.

With limited money and no clear plan, Mike and his girlfriend took a risk that would shape his future: buying handmade shirts in Kathmandu and selling them in Amsterdam’s Vondelpark. What started as survival turned into Mike’s first taste of entrepreneurship—and a powerful lesson in creativity, courage, and trust.

That experience planted two lifelong themes:

  • Getting off the beaten path creates the deepest growth
  • Discomfort often leads to transformation

Why Entrepreneurs Burn Out as They Scale

Later, as founder of a fast‑growing travel company, Mike experienced what many high‑performing entrepreneurs face:

  • Aggressive scaling driven by external validation
  • Increasing stress and responsibility at the top
  • Less time for health, family, and meaningful relationships

Despite hitting ambitious goals, Mike found himself asking a hard question: “What happens after I win?”

The answer surprised him. Growth alone didn’t bring fulfillment—it intensified misalignment.

As Mike explains, many founders unconsciously chase scale to feel worthy, seen, or validated. The result is a cycle where every milestone only creates the need for the next one.

Scaling With Alignment, Not Ego

Mike isn’t anti‑growth. He’s anti‑growth for the wrong reasons.

True, sustainable scale happens when:

  • The business is deeply aligned with who you are
  • Growth serves customers, not ego
  • Systems support freedom instead of creating more pressure

One of the most counterintuitive lessons Mike shares is this: businesses often run better when the founder steps back.

When leaders let go of control:

  • Teams gain confidence
  • Decision‑making improves
  • Founders reclaim time, energy, and clarity

Why Nature, Discomfort, and Adventure Matter

This philosophy is at the heart of Wayfinders.

Mike creates immersive experiences for entrepreneurs in some of the most remote places on earth—from Mongolia to Bhutan—where comfort is limited and certainty disappears.

These environments force leaders to:

  • Surrender control
  • Slow down
  • Listen to themselves

Away from constant notifications and expectations, many founders reconnect with what Mike calls “the soul”—the deeper part of themselves that knows what truly matters.

The results are often profound:

  • Letting go of misaligned businesses
  • Healing strained relationships
  • Rebuilding businesses around purpose, not pressure

One Simple Practice Every Founder Can Try This Week

Mike’s advice is deceptively simple:

Turn everything off. Go into nature. Sit quietly.

No phone. No journal. No agenda.

Even a few hours of uninterrupted stillness can surface insights that years of hustle suppress. For many entrepreneurs, this becomes the first step toward building a business—and a life—that feels aligned instead of exhausting.

Final Takeaway

Scaling smart isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing what matters—on purpose.

When growth is rooted in alignment, leaders don’t just build bigger businesses. They build better lives.

Book a discovery call to see how the right executive support helps you scale with clarity, alignment, and control—without burnout or chaos.  Click here to subscribe.

Full Podcast Transcript

Hey everybody, welcome back to the Scale Smart Grow Fast podcast. Today we’re joined by Mike Brcic, founder of Wayfinders, a community-driven movement helping entrepreneurs find deeper connection and meaning through transformative adventures in some of the world’s most remote places. His work sits at the intersection of business growth and human connection. Today we’re unpacking how adventure, vulnerability, and community can reshape the way leaders scale, lead, and live. Get ready for a conversation that goes beyond strategy into what truly fuels transformation.

Yeah, thrilled to be here. Looking forward to it.

You’ve built an incredible career around the idea that adventure can change not just lives, but leadership itself. Can you take us back to the moment when you realized travel and connection could become a path to transformation for entrepreneurs?

I think it was a gradual reveal. The biggest part of that reveal happened when I was 20, in between first and second year university. I took a year off—six months saving money and six months traveling through Southeast Asia, Nepal, and India. We started in Indonesia and moved through Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, and India.

This was 1991–92, before the internet or travel blogs. Back then, the Lonely Planet Guide was the only real resource. What I discovered was that it didn’t take much effort to get off the beaten path—and that’s where the most meaningful experiences were.

That’s when I caught the travel bug. Another transformative moment came when we realized we were about to run out of money. We had $3,500 Canadian for six months after flights. Southeast Asia was cheap, but heading to Amsterdam with only $500 left didn’t seem realistic.

In Kathmandu, I noticed beautiful embroidered shirts selling for two or three dollars. I thought someone in Amsterdam might pay more. I convinced my girlfriend to spend $300 of our last $500 filling two duffel bags with shirts. We took them to Amsterdam, sold $1,500 worth in one day at Vondelpark, rented an apartment, and lived comfortably for the rest of the trip.

That experience—travel combined with my first taste of entrepreneurship—planted the seeds for what has now become a 27-year career in travel and transformation.

That’s an incredible story, and it really shows the mindset behind taking that leap.

We almost had nothing to lose. We were going to run out of money either way, so it felt like a worthwhile risk.

Many leaders chase growth but feel isolated at the top. What emotional or relational patterns do you see with high-performing entrepreneurs?

I’ve lived this myself. With my previous company, Sacred Rides, we aggressively scaled after raising investment capital. We expanded fast, grew the team, and set ambitious goals.

One day I realized I could see myself achieving everything—and feeling empty afterward. Around the same time, I was reading Ego Is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday and attended a session where the question was asked, “Where are you seeking validation and why?”

I realized I was chasing growth to feel worthy. More revenue, more recognition—it never filled the hole. It only increased stress, damaged relationships, and hurt my health.

I sold that company and started Wayfinders with a different approach—focusing on alignment, value, and patient growth. Scale can be beautiful, but only if it’s done for the right reasons.

How can leaders balance systems and scale while staying authentic and aligned?

Most founders struggle to let go. They believe no one can do it as well as they can. But what I discovered coaching entrepreneurs is that the real issue isn’t systems—it’s internal systems.

I’d ask clients to take one day off a month. Then a half day. Eventually, I’d ask them to spend time alone in nature—no phone, no journal, just sitting quietly.

When leaders step away, two things happen: they reconnect with what matters, and their teams step up. Businesses often run better when the founder gets out of the way.

Tell us about the environments you create through Wayfinders.

Wayfinders is built on three elements: adventure, community, and transformation.

The adventures are intentionally uncomfortable. I don’t tell participants exactly what will happen. Entrepreneurs are used to control—this teaches surrender and trust.

We create safe spaces for vulnerability where leaders can share challenges they usually carry alone. Through facilitation, reflection, and time in wild environments, people reconnect with their inner voice.

The transformations are profound. People leave misaligned businesses, heal relationships, and reconnect with what truly matters.

For someone feeling stuck right now, what’s one actionable step they can take this week?

Go into nature. Turn everything off. Sit quietly. No phone. No agenda.

You’re starting a conversation with your soul. When you listen, insights come—through intuition, dreams, or unexpected connections. Trusting that voice leads to a business and life that feels aligned and joyful.

Where can listeners connect with you?

The best place is way-finders.com. Joining the mailing list is the best way to stay informed about future experiences.

If you got value from today’s episode, subscribe, rate, and share it with another business leader who might need this message. Until next time—keep scaling smart.