Built To Lead

Are you saving AI posts and prompts on IG?

Are you using Chat GPT here and there but have no idea what it could look like to actually incorporate it into your business?

Or even wondering if you should ditch the team and buy a Mac Mini to build your business with Open Claw?

Take a deep breath and listen to this episode.

The AI landscape is moving FAST and it can feel very hard to keep up with (and that’s because it is hard to keep up with). 

I wanted to chat to someone who has been in the industry from the start. So today I’m sitting down with Marissa Kos (aka The Blonde Bot and founder of MXM), who is helping founders build AI systems, train their teams and actually make it work inside businesses.

Key moments:

0:00 - How many human vs AI team members does Marissa actually have 

04:17 - The AI struggle - should you use it and do you still need an offshore team?

13:26 - Chat GPT versus Claude

17:29 - The prompt to move everything over to Claude from Chat GPT

20:08 - Is OpenClaw worth the hype?

22:35 - What “AI agents” actually are 

25:19 - How agents work together inside a business 

28:48 - What an AI workflow looks like inside an existing team 

30:08 - What to do when your team resists AI 

35:47 - Where to actually start with AI in your business 

39:11 - How Marissa uses AI in real life (not just business) 

52:48 - Do you need to understand everything as a founder? 

58:21 - Using AI as a business knowledge base 

1:01:05 - If Marissa had to start from scratch, who would her first 3 hires be?

1:04:48 - The skill that matters most in the AI era 

If you want more from Marissa, you can find her here:

Instagram @marissa_kos

YouTube @marissa_kos

TikTok @marissa_kos

Substack www.marissakos.substack.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/

AgentSync

If you’re running a business and you don’t have a personal brand, you’re already behind. 

But for most founders they’re already time-poor as it is … creating content and starting a personal brand feels difficult, exhausting and like just another thing to add to their to-do list. Today I sit down with Dain Walker who is the founder and CEO of Rivyl, Host of Agency Podcast and Author of The 90 Day Brand. He’s worked with brands like Culture Kings, Nutrition Warehouse, spoken on stages with Gary Vee and Steven Bartlett, has over 600,000 followers and grown his podcast to over 1 million subscribers.

We talk about why most founders don’t get the results they want from their content, why building a brand is no longer optional and the exact steps to make sure you stand out. 

You’ll hear: 

1:31: Why you need to have founder led content as part of your strategy in 2026.  

11:25: The key to building a high performance offshore team regardless of their roles

13:01: How to know when it’s time to hire an EA and what that role should actually do

43:25: The 5 things that block most founders from building a personal brand and how to remove each one

51:44: Why your content isn’t getting traction and how to fix it  

58:25: How to build a ‘crowd’ that actually want to engage with your content 

1:07:10: The 3 circle exercise that will help you determine your audience, niche and content

1:16:52 How to create a product or service your audience actually want to buy 

1:22:54: The leadership mindset shift that will put you back in control of everything

Follow Dain over at https://www.instagram.com/dainwalker/ and @agencypodcast_ or over at https://www.rivyl.com/

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/⁠ 

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/⁠ 

Some founders are firing their whole team and replacing them with AI…or pretending it’s not happening at all. But Joe Stolte thinks differently. 

Joe Stolte has built 6 companies, exited 4 (including Lottery.com which went public at $526 million), worked at Microsoft and generated over $100 million in sales. He now helps businesses to deploy and integrate AI agents and knows exactly what separates the business that will survive the shift to AI, from the ones that won’t. 

In this episode, we chat about building teams of AI agents, empowering your staff to use AI and ways you can 10x your business. If you’ve been waiting for a sign to get started with AI, this is probably it.

Key moments:

00:00: Hire people or hire AI. What founders should actually be thinking about right now

1:19: The matrix that will help you decide what should be done by AI and what should be done by your team

3:09: How AI can completely change the game for sales teams before during and after every call 

4:19: What your best employees are actually costing you when they aren’t using AI 

5:07: What most founders get wrong when using AI 

15:07:: The four stages of AI: what's coming next and why the timeline is shorter than most people expect

30:15: Chatbots vs Agents. What’s the difference and which one you should use 

21:52: The three agents worth setting up today and how to actually get started

23:30: Is Open Claw worth it? What it can do, where it falls short and 

45:33:How delegation changes when your team is AI-powered and what that means for you as a leader

1:01:00: The one daily habit that moves the needle and how to make it stick in your business

Drop a JESS in Joe's DMs at dmjoe.com to get his free Constraint Test bot plus a stack of AI resources and training to get you started. No email, no pitch, just good stuff. And if you want to connect with him or follow what he's up to, that's the place to start.

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.

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

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

A lot of you have probably seen Laura Higgins online.

Sharing content, building her brand, talking about business, but what you don’t see is what it actually took to get there.

Like the pivots, the hiring decisions that didn’t work, the pressure of going from working for yourself to leading a team of 19, working with your husband…

Laura started as a solo social media manager, grew into an agency, and then completely rebuilt her business into what it is today.

Today we’re chatting about the journey and  everything that doesn’t usually make it online. We’re getting into what actually happens when you start hiring, why most founders get stuck with the wrong kind of team, and how your role has to change if you want the business to keep growing (but it can still be fun!)

Key moments:

0:00 - The first hire that took Laura from freelancer to building a real business

4:30 - The moment you realise being good at your craft isn’t enough to run a business

15:10 - Why most businesses stay stuck when they try to grow 

18:10 - The shift from hiring “doers” and “builders” and what unlocked for Laura when she made the switch

20:30 - Where the best hires actually come from (and you might have guessed but it’s not Seek)

25:19 - An HR backed approach to having hard conversations with your team that puts the focus on the business and away from the person

27:57 - Hiring friends: what works, what breaks, and how to protect both the business and the relationship

32:00 - The leadership shift no one talks about: from helping clients win to leading a team

34:14 - Working with your partner: boundaries, roles, what actually keeps it working long-term + why they work in separate buildings

39:41 - The two rules that make or break couples running a business together

41:14 - What actually changes when you go from solo to leading a team

49:48 - If Laura started again: the first three hires she’d make and why

If you want more of Laura you can follow her on IG @laurahiggins, visit her website www.laurahiggins.com or watch along on YouTube 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

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 business is one thing, but scaling it and then selling it for $47 million is another.

Phil Di Bella started Di Bella Coffee with $5,000, built it into a national business with 11% market share, led a team of more than 130 people, and sold it to a publicly listed company for $47 million.

Phil built Di Bella Coffee into the kind of business most founders say they want, so I wanted to understand what exactly what goes on behind the scenes. We’re covering exactly how he did it, what kind of team was required to reach this level of success, as well as what happens to a business when a founder exits.

Show Notes:

0:00 -Starting with limited capital: how Phil thought about risk, worst case scenarios, and what not to spend money on early

3:00 - The decision that shifted Di Bella Coffee from “just another product” to a business that could actually scale

5:15 - At what point did Phil bring on his first team member?

9:08 - Has leadership always come easily to Phil? Does he still work on his mindset?

11:37 - What a leadership team really needs to look like as your business moves past 20-30 people

14:27 - The part of selling to a public company no one prepares founders for

23:52 - Why Phil started Coffee Commune and the problems he wanted to fix after his exit

32:09 - How Phil gets leaders to treat the business like it’s theirs (without micromanaging)

37:15 -The systems and reporting Phil uses so he can step back without losing control

41:01 -  How often founders with small teams should actually be meeting and when meetings become a waste of time

44:06 - The leadership lesson Phil had to learn the hard way

48:11 - The three hiring questions Phil asks that expose people fast (and why Richard Branson stole them)

50:15 - If Phil were starting again today, the first three hires he’d make

51:14 - What genuinely keeps Phil up at night about the future of business in Australia

Want to keep up with Phil? Head over to his 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

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

In every founder’s career, they’re going to go through something huge in their personal lives. 

But how do you not let it affect your team?

Today I’m sitting down with Em Sparrow, founder of the creative agency Sparo Studios. 

2025 was a huge year for Em. Behind the scenes, Em was navigating a full business restructure, cash flow pressure, team changes, and a divorce… all while continuing to grow her agency and retain her A Players.

So how did she do it?

You’ll hear:

0:00 - Why Em’s first hires failed (and what she realised too late about her leadership at the time)

2:18 - The moment Em recognised she was the problem and what she did next to turn her business around

4:41 - How Em scaled her creative agency without losing creativity OR burning her out

9:06 - How to set standards in the creative world when you can’t rely on normal KPIs

11:55 - What changed when Em removed the office and went fully remote

14:28 - How to build culture across offshore and remote teams

18:44 - The values Em hires for that are just as critical as hiring for talent

21:06 - How Em went through a personal crisis without the team ever realising it was happening

24:12 - What happened when Sparo had to pivot its offer super quickly to keep up + did she involve the team in the decision?

27:40 - Why some people left during the restructure, and how Em processed the guilt

30:18 - Real talk: cash flow in project based agencies

37:15 - How Sparrow trains designers to critically assess their own work and take responsibility for their own development 

40:52 - The systems Em has put in place that makes hard conversations easier

47:38 - The biggest leadership mistake Em sees founders make early on

50:29 - How Em empowers her team to lead without her

54:11 - If Em had to rebuild from scratch, these are first three hires she’d make and why

Want to work with Em and her team at Sparo Studios? Visit www.sparostudios.com. Or head over to IG @sparostudios

If you want help building your offshore team, send me a message over at @jesswhatman_agentsync - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jesswhatman_agentsync/⁠