How long should you tolerate “growing pains” before admitting the way you are operating is not working?

Brock Beiersdoerfer and his wife Kimberly opened The Heavenly Donut Company hoping to build something meaningful, but the business soon had Brock working brutal hours, worrying about payroll, covering overnight shifts, and watching the freedom they wanted disappear. The pressure peaked in moments like a 35-hour shift, canceled direct deposits, unreliable employees, and the realization that the business was consuming time he could never recover with his family. 

You’ll hear how Brock learned to stop carrying every responsibility himself, developed leaders who could run the company without him, and ultimately transformed a business that trapped him into one that gave him room to build a new purpose.

What you’ll learn in this episode: 

(01:30) How a business that begins as a shared dream can quietly take over your marriage, conversations, and home life.

(03:20) What a 35-hour work shift taught Brock about the difference between owning a business and being owned by one.

(05:19) Why learning to delegate became the first major breakthrough after years of trying to carry everything himself.

(07:39) How financial fear can convince you that hiring help is too expensive even when doing everything yourself costs far more.

(07:57) Who changed Brock’s business by stepping from part-time donut decorator into a leadership role that created real freedom.

(11:36) What happened when Brock’s managers told him one of the best things he had done for the business was not being there.

(13:03) How stepping out of daily operations forced Brock to confront a new question about identity, purpose, and what came next.

(20:44) When “growing pains” stop being temporary and become proof that the way you are running the business needs to change.

Learn more about Brock Beiersdoerfer and The Heavenly Donut Company: https://www.theheavenlydonutco.com/

 
Want to gain traction in your own company? As written about in the best-selling book, "Traction" by Gino Wickman, the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) helps entrepreneurial leadership teams clarify their vision, gain traction, and work together more effectively. Learn more at www.eosworldwide.com

Want a little more clarity in your week? Sign up for Mark O'Donnell's Clarity Break Thoughts newsletter: www.eosworldwide.com/claritybreakthoughts

Follow the show on your favorite platform:
www.eosworldwide.com/htc

This episode was produced by Story On Media: https://www.storyon.co/

How much of your business is actually being run by the eight-year-old version of you?

Kieran James built Stryde from the ground up, but the real story starts earlier than that: a working-class childhood where food got stretched with oats and money was never quite enough. That scarcity mindset didn't stay in his childhood home — it followed him into every pricing conversation, every hiring decision, and eventually into a franchise opportunity that looked like the growth of a lifetime. In this episode, Kerian opens up about the moment he realized his business decisions weren't logic, they were an old survival pattern still running in the background, and what it actually took to notice it, question it, and choose differently.

Whether we like it or not, your upbringing will deeply impact your relationship with money and risk. So, in this episode, we dig into why "rising above" it isn't a one-time decision but an ongoing practice of catching yourself in the moment, and how Kieran rebuilt his pricing, his team, and his own role in the business once he stopped letting a childhood mindset make adult decisions.

What you'll learn in this episode:

(01:22) How a working-class childhood — and the small, specific ways his family stretched what little they had — quietly installed a scarcity mindset Kieran carried into adulthood.

(03:31) The difference between a scarcity and abundance mindset, illustrated through something as ordinary as letting your kids eat a nice snack whenever they want versus saving it "for the right moment."

(04:19) How that same hardwiring showed up in sales conversations, making him feel he had to fight for every prospect instead of simply solving their problem.

(06:37) The moment Kieran caught himself building a business case to lower a quote — not because the price was wrong, but because he could hear his dad's voice telling him it looked expensive.

(08:31) Why it takes a healthy leadership team to hold up a mirror to your inherited beliefs, and what to do if no one around you is equipped to challenge them.

(10:35) How an old pattern of "prove it before you believe it" led Kieran to burn £96,000 in year one while bringing in only about £3,500, and the lean-startup mindset shift that followed.

(15:06) How being blinded by a big opportunity let Kieran override the warning signs his gut — and his integrator — were already picking up on with a major franchise deal.

(18:57) Why letting go of control wasn't just an org-chart decision for Kieran, but a direct rewrite of the "hold onto everything tightly" instinct his upbringing had trained into him.

Learn more about Kieran James and Stryde: https://www.stryde.co.uk/

 
Want to gain traction in your own company? As written about in the best-selling book, "Traction" by Gino Wickman, the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) helps entrepreneurial leadership teams clarify their vision, gain traction, and work together more effectively. Learn more at www.eosworldwide.com

Want a little more clarity in your week? Sign up for Mark O'Donnell's Clarity Break Thoughts newsletter: www.eosworldwide.com/claritybreakthoughts

Follow the show on your favorite platform:
www.eosworldwide.com/htc

This episode was produced by Story On Media: https://www.storyon.co/ 

What happens when the drive to succeed becomes the very thing holding you and your business back?

Glen Smith built GDS Wealth Management from relentless cold calls and early financial uncertainty into a firm managing roughly $1.8 billion. But behind that business growth was a fear of failure that shaped nearly every decision he made, pushing him to work harder, hold on tighter, and believe that every important problem ultimately belonged to him.

As the company scaled, Glen faced a different kind of challenge: building a leadership team he could trust, delegating effectively, confronting perfectionism, and learning how to get out of the day-to-day without lowering his standards.

In this episode, Glen shares what it takes to move from founder-driven growth to a more sustainable way of leading. You’ll hear how he’s replacing personal endurance with stronger leadership, clearer structure, greater accountability, and a business built to grow beyond its founder.

What you’ll learn in this episode: 

(01:49) How fear can make you confuse being indispensable with being responsible.

(03:13) What to consider before sacrificing an irreplaceable life moment for an urgent business problem.

(04:49) Why the work ethic that gets you through survival mode can become dangerous once the business succeeds.

(07:58) How being physically present but mentally trapped in the business can quietly damage your closest relationships.

(09:34) Why having less experience, money, or connections does not have to matter if you are willing to outlast the competition.

(14:28) Why walking away from guaranteed money can be the right move to build a company around your values.

(23:58) Why scaling gets easier when you stop trying to clone yourself and start hiring people who are better where you are weak.

(26:56) How to know when your next ceiling is not growth, but your inability to let go of the roles keeping you stuck.

Learn more about Glen Smith and GDS Wealth: https://www.gdswealth.com/

Want to gain traction in your own company? As written about in the best-selling book, "Traction" by Gino Wickman, the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) helps entrepreneurial leadership teams clarify their vision, gain traction, and work together more effectively. Learn more at www.eosworldwide.com

Want a little more clarity in your week? Sign up for Mark O'Donnell's Clarity Break Thoughts newsletter: www.eosworldwide.com/claritybreakthoughts

Follow the show on your favorite platform:
www.eosworldwide.com/htc

This episode was produced by Story On Media: https://www.storyon.co/ 

What happens when the systems that helped you grow start becoming the very thing holding you back?

Cory Bengtzen and Tommy Aoki have helped turn SkyShare from a small aviation brokerage into a fast-growing private jet company competing against some of the biggest names in the industry, but beneath the polished world of aircraft, owners, and luxury travel is a business entering a much harder stage of growth. As SkyShare pushes toward becoming a top 10 operator, Cory and Tommy face the pressure of limited systems, expensive talent, pilot retention, acquisition goals, AI disruption, capital needs, and a company that has outgrown the scrappy tools that got it here. You’ll hear how two lifelong friends are trying to preserve culture, simplify operations, align incentives, and build the discipline required to scale a high-stakes aviation business without losing what made it work in the first place.

What you’ll learn in this episode: 

(01:48) How Cory went from barely graduating high school to selling cars, building dealerships, and launching an aviation company with no roadmap.

(02:31) How SkyShare grew from a simple aircraft brokerage into a full-service private aviation company spanning FBOs, fractional ownership, charter, aircraft management, and more.

(03:24) Why a painful business split made Cory swear off partners, and why he eventually trusted Tommy to help scale SkyShare.

(04:06) How Tommy’s dream of becoming a Fortune 500 CEO took him through wireless, GameStop, and major operational leadership before bringing him back to building a company with his lifelong friend.

(10:13) How one blunt conversation with a potential customer forced SkyShare to rethink its values, culture, and leadership from the ground up.

(17:43) Why Tommy believes broken culture can be rebuilt, but only when leaders stop treating values like slogans and start living them every day.

(22:24) Why SkyShare abandoned its goal of being “most loved” to pursue a top-10 operator ranking by 2030, and what that ambition will demand.

(39:15) How systems, AI, pilot retention, office space, and access to capital are now standing between SkyShare and its leap from regional player to national contender.

Learn more about Cory Bengtzen, Tommy Aoki, and SkyShare: https://www.skyshare.com/

Want to gain traction in your own company? As written about in the best-selling book, "Traction" by Gino Wickman, the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) helps entrepreneurial leadership teams clarify their vision, gain traction, and work together more effectively. Learn more at www.eosworldwide.com

Want a little more clarity in your week? Sign up for Mark O'Donnell's Clarity Break Thoughts newsletter: www.eosworldwide.com/claritybreakthoughts

Follow the show on your favorite platform:
www.eosworldwide.com/htc

This episode was produced by Story On Media: https://www.storyon.co/ 

Are you building your company with a purpose, or because you need to prove someone wrong?

Eric V. Holtzclaw built his career turning ideas into businesses: launching Liger Marketing (yes, that’s a Napoleon Dynamite reference), building a research company, and learning firsthand what happens when a founder’s ambition collides with a revenue ceiling. Having to figure out how to get out of a difficult partnership, while under serious pressure to keep growing, forced him to look inward and explore what it was he really wanted out of his business. 

So, Eric sold Liger. But then, he watched the acquiring company lose a major client and decided to buy the business back. Suddenly, he found himself rebuilding around the clients and relationships that made the company valuable in the first place. Along the way, he had to confront a harder question: how much of his business identity was tied to proving that he could make something bigger?

In this episode, you’ll hear how Eric is learning to separate independence from isolation, ambition from identity, and business growth from growth at any cost. His story takes you inside the emotional reality of entrepreneurship, from walking away from a misaligned partnership to resisting the lure of private equity and building Liger Marketing into the kind of lasting, partner-led firm he actually wants.

What you’ll learn in this episode: 

(01:11) Why Eric sold Liger, bought it back, and had to rebuild the company around its clients again.

(02:06) How one major client loss inside the acquiring company forced Liger into a high-stakes reset.

(05:21) Why revenue growth became Eric’s recurring ceiling, even when Liger could deliver at scale.

(07:40) How misalignment between a growth-minded founder and a lifestyle-business partner can quietly stall a company for years.

(08:22) Why Eric chose to sell his interest in his research business rather than force a broken partnership to continue.

(13:06) Why entrepreneurs need to be brutally clear about whether they are building a lifestyle business or a growth business.

(14:48) How Eric’s “rectify” and “magnify” framework reveals the emotional fuel behind many entrepreneurs and their founder identity.

(23:53) Why Eric wants Liger Marketing to become a lasting, partner-led firm instead of another agency built for a private equity payday.

Learn more about Eric V. Holtzclaw and Liger Marketing: https://www.ligerpartners.com/

 
Want to gain traction in your own company? As written about in the best-selling book, "Traction" by Gino Wickman, the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) helps entrepreneurial leadership teams clarify their vision, gain traction, and work together more effectively. Learn more at www.eosworldwide.com

Want a little more clarity in your week? Sign up for Mark O'Donnell's Clarity Break Thoughts newsletter: www.eosworldwide.com/claritybreakthoughts

Follow the show on your favorite platform:
www.eosworldwide.com/htc

This episode was produced by Story On Media: https://www.storyon.co/ 

When does the drive to grow become a cover for ego, fear, or the need for recognition?

Jonathan Reynolds built Titus Talent Strategies around a simple belief: the right people in the right seats can change everything, but as the company grew, the cracks started showing inside the leader himself. The pressure to know everyone, stay central, get credit, protect the culture, and keep growing exposed a deeper fear: what if Titus became healthier when it needed him less? 

In this episode of Hitting the Ceiling, you’ll hear how Jonathan and Mark unpack founder ego, purpose, AI, automation, people-first leadership, and the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, a system for running your business or organization, as tools for becoming clear enough to lead without being the bottleneck.

What you’ll learn in this episode: 

(01:18) When the leader’s own seat becomes the ceiling the company has to break through.

(02:36) How scaling a people-first company can create anxiety when you can no longer personally know everyone.

(04:23) What it feels like when the company starts making decisions without you, and why that can hit your ego.

(06:01) How to celebrate leaders you’ve developed without needing credit for everything they accomplish.

(08:33) Why the hunger for legacy, recognition, and significance can quietly shape your leadership behavior.

(12:52) What purpose reveals about the way people join, leave, and contribute to a company’s story.

(29:12) How hidden founder motives can break trust when leaders say one thing but are building for something else.

(41:14) How AI and automation can either threaten people or free them up for the deeply human work only they can do.

(48:10) Why clarity breaks, honest reflection, and the Entrepreneurial Operating System® tools matter when you feel ready to quit.

(51:54) How your stress as a leader can change the atmosphere for everyone around you.

Learn more about Jonathan Reynolds and Titus Talent Strategies: https://www.titustalent.com/

Want to gain traction in your own company? As written about in the best-selling book, "Traction" by Gino Wickman, the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS®) helps entrepreneurial leadership teams clarify their vision, gain traction, and work together more effectively. Learn more at www.eosworldwide.com

Want a little more clarity in your week? Sign up for Mark O'Donnell's Clarity Break Thoughts newsletter: www.eosworldwide.com/claritybreakthoughts

Follow the show on your favorite platform:
www.eosworldwide.com/htc

This episode was produced by Story On Media: https://www.storyon.co/

What happens when the family business you spent your life building has no family member ready to take it over?

Derek Volk spent decades turning his family's Maine packaging company into a $50 million operation. He worked hard to build it just the way his father and grandfather had before him. Then, three weeks from closing a sale that would have let him walk away clean, the deal fell apart.

No buyer. No exit. Just Derek, still holding the debt, still on the hook for the personal guarantees, still responsible for 110 people who counted on him for a paycheck.

And underneath all of it, he couldn’t stop thinking: he was still building something his own kids didn't want.

That is what kept him up at night. Not the collapsed deal. Not even the debt. The realization that the name on the building didn’t really mean anything to the people who share his last name.

In this episode of Hitting the Ceiling, you’ll hear how Derek is confronting succession, culture, debt, delegation, EOS, and the hard work of becoming less essential so the company’s legacy can survive beyond him.

What you’ll learn in this episode: 

(00:16) What happened when Derek Volk was three weeks away from selling his family business and the buyer suddenly walked away.

(03:25) How Derek wrestled with the realization that he may be the last family member inside a company that has carried his name since 1967.

(07:25) What you lose when a key family leader exits and why it is so hard to replace someone who truly puts the business first.

(10:18) The real burden of leadership when 110 employees, debt, personal guarantees, and company culture all rest on your shoulders.

(18:54) Why an ESOP is considered after a failed sale and how existing debt can complicate the path to employee ownership.

(21:52) How reading Traction can transform a leadership mindset, drive EOS adoption, and expose hidden people problems in your business.

(37:58) Why learning to delegate and systemize is the key to making yourself as irrelevant as possible inside your own company.

Learn more about Derek Volk and Volk Boxes: https://volkboxes.com/

Want to gain traction in your own company? As written about in the best-selling book, "Traction" by Gino Wickman, the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS®) helps entrepreneurial leadership teams clarify their vision, gain traction, and work together more effectively. Learn more at www.eosworldwide.com

Want a little more clarity in your week? Sign up for Mark O'Donnell's Clarity Break Thoughts newsletter: www.eosworldwide.com/claritybreakthoughts

Follow the show on your favorite platform:
www.eosworldwide.com/htc

This episode was produced by Story On Media: https://www.storyon.co/ 

How do you protect the people doing the work without taking resources away from the people you serve?

Rachel Kuhn stepped into A Special Wish Foundation of Central Ohio carrying a promise her grandmother made in 1982: give children with life-threatening illnesses and their families a moment of joy when they need it most.

But behind every Disney trip, private character meet-and-greet, airport sendoff, and carefully planned wish is a pediatric nonprofit racing against treatment schedules, poor prognoses, donor uncertainty, and the pressure to never let a qualifying child sit on a waitlist.

You’ll hear how Rachel and Wish Director Rebecca Brown are learning to protect the heart of local wish-granting while building the structure, funding, accountability, and team capacity needed to keep saying yes to families who cannot afford to wait.

What you’ll learn in this episode: 

(01:33) What no one sees between a child qualifying for a wish and the moment it goes viral.

(03:13) Why a wish isn’t just a trip, it’s a deeply personal dream shaped by treatment, timing, and hope.

(05:39) Why avoiding a waitlist matters and the intense financial and emotional pressure it creates.

(07:24) How nonprofits balance two audiences: families in need and the donors who fund it all.

(12:18) When staying lean to save donor dollars starts burning out your team.

(15:02) Why passion alone won’t sustain a nonprofit without strong business fundamentals.

(17:57) How a MrBeast-level opportunity brought massive exposure and overwhelming pressure.

(27:07) Why are they rethinking leadership, delegation, and growth on the path to 50, then 100 wishes a year.

Learn more about Rachel Kuhn & Rebecca Brown and A Special Wish Foundation: https://www.aspecialwishfoundation.org/

Want to gain traction in your own company? As written about in the best-selling book, "Traction" by Gino Wickman, the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS®) helps entrepreneurial leadership teams clarify their vision, gain traction, and work together more effectively. Learn more at www.eosworldwide.com

Want a little more clarity in your week? Sign up for Mark O'Donnell's Clarity Break Thoughts newsletter: www.eosworldwide.com/claritybreakthoughts

Follow the show on your favorite platform:
www.eosworldwide.com/htc

This episode was produced by Story On Media: https://www.storyon.co/ 

What happens when the company you helped build starts outgrowing the structure holding it together?

Mike Mortensen started at ARG Industrial as a delivery driver in Anchorage, Alaska, and spent more than three decades working his way through nearly every part of the business. What began as a small, single-location distribution company eventually became an employee-owned organization with a much bigger future ahead of it.

As the company grew, Mike could see what ARG Industrial was capable of. But the leadership structure, internal support, and shared vision were not keeping pace.

After more than 25 years inside the business, he reached a breaking point where he was prepared to walk away from the company he loved because he couldn’t keep pushing its future uphill alone.

Mike pulls back the curtain on why he stayed. From expanding beyond Alaska and changing the company’s name, to investing in digital transformation and building a more robust leadership team, he reveals what it takes to grow without losing the identity that made the business matter in the first place.

Now, Mike is facing another ceiling: Scaling ARG into the company it has worked so hard to become through its team, systems, and ambition. And this time, the challenge is not whether he can carry the vision himself, but whether he can keep building a company strong enough for everyone else to carry it with him.

What you’ll learn in this episode: 

(01:32) Why Mike Mortensen nearly walked away from the company he had spent more than 25 years helping build.

(05:32) Why employee ownership changed the emotional stakes of leadership, growth, and customer service at ARG Industrial.

(09:14) How frontline employees became part of a wealth-building ESOP story that most blue-collar workers never get to experience.

(14:16) How ARG Industrial worked through the grief and necessity of letting go of legacy names to become one unified brand.

(18:08) Why digital transformation became a major growth ceiling for an industrial company serving remote customers with ecommerce and complex product needs.

(23:28) Why Mike believes AI can help industrial distributors move beyond the limits of traditional ERP systems.

(31:17) How ARG is pushing authority and accountability deeper into the business so branch leaders can stop “running the store” and start “running the business.”

Learn more about Mike Mortensen and ARG Industrial: https://www.teamarg.com/

Want to gain traction in your own company? As written about in the best-selling book, Traction by Gino Wickman, the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS®) helps entrepreneurial leadership teams clarify their vision, gain traction, and work together more effectively. Learn more at www.eosworldwide.com

Want a little more clarity in your week? Sign up for Mark O'Donnell's Clarity Break Thoughts newsletter: www.eosworldwide.com/claritybreakthoughts

Follow the show on your favorite platform:
www.eosworldwide.com/htc

This episode was produced by Story On Media: https://www.storyon.co/ 

What happens when the business you inherited starts falling apart before you have even found your footing?

When Michael Fleck bought his family's Texas jewelry business in 2014, he thought he knew what came next. Instead, oil prices crashed, his right-hand leader died from cancer, and the future of the company was suddenly in question.

Faced with shrinking revenue and impossible decisions, Michael and his sister, Denise Hutchinson, sat in a hotel room preparing a plan to downsize the business they loved. They cried over the people they might have to let go and wondered if simply surviving would have to be enough. It wasn't.

In this episode of Hitting the Ceiling, Denise and Michael share the painful and powerful story of rebuilding Occasions Fine Jewelry—a family business that has grown into one of the top fine jewelry retailers in the country. From learning to embrace accountability and difficult conversations to redefining their roles as Visionary and Integrator, they've discovered that every new level of growth requires letting go of something that once made you successful.
Now, they're facing another ceiling: opening a second Texas location, simplifying their business, and learning to lead through discomfort once again.

What you’ll learn in this episode:
(01:56) Why Michael’s 2014 purchase of Occasions turned into an immediate crisis when oil dropped, his right-hand person died, and the business started sliding.
(05:50) How family-business transitions carry emotional weight because the buyer is often inheriting someone else’s identity, not just assets.
(08:47) Why Michael and Denise built a plan to shrink the company, and what changed when Michael realized he did not want to merely survive.
(12:03) How a loving, family-like culture can still fail when there is no accountability, no warning system, and no clear standard.
(17:20) What it felt like to “win Midland,” hit an eight-figure showroom, and then realize the old playbook had reached its limit.
(22:30) How Denise and Michael clarified their visionary and integrator roles so Michael could let go and Denise could build repeatable systems.
(29:01) Why simplifying communication meant stopping constant problem-solving conversations and building a cleaner process for real issue resolution.
(34:07) How the siblings are preparing for a second store by making the flagship stronger, delegating cleaner roles, and staying open to change.

Learn more about Denise Hutchinson & Michael Fleck and Occasions Fine Jewelry: : https://occasionsfinejewelry.com/

Want to gain traction in your own company? As written about in the best-selling book, "Traction" by Gino Wickman, the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS®) helps entrepreneurial leadership teams clarify their vision, gain traction, and work together more effectively. Learn more at www.eosworldwide.com

Want a little more clarity in your week? Sign up for Mark O'Donnell's Clarity Break Thoughts newsletter: www.eosworldwide.com/claritybreakthoughts

Follow the show on your favorite platform:
www.eosworldwide.com/htc

This episode was produced by Story On Media: https://www.storyon.co/