Take the Builder's Mirror Assessment to discover your Builder Story and get clear next steps toward the business freedom you want. - https://bit.ly/3RdNRLH

Owning a business makes you the boss, but it doesn't make you a leader your team wants to follow. In this solo episode, Rodney Boswell shares five lessons from building IHS that help new business owners earn real respect from their teams, without becoming a pushover or leading through fear. He explains why culture comes from consistent communication, how protecting your people starts with a healthy organization, and why listening has to come before solving. He also covers the difference between managing and leading, and how to build a vision your team can see themselves in. If you have people counting on you, this episode gives you practical steps you can start using tomorrow morning.

Learn more about Rodney Boswell!

IHS Group - https://bit.ly/4pCdouJ

LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/454Aktf

Instagram - https://bit.ly/4yI42lo

Chapters

00:00 Why your team isn't following

00:51 Avoid the two common mistakes

01:51 Communicate until it's culture

03:40 Build a weekly reinforcement rhythm

05:09 Lead by going first

06:03 Protect your people's paychecks

07:25 Earn trust before vision

09:42 Keep your organization healthy

11:21 Listen before you lead

14:23 Focus on what they heard

15:34 Stay curious, not defensive

17:24 Lead people, don't manage them

18:29 Fit roles to people

20:06 Build confidence through small wins

21:12 Turn mistakes into growth

23:40 Create a shared vision

24:20 Make room for growth

25:07 Don't outrun your team

27:30 Ask what they want

31:03 Grow yourself to grow

Keywords

leadership for business owners, how to earn respect as a leader, gain respect from your team, new business owner leadership, small business leadership, boss vs leader, leadership lessons, building company culture, team communication, consistent communication, leadership reinforcement, protecting your employees, employee trust, building trust with your team, law of magnetism, John Maxwell leadership, listening skills for leaders, difficult conversations at work, handling feedback as a leader, managing vs leading, employee development, building employee confidence, failing forward, casting vision, company vision, leading a growing team, personal growth for leaders, entrepreneur leadership, Rodney Boswell, Growth and Wealth podcast, business growth podcast

If you run a small business, chances are every big decision, every hard call, and every task only you know how to do still runs through you. That works right up until a key person quits, you have a health scare, or you try to take a real vacation. I sat down with Dr. Karissa Thomas, award winning author and creator of the Mosaic Way, to talk about building leaders underneath you so your business keeps running without you in the middle of everything. We get into how to tell if your business is fragile or stewarded, why your best people being overloaded is a structural problem and not a people problem, and what actually breaks when a key employee walks out the door. Karissa also shares one quarterly rhythm you can put on your calendar right now to start making leadership stick and building a business that's worth more.

Take the Builder's Mirror Assessment to discover your Builder Story and get clear next steps toward the business freedom you want. - https://bit.ly/3RdNRLH

Learn more about Karissa Thomas! - https://drkarissathomas.net/

CHAPTERS

00:00 Why $366 billion in leadership training wears off by Monday

05:12 Big personality businesses and making room for other leaders

08:05 When your natural gift becomes the bottleneck

11:43 The hourly rate test for deciding what to delegate

13:37 Why most leadership development misses the mark

18:01 Signs your business is fragile instead of stewarded

20:12 Moving past the fear of handing off work

21:34 Building trust by sharing financials with your team

24:47 Why businesses fall apart when the owner steps away

28:59 The "I don't have time to train anyone" lie

32:34 What really breaks when a key employee quits

34:26 Making decisions run on systems, not personalities

37:34 Designing a culture where your people grow

42:10 Making hard calls under pressure without slowing the team down

47:45 How business owners can use their emotions instead of burying them

49:43 Turning leadership instincts into a repeatable system

51:13 The one system to start today

53:00 Preparing your business for a crisis before it hits

54:56 What to put in place if you disappeared tomorrow

58:00 The quarterly rhythm every leadership team needs

1:00:00 How a strong leadership system increases business value

1:02:35 How to connect with Dr. Karissa Thomas

Learn more about Rodney Boswell!

IHS Group - https://bit.ly/4pCdouJ

LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/454Aktf

Instagram - https://bit.ly/4yI42lo

KEYWORDS

small business leadership, leadership development, Mosaic Way, Dr. Karissa Thomas, Rodney Boswell, Growth and Wealth Podcast, business owner bottleneck, delegation for business owners, building a leadership team, succession planning, exit planning, business continuity plan, key employee risk, employee retention, company culture, systems vs personality, scaling a small business, business value, emotional intelligence in leadership, leading under pressure, quarterly planning rhythm, crisis preparedness for small business, owner dependent business, stewardship in business, growth mindset, entrepreneur burnout, buy back your time, small business podcast, leadership systems

If you are like most business owners, taxes cross your mind once a year. You gather the documents, hand them off, and hope the number comes back lower than last time. In this episode, Rodney Boswell makes the case that hope is not a strategy, and that tax preparation and tax planning are two very different things. He shares what it is like to sit across the desk from an owner coming off the best year of his life, asking if anything can still be done after December 31, and why the honest answer is usually no. The good news is that the fix is not complicated: stop treating tax planning as an annual event and start building it into the rhythm of how you lead your business.

Take the Builder's Mirror Assessment to discover your Builder Story and get clear next steps toward the business freedom you want. - https://bit.ly/3RdNRLH

Learn more about Rodney Boswell!

IHS Group - https://bit.ly/4pCdouJ

LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/454Aktf

Instagram - https://bit.ly/4yI42lo

CHAPTERS

00:00 Hope Is Not a Strategy

01:23 What Tax Preparation Actually Does

02:45 The Best Year Ever and the Conversation That Came Too Late

05:29 Where Tomorrow's Taxes Are Really Being Created

06:45 What Tax Planning Actually Is

07:34 Equipment and Hiring: Two Very Different Conversations

08:41 Why the Biggest Opportunities Disappear on December 31

10:28 The Objective Is Wiser Decisions, Not Just Lower Taxes

11:41 Planning Creates Options, Waiting Eliminates Them

13:55 You Do Not Check Cash Flow Once a Year, So Why Taxes?

16:15 Building Tax Planning Into Your Business Rhythm

20:30 Tax Planning Is Leadership: Next Year's Return Starts Today

KEYWORDS

tax planning vs tax preparation

proactive tax planning

tax planning for small business owners

small business tax strategy

year end tax planning

December 31 tax deadline

quarterly tax planning

working with your CPA

tax advisor for business owners

business tax deductions

equipment purchase tax strategy

hiring and payroll tax decisions

hiring tax credits

retirement plan tax strategy

entity structure review

business succession and exit planning

cash flow management for business owners

business owner leadership decisions

building a healthy business

wealth building for entrepreneurs

Rodney Boswell

Growth and Wealth podcast

My guest today is Asbel Montes, founder of Solutions Group and the author of In Plain Sight, and we are going to talk about a word you almost never hear in the business world. Grace. Now before you tune out on me, hear me on this one, because having grace does not mean being weak or letting things slide, and you are going to find out it is actually the opposite. Asbel and I get into what grace really looks like when you are the one running the company, in that uncomfortable conversation, in the firing, and in that moment you realize you have become the bottleneck in your own business. If you have been a hard driving boss for fifteen or twenty years and you keep hitting that same ceiling, my friend, this one is going to give you a whole different place to look, and I think you will handle those tough conversations with your people a whole lot better.

Take the Builder's Mirror Assessment to discover your Builder Story and get clear next steps toward the business freedom you want. - https://bit.ly/3RdNRLH

Learn more about Asbel Montes - https://asbelmontes.com/

CHAPTERS

00:00 Grace is not weakness

03:55 Self leadership starts with the person in the mirror

07:22 Work life balance versus building one life that includes work

08:37 What grace actually looks like for a business owner

14:57 Servant leadership versus command and control

16:49 Where grace crosses the line into enabling

17:39 How grace shows up in a firing conversation

24:37 When the owner becomes the bottleneck

25:33 Creating space for your people to stumble and win

29:16 What to do when people take advantage of your grace

34:11 Emotional health, counseling, and uncovering the next layer

35:05 The first step for a leader who has never led this way

42:40 Did you build a business or just another job

49:54 Getting in the room with people who are further ahead

51:29 The one piece of advice that made the difference

54:44 The law of the mirror and investing in yourself

55:35 What to do when you are stuck and do not know the next move

59:28 Where to find Asbel Montes and the book

Learn more about Rodney Boswell!

IHS Group - https://bit.ly/4pCdouJ

LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/454Aktf

Instagram - https://bit.ly/4yI42lo

KEYWORDS

grace in leadership, servant leadership, small business leadership, business owner mindset, Asbel Montes, In Plain Sight book, Rodney Boswell, Growth and Wealth podcast, IHS Group, self leadership, leading yourself, John Maxwell law of the lid, law of the mirror, 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, accountability without micromanaging, difficult conversations at work, how to fire an employee with respect, holding employees accountable, enabling versus accountability, command and control leadership, business owner bottleneck, working in the business versus on the business, built a job not a business, delegation for small business owners, work life balance for entrepreneurs, entrepreneur burnout, leadership self awareness, emotional health for leaders, vulnerability in leadership, psychological safety at work, organizational health, healthy company culture, business growth ceiling, scaling a small business, leadership development, executive coaching, investing in yourself, personal growth for business owners, healthcare finance leadership, EMS industry leadership, Louisiana business owner, faith and business, leadership podcast, small business podcast, entrepreneurship podcast

I pulled the five tax questions small business owners are actually searching for online, and I answer every one of them in plain English with no jargon and no lecture. Nobody sits you down and explains this stuff when you start a business, so most owners end up faking it and hoping for the best. My goal here is to give you the basics done right, plus a better way of thinking about the money moving through your business. Here is what I hope you notice by the end: these were never really tax questions. They were business questions, leadership questions, decision making questions, and once you see them that way you stop reacting in April and start planning in March.

Take the Builder's Mirror Assessment to discover your Builder Story and get clear next steps toward the business freedom you want. - https://bit.ly/3RdNRLH

Learn more about Rodney Boswell!

IHS Group - https://bit.ly/4pCdouJ

LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/454Aktf

Instagram - https://bit.ly/4yI42lo

CHAPTERS

00:00 Planning or Panicking: The Tax Season Trap

01:49 Question 1: What Can I Actually Deduct?

03:35 The $20,000 Equipment Test

06:19 Question 2: Can I Deduct My Home Office?

08:12 Do Not Let the Deduction Become Your Destination

09:05 Question 3: Deduction vs. Credit

09:41 The Math: $1,000 Deduction vs. $1,000 Credit

13:37 Question 4: Can I Run Personal Expenses Through My Business?

15:14 Healthy Businesses Have Healthy Boundaries

18:30 Question 5: LLC or S Corporation?

21:31 What an S Corp Election Actually Costs You

23:57 These Were Business Questions All Along

KEYWORDS

small business taxes

tax deductions for small business

what can I deduct as a business expense

ordinary and necessary expenses

home office deduction

home office deduction rules

tax deduction vs tax credit

tax credit explained

LLC vs S corporation

S corp tax election

reasonable compensation S corp

business entity structure

personal expenses through business

business and personal expense separation

tax planning for business owners

small business tax strategy

business tax questions answered

enterprise value

cash flow and profitability

business owner financial literacy

working with a CPA

tax advisor for small business

building business wealth

entrepreneur tax basics

Rodney Boswell

Growth and Wealth podcast

A lot of us build a business that only pays us. It looks successful from the outside, but strip away your own labor and there is nothing there worth selling. That is the trap Nettles Brown and I get into in this one. He spent decades watching owners shrink their tax bill every single year, then find out the hard way that the number they reported is the only number a buyer will pay for. We talk about how you actually turn a business into wealth, through retirement plans that keep your best people, insurance that protects what you built, and the habit of saving early instead of waiting for the big payday that may never come.

Take the Builder's Mirror Assessment to discover your Builder Story and get clear next steps toward the business freedom you want. - https://bit.ly/3RdNRLH

Learn more about Rodney Boswell!

IHS Group - https://bit.ly/4pCdouJ

LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/454Aktf

Instagram - https://bit.ly/4yI42lo

CHAPTERS

00:00 The Two Sets of Books Every Business Owner Keeps

01:06 Why This Conversation Matters

03:02 Death and Taxes: The Two Things Nobody Escapes

04:47 When the Scorecard Doesn't Match the Story

08:34 The Walk-In Client Who Changed Nettles' Career

16:14 What Separates Wealth Builders From Income Earners

18:10 Three Days of Firewood: The Sale He Didn't Make

23:08 Building a Business Is Not the Same as Building Wealth

24:50 The Retirement Mistake That Resets You to Zero

27:18 The Simple IRA: Built for the Small Employer

29:41 How the Employer Match Actually Works

32:10 Setting It Up: A Two Page Form and 60 Days Notice

33:57 Maxing Out Contributions and Catch-Up After 50

35:12 Outgrowing the Simple Plan and Moving to a 401(k)

36:42 What Happens to the Money When You Transition

39:31 How Much Life Insurance Do You Actually Need

42:42 Buy-Sell Agreements and Covering Business Debt

44:34 Benefits as a Retention Tool, Not an Expense Line

47:16 The One Thing He'd Tell Every 30 Year Old Owner

49:16 Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

50:31 Why You Can Never Replace a Great Mentor

KEYWORDS

Growth and Wealth podcast, Rodney Boswell, Nettles Brown, small business wealth building, business valuation, selling your business, tax planning for business owners, reported income vs actual income, financial statements as a scorecard, Simple IRA, Simple IRA employer match, Simple IRA contribution limits, catch-up contributions after 50, 401k conversion, qualified retirement plans, 59.5 early withdrawal penalty, traditional IRA rollover, small business retirement plans, employee retention benefits, employee benefits as investment, life insurance for business owners, how much life insurance do I need, term life vs permanent life insurance, buy-sell agreement, business succession planning, business debt protection, estate planning for small business, CPA financial advisor, tax savings strategies, retirement planning for entrepreneurs, start saving early, compound growth, mentorship in business, legacy planning, financial planning for families

Every time the tax law changes, business owners start asking the same questions. Should I buy equipment? Should I change my entity? Should I hire someone? Rodney says those aren't bad questions, they're just not the first ones. In this episode he walks through four better questions and runs the One Big Beautiful Bill through all of them, covering bonus depreciation, Section 179, the QBI deduction, and the new Trump accounts along the way. By the end you won't just know what changed, you'll know how to think about it.

Take the Builder's Mirror Assessment to discover your Builder Story and get clear next steps toward the business freedom you want. - https://bit.ly/3RdNRLH

Learn more about Rodney Boswell!

IHS Group - https://bit.ly/4pCdouJ

LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/454Aktf

Instagram - https://bit.ly/4yI42lo

CHAPTERS

00:00 The noise around the bill

01:18 Question one: capacity

02:37 A closer look at the equipment decision

07:17 Question two: income or wealth

07:51 Trump accounts and the long game

10:39 Question three: future options

15:50 Question four: both balance sheets

19:17 One last question before you decide

KEYWORDS

One Big Beautiful Bill Act, OBBBA, 100% bonus depreciation, Section 179 deduction, qualified business income deduction, QBI deduction permanent, Trump accounts, tax planning for business owners, small business tax strategy, business equipment purchase deduction, immediate expensing, S corporation tax deduction, partnership tax planning, sole proprietor tax deduction, business capacity building, two balance sheets, personal balance sheet, business owner wealth building, converting business income to personal wealth, intentional business growth, tax law changes 2025, entity structure decisions, business succession and legacy, financial independence for entrepreneurs, Rodney Boswell, Growth and Wealth podcast, IHS Group, leadership and tax strategy, generational wealth building, tax deductions vs business value

If you are a business owner, here is the hard truth: almost all of your wealth is probably locked up in your business, and nowhere else. You have poured years into building something great, but the business ends up owning you instead of the other way around. I sat down with my friend of 35 years, Toby Brazzle, to talk about how you start pulling wealth out of the business and into your own name, so your future does not depend entirely on the doors staying open every day. We get into why owners get stuck here and how to finally break the pattern. My friend, act on just one thing from this episode, and five years from now you may look back on today as the day you stopped building a business that owns you and started building wealth that outlives you.

Learn more about Toby Brazzel - https://www.brazzelwealthmgt.com/

Take the Builder's Mirror Assessment to discover your Builder Story and get clear next steps toward the business freedom you want. - https://bit.ly/3RdNRLH

CHAPTERS

00:00 The promise: what this episode can put in your pocket

03:03 What the average business owner is leaving on the table

04:24 Why 99 percent of an owner's wealth is trapped in the business

05:20 Why owners avoid investing outside their lane

09:57 The One Big Beautiful Bill: getting paid to start a 401k

15:44 Tax credit vs tax deduction, and why the difference matters

18:25 The Solo 401k for 1099 earners

24:59 The spousal provision: 140,000 to 160,000 a year

25:50 The loan provision: becoming your own bank

27:12 Zero surrender charge life insurance and sub 1 percent loans

28:02 The biggest mistake owners make: not starting

30:15 Protecting your wealth from lawsuits

34:33 Scaling up: traditional 401k, deferred comp, and key man insurance

39:18 The first step for a business owner ready to build wealth

47:05 How to connect with Toby

KEYWORDS

business owner retirement planning, solo 401k, One Big Beautiful Bill tax credits, small business 401k tax credit, retirement plan tax credit vs deduction, 1099 retirement planning, self-employed retirement plan, spousal 401k contributions, profit sharing contributions, defined contribution plan, Roth solo 401k, pretax vs Roth retirement, catch up contributions, become your own bank, borrow against 401k, cash value life insurance loans, asset protection for business owners, lawsuit protection retirement accounts, deferred compensation, executive compensation, key man life insurance, third party administrator TPA, tax planning for business owners, tax efficient retirement, building personal wealth as a business owner, financial advisor for entrepreneurs, Growth and Wealth podcast, Rodney Boswell, Toby Brazzle, IHS Group

You didn't start your business to create another job for yourself, but a lot of us end up there anyway. In this first episode I introduce the Builder's Mirror, the tool I created to help you see exactly where you are in your business right now and what it will take to get where you actually want to go. I'll walk you through the five builder disciplines that come out of it. Along the way we'll cover the financial reports that give you real clarity, the difference between profit and cash, and the weekly rhythm I use to lead my own business instead of react to it. Freedom doesn't come from owning a business, my friend. It comes from intentionally building one.

Take the Builder's Mirror Assessment to discover your Builder Story and get clear next steps toward the business freedom you want. - https://bit.ly/3RdNRLH

Learn more about Rodney Boswell!

IHS Group - https://bit.ly/4pCdouJ

LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/454Aktf

Instagram - https://bit.ly/4yI42lo

CHAPTERS

00:00 Freedom Is Built On Purpose

00:48 Why You Started and How I Got Here

04:59 The Builder's Mirror: Seeing Where You Really Are

07:50 The Five Builder Disciplines

08:12 Build With Clarity: Know Your Numbers

13:16 Build With Structure: Structure Creates Freedom

19:01 Build With Intention: Give Every Dollar a Job

24:18 Build With Consistency: The Weekly CEO Meeting

29:11 Build Yourself: Your Business Grows As You Grow

35:17 Three Questions and Your One Step This Week

KEYWORDS

Growth and Wealth podcast, Rodney Boswell, business freedom, building a healthy business, five builder disciplines, small business financial clarity, financial literacy for business owners, profit and loss statement explained, balance sheet basics, cash flow statement, profit versus cash flow, business bookkeeping basics, separating personal and business finances, business checking account, business budgeting, cash flow planning, setting aside money for taxes, small business tax planning, weekly CEO meeting, working on your business not in it, business systems and structure, intentional business growth, entrepreneur mindset shift, self-employed to business owner, business owner leadership development, John Maxwell leadership, Maxwell Leadership certified coach, Working Genius facilitator, business advisory team, CPA bookkeeper financial advisor, personal growth is business growth, stop reacting start leading, legacy and generational wealth, self-made business owner, entrepreneurship podcast, accounting for entrepreneurs