Winning Standards

By Michael MojoBusiness Entrepreneurship

Winning Standards episodes

August 20Ep. 613 - How to Deal With Business Growth Challenges
Official channel and episode of the Winning Standards Podcast hosted by Michael Mojo. All Rights Reserved.
When you're ready to fast track your results, here's 2 ways I can help:
This month's intake for The Odyssey is now open. If you've hit a ceiling in your business and know the constraint is you, not your business, this is the breakthrough. Limited intake [Learn more]

Stuck, need clarity, or just want to upgrade how you think, lead and perform? Thrive Time is my premier self leadership event. [Secure your seat]

Follow Me on Social Media:
📘 Facebook: https://facebook.com/themichaelmojo
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🔗 Website: www.MichaelMojo.com
25 min
August 19Ep. 612 - Why Chasing Money Is Killing Your Business (And What to Do Instead) | Rushad Pavri & Shannon Bow
Chasing money almost destroyed their business. Rushad Pavri and Shannon Bow nearly lost the whole thing before they worked out that the goal they were chasing was the exact problem, and the same trap is quietly capping owners everywhere.
Rushad and Shannon are the founders of Integral Built, a South Australian cladding company, and in this episode they're honest with Michael about the early crisis that nearly ended it. The high turnover, the dissatisfaction, the sense of being stuck in a cycle they couldn't break. What they did to pull out of it flipped their whole approach, and it's the part most business owners get backwards.
They get into the restructure that saved the company, how getting clear on their values and vision changed everything, and the counterintuitive call they made about who they'd work with that most owners are too scared to make.
Two friends running a business 50/50 usually ends in disaster. Rushad and Shannon explain why theirs is one of the rare ones that works. They also open up about the personal side, the self-awareness that changed how they lead, the habits they had to drop to think clearly, and why they treat themselves as a mirror for the standards of their whole team.
They finish on the challenge keeping them up at night right now, one almost every business in a trade or service industry is feeling, and how they're changing their approach to solve it.
If you've ever felt like the harder you chase growth the worse things get, this conversation will show you a different way through.
In this episode:
Why chasing money quietly sabotages your growth
The reset that turns a struggling business around
The counterintuitive client decision most owners are too scared to make
Why the usual approach to growth works against you
How a 50/50 partnership actually survives
The self-awareness shift that changes how you lead
The habits worth dropping to make clearer decisions
The hiring challenge almost every trade business is facing right now
Official channel and episode of the Winning Standards Podcast hosted by Michael Mojo. All Rights Reserved.

When you're ready to fast track your results, here's 2 ways I can help:
This month's intake for The Odyssey is now open. If you've hit a ceiling in your business and know the constraint is you, not your business, this is the breakthrough. Limited intake [Learn more]

Stuck, need clarity, or just want to upgrade how you think, lead and perform? Thrive Time is my premier self leadership event. [Secure your seat]

Follow Me on Social Media:
📘 Facebook: https://facebook.com/themichaelmojo
📸Insta: https://www.instagram.com/themichaelmojo
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@themichaelmojo
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@themichaelmojo
🔗 Website: www.MichaelMojo.com
49 min
August 18Ep. 611 - Why You Need to Fire Ineffective Team Members
One wrong person on your team can quietly cost you your best ones. Most owners hold on far too long, and Michael Mojo breaks down what that decision is really costing them.
Keeping an ineffective team member feels like the kinder choice. In this episode Michael makes the case that it's one of the most expensive mistakes an owner can make, because the damage almost never shows up where you're looking for it. Once you see where it actually lands, you can't unsee it.
He uses a team-building analogy most owners will recognise straight away, one that reframes how you should be structuring the people around you and why your strongest players might be quietly wasted right now.
Then he turns it back on the owner, and makes an argument most founders don't want to hear about who the real bottleneck usually is. He's honest about the fear that shows up when you stop doing the work and start leading it, and why you have to change faster than your business does.
He closes on what he calls the most underrated skill in business, the one thing that decides whether you can scale at all. Most owners overlook it completely.
If you've got someone you know you should have let go months ago, this one will make the decision a lot clearer.
In this episode:
The real cost of keeping an ineffective team member
How one wrong hire quietly drives your best people out
The team analogy that reframes how you build a business
Why your strongest people might be wasted right now
Who the real bottleneck in your business usually is
The fear that hits when you stop hustling and start leading
The most underrated skill in scaling a business
How to protect your culture before it's too late
Official channel and episode of the Winning Standards Podcast hosted by Michael Mojo. All Rights Reserved.
When you're ready to fast track your results, here's 2 ways I can help:
This month's intake for The Odyssey is now open. If you've hit a ceiling in your business and know the constraint is you, not your business, this is the breakthrough. Limited intake [Learn more]

Stuck, need clarity, or just want to upgrade how you think, lead and perform? Thrive Time is my premier self leadership event. [Secure your seat]

Follow Me on Social Media:
📘 Facebook: https://facebook.com/themichaelmojo
📸Insta: https://www.instagram.com/themichaelmojo
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@themichaelmojo
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@themichaelmojo
🔗 Website: www.MichaelMojo.com
30 min
August 14Ep. 610 -The Numbers Game That Scales a Business Fast - $1M per annum to upto $1M per week | Riley Barker
Riley Barker, from Best Solar and Batteries went from a million dollars a year to as much as a million a week. In four years. And when he explains how, it has almost nothing to do with luck or timing.
Most business owners are guessing. They chase growth on gut feel, hope the leads show up, and can't really tell you why one month beats the next. Riley runs his company on something completely different, and it's the thing that took Best Solar and Batteries to one of the largest residential battery installers in South Australia. In this episode he sits down with Michael to unpack how he thinks about scaling, and why he treats the whole business less like a hustle and more like a problem with a solvable answer.
He's honest about what came before the growth too. The early years that nearly buried him, the money habits most owners get wrong, and the uncomfortable realisation about his own role that was quietly capping everything. What he did next is the part worth hearing.
They also get into how Riley hires, and why he deliberately tells people the worst parts of the job before they take it. Why he's willing to walk past talent to protect something he values more. And the personal discipline underneath the whole rise, the kind most people say they'd do but never actually stick to.
If your growth keeps stalling and you can't put your finger on why, this conversation will give you a very different way to look at the entire thing.
In this episode:
How Riley went from $1M a year to as much as $1M a week in four years
Why most owners stay stuck guessing their way to growth
The mindset shift that turns scaling into a solvable equation
The early mistake with money most business owners repeat
The realisation about himself that was capping the whole business
Why he tells new hires the worst parts of the job on purpose
What he hires for instead of skill, and why
The personal discipline that funded a four-year rise
Official channel and episode of the Winning Standards Podcast hosted by Michael Mojo. All Rights Reserved.
When you're ready to fast track your results, here's 2 ways I can help:
This month's intake for The Odyssey is now open. If you've hit a ceiling in your business and know the constraint is you, not your business, this is the breakthrough. Limited intake [Learn more]

Stuck, need clarity, or just want to upgrade how you think, lead and perform? Thrive Time is my premier self leadership event. [Secure your seat]

Follow Me on Social Media:
📘 Facebook: https://facebook.com/themichaelmojo
📸Insta: https://www.instagram.com/themichaelmojo
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@themichaelmojo
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@themichaelmojo
🔗 Website: www.MichaelMojo.com
54 min
August 10Ep. 609 - Dropping Prices = Dropping Standards
Every business owner reaches a point where the work stops feeling like the problem. The customers are difficult, the staff aren't stepping up, the margins are thin, and no amount of hustle seems to shift it. Michael Mojo thinks there's a reason for that, and it's hiding somewhere most owners would never think to look.
It comes down to a single idea that runs quietly underneath how you price, how you lead, and who you let stay on your team. Once Michael names it, you start to see it in decisions you've been making for years without noticing, decisions that have been setting the ceiling on your business the whole time.
In this episode Michael gets into why the people around you behave the way they do, what actually happens to a business the moment an owner decides to expect more, and the uncomfortable stretch nobody warns you about on the other side of that decision. There's also a quick audit he wants you to run on yourself, and it starts with a couple of words you probably said out loud today.
Listen once and you'll catch yourself hearing it everywhere, in how you charge, how you lead, and how you talk when no one else is around.
In this episode:
The neediness trap that quietly pulls low-standard customers and staff toward your business
How your pricing strategy secretly signals the standards you'll be living with all year
The real reason business owners feel frustrated with staff, communication, and team performance
Why raising your standards repels certain people, and what that reaction is really telling you
The staff wipeout period most small business owners never see coming when expectations rise
A simple language audit that exposes where you're operating from need instead of standards

Official channel and episode of the Winning Standards Podcast hosted by Michael Mojo. All Rights Reserved.
When you're ready to fast track your results, here's 2 ways I can help:
This month's intake for The Odyssey is now open. If you've hit a ceiling in your business and know the constraint is you, not your business, this is the breakthrough. Limited intake [Learn more]

Stuck, need clarity, or just want to upgrade how you think, lead and perform? Thrive Time is my premier self leadership event. [Secure your seat]

Follow Me on Social Media:
📘 Facebook: https://facebook.com/themichaelmojo
📸Insta: https://www.instagram.com/themichaelmojo
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@themichaelmojo
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@themichaelmojo
🔗 Website: www.MichaelMojo.com
18 min
August 05Ep. 608 - How to Scale without Burning Out - What Nobody Warns you About Owning a Business | Ryan Frahm
Everyone sells business ownership as easy money, but scaling a business and growing a team is far harder than anyone warns you. Ryan Frahm found that out the hard way building his company from the ground up.
Ryan is the founder of Green Connect, a South Australian electrical contracting company he's scaled from scratch, and in this episode he's honest about what that actually took. The years of stress, the debt, the stretch that nearly broke him. He and Michael get into why so many people go into business chasing money or status and stall out, and why a clear long-term vision is the thing that separates the ones who make it from the ones who burn out.
He opens up about the low point that finally pushed him to seek mentorship, and the shift in thinking that changed his trajectory from there. They dig into an idea that reframes how you read your own circumstances, why real growth means being the least experienced person in the room, and why so many founders stay trapped as operators, buried in the work instead of building the company.
Then it gets practical for anyone trying to scale. Why hiring on attitude and values beats hiring on technical skill, what quietly happens to a team with no clear five-year plan, and why the founder's role has to keep evolving or the whole thing hits a ceiling. Ryan and Michael also get into the part most business talk ignores completely: how much a supportive partner matters, and why a relationship needs the same intentional work a business does.
If you've ever romanticised owning a business, or you're grinding through the hard middle of one right now, this conversation will hit home.
In this episode:
The reality of business ownership nobody warns you about
Why chasing money or status is the wrong reason to start
The low point that pushed Ryan to seek mentorship
The "life is a mirror" idea and how it changes your accountability
Why real growth means being the smallest fish in the pond
How to stop being a stuck operator in your own business
Why hiring for attitude beats hiring for skill every time
What happens to a team without a clear five-year vision
Why a supportive partner is an advantage most owners underrate
Official channel and episode of the Winning Standards Podcast hosted by Michael Mojo. All Rights Reserved.
When you're ready to fast track your results, here's 2 ways I can help:
This month's intake for The Odyssey is now open. If you've hit a ceiling in your business and know the constraint is you, not your business, this is the breakthrough. Limited intake [Learn more]

Stuck, need clarity, or just want to upgrade how you think, lead and perform? Thrive Time is my premier self leadership event. [Secure your seat]

Follow Me on Social Media:
📘 Facebook: https://facebook.com/themichaelmojo
📸Insta: https://www.instagram.com/themichaelmojo
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@themichaelmojo
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@themichaelmojo
🔗 Website: www.MichaelMojo.com
56 min
August 02Ep. 607 - Sh*tty Employees Don't Build Great Businesses (How to Build a Team That Actually Performs)
Bad staff will sink a business faster than almost anything. But what if the reason you can't seem to keep good people, or get the ones you have to lift, runs deeper than the hires themselves?
In this episode Michael Mojo digs into why so many business owners feel trapped by a team that won't perform, and why the usual fixes (better hiring, more rules, tighter management) rarely solve it on their own. He makes a case that shifts how you see the whole problem, and it starts somewhere most owners never think to look.
He gets into the popular "work on your business, not in it" advice and why it quietly backfires, why struggling owners tend to share one specific blind spot, and how culture becomes the real energy running through a company or the thing slowly draining it. He also unpacks why celebrating small wins builds momentum that big distant goals never will.
The conversation then opens up into something bigger: why we started paying people for time instead of value, where that broken idea came from, and what changes when you rebuild a business around output and contribution instead of hours logged. Michael explains why the best performers are drawn to certain leaders and quietly avoid others, and what that says about the kind of team you're currently attracting.
If you've ever blamed your team and wondered why nothing changes, this one will give you a very different place to start.
In this episode:
Why "work on your business, not in it" can quietly work against you
The one blind spot struggling owners tend to share
How your standards ripple through the entire organisation
Why culture is the energy of a business, not a buzzword
The small-wins habit that builds momentum big goals can't
Why paying for time instead of value is a broken model
How to shift a team from money-focused to value-focused
Why top performers are drawn to some leaders and avoid others

Official channel and episode of the Winning Standards Podcast hosted by Michael Mojo. All Rights Reserved.
When you're ready to fast track your results, here's 2 ways I can help:
This month's intake for The Odyssey is now open. If you've hit a ceiling in your business and know the constraint is you, not your business, this is the breakthrough. Limited intake [Learn more]

Stuck, need clarity, or just want to upgrade how you think, lead and perform? Thrive Time is my premier self leadership event. [Secure your seat]

Follow Me on Social Media:
📘 Facebook: https://facebook.com/themichaelmojo
📸Insta: https://www.instagram.com/themichaelmojo
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@themichaelmojo
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@themichaelmojo
🔗 Website: www.MichaelMojo.com
12 min
July 30Ep. 606 - From Rock Bottom to Reinvention - He resisted the one thing that saved his life | Heath Shelmerdine
Five years ago Heath Shelmerdine's marriage had collapsed and he was in the darkest place of his life. A mutual friend pointed him toward Michael. He almost didn't make the call.
Heath is a South Australian entrepreneur, and in this episode he opens up about the moment everything fell apart and the slow climb back that followed. He was deeply skeptical of coaching at first, questioning why he'd take advice from anyone who hadn't already walked his exact path. He gets into the shift in thinking that finally let him accept help, and why he now sees that resistance as the thing that was quietly holding him back.
From there the conversation moves into how Heath actually runs and scales a business. He talks about leading through action instead of orders, why he stopped hiring on experience alone and started hiring on culture and values, and how he learned to delegate by letting his team fail in small ways while catching them at the moments that count.
Michael and Heath also dig into the uncomfortable stuff around success. Heath admits he used to think Michael's taste for nice cars was a bit much, until he realised that judgement was really about his own insecurity. They get into why high performers keep moving the goalposts, why success and fulfilment are not the same thing, and how you can reinvent yourself at any point once you commit to it fully.
If you've ever felt stuck, skeptical of help, or like you've already missed your window to start again, this conversation will stay with you.
In this episode:
The referral that led Heath to make one of the most important calls of his life
Why he resisted coaching at first, and the shift that finally changed his mind
How business coaching works like elite athletic coaching, in the tiny margins
Why Heath leads through action rather than orders
The hiring change that mattered more than experience or technical skill
How to delegate by letting people fail safely
Why chasing symbols of success can mask insecurity
The difference between success and fulfilment, and why high performers miss it
How to reinvent yourself at any age once you truly commit
Official channel and episode of the Winning Standards Podcast hosted by Michael Mojo. All Rights Reserved.
When you're ready to fast track your results, here's 2 ways I can help:
This month's intake for The Odyssey is now open. If you've hit a ceiling in your business and know the constraint is you, not your business, this is the breakthrough. Limited intake [Learn more]

Stuck, need clarity, or just want to upgrade how you think, lead and perform? Thrive Time is my premier self leadership event. [Secure your seat]

Follow Me on Social Media:
📘 Facebook: https://facebook.com/themichaelmojo
📸Insta: https://www.instagram.com/themichaelmojo
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@themichaelmojo
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@themichaelmojo
🔗 Website: www.MichaelMojo.com
1 hr 8 min
July 29Ep. 605 - Why "Building Rapport" Is Killing Your Sales | Anthony Vizzari
Everyone told you to build rapport. Talk about the weather. Find common ground. Anthony Vizzari thinks that advice is quietly costing you every deal.
Anthony is an Senior Vice President at 7th Level and one of the sharpest sales strategists around, and his whole philosophy flips the old playbook on its head.
In this episode he argues that great selling has nothing to do with being liked and everything to do with leadership, influence, and actually solving the problem in front of you. The moment you stop trying to be on the prospect's level and start showing up as the person who holds the answer, everything changes.
He gets into why salespeople fail the second they accept a surface-level answer, the "red light, green light" method he uses to know exactly when to move forward on a call, and why the objections you dread most are usually the exact reasons someone needs what you're selling. It's a masterclass in how to close a sale without being pushy, how to actually overcome objections, and how to sell with integrity instead of pressure.
Then it goes somewhere most sales conversations never do. Anthony opens up about integrity, why chasing money without a moral compass eventually collapses, what he actually looks for when hiring, and how pushing trolleys at a supermarket still keeps him grounded today.
If you've ever felt slimy selling, or watched deals slip away and couldn't explain why, this conversation will rewire how you think about the whole game.
In this episode:
Why old-school rapport building is quietly killing your close rate
How to position yourself as the expert instead of the friend
The "red light, green light" method Anthony swears by on every call
The two objections most people fear that actually mean the opposite
How to overcome objections by dropping a prospect's guard in one move
The line between selling for good and selling for evil, and why it sets your ceiling
The three traits Anthony hunts for in every hire
Why building a closer is more like raising a child than training a rep
The grounding habit he's kept since his supermarket days
Official channel and episode of the Winning Standards Podcast hosted by Michael Mojo. All Rights Reserved.
When you're ready to fast track your results, here's 2 ways I can help:
This month's intake for The Odyssey is now open. If you've hit a ceiling in your business and know the constraint is you, not your business, this is the breakthrough. Limited intake [Learn more]

Stuck, need clarity, or just want to upgrade how you think, lead and perform? Thrive Time is my premier self leadership event. [Secure your seat]

Follow Me on Social Media:
📘 Facebook: https://facebook.com/themichaelmojo
📸Insta: https://www.instagram.com/themichaelmojo
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@themichaelmojo
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@themichaelmojo
🔗 Website: www.MichaelMojo.com
1 hr 8 min
July 28Ep. 604 - Why I Say No to "Can I Pick Your Brain?" | Money, Value & Knowing Your Worth
Someone offers to buy Michael Mojo lunch so they can "pick his brain." He says no. And the reason why is the whole episode.
It's got nothing to do with being busy, and everything to do with something most people never stop to measure. Michael calls it money follows value, a rule running quietly underneath every deal, every relationship, every favour you've ever done. And most ambitious people have it completely backwards. They think it's about hustle. Hours. Who you know. It's not. Once Michael explains what's actually being traded in every interaction you have, you'll start seeing it everywhere, especially the exchanges that have been quietly costing you for years.
He gets into why the way most people network is a waste of time, the quiet thing that turns good relationships into resentment, and the uncomfortable reason he won't spend his time around certain people, no matter how badly they want to be in the room.
If you've ever felt like you give and give and it never comes back around, this one will land. You won't protect your time the same way again.
In this episode:
Money follows value, the rule almost every ambitious person gets backwards
Networking, and why most of the way people do it is a waste of time
Value exchange, what's really being traded in every interaction you have
What Michael's actually saying no to when he turns down "can I pick your brain?"
The quiet shift that turns a good relationship into resentment
Self-worth and validation, the trap that keeps high earners feeling empty no matter what they buy
Knowing your worth, the line between "survival and wants" and living by a completely different standard
Official channel and episode of the Winning Standards Podcast hosted by Michael Mojo. All Rights Reserved.
When you're ready to fast track your results, here's 2 ways I can help:
This month's intake for The Odyssey is now open. If you've hit a ceiling in your business and know the constraint is you, not your business, this is the breakthrough. Limited intake [Learn more]

Stuck, need clarity, or just want to upgrade how you think, lead and perform? Thrive Time is my premier self leadership event. [Secure your seat]

Follow Me on Social Media:
📘 Facebook: https://facebook.com/themichaelmojo
📸Insta: https://www.instagram.com/themichaelmojo
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@themichaelmojo
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@themichaelmojo
🔗 Website: www.MichaelMojo.com
20 min

About Winning Standards

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Winning Standards is the podcast for founders, leaders, and high performers who are done settling. Every episode is built to change how you think, lead, and perform.

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Winning Standards

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