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There’s a moment every scaled founder hits where effort stops producing leverage. Revenue is real. The team is capable. But progress feels heavier than it should, and decisions take longer, cost more, and drain energy faster than before.

In this episode, I sit down with Alexis Sikorsky, a strategic advisor to founders who are serious about scaling fast and exiting strong. Alexis isn’t sharing theory. He built, scaled, and sold a Switzerland-based software company in a nine-figure private equity exit, then stayed in the game long enough to see exactly what founders misunderstand about timing, systems, and value creation.

We talk candidly about why founders delay a Private Equity Exit by years: not because they lack ambition, but because exhaustion, missing numbers, and underpowered leadership structures quietly cap momentum. Alexis breaks down the mistakes that cost him five years and $50 million, what private equity actually looks for, and how founders can shift from running hard to engineering optionality.

If you’re scaling a digital agency past 7 figures and thinking about sustainability, leverage, automation in leadership, or what an exit really requires, this conversation will sharpen how you see your business and your next move.

Books Mentioned

• The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
• The Art of War by Sun Tzu
  
  

If you want to stay connected with Alexis, find him on LinkedIn or check out his book Cashing Out, where he lays out the APEX framework for founders preparing for private equity. He’s also inviting founders doing $5–15M in revenue to participate in interviews for his upcoming book; details shared directly in this episode.

Join Dr. William Attaway on the Catalytic Leadership podcast as he shares transformative insights to help high-performance entrepreneurs and agency owners achieve Clear-Minded Focus, Calm Control, and Confidence.

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Growth doesn’t usually fail because of strategy. It fails when ownership breaks down and culture can’t keep up with scale. If your agency is growing, your calendar is full, and you’re still the point of escalation for too many decisions, this conversation will sharpen how you think about leadership ownership culture.

In this episode, I sit down with Chris Sund, President and COO of UnitiMed and GQR Healthcare, two of the largest healthcare staffing companies in the country. Chris has led rapid growth, inherited teams from founders, and made decisions most leaders delay, like hiring a Director of Culture before sales or marketing.

We talk candidly about scaling without burnout, building accountability without control, stopping blame before it spreads, and why execution, not just information, is what actually drives transformation. If you’re refining internal systems, strengthening team performance, or trying to remove yourself as the bottleneck without breaking momentum, this episode will give you clarity you can apply immediately.

Books Mentioned

• The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell
  
  
• Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink & Leif Babin
  
  
• The Dichotomy of Leadership by Jocko Willink & Leif Babin
  
  
• The Need to Lead by Dave Berke

If you want to stay connected with Chris, visit chrissund.com or connect with him directly on LinkedIn. He’s generous with his time and deeply invested in helping leaders grow with clarity and purpose.

Join Dr. William Attaway on the Catalytic Leadership podcast as he shares transformative insights to help high-performance entrepreneurs and agency owners achieve Clear-Minded Focus, Calm Control, and Confidence.

• Free 30-Minute Discovery Call:
  Ready to elevate your business? Book a free 30-minute discovery call with Dr. William Attaway and start your journey to success.
  
  
• Special Offer:
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Growth can look strong on paper while everything underneath feels heavier than it should. You’re making decisions, approving work, clarifying expectations, answering questions, again. The numbers are up, but the agency still runs through you. That’s the Founder Bottleneck.

In this episode, I sit down for the second time with Marilyn Jenkins, digital growth strategist and founder of MJ Media Group LLC and Law Marketing Zone. Marilyn has spent decades helping service businesses scale with clarity, most recently through her new book, The 2026 Local SEO Playbook for Law Firms, and her national TV show, The Marketing Zone.

What makes this conversation different is where we focus. We don’t start with tools, AI, or tactics. We start with clarity: how founders unintentionally become the bottleneck through poor communication, over-control, and trying to stay indispensable. Marilyn breaks down why education scales trust, why mystique slows momentum, and why no system, automation, or AI will fix a leadership constraint.

If your agency is busy but not scalable, this episode will give you practical insight into delegation, team development, client communication, and how removing the Founder Bottleneck unlocks your agency’s next level—without burning out your people or yourself.

Books Mentioned

• The 2026 Local SEO Playbook for Law Firms by Marilyn Jenkins
• Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell

If you want to connect with Marilyn or explore her work, the best place is LinkedIn. If you’re interested in contributing to her TV show, visit appearance.mjmediagroup.co.

Join Dr. William Attaway on the Catalytic Leadership podcast as he shares transformative insights to help high-performance entrepreneurs and agency owners achieve Clear-Minded Focus, Calm Control, and Confidence.

• Free 30-Minute Discovery Call:
  Ready to elevate your business? Book a free 30-minute discovery call with Dr. William Attaway and start your journey to success.
  
  
• Special Offer:
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You can grow revenue, scale teams, and carry real responsibility, and still feel like the business isn’t paying you. In this episode, I sit down with Mauro Campagnaro, Financial Advisor at Campagnaro Wealth Advisory in Calgary, Alberta, to address why getting paid as an owner often breaks down as companies scale.

Mauro brings over 20 years as a business owner and financial strategist. We talk about what happens after growth, when retained earnings pile up, tax exposure increases, and exit planning feels distant but consequential. This conversation is about shifting from hustle to structure: how owners think about compensation, corporate structure, tax strategy, and long-term continuity before pressure forces reactive decisions.

If you’re scaling past seven figures and want clarity on owner pay, wealth preservation, and building a system that rewards the risk you carry, this episode gives you a strategic lens and practical next steps, without noise or theory.

📚 Books Mentioned

• Winning Strategies for Success by Brian Tracy
  
  
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
  
  

If this conversation sparked questions about structure, tax strategy, or long-term planning, you can connect with Mauro at cwa.life or campagnarowealth.ca. He’s licensed in Canada and available for strategic conversations beyond financial planning.

Join Dr. William Attaway on the Catalytic Leadership podcast as he shares transformative insights to help high-performance entrepreneurs and agency owners achieve Clear-Minded Focus, Calm Control, and Confidence.

• Free 30-Minute Discovery Call:
  Ready to elevate your business? Book a free 30-minute discovery call with Dr. William Attaway and start your journey to success.
  
  
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If you’re scaling a team and the drag from one low performer is slowing everything down, this conversation will give you the clarity and language you need. I’m joined by Brett Hoogeveen: trained engineer, former healthcare executive, startup investor, and co-founder of Better Culture, a firm trusted by leaders from fast-growing startups to Fortune 500 companies.

We explore the real reason culture becomes a bottleneck as you scale, and why protecting your high performers is one of the fastest ways to build better leaders, elevate team performance, reduce burnout, and remove the friction that keeps your agency from moving at the speed you need.

Brett shares the top-down and bottom-up frameworks his team uses inside hundreds of organizations, including why removing toxic behaviors accelerates growth, how to strengthen manager consistency, and the simple cultural systems that compound into sustainable results. If you’re committed to a healthier, more energized agency in 2026, this episode will give you the playbook.

If you’d like to follow Brett’s work or explore the tools he mentioned, you can connect with him on LinkedIn or visit betterculture.com. He also created a resource for this audience — the People Leader Checklist — available at betterculture.com/catalytic

Join Dr. William Attaway on the Catalytic Leadership podcast as he shares transformative insights to help high-performance entrepreneurs and agency owners achieve Clear-Minded Focus, Calm Control, and Confidence.

• Free 30-Minute Discovery Call:
  Ready to elevate your business? Book a free 30-minute discovery call with Dr. William Attaway and start your journey to success.
  
  
• Special Offer:
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When you’re leading a fast–growing agency, becoming the bottleneck isn’t a character flaw; it’s a sign your systems, team structure, and internal leadership rhythms need to evolve. In this episode, I sit down with Tom McGehee, Marine, corporate leader, consultant, entrepreneur, and co-CEO of the Halftime Institute, to unpack how seasoned leaders break free from overload and step into Leadership for Agency Owners that actually works.

Tom’s journey through special operations command, global consulting, entrepreneurship, and nonprofit leadership offers a rare window into sustainable growth: humility over ego, clarity over chaos, and mission-type orders instead of micromanagement.

If you’re navigating team handoffs, decision bottlenecks, burnout patterns, or the shift from success to significance, Tom’s insights will help you realign your leadership, empower your team, and build the margin your next season requires.

• Halftime by Bob Buford
• Resilient by John Eldredge
• Sacred Pace by Terry Looper
  
  
  

You can connect with Tom directly at tom.mcgehee@halftime.org or through halftime.org. He’s also active on LinkedIn and would welcome connecting with anyone this conversation serves.

Join Dr. William Attaway on the Catalytic Leadership podcast as he shares transformative insights to help high-performance entrepreneurs and agency owners achieve Clear-Minded Focus, Calm Control, and Confidence.

• Free 30-Minute Discovery Call:
  Ready to elevate your business? Book a free 30-minute discovery call with Dr. William Attaway and start your journey to success.
  
  
• Special Offer:
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When your agency is growing, but profit stalls, client churn rises, and your team feels the pressure, it’s easy to wonder which lever to pull next. In this episode, I’m joined by Jeremy Shapiro, a seasoned serial entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience whose work has helped business owners break through growth plateaus using a simple, powerful framework he calls the Business Growth Playbook.

We break down the practical levers behind profit expansion, customer lifetime value, pricing strategy, and the hidden churn patterns that quietly cap your growth. If you’ve been relying on more leads to fix what is actually a systems, retention, or profitability bottleneck, this conversation brings the clarity you’ve been looking for.

You’ll walk away with tactical steps you can implement immediately, from value-based pricing to tightening your retention engine, so you can scale with intention, increase profitability, and build a healthier, more sustainable agency.

• Your Business Growth Playbook by Jeremy Shapiro

Get your hands on Jeremy’s full playbook of tried and true strategies today in his latest book Your Business Growth Playbook available on Amazon or at your local bookstore. If you’d like a sample of his book right now, an audio overview of the entire playbook, and your very own complimentary growth checklist, visit YourBusinessGrowthPlaybook.com right now. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/jeremyshapiro/

Join Dr. William Attaway on the Catalytic Leadership podcast as he shares transformative insights to help high-performance entrepreneurs and agency owners achieve Clear-Minded Focus, Calm Control, and Confidence.

• Free 30-Minute Discovery Call:
  Ready to elevate your business? Book a free 30-minute discovery call with Dr. William Attaway and start your journey to success.
  
  
• Special Offer:
  Get your FREE copy of Catalytic Leadership: 12 Keys to Becoming an Intentional Leader Who Makes a Difference.
  
  

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Too many high-performing leaders hit their goals and still feel drained. If you’ve built success but can’t seem to slow down without guilt, this episode is for you.

I sat down with Ari Williams, a bold and refreshing voice in Christian music and author of The Boundless Mind, to explore what happens when performance becomes our default mode. Ari shares her story of leading worship, writing, and serving, until her pace landed her in a hospital room. That moment changed everything.

In this conversation, we unpack how to lead from rest, not from exhaustion; the mindset shift that frees you to scale your impact without sacrificing your health, your family, or your peace. You’ll hear practical insights on stewarding your energy, managing the pressure to perform, and renewing your mind for sustainable growth.

If you’re ready to lead from overflow instead of depletion, this episode will help you make that shift; from running on empty to leading with intention, clarity, and rest.

📚 Books Mentioned

• The Boundless Mind by Ari Williams
  
  
• Permission by Dr. Jackie Green

To learn more from Ari and explore her message of freedom and rest, visit theempoweredvoiceacademy.com — you can even download a free copy of The Boundless Mind.

Join Dr. William Attaway on the Catalytic Leadership podcast as he shares transformative insights to help high-performance entrepreneurs and agency owners achieve Clear-Minded Focus, Calm Control, and Confidence.

• Free 30-Minute Discovery Call:
  Ready to elevate your business? Book a free 30-minute discovery call with Dr. William Attaway and start your journey to success.
  
  
• Special Offer:
  Get your FREE copy of Catalytic Leadership: 12 Keys to Becoming an Intentional Leader Who Makes a Difference.
  
  

Connect with Dr. William Attaway:

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