Rusty Fulling spent his first ten years in business running on instinct, trading one job for another with no real vision behind it. Twenty six years later, he's built Fulling Management and Accounting into a fully remote fractional CFO firm working with clients across the country, and he credits the turnaround to a single shift: swapping the daily grind for a clear, shared vision his whole team could get behind.

In this conversation, Rusty talks openly about the burnout that pushed him to start the business in the first place, why he believes culture has to be built deliberately rather than bought with foosball tables and free coffee, and how his firm's GRACE values shape everything from hiring to weekly check ins. He also shares the practical steps any business owner can take to move from simply surviving to building something with real direction, and why he thinks no one should try to do it alone.

The hospital stay that led Rusty to start his own firm on April Fool's Day
Why the first ten years were "a job, not a business," and what changed at year ten
The GRACE framework guiding hiring, accountability and culture
How going fully remote during the pandemic made the team closer, not more distant
Why shout outs and serving events matter as much as revenue targets
Rusty's advice for anyone starting a business today

Connect with Rusty Fulling on LinkedIn or learn more at https://www.fullingmgmt.com/

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We hope you enjoyed this episode!
- Nicole West and the New Perspective Podcast team

Connect with me here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-west-npc/
Website: https://npcnh.com

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New Perspective is a podcast about what it really takes to make organizations work. Hosted by Nicole West, Founder of New Perspective Consulting, each episode goes behind the polished success stories to explore the challenges leaders actually face while growing businesses, leading teams, implementing change, and trying to make things work better.
Nicole sits down with founders, operators, executives, and other leaders to unpack the moments when something wasn't working as expected: the initiative that stalled, the process that no longer fit, the team that needed a different approach, or the growing business that suddenly became harder to manage.
The conversations aren't about having all the answers. They're about asking better questions: What was really getting in the way? What changed? What did you learn?
And what might another leader do differently because of it?
If you're responsible for leading through growth, change, or complexity - and you've ever thought, there has to be a better way to do this - New Perspective is for you.