Most business owners don’t have a marketing problem.

They have a leadership alignment problem.

In this episode of The TrustBuilt Podcast, Alan sits down with Marc Ensign, founder of LoudMouse, to unpack what a Fractional CMO actually does, why most marketing agencies fail businesses, and how misalignment between sales and marketing quietly destroys trust and revenue.

If you’re spending money on marketing but unsure what’s working—or frustrated by silos between departments—this episode will help you regain clarity, control, and confidence.

👉To learn more about how to build a business that runs without you subscribe to The TrustBuilt Podcast

⏱️Chapters

01:00 – What Is a Fractional CMO? (And Why Small Businesses Need One)

04:35 – From Broadway to Business: Marketing Is About Being Heard

08:20 – Why Most Marketing Agencies Work in Silos

11:20 – Sales vs. Marketing

16:04 – The Metrics That Actually Matter

22:22 – Marketing KPIs Every Service Business Should Measure

28:34 – Client Retention & Trust

31:44 – Why Busy Marketing Doesn’t Equal Growth

33:18 – Free Marketing Resources & How to Use AI

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Connect with Marc & LoudMouse

🌐 https://loudmouse.com/

💻 https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcensign/

What do youth sports, coaching, and business leadership have in common?

More than you think.

In this episode of The TrustBuilt Podcast, Alan sits down with Luke Gromer, founder of RYG Athletics, and operator of Nike Sports Camps across multiple states. What starts as a conversation about youth sports quickly becomes a masterclass on building trust, creating engagement, and developing culture that actually lasts.

If you're a business owner trying to build a team that performs without you micromanaging every move, this episode will hit home.

If you want your business to grow beyond you, this conversation is required listening.

👉To learn more about how to build a business that runs without you subscribe to The TrustBuilt Podcast

⏱️ Chapters

05:00 – The Leadership Tension Every Owner Faces

11:00 – The Foundation of Every High-Performance Culture

15:00 – When You Lose the Locker Room (Or the Team at Work)

24:30 – Scaling Trust: How to Build a Culture Across Multiple Locations

28:00 – The “Secret Sauce”: Connection + Competence = Trust

31:00 – Recognition as a Leadership Tool

36:00 – Creating Memorable Moments That Build Loyalty

44:00 – How to Design an Experience People Want to Come Back To

46:30 – The Legacy Question: What Will Your Team Say About You?

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Connect with Luke Gromer

💻 https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-gromer/

In this episode, Alan Bennett sits down with Solomon Burchfield, founder of New Beginnings NWA, to explore what business leaders can learn about trust, accountability, purpose, and culture from an organization working with chronically homeless individuals.

While Solomon leads a nonprofit, the leadership lessons apply directly to business owners who want stronger teams, deeper buy-in, and a culture that doesn’t collapse without them.

⏱️Chapters

02:00 — Understanding Your “Customer”

04:20 — The Hidden Cost of Mistrust in Leadership

08:10 — Trauma, Behavior, and Why Rules Alone Don’t Work

11:15 — “You Don’t Become Homeless When You Run Out of Money”

14:45 — Building Trust Before Enforcing Accountability

17:00 — The ‘Pennies in the Cup’ Approach to Leadership

19:15 — Purpose Drives Engagement

22:40 — Compassionate Accountability That Actually Works

26:40 — Leadership as Gardening, Not Controlling

30:30 — Horizontal Accountability vs. Top-Down Control

34:15 — Recognition, Care, and Why It’s Free but Rare

38:25 — What Business Owners Can Learn from Nonprofit Leadership

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Connect with Solomon & New Beginnings NWA

💻 https://newbeginningsnwa.org/

What happens when the biggest obstacle to growth isn’t your team, your market, or your systems, but you?

In this episode of The TrustBuilt Podcast, Alan Bennett sits down with Amanda Horn to unpack how self-awareness, trust, and emotional regulation directly impact leadership, decision-making, and long-term business sustainability.

Amanda shares her powerful personal journey and introduces her GRACE Toolkit, a practical framework leaders can use to interrupt destructive patterns, rebuild self-trust, and lead with steadiness instead of burnout.

This conversation is for business owners who feel stretched thin, stuck in reaction mode, and ready to regain control—without hustling harder.

⏱️Chapters

02:15 – The Moment Everything Breaks: Rock Bottom, Wake-Up Calls & Leadership Growth

05:40 – The GRACE Toolkit: A Framework for Breaking Self-Sabotage

09:50 – Self-Sabotage at Work: Rationalization, Perfectionism, and Control

14:10 – Why Leaders Struggle to Trust Themselves (and How to Rebuild It)

18:00 – Perfectionism vs. Progress: Why ‘Good Enough’ Builds Better Businesses

23:45 – One Step at a Time: Creating Real Change Without Overhauling Your Life

29:40 – Morning Habits, Mental Nutrition, and Leadership Energy

35:30 – Emotional Intelligence Is a Perishable Skill (And How to Protect It)

41:00 – Helping Leaders Who Don’t Know They’re Stuck Yet

Connect with Amanda Horn

💻 https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-thiebaud-horn/

💻 https://www.beewellyoga.com/reiki-yoga-appts

What if the thing holding your business back isn’t strategy… but trust?

In this episode of The TrustBuilt Podcast, Alan Bennett is back with therapists and business owners Beth Tellez and Stacey Bankston to unpack one of the most misunderstood leadership challenges business owners face: vulnerability, accountability, and trust inside growing teams.

They explore why many owners believe they have a healthy culture—yet still face high turnover, disengaged employees, and a business that can’t run without them. This conversation bridges therapy, leadership, and business ownership to show how trust is built (or broken) in real time—and why it directly impacts scalability, retention, and exit value.

If you’re tired of carrying everything yourself and wondering why your team won’t fully step up, this episode is for you.

👉To learn more about how to build a business that runs without you subscribe to The TrustBuilt Podcast

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⏱️Chapters

02:10 — The Hidden Trust Problem in Owner-Dependent Businesses

05:28 — How Childhood Conditioning Shapes Leadership Behavior

08:58 — Accountability Without Fear: Reframing Leadership Responsibility

12:01 — Why Business Owners React Defensively to Accountability

16:15 — Psychological Safety: The Missing Link in Team Performance

21:00 — Designing a Team Model That Attracts the Right People

25:14 — Alignment vs. Misalignment in Partnerships & Teams

32:17 — Scarcity vs. Insecurity: What’s Really Driving Control Issues

37:21 — Kinship-Based Leadership & Why It Scales Better

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Connect with Beth & Stacey

🌐 https://www.creativenwa.com/

What if building a high-trust team actually made your business move faster—not slower?

In this episode, Alan Bennett sits down with Kjartan Kennedy, co-founder of Causeway Studios, to unpack how trust, clarity, and intentional leadership allowed his team to:

-Operate fully remote

-Eliminate burnout in a high-pressure industry

-Launch a major product in one year (instead of 3–5)

-Build a culture that doesn’t depend on the founder to survive

This is a must-watch conversation for business owners who are tired of carrying everything themselves and want to build a team that truly shows up.

⏱️Chapters

03:10 – From Passion to Business: Building a Studio That Lasts

11:58 – The Burnout Trap Most Business Owners Fall Into

14:10 – The 4-Day Workweek: Less Time, Better Results

17:32 – Remote Teams, Real Accountability (Without Micromanaging)

21:26 – Trust as a Leadership System, Not a Vibe

27:44 – Shipping Faster by Building Trust First

31:02 – Recognition, Purpose, and Why Teams Need to See Impact

38:10 – Conflict, Feedback, and Healthy Disagreement

47:30 – One Piece of Advice Every Business Owner Needs to Hear

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Connect with Kjartan Kennedy & Causeway Studios

💻 https://www.linkedin.com/in/kjartankennedy/

🌐 https://www.causewaystudios.com/

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Feeling stuck carrying everything yourself?

TrustBuilt helps business owners build teams they can trust—so the business runs with them, not because of them.

👉 Learn more at https://www.trustbuiltsolutions.com/

What happens when you evolve as a business owner, but your business doesn’t?

In this episode of The TrustBuilt Podcast, Alan Bennett sits down with Cari Kaufman of Storyteller Wordsmith for a candid, unscripted conversation about purpose, identity, and what happens when successful businesses start to feel misaligned.

This episode dives deep into why purpose and accountability are the gateway to trust, how personal life changes inevitably shape business direction, and why building a business that can evolve is critical for retention, leadership clarity, and sustainable growth.

If you’re exhausted from carrying everything yourself and wondering how to get your team bought in again, this conversation will hit home.

👉 Looking to build a business that runs without you? Visit https://www.trustbuiltsolutions.com/

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⏱️ Chapters

02:10 – The moment “purpose” changed the conversation

03:30 – Feeling trapped by your own brand

04:30 – Established businesses hit this wall more than startups

05:45 – Alan’s personal pivot: when life demanded change

07:05 – Freedom is why most people start businesses (but lose it)

08:20 – Work-life balance isn’t real — harmony is

09:35 – Building a sellable business makes it easier to run

12:45 – Purpose + accountability = the gateway to trust

14:05 – Why teams disengage when purpose is unclear

16:20 – Purpose isn’t always about the product

17:30 – “My purpose is to make money” (and why that’s not enough)

20:10 – The danger of choosing a path just because you’re good at it

22:00 – When purpose becomes a trap instead of a guide

23:40 – Purpose as the front door to everything else

25:00 – Communicating purpose so people actually buy in

26:20 – Credentials don’t build trust — stories do

28:10 – How trust changes decision-making and leadership ease

29:30 – External trust matters too (vendors, partners, advisors)

31:00 – What most owners miss about their suppliers and advisors

33:10 – Trust as a force multiplier in business

35:20 – Final thoughts: purpose is the starting point

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Connect With Cari

🌐 https://www.storytellerwordsmith.com/

💻 https://www.linkedin.com/in/carikaufman/

Most business owners don’t lead in life-or-death situations…but they feel like they do.

In this episode of The TrustBuilt Podcast, former police chief, SWAT commander, executive coach, and leadership trainer Tim Keck breaks down what crisis leadership teaches us about building engaged, reliable teams in everyday business.

Tim shares unbelievable real-world stories — including the moment he put his life in the hands of his team — to illustrate what trust really means. And more importantly, how business owners can build that level of confidence, discipline, and buy-in inside their own culture.

If you’re a leader who’s tired of carrying everything yourself, this conversation will help you breathe again. You’ll walk away with simple tools to lower stress, increase employee engagement, and create a culture that scales because people are aligned, accountable, and trusted.

👉 Want a team that can run the business without you? Learn more at https://www.trustbuiltsolutions.com/

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⏱️ Chapters

00:00 — The Rule of Responsibility: Why You Can’t Do Everyone’s Job

00:20 — Meet Tim Keck: Police Chief, SWAT Commander & Leadership Coach

01:49 — What Crisis Teaches About Leadership

03:07 — The Team-Building Exercise That Hit the New York Times

04:12 — Stress vs. Crisis: Why Leaders Misread Their Own Bodies

06:24 — How Stress Sabotages Decision-Making (and What to Do Instead)

07:55 — Tactical Breathing: A Tool Every Leader Should Learn

10:15 — Emotional Intelligence: The Four Skills Every Owner Needs

14:18 — Why Most Leaders Mislabel Their Emotions

17:12 — Managing Conflict Without Escalation

20:14 — The Hidden Cost of Wanting to “Win the Argument”

21:05 — How Your Emotions Affect Your Team (Read the Room)

25:11 — Why High-Performing Teams Need Someone “Watching Their Six”

26:44 — SWAT-Level Trust: Doing Your Job So Others Can Do Theirs

34:07 — What Business Owners Can Learn from Real-Life Training

37:41 — Purpose, Clarity, and Why Most Teams Row in Different Directions

41:30 — The Story: Putting His Life in His Team’s Hands

45:18 — Final Lessons on Trust, Vulnerability, and Leadership Freedom

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Connect with Tim

💻 https://www.linkedin.com/in/timkeck/

🌐 https://www.safehavensecuritygroup.com/

🌐 https://www.gobulletproof.com/