167 | Bend Without Breaking: The Leadership Test Every Business Owner Faces

You know the week I'm talking about. The one where every single day hands you a new problem before you even finish your first cup of coffee. The one where you're pulling every lever you know how to pull just to keep the thing standing. You're making calls you didn't plan to make. You're doing jobs you thought you were done doing years ago. And somewhere in the middle of it, a little voice creeps in and asks, "Am I actually good at this? Or did I just get lucky up until now?"

Here's what I've learned after living through more of these weeks than I can count. Being successful in business is not only about knowing which lever to pull — it's about being flexible enough and humble enough to do whatever it takes to make it work. And today I'm going to show you exactly what that looked like for me over the past few weeks, and how you can build a business and a team that bends without breaking.

Welcome back to the Freedom Blueprint Podcast, the show for home service business leaders who want to build something that lasts.

Whether you're in plumbing, HVAC, electrical, garage door — or really any business where you send a tech to a customer's home — you're in the right place. And speaking of location, if you're watching this on YouTube, you can see that I am not in my typical studio. I'm actually in our restaurant that we just opened. I thought this would be a pretty cool background — this is the mural that a local artist just painted for us, so I wanted to show that off too. All of this ties together, but I wanted to do it from here. After this, I'm going to do a tour of the restaurant as well and put that on YouTube, so if you're interested, go check it out.

Today what we're talking about is what it really takes to push through the weeks that test everything you've got. So let me tell you about what I've been living with the last few weeks.

Most of us believe that if we're just smart enough, if we plan well enough, we can strategize our way out of a problem. I used to believe that too. But here's my confession — a couple months back, we took on a brand new location, which is the one I'm standing in now. We bought the location, we bought the business, we shut it down, and we completely rebuilt it from the studs into what we actually wanted it to be and look like.

And when we opened the doors, it was rocky. I'm talking about long hours, problems I didn't see coming, and me doing jobs I honestly thought I wouldn't have to do anymore. All the planning in the world did not spare me from that, because knowing the right move is only half of it. The other half is being willing to roll up your sleeves and do whatever the business needs in that moment.

Let me tell you what that actually feels like, because I don't think we talk about it enough. When you're building something from the ground up, the weight of it sits on you. You feel it early in the morning before anyone else is awake. You feel it late at night when you can't shut your brain off. Your team feels it too. They're watching how you show up. They're watching whether you panic or whether you dig in.

And in those first rocky weeks, everything you haven't systematized yet — every gap, every loose end — it all comes to the surface at once. This is the real cost of growth. It's not just the money you put in, it's the stretch on you and the people around you.

So why do we let it get this hard? Honestly, part of it's ego. We think that because we've had some success in the past, we should be able to think our way through anything. Asking for help or changing course feels like admitting we're wrong — and that's not right. Part of it is comfort. We get attached to the way we've always done things, even when the situation in front of us is begging for something different. And maybe the biggest one: we convince ourselves that hard work alone is enough — that if we just grind a little harder, put in a few more hours, it'll all work out. But grinding in the wrong direction doesn't get you there.

I've lived every one of these — not just in this new location, but in other businesses I've built before. The trap doesn't care what industry you're in. So here's what actually gets you through it.

The first is knowing your levers. Every business has a handful of things that actually move the needle, and when things get hard, you have to know which one to reach for instead of pulling all of them in a panic. That only comes from paying attention over time.

But knowing your levers is not enough on its own — and this is the part a lot of people miss. You have to stay flexible. The plan you walked in with is going to meet reality, and reality wins. When we opened this new location, I was doing whatever needed to be done — the jobs nobody else had time for — because that's what the business needed at the moment. And here's the thing: no job should ever be beneath you. You should never, ever ask someone on your team to do something you wouldn't roll up your sleeves and do yourself. This is how you earn the right to lead your team.

And here's the biggest one — you have to build a team that flexes with you. We hired brand new, and the way we did it matters. We ran our open house process the same way we've done across other businesses we've owned, and it brought us some incredible people to choose from. But hiring great people is only the start. You have to build a team that can grow as the business grows — because this location is already busier than expected, with almost no marketing at all. A rigid team breaks under that. A flexible team rises to it.

So here's the win — and it's a double win. When you know your levers, stay flexible, and build a team that flexes with you, your business doesn't just survive the hard weeks — it comes out the other side stronger. And so does your team, because they watch you dig in instead of panic. That is how trust gets built.

Remember that rocky opening I confessed to you about when we started? We're coming out the other side of it now — not because I had the perfect plan, but because I was willing to do whatever it took, and I had a team willing to do it with me.

So here's my challenge to you: look at the hard thing you're facing right now, and ask yourself one honest question — am I staying rigid because it's comfortable? Or am I willing to do whatever this moment actually requires?

So here's what I want you to do today: don't wait. Pick the one place you've been staying rigid, and this week, flex. Do the thing you've been too proud or too comfortable to do.

So listen — if this episode hit home for you, do me a favor and share it with another owner who needs to hear it. And subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next.

Until next time, keep staying flexible. And as always — keep crushing it.