You’re trying to scale, but hiring keeps failing, so you’re dragged back into delivery, firefighting, and doing the work yourself.
Your “growth plan” turns into a longer to-do list, and the business starts to feel like a trap.

MentorBusiness.com by Dr. Lewis Haydon breaks down the real reason hiring isn’t working and why most founders need business coaching and business mentoring around recruitment systems, not “better luck” with candidates. This episode is a boardroom-level reality check on attracting, hiring, and leading people who can actually run the business without you being in the weeds.

Takeaways:

• The problem usually isn’t “talent” it’s how you hire, pay, and lead

• Your hiring beliefs create your hiring outcomes (you’ll find proof for whatever you believe)

• Recruitment is marketing: your job ad is the “bait” and your business is the “offer”

• Stop fishing in the wrong pond: role, location, and market matter more than wishful thinking

• Candidates are “internal customers” build an internal funnel the same way you build a sales funnel

• Your offer isn’t only salary: status, title, flexibility, commute, lifestyle, growth, brand reputation

• Hiring wrong is expensive: wasted ads, recruiter fees, training time, lost momentum, culture damage

• Retention is the real win: define what a “5-star win” looks like for the employee

• Align the win-win-win triangle: employee win, company win, customer win

• Don’t fear paying strong salaries, fear under-committing and then blaming people when it fails

• The business won’t “grow without the owner” if you disappear, leadership still matters

• Your job: build the system once, then get paid forever through repeatable hiring and accountability

  
  

  
  

  Chapters:

  
  

00:00 Why founders can’t scale without great people
01:10 The “you can’t find good people” belief and why it traps you
03:10 Evidence it is possible: businesses scale because people are doing it
06:10 Owner pressure vs employee pressure (and why owners keep taking over)
09:10 Recruitment starts with the job advert: your bait is wrong
12:00 Fishing in the right pond: location, market, and candidate reality
15:00 Recruitment is marketing: internal funnel vs external funnel
18:30 What candidates actually buy: salary, status, title, lifestyle, brand
22:10 The true cost of hiring wrong (and why it keeps repeating)
25:00 Retention: build a 5-star “win” for the employee
28:30 Accountability to self, company, and customer (win-win-win triangle)
32:00 Pay properly, commit properly, lead properly
35:00 Build it once, multiply it forever

Keywords:

business coaching, business mentoring, Lewis Haydon, MentorBusiness.com, hiring great people, recruitment strategy, how to hire A players, scaling a business team, SME hiring, leadership accountability, employee retention strategy, job advert marketing, recruitment funnel, internal customers, employer branding, hiring process, sales vs operations leadership, pay top talent, management systems, win-win-win triangle, CEO coaching, scale your business, business growth strategy, building a leadership team, hiring mistakes

Find out more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lewishaydon.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠

Most business owners believe their business will fund their retirement, until an investor opens the books and the numbers don’t stack up.
In this episode, Dr. Lewis Haydon breaks down the brutal truth about selling a business, why most owners wait too long, and how poor planning destroys exit value.

In this raw boardroom-style conversation, Lewis Haydon shares real investor insight from buying and selling businesses, explaining how business coaching, business mentoring, and intentional planning years in advance can mean the difference between a seven-figure exit and walking away with nothing.

Takeaways:

• Every business owner exits — by sale, succession, or shutdown

• Businesses treated like “babies” rarely become sellable assets

• Investors don’t buy effort — they buy numbers, systems, and future upside

• EBITDA, margins, and process maturity drive valuation

• A business is only worth what someone is willing to pay

• Lack of dashboards and forward indicators kills deal confidence

• Most owners plan their exit six months too late instead of six years early

• The right investor matters as much as the price

• People without processes increase buyer risk

• Building to sell gives freedom — even if you never sell

Chapters:

00:01 – The unavoidable truth: every business owner exits02:10 – Business as an asset vs business as a job04:45 – What investors actually look for in a business07:30 – Different types of investors and buyers09:50 – Valuation reality: EBITDA, assets, and margins12:22 – Why generic business coaching fails owners15:40 – Processes, people, and risk18:30 – Build the business to sell — even if you don’t22:10 – The cost of waiting too long

Keywords:

business coaching, business mentoring, business mentor, CEO coaching, scale your business, business growth strategy, selling a business, business exit strategy, EBITDA explained, business valuation, entrepreneurship coaching, leadership development, organisational behaviour, investor mindset, build a sellable business, business systems and processes, management consultant, global business mentoring platform, MentorBusiness.com, Lewis Haydon

Find out more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lewishaydon.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠