Ice Cream with My Mom đĽ°
đ Tampa, Florida, Monday, October 13
This isnât a âlook at me, I can take Mondays offâ post.
Itâs simply a reminder that our time with the people we love is finite, especially our parents.
If our businesses arenât designed to make space for moments like this, then whatâs the point of it all?
Iâm deeply grateful for a team that allows not only me, but everyone on the team, to enjoy these moments.
Every person at Staff4Half has the same freedom and flexibility to design their work around what matters most in life, and that could very well be an ice cream on a Monday afternoon with mom and the nieces.
Three things that help us:
1ď¸âŁ Design for redundancy. Cross-training and clear SOPs ensure that no single person becomes a bottleneck, myself included.
2ď¸âŁ Protect moments that matter. We encourage teammates to block time for important family moments, no questions asked.
3ď¸âŁ Lead with trust and clarity. When I take time off for moments like these, it sends a message that everyone can too.
Business is a vehicle, but the destination is a life youâre proud to live with the people you love. â¤ď¸
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Leadership That Starts at the Kitchen Table
Marlene Dandler built her company and a community from her kitchen table.
This week, I sat down with Marlene Dandler, founder of Seashore Academy, a fast-growing network of private hybrid schools that started right there â at her kitchen table.
What inspired me most wasnât just how far sheâs come, but how she leads: with clarity, care, and the conviction that great education, and great leadership, both start with human connection.
My three top takeaways:
1ď¸âŁ Hiring for alignment, not background
Marlene explained that her toughest hires were leaders from traditional education, talented people who struggled to embrace Seashore Academyâs flexible hybrid model. What finally worked was finding a leader who shared her excitement for change and innovation.2ď¸âŁ Leadership energy trickles down
She compared leading her company to parenting: when sheâs calm, the household, or the business, is calm. Her morning run and prayer arenât just self-care, theyâre her leadership practices.3ď¸âŁ Culture travels through connection
She keeps her on-site and remote teams united through short daily video huddles and by sharing photos from the classrooms, reminding everyone, even those thousands of miles away, of the joy theyâre helping create.Conversations like this remind me how much leadership is about intention â who we hire, how we show up, and how we stay connected across distance.
Grateful to Marlene for sharing her story, her heart, and her wisdom.
Full episode coming soon.
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Women Lead Differently And Itâs Time We Talk About It
A couple of weeks ago, I announced that Iâm relaunching my podcastâthis time focusing on female entrepreneurs: how they lead, how they grow their teams, and how they build businesses that last. Because I truly believe that we women lead differently.
This week, I finally sat down with Merlijn Mazairac to record the first episode, and I left feeling absolutely energized. From the start of our conversation, the connection was there. She spoke with such openness about living abroad, building her consulting company, and leading her team through growth and change.
Here are three ideas from her leadership journey that inspired me most:
1ď¸âŁ Colleagues sitting side by side for years without really knowing each other. Merlijn has seen it happen, and now uses intentional exercises to help people open up and truly connect.
2ď¸âŁ Team fails are leadership lessons. She reminded me that struggles, mismatched hires, disconnection, and even tough exits all carry value. Talking about them openly makes us better leadersâand helps others avoid the same mistakes.
3ď¸âŁ Salary conversations in times of inflation. She doesnât shy away from the tough talksâthe ones that test not just your budget, but your leadership itself.For me, this first recording is about growing as a leader by listening to the honest stories of others. Iâm deeply grateful to Merlijn for sharing her journey so openlyâand excited for all the conversations ahead.
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The Real Cost of Hiring Cheap
âIf you think itâs expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.â
âRed Adair
Every time I see this quote, Iâm reminded of how true it is in hiring. The cheapest option almost always turns out to be the most expensive.
Expertise saves you money, time, and headaches, always. The hard lesson is this: what looks like a good deal usually isnât.
Quality has its price.
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