What if the secret to building a thriving business isn't just about systems, it's about empathy?

In this episode of The TrustBuilt Podcast, I sit down with Jim Robinson, CEO, founder, speaker, and coach with 41 years of business experience. Jim shares the powerful moment that changed everything: realizing he needed a business coach when he thought he had all the answers.

What You'll Learn:

✅ The difference between empathy and sympathyand why it matters

✅ How to validate employees individually while building team alignment

✅ Why making every team member a trainer transforms your business

✅ The exact framework for developing trust in one-on-one and group settings

✅ How to lead teams of 5 to 500+ with the same core principles

Learn more about how TrustBuilt helps business owners build trust-driven teams: https://www.trustbuiltsolutions.com/

⏱️ Chapters:

01:26 - The Realization That Changed Everything

02:02 - From Business Owner to Accredited Business Coach

03:33 - What is Leading with Empathy? (Not Sympathy)

04:00 - Empathy in the Workplace: Putting Yourself in Their Shoes

05:12 - The Power of Emotional Connection with Your Team

05:41 - Empathy vs. Sympathy: The Well Analogy

06:24 - Why You Shouldn't Anchor Bad Behaviors

07:40 - The First Two Weeks: Intentional Onboarding

08:09 - How Quick Trust Develops When You Show Up with Empathy

09:00 - The Danger of Over-Tasking New Hires

10:06 - Creating Purpose & Clarity for Your Team

11:17 - Why Small Businesses Fail: The Team Development Gap

12:55 - The Mentor Myth: Why You Need the Right Guide

15:32 - How to Validate Team Members & Get Their Input

17:17 - Why Business Owners Struggle to Let Go

19:21 - The Bottleneck Problem: When Everything Runs Through You

21:00 - Stop Micromanaging & Start Leading

22:27 - How to Develop Leaders Within Your Team

23:52 - What Happens When You Don't Develop Your People

26:03 - Leading Teams of 5 to 500: The Same Principles Apply

27:41 - The Greatest Success: When Your Team Speaks in Your Tone

28:09 - Validate Individually, Recognize Publicly

29:02 - The Magic Number for Direct Reports & Team Size

29:34 - What Happens When Your Team Feels Heard & Validated

31:14 - Turning Introverts Into Confident Trainers

32:15 - Jim's Monthly Regional Team Meetings: What He Asks

33:04 - The Textbook on Purpose in Organizations

33:31 - How to Connect with Jim Robinson & CGP Construction

Connect With Jim

📧 Email: jim@cgpconstruction.com

🌐 Website: www.cgpconstruction.com

📚 Upcoming Book: "Lead with Empathy" (Co-authored with Chris Voss)

#TrustBuiltPodcast #LeadershipDevelopment #BusinessCoaching #TeamBuilding #Empathy #BusinessGrowth #Entrepreneurship #LeadWithEmpathy #ScaleYourBusiness #BusinessFreedom #TrustInBusiness #ChrisVoss #TeamDevelopment #CEOInsights

What does it take to build a thriving business at 20 years old out of a converted school bus, with no bank loan, and a product almost nobody was making?

In this episode of The TrustBuilt Podcast, host Alan Bennett sits down with Stella Rodda, founder of Zenith Coffee Company, a mobile coffee business built on one bold premise: coffee that's actually good for your body.

Together, Alan and Stella dig into what it really means to build a team you can trust, why hiring for personality beats hiring for a résumé, and how systems and vulnerability can coexist in a tiny mobile workspace. Alan also unpacks the three pillars of trust — clarity, connection, and consistency — and how Stella is already applying them without even realizing it.

👉 If you're a business owner who's doing everything yourself and wondering how to step back without things falling apart, this episode is for you.

Learn more about how TrustBuilt helps business owners build trust-driven teams: trustbuiltsolutions.com

⏱️ Chapters

0:30 – Welcome & Intro: What Is Zenith Coffee Company?

2:25 – The Concept: Coffee That's Actually Good for Your Body

3:16 – How She Funded It

8:27 – Alan's Three Buckets

11:27 – The Trust Challenge: Handing Your Business Off to Other People

13:04 – Understanding Your Behavioral Style as a Leader

15:47 – Why Most Hiring Posts Attract the Wrong People

21:46 – How Zenith Got 150 Applications in 4 Hours

24:11 – Monthly Meetings, Feedback Loops & Leaning Into Strengths

26:59 – The Three Pillars of Trust: Clarity, Connection & Consistency

28:55 – Why Recognition Can Backfire (and How to Get It Right)

33:24 – The Missing Piece in Most Onboarding Processes

37:30 – Employee Engagement: Communicating Constraints to Your Team

41:29 – How Stella's Team Solves Problems Together

44:13 – Exit Planning, Business Value & Reducing Owner Dependence

47:26 – Where to Find Zenith Coffee Co

Connect with Stella & Zenith Coffee

🌐 https://www.zenithcoffeeco.com/

💻 https://www.linkedin.com/in/stella-rodda-a9a440204/

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/