The KeyHire Small Business Podcast

The People Gap Killing Your Growth (with Ryan Estis)

Text us your comments or topic ideas for future shows. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2518091/fan_mail/new] If managing people feels more complicated than running the actual business, this episode is for you. On this episode of The KeyHire Small Business Podcast, Corey Harlock sits down with keynote speaker and author Ryan Estis to talk through what human-centered leadership actually looks like in 2026, and why the old model of managing performance is no longer enough.  Ryan brings twenty years of experience working with commercial and leadership teams, along with a newly published book co-authored with his brother Chad Estis, executive vice president of business operations for the Dallas Cowboys. Together, they developed a leadership philosophy built around a simple but powerful idea: companies grow when people do. That single principle anchors the entire conversation and reframes how small business owners should think about their teams, their culture, and their own role as leaders.  One of the biggest themes in this episode is the tension between doing and leading. Corey and Ryan both acknowledge that most small business owners start their companies because of a passion, a skill, or an idea, not because they love managing people. But as the business grows, the leadership demands grow with it. Ryan explains that the startup entrepreneur who wears every hat eventually has to evolve into a world-class leader, and that transition requires an entirely different set of competencies. Without intentional development, a capability gap opens up that no amount of hustle can close.  Ryan introduces several ideas that will resonate with any business owner trying to get more from their team. He talks about the concept of talent velocity, the idea that the skills required to compete are outpacing what is being developed inside most organizations. He also shares Gallup research showing that a single coaching conversation per week with each direct report is the biggest lever available for improving performance. Not a formal review, not a structured meeting, just a consistent, informal check-in that builds trust, expands psychological safety, and makes people feel seen, heard, and valued.  The go for coffee principle, contributed by Chad Estis, offers one of the most practical takeaways in the episode. The idea is simple: leaders should schedule informal micro-moments of meaningful connection with people at every level of the organization. No hierarchy, no politics, just access. Corey connects this to a hockey coaching analogy about moving quarters from one pocket to another to track personal interactions with players throughout practice. Ryan runs with it, pointing out that this kind of intentional connection is exactly what separates cultures of high performance from cultures of quiet disengagement.  The conversation also digs into talent retention, transparency, and what Ryan calls the employment value proposition. His promise to every person on his team is to leave them better than he found them. Corey builds on that by sharing how openly developing people, even for roles outside your company, can paradoxically increase loyalty and tenure.  If you lead a team, manage people, or are trying to figure out how to get more from your business without burning everyone out, this episode delivers real, actionable ideas on human-centered leadership, building trust, developing people, and growing a business that does not rely entirely on you. Connect with the Experts Learn more about Ryan: https://ryanestis.com/ [https://ryanestis.com/] Get Prepare for Impact: https://ryanestis.com/prepare-for-impact [https://ryanestis.com/prepare-for-impact] Connect with Corey Harlock on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyharlock/  Learn more about KeyHire Solutions: https://www.keyhire.solutions Built for small and medium-sized business owners, the KeyHire Podcast has earned a loyal audience of leaders who act on what they hear. We limit our sponsors intentionally with one voice, one message, and full impact, so your brand never gets lost in the noise. If you want direct access to the owners making the hiring decisions, this is your seat at the table. Learn More at Keyhire.Solutions Hiring the wrong person is one of the most expensive mistakes a business owner can make, and the KeyHire Hiring Playbook was designed to make sure it never happens to you. Packed with proven strategies trusted by SMB owners across the country, this free guide gives you a repeatable process for getting every hire right. Grab your free copy at keyhire.solutions/playbook [https://keyhire.solutions/playbook ]and take the guesswork out of growing your team.

You Can't Afford NOT to Hire (with Natalia Zacharin)

Text us your comments or topic ideas for future shows. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2518091/fan_mail/new] If you have ever wondered whether you can actually afford to hire someone right now, this episode of The KeyHire Small Business Podcast was made for you. Corey Harlock sits down with Natalia Zacharin, a fractional CFO who helps small business owners gain financial clarity through strategic bookkeeping and CFO-level thinking, to break down the math behind when payroll and revenue actually align to support a new hire.  The conversation starts with a concept that many business owners have never formally calculated: the payroll to revenue ratio. Natalia explains how to calculate it correctly by including not just wages but taxes, workers’ compensation, and benefits, then dividing that total by gross revenue. The result is a percentage that can tell you a great deal about whether your business can sustain growth. She walks through healthy benchmarks by industry, including roughly 20 to 25 percent for restaurants, 30 to 35 percent for professional services, and around 30 percent for manufacturing, and explains why staying within those ranges protects profitability, cash reserves, and the owner’s ability to take distributions.  One of the most valuable parts of the episode is the distinction Natalia draws between hiring because you are busy and hiring because the business can sustain it. Being slammed with work does not automatically mean the finances support adding headcount, especially if that busyness is seasonal or tied to a one-time order. She encourages business owners to look at trends in profit, cash flow, and lead generation before committing to payroll, and to build up three to six months of operating expenses as a cushion before taking on a significant hire.  Corey adds his own experience to the mix, particularly around hiring for experience versus potential. He makes the case that when you hire for potential, you are accepting a long return on investment that can take 12 to 24 months to materialize. When you hire for experience, especially into a key leadership role, the ROI can be nearly immediate if the fit is right. Natalia echoes this from her own journey, sharing that her decision to hire a senior CPA with decades of CFO experience was a turning point that effectively doubled her business.  The episode also gets into the practical side of structuring compensation for sales hires, including how to keep a new salesperson whole during the ramp period by starting with a higher base and gradually shifting to a greater commission component as they build momentum. Corey walks through a specific quarterly structure that protects the candidate while giving the business time to see results, and both he and Natalia discuss why hiring an order taker when you need a hunter is a costly mismatch that shows up fast.  Toward the end, Natalia shares her top steps for preparing to hire, including evaluating profitability, building cash reserves, understanding revenue per full-time equivalent, establishing a consistent hiring process, and setting clear 30-, 60-, and 90-day check-ins after someone starts.  If you are a small business owner trying to figure out the right time to hire, what you can afford to spend, or how to structure a compensation package that attracts strong talent, this episode gives you the financial framework to make a smarter decision. Connect with the Experts Learn more about Natalia: https://zacharinconsulting.com/ [https://zacharinconsulting.com/] Get the Ultimate Accounting Checklist: https://zacharinconsulting.com/keyhire/ [https://zacharinconsulting.com/keyhire/] Connect with Corey Harlock on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyharlock/  Learn more about KeyHire Solutions: https://www.keyhire.solutions Built for small and medium-sized business owners, the KeyHire Podcast has earned a loyal audience of leaders who act on what they hear. We limit our sponsors intentionally with one voice, one message, and full impact, so your brand never gets lost in the noise. If you want direct access to the owners making the hiring decisions, this is your seat at the table. Learn More at Keyhire.Solutions Hiring the wrong person is one of the most expensive mistakes a business owner can make, and the KeyHire Hiring Playbook was designed to make sure it never happens to you. Packed with proven strategies trusted by SMB owners across the country, this free guide gives you a repeatable process for getting every hire right. Grab your free copy at keyhire.solutions/playbook [https://keyhire.solutions/playbook ]and take the guesswork out of growing your team.

The True Cost of a Bad Hire (with Ryan Hogan)

Text us your comments or topic ideas for future shows. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2518091/fan_mail/new] Connect with Us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyharlock/  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyharlock/] Take the KeyHire Capacity Calculator: www.keyhire.solutions/capacity If hiring feels like something you squeeze in between everything else on your plate, this episode is for you. On this episode of The KeyHire Small Business Podcast, Corey Harlock sits down with Ryan Hogan, co-founder and CEO of Talent Harbor, to talk about why recruiting needs to stop being an afterthought and start being a core competency inside your business.  Ryan has seen both sides of the hiring equation. He previously helped scale Hunt a Killer from a live event concept into a subscription box business shipping 160,000 units a month before selling it. Now he helps growth-stage companies fix the broken hiring systems that hold them back. And the pattern he sees everywhere is the same: business owners delegate hiring to whoever runs the department, at the exact moment that person is already stretched thin, and expect them to become expert recruiters overnight.  Corey and Ryan spend most of this conversation unpacking why that approach fails, and what it actually costs when it does. The real number behind a bad hire is rarely the salary. It is the degraded culture, the missed revenue, the good employees who quietly walk out the door, and the time it takes to restart a process that should have been done right the first time. As Ryan points out, even Jack Welch admitted he only got hiring right fifty percent of the time. That should tell every small business owner something about what it takes to do this well.  One of the most valuable parts of this episode is the discussion on culture fit and how to actually assess it before someone walks through the door. Ryan breaks down how Talent Harbor rates candidates against a client’s core values, asking questions designed to surface real examples of behavior without telegraphing what the right answer looks like. Corey adds his own method: he never discusses the role or company in early screening calls, so candidates have nothing to perform toward and can only tell the truth. Both approaches come back to the same idea, which is that reading a resume and asking a few questions is not recruiting.  The conversation also gets into leading indicators for sales hires, how to get candidates outside their comfort zone during the interview process, why multiple touchpoints matter more than a single impressive interview, and how to use granular detail as a built-in lie detector during behavioral questions.  Ryan closes with advice that applies long before the first job posting goes out. Culture is not what you write on your walls or what you preach on Fridays. It is what your organization actually tolerates. If you do not understand your own culture clearly enough to describe it honestly to a candidate, you are not ready to hire.  If you are a small business owner who wants to stop cycling through the wrong people, protect your momentum, and build a team that actually fits, this episode is worth a close listen.  Connect with the Experts Learn More about Ryan: https://talentharbor.com/ [https://talentharbor.com/] Connect with Corey Harlock on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyharlock/  Learn more about KeyHire Solutions: https://www.keyhire.solutions Built for small and medium-sized business owners, the KeyHire Podcast has earned a loyal audience of leaders who act on what they hear. We limit our sponsors intentionally with one voice, one message, and full impact, so your brand never gets lost in the noise. If you want direct access to the owners making the hiring decisions, this is your seat at the table. Learn More at Keyhire.Solutions Hiring the wrong person is one of the most expensive mistakes a business owner can make, and the KeyHire Hiring Playbook was designed to make sure it never happens to you. Packed with proven strategies trusted by SMB owners across the country, this free guide gives you a repeatable process for getting every hire right. Grab your free copy at keyhire.solutions/playbook [https://keyhire.solutions/playbook ]and take the guesswork out of growing your team.

The $60,000 Hiring Mistake

Text us your comments or topic ideas for future shows. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2518091/fan_mail/new] Connect with Us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyharlock/  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyharlock/] Take the KeyHire Capacity Calculator: www.keyhire.solutions/capacity In this episode of The KeyHire Small Business Podcast, Corey Harlock breaks down one of the biggest risks small business owners face in a chaotic economy: making the wrong hire because the market looks full of available talent. With layoffs continuing across multiple industries, AI reshaping white-collar work, and some sectors booming while others struggle, it can be easy for business owners to assume that great candidates are suddenly easier to find. But as Corey explains, available talent is not the same thing as qualified talent. Just because someone impressive is on the market does not mean they have the right skills, experience, industry knowledge, or capacity to succeed inside your business. Corey walks through three common hiring mistakes small business owners make when the economy gets noisy. The first is getting swept up by a referral or an impressive resume and rushing someone through an informal hiring process. Maybe a friend, neighbor, or colleague recommends a recently laid-off leader or salesperson, and the business owner sees a rare opportunity to bring in “big company” talent. The problem is that without a consistent hiring process, red flags get missed, expectations stay unclear, and six months later, the business owner may realize they are paying top dollar for someone who does not understand the business. The second mistake is bargain hunting. Corey explains why hiring someone at a discount simply because they are out of work can create what he calls a “rental player.” They may take the role because they need a paycheck, but once another opportunity appears at their previous compensation level, they are likely to leave. That turnover creates lost time, lost momentum, and a much higher cost than the salary savings ever justified. The third mistake is hiring for transferable skills without building the training structure needed to make that hire successful. Corey makes an important distinction between hiring for experience and hiring for potential. Experience costs more, but it can create faster return on investment. Potential may be less expensive upfront, but it requires clear 30-, 60-, and 90-day goals, structured training, follow-up, coaching, and patience. Throughout the episode, Corey gives small business owners practical ways to avoid these traps. He emphasizes the need for a consistent hiring process, fair and thoughtful compensation, clear KPIs, structured onboarding, and regular check-ins. He also reminds owners that their best employees are already getting calls from other companies, so retention depends on consistently giving them reasons to stay. This episode is especially valuable for small business owners who are hiring in today’s uncertain economy, considering candidates from outside their industry, or trying to decide whether to hire for experience or potential. Corey also points listeners to a recorded webinar that expands on these ideas, including how to build a hiring avatar, create a scorecard, and design a stronger interview process. If you want to make better hiring decisions, protect your investment, and avoid expensive hiring mistakes, this episode is a must-listen.   Connect with the Experts Connect with Corey Harlock on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyharlock/  Learn more about KeyHire Solutions: https://www.keyhire.solutions Built for small and medium-sized business owners, the KeyHire Podcast has earned a loyal audience of leaders who act on what they hear. We limit our sponsors intentionally with one voice, one message, and full impact, so your brand never gets lost in the noise. If you want direct access to the owners making the hiring decisions, this is your seat at the table. Learn More at Keyhire.Solutions

The Human Blind Spot Putting Your Business at Risk (with Robert Siciliano)

Text us your comments or topic ideas for future shows. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2518091/fan_mail/new] Connect with Us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyharlock/  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyharlock/] Take the KeyHire Capacity Calculator: www.keyhire.solutions/capacity In this episode of The KeyHire Small Business Podcast, Corey Harlock talks with security expert Robert Siciliano about a side of business security that many owners overlook. While most people think about security as a matter of software, systems, and IT controls, Robert argues that the real issue often starts with people and the way human beings naturally respond to trust, urgency, and perceived familiarity.   The conversation begins with Corey sharing a personal example of clicking a link that looked familiar and then dealing with a flood of spam calls afterward. From there, the discussion expands into a bigger question. Why do smart, capable people still fall for scams, phishing attempts, and deceptive messages? Robert explains that human beings are wired to trust by default, and that this instinct can create a dangerous blind spot when bad actors use email, texts, phone calls, and now AI-driven tools to manipulate emotion and force quick decisions.   Robert introduces the idea of the “human blind spot,” which he describes as the gap between our natural instinct to trust and our ability to slow down and think critically in risky situations. He explains that most people do not want to believe they will be targeted, and many avoid thinking seriously about security at all. That denial, combined with increasingly convincing scams, creates real vulnerability inside both personal life and the workplace. He also makes the point that fraud and crime are now treated like businesses by the people carrying them out, while most consumers and employees are still not prepared to recognize the risks in front of them.   A major focus of the episode is why traditional security training often falls short. Robert says many companies rely too heavily on phishing simulations and compliance-based training, but those methods do not fully address how people actually think and behave. Instead, he argues for moving beyond security awareness and toward what he calls security appreciation. In his view, people need to understand security in a personal way before behavior truly changes. He says that when employees see how these risks affect their own identity, money, family, and everyday life, they are more likely to make better decisions at work as well.   The episode also covers the growing role of AI in modern scams. Robert explains that voice cloning, deepfakes, and high-precision impersonation are making deception more believable than ever. These tools strip away many of the obvious warning signs people used to rely on. To help counter that, he shares a simple framework called the AAA protocol: Analyze, Authenticate, and Act. The idea is to stop, assess the urgency, verify the source through a trusted channel, and only then decide what to do next.   This is a practical conversation for business owners who want to protect their companies by addressing the human side of security. Corey and Robert make the case that better security starts with better thinking, better habits, and a culture where trust is paired with verification.   Connect with the Experts Learn More about Robert: https://protectnowllc.com/ [https://protectnowllc.com/] Connect with Corey Harlock on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyharlock/  Learn more about KeyHire Solutions: https://www.keyhire.solutions Built for small and medium-sized business owners, the KeyHire Podcast has earned a loyal audience of leaders who act on what they hear. We limit our sponsors intentionally with one voice, one message, and full impact, so your brand never gets lost in the noise. If you want direct access to the owners making the hiring decisions, this is your seat at the table. Learn More at Keyhire.Solutions Hiring the wrong person is one of the most expensive mistakes a business owner can make, and the KeyHire Hiring Playbook was designed to make sure it never happens to you. Packed with proven strategies trusted by SMB owners across the country, this free guide gives you a repeatable process for getting every hire right. Grab your free copy at keyhire.solutions/playbook [https://keyhire.solutions/playbook ]and take the guesswork out of growing your team.