Better Business for Small Business Leaders

Chrissy Myers

Better Business for Small Business is the go-to podcast for entrepreneurs looking to get 1% better in their business every day. Hosted by Chrissy Myers, CEO of AUI and Clarity HR, each episode dives into real-world stories and expert insights from resilient small business owners who blend passion, purpose, and philanthropy to drive success. 

  1. CJ Meager on How Proactive Legal Strategy Helps You Catch Risk Early

    Jun 9

    CJ Meager on How Proactive Legal Strategy Helps You Catch Risk Early

    Send us Fan Mail You can make a smart growth move and still create a risk you never saw coming. That is the tension we dig into with attorney CJ Meager of Brennan Mana and Diamond, who works with companies as fractional chief legal counsel. When you are past the startup stage, the margin for error gets smaller, and the goal is not just growth. It is protecting what you have built while you keep scaling. We talk about what “fractional general counsel” actually means inside a business, why proactive legal strategy beats emergency calls, and how steady touchpoints help you avoid costly surprises. CJ breaks down common legal blind spots in growing companies, especially corporate governance basics that owners often overlook until they are trying to make a big decision, bring on investors, plan succession, or prepare for an exit. We also get practical about how a fractional relationship changes the day-to-day: easier questions, better context, smarter contract review, and fewer blinders. Then we hit a hot topic leaders are wrestling with right now: AI. CJ explains why relying on public AI tools for legal work can burn even sophisticated teams, what “garbage in, garbage out” looks like in practice, and why businesses should set guardrails for AI usage. We also cover when DIY platforms like LegalZoom are fine and when they become a speed bump during funding, sales, or M&A. If you want to get 1% better, this conversation points to one move: build the team around you and get ahead of the risks that change as you grow. Subscribe, share this with a fellow owner, and leave a review so more leaders can scale with confidence. 🎙️ Connect with Chrissy Myers  and discover how resilience, expertise, and community can transform your world: 🔗 Follow Chrissy on LinkedIn for behind-the-scenes insights, leadership tips, and updates on her journey as the CEO of two thriving businesses. 📘 Grab your copy of 'Reluctantly Resilient' to learn how Chrissy turned challenges into opportunities and how you can do the same in your life and business. 🤝 Explore Clarity HR and discover how Chrissy’s team simplifies HR for small businesses, giving you peace of mind to focus on what matters most. 💼 Visit AUI to see how Chrissy's employee benefits expertise can help you build a healthier, happier workforce.

    21 min
  2. Julie Wheeler Explains Why Promoting Without Training Sets New Managers Up for Burnout

    May 26

    Julie Wheeler Explains Why Promoting Without Training Sets New Managers Up for Burnout

    Send us Fan Mail You promote your top performer, give them a new title, and expect the team to level up. Instead, sales dip, conflict rises, and your once-reliable employee looks exhausted and unsure. That whiplash is more common than most leaders admit, and it usually has one root cause: we reward technical excellence with a management role, then provide little to no leadership training. Julie Wheeler, HR Business Partner at ClarityHR, joins me to unpack why companies make this mistake and what it costs in morale, retention, and results. We talk through the predictable traps new managers fall into, like avoiding hard conversations with former peers, micromanaging because it feels safe, and setting inconsistent expectations that quietly fuels resentment. We also cover the “tangible” side of being a supervisor, including why basic awareness of employment law matters. A manager doesn’t need to be an HR expert, but they must recognize red flags like ADA accommodation requests, harassment concerns, and FMLA-related issues, and know when to pull in help. Then we get practical about solutions: what a true manager boot camp can include, how to layer soft skills like delegation, coaching, and conflict resolution on top of the basics, and why humility and reasonable vulnerability often separate strong managers from struggling ones. We also tackle the fear business owners voice out loud: what if we train them and they leave? The better risk to manage is what happens when we don’t. If you have new supervisors, future leaders, or a management bench to build, listen, share with a fellow owner, and subscribe. If this helped, leave a review and tell us: what do you wish you’d learned before you became a manager? 🎙️ Connect with Chrissy Myers  and discover how resilience, expertise, and community can transform your world: 🔗 Follow Chrissy on LinkedIn for behind-the-scenes insights, leadership tips, and updates on her journey as the CEO of two thriving businesses. 📘 Grab your copy of 'Reluctantly Resilient' to learn how Chrissy turned challenges into opportunities and how you can do the same in your life and business. 🤝 Explore Clarity HR and discover how Chrissy’s team simplifies HR for small businesses, giving you peace of mind to focus on what matters most. 💼 Visit AUI to see how Chrissy's employee benefits expertise can help you build a healthier, happier workforce.

    27 min
  3. Alice Rhodes Shares How to Replace a Group Plan Without Leaving Your Team Behind

    May 12

    Alice Rhodes Shares How to Replace a Group Plan Without Leaving Your Team Behind

    Send us Fan Mail Your health insurance renewal hits, and suddenly the math doesn’t work: premiums climb faster than inflation, one big claim can blow up a small group plan, and specialty drug costs keep stacking the deck against predictability. We talk through why this trend is not a quick blip and why more business owners are getting cornered into hard choices that can even block raises. If you’ve ever thought, “Our benefits cost is becoming unsustainable,” you’re not the only one.   Alice Rhodes and I walk through what it really means to deconstruct your benefits and rebuild a plan that actually fits the business you’re running today. That includes the three common paths we see when a traditional group health plan stops making sense: eliminating coverage, providing a healthcare stipend (simple, but taxable), or shifting to an Individual Coverage HRA (ICRA), where employees choose their own individual plans and the employer reimburses a defined amount in a tax-advantaged way. We also get real about the employee experience on individual plans, including narrow networks, doctor and hospital differences between group and individual products, and why hands-on guidance can be the difference between a smooth transition and a frustrated team.  We also cover the “gotchas” leaders need to know, like COBRA obligations with ICRAs, how ACA rules treat different approaches, when ICRA admin fees can erase savings for very small employers, and how voluntary benefits like dental, vision, disability, accident, and critical illness can add value when medical coverage changes. If you want more predictable costs without “feeding employees to the wolves,” this conversation gives you a clear framework for deciding what fits.  Subscribe for more practical benefit strategy conversations, share this with a business owner who is staring down a renewal, and leave a review if it helped. What’s the biggest question you have about ICRAs, stipends, or replacing a group plan? 🎙️ Connect with Chrissy Myers  and discover how resilience, expertise, and community can transform your world: 🔗 Follow Chrissy on LinkedIn for behind-the-scenes insights, leadership tips, and updates on her journey as the CEO of two thriving businesses. 📘 Grab your copy of 'Reluctantly Resilient' to learn how Chrissy turned challenges into opportunities and how you can do the same in your life and business. 🤝 Explore Clarity HR and discover how Chrissy’s team simplifies HR for small businesses, giving you peace of mind to focus on what matters most. 💼 Visit AUI to see how Chrissy's employee benefits expertise can help you build a healthier, happier workforce.

    21 min
  4. Stephanie Smith Talks About Your Best Opportunities Come From People You Trust

    Apr 28

    Stephanie Smith Talks About Your Best Opportunities Come From People You Trust

    Send us Fan Mail The next big break in your career probably won’t come from a perfect strategy deck. It’ll come from a person who trusts you, remembers you, and is willing to make an introduction when the moment is right. That’s why we dig into relationship building as a real leadership skill, not a cringe networking chore.  I’m joined by Stephanie Smith, Director of Engagement and Impact at Leadership Akron and a certified Gallup CliftonStrengths coach. We talk about what effective networking actually looks like when you remove the awkward scripts and focus on mutual trust, respect, and genuine curiosity. Stephanie shares how relationships have shaped her own path, including a story that shows how quickly a strong connection can open a surprising door for your family, not just your business.  From there, we move into strengths-based leadership and why CliftonStrengths is so useful for self-awareness, team performance, and long-term professional development. We break down what strengths measure (the “how,” not the “what”), how teams benefit when people understand what others need to do their best work, and why you can be sharp as an individual while building a well-rounded team. We also talk practical leadership development habits, including micro-learning, community-based learning, and whether your strengths can change over time based on your role and state of mind.  If you want better business relationships, stronger leadership presence, and a strengths-based approach to growing your team, listen now. Subscribe, share this with a leader who hates “networking,” and leave a review with your top strength and the relationship you’ll invest in next. 🎙️ Connect with Chrissy Myers  and discover how resilience, expertise, and community can transform your world: 🔗 Follow Chrissy on LinkedIn for behind-the-scenes insights, leadership tips, and updates on her journey as the CEO of two thriving businesses. 📘 Grab your copy of 'Reluctantly Resilient' to learn how Chrissy turned challenges into opportunities and how you can do the same in your life and business. 🤝 Explore Clarity HR and discover how Chrissy’s team simplifies HR for small businesses, giving you peace of mind to focus on what matters most. 💼 Visit AUI to see how Chrissy's employee benefits expertise can help you build a healthier, happier workforce.

    24 min
  5. Julie Wheeler On The Hidden HR Problems That Show Up When Small Businesses Scale

    Apr 14

    Julie Wheeler On The Hidden HR Problems That Show Up When Small Businesses Scale

    Send us Fan Mail Your business starts growing, and you think the hard part is sales, operations, and delivery. Then the real friction hits: the people side. The mood changes, long-time employees get uneasy, new hires shift the dynamics, and suddenly, “we’ve always done it this way” becomes the loudest voice in the room. We sit down with Julie Wheeler, HR business partner at Clarity HR, to unpack why growth puts pressure on culture and what to do before it turns into turnover, mistrust, or a leadership mess.  Julie and I talk about the early signs of culture drift that owners often miss, and why pushback is frequently a symptom of uncertainty and poor communication rather than a bad attitude. Julie breaks down how to bring your team along with a clear roadmap, better expectations, and real two-way listening so people do not feel like their workplace changed overnight without them. If you are scaling a small business, hiring fast, or expanding into new regions, these HR and leadership fundamentals protect your culture.  We also tackle one of the most sensitive moments in any growing company: promotions. When a new hire moves up quickly because they have proven leadership skills, tenured employees can read it as unfair unless you explain readiness and build transparent development paths. We dig into practical tools like career tiers, training for leadership and soft skills, clearer org charts, and how business owners must keep growing too by delegating and communicating differently as complexity rises.  If this hits close to home, subscribe for more conversations on small business leadership and healthy scaling, share this with a fellow owner, and leave a review so more leaders can find it. What people challenge are you facing right now as you grow? 🎙️ Connect with Chrissy Myers  and discover how resilience, expertise, and community can transform your world: 🔗 Follow Chrissy on LinkedIn for behind-the-scenes insights, leadership tips, and updates on her journey as the CEO of two thriving businesses. 📘 Grab your copy of 'Reluctantly Resilient' to learn how Chrissy turned challenges into opportunities and how you can do the same in your life and business. 🤝 Explore Clarity HR and discover how Chrissy’s team simplifies HR for small businesses, giving you peace of mind to focus on what matters most. 💼 Visit AUI to see how Chrissy's employee benefits expertise can help you build a healthier, happier workforce.

    30 min
  6. Alice Rhodes Talks How Small Businesses Cut Health Insurance Costs with Self Funding

    Mar 31

    Alice Rhodes Talks How Small Businesses Cut Health Insurance Costs with Self Funding

    Send us Fan Mail Your health insurance renewal shows up, and the numbers feel unreal. The cost jumps again, nobody can clearly explain why, and you are left trying to protect your team’s benefits while your budget gets squeezed. We sit down with Alice Rhodes, VP of Benefits at AUI, to unpack the real mechanics of self-funded health insurance for small and mid-sized employers and to explain why “self-funding” is less about going it alone and more about gaining control, clarity, and options. Alice walks through what actually changes when an employer moves away from a fully insured premium and starts paying claims directly. Alice explains why claims transparency matters, how seeing your data can reveal the true cost drivers, and how employers can use that insight to shape smarter benefits and better employee education. We also dig into customization, the ability to adjust deductibles, copays, emergency room incentives, and in-network vs out-of-network design so the plan fits your workforce instead of forcing your workforce to fit the plan. If risk is your biggest concern, we make it concrete. Alice breaks down stop-loss insurance, including specific stop loss for individual high claims and aggregate stop loss to cap total plan exposure, plus the role of a third-party administrator (TPA) and a broker in handling the complexity. We also cover level-funded health plans, a popular hybrid option that keeps monthly payments predictable while still offering potential savings and better reporting. If you are tired of unexplained premium increases and want a more strategic approach to employee benefits, this conversation gives you a clear starting point. Subscribe for more practical business leadership conversations, share this with a business owner who dreads renewals, and leave a review if it helped. What is the biggest question you have about self-funding or level funding? 🎙️ Connect with Chrissy Myers  and discover how resilience, expertise, and community can transform your world: 🔗 Follow Chrissy on LinkedIn for behind-the-scenes insights, leadership tips, and updates on her journey as the CEO of two thriving businesses. 📘 Grab your copy of 'Reluctantly Resilient' to learn how Chrissy turned challenges into opportunities and how you can do the same in your life and business. 🤝 Explore Clarity HR and discover how Chrissy’s team simplifies HR for small businesses, giving you peace of mind to focus on what matters most. 💼 Visit AUI to see how Chrissy's employee benefits expertise can help you build a healthier, happier workforce.

    19 min
  7. How Jim Barlett Broke The $3M Ceiling With Forward-Looking Finance

    Mar 17

    How Jim Barlett Broke The $3M Ceiling With Forward-Looking Finance

    Send us Fan Mail Growth feels great until it starts to choke your cash and your calendar. We sit down with Jim Bartlett, Navy mission commander turned e-commerce founder and now Area President at Focus CFO, to unpack how owners stop firefighting and start leading with forward-looking finance. Jim’s path from scaling a sporting goods brand on early AdWords to exiting as Amazon rose gives him a rare operator’s lens on what actually moves a business past the $3M ceiling. We dig into the first habit every founder needs: a rolling 13-week cash flow forecast. Jim shows how this simple discipline, paired with a practical “DNA model” of your operations, turns instinct into insight—linking pricing, pipeline, margins, inventory, AR, and AP to real cash outcomes. He explains why many small businesses think bookkeeper plus CPA equals coverage, and where the true gap lives: strategic, proactive financial leadership. That’s the sweet spot for a fractional CFO who’s been inside operating companies, not just advising from the sidelines. From navigating cash crunch during high growth to speaking “bank” with clear risk and mitigation plans, Jim shares how operator-CFOs act like Sherpas—carrying the analytical load while helping the owner climb. We talk delegation, coachability, and the moment some leaders realize they’re the bottleneck. Jim also offers a simple 1% daily practice: calendar a non-negotiable 30-minute outreach block to keep revenue motion consistent. If you’re feeling stuck near seven figures, worried about payroll despite rising sales, or unsure how to win your bank’s confidence, this conversation gives you a roadmap. You’ll leave with concrete steps to forecast cash, tighten your cash conversion cycle, translate vision into banker-ready numbers, and free up your time to lead again. If this resonates, subscribe, share with a founder friend, and leave a quick review telling us your top cash or delegation challenge. 🎙️ Connect with Chrissy Myers  and discover how resilience, expertise, and community can transform your world: 🔗 Follow Chrissy on LinkedIn for behind-the-scenes insights, leadership tips, and updates on her journey as the CEO of two thriving businesses. 📘 Grab your copy of 'Reluctantly Resilient' to learn how Chrissy turned challenges into opportunities and how you can do the same in your life and business. 🤝 Explore Clarity HR and discover how Chrissy’s team simplifies HR for small businesses, giving you peace of mind to focus on what matters most. 💼 Visit AUI to see how Chrissy's employee benefits expertise can help you build a healthier, happier workforce.

    29 min
  8. Sue Grabowski's Take On Why Your Nephew Should Not Run Your Ads

    Mar 3

    Sue Grabowski's Take On Why Your Nephew Should Not Run Your Ads

    Send us Fan Mail Quit a stable job, tell your boss you’re going home, then get asked if they can become your first client—how’s that for a plot twist? We sit down with communications leader Sue Grabowski to chart a three-decade journey from magazine keylining to AI-era strategy, and the common thread is relentless clarity. Sue shares how she built an agency that outlasted trends by shifting from production work to crafting precise specifications that guide both humans and AI toward measurable outcomes. We dig into why teams waste effort without clear objectives, how “understand, plan, execute” anchors creative ambition, and what happens when leaders stop chasing the latest tool and start documenting the process. Sue explains why she now requires a yearlong commitment for social ads, how patient A/B testing compounds through retargeting, and the simple metrics that align marketing, sales, and operations so leads don’t die in the handoff. If you’ve ever blamed the channel when the real issue was your follow-up, this conversation hits home. Crisis communication takes center stage as Sue outlines a practical, fast-acting plan: define roles, set severity thresholds, craft fact-first messages, and store the playbook outside your firewall for ransomware scenarios. Employees hear first; compassion and competence drive trust. We also talk about service—board work, township leadership, and a run for state office—as an extension of the same ethos: speak clearly, act decisively, and put people first. And yes, we end with a deceptively small habit that creates a big shift in focus: ending the day with an empty sink to start the next with a clear mind. If you’re ready to trade quick fixes for durable growth, tune in. Subscribe, share this with a leader who needs a plan, and leave a review with the one process you’ll document this week. 🎙️ Connect with Chrissy Myers  and discover how resilience, expertise, and community can transform your world: 🔗 Follow Chrissy on LinkedIn for behind-the-scenes insights, leadership tips, and updates on her journey as the CEO of two thriving businesses. 📘 Grab your copy of 'Reluctantly Resilient' to learn how Chrissy turned challenges into opportunities and how you can do the same in your life and business. 🤝 Explore Clarity HR and discover how Chrissy’s team simplifies HR for small businesses, giving you peace of mind to focus on what matters most. 💼 Visit AUI to see how Chrissy's employee benefits expertise can help you build a healthier, happier workforce.

    29 min
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5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Better Business for Small Business is the go-to podcast for entrepreneurs looking to get 1% better in their business every day. Hosted by Chrissy Myers, CEO of AUI and Clarity HR, each episode dives into real-world stories and expert insights from resilient small business owners who blend passion, purpose, and philanthropy to drive success. 

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