The Business Strategist With Adam Strong

Adam Strong
  • 4.9 (29)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

The Business Strategist is the ultimate podcast for entrepreneurs, founders and business owners looking to scale, grow, and exit their businesses successfully. Hosted by Adam Strong, an award-winning strategist with over 30 years of industry experience and three times best selling author. Each episode delivers actionable business advice, practical tools, and insights to help you build a thriving enterprise. Whether you want to master leadership, craft a winning exit strategy, or implement proven scaling techniques, this podcast has you covered. With expert interviews, real-world case studies, and a focus on achieving business freedom, the business strategist is your go-to resource for taking your business to the next level. Tune in every week for new episodes designed to inspire, educate, and empower your entrepreneurial journey. Adam's Contact details LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamistrong YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/adamstrong Is your business ready to run without you? Take the 2-minute Exit Readiness Assessment — a fast, strategic scorecard for founders who want to scale, sell, or step back without becoming the bottleneck. Get instant insights across leadership, systems, marketing, and more. Click here to take the assessment: https://readytoexit.scoreapp.com

  1. From the Brink of Collapse to £18 Million

    8h ago

    From the Brink of Collapse to £18 Million

    What if the one thing killing your business isn't the market, the economy or a competitor, but you? This week I finally got my mate John Castro on the show, a year in the making. Back in 2020 John walked into a dying events business, then convinced the founders to let him try something mad. He took it to nearly 18 million in sales, then went away for two years and watched it keep growing. We got into the stuff nobody talks about. The deal where he only got paid if he won. Why owners stay stuck on ego and control. The framework that makes a business sellable. And why rest might be the most productive thing you do all week. John works with founders doing 500k to 5 million, on a mission to help UK owners find real freedom, not another job with their name on it. WHAT WE COVER The no win, no fee deal that handed him control of a 15 year old companyHow he added 2 million in revenue in his first yearWhy over systemising quietly chokes your businessLeaving meat on the bone when you sell, and why buyers walk away if you don'tThe guilt trap, and why rest might be the most productive thing you do all week Interested in freeing yourself in the business? Take the exit ready diagnostics test and identify the gaps in your growth and scale model. Go here: https://readytoexit.scoreapp.com/ Chapters 00:00 The Business Challenge: Overcoming Adversity 02:47 Transforming a Failing Business: The Journey Begins 05:25 Negotiating Control: The Shared Risk Approach 08:30 The Importance of Trust and Systems in Business 11:40 Ego and Control: The Barriers to Growth 14:23 Finding the Right Balance: Equity vs. Revenue Share 17:14 The Role of Leadership in Business Success 20:05 Letting Go: Trusting Your Team for Growth 23:11 Transitioning Tasks: The Art of Delegation 26:43 The STS Framework: Systems, Team, Strategy 29:28 Building a Strong Team: Purpose and Accountability 32:26 Identifying the Right Time for Implementation 34:51 The Importance of Profitability and Systems 37:30 Finding the Balance: Oversystemization in Business 40:09 The Shift from Founder to CEO: A Mindset Change 43:55 Understanding the Difference: CEO vs. Founder 46:48 Navigating Business Ownership and Financial Strategy 51:40 Mental Health and the Entrepreneurial Journey ABOUT GUEST https://www.instagram.com/1johncastro/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/1johncastro/ John Castro - Giveaway Links https://systemisetoscale.co/newsletter https://systemisetoscale.co/sts-workshop ABOUT THE HOST LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamistrong Website: ⁠https://adamstrong.net⁠ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/adamstrong

    1h 13m

  2. Jun 25

    Why Your Business Is Worth Half What You Think

    Most founders I speak to are sitting on a business they believe will fund their freedom. Then a buyer turns up, makes an offer, and the number lands nowhere near what they hoped for.  In this solo episode, I walk you through the exact five-step process I use to take a business from founder dependent to actually worth selling. Not in five years. This week. I share the difference between a service that sells for 2x and a product that sells for 4 to 6x, why most founders are running a glorified job without realising it, and the one question about your business that almost nobody can answer honestly.  If you have ever wondered whether your business would survive 90 days without you, this one is for you. In this episode I cover: Why your business might be worth half what you thinkThe sentence that fixes your positioning in under a minuteHow a Lego instruction manual changed how I think about systemsThe difference between a pipeline and a personal reputationThe five-step framework I walk every client through before exit Interested in freeing yourself in the business? Take the exit ready diagnostics test and identify the gaps in your growth and scale model. Go here: https://readytoexit.scoreapp.com/ Timestamps 00:00 Introduction to Business Readiness for Exit 01:44 Step 1: Productise the Promise 05:57 Step 2: Replace Yourself Twice 09:47 Step 3: Systemise the Sale 13:27 Step 4: Engineer the Pipeline 15:24 Step 5: Position to Sell 19:25 Recap and Conclusion ABOUT THE HOST LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamistrong Website: ⁠https://adamstrong.net⁠ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/adamstrong

    23 min
  3. Why Strategy Dies In Translation

    Jun 18

    Why Strategy Dies In Translation

    Why does your strategy look perfect on paper but fall apart the moment you step out the room? In this episode I sat down with Kyle Harkema, researcher, executive leader, professor and author of Strategic Clarity, to unpack why so many founders feel like the only one who actually cares about the plan.  Kyle has spent two decades inside real businesses figuring out why growth stalls, and his answer surprised me. It isn't the market. It isn't the pricing. It isn't even the people. It's something quieter, sitting in the gap between what leadership says on Friday and what behaviour actually looks like Monday morning. We dig into the warning signs hiding in plain sight inside your business, the difference between agreement and alignment, and the moment most founders realise their company has been running them for years. Interested in freeing yourself in the business? Take the exit ready diagnostics test and identify the gaps in your growth and scale model. Go here: https://readytoexit.scoreapp.com/ Timestamps 00:00 Understanding the Disconnect Between Strategy and Execution 04:00 The Role of Behaviour in Business Success 06:41 Communication vs. Alignment in Organisations 09:25 Identifying Misalignment and Its Causes 12:31 Recognising Warning Signs of Misalignment 15:04 Healthy vs. Dysfunctional Friction in Teams 17:53 Cultural Dysfunction vs. Strategic Misalignment 20:39 Adaptability and Alignment in Business Strategy 23:29 Understanding Leadership Disconnects 25:48 The SOI Framework Explained 27:39 The Role of Middle Management in Strategy 29:49 Scaling Challenges in Organisations 31:33 Lifestyle vs. Performance-Based Businesses 34:20 Operational Differences in Business Models 36:21 Practical Exercises for Identifying Misalignment 38:08 The Unique Approach of Kyle's Upcoming Book ABOUT THE GUEST LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-harkema-dba/ YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@KyleJHarkema?ra=m Website: https://kylejharkema.com Gift: I’m offering 5 complimentary Strategic Alignment Briefings for leaders who feel like strategy is becoming difficult to execute consistently across teams. It’s a 30-minute executive conversation designed to help identify where strategy may be breaking down behaviourally inside the organisation. Just visit kylejharkema.com/connect and mention the podcast. ABOUT THE HOST LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamistrong Website: ⁠https://adamstrong.net⁠ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/adamstrong

    41 min
  4. The Invisible Tax Draining Your Business

    Jun 11

    The Invisible Tax Draining Your Business

    What if the thing quietly draining thousands from your business every year isn't your salary bill, your software stack, or even your team... but the hundreds of tiny decisions you make before lunch? In this episode I sit down with Barry Cryan, founder of Do More Better, who's coached over 6,000 entrepreneurs on how to work less and grow more. Barry's journey into this work didn't start in a boardroom. It started in a bathroom at work, locking the door for twenty minutes at a time, trying to function through undiagnosed Lyme disease. What he built to survive that period became the framework he now uses with six and seven figure founders. We get into the invisible tax most business owners are paying without realising, why your to-do list might be the problem (not the solution), and the small shift that helped one of his clients turn a day and a half of work into three hours. Interested in freeing yourself in the business? Take the exit ready diagnostics test and identify the gaps in your growth and scale model. Go here: https://readytoexit.scoreapp.com/ Timestamps 00:00 The Invisible Tax on Business Decisions 07:18 Understanding Microdecisions and Their Impact 10:57 Conducting a Foundational Diagnostic Assessment 14:08 Maximizing Productivity Through Focus Blocks 19:11 Exploring the Flow State and Its Triggers 23:05 Understanding Flow Triggers and Friction Points 25:00 Revenue vs. Productivity: The Real Issue 27:47 The Invisible Tax of Low-Value Tasks 29:09 Filtering Noise for Better Focus 32:54 Coaching Session: Identifying Challenges 37:17 Structuring Time for Efficiency 40:59 Creating Predictable Processes for Success ABOUT THE GUEST www.barrycryan.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/barry-cryan-30158985/?skipRedirect=true https://www.instagram.com/cryanbarry/ 15-minute Founder Time Buyback Assessments (limited) https://www.domorebetter.ie/free_assessment ABOUT THE HOST LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamistrong Website: ⁠https://adamstrong.net⁠ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/adamstrong

    47 min
  5. The 7 Stages Of Growth Nobody Taught You

    Jun 4

    The 7 Stages Of Growth Nobody Taught You

    What if everything you've built over the last 15 years was only worth a fraction of what you thought? And what if the reason had nothing to do with how hard you worked? In this episode I sat down with Matthew Pohl, founder of the ReWild Group, author of 16 books and the guy who took 30 years of research across 1,500 businesses and turned it into something every founder needs to hear. We got into the hidden barriers nobody talks about. Why headcount, not revenue, determines your real stage of growth. Why most founders are playing a game they don't even know has levels. Value bombs from this episode  Find out the 7 stages of growth and why most founders get stuck between two of themLearn the people, process, profit ranking that most founders get completely wrongDiscover the builder vs protector ratio and why it changes at every stageHear the brutal truth about why your business might be worth less than you thinkGet the diagnostic question that reveals where you actually are versus where you think you are Interested in freeing yourself in the business? Take the exit ready diagnostics test and identify the gaps in your growth and scale model. Go here: https://readytoexit.scoreapp.com/ Timestamps 00:00 The valuation that gut punched Matt after 15 years  02:23 The rude awakening every founder dreads  04:37 The business Matt built and why it nearly broke him  06:09 Status quo or take the risk, the decision point  08:10 Discovering James Fisher and the stages of growth  09:31 Tripling revenue in three years using the roadmap  11:42 Why headcount beats revenue every time  14:59 The seven stages of growth explained  20:23 Lifestyle business vs performance business  26:38 The identity shift most founders refuse to make  30:24 The practical exercise to diagnose your real stage  33:46 Coaching segment begins 3 5:30 The gates of focus, people, process, profit  38:00 My live ranking and what it revealed  42:00 Why Matt got it wrong for 12 years  48:16 The builder vs protector ratio  51:12 The layoff that crushed Matt's confidence  53:24 Final takeaways and where to find Matt ABOUT THE GUEST https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewepohl/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoGoEIyS19fnAdcSJBdlh3g Stages of Growth Video Series (Stages of Growth Online Series — The ReWild Group)  ABOUT THE HOST LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamistrong Website: ⁠https://adamstrong.net⁠ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/adamstrong

    52 min
  6. Uncertainty Is The Best Time To Grow

    May 28

    Uncertainty Is The Best Time To Grow

    Ever wonder why you're grafting harder than ever and the needle just won't shift? Dr Rebecca Homkes is back on the show after one of our most popular episodes of 2025. She lectures at London Business School, advises Fortune 500 companies, and wrote the bestseller Survive, Reset, Thrive.  We got into why most founders are stuck in the wrong mode without realising it, what the data is actually saying about the economy right now, and the shift in mindset that could change everything for your business over the next twelve months. If you've been blaming the market for your flatlining business, this one is a reality check.  Interested in freeing yourself in the business? Take the exit ready diagnostics test and identify the gaps in your growth and scale model. Go here: https://readytoexit.scoreapp.com/ Value bombs  The reframe that changes how you handle uncertaintyWhy hustle culture is quietly killing your growthThe K-shaped economy and what it means for youThe 4 Cs every founder needs when the wheels come offThe strategy frameworks Rebecca has banned Chapters 00:00 Introduction: The Challenge of Business Growth 01:14 Meet Dr. Rebecca Homkes: Expert in Strategy and Leadership 02:04 Reframing Uncertainty as a Growth Opportunity 02:58 The Power of Market Noise Filtering 05:30 Agility as a Methodology, Not a Structure 07:23 Beliefs, Trends, and Signposts in Strategy 09:59 Data Insights on Global Economic Trends 14:11 Stock Market Reactions During Crises 15:56 Consumer Confidence and Spending Trends 19:15 Managing Survive and Reset Phases 21:43 What Does a Reset Look Like? 26:12 Building a Robust Reset Strategy 28:17 Execution, Agility, and Learning 29:30 Avoiding Hustle Culture: The Importance of Alignment 30:11 The Role of AI in Business Strategy 32:47 Myths and Realities of AI Replacing Jobs 35:48 Predictions for the Next 6-12 Months 36:17 The Power of Learning in Uncertainty 37:09 Final Thoughts and Recommendations Enjoyed today’s episode? Leave a review over on Apple or Spotify. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-business-strategist-with-adam-strong/id1518654325 https://open.spotify.com/show/4vKVMmsZ4MwVooQOlEAzrd ABOUT THE GUEST LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-homkes/ Book: https://amzn.eu/d/0g524Mac ABOUT THE HOST LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamistrong Website: ⁠https://adamstrong.net⁠ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/adamstrong

    39 min
  7. Land Your First Board Seat in 60 Days Without Doing This

    May 21

    Land Your First Board Seat in 60 Days Without Doing This

    Ever wondered why most board seats seem to go to the same handful of grey-suited blokes, while the rest of us are told to go off and buy a certificate? I sat back down with Callum Laing for a conversation that quietly flipped a few of my own assumptions. We got into how boards actually work behind the closed door, why most of what you've been told about landing one is nonsense, and the simple move that can put you on a board in weeks rather than years. I'll be honest, I came in thinking I knew the rules of this game. I left with a notebook full of stuff I'm now actively using. Callum Laing is a serial entrepreneur, ambassador, and bestselling author of four books, including his latest, Boardroom Blueprint. He's spent the last decade working in the gap between small business and public markets, helping founders take companies public while keeping control. He runs the Veblen Director Programme and lives in Singapore. Interested in freeing yourself in the business? Take the exit ready diagnostics test and identify the gaps in your growth and scale model. Go here: https://readytoexit.scoreapp.com/ A few teasers from the chat: The board certification con (and who's really cashing in on it)The one-line pitch that gets you on a board without ever applyingWhy your first board seat should never be your final oneHow a 70-year-old retired entrepreneur turned a free advisory role into hundreds of thousandsThe five things you actually need to land proper board roles Chapters  00:00 Introduction 03:45 Creating and Joining Boards: Filling Gaps in Leadership and Small Businesses  11:42 Debunking Myths: Certifications and Best Practices in Board Membership  25:20 Promoting Diversity in Boardrooms: Challenges and Opportunities  26:42 Recognising Overlooked Points  28:52 The Power of Creating Your Own Board  29:43 Interest in Getting on Boards  35:56 The Value of Being a Foreigner on a Board  40:06 Compensation for Board Positions  44:43 Leveraging Board Experience  47:32 Tying Compensation to Results  50:55 The Veblen Director Program and Boardroom Blueprint ABOUT THE GUEST LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/callumlaing/  X: https://x.com/laingcallum  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CallumLaing  Book: https://bit.ly/BB-dbook  Audiobook: https://bit.ly/BB-AudioYT ABOUT THE HOST LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamistrong Website: ⁠https://adamstrong.net⁠ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/adamstrong

    53 min

  8. May 14

    How to Know When to Scale Your Business

    Most founders are convinced they're ready to scale. Most of them aren't. So how do you actually know the difference? The leads are coming in. The team's growing. Revenue's up. Then six months later you're more exhausted, more overwhelmed and somehow further from where you wanted to be. Sound familiar?  In this solo episode I'm walking through the five indicators I actually look for before I tell any founder they're ready to scale. I've pulled in real stories from clients I've worked with recently, including an architecture firm doing something most businesses would never dare to do, plus a few mistakes I've made in my own business that I'd rather you didn't repeat. Inside this episode The five numbers I track every single week (and the three most founders ignore)Why one firm I work with deliberately turns paying clients awayThe cash flow trap that hits hardest right when things feel goodThe team conversation you keep putting off and what it's quietly costing youWhy being brilliant at your craft can actually keep your business stuck Interested in freeing yourself in the business? Take the exit ready diagnostics test and identify the gaps in your growth and scale model. Go here:  Enjoyed today’s episode? Leave a review over on Apple or Spotify. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-business-strategist-with-adam-strong/id1518654325 https://open.spotify.com/show/4vKVMmsZ4MwVooQOlEAzrd Chapters 00:00 Identifying Market Demand for Business Growth 02:38 Understanding Cash Flow Dynamics 05:47 Streamlining Operations for Efficiency 08:25 Preparing Your Team for Expansion 11:38 Crafting a Clear Growth Plan ABOUT THE HOST LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamistrong Website: ⁠https://adamstrong.net⁠ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/adamstrong

    16 min
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4.9
out of 5
29 Ratings

About

The Business Strategist is the ultimate podcast for entrepreneurs, founders and business owners looking to scale, grow, and exit their businesses successfully. Hosted by Adam Strong, an award-winning strategist with over 30 years of industry experience and three times best selling author. Each episode delivers actionable business advice, practical tools, and insights to help you build a thriving enterprise. Whether you want to master leadership, craft a winning exit strategy, or implement proven scaling techniques, this podcast has you covered. With expert interviews, real-world case studies, and a focus on achieving business freedom, the business strategist is your go-to resource for taking your business to the next level. Tune in every week for new episodes designed to inspire, educate, and empower your entrepreneurial journey. Adam's Contact details LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamistrong YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/adamstrong Is your business ready to run without you? Take the 2-minute Exit Readiness Assessment — a fast, strategic scorecard for founders who want to scale, sell, or step back without becoming the bottleneck. Get instant insights across leadership, systems, marketing, and more. Click here to take the assessment: https://readytoexit.scoreapp.com

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