Systems Simplified

Hosted by Adi Klevit

Business

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492

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Aug 2026

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About the show

This is the Systems Simplified podcast where we feature top leaders who share stories on how to successfully systematize a business.

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60 recent

September 5, 202642 min

Building Smarter Systems in the Age of AI With Melinda Wittstock

In This Episode The more a business grows, the more expensive it becomes to keep its knowledge trapped inside the founder's head. In this episode, Adi Klevit interviews Melinda Wittstock about entrepreneurship, AI, investment, and the systems required to build scalable businesses. Melinda shares insights from building multiple companies and her current role helping her son's venture, Tails Trails, where she has stepped into an operational role. That experience has reinforced something she has learned throughout her entrepreneurial career: without systems, a growing company quickly becomes chaotic and unnecessarily dependent on its founder. Adi and Melinda explore when entrepreneurs should begin documenting their processes, and Melinda's answer is clear: certainly by the time they begin hiring, if not earlier. Before hiring someone, an owner needs to understand the result that person is responsible for producing, how that result will be measured, and what needs to happen to achieve it. Without that clarity, job descriptions, onboarding, delegation, and accountability become much harder, often leaving the founder micromanaging the very people who were supposed to create more capacity. The conversation also examines how AI makes process clarity even more important. Melinda explains that AI requires context, instructions, guardrails, feedback, and ongoing management, much like an employee does. She and Adi also emphasize that processes cannot become static documents that collect "electronic dust." Businesses need feedback loops that capture what works, what fails, and what changes so knowledge is continually transferred back into the organization. The result is a business where technology handles more repetitive work while people have greater capacity for relationships, creativity, innovation, and high-value decisions.

September 3, 202617 min

How to Build a Business That Doesn't Depend on You With Aaron Young

In This Episode A business becomes far more valuable when its success is no longer tied to how many hours the owner personally works. In this episode, Adi Klevit interviews Aaron Young about more than four decades of entrepreneurship and the lessons that shaped his approach to building businesses. Aaron shares how his first recycling company continued operating and paying him while he was away for two years. That early experience introduced him to an idea that would influence the rest of his career: the owner doesn't have to personally perform the work for the business to create value. Aaron went on to build and sell businesses, operate multiple locations, manage across hundreds of offices, work with a publicly traded company, and acquire companies that he could improve and resell. Those experiences taught him that while industries may look very different, the fundamentals of organizing a company are surprisingly consistent. His Unshackled Owner program grew from that experience and focuses on putting management and organizational structures in place so a company can transcend its founder rather than becoming what Aaron calls a "glorified job." Adi and Aaron also discuss why systems don't have to eliminate flexibility or individuality. Aaron shares advice he received from a musical director: first learn the sheet music, then improvise. The same principle applies to business. When owners and teams understand the right way to organize and operate the company, they have a foundation they can adapt to their industry, leadership style, and circumstances without having to reinvent the fundamentals every time.

September 2, 202624 min

How to Make Organizational Change Stick With Tiffany Newhouse

In This Episode The technology may be new, but successful change still comes down to people understanding where they're going and how they're going to get there. In this episode, Adi Klevit interviews Tiffany Newhouse, Co-founder of Newhouse Project Consulting, about leading transformational change while keeping people at the center of the process. Tiffany shares how she and her husband left successful corporate careers to start their own business after the birth of their son. What began as two entrepreneurs leveraging their professional networks grew into a consulting organization supporting large-scale transformation and technology initiatives. Tiffany explains that successful change requires more than choosing the right technology or following a change-management methodology. Organizations need leadership alignment, stakeholder engagement, effective communication, and business readiness. Most importantly, they need to understand how work is currently being done. Tiffany emphasizes that companies shouldn't even begin discussing a major technology implementation without first understanding and documenting the core processes that technology will affect. Adi and Tiffany also explore why documenting a process is about much more than capturing a sequence of steps. The conversations involved in documenting how work gets done uncover judgment, decision-making, best practices, inefficiencies, and opportunities for improvement. Those conversations also create involvement and buy-in from the people expected to adopt the change. Whether an organization is implementing AI, introducing new technology, or redesigning an existing workflow, understanding the current state and its upstream and downstream impacts creates a stronger foundation for successful transformation.

August 28, 202621 min

Building AI Into Your Operations for Scalable Growth With Nisha Balwani

In This Episode AI can help a company scale, but it can't fix processes the company doesn't understand. In this episode, Adi Klevit interviews Nisha Balwani, second-generation CEO of RCI Technologies, about how she helped double the company's revenue without doubling its headcount. When Nisha stepped into leadership, one of her priorities was understanding and formalizing how work actually got done. Rather than hiring another person every time a problem appeared, the company identified bottlenecks, streamlined processes, and added people primarily where higher-leverage roles were necessary. Adi and Nisha explore why this operational foundation matters even more as companies adopt AI. Nisha shares that one of the biggest lessons from building AI tools internally was discovering how much critical knowledge still lives inside people's heads. A company can purchase or build sophisticated technology, but that technology still needs the expertise of the people who understand the process, including the exceptions and edge cases that may never have been documented. This is why knowledge transfer and process design have to happen alongside AI implementation. The conversation also gets practical about where companies should begin. Nisha recommends prioritizing AI projects according to potential return, particularly processes connected to cash flow, profitability, invoicing, reporting, and expensive administrative work. She also cautions businesses against simply automating an inefficient workflow. Once AI becomes part of the equation, steps may be eliminated, combined, or completely redesigned. The opportunity isn't merely to make the existing process faster. It is to understand the process well enough to build a better one.

August 26, 202620 min

How Systems Help Build a More Valuable Business With Hannah Milojevich

In This Episode A valuable business isn't built by leaving performance to chance. Hannah Milojevich's experience shows what can happen when expectations, training, financial goals, and even the smallest customer experience details are turned into consistent systems. In this episode, Adi Klevit interviews Hannah Milojevich about her journey from becoming a salon owner at 26 to growing two locations, strategically increasing their value, selling them, and preparing for her next entrepreneurial venture. Hannah explains that she intentionally moved away from the booth-rental model common in smaller markets and created an employee-based organization with training programs, advancement opportunities, and consistent systems for both employees and clients. Adi and Hannah explore how measurement helped make those systems work. Hannah held monthly performance reviews with every revenue-producing employee throughout her ten years as an owner. Team members knew the number of services they needed to perform, who they reported to, their rebooking and productivity targets, their average ticket, and what they needed to accomplish to reach the next level. That structure created what Hannah describes as "freedom in the framework," giving people clear expectations while still allowing them to be creative. The conversation also shows how systems can directly affect enterprise value. After receiving a valuation she wasn't satisfied with, Hannah intentionally stepped away from serving clients so the company would become less dependent on her as a revenue producer. She established financial targets, opened a separately structured second location, and focused on improving profitability and business value. As she now prepares to enter the hospitality industry, she's applying the same principles again: research the market, understand the numbers, build the systems, and create a business designed for growth from the beginning.

August 25, 202617 min

Why Strong Systems Matter More Than Business Goals With Brad Poulos

In This Episode A great idea doesn't build a successful business. The systems for testing, executing, delegating, and improving that idea are what turn it into one. In this episode, Adi Klevit interviews Brad Poulos, entrepreneur, educator, consultant, and author, about some of the most common mistakes entrepreneurs make as they start and grow their companies. Brad begins with a lesson from his own experience launching DirecPC, when he raised $2 million before ever speaking with a customer. Today, he advocates a very different approach: start with a problem, develop hypotheses, talk to potential customers, run small experiments, and validate demand before investing heavily in the solution. Adi and Brad then move into what happens once the business begins to grow. Founders have to learn to step out of day-to-day decision-making and give capable people the autonomy to solve problems themselves. Brad shares a simple technique he used when employees brought him decisions they could make on their own: he would ask what they would have done if he hadn't been available. Over time, that approach helped develop stronger, more independent team members while allowing him to spend more time working on the business. The conversation ultimately comes back to systems. Brad explains that customers don't pay businesses for their goals. They pay for the systems that produce the results those goals represent. From SOPs and team development to financing and strategic planning, entrepreneurs need repeatable ways to turn intentions into execution. Adi and Brad also discuss why critical operational knowledge needs to be captured in a living playbook so it can be transferred, maintained, and improved as the company grows.

August 23, 202622 min

How to Prepare Your Business for AI Search With Bruno Gavino

In This Episode AI isn't simply changing how businesses create content. It is changing how customers find businesses in the first place. In this episode, Adi Klevit interviews Bruno Gavino, Founder and CEO of CodeDesign, about the transition from traditional SEO to generative engine optimization and what companies need to do to remain visible as AI-powered search grows. Bruno explains that visibility can no longer depend on publishing blog posts and accumulating backlinks. AI models can evaluate a much broader digital footprint, including how a company is discussed, reviewed, referenced, and connected to other credible sources across the internet. Adi and Bruno get practical about what businesses can do now. Bruno recommends making online content easier for AI models to consume, using structured information, question-and-answer formats, summaries, transcripts, case studies, and firsthand client experiences. He also explains why authority matters. A company's expertise needs to appear consistently across its website, social channels, interviews, articles, and other digital touchpoints so AI models have enough context to understand what the company actually knows and does. The conversation then moves beyond marketing into a larger discussion about AI implementation. Adi and Bruno agree that adding AI to a disorganized business won't automatically make the organization better. Businesses first need to understand and define their workflows so they know what should be optimized or automated. Bruno points out that individual employees adopting different AI tools without an overall blueprint can actually create more fragmentation. The opportunity is to combine AI with clearly defined processes, allowing technology to improve the organization rather than simply accelerating existing disorder.

August 19, 202613 min

Building a Business That Runs Without You With Tonya Thomas

In This Episode Delegation isn't simply handing someone a task. Done well, it's a system that gives business owners back their time while empowering someone else to take ownership. In this episode, Adi Klevit interviews Tonya Thomas, Founder and CEO of Team Delegate, about what it takes for entrepreneurs to successfully delegate to an executive assistant. Tonya explains that trust is often the first obstacle, particularly for founders who built their businesses themselves or previously had a bad delegation experience. Rather than handing over everything immediately, she recommends starting with lower-risk, behind-the-scenes responsibilities and gradually expanding the assistant's role as trust develops. Adi and Tonya also explore why effective delegation is a skill that business owners need to learn. Leaders must understand what they're trying to accomplish, identify the right responsibilities to delegate, communicate expectations, and create checkpoints without slipping into micromanagement. Documented processes make this significantly easier because they allow leaders to see the workflow clearly, determine which responsibilities require their involvement, and transfer the remaining work with greater confidence. The conversation also tackles the changing role of executive assistants in the age of AI. Tonya explains that AI can accelerate administrative work, but tools still require people who can think critically, create effective prompts, evaluate outputs, and preserve the leader's authentic voice. The most effective approach is not choosing between AI and an executive assistant. It is creating a system where a capable assistant uses AI intelligently, follows documented processes, and manages the details so the entrepreneur can stay focused on higher-value work.

August 18, 202621 min

How Structure Creates More Freedom and Creativity With Cam Lawson

In This Episode The best systems don't make businesses less human. When designed correctly, they give people more freedom to actually be human. In this episode, Adi Klevit interviews Cam Lawson, entrepreneur and communication strategist, about the powerful relationship between structure, people, and communication. Cam explains how systems and frameworks influence human behavior inside organizations, while the people using those systems continually reinforce, challenge, and improve them. The goal isn't structure for structure's sake. It's creating an environment where people can focus their energy on the work they do best. Adi and Cam also explore human-centered communication in the age of AI. Using social media as an example, Cam explains why meaningful comments, curiosity, and genuine contributions can create stronger business relationships than immediately sending a cold sales message. While AI can save time and handle valuable behind-the-scenes work, Cam emphasizes that leaders should protect what makes their communication distinctive: their individual perspectives, experiences, and personalities. The conversation brings these ideas directly back to process implementation. Adi and Cam discuss why documenting a process isn't enough; employees need to understand why the process exists and how it makes their work easier. That requires communication, feedback, regular meetings, and opportunities to improve systems as they're being used. When structure and communication work together, processes can provide consistency without suppressing creativity, ultimately giving leaders and employees greater freedom to focus on meaningful work.

August 15, 202626 min

How to Avoid the Profit Traps of Business Growth With Bill Blaser

In This Episode Growth can look impressive from the outside while quietly creating serious problems inside the business. In this episode, Adi Klevit interviews Bill Blaser about what it really takes to grow a profitable, scalable company. Bill shares his experience growing a wheelchair van business from $2.5 million to $25 million and admits that the rapid expansion initially created a mess. Without the right financial understanding, planning, and systems, growth increased the pressure on the organization rather than making the business stronger. Adi and Bill explore why profitability must be understood before pursuing aggressive growth. Bill explains how companies can enter a "valley of death" when new employees, management layers, locations, benefits, and other overhead expenses increase faster than gross margin. They also discuss pricing as a major profit driver, including the importance of understanding industry benchmarks, delivering enough value to justify your pricing, training the sales team to confidently communicate that value, and aligning sales compensation with profitability. The conversation ultimately comes back to systems. Bill describes how introducing documented processes, KPIs, clear job descriptions, accountability, planning, and forecasting completely changed his own company. What once required 14-hour days eventually became a 65-employee, four-location operation that Bill could oversee through a management meeting requiring roughly 45 minutes a week. His experience demonstrates why profitability and process documentation shouldn't be postponed until a business gets bigger. They are the infrastructure that makes healthy growth possible.