Big Dreams Great Teams® with Paula Maidens

There’s a stage where many businesses get stuck and the reason why doesn’t get talked about enough. It’s the five person mark. And it can feel so hard that growth stops feeling worth it. For a lot of business owners in the messy middle, this is an angonising and often silent crunch point.  Revenue is moving. Clients are being served. The team is good.  But everything feels tight. Heavy. Like there...

A behind-the-scenes founder conversation on hiring, rebuilding culture, and stepping into leadership. Scaling a service-based business means growing more than just revenue — it means carrying the weight of people, culture, and the leadership decisions that come with growth. In this episode of The Big Dreams Great Teams Podcast , Paula Maidens is joined by entrepreneur Winnie Wu for an honest, behi...

When good people still need too much of you, the issue is rarely capability. It’s clarity. Most business owners don’t think they have a “bad team.” They like their people. They see potential. They know everyone’s trying. And yet, the questions keep coming. The mental load doesn’t shift. Holidays still involve Slack, texts, and “just checking” messages. This episode speaks to that uncomfortable mid...

Sixteen years in, Paula’s not romanticising it. She’s naming what it actually takes to build a business that lasts — and what it costs when the business accidentally becomes another version of a corporate job. This episode is a reflection on identity upgrades, hiring decisions, and the quiet pressure business owners carry when the team, the clients, and the profit all sit on their shoulders. It’s...

Clearer laws. Calmer leadership. Fewer second-guesses. Many business owners genuinely want to do right by their people. And yet, when it comes to psychosocial hazard laws, there’s a quiet tension sitting underneath everyday leadership decisions. Conversations get delayed. Performance issues get softened. Boundaries blur. Not because business owners don’t care — but because they’re unsure where the...

This episode is about the kind of leadership pressure that doesn’t show up on a task list — the mental load that lingers even after you’ve stepped back from doing the work yourself. It explores how “perfect” quietly becomes the standard as businesses grow, often without being named. Not perfection of output, but perfection of prevention — trying to ensure nothing slips, nothing goes wrong, nothing...

Why generic, AI-written job ads are costing growing businesses better people — and what actually makes candidates pay attention As teams grow, hiring stops being a task and starts becoming a leverage point. Each new role carries weight — culturally, financially, and operationally. The quality of decisions made here shapes capacity, momentum, and how much pressure sits with you as the business owne...

Growth has a way of changing the work. What once felt straightforward becomes layered. Decisions carry more weight. And the advice that used to land no longer fits the reality of running a service-based business where people, process and performance are tightly intertwined. This short episode marks the return — and quiet reset — of The Big Dreams Great Teams Podcast . After a deliberate pause, the...

In this episode of Big Dreams Great Teams , Paula Maidens is joined by messaging strategist, copywriter, and ChatGPT trainer Tahnée Sanders, founder of The Strategy Studio. Together, they explore the common frustrations that come with outsourcing marketing, particularly when the results don’t quite “sound like you.” Tahnée shares why so many small business owners end up rewriting the content they...

In this solo episode of Big Dreams Great Teams , Paula Maidens shares practical hiring tips for small businesses, unpacking the five key shifts that are shaping how small business owners need to approach hiring in 2025 and what to do to make your next hire the right one. If you're a business owner planning to hire this year (or even thinking about it), this episode is your heads-up on the new...

In this practical and eye-opening episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, Paula Maidens dives into the hidden fears that hold many small business owners back from making their next hire. If you've ever delayed writing a job ad, second-guessed your interview process, or wondered if you're really ready to bring someone on board, this one’s for you. Paula shares real, actionable hiring tips for...

In this much-needed episode of Big Dreams Great Teams , Paula Maidens dives into a growing issue that’s costing business owners serious time, money and peace of mind. It is the difference between advice and opinion. Paula unpacks how well-meaning but misinformed recommendations can derail your decision-making and explains how to safeguard yourself and your business by learning to tell the differen...

In this solo episode of Big Dreams Great Teams , Paula Maidens dives deep into one of the most pivotal elements of team performance: trust. If you’ve ever felt like your team isn’t quite stepping up, you’re constantly being pulled into decisions, or you’re stuck re-doing tasks instead of driving strategy, this episode is for you. Paula shares real-life stories from her clients (and her own consult...

In this powerful episode of Big Dreams Great Teams , Paula Maidens is joined by Shelly Horton – journalist, TV presenter, women’s health advocate, and founder of ShellShocked Media. Shelly brings her trademark humour, candour, and energy as they dive into an essential and often overlooked topic: navigating perimenopause whilst running a business and leading a team. Shelly shares her deeply persona...

In this solo episode of Big Dreams Great Teams , Paula Maidens walks through a simple but powerful assessment to evaluate your team's performance and how it may be helping or hindering your business growth. With over 70% of her clients expressing frustration around their team’s output, Paula unpacks the most common performance concerns and explains how to identify the exact areas where your t...

Growing pains aren't just for growing teenagers… your business experiences them too!  In this value packed episode, Paula Maidens dives into a challenge that catches many successful business owners by surprise: why your once-perfect team dynamics often struggle as you approach that exciting $1M revenue milestone. With 15+ years of hands-on experience guiding businesses through team transforma...

In this essential episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, I’m interviewing Lisa Turner, founder of Accounted For You, a specialised Zero-only bookkeeping practice helping female-led businesses understand their numbers with clarity and confidence.  With 20 years of experience in finance and accounting and 8 years running her own business, Lisa is passionate about making numbers feel simple.  In this sup...

In this episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, Paula shares a powerful framework to transform your team meetings from energy-draining obligations into the strategic engine of your business. Discover the three specific questions that create accountability, reveal obstacles, and develop proactive thinking in your team - ultimately allowing meetings to run effectively even without you present. What You&a...

Are you exhausted from being the only person in your business who can solve problems? Tired of explaining the same things over and over to your team? In this powerful episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, Paula Maidens reveals why "telling" might actually be your biggest leadership blindspot. Discover the simple shift in approach that has helped Paula's clients for over 15 years cut pr...

Here's the truth - working harder isn't the answer to scaling your business. After 14 years of helping business owners build high-performing teams, I've discovered exactly what it takes to break free from operational overwhelm and step into true strategic leadership. In this episode, I'm sharing the framework that will transform how you lead your business. In This Episode, I Sh...

Are your business values secretly working against your team's performance? In this episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, I'm sharing a practical framework for using values-based communication to transform your team culture. Whether you have formal company values or not, this episode will show you how to tap into the values already driving your business and use them to create the culture you...

In this episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, I’m pulling back the curtain on how AI tools are helping and hindering hiring, recruitment, leadership, and productivity for small business owners. From streamlining operations to optimising team performance, I’m sharing practical ways I use AI daily—and where it can fall short. Whether you're feeling overwhelmed by AI options or looking to maximise...

As a small business owner, your leadership style directly impacts your team—and ultimately, your business success.  In this episode, we dive into three common leadership habits that could be holding you back in 2025.  Discover practical strategies to shift from frustration to freedom and create a high-performing team that thrives without your constant oversight. What You'll Learn in This Epis...

We're pulling back the curtain on what 2024 really looked like - beyond the glossy social media highlights and into the reality of running a business! In this special end-of-year episode, I'm sharing MY full picture of running a successful business - from the moments that had me pouring a glass of bubbly to the days that had me questioning everything. Because real business growth isn&apo...

What if the secret to scaling your business wasn't about rigid systems, but about leading with your values?  In this inspiring episode, Helen Wait shares how she transformed her solo occupational therapy practice into ActivOT, Australia's first OT franchise business with over 65 franchisees across five states.  From unconventional hiring practices to creating a culture that truly puts pe...