The Libby DeLucien Podcast

Martha Woodward had a master's degree in business and more than 20 years of management experience before starting her cleaning company. But how much did that experience actually prepare her for the realities of running a cleaning business? In this episode, Martha shares what she learned through 13 years of business ownership, from hiring and managing people to understanding the financial side of t...

Are you still doing the same work you did at $300K, even though you're trying to grow to $600K or $1M? As your business grows, your role needs to change. But that means figuring out what still requires you, what can be handed off, and what needs to be documented. In this episode, we go 1 Layer Deep on: Why business owners need to reassess their role as the business grows How to identify tasks you...

Chris Schwab started his cleaning business with around $700, developed a remote operating model, and moved to Japan. But how did he make it work, and what can other business owners learn from his approach? In this episode of the 1 Layer Deep Podcast, Chris shares how he built a remote cleaning business and why entrepreneurship was a way to create the freedom and balance he wanted in his life. We a...

Before you blame the employee, look at the system. When someone on your team isn’t performing, how do you know whether it’s a people problem, a systems problem, or a leadership problem? In Episode 130 of The Libby DeLucien Podcast, Chris and I will break down the four things to assess before deciding what needs to change: Clarity: Do they know what to do and what good looks like? Capability: Have...

Candice Rodriguez came into the cleaning business after leaving cosmetology. She started in her family’s business as a cleaning technician, then moved into training, field management, and eventually operations. Along the way, she discovered she was good at spotting gaps in systems and figuring out what wasn’t working. But as she grew into leadership, doing things her way came at a cost. What did s...

How do you know your team is actually following the system when you're not there? I was in the field. Aaron was in the field. And both of us were seeing things that made it pretty clear: something had drifted. So the question became bigger than training. How do you audit your team, your trainers, and your systems without becoming the bottleneck yourself? In this episode, Aaron and I go 1 Layer Dee...

Derek Hazelwood came into the cleaning business completely by accident. His background was in insurance, financial consulting, and business ownership. Then he met his wife, who owned a cleaning company. Derek stepped in to help with recruiting and found himself in an industry he knew very little about. What transferred from his previous businesses? What didn’t? And what did he have to learn once h...

Before I built a cleaning company, I trained elephants. Yeah. Elephants. I spent years working with Asian elephants, traveling the world, and building a career I thought I’d have for the rest of my life. Then life changed, and I had to walk away from it. Starting over forced me to figure out who I was outside of the career that had defined so much of my life. Eventually, that led me into organizin...

A bonus isn't supposed to fix your employee. It isn't supposed to fix your process. And it isn't supposed to make someone do the job they're already being paid to do. A bonus is for exceptional behavior , going above and beyond what the role already requires. In Episode 125, Chris, Aaron, and I get 1 Layer Deep into what actually makes a bonus work and when a bonus is simply masking a problem that...

What are you hoping will change? Your business? Your relationships? Your health? Your environment? Your life? Because hope can become a very comfortable place to hide. If something is outside your control, put it in the parking lot. But if it's inside your control... Do something about it. In Episode 124, Chris and I get 1 Layer Deep into the difference between living on hope and taking control of...

You don't have a revenue problem. You might have a keeping-money problem. You hit $1 million. Congratulations. But what if you're actually more broke at $1 million than you were at $500K? That's exactly what Libby, Aaron, and Chris get 1 Layer Deep into in Episode #123. Because growth changes the business. The expenses change. The staffing changes. The systems change. The pricing has to change. An...

What if the problem isn't that you need more employees? What if you haven't fully understood the people you already have? In Episode 122, Chris and I sit down with Aaron Coleman to talk about what happens when you stop managing people based on assumptions and start actually understanding how they work. We talk about: How one-on-ones can reveal what your employees are great at and what they struggl...

What if you're building the business you said you wanted... …but it's costing you the life you actually wanted? In Episode 121, Chris and I talk about one of the biggest shifts we've made in our own lives: stop building the business first. Build the life first. Then decide what the business needs to look like to support it. We talk about: Why your personal vision needs to come before your business...

If your business depends on you to answer every question... It doesn't have a people problem. It has a systems problem. That shows up everywhere. In your marketing. In your onboarding. In your customer experience. Your employees shouldn't have to ask you the same questions over and over again. Both are signs that your business is relying on memory instead of systems. In this episode, Chris and I t...

When someone on your team makes a mistake... What's your first question? If it's "Who messed this up?" you might be asking the wrong question. In this episode, Chris and I unpack why most performance issues aren't people problems, they're systems problems. Before replacing a team member, you need to determine whether you've actually created an environment where success is possible. We covered: The...

Most business owners don't have an information problem. They have an execution problem. If you're constantly reading another book, buying another course, or looking for the next strategy... You might not be learning. You might be avoiding. In this episode, Chris and I talk about: Why learning can become a form of procrastination The difference between motion and real momentum How perfectionism kee...

Most business owners think the next hire will solve their problem. More help. Less work. More time. But what if that's the wrong goal? In this episode, Chris and I explored why building a business isn't about getting work off your plate, it's about creating the capacity for your business to grow without depending on you. Here's what we cover: Why most owners hire for relief instead of capacity The...

Every leader is teaching. The only question is... What are you teaching? Your team isn't just listening to what you say. They're learning from what you repeat. What you tolerate. What you celebrate. What you ignore. In Episode #116, Chris and I unpack the leadership habits, systems, and rhythms that shape culture, build trust, and create consistency across your team. We talk about why SOPs often f...

Think your team can't operate without you? You might be right. But not for the reason you think. Most business owners believe they're the solution. The problem is they've become the system. Every question comes to them. Every approval runs through them. Every decision waits on them. And then they wonder why they can't step away. In this episode, Chris and I unpack one of the biggest lies in busine...

Most business owners don't have a people problem. They have a clarity problem. And the scary part? You usually don't notice it until you're staying up until 3 AM, scrambling to meet deadlines, carrying responsibilities you shouldn't be carrying, and wondering why everything feels harder than it should. In Episode #114, Chris and I unpack how a lack of clarity creates chaos inside a business, why g...

Everyone talks about growing the business. Nobody talks about what happens when the business follows you home. When you're building a business with family, there isn't always a clear line between work and life. The stress from a client call shows up at dinner. The disagreement from work follows you into your marriage. The pressure of running a business together becomes the pressure of living toget...

What if the thing causing tension in your life isn't your business? What if it's the lack of alignment around it? In this Date Morning episode, Chris and I pull back the curtain on what we've been building, what we've learned from hosting our first Execution Lab, and why we've stopped separating business from life. Because the truth is, there is no separation. Your marriage impacts your business....

Most people aren't stuck because they don't know what to do. They're stuck because they're repeating the same six months of their life over and over again. Same habits. Same excuses. Same conversations. Same results. In this episode, we go deep into one of the most important frameworks from 1 Layer Deep: Future Frame. We unpack the four forces that shape every outcome in your life and business. Th...

This episode is bigger than AI. It’s about fear. Adaptation. Parenting. Business. And the uncomfortable truth that the world is changing whether we’re ready or not. We opened up about how we’re raising our kids in a world powered by AI, why we encourage curiosity instead of fear, and what we’re already seeing happen inside businesses right now. Because this isn’t theory anymore. Companies are alre...

Most business owners think they have a people problem. But a lot of the time… it’s a handoff problem. This episode goes deep into the invisible gaps inside your business. The moments between the moments. The places where communication breaks, customers lose trust, employees get frustrated, and opportunities quietly disappear. Because the truth is, your business is not just built on tasks. It’s bui...