Winning Standards

Adrian Di Mella spent years working harder and getting nowhere. Eighteen years in construction, burnt out, stuck in a partnership, doing everything himself, and the harder he pushed the worse it felt. Then something shifted, and it had almost nothing to do with effort. Adrian is the director of Dimco, a custom building company in Adelaide, and in this episode he's honest with Michael about mistaki...

Most business owners think they're making decisions. Michael Mojo says they're actually guessing, and it's quietly capping how far the business can grow. In this episode he breaks down what "knowing your numbers" actually means, and why almost everyone gets it backwards. Michael lays out a way of thinking that flips how most people set and chase their targets. Instead of hoping the results show up...

One question over dinner stopped Michael Mojo in his tracks and changed how he thinks about business and himself. In this episode he unpacks what that question was, and why it forced him to look at things he thought he already had figured out. A conversation with a successful businesswoman set off a chain of reflection Michael didn't expect, about who you have to become as your business grows, and...

Most business owners react to the economy at exactly the wrong moment. Michael Mojo breaks down why the smartest operators read the conditions completely differently, and why the times everyone dreads are often the biggest opportunity of all. In this episode Michael lays out a way of understanding the economic environment that changes how you plan, hire, and invest. He argues that every business i...

Every business owner complains about the same thing: you post a job, and the wrong people apply. Steve Ramsay was stuck in that exact loop until one change flipped it, and suddenly the right people were coming to him. Steve is the founder of Alluring Kitchens in Adelaide, and in this episode he's refreshingly practical with Michael about how he solved the hiring problem that quietly holds most bus...

Most of the money advice you've been given your whole life came from people you probably shouldn't be listening to. Michael Mojo makes a provocative case for why the "safe," conventional wisdom around money quietly holds people back, and who he'd never take financial advice from. In this episode Michael challenges some of the most accepted beliefs about money, the things we're all taught to aim fo...

Most people struggle to walk up and talk to someone new, and it quietly costs them relationships, opportunities, and money they'll never know they missed. Michael Mojo shares a simple method that makes starting a conversation with anyone, anywhere, feel easy. In this episode Michael breaks down a four-step framework for approaching and talking to just about anyone, one that takes the guesswork and...

The reason you lose it under pressure has almost nothing to do with what set you off. Michael Mojo breaks down where your reactions actually come from, and why the person who controls their emotions controls almost everything else. In this episode Michael uses a simple analogy that reframes how you think about every time you've snapped, blamed, or spiralled. Once you see it, you can't unsee it, an...

Most tradies never get off the tools. They work harder, take on more, and stay stuck being the business instead of owning one. Matt Warner broke out of that, and the shift that made it possible had almost nothing to do with the trade itself. Matt started as a carpenter and built Built Structural into a real business, and in this episode he's honest with Michael about how hard that transition actua...

The hard work and habits that built your business are the exact things that will eventually break it. Michael Mojo explains why the traits that made you successful become the ones that hold you back, and why almost no owner sees it coming. In this episode Michael gets into the trap of past success, how leaning on the familiar methods that once worked quietly creates chaos as a business grows, and...

Most people think more money is the answer. Michael Mojo makes the case that money was never the real problem, and that building wealth comes down to something most people were never taught. In this episode Michael gets into why wealth has far less to do with income than people assume, and why your internal world quietly decides your financial future more than any pay rise ever will. He's blunt ab...

Allan Czerwinski used to run his business on anger. Yelling, intimidation, a crew walking on eggshells, and he had no idea how much damage it was doing until one moment forced him to see himself the way everyone else did. Allan is the owner of Mint Electrical Services, and in this episode he's honest with Michael about the version of himself he's not proud of, the frustrated, volatile boss whose b...

Most business owners think scaling comes down to working harder or building more systems. Michael Mojo makes the case that it's neither, and the thing that actually moves the needle is something most people spend their whole careers avoiding. In this episode Michael gets into why real growth demands a kind of tension most owners instinctively run from, and what quietly happens to your standards an...

You can hit every business goal and still feel like your life isn't working. Michael Mojo gets into why that happens, and the one thing most high achievers skip on the way up. Success means nothing if it quietly costs you your wellbeing, your relationships, or your peace. In this episode Michael digs into why so many driven people end up burnt out or miserable despite doing everything "right," and...

Peter Savage went from a box factory to running his own finance business, and the thing that turned it around wasn't luck or a lucky break. It was a shift almost anyone stuck in the wrong life can make. Peter is the founder of Savage Money, and in this episode he's honest with Michael about how unhappy he was before any of it changed, the career he didn't want and the sense that things had to be d...

There's a daily habit that quietly does more damage to your mind than most people realise, and almost everyone does it without thinking. Michael Mojo makes the case that it's more corrosive than the things we're actually warned about. We're told what substances do to the brain. In this episode Michael argues the more dangerous pattern is one nobody flags, a mental habit driven by insecurity that k...

Most small business owners hire the wrong way and never realise it. Michael Mojo breaks down one shift that makes hiring A players, and managing them, far simpler than it's ever felt. The usual approach is to hire for a role and hope for a unicorn who can do a bit of everything. In this episode Michael explains why that instinct quietly sabotages you, and the one change that flips it. It sounds sm...

Official channel and episode of the Winning Standards Podcast hosted by Michael Mojo. All Rights Reserved. When you're ready to fast track your results, here's 2 ways I can help: This month's intake for The Odyssey is now open. If you've hit a ceiling in your business and know the constraint is you, not your business, this is the breakthrough. Limited intake [Learn more] Stuck, need clarity, or ju...

Chasing money almost destroyed their business. Rushad Pavri and Shannon Bow nearly lost the whole thing before they worked out that the goal they were chasing was the exact problem, and the same trap is quietly capping owners everywhere. Rushad and Shannon are the founders of Integral Built, a South Australian cladding company, and in this episode they're honest with Michael about the early crisis...

One wrong person on your team can quietly cost you your best ones. Most owners hold on far too long, and Michael Mojo breaks down what that decision is really costing them. Keeping an ineffective team member feels like the kinder choice. In this episode Michael makes the case that it's one of the most expensive mistakes an owner can make, because the damage almost never shows up where you're looki...

Riley Barker, from Best Solar and Batteries went from a million dollars a year to as much as a million a week. In four years. And when he explains how, it has almost nothing to do with luck or timing. Most business owners are guessing. They chase growth on gut feel, hope the leads show up, and can't really tell you why one month beats the next. Riley runs his company on something completely differ...

Every business owner reaches a point where the work stops feeling like the problem. The customers are difficult, the staff aren't stepping up, the margins are thin, and no amount of hustle seems to shift it. Michael Mojo thinks there's a reason for that, and it's hiding somewhere most owners would never think to look. It comes down to a single idea that runs quietly underneath how you price, how y...

Everyone sells business ownership as easy money, but scaling a business and growing a team is far harder than anyone warns you. Ryan Frahm found that out the hard way building his company from the ground up. Ryan is the founder of Green Connect, a South Australian electrical contracting company he's scaled from scratch, and in this episode he's honest about what that actually took. The years of st...

Bad staff will sink a business faster than almost anything. But what if the reason you can't seem to keep good people, or get the ones you have to lift, runs deeper than the hires themselves? In this episode Michael Mojo digs into why so many business owners feel trapped by a team that won't perform, and why the usual fixes (better hiring, more rules, tighter management) rarely solve it on their o...

Five years ago Heath Shelmerdine's marriage had collapsed and he was in the darkest place of his life. A mutual friend pointed him toward Michael. He almost didn't make the call. Heath is a South Australian entrepreneur, and in this episode he opens up about the moment everything fell apart and the slow climb back that followed. He was deeply skeptical of coaching at first, questioning why he'd ta...