In this motivational presentation, Jacqueline Elliott (Speaker A) and her partner Andy (Speaker B) address entrepreneurs and leaders about the critical need to build companies that no longer depend on the founder’s constant presence. Drawing on their own experience of scaling a nine‑figure business in Mexico, they describe how they unintentionally built a “prison” where the leader was the bottleneck, leading to costly mistakes and personal strain. The talk outlines five core traits of a perfect leader: (1) creating systems that replace chaos so the business can run without the founder; (2) fostering a culture that protects itself and precedes profit; (3) mastering communication that teaches rather than merely talks; (4) embracing self‑change first, recognizing that personal habits and trust issues are the biggest threats to the organization; and (5) regularly testing dependency through thought experiments such as a 30‑day disappearance or a week without a phone. Throughout, they stress that leadership is about deciding who you will become, delegating responsibility, and ensuring growth does not sacrifice health, relationships, or faith. The session ends with a call‑to‑action for in‑person events in Arizona and a contact number for further coaching.
Elliott Army, we are Elliott Army, we are Elliott Army. We shift the energy. We shift the energy. We change generations. We change generations. Break through the bloodline. Break through the bloodline. A new foundation. A new foundation. Outwork everyone.
That capacity is what we're going to talk about today. And it doesn't matter if you have— if you're just starting, you're a solopreneur, or even if you work for somebody else, you're going to see some holes in the business that you work in right now. You're going to start thinking this way because these are the people that actually grow. Okay? So it's about becoming the leader capable of building a company that no longer depends on you. Andy and I, we spend most of our time in Mexico. We're going to teach you guys what we had to do, but we were the prisoners of the business. We built a prison. We were flying the plane and putting it together and everything was falling apart as we were doing it. Yeah, we built an incredible business. And he talks about 9-figure business. Amazing. We have a great team. We also blew a lot of money on mistakes because we did it wrong. Now, I wouldn't trade those mistakes for anything. We learned from them. But at the same time, you're here because hopefully you don't want to make those same mistakes. And that's why we're so passionate about this. Okay. One, where the leaders create leaders. That's what we're wanting to do. Where systems replace chaos, where culture protects itself, where growth doesn't cost your marriage, your children, your health, or your relationship with God. Today isn't about learning more. It's about deciding who you're going to become. Because your business will never outgrow its leader. Would you be in a relationship with somebody that lied to you? Most people are like, oh heck no. How about if it's you? What if you can't trust yourself? What if you keep breaking your own promises? What does it look like for you? What are you going to go back to? What are you afraid of? What's stressing you out? What's giving you anxiety? It's that prison that you've been building. The greatest threat to your company probably isn't your competition. It's a version of you that refuses to change. As a leader, communication is so important. And it's not what you say, it's how you communicate and what they perceive. Most people in their marriages have fights because they just want to get their point across. And leaders, they do the same thing. They just want to say what they think is right. But what happens when you have that same meeting over and over and over again, your team is not getting it. You're a terrible communicator. Well, I told them to do this. I told them to do that. I told my kids to do that, but they're not learning. Why? Because you're just—you're just singing. You're just rehearsing. You're just talking just to talk. That's not communication. It's how they learn. Get better at communicating. Nothing changes until you can look at yourself in the mirror and change. You need to be the person that changes first. If you want a better relationship, you change first. It doesn't matter that your wife is nagging or your husband is not getting this. You Change first. Watch how things happen right now. Not who you want to become, not what makes you think that you're the best leader ever. When pressure hits, do you become the leader or the firefighter? Do you feel like you're constantly firefighting? Hey you, if you're watching this because something in your life or business feels harder than it should, and you're ready for more than just a YouTube video to solve it, come see us. We run in-person events out of our headquarters in Arizona. Text me at 623-224-9411 right now, and I'll point you in the right direction. Let's keep going. Maybe you jump into every deal because you feel like you're the only one that closes it. You don't trust your team to do it. What happens when numbers drop? How do your meetings sound? When you jump into a deal and you help them close it, and you're like, oh my gosh, I did this, I did that, and you're like the star player, you're thinking, oh, my team should be learning that, but they're not. They're learning to get you for everything. They're learning that, oh my gosh, Chris, he's the one that closes all the deals. I'm just gonna go get him. They don't know how. It takes time, takes patience, but you need to do that. Now think about it. If you disappeared for 30 days, which I asked that question during that case study, What would stop immediately? Write down. What is the first thing that would stop? What would go first? Maybe you're the crutch. Maybe they'd figure it out. What do you think would expose your leadership first if you did disappear for 30 days? If you own the business, if your absence creates chaos. Then your presence has been the problem. You didn't build a real business, you built a prison. What about if your phone died for 1 week? What would happen then? Would your business keep winning or wait for it to come back online? What would happen? How many of you guys wake up in the morning, the first thing you do is grab your phone? Be honest. That should be almost everybody in the room, or you're lying. So what happens if your phone dies? Does your company die too?
Maybe.
Where have you confused control With leadership, we talk about control. That's one of the hardest things to let go of when you build something and you've put your blood, sweat, and tears into something you work so hard to build. Losing control is a big thing. Control does not equal growth. If you're trying to control everything, you will not grow. Okay? Because there are some steps in delegation that you do need to take, that you do need to supervise, that you do need to check up on to make sure that they're done right as a good leader, but also. Where have you confused control with leadership? Have you become the bottleneck that you complain about all the time? Have you been spending your time proving that you're the smartest person all the time instead of developing people? Do you do most of the talking and not enough listening? God gave you 2 ears for a reason. We don't use them enough sometimes as leaders. I know I didn't. I know Andy didn't. We've had to learn. The wiser we've become, the more we've listened. Maybe you call it high standards. Maybe you're like, hey, nobody's getting the quality. Like, I want to make sure I take care of my clients the way that I need to. But the truth is that you don't trust anybody enough to do it, so you have that control. But your control has become their ceiling. They're not growing. And then what's happening is you're complaining about them not growing. I can't believe, like, they've been here for 2 years and they still can't think. They still can't close their deals. They still can't— they don't think like the business. Everybody says, I wish my people looked at my business the way that I do. How come they don't take ownership in the business and take care of things the way— because you haven't taught them to, because you haven't trusted them enough to, because they don't have your eyes. They can't see what you see because you don't show them that you trust them. Write some names down. Who are you mentoring? Even if you're a salesperson, who are you mentoring right now to become a leader? Are you afraid, oh, if I share this secret, they're going to take my job? Those people aren't leaders. I'm just telling you. Imagine if Andy and I didn't teach our team the things that we know and we had that. We would not grow. If you're thinking about, oh, this person is going to steal my information and go somewhere else with it, you're never going to grow. I'm just telling you. And that means you don't believe in you. Because if you have that mentality of thinking they're going to steal your stuff, that means you're not investing in yourself to grow more and more every day. Do you trust you? We talked about that. So are your managers still bringing you problems or still bringing you maybe things that you think they need— they can make decisions on, but you are having them bring them to you because you're not giving them these lower-level tasks and decisions that they can make on their own? And then you're complaining that you're so busy and you can't grow because you can't think of bigger things. You can't work on your business. That's the problem. This is a very big, big one that I'm going to go into right now. What conversation have you been avoiding because it feels uncomfortable? That is huge in everything in life. If you're liked all the time, you're probably not Going to be looked up to. If you're trying to please everybody, you're trying not to hurt anybody's feelings, but you know something's wrong and you're not having that uncomfortable conversation, then you're not going to grow. People build resentment when you don't have that conversation. It's like 1,000 paper cuts. We see it all the time. We do couples masterminds. We talk about it and we see people that are together for years and all of a sudden, doesn't matter how hot they are, They fall out of love and they start resenting each other to the point where they can't even touch each other anymore because everything annoys the crap out of you. I've been there before with Andy. I'm just being honest. I'm not gonna lie to you guys. There was a time where I started resenting him because I didn't have those uncomfortable conversations because I became that nag. And then all of a sudden, he would smack his food, chew with his mouth open, and, you know, Do all of these things. I'm like, he's always done that. It never bothered me. And all of a sudden, it annoyed the crap out of me. It would gross me out because I started resenting him. Think about it. You will resent every single person on your team, in your family, your husband, your wife, your employees, your boss, everybody. If you don't have those conversations, it's like a thousand paper cuts. And what happens in marriages? They're together, and then all of a sudden they're getting a divorce, and you ask them why, and they can't even name one reason. They just resent each other because of those thousand paper cuts. It's those uncomfortable conversations that they could have avoided. So as you think about it, what conversation have you been avoiding because it feels uncomfortable? Maybe you have a The wrong leader or somebody in charge in your business because replacing them is uncomfortable. But what is it really costing you every day you wait? If you have somebody there in charge talking to your people, manager brings cancer, you're losing little by little, you're losing your best people. And it's all because you become a coward and you can't have that conversation to either help that person change or give them the ultimatum to just leave. Fire them, whatever you need to do. We believe in culture before profits, and we've lost a lot of people that can make money for us. And we decide, hey, you know what? What's most important? And when your team sees that, that you got rid of a high producer, for example, or somebody that, you know, that doesn't bring the good culture in, or that has, you know, negativity, and they see that, what happens to the other people? They rise. Then they start making more money, and they look at you as the leader that's doing the right thing. And they're going to work harder for you. It's the craziest thing. So think about it. I just gave you some examples of what conversation you need to have.
