8 Dec 2025 · 7 min
Kris Plachy argues that how you build matters more than what you build. She pays her team for 40-hour weeks but they work 30, rejects product launches that feel wrong, and says sustainable processes beat short-term wins.
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Hey, I'm Chris Placke, host of the Lead you'd team podcast. Running a million dollar business is not easy. And whether you're just getting started with building your team or you've been at this for a while, I'm going to bring you honest, specific and clear practices you can use right now, today to improve how well you lead your team. Let's go ahead and get.
Hello. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm so glad you're here. I hope you're having a wonderful summer. I have an interesting thing I want to talk to you about today as it relates to how you drive results in your business and really where you go to access your focus and your energy that creates results. Because how you do that, for as much as I know this, this does make all of us a little frustrated because we wish how we are, how, what we think about, we wish all of that wasn't so impactful to the team. Right? I know that as the leader of a business, it can feel like a lot of responsibility sometimes if we're just, gosh, everything I say, everything I do is people are watch, watching everything that you do. And you are such a tuning fork. You are such an instrument of influence on everybody and your business. And so there could be days and times I do appreciate where you're like, God, you guys just go do your work. Why do, why do. Right? But it's not going to get you what you need. And I want you to really, in this podcast, I want you to hear what I'm saying about how you choose to be successful because it ultimately ends up driving your business model, the positions you hire and the way that your company works, which ultimately becomes your culture, right? So I've had the benefit of working with women who run, you know, every kind of business from, you know, engineering firms, firms that make lasers, floral shops, online businesses, influencers, attorneys, house repair, house construction, interior design, health services, doctors, vets, dentists. Okay, so you get the point. And what I have found is we start, most of us as founders, we start scrappy. All of us do. So whether you just got out of college and you're now a dentist and you start a practice, or you got out of high school and you started a painting company, you know, whatever it is. Or you're 50 and you decide to start selling macrame plant holders, right? Whatever it is, we start scrappy because that's all we've got. We've literally, you know, what is scrappy? In my mind, I see scraps, pieces of paper, right? It's like you're just trying to make it work. You're scrappy. And that's part of the process. It is the phase. There is a phase of that. What happens, though, when we work at Scrappy is we develop sort of a tenacity for hustle, which also then means that we say yes more than we say no, because we want to be successful and we'll do anything we can to be successful. And I think every one of us listening to this who's built a business would say so. But there gets to be a point where that thought process, that belief system, scrappy, hustle, do anything you can to be successful, doesn't work anymore. It will wear you out. It will wear out people who work for you. It isn't a business strategy. Scrappy and Hustle. And what I want to talk to you about in this podcast today is the fact that it isn't the way to win. Now, we hear this expression so much in, at least here in the U.S. right? Got to find a way to win. We got to figure out the way to win. We got to figure out how we're going to win. And so all the attention is on the win. Okay, whatever the win is. More money, more clients, more products sold, more market share, whatever it is, stock share price. We got to figure it out. We got to figure out the way to win. We got to figure it out. We got to. We got to figure it out. And so we focus, focus, focus on the win. And where this is evident everywhere, but where I find it very evident is in this online business space because people are so competitive with each other, you know, and the win could be how much revenue you're generating, how much. How many people were in your launch, how much. How many people are in your program. Right. It's just this contest, even if you're not, like, actively in one. Right. I know you know what I'm talking about. And people do this in all industries. You know, realtors do it, interior designers do it. Everybody's kind of subtly competing with each other's win result. And when we do that, when we hyper focus on a win, we keep that scrappy hustle mentality, which drives. It doesn't matter. We just gotta win. And so then we don't build a business model that feels like winning. Sure, you're making the money. Sure, you have the clients. Sure, you have the market share. Sure, you have the great launch. Sure, you're the top realtor, sure you're the best lawyer in town. All of that's True, you won so far, but at what expense? You're exhausted, you're overwhelmed, you're burdened, your team feels the same way. People are burnt out. You don't even really love what you do. You're making decisions in your business that you don't want to make anymore. You're doing things in your business you don't want to be doing anymore. But you got to win.
When we focus on the win, we set ourselves up in many cases to end up with a business that we don't love. And so I was actually on a podcast not long ago. I was interviewed and this came out of my mouth. And ever since I came out of my mouth, I've just been like, oh, my gosh, that's so important. And because I know, for those of you who've been listening and follow me on Instagram, we were doing the launch model. We've done three of them. I've never done launches before and I didn't like it. It was not how I wanted to win. And so I came to my team and I said, this is not how we're going to win at this business. This is not how I want any of you to feel me to feel. I don't want this dynamic. This is not what we want. The win for me is in the way that this business grows. It's not in the number in the outcome. I don't want all eyes on the win so that we compromise the way. And so the mantra now that we have is the way is the win.
The way is the win. And the way for me is ease, consistency, reliability.
Testing, sampling, fun. It is not all eyes on one day and lose your frickin mind to make it work. Absolutely not. It is not on me doing lives and showing up and showing you what I drank for breakfast and what my dog. No, it's not. Could I do that? Yeah. Is it okay? If that's what you want to do for sure. It's just not my jam. I think there's people who love that you should do that if you love that. If you don't love that, stop doing it. That's all I'm saying. But see, the reason that we don't stop, right, is we're terrified we won't win. And then what? What happens then? If your revenue goes down for a quarter or two, what happens? I don't. Maybe you have to let someone go. I don't know. But what's the long term here? What are we playing at? If you're playing to win in a Way that you don't enjoy that is not winning. The whole reason you created a company, I am willing to bet one of those reasons was some freedom, some ability to do what you want, to not have to answer to anybody, to take time off when you need to, to spend more time with your family, whatever. I know you all have an answer, right? It's fascinating how we say, I'm going to start a business so I don't have to answer to anybody. And then all we do in our brain is answer to everybody. Oh, I better do the way they do it. I better follow that, right? Like we're so intriguing. No. So what I want you to do after you listen to this podcast, whether you're driving or walking or whatever, is I want you to cultivate in your mind how the way is the win for you. If you could scrap the whole thing and define the way that you will win, what is it like? One of the ways that we will win in my business is Everybody will work 30 hours a week but be paid for 40. That's a way. Notice it's not. My business generates $10 million a year. That's the win. No, that's not it. Now, do we have business goals? Yeah, but I'm focused on the way, not the win. Not the win at all cost. What is the way? Like, define for me. You sit down and you have your journal. Define for yourself, not me, how, what the way of your successful business looks like. What's the schedule? What's the pace? What's the focus? What are you doing and no longer doing. And then it requires all of this requires, right, a belief that all of that's possible, that you can create the result that you want following the way that you want. And what I've, what I've said to my team is this is the way I want to win. And so we will keep fine tuning the way until we get where we want to go, rather than dropping the way to get to the result. And the irony, of course, is the more that we've leaned into this as a business, it's not irony, it's a truth. The more successful the business becomes. Because I'm happier, I'm more in love with my business. My team is happier. They have more freedom, more space. They know, I hope anyway, that we are doing, we are creating a way that works for us as an organization. And not just a win that proves that we're successful, but it's rooted in believing that that's possible. And I do have a suspicion that many of you listening to this will be kind of arguing with me that. No, no, no, Chris, you don't understand. In order for me, I have to. And I, I insert here whatever that is. And here's, here's how I would argue back with you. Like, okay, so let's say whatever that you have to is. Let's just take whatever it is I have to. If you're, you know, one of my influencer clients, you have to be online all the time. You have to be on live all the time. What if that wasn't an option? What would you do? There are always other answers. You have to find one that works for you. You have to be willing. There's probably plenty of different ways to connect with people. Maybe you don't like them, or maybe you haven't considered them, or maybe anybody else is doing them. Listen, we're entrepreneurs. We do stuff people haven't done yet. That's what we do. Don't just repeat what everybody else is doing. Go maverick. This shit, get it figured out. You can, because that's who you are. The way is the win. The way is the win. The win is in the way. But what I would invite you to ditch is we have to figure out a way to win because that has heavy energy to it and it compromises, it invites us to compromise what we value and why we even did this in the first place. Right? Think about it. I'd love to know what you think. You can always Instagram me hrisplacky coach or send us an email. Hellorisplacki.com and as a reminder, we have, I think one or two weeks left in our giveaway for our how to CEO journal. Beautiful white embossed journal that we are sending to listeners who write us a review for itunes. You can screenshot your review and send it to us with your mailing address, or you can screenshot it and post it on Instagram and DM us your name and address. But we will absolutely get one out to you. It's lovely and it's a lovely reminder of the fact that every morning you have an opportunity to focus in and CEO the heck out of your business. And when you are ready, and if you are ready, this is an incredible time to join the how to CEO program. Go to howtoceoregister.com I have an amazing team member who meets with our new clients and she would love to meet you. Have a 20 or 30 minute call, answer your questions, chat through what this program is involved with, what what you receive, how much it costs who the other women are, you know, what you can expect in this environment with other the other women that are here, how much time that we will actually work together. All those questions can get answered if you go to howtoceoregister.com and book an appointment with Amy. She's an amazing woman. Amy and I have worked together and known each other for over 14 years. So she's quite versed and clear on what I do in the world and how I support women like you. And so love for you to take that next step. You don't have to necessarily register, y', all, but if you've been thinking about it, it might be for sure worth it to have that 20 or 30 minute call and find out. It's a low pressure, not a high pressure sales call. I promise you that we don't do that here. We just want to give you the information so that you can make a decision so you can support yourself. Okay. All right. Thanks for tuning in. And remember, the way is the win. Talk to you next time. One more thing before you go. In a world of digital courses and online content, I like to work with my clients live because I know that when you have someone you can work with, ask questions of, meet with, you're so much more likely to get the success that you want. So head on over to howtoceolive.com to learn more about our very exciting, very exclusive program just for female entrepreneurs. We'll see you there.
