Most founders and creators think they need “more hands,” but what actually scales a business is more minds that can think, decide, and execute like the owner. In this episode, Business Growth Strategist and G.R.O.W. Methodology creator Maritza Davila walks through exactly how to build that kind of team, starting with a brutally honest audit of your own skills, what you love and hate doing, and what truly matters for the business. She explains how to use two lenses, skill/enjoyment and urgent/important, to decide what to keep, what to schedule, what to delegate, and what to delete completely.​

Maritza breaks down why so many entrepreneurs hire blindly for hard skills, then get stuck micromanaging, and how to flip the process: get crystal clear on expectations, show concrete examples of “good” outcomes (like podcast edits or product quality), and remember that your job as founder is to guide, not guess. She explains the G.R.O.W. framework, Guide, Research, Optimize, Win; including how “guide” starts with defining and living your own core values so your team knows exactly how they’re expected to behave while achieving company goals, not just what tasks to complete.​

You’ll also hear a candid discussion about top‑down vs bottom‑up culture change: why it’s far easier to lead by example than to fix a hypocritical boss from below, and how misaligned behavior (like preaching punctuality while always being late) silently destroys trust. Maritza shares practical advice on hiring for hard vs soft skills, training both, and developing leaders under you so values don’t get diluted as your org chart adds layers. If you’re a solopreneur or early‑stage founder ready to stop being the bottleneck and start growing with a team you actually trust, this conversation is a playbook.​

Topics:

- How to audit your own work by skill vs enjoyment to decide what to keep and what to delegate

- Using urgent vs important to decide what to do now, schedule, delegate, or drop

- Hiring when you don’t know the role deeply: setting clear expectations and using examples instead of technical know‑how

- The difference between hiring for hard skills vs soft skills, and why you always have to train one (or both)

- Why founders need “more minds, not more hands” and the leader’s job is to guide, not just add people

- Defining and living clear core values so team behavior matches the owner’s standards

- Top‑down vs bottom‑up culture change: how leaders model behavior, and when (and how) team members can push back on misalignment

Guest:

Maritza Davila – Business Growth Strategist and creator of the G.R.O.W. Methodology; MBA with 10+ years in operations; she helps companies across SWFL and the U.S. accelerate revenue by building aligned, accountable teams, with client results like 5x revenue in 3.5 months and scaling from $1.7M to $4M in annual revenue.​

If you’re ready to move from “doing everything yourself” to leading a team that grows the business with you, watch the full episode, then visit opt360.co to access Maritza’s free resources or book a call to see how the G.R.O.W. Methodology can help your team execute with confidence.

The views and opinions expressed by the guest in this episode are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or the podcast. The host is not responsible for any statements made by the guest.