Built to Grow: The Small Business Playbook
Built to Grow: The Small Business Playbook with Ryan Naylor is a podcast for small business owners who are done guessing and ready to grow with intention.
Each episode features real conversations with founders and operators who’ve been through the highs, the hard lessons, and the growing pains of running a small business. No fluff. No theory. Just honest stories and proven strategies you can actually use.
Listeners walk away with real playbook tactics on hiring, leadership, operations, and scaling. The kind of insights you only get from experience, not textbooks.
If you’re building a business, managing a team, and trying to grow without burning out, this podcast is for you.
Because growth isn’t luck, it’s built.
Episodes
9 episodes
The Playbook After the NFL: Markus Wheaton on Business, Mindset & Mental Health
In this episode of Built to Grow, host Ryan Naylor sits down with former Markus Wheaton, a standout wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who’s now tackling an entirely new arena: small business ownership.Ryan asks the question eve...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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29:59
Built to Grow with Jason Payne & Ryan Naylor: How to Build and Scale a Roofing Business
Jason Payne went from making $12.50 an hour to running a multi-million-dollar roofing company and he did it by asking better questions, building better people, and never settling. In this episode, Jason and Ryan Naylor discuss how to hire hungr...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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47:38
Human First: Building Trust and Connection in the Workplace
In this episode of The People Ops Playbook, host Ryan Naylor sits down with Chloe Street, an expert in the human side of business and former HR leader at Meta, Credit Suisse, and Morgan Stanley. Together, they unpack what it rea...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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46:06
Future-Proof HR: Lessons from William Tincup
Ryan sits down with HR tech veteran William Tincup to unpack what’s really changing in HR and what never will. They dive into payroll, compliance, the rise of agentic AI, and how HR leaders can adapt without losing the human touch. William shar...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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42:52
From Chaos to Clarity: How HR Can Drive Business Success
In this episode of The People Ops Playbook, Ryan Naylor sits down with Sana Walker, founder of HR Girlfriends, to explore how HR leaders can move from reactive problem-solvers to strategic partners. They discuss the importance of setti...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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30:30
From Stage to Strategy: How Storytelling Supercharges HR & Culture with Kim Rohrer
In this episode, Ryan Naylor sits down with Kim Rohrer, an HR veteran with a background that spans VP of People, talent strategy, and - surprisingly -community theater. Kim reveals how her theater experience fuels her HR “superpower”: storytell...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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52:10
The Biggest Myths in Small Business Hiring with Tim Sackett
In this episode of The People Ops Playbook, Ryan Naylor sits down with HR leader and author Tim Sackett to debunk the biggest myths holding small businesses back from successful hiring. From the misconceptions around “buying” vs. “...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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36:23
Hacking HR: From Lonely Function to Strategic Leader Through Community
Join Ryan Naylor and Enrique Rubio as they dive into the evolving world of HR, exploring how traditionally “lonely” HR roles can become powerful drivers of business strategy. This episode unpacks the latest in HR tech, AI, and people operations...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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49:16
Authenticity in an AI World: What HR Leaders Must Know
In this fireside chat, Ryan Naylor sits down with HR leader and entrepreneur Robynn Storey to tackle some of the hottest topics shaping hiring today - from AI-generated resumes to building a personal brand that actually works....
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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41:33