In this powerful episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Jarrod Adreon, a behind-the-scenes operator who has helped build and scale companies generating over $100 million annually, all without chasing visibility, titles, or personal branding.

Jarrod shares a raw and deeply personal journey that includes homelessness, failed businesses, broken partnerships, crushing debt, and surviving industry-shaking events like the 2008 financial crisis and COVID. Rather than running from pressure, he explains how learning to operate in a controlled state of fight-or-flight became one of his greatest strengths. Speed, he explains, only works when it is grounded in clarity, discipline, and direction.

Together, Carly and Jarrod unpack what it really means to think like an owner, even when you are not legally one. They explore integrity-driven leadership, accountability over blind trust, and why most businesses fail not because of bad ideas, but because foundations are rushed. This conversation is a masterclass in resilience, patience, and building companies designed to endure when everything else breaks.

Key Themes:

• Speed Without Direction Is Dangerous: Why moving fast only works when decisions are intentional and grounded in long-term thinking.

• The Power of the Long Game: How sustainable growth, wealth, and leadership are built through patience, not shortcuts.

• Accountability Over Assumptions: Why trust alone is never enough and how clear expectations create stronger teams and businesses.

Memorable Quotes:

“Speed is only great if you’re going in the right direction.” “If you’ve survived this far, you already know you can survive what’s next.” “Trust in business isn’t about hope. It’s about accountability.”

Connect with Jarrod Adreon:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarrod-adreon-0b28b48/

In this episode of Built for This, Carly sits down with Charles Read, founder of GetPayroll, decorated Marine veteran, CPA, and author of The Payroll Book: A Guide for Small Businesses and Startups.

With over 50 years of financial leadership experience, Charles shares the hard-earned wisdom that every entrepreneur needs to hear — from understanding cashflow and building loyal teams to keeping your ego in check as a leader.

Whether you’re just starting your business or scaling toward seven figures, this episode will remind you that success isn’t just about profit — it’s about people, process, and principles.

Charles shares with Carly why showing profit on paper doesn’t mean you can actually pay your bills. He breaks down the difference between accounting profit and real cash in the bank—and explains why cashflow, not profit, determines whether a business survives or collapses.

Charles talks with Carly about how his Marine Corps motto, “Mission. Men. Self.”, became the foundation of his leadership philosophy. He and Carly explore how focusing on the mission and taking care of your people—before yourself—creates sustainable success, while ego-driven leadership can quietly destroy even the strongest companies.

Charles reveals to Carly how he designed GetPayroll to keep running smoothly even if he’s not there—complete with systems, procedures, and empowered people. As he tells her, “If I drop dead today, the payrolls will still run tomorrow.” It’s a powerful example of true operational freedom and legacy-focused leadership.

“You can be profitable and still go bankrupt — because profit isn’t cash.”

“Your job as a CEO isn’t to be the smartest in the room. It’s to hire the smartest person in the room.”

“Without my people, I’d be nowhere.”

https://getpayroll.com

https://www.linkedin.com/company/getpayroll/

https://www.facebook.com/GetPayroll/

https://www.instagram.com/getpayroll/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxs-_RwC9NgfUcqbwvEaMIQ

In this inspiring episode of Built for This, Carly sits down with Joseph Merhi, the Syrian-born filmmaker and entrepreneur who co-founded PM Entertainment alongside her father, Rick Pepin. Starting with $400, a high school diploma, and a dream that began at age twelve, Joseph went on to help build one of the most prolific independent studios in Hollywood — producing more than 100 films and TV projects for major networks and international distributors.

Joseph shares how he went from dishwasher to restaurant owner, then sold everything to make his first film — a comedy that flopped — and how that early failure became the foundation for everything that came after. He talks about meeting Rick, learning the craft side by side, and how their complete lack of ego created a company culture where hundreds of people found their footing, launched their careers, and felt like family.

From writing scripts in a weekend to selling films at Cannes, from dreaming up wild stunts to running a 60,000 square foot studio, Joseph opens up about the chaotic, hilarious, and deeply human journey behind PM Entertainment’s rise. This episode is a tribute to legacy, leadership, and the magic that happens when two people say yes to each other and decide, “Let’s make a movie.”

Key Themes:

• Build Culture First — Skills Follow: Why Joseph always hired people for who they were, not what they had on paper — and how that created one of Hollywood’s most loyal and high-performing teams.

• Humility Scales What Ego Breaks: How Joseph and Rick ran a 100-film studio by listening, laughing, and treating every idea as valuable, no matter who it came from.

• Opportunity Is Something You Give: The reason PM became a launchpad for hundreds of careers — because Joseph and Rick constantly gave people chances to grow.

Memorable Quotes:

“We just treated everyone like family. And we knew our success was because of all the people.” “I would rather hire a great human being at skill level four than a difficult person at eight — we can train the skill, we can’t train the human.” “We never took ourselves seriously. That’s why we could create so much — we listened, we laughed, and we worked together.”

Links for Joseph:

Website: https://www.josephmerhi.com

A special thank you to

http://www.mm-u.ch and https://fokus-media.ch for the clips

In this episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Roggen Frick, founder of Bear Ironworks, a Colorado-based manufacturing company redefining what it means to be “by contractors, for contractors.”

Roggen opens up about how his journey from seven-day workweeks to sustainable success began with one hard truth — burnout doesn’t build legacies. By transforming Bear Ironworks from a custom fabrication shop into a lean, systemized manufacturing company, he and his father turned a hands-on trade into a high-efficiency business built on clarity, culture, and core values.

He shares how they implemented a four-day workweek, built repeatable processes, and developed measurable systems that allow the company to grow without sacrificing people, safety, or quality. This episode is a must-listen for founders who are ready to stop surviving their business and start scaling it with intention.

Key Themes:

• Systems Create Freedom — Not Control: How tracking time, inventory, and quality metrics turned chaos into clarity, freeing Roggen and his team to focus on innovation instead of putting out fires.

• Culture Is a System Too: How embedding safety, honesty, and customer satisfaction into daily operations built a workplace people love — and clients trust.

• Delegation Is a Skill, Not a Surrender: Why true growth begins when you let go — even of the tasks you enjoy — and empower experts to elevate the company.

Memorable Quotes:

“If you don’t define your company’s values, they’ll define themselves — and you might not like what they become.” “You can’t be free as an entrepreneur if you’re doing the work you hate.” “We stopped trying to do everything and started building the systems that could do it for us.”

Connect with Roggen Frick:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/bearironworks/ https://beariron.com/

In this episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Wes Towers, founder of Uplift 360, a Melbourne-based digital agency helping construction and trade businesses grow online.

Three years ago, Wes received a confronting business valuation — one that made it clear AI could soon make his agency obsolete. Instead of giving up, he used that wake-up call to completely reinvent his company. By blending automation with authenticity and systems with soul, Wes rebuilt Uplift 360 into a thriving, purpose-driven business that’s stronger — and more human — than ever.

Carly and Wes unpack what it really takes to lead through disruption: how to use technology as a catalyst for growth, why trust is the real currency in a digital world, and how values-based leadership can future-proof any business. This is a powerful conversation for anyone navigating the intersection of innovation and integrity.

Key Themes:

• AI Doesn’t Replace You — It Reveals You: How technology exposed the gaps in Wes’s business and inspired him to double down on authenticity and originality.

• Authenticity Is the New Currency: Why trust and transparency are more valuable than ever in an age of automation.

• Lead with Values, Not Fear: How Wes rebuilt his culture, empowered his team, and aligned his business with purpose — even mentoring his son to carry that legacy forward.

Memorable Quotes:

“AI made me realize what couldn’t be automated — authenticity, trust, and human connection.” “All good business is built on trust. It’s the real currency.” “The more the world automates, the more valuable being human becomes.”

Connect with Wes Towers:

Website: https://uplift360.com.au LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/westowers/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@westowers Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uplift_360/ Twitter (X): https://x.com/uplift_360 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Uplift360Aus

In this deeply grounded episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Niv Davidovich, seasoned litigator and founder of Davidovich Law Firm in Los Angeles.

What began as a simple need — to support a growing family in one of America’s most expensive cities — became a calling that transformed Niv’s life. With no clients, no roadmap, and nothing but a folding table for a desk, he built a thriving law firm from scratch through grit, humility, and unshakable faith.

Carly and Niv dive into the realities of entrepreneurship: building before you’re ready, creating systems that free you to grow, and trusting that every setback is really a divine redirection. It’s a raw, inspiring conversation about conviction, chaos, and the courage it takes to build a business — and a life — that’s truly aligned with purpose.

Key Themes:

• Faith Is the Ultimate System: How seeing obstacles as redirections helped Niv navigate uncertainty and find peace in the process.

• Systemize as You Grow: Why hiring early and documenting everything turned fear into freedom and chaos into clarity.

• Nothing Is Wasted: How every past skill — from creativity to problem-solving — became an unexpected asset in building his firm.

Memorable Quotes:

“Faith is the biggest system there is — it’s the only one that doesn’t fail.” “You can’t see the whole map, but that’s the point. The challenge is just the guardrail keeping you out of the gutter.” “Every failure was just training for the business I was actually meant to build.”

Connect with Niv Davidovich:

Website: http://www.davidovichlaw.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nivdavidovich/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFjWau0jLOas3AhkqUGcMsw

• A Life You Don’t Want to Retire From: When work is your passion, fulfillment replaces the need for balance — every day becomes the reward.
• Innovation through Empathy: How Kevin built X Brand by asking what clients truly needed, turning a complex industry into a seamless, turnkey service.
• Leadership through Humility: Why accountability, safety, and self-awareness are the real markers of excellence — on the ground and in the air.

• Purpose Fuels Profit: How Nichole’s mission-first mindset turned passion into a scalable, sustainable business.
• Franchising with Heart: Why successful systems start with empowering people — especially those driven by personal purpose.
• Structure Creates Freedom: The power of process, automation, and organization in enabling deeper human impact.