Many business owners slow down in summer and wonder why Q4 is slow.

The two are connected. What you do today shows up in your results 60-90 days from now. In this Maggie's Moment, you'll learn what to do so that your Q4 2026 is the best one yet.

Are You Looking for a Coach or a Consultant?

Most business owners aren't entirely sure. And honestly, most don't know they need both until they've tried one without the other and wondered why the results didn't stick.

In this episode, I'm breaking down what coaching and consulting actually mean in the traditional sense, where they differ, where they fall short on their own, and why the combination of both is what produces real, sustainable business growth.

What You'll Learn from This Episode:

The traditional consulting model — what it is, what it does well, and the one critical gap that prevents strategies from ever getting implemented.

The traditional coaching model — what it actually means to be coached, why pure coaching isn't always enough for a business owner who needs direction, and what makes it so powerful when combined with the right expertise.

Why most entrepreneurs need both — and what happens when they only get one.

How I work — why I call myself a business coach but bring 18+ years of corporate and entrepreneurial expertise directly into my work, and why I give both strategic direction and deep mindset support in the same engagement.

Real client results — what this combination actually produces in practice.

How to know what you need — three honest questions to help you figure out what kind of support would move your business forward right now.

This Episode Is For You If...

• You've invested in coaching or consulting before and felt like something was missing
• You know what you should be doing but can't seem to do it consistently
• You're looking for support to grow your business faster and simpler and want to make an informed decision
• You're curious about what business coaching actually involves beyond accountability calls

Book a complimentary consultation to explore what the right support looks like for your business → https://calendly.com/maggie-s2l/discovery-call-1

Is "Fully Booked" Really the Goal?

Being fully booked feels like success. And in many ways, it is. But if you are the only one delivering your service, every dollar you make still requires your direct time and energy.

That's not a business. That's a job you created for yourself.

In this Maggie's Moment, I'm challenging one of the most common — and costly — mindsets I see in service-based business owners: the belief that fully booked is as far as they can go.

In This Maggie's Moment:

• Why being fully booked is a milestone, not a destination
• The real opportunity that owning a business gives you — and why so many people never tap into it
• The limiting beliefs that keep talented, successful business owners stuck at their income ceiling
• A real client story that shows how a path to scaling always exists — even when it seems impossible
• Why not exploring how to scale isn't playing it safe. It's leaving wealth on the table.

This One Is For You If...

• You're at or near fully booked and not sure what comes next
• You've told yourself your business "can't be scaled"
• The idea of building a team or changing how you operate feels overwhelming
• You haven't yet allowed yourself to ask — but what if I could?

Connect with Maggie: https://stairwaytoleadership.com

This One's a Little Different.

I read a lot. Business books, self-development, the occasional novel on vacation. And for years, people have been asking me — clients, colleagues, family — what I actually recommend.

So today I'm sharing nine books that didn't just teach me something. They genuinely shifted how I think, how I lead, how I show up as a business owner, a coach, a mom, and a partner.

But here's what makes this list different from every other "books I love" episode out there. I'm not just telling you what the books are about. I'm telling you why I read them, what was happening in my life at the time, and what specifically changed because of them. Because that context is what makes a recommendation actually useful.

A Few Hints of What's on the List:

A mindfulness book that turned a self-proclaimed non-meditator into a convert and started everything else on this list.

A business fable about team dysfunction that I used to turn around one of the most broken teams I'd ever inherited, without replacing a single person.

A book that gave me permission to admit I'd been shrinking in rooms I'd earned the right to be in.

A classic that completely dismantled the hidden belief that being ambitious and being a good person are somehow in conflict.

And one that will completely change how you set goals, in a way that feels counterintuitive until it suddenly makes total sense.

That's just five. There are four more, including one on money that has nothing to do with strategy and everything to do with the beliefs quietly running your financial decisions.

Who This Episode Is For:

• Anyone who loves books and is always looking for the next great read
• Entrepreneurs who want to understand the mindset and inner work behind building a successful business
• Leaders who want to grow their teams, their confidence, and their thinking
• Anyone who has ever felt held back by self-doubt, money blocks, or fear of thinking too big

After You Listen

Have you read any of these? Is there a book that changed your life that you'd recommend? Find me on Instagram or LinkedIn, I'd love to add it to my reading list.

📧 maggie@stairwaytoleadership.com 🌐 https://stairwaytoleadership.com

There's a skill that sits beneath every strategy, every decision, every bold move you make in your business. And most people don't talk about it nearly enough.

Self-trust.

In this Maggie's Moment, I'm sharing one of the biggest and most personal lessons from my entrepreneurship journey. One that's deeply connected to why I left corporate in the first place, and why it still surprised me when I got here.

Has self-trust been a journey for you in your business? I'd love to know — drop a comment or send me a message (on IG or LinkedIn - links below). This one is close to my heart.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggie-perotin-business-and-leadership-coach/

https://www.instagram.com/maggie.perotin.s2l/

Most business coaches hand you a box and tell you to fit inside it. Maggie does something different.

In this episode, Maggie pulls back the curtain on the philosophy behind the Sustainable Scale System — why she built it, how it works (showcasing three different client stories), and why the same proven framework produces completely different starting points for every client she works with.

If you've ever wondered how Maggie actually works with her clients — this is the episode to listen to.

What You'll Learn:

• Why most business owners unknowingly piece together disconnected strategies and why that keeps them stuck
• The difference between a holistic business framework and a rigid one-size-fits-all formula
• The research-backed reason your business can only grow as far as your thinking can grow
• Why being too prescriptive as a coach can actually hurt clients, and what Maggie does instead
• How the same system produced completely different starting points for three very different clients
• What never changes across every client Maggie works with, and what always adapts
• Why scaling without systems is one of the most common and costly mistakes service-based business owners make

Resources & Links Mentioned:

🎯 Book your FREE complimentary consultation with Maggie and find out exactly which part of the Sustainable Scale System™ you need most right now, https://www.stairwaytoleadership.com/

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In this Maggie's Moment, I'm getting real about fear in entrepreneurship: what it actually is, why waiting for it to go away is keeping you stuck. Then I share three practical steps to help you move forward anyway.

Every time you grow, every time you reach for the next level, you'll face something you've never done before. Your brain won't love it. But the business owners who get where they want to go aren't the ones born fearless; they're the ones who learn to move forward anyway.

This Summer, Sports Gave Me a Masterclass in Business

FIFA World Cup. Wimbledon. Blue Jays baseball. A live WNBA game with my daughter.

This summer, sports has been everywhere, and as I watched these incredible athletes compete, I kept seeing the same parallels to what we face as business owners every single day.

The grind. The setbacks. The comebacks. The quiet years before the big moment. The hard seasons nobody talks about.

In this episode, I'm sharing seven lessons from the world of elite sports that apply directly to building and scaling your business — drawn from athletes whose stories stopped me in my tracks this summer and connected to real moments from my own journey and my clients'.

Some of these will challenge how you see where you are right now. Some will give you permission to keep going. All of them are worth a listen.

In This Episode, You'll Hear About:

• A 40-year-old athlete who became one of the most talked-about figures at this year's FIFA World Cup — and what his story means for every entrepreneur who's ever doubted their timing
• What the world's current number one tennis player did after one of the most shocking losses of his career
• A Toronto Blue Jays star having the hardest season of his career — and the business lesson hiding in plain sight
• What my daughter and I witnessed live at a WNBA game that perfectly captures what building a business actually feels like

What You'll Walk Away With

• A mindset shift for wherever you are in your business journey right now
• Real perspective on comparison, hard seasons, and resilience
• The reminder you might need to keep going — and keep playing

Complimentary consultation with Maggie — if this episode resonated and you want to talk about where you are in your business, what's feeling hard, and what's possible, book your complimentary consult with maggie here - https://calendly.com/maggie-s2l/discovery-call-1

Or visit her website: https://stairwaytoleadership.com