The Brian Beers Show

Episode 278: Why Most Business Owners Are Stuck Babysitting
Date: September 1, 2025
Host: Brian Beers

Episode Overview

In this insightful solo episode, Brian Beers digs into a widespread leadership problem: why so many business owners end up "babysitting adults" instead of actually leading teams. Drawing from his own experience building an 8-figure franchise portfolio, Brian reveals the traps entrepreneurs fall into around delegation, accountability, and hiring. He shares actionable advice for breaking free from micromanagement by identifying, hiring, and empowering what he calls "send delete" employees—high-accountability team members who complete tasks reliably and own outcomes, freeing up business owners to focus on what truly drives results.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Babysitting Trap

• Personal Experience: Brian candidly describes his early days managing "send follow up" employees, where he’d assign tasks but spend energy tracking, reminding, and redoing work.
  • “I would send them a task, I would ask them to do something, and then I would constantly follow up. I had to write down on my to do list the things that I assigned them to do and so I can remember to follow up with them. Right. It's like absolutely exhausting.” (01:00)
• Core Problem: The real bottleneck is not sales, systems, or capital, but owners unable to let go and trust others—a self-created cycle of control and overwork.
  • “We say things like, I can do it faster myself, it won't get done right. I need to stay involved to ensure quality.” (02:10)

2. The “Send Delete” Employee Paradigm

• Definition: Brian’s ideal is the “send delete” employee—someone who takes a task, executes reliably, and requires no chase or reminders; their accountability makes the owner irrelevant in the project’s outcome.
  • “Mentally, it was gone. There’s no follow up needed, there’s no stress. It was just done right and I didn’t have to think about it anymore. That is what is a send delete employee.” (04:02)
• Traits of a Send Delete Employee:
  • Asks clarifying questions upfront
  • Brings solutions, not just problems
  • Owns outcomes, not just activities (e.g., not just making calls, but ensuring results like appointments booked)
  • Demonstrates deep accountability in all life areas

3. Accountability as a Core Value

• Identifying Accountability: True accountability is ingrained, affects all aspects of life, and is something to screen for in hiring—not just accept surface claims.
  • “Accountability is a core value. It is something that someone has inside of them. It’s been ingrained in them for years and years.” (07:45)
• Screening for Accountability:
  • Brian suggests behavioral questions and deep probing in interviews to identify real accountability, not just "lip service."
    • “Somebody who's a bullshitter can give you like one or two levels. But like, by the time you get to three, four, five, six levels of details, they're not going to be able to like withstand it.” (26:40)

4. Leveraging Special Operations Veterans

• Unique Hiring Source: Brian has had great success hiring veterans from military special operations (Navy SEALs, Green Berets, Army Rangers) for leadership roles due to their ingrained high accountability.
  • “They will not become a Navy Seal if they have a very low say to do ratio. They will not become an Army Ranger if they aren't a send delete employee.” (10:05)
• Broader Application: High accountability is critical at all levels—not just executive leadership, but crew leaders, managers, even shop assistants.

5. Building a High-Performance, Self-Sustaining Business

• Shifting Owner Mindset: Owners often struggle to delegate out of ego or the need to feel important—Brian argues the goal should be making oneself “irrelevant” to day-to-day operations.
  • “If I could get hit by a bus tomorrow and the business would keep cranking along...the business would still be thriving. And so that is really what I'm looking for, is that I am irrelevant.” (16:05)
• Time Leverage:
  • Citing high achievers (Elon Musk, Bezos), Brian emphasizes the importance of focusing one’s limited hours on unique abilities, not babysitting staff.
    • “With my 24 hours, I need to be focused personally on the things that I am the best and most capable person in the world to focus on.” (13:20)
  • “If you were the only one that's holding it all together, you really don't have a business, right? You've got this job, you've got a bunch of liability, you've got a bunch of overhead.” (14:45)

6. Practical Advice for Interviewing and Hiring

• Action Step: Use AI tools (like ChatGPT) to draft interview questions designed to reveal accountability through real-world scenarios.
  • “Go to ChatGPT and just type it in...I'm looking to hire employees that have a high level of accountability. Can you help me write some interview questions to determine if people have that?” (21:05)
• Interview Technique: Get candidates to recount deeper and deeper levels of detail; real high-accountability people withstand that scrutiny, “bullshitters” do not.

7. Handling Underperformers

• Coaching vs. Replacing:
  • Set the standard, coach where possible, but recognize when someone just isn’t a fit; don’t delay tough decisions.
    • “If you have to have those conversations, chances are you don't have the right person. And the longer you wait, the more kind of inevitable the conversation will be that you depart.” (29:00)

8. Results of High-Accountability Teams

• Multiplying Owner Impact: With a “send delete” team, owners can move up to higher-level problems—growth, expansion, partnerships—rather than firefighting and follow-up.
  • “Before you know it, you have an entire team with it. And then you're, you're multiplying your time, you're moving your impact.” (31:20)
• A Player Magnetism:
  • High-accountability employees want to work with like-minded teammates—so raising standards can attract more top talent.
    • “A players want to be surrounded with other A players. If there is that high accountability send elite employee at your competitor and he's surrounded by a bunch of Cs...he's going to be very frustrated...At a certain point he's like, man, I'm done.” (35:00)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Most business owners aren't leading teams, they're babysitting adults.” (00:02)
• “The bottleneck for me and most business owners isn't sales systems capital, it's the owner who can't let go.” (01:30)
• “A send delete employee will take responsibility of the outcome, not just the activity that they made.” (06:15)
• “We want to win, we want to win big. And the only way that's going to happen is if everybody on our team plays at the highest level.” (12:40)
• “Stop asking yourself how do I stay in control? Start asking how do I find a send delete employee who can take over the entire business operations so that I can focus on the most important things.” (37:00)

Segment Timestamps

• Babysitting Trap & Owner Bottleneck: 00:00–04:50
• Send Delete Employee Explained: 04:50–10:20
• Traits & Screening for Accountability: 10:20–15:00
• Military Special Operations as Hiring Source: 15:00–18:00
• Importance for All Levels of Organization: 18:00–21:00
• Maximizing Owner Leverage: 21:00–26:00
• Interviewing & Hiring Tactics: 26:00–31:40
• Managing Underperformers: 31:40–33:30
• Building a High-Performing, Self-Sustaining Team: 33:30–end

Final Thoughts

Brian Beers delivers a direct, actionable perspective on building a franchise (or any business) where the owner's energy is used for growth, not constant supervision. His core message: focus relentlessly on hiring and empowering high-accountability, “send delete” people—at every level of your organization—and you’ll finally break free from the daily grind, creating a business that thrives on its own, whether or not you’re in the room.