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What you’ll learn in this episode:
What if the chaos in your business isn’t because you need more help—but because your systems are broken?
In this episode, I sit down with Ernesto Mandowsky, systems expert, hospitality wizard, and the no-BS founder of MDM (Million Dollar Machine), to break down the biggest operational blind spots that are costing founders time, energy, and serious cash flow.
From throwing a party at 18 to building systems for million-dollar brands and bootstrapped visionaries alike, Ernesto shares the truth most entrepreneurs don’t want to hear: your browser tabs, your sticky notes, and your “hiring a VA to fix everything” strategy? That’s not it.
If you’re overwhelmed, overextended, or over it—this is your wake-up call.
Ernesto blends hospitality flair with engineering precision, creating five-star experiences for founders ready to run their business like a machine. He walks us through his 5 Recipes – his signature framework that helps you organize chaos into profit-driving clarity.
Whether you’re a 7-figure CEO or building toward your first big leap—this is a systems masterclass you don’t want to miss.
Tune in now and start building the company your vision deserves.
In this episode, you will learn to:
- Why every entrepreneur is secretly running a nightclub (yes, really)
- The truth about your messy CRM—or lack of one—and how it’s killing opportunity
- How the 5 Recipes Framework helps you organize chaos into profit-driving clarity
- The exact 6 numbers every founder should know if they want to scale sustainably
- Why most founders become the bottleneck, and how to build a team and system that doesn’t rely on you to survive
💬 Loved this episode? Let’s keep the conversation going—DM me on Instagram (@jessicadioguardimiller) and tell me your biggest takeaway!
Mentioned in this episode:
Freebies: The Growth Scorecard
Work/Connect with me:
Meet Ernesto Mandowsky
Ernesto Mandowsky is the CEO of MDM, a training firm focused on helping you grow your business. He has guided over 100 clients across 8 industries to build scalable systems that increase peace, performance, and profitability with The Five Recipes. His mission is to help you grow your business by sharing insights through the Momentum Multipliers platform. Outside of work, Ernesto enjoys reading, baking challah bread, working out, and spending time with his family in Miami, FL.
Jessica Miller (00:01)
Hello, It’s Your Offer podcast. I’m so excited to be here in the studio today with Ernesto. Ernesto, welcome to the It’s Your Offer podcast. We’re so happy to have you here. Today’s conversation, I know it’s gonna be amazing for our audience. And I always would love for our guests to start by telling the audience a little bit about you, your backstory, how you got here, things like that, so they can get to know you a little better.
Ernesto Mandowsky (00:10)
Whassup!
Well, it all started one night, June 4th, 2009. That’s 16 years ago, FYI. Like almost to the day. Where I made $30,000 as a clueless, naive 18-year-old that threw a party and said, I want to do this for the rest of my life. And so, I said, I’m going to do hospitality. And when I told my parents I wanted to do that, they’re like, you’re an idiot, go get a job.
Ernesto Mandowsky (00:58)
And for the next 15 years, I kind of found a way to take this naive dream of mine, hospitality, with a parent pleasing aspiration of studying industrial and systems engineering, ⁓ diving into an industry, figuring out my own way. And here we are today.
Jessica Miller (01:12)
Hmm.
So went from hospitality to industrial engineering and then ended up where you are. You have to tell us more about this. So how did you link those two things together?
Ernesto Mandowsky (01:31)
Well, I, after taking my like database programming class, I was like, all right, I’m three years into school. Like I haven’t done anything with restaurants. So, I asked my mom’s boss for a connection in New York city to a nightclub. And I showed up and I’m like, how are you keeping track of your VIPs? And they’re like, well, you have this pen and paper. And this wasn’t just any nightclub. This was like one Oak.
Jessica Miller (01:57)
Mmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (01:57)
I just name dropped like a very fancy, beautiful celebrity driven nightclub in New York city at the time. And I was like, this, there is more possibility here. yeah. I mean, I just took a class literally on how to use databases to keep track of people and information and transactions. And, I had no idea what the fuck I was doing, but I built a Microsoft access database that did that. It started keeping track of guests and.
Jessica Miller (02:08)
Yeah, you have to be kidding me.
Ernesto Mandowsky (02:26)
I said, when I need some money to make this happen. And they weren’t willing to give me money. And the same year was the year seven rooms came out. don’t know listeners, if they know what seven rooms is, it’s like an open table. It’s like open table came out in restaurants. And again, 14 years ago, or 10 years ago, 12 years ago, I said, this is how I’m going to do it. Like I’m going to keep finding these projects where I could take what I’ve learned, apply it in a problem.
context that I saw new possibilities and I’m going to figure it out. And I kept doing that year over year in different jobs. I worked at Deloitte, I worked in startups, I worked in a restaurant group. I mean, we can talk so much about my life story or you can, the audience can hear about it in my book called Newbie. We’re not here promoting Newbie. This is not about my life story. It’s about the audience and their ⁓ gains.
Jessica Miller (03:17)
Mmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (03:24)
But all this kind of came together to inspire and influence how I launched my business and how I kind of go to market today with my story and my messaging and my positioning.
Jessica Miller (03:35)
Yeah, and the idea of like you alluded to, know, helping people organize and systematize these really important assets in their business that they’re not doing, or they’re really over complicating it and they’re like losing all of that potential because it’s not, you know, it’s not organized well.
Ernesto Mandowsky (03:56)
Yeah, yeah, mean, yeah, I threw a party at 18 for 22,000 people. And then I helped a nightclub with their relationship management. I think every business owner is a restaurant owner. Every business owner has a club, whether they realize it or not. It’s a metaphysical club. It’s in the metaverse and they have all these relationships. But the problem is that just like your internet browser, you have a million tabs open.
Jessica Miller (04:09)
Mm-hmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (04:25)
you don’t really know who to follow up with. You don’t know who to follow up with. You don’t remember the last time you spoke. You lost all the business cards. There is no systematic way to operate like a machine to get what you want.
Jessica Miller (04:36)
Yes. I see this all the time with my clients. I will tell you, the first, when I first like stumbled on this, I was floored because these businesses, they’re making millions of dollars and you walk in and you’re like, do you have a way to keep organized? Do you know like what tools that you really need and how are, how is that structured? ⁓ The answer is no, like no to all of those things. You know, they’re operating with no CRM, like not even a list and you realize how much opportunity there is there. But to your point, people are doing something, it’s just really inefficient. Like we were talking before this call, like yes, I have 40 tabs over, it is part of my filing system on some level. ⁓ It’s a little out of control right now, at least I’m aware of it. Most people are not even aware of it, right? You know, this is how they’re doing business and they’re leaking so much money and time out of their business.
Ernesto Mandowsky (05:23)
At least you are aware of it, yeah.
There’s a statistic that they say in America, 80 % of Americans, it’s very sad statistic. Like 80 % of Americans are like two paychecks away from bankruptcy.
Jessica Miller (05:46)
Yes.
Ernesto Mandowsky (05:49)
And I would, this is not scientifically studied, but I would argue that most small businesses are two paychecks away, four weeks away. If the founder left for four weeks, the business would be done.
Jessica Miller (06:01)
Yes, I think you’re probably right.
Ernesto Mandowsky (06:03)
And so, it’s this same frame of that statistic, but like applied in small business and ⁓ small business, there’s 33 million small businesses in America. imagine if small businesses are a month away from being wiped off because they have no systems in place, like what would be the impact on our economy?
Jessica Miller (06:15)
Hmm. Yes, right, exactly. Yeah. And so, you’re coming into this world and you’re seeing this problem. And the problem that’s manifesting for your clients, what would you say the top problem is for them that you’re seeing?
Ernesto Mandowsky (06:41)
Well, they’re, they’re like you or they’re visionary creators, like entrepreneurs, visionary CEOs are pioneers. finding new ways of working, which means a lot of experimentation, which means a lot of tabs, a lot of projects, a lot of ideas, a lot of priorities that are being chased. And, ⁓ I, that is not a problem. That is nature actually. Like that is just creativity in its manifested form. And I’m not here to.
Jessica Miller (06:51)
Mm-hmm. Yep. Yeah. Sure. Yep.
Ernesto Mandowsky (07:10)
wrong that or shame that. ⁓
Jessica Miller (07:11)
Sure. Yeah.
Ernesto Mandowsky (07:13)
There is a counterbalance of energy, I would say that’s the energy of expansion, that pioneering energy. There’s a counterbalance of energy, just like if you think of the yin and yang, the energy of efficiency, which is closely associated with systems and processes, structure, automation, all that stuff that entrepreneurs never in their conscious minds want to even approach.
Jessica Miller (07:32)
Mm-hmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (07:41)
talk about, solve, they don’t care, they don’t care. I’m gonna hire a VA, the VA is gonna save me. And then they hire a VA, and then the VA is like, what do I do? And they’re like…
Jessica Miller (07:42)
It’s like a dirty word. Yeah. stuff. Yeah.
Ernesto Mandowsky (07:56)
See you later. What’s at me?
And so, the problem, the real problem is that there are hundreds of millions of people in this world that are ready to multiply, not add value, exponentially multiply your potential.
You Jessica, your potential, Dustin, Hector, all these people that we know, they can be multiplied. These entrepreneurs don’t know how to tap in. They don’t know how to tap in. They find the VA, but they don’t know how to train them. They don’t have a system for them. Yes, we’ll do EOS, but there’s four times as many visionaries as integrators. Gina Wickman like statistically proved that.
Jessica Miller (08:28)
Mm-hmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (08:55)
So, who’s solving the integrator problem? That’s what I’m focused on. I’m focused on building more, not integrators, because I’m not EOS, I’m my own framework, but more practitioners. More practitioners of what I teach so that they can find a pioneer and say, hey, what do you want to achieve? Okay, great. Let’s build this system and let’s get it done.
Jessica Miller (08:57)
Mm-hmm.
Yes, I love that. And people like me and others, and you know, they’re showing up in the world with the problem of like overwhelm, inefficiency, ⁓ know, just burnout, lack of peace. I mean, it’s showing up in all of these ways, right? And underneath all of this, I think is exactly what you’re saying. Like that structure and that framework to be able to take all that creative energy and focus it into something really meaningful. Yeah. And so, your systems were born, your framework was born. Tell us about that.
Ernesto Mandowsky (09:48)
Reshape it. My framework. So, ⁓ it’s beautiful. ⁓ Four years ago, my first framework that I created was called the Six Pillar System. And ⁓ it’s basically, like, if you think of like the journey versus the destination, sorry, destination, yeah, the destination versus the journey, the six Ps was the journey. It took me three and a half years to realize no one cares about the journey. The founder wants the destination today.
Jessica Miller (10:00)
I love that word framework. Yeah. Yesterday, actually.
Ernesto Mandowsky (10:28)
And so yesterday, and so, about a year ago, I rebranded my business and I kind of created a new framework called the five recipes. And so, the five recipes are start with transformation, which is your original offer. The vehicle that you design to change your life, your client’s lives forever. I mean, not just your clients, your entire, your ecosystem forever.
The second one is connection, which is about relationship management and how you keep track and nurture all of these people so that you can create more opportunities to transform your ecosystem. The third one is communication, which is the messaging, the story, the marketing that you ⁓ share with the world to drive more connections to serve the transformation. Everything is kind of building on top of each other. And if you talk to any entrepreneur, they’re like, yeah, I know about marketing, sales and fulfillment.
Jessica Miller (11:20)
Mm-hmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (11:26)
Sure. But where most people miss the mark or never get to because they’re so busy in their business is recipe four and five, which is organization and actualization. How do you align teams with tactics, the playbooks with the technology so that you could scale more efficiently to build a machine so you could bring on a team? And then that fifth one, how do you, when you bring on the team into your, into your machine,
Jessica Miller (11:27)
Mm-hmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (11:54)
How do you create a culture of trust, a culture of peace, a culture of leadership, a culture of performance so that you could have your MDM, which is the name of my company, how you can have your momentum driven machine.
Jessica Miller (12:09)
I love this so much. Yeah, I used to say to people when I worked in corporate America, I worked with very huge companies and then I would work with companies that were like 20 people or, you 100 people. And you would watch these companies that were tiny, like run circles around these big companies. And what I started to tease out of this was people would fall down in the execution.
Like there’s all the planning, there’s all the talking about it, there’s all, okay, we got the thing and we’re gonna talk to these people and we’re gonna do that. But then when it came to synthesizing it and getting everyone to be able to actually excel within the structure, it was really difficult. People lacked the skills within the organization or they lacked, like you said, the culture or the focus for people to actually take what they wanted to create and actually go and make it happen and be the backbone of their business. And so, there’d be a lot of money and a lot of churns and a lot of wasted time because it was just so disjointed and inefficient. And yeah, I see that all the time.
Ernesto Mandowsky (13:04)
Happen. People think that I’m this guy is going to come in and like tell you what to do and tell you how to design, design your system. they’re like,
Jessica Miller (13:27)
Yes. And they get afraid of that. Yes. I don’t want to do that.
Ernesto Mandowsky (13:33)
And ⁓ the reality is I don’t know what you should do. I don’t know how you should design your, like, I don’t know how, I don’t know what would be the impact of your offer in its current way, or form. But I do know that if you, you know, if you present me a structure, for example, I could say, hey, like there might be a breakdown here, there might be a breakdown there, but you’ll know for sure when you go test it.
Jessica Miller (14:02)
Right.
Ernesto Mandowsky (14:02)
And it’s like, when you go test it, you will find out for yourself. And when it comes to building systems, it’s, not about someone paying me $25,000 and me coming into your business and building out your help spot for you. Like, no, because then that creates a dependency. And what, what small businesses need is, the autonomy and the personal capacity to sustain themselves, you know, not being dependent on Ernesto or on Jessica or on anyone else, but really like.
Jessica Miller (14:18)
Mm-hmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (14:32)
your own autonomy to, to do things, whether it’s improving your offer or increase your relationship management or marketing, whatever it is, like it’s, about the, the personal power that’s being nurtured within a company.
Jessica Miller (14:46)
Yeah, and I think you touched on something that’s really important, which is as CEOs and founders, we have a role in our company. Unfortunately for many of us, we’re doing all the roles and it’s completely killing us and our business. It is not the best way to peace and success and profit, right? It’s the result of not having the things around you support you in your own role to do the things that you do best and you’re coming in and looking at that system and having the expertise and saying, here’s how we can set up the structure to support you doing your thing, have the business function and actually be an asset. And I think also, tell me if I’m wrong, but there are certain pieces to the client’s business that you help, that you know are universal. Like you need to nurture your leads, you need to know who they are, you need to have that organized, they need to move through the pipeline. Like some of these very basic marketing and sales, you tactics that frankly so many people are not doing and falling down on because they are doing it in a very manual sort of afterthought way and it’s killing their business and their energy.
Ernesto Mandowsky (15:51)
Correct. You said something that’s not what you said is a paradox, but it’s like in the world, it’s of an entrepreneur. It’s a paradox where, you know, people think I see all the things that are missing around a person that will make them better. And ⁓ it’s not the things that are missing around the person. It’s what’s missing in the person to make the things to then help them. A lot of people, like there’s a, like a.
Jessica Miller (16:24)
Hmm
Ernesto Mandowsky (16:27)
There’s an Instagram quote floating out there. ⁓ B do have most, most people think like when I have a multi six figure business, then I will take the scary action of hiring Jess so I can feel confident in my growth. And it’s like, no, that’s fucked. You must feel confident about your growth so you can take a scary action so you can create a result. And
Jessica Miller (16:33)
Mm. Yes. Mm-hmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (16:55)
You know, everyone has their own iteration of that idea. That’s why when I look at my promise, it’s like, we start with the piece. When you feel the piece, you will perform better and you will have the profit that you’re looking for. But it starts with the piece and the conviction and the confidence and kind of where you are going.
Jessica Miller (17:03)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Do you find that that comes from having a conversation with someone, like showing them how this works in their business? Because I think one of the things you said earlier, which I think is true, is entrepreneurs are very creative. These are kind of ethereal beings. And they’re afraid that you’re going to come in and tell them that they can’t do something. Like that idea of being constrained, even though, frankly, the constraint is the path to expansion, it really is. Right?
Ernesto Mandowsky (17:39)
Yes, yeah it is. The pressure makes the diamonds.
Jessica Miller (17:42)
Yes, but it can be done in a very strategic way where you’re not feeling shackled. It’s actually feeling very free. But sometimes it’s the clarity that people need to see. They need to be able to connect the dots and see it through your lens. To your point, part of the reason that they’re there is because they’re looking through their lens and they’re not seeing what you’re seeing, which is very, very common. ⁓ Everyone’s doing it.
Ernesto Mandowsky (17:47)
Yeah. Correct to the kind of insightful or the strategic design of it, like when it comes to people speaking with me, like I very intentionally create my barriers or my qualifiers speaking with people. When I come onto podcasts, I always share the same offer. Like, hey, the first step, the first step when you want to enter this possibility is get your growth scorecard.
Jessica Miller (18:30)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (18:32)
And the gross core card has six very simple numbers actually developed it during the podcast profits accelerator, which we’re both a part of. ⁓ It just breaks down your vision into six numbers. So, if you were to tell, you know, million-dollar machine MDM, okay. Million-dollar business, million dollars a year. What is your, that’s the kind of the target. The six numbers break down into what is your average revenue per customer. And we teach people and keeping the numbers round $10,000.
Jessica Miller (18:38)
Okay. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Ernesto Mandowsky (19:03)
So, a million divided by 10,000 is a hundred customers. Okay. The third number is conversion percentage. Now we’re going to like basic sales, right? So, I teach, I guide a conversion percentage of 25%. That means you need to speak with 400 leads. That’s your fourth number. And then your fifth and sixth is your booking utilization rate. What percent of people on your email list will book a call with you? And I say 10 % also just for round reasons.
Jessica Miller (19:17)
Mm-hmm. Yes. Mm-hmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (19:33)
So, 400, 10%, 4,000 subscribers on your list, that’s the final number. And so, when someone meets with me, I’m not here to tell them like, you can do this or you can’t do this, but it’s the question of, can you speak with 400 people in one year?
Jessica Miller (19:46)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (19:54)
You know, Jessica, can you speak with 400 people? I don’t know. Can you like, yeah, for sure. Okay. How are you keeping track of 400 people? And you know, the person answers for themselves. Like, oh, I have this automated CRM system. Great. Well, it sounds like you’re good. Or it’ll be like, I have 19 post-it notes. Now does that make you feel not good? Okay. And do you want to feel peace? Yes. Okay. Great. Well.
Jessica Miller (19:58)
Yeah, for sure. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You’re right. Yeah.
Ernesto Mandowsky (20:23)
that’s, and that it’s not even like growth scorecard into sale. There’s more steps in this journey. Like, and it’s, yes, maybe it’s like a little bit longer to like close the sale, but is going back to the philosophy of how I am designing my offer, which I know you kind of alluded to speaking about that more. I’m here to create capacity in, in, in people.
Jessica Miller (20:28)
Mm-hmm. Sure.
Ernesto Mandowsky (20:51)
Like I’m not here to rescue the entrepreneur or save them or, you know, that’s not my role. I’m here to just help you see that you literally have the power in you to solve your own problems.
Jessica Miller (21:05)
Yes, and I think the other thing that you’re doing is you’re helping them uncover their problem. And I think that clarity of asking really good questions and looking through the lens of their systems and asking about those key variables puts people at ease and allows them to come to their own conclusion where they’re seeing where there might be those leaks. And then you’re sharing your expertise on how those leaks might be plugged.
Ernesto Mandowsky (21:33)
Correct.
Jessica Miller (21:33)
In a really like collaborative, hold the space way. So, you’re not giving them a recipe, you’re actually helping them uncover their own.
Ernesto Mandowsky (21:38)
Yeah, it doesn’t, it doesn’t hurt that I kind of frame the world that people are entering into as a five-star experience. And I take, I take my background in hospitality and really like Donald Miller story brand the shit out of it. Like there’s literally every, mean, there’s recipes. All my icons are like food oriented. You go to my website; you see the story of restaurants.
Jessica Miller (21:52)
Mm-hmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (22:10)
All of my blogs are actually formatted just like a recipe that you would read in on these cooking sites. And so, when it comes to like positioning yourself, if you’re already helping the client understand some of your values and your philosophy, it’s not like one of those forests like, ⁓ like buy my thing because it’s like, hey, this is it. This is what’s on offer. This is what’s on the menu.
Jessica Miller (22:13)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Ernesto Mandowsky (22:39)
This is, it’s not the daily special that the offer is going to change tomorrow. Like, no, this is a prefix promise and it’s consistent and it’s standardized and this is what you’re going to get. And so, it goes back to like, how are you communicating about your offer? How are you communicating your philosophy in every touch point? Not just on the proposal.
Jessica Miller (22:52)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yeah, and what you were saying earlier, which I want to go back to and touch on, it’s there’s a very specific client who is in a certain headspace of wanting to do things better, who needs the clarity of what that looks like within their systems and their framework. And you’re holding the space for them. You’re inviting people into that story. And you’re doing it in a really what I love about the front end of this offer is it’s very concise.
Like here are the six things. This isn’t a complicated funnel. This isn’t like you’re not throwing a million things at them. It’s like, these are the pieces that are really important. Let’s see sort of how you score here. And let me put into context what this means for you and show you the opportunity, knowing based on your conversation with them and your intake, what they ultimately want. Because that’s what you’re tying it back to. And I think people who are drawn to frameworks like yours, they want that simplicity. They want the focus. They don’t know how to do it and they don’t have the expertise and they’re in the day to day. But they are aware that if they get some structure around this and if they allow these pieces of their business to be an asset for them, they are going to perform so much better. And not just tactically, it’s all of the other stuff that opens up too. Like I feel in control of my business. I know what’s going on each day. I can see how these levers are working and they’re getting me closer to my goal.
There’s all that internal stuff that you were talking about, that paradox, right? That they then become, ⁓ have the confidence to show up in their business differently.
Ernesto Mandowsky (24:26)
Which. Yeah. That, I mean, that is the, we all want the profit, but like you, you come for the, I said, I write this in the book in my second book. I said, you came for the machine, but you stayed for the momentum. Like everyone wants the million-dollar machine, but you’re not making a transaction, getting a seven-figure business and then leaving. Like, no, this is like, this is a new way of life.
Jessica Miller (24:44)
Mm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (25:03)
of showing up and building not just a seven-figure business. I MDM can also be a multi-million-dollar machine. you know, it’s…
Jessica Miller (25:03)
Mm-hmm. Sure. I think it’s a springboard for that. Like if you want to scale, you need to have these systems in place.
Ernesto Mandowsky (25:16)
Exactly, exactly. Something I wanted to mention five-star experience, right? People come and they’re excited and it’s a cultivating, nurturing environment. at the same time, yesterday I had a client call, ⁓ was the founder and his head of production. And ⁓ while there is this nurturing energy, I also definitely bring the yin yang kind of like the fiery Gordon Ramsay in your face, close the fucking tabs energy. He literally like, we literally were looking at his notion database and it was like all the activities of all the projects that he has open. And it’s literally 905 open activities, open or over, overdue activities. And ⁓ he’s just like, Ernesto, don’t get it. Like what do we need to do to start doing it? And I’m like, well,
Jessica Miller (25:54)
Love him. Yep.
Ernesto Mandowsky (26:20)
I’m looking at your activities that are open and it’s a hundred plus. He’s like, yeah, I have my own personal management system. I’m like, then how the fuck do you think your team’s going to listen to you when they see that you are doing your own thing? And I just like, I’m giving it straight to him. It’s not, it’s not the, what do you think? And I’m not coaching. I’m like dictator telling you that you need to get your shit together. Pardon all the, all the cursing. Gordon’s really channeling through.
Jessica Miller (26:36)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You’re channeling.
Ernesto Mandowsky (26:50)
But it’s true, mean, a lot of people are overwhelmed a little bit and we come in and we set up a system, but then it’s like, I gotta keep you in check.
Jessica Miller (27:01)
I’m manage you to the system.
Ernesto Mandowsky (27:03)
Because I’m not going to let your excuses, I don’t have time. If you don’t have time, hire a VA. You don’t have time, let go of these nine responsibilities that you’re holding onto because of your control freak tendencies that no one’s going to, you know, it really, it’s ⁓ all a reflection. The system, like when you could look at something and have a dialogue, it’s a beautiful reflection of what’s happening deep within. And I’m not a therapist and I’m not a…
Jessica Miller (27:10)
Mm-hmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (27:32)
emotional semantic healer. But I’ll tell you, hey, this is what this could be interpreted as, not like this is what is right, but this is what someone on your team is seeing and judging about how much you think you’re above the system.
Jessica Miller (27:50)
Yeah, yeah. And I think that’s a really important point. I mean, the work that you do is going to take those systems. And I think some of those key places, like we mentioned earlier, like getting organized around, you know, the people and the execution and the most important pieces of your business for that specific business owner that needs to happen to streamline how they’re going to operate. But then there’s the other part of that. There’s like the yin and yang of like, you are part of that system too? And how do you help manage people around the system? And I’ve seen this on the very basic level with even my calendar. You spend all this time, you’ve got these things on your calendar, and then you don’t follow the calendar. So, one day I was like, listen, if I want to make my life a whole lot easier, I could figure out the calendar, which probably will take me 15 minutes. And the rest of my time is actually focused on managing myself to the calendar.
Ernesto Mandowsky (28:49)
Correct.
Jessica Miller (28:49)
Right?
So, you’re in that position where, yeah, it is part life coach. It’s part holding the space. It’s part, you know, giving that opportunity for the founder to be who they are, but then also helping to have them see where they’re becoming the stopgap and how, right? Cause to your point, it’s not, the systems will not save you. They will make your life 10 times better, but you are still part of the execution of that. And I think it’s really hard to do that alone, which is where people like you come in, where you’re running alongside them. You are a mentor in some capacity to help them execute on what they’re doing. ⁓ Where do you feel like people fall down the most? mean, are they falling down on sticking to the systems or where do you feel it breaks sometimes?
Ernesto Mandowsky (29:43)
I think people are falling because they’re letting their frustrations kind of take over and frustration is what’s sabotaging their progress. ⁓
Jessica Miller (29:53)
Interesting. like if they have to go talk to 400 people, like you mentioned, and I’m assuming like do most of your clients have like a higher ticket offer where their sales call driven?
Ernesto Mandowsky (30:04)
It’s a little all over the place. I mean, well, it’s definitely not hundred-dollar e-commerce product based. It’s more, it is more like 2,500 to 5K to upsell from there. Service based because, you know, complex businesses need project management. But I would say back to the frustration.
Jessica Miller (30:13)
Yeah, okay. Yep. Yeah.
Ernesto Mandowsky (30:33)
less around they see the 400 and then they get frustrated. It’s more like, okay, they bring in a VA and the VA is not performing to their standards. And then they get frustrated and then the rest of the day sabotaged. But it’s like, hey, if you actually set standards to begin with, then maybe you wouldn’t be frustrated.
Jessica Miller (30:47)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. So, it sounds like there’s systems, standards, and then how do they navigate within that framework? Interesting. Interesting. What have you found redirects them? Like, is it about sitting down and kind of having that, I’m from New York, so I am direct too. Is it about having that sort of moment where you’re like, listen, this isn’t serving you? Or how do you redirect them? Because I’m imagining just for myself, like I have been there.
Ernesto Mandowsky (31:18)
Yeah. In,
Jessica Miller (31:20)
You
Ernesto Mandowsky (31:20)
so, in the, in my six-pillar system, in that initial framework that I created, like the sixth P is planning. And so, the four planning cycles or the momentum cycles, I them is like a daily or weekly, monthly and quarterly. And everyone talks about the same kind of idea in their own way. But when I think about the whole working on your business concept on a daily basis.
Jessica Miller (31:26)
Mmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (31:46)
The working on your business is a 30-minute kind of, you know, 15 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes in the evening, kind of reviewing what you’re going to get done. And then, you know, reviewing what got done or didn’t get done and rescheduling. Then on a weekly basis, thinking of like the 80 20 rule, if you’re working 50 hours a week, I’m not saying take 10 hours to work on your business, but I don’t know, five hours to work on your business. No one does that. And the,
Jessica Miller (31:58)
Mm-hmm. Mm. See you soon.
Ernesto Mandowsky (32:16)
The working on your business activity, because people don’t define what that means. ⁓ One of the exercises we do in my course is your weekly plan. And the weekly plan is like reviewing all the projects, reviewing all your activities, reviewing all your contacts that are overdue, just reviewing everything. And like just sitting down to look at that information, you sit down enough times to see how overdue you are. Eventually it’s going to click.
Jessica Miller (32:21)
Hmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (32:45)
S***, I need help. But if you never sit down to look at your stuff, and then you’re showing up to a sales call ⁓ overwhelmed, it’s like, well, how often do you do this? And so, they don’t. And so, it’s just kind of like, when I look at my offer, and I work and my philosophy, it’s just being the pillar of integrity, like, hey, this is how you not just build a system, but like, keep a system.
Jessica Miller (32:47)
Yeah. Hmm. Mm-hmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (33:16)
You know, like when you have that time each week to do something, then that’s what unlocks within. Like I don’t tell people what their problems are. Like they figure it out for themselves.
Jessica Miller (33:19)
Yep. Yeah, but creating that structure for them, like there’s the structure of the systems that you’re helping and the people that you’re plugging in. But I think this point is really powerful because the habits and the routines and the things that we intentionally focus on multiply. So, if you’re helping us as founders gather agency over our business, meaning,
Ernesto Mandowsky (33:36)
Is it? Is it?
Jessica Miller (33:56)
We have this grounding time that is set into our business. We look at it. We’re seeing the connections. We’re looking at the pitfalls. We’re getting creative on how we can fix these things. It is incredibly powerful. And we buy into it versus you being like, Jess, you need to stop doing the blah, blah, blah, blah. Like that’s not going to move the needle anyway.
Ernesto Mandowsky (34:14)
It’s not effective.
Correct. would, I would kind of just slightly adjust what you said. It’s not that I’m helping founders gain agency over their business. I’m helping founders gain agent. I’m helping every stakeholder in a company gain agency over their own lives, which then impacts everything else. The business, the family, whatever. I’m not a life coach, but I do use this notion workspace as a vehicle to help you see.
Jessica Miller (34:33)
I love this.
Ernesto Mandowsky (34:44)
what you’re focusing on, how do those trickle down into projects, how do those trickle down into activities, how are your people, you know, it’s all there. Like the sandbox is all in front of us. we can, everyone can look at the same set of information and work together on.
Jessica Miller (34:52)
Yeah.
Yes, I love this. And I think this is a really important piece just from a systems perspective, because I think a lot of people think I’m going to set the system or someone’s going to build it for me and it’s going to just work. But you are part of the secret sauce in that framework that actually makes it stick. And I’m assuming you tell me that you probably built these things and you watched your customers evolve. You got really clear on who they were and what their problems were.
And then you realize like, hey, this guidance, like this mentorship is really an important piece of this whole puzzle. And that also speaks to that concierge five-star high touch, you know, place that I think is part of your branding and what you do really well. And it probably draws in your right clients because they want that. They’re looking for quality. It’s not just another plug and play system.
Ernesto Mandowsky (35:56)
Yeah. And you know, we didn’t talk about it. I don’t think we will, but it’s okay. Maybe another podcast. Like the founder doesn’t like Jessica doesn’t want to learn all the stuff and like be mentored by your nest. Like Jessica’s got to grow the business. I don’t want the pioneers to come and play in the kitchen. I want the pioneers to go out and create epic shit. Who I want though. do like, it’s almost like a, it’s not a qualifier, but for it, for it to make sense for people to join the kitchen, they need a practitioner, they need a second person who’s going to come in and do all this stuff because I’m not mentoring the pioneer. I’m mentoring the practitioner because when more practitioners get access to this knowledge, they’re able to serve the pioneer. The pioneer tells them, you know, pioneer shares their vision with the company. Practitioner is like, cool. I like that vision. This is how it translates into priorities. This is how it translates into projects with timelines and strategic relationships. Ernesto.
Jessica Miller (36:33)
Hmm.
Yes.
Ernesto Mandowsky (36:55)
or MDM, Jessica’s being crazy passionate with her vision. I don’t know how to translate this part. What do I do? And that’s where kind of the concierge level advisory comes in inside of the kitchen, inside of the group program. And I just want to say it now because people sometimes I think there’s a bad rap that systems professionals have or high-ticket hat. Like people might think, oh shit, is that the?
Jessica Miller (37:05)
Mm-hmm. Yes.
Ernesto Mandowsky (37:27)
I said that number earlier today. Like how much does it cost to work with Ernesto? Like how much does it cost to jump into the kitchen? Like it’s a thousand dollars a year. Like you and I are part of a mastermind that we pay $10,000 for the first year to learn. Important, but simple, I mean not comprehensive skill. I would say like very simple.
Jessica Miller (37:34)
Mm-hmm. Yeah
Ernesto Mandowsky (37:54)
And what I, you I saw that and I’m, should I be charging $10,000 a year? Like, yeah, maybe the value is there, but like, I mean, the value is definitely there, but because my, like my primary mission, like my company mission is democratizing business transformation. Like I’m throwing out the excuse, like, I have the money to invest in my systems. Like when I am a hundred-thousand-dollar business, then I will, no, like.
Jessica Miller (38:17)
Hmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (38:22)
The best time to build your systems was literally when you started your business. The second time is like today, like get going and start today because literally every week that goes by that you’re not giving a shit about your business, you’re missing out on monumental compounding gains that can happen. And so, I’m throwing out all these excuses of like, whatever the money, what the time you need literally three hours a week and a hundred dollars a month.
Jessica Miller (38:26)
Yeah. Yes. Mm-hmm.
Ernesto Mandowsky (38:53)
you cannot afford that; I do not want to speak to you on the phone. That’s why I do have that very conscious, like, I need to see that you give a shit about your business before speaking to me. Because like, you know, I mean, even then, the thousand dollar a year people, I’m not even talking to them, but I’m, you know, they’ll speak to me in my group coaching capacity, but the people who are really serious, they’re already in a $500,000 business and a million-dollar business. Yes, then that’s definitely white glove concierge sales call, but you know, I’m just making it as easy as possible for people to say yes.
Jessica Miller (39:30)
Yes, I love this so much. I love that the ease people can get in that hurdle to entry is taken away. These five different steps, they’re super clear. You know, that transformation, the connections, the communication, the organization, the actualization, you know, it’s very defined as to what it is that you’re gonna come in and help people with. I think the other thing that’s really important that you said ⁓ just now, which I think as founders, sometimes we don’t get.
We think that we are going to become the linchpin in the system and we are not. When you could come in and exactly what you said, align with the vision, align with the founder, have those strategic discussions, come up with the plan, and then you’re freeing them of all of that and you’re working directly with their team, that is life-changing. And as a consultant, I have to tell you that I’ve had to actually say this to my clients so many times of like, no, we don’t need you here.
If we’ve got this thing in place and we need to get into the kitchen and work with these people directly, you need to get out of the way. Like that’s what we’re here for, to free up your time and capacity in that way, as well as like literally put the systems in place. So, it is such an important foundation. And to your point, it scales. Like if you want to scale and grow, you cannot be doing all of these things manually. You can’t be hiring people where they’re running in different directions. There needs to be cohesion and we have the technology and the experts to do that now. It’s not 1985 anymore. So, it’s a great way for people to get access to that from you in a very simple way that’s also going to train their team.
Ernesto Mandowsky (41:12)
Correct.
Jessica Miller (41:13)
Yeah, I love this. Ernesto, I could talk about this all day long, but I think what we need to find out from you is where can people go to figure out their six numbers? Like, I love that as an awesome tool. ⁓ Where can they go to find you?
Ernesto Mandowsky (41:24)
Yeah.
So, they can go to score.yourmdm.co. ⁓
Jessica Miller (41:32)
Love it. Okay, and it will be right there and they can click on it.
Ernesto Mandowsky (41:35)
It’s no, no click. It’s like, boom, you’re at the assessment. You’re, you’re, you’re in it. You’re inside the box already. All the AI, everything’s tracking you. It’s sending me your underwear size. Like I know everything about you from that moment. No, I’m kidding. But there are people, there are, there are like tools that do that, which is crazy.
Jessica Miller (41:37)
It’s right there. Okay, I love this.
my gosh, this is…You my God.
I love the like land on it and you’re there. Like I’m going to take this away as a systems like best practice for me. Like, my gosh, how many clicks do I have before people get into my scorecard? Okay. Good to know. ⁓ And where on the interwebs do you hang out Ernesto? Like LinkedIn, Instagram? Like where are you?
Ernesto Mandowsky (42:10)
I’m on LinkedIn. I’m also on Instagram. ⁓ I have like crispy reels that I have filmed and it’s all professional, but I’m now starting to do like more like IRL or Nesto, like baking and cooking and talking about this stuff. It’ll probably be on Instagram.
Jessica Miller (42:26)
Love it. Okay, is it under MDM or what is it under?
Ernesto Mandowsky (42:29)
It is MDM underscore Ernesto.
Jessica Miller (42:32)
Okay, I love this. Ernesto, thank you so much for being here. Love all the hospitality, engineering, no nonsense Gordon Ramsay approach. It’s such a refreshing change to hear with all of it. So, thank you so much for being here.
Ernesto Mandowsky (42:48)
Thank you, Jessica.
Jessica Miller (42:49)
And to everyone listening, until next week, see you then. Have a great one.
