How to Streamline Business Operations for Growth With Jonah Tuska

 Managing multiple tools and juggling high tech stack costs can be a nightmare for any entrepreneur. In this episode, I sit down with Jonah Tuska, an expert in streamlining business operations, to discuss how he navigated his journey from managing a record label to optimizing operations for a fast-paced B2B SaaS company. Jonah shares how he discovered a solution that drastically reduced his overhead and simplified his workflow: an all-in-one software platform that caters to entrepreneurs and small businesses. We dive into the critical importance of consolidating business tools to save both time and money, and how doing so can lead to higher efficiency and growth. Jonah also emphasizes the need for strong company culture, where bias for action and customer service drive performance. Whether you're running a small team or managing a large operation, Jonah’s insights will help you take actionable steps toward improving your business processes and scaling efficiently.


Connect with Jonah Tuska:

 If you want to connect further with Jonah and learn more about his strategies for optimizing business operations, follow him on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. His hands-on experience and insights will inspire you to take your business to the next level.

Books Mentioned:

• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie 

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Chapters

• 0:02 Jonah’s Entrepreneurial Journey
• 3:02 Discovering an All-in-One Solution
• 5:26 Transitioning from Music to SaaS
• 10:30 Building a Strong Company Culture
• 13:32 Continuous Improvement and Innovation
• 22:37 Learning from Everyone Around You
• 28:44 Actionable Takeaways for Entrepreneurs

Transcript

Dr. William Attaway: 0:00

I'm so excited today to have Jonah Tuska on the podcast. Jonah is dedicated to serving the entrepreneurial-minded leader. He's a lifelong learner and action taker. He believes discipline is destiny. You reap what you sow. He helps grow and scale the largest customer acquisition channel at a fast-paced B2B SaaS company called High Level. Jonah, I'm so glad you're here. Thanks for being on the show.

Jonah Tuska: 0:29

Thanks so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Intro/Outro: 0:33

Welcome to Catalytic Leadership, the podcast designed to help leaders intentionally grow and thrive. Here is your host author and leadership and executive coach, dr William Attaway.

Dr. William Attaway: 0:48

I would love to start with you sharing a little bit of your story with our listeners, Jonah, particularly around your journey and your development as a leader. How did you get started?

Jonah Tuska: 0:59

So I, you know, back in college I didn't want to, you know go down the route of having a traditional job. I went out and I had a very traumatic accident while playing the field Broke my face, shattered my eye socket and orbital Quite bad. Shortly after that accident, I discovered a love for music. I started a record label in the lo-fi hip hop space where I would go out. I'd recruit artists, bring them onto our roster and help them scale up under our label. I transitioned that into a music marketing education company, brought on a label manager to handle the day-to-day of the music label, and for three and a half years that's what I was doing.

Jonah Tuska: 2:02

I was running this music marketing education company. I had that label manager working. It started as an artist-label relationship, blossomed into a partnership over the years, which was amazing. He was fantastic. He still runs that label to this day, which is amazing. But all that to say, during that time I discovered a software product called High Level. I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread and since then I joined the team. I've been working at High Level in our strategic partnerships the affiliate team since April of 2023.

Dr. William Attaway: 2:49

Stepping into high level like that's a. That's an interesting shift from a record label to a CRM. What drew you in?

Jonah Tuska: 2:58

Yeah, so I was a big user of a lot of different software products at the time I was selling. My primary offer in the music marketing education company was a digital product, so I was selling that exact thing through sales funnels and I had an email list and I was doing all sorts of marketing myself. I was using software products that were probably totaling expenses around $1,500 a month between all the different things I was using.

Dr. William Attaway: 3:31

And.

Jonah Tuska: 3:33

I, you know, through that pain point of hey, like there were some other things, but through that pain point I discovered high level and I realized I could migrate everything over into an all-in-one solution. And I would pay for a solopreneur, for a team that's smaller. You can run your business for $97 a month. So it was a no-brainer for me97 a month. So it was, um, it was a no brainer for me in my position. I hadn't even realized I could run an agency on the platform yet and I just realized, oh, this is a great solution for anyone that's using tons of different tools. Um and so with that I I'd always had a knack for digital marketing, and the reason I love serving artists so much in the record label and the music marketing education company is because these individuals were driven, they were passionate, they were entrepreneurial in nature, they wanted to build and grow something that was their own. They had all this passion around this thing, they wanted to go out and they wanted to share that with the world. And so for me, who had always had a knack for that, it was very easy to lean into that service of that crowd, because it's like I want to help these people follow their mission, follow what they're supposed to be doing, and so the transition from the music industry to a B2B SaaS company, it's like.

Jonah Tuska: 5:11

What does that look like, right? Well, the avatar I serve. Nowadays they're more business minded, but it's the same exact spirit. They're entrepreneurial, they're trying to build and grow amazing businesses that serve people. Specifically, I serve our affiliate base. These are some of the best digital marketers in the world and, again, they're very entrepreneurial in nature. I'm there to help serve that exact same spirit at Fluffora. There to help serve that exact same spirit as before, but this time they have a little more business acumen, which makes the marketing side of things a little easier.

Dr. William Attaway: 5:55

I love that I switched to high level about a year ago. A year ago this month, I had met Chase Buckner at an event we were both speaking at down in Tampa, yeah, and I thought I had heard. So many of my clients are in the agency space and they had talked about high level and I thought this is an agency focused product, you know, which is, which is great. I'm glad they seem to be just over the moon about it. I did not know what you just shared, that this was something that an entrepreneur could use to run their business. You know, for a team, and when I, when I started talking and I heard that for the first time, I was like huh, and then I started looking at exactly what you described.

Dr. William Attaway: 6:35

You know, my tech stack wasn't 1500 a month, but it was. It was, you know, certainly three 400 to do all the things I was doing between you know, customer management and funnels and email lists and all the different things that you did. But they all were separate programs and so you had to build the conduits and the integrations to make sure they all talk to each other, and of course, those you know stop working sometimes and then you have to go fix it. It was a pain, and what I discovered was here's a way to do all of it under one roof, so to speak, where everything talks to each other intuitively, natively, and it's cheap. Sign me up. I just didn't know that it was specifically something that entrepreneurs could use outside of the agency world. Entrepreneurs could use outside of the agency world and I'm so glad that you shared that. Do you see more and more people becoming aware of that usage outside of the agency space?

Jonah Tuska: 7:39

Yeah, and you know, at the end of the day it's, it's, it's a tool, right. And so you have all these tools that are designed for end user businesses. So the small business, the entrepreneur, the solopreneur who you know, they might not necessarily be working with an agency, they might have their tech stack in house, they might be doing their own, their own solutions. So there's quite a few that at the again, at the end of the day, it's designed for the end user business, so it's, it's ultimately it's like, oh, the tool is ultimately just the tech stack. There's an amazing delivery model for agencies to take that tech stack, deliver to the end user business. But it's a great tech stack for anyone running any type of business ultimately.

Jonah Tuska: 8:41

And so when I had that role as a solopreneur with a very small team is like, hey, it's a no brainer, right, and so that's that. That's ultimately why I made the decision. And then, with high level, it is such an incredible company with an incredible culture that's very attractive. I most definitely would not go and work for any other company, but the way that high level is building a solution for this cohort of people I've always been passionate about serving while also having quite the amazing business model, while also building something that, in my opinion, it's very much a. We give our employees, our customer base, our affiliates, such a big piece of the pie where it's like everyone wins right. So I get excited talking about it.

Dr. William Attaway: 9:53

So I love that you mentioned culture. You know this is something that I'll talk about a bit, because I believe every team, every company, every organization has a culture. You either have one you created on purpose or you have one you didn't mean to have, but you have a culture. You talked about high levels culture. What can you tell us about the culture that is designed there?

Jonah Tuska: 10:15

Yeah, so I can start on our team, on the affiliate department. Pretty much every single hire on our team has some sort of entrepreneurial background. We're very much of a hey, if something needs to get done, you know we go and do it. It's not like, oh, like we need to go look at the SOP. It's like, no, we just we need to make a decision, go, do the thing. And so everyone has an incredibly high bias to action which allows us to move incredibly fast. Aside from that, you know everyone is service-minded and you know some of these things you can't train right out of the gate, but you can distill it down to a framework, but it takes time. But a lot of our team is service-minded. We're serving people at the end of the day and so, having those characteristics in our culture, pretty much everyone across the company is incredibly customer-minded.

Jonah Tuska: 11:18

From our dev team it's like, ah, you know, going out into the trenches, you know we might have product lead going out into the trenches learning the ins and outs of what some agency owner on the other side of the world might need in order to, you know, continue, you know using the tool effectively, and they go back to the team, they distill that down so we can actually build it out.

Jonah Tuska: 11:42

You know, from the customer service side of things, it's like, ah, you know every single customer having a one-on-one touch point and the types of individuals that can come into the you know our ecosystem and do that effectively. It's like they're they're amazing, but they're incredibly customer focused, and so that's a very big part of the culture. While also being again specifically on our team, on the affiliate team, it's very entrepreneurial. Lots of people, you know, having that mindset of hey, high bias to action, will also want to figure out ways to improve what we're currently doing and having the drive to do so, and you don't have that often. The people at high level, they try very hard, they go above and beyond, they go over their expectations that are set for them because of the culture and the precedent that has been set you know that that bias for action and that commitment to continue to make it better, that is something I have seen for the last year as a customer.

Dr. William Attaway: 12:49

You know the the number of features and improvements and optimizations and enhancements. I mean it's it's enough to stun a team of oxen in its tracks, like it's just constant, this constant flow of making it better.

Intro/Outro: 13:06

And I got to tell you.

Dr. William Attaway: 13:07

I've been a customer of a lot of different things over the years and I have not seen any organization that is as committed to responding to the requests of its customers saying, hey, what about this? Could we do this, can we make this better? There is just this constant responsiveness and you are making it better every month, month in, month out, and, from what I hear, the best is yet to come. You know, it's just remarkable, that commitment, but that has to start with the leaders. Remarkable, that commitment, but that has to start with the leaders. You know, and I know you as part of the leaders in this organization, you, for your team, model this and as the customer, I get to see it.

Dr. William Attaway: 13:49

You know, on the other side, and it's just thoroughly impressive. And I know you're not done. What do you do to keep that mindset of? We are constantly going to make it better, we are constantly going to optimize and improve. How do you keep that? Because so often people begin to drift when they find a measure of success, and you never drift into excellence, you always drift into mediocrity. How do you keep that for your team?

Jonah Tuska: 14:17

Yeah, so I do want to clarify how do you keep that for your team? Yeah, so I do want to clarify like currently on my team, I'm an individual contributor. Okay, that's just for just for a heads up on that. But on our team, since the everyone kind of has the perspective of like this is the, this is the behavior of, of high bias to action. And so when longer tenured individual contributors like myself on the team are taking these actions like some of my teammates are taking these actions constantly, and someone new comes into the ecosystem, that's all they see. So they see high levels of performance across the board right from the get-go, and so it's essentially, you know, a call to step up. If that's not the current behavior, like you know from a previous role or baggage from a previous company, they come onto the team and they immediately see, you know high bias to action. You know people working hard because they they love it and they they see that passion right from the get go.

Jonah Tuska: 15:33

And so you know every single, every single, every single employee once a month gets to hop on an all-hands call and every single head of every single different department shares what's going on in other parts of the company. We're not talking little things. It's like we're talking deep dive into the intricacies of, oh, here's what's happening on finance, like here's exactly like what's happening with customer churn and all these different things. And so every single employee has a very deep, integral understanding of, you know, the company's progress as a whole, along with Sean Varun, robin, you know giving their their, you know their little segments. But ultimately, you know, you know, for me it's like, ah, I have a good grasp on everything that's going on inside of Hyla and that enables me to take more ownership in my current role, because I can see the whole vision, because that properly communicated to everyone on a monthly basis, so as that vision is, communicated as it begins to trickle down through the organization.

Dr. William Attaway: 16:51

is that what keeps that bias for action? Is that what keeps that commitment to make it better? Because the vision is communicated so consistently, so regularly, from the top down?

Jonah Tuska: 17:04

Yeah, it's communicated so regularly from the top down, so consistently from the top down. And then every since everyone else is committed and has strong bias to action, you know, as a new person coming into the ecosystem, that's what you see, it's like I also have to step up and I have to take on this role of you know, high bias to action is he's like, because it's it's what everyone else is doing. And so there's that pure dynamic as well where it's like you know, if you came in and you don't have that, but everyone else does, it's like oh, there's that inner call to be like no, maybe I should step up. And so that's a big part of it, because everyone else already has that behavior from the get-go.

Dr. William Attaway: 17:57

That's what's normative in the culture, and so it inspires everyone to step into that. I love that and I think that communicates so much about the value of regular, consistent communication from an authentic and transparent place with all the members of your team, and I hope our listeners are grabbing onto that, because so often and I'm guilty of this myself, so many times in my own leadership you say something, you say it once, you say it three times, you say it eight times and you think, okay, that's plenty. I'm sick of saying it, everybody's got it by now. That's just not the case. Vision leaks and if we're not continually refilling the vision bucket consistently regularly, if we're not communicating way more than we think we should, it's going to leak and we're going to begin to drift Most definitely.

Jonah Tuska: 20:15

And so like with that. The next step of that is just continual positive reinforcement. So one of the things that Sean specifically does for all of our folks that work in like support departments and things like that, anytime there's a literally every time there's a new Trustpilot review or Google reviews, he screenshots it. Usually it's with the rep's name. He calls them out in like our main company wide channel. It's like great job, xyz person. Because it's just that continual positive reinforcement and that trickles down to all of management with their own individual teams, with whatever the given behavior. That is like super awesome and great for the company. It's just like they immediately get that positive reinforcement from their management. And so there's a big part of it because it's very hard to continually do a behavior without positive reinforcement, but once it sticks, it's quite effective.

Dr. William Attaway: 21:30

Jonah, let's talk about you for a minute. Yeah, you have to lead at a higher level and influence from the position you hold. You have to lead in a different way than you did a year ago. In a year, two, three, five from now, you're going to need to lead at a higher level still, with that entrepreneurial mindset and that lifelong learning commitment. How do you stay on top of your game? What are the rhythms in your life that are non-negotiables for you, that help you to level up with new skills that you're going to need in the days and the years to come?

Jonah Tuska: 22:06

Yeah, so I'm very big on conversations. So I, for, for me, as an individual, I could go into like, oh yeah, like I have my, I'm very routine based. I have my routine, I get up, I go to the gym, get my coffee, I sit down, I do my thing, right. But but for me, when it comes to the learning aspect, it's yeah, I, I'm a big reader. I don't retain too much from reading, even if I do, like the, the old trick with the, the audible plus the book, yeah, I, I don't retain as well versus having very direct, deliberate conversations with people that are at a step or two above where I am. It's more tangible, it's more actionable for me right then in that moment. And so you know, I learned from everyone because everyone is a step or two above where I am in some regard to their life. Yeah, they might be, you know, a step or two above, like in their health and wellness. They might be a step or two above in their, their career. They might be a step or two above in their digital marketing skills, or two above in their digital marketing skills. And so I really lean into where I see this person at a higher level and lean into building deep relationships with those people so I can soak up what they know in those particular areas. And that's been my style for learning, learning um, for the past few years.

Jonah Tuska: 23:42

Uh, you know I, I used to, uh, back in the day when I was um, you know, running this music marketing education company. You know I, I had a. I had a thousand dollar budget every month that would just go towards education, and so it was like, oh, I'd get like a facebook ads course or a speaking course and all, or like coaching from XYZ person, but I found that not to be as effective as what I'm doing now. Where I'm going out, I'm deliberately finding someone who's a step or two above where I currently am and soaking up what I can in that vertical. And so, because you know, having that deep relationship, they know me, they know you know my sort of behavior and acumen and how I kind of see the world, and they can tailor advice that's actionable and more relevant to me versus, oh, you know, reading a book not to say that it's not great, but I still do, of course it's just I get a lot more of that uh like tangible, actionable advice that helps me move forward, uh, with this strategy.

Dr. William Attaway: 25:02

So that's good. So, thinking back on your journey so far and the development that you've seen in your own life, what is some of the best advice that you have ever received?

Jonah Tuska: 25:14

The best advice I have ever received always comes back down to like really simple things. Really simple things, um, like treating others with respects. You know, like very, very simple things, like, not um, I, I don't, I don't discount anyone. I, the best advice I've ever received is, um, when bad things happen, you know, take them with a grain of salt, take them as a learning experience, take it as a opportunity to build wisdom, because it shifts the perspective. You know, all of us have had bad things happen in life. But having that perspective helps shift it to hey, this is an opportunity to put me in a position, you know, five years from now, to be able to advise someone else going through a similar experience. Or to, you know, strengthen me and prepare me for what's to come down the line in the future.

Jonah Tuska: 26:13

Versus, ah, this is the most horrible thing that's ever happened to me, um, which it could be, but it's like's like I shift. It helps shift the shift, the perspective. When it's like this is an opportunity for wisdom and you know I've, I've had, I've had all sorts of you know I. You know like, for example, my, uh, my best friends in high school passed away terminal cancer. Oh, horrible, right, but you know that's, that's an opportunity. You know there's a lot of good that's come out of that. You know our godmothers started a foundation there's. You know, when I, when I talk to someone that's going through that now, it's like there's a lot more um that I can do, is like, hey, there is a light on the other end of the tunnel and so the bad is just an opportunity for wisdom. It's an opportunity for growth. There's an opportunity for good things to come out of that. What a great perspective.

Dr. William Attaway: 27:10

I love that. Is there a book that has made a big difference in your journey so far? You read, you enjoy learning. Is there one that really stands out, that you're like, hey, if you don't have this on your to read list, you should add it?

Jonah Tuska: 27:25

yeah, so one that I think that has stood the test of time for me, because I I've read, I read it. Uh, it was one of the first sort of like self-help books I've ever read, and I've come back to it, uh, multiple times because of how much it's stuck with me and transparently helped me. You know, where I use the frameworks consistently is Dale Carnegie's how to Win Friends and Influence People. There's so much, yeah, there's so much tangible, actionable advice and frameworks of like you do this, you know, like using someone's name, you know it's, it's their favorite word in the English language. It's like, oh, that's so stupid, simple and it's just effective. Things like implement when, especially in a a role or position, I imagine many leaders are constantly having to network and build relationships with people. As a young man, that skill set had not yet come to fruition, and so pouring my resources and my attention to things like that was quite effective for me, and so it's a great book. I'd recommend it to anyone, at any level of the game, I suppose.

Dr. William Attaway: 28:44

That's great If you could share one thing that you want people to walk away with today. From our conversation, people typically walk away with one big idea. If you could define what you want that one big idea to be, what would that be?

Jonah Tuska: 28:58

I think what's interesting about like podcasts and listening to other people talk is, you know, we each have our own unique life perspectives, our own unique journey, but oftentimes there are many things and many little cadences that relate where I know everyone listening to this right now is going to have different takeaways, because they're going to be able I relate to this thing, I relate to this thing it's like they'll be able to feel and, uh, dive deep and build that relatability there. Um, and so what? I I I think the biggest takeaway kind of circles back to a point I made earlier where, like you, legitimately can learn from anyone, right, where it's like it, you know, in different areas of life, people are at different levels of the game and different verticals, and so it's like there's an opportunity to dive deep and learn with anyone, regardless of where you might be in your own journey, and I think that makes it really easy to go out and take action and improve, because you realize you, you have your immediate network, where it's like you're going to be able to learn something impactful to your life from your neighbor, whether or not you know it yet, you're going to be able to learn life from your neighbor, whether or not you know it yet, you're going to be able to learn something from your business partner, from your competitor, whatever it might be. Those opportunities are there. So if you're ever feeling stuck I know a lot of us feel stuck sometimes there is that opportunity to get out of those ruts. There are people around you constantly, regardless of what you might be doing on a day-to-day basis.

Jonah Tuska: 30:47

I work from home, so I see people when I go to the gym and when I go hang out with friends and when I go to events. But there's that opportunity to level up, I think. I guess. On the topic of events, events are always, I think, a great place to go, just because it's lots of people at very similar levels. You'll definitely find someone a step or two above you. If you go to an agency event or a leadership event, you'll find someone a step or two above you in those categories, and so it makes it incredibly easy to level up in specific categories when you're kind of looking for that. In my opinion, so good.

Dr. William Attaway: 31:26

I love it. I agree. That's why I go to events. That's exactly it because I want to level up and I want to connect with other people who are farther down the road than I am, because you can learn from anybody. Jonah, this has been so great. I've so enjoyed our conversation, as always. Jonah, this has been so great. I've so enjoyed our conversation, as always. I know people are going to want to stay connected to you and continue to learn from you and more about what you're doing. What is the best way for them to do that?

Jonah Tuska: 31:51

Jonah Tuska on Facebook. I quite frequent Facebook nowadays. I didn't when I was younger, but here I am. So Facebook, instagram, linkedin, instagram Jonah Tuska. Linkedin Jonah Tuska.

Dr. William Attaway: 32:06

You can find me there and we will have those links in the show notes, jonah. Thank you for your time and your generosity today and sharing from your story so far, and I know the best is yet to come.

Jonah Tuska: 32:16

Thanks so much for having me, William.

Dr. William Attaway: 32:17

Thanks for joining me for this episode today. As we wrap up, I'd love for you to do two things. First, subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss an episode, and if you find value here, I'd love it if you would rate it and review it. That really does make a difference in helping other people to discover this podcast. Second, if you don't have a copy of my newest book, catalytic Leadership, I'd love to put a copy in your hands. If you go to catalyticleadershipbookcom, you can get a copy for free. Just pay the shipping so I can get it to you and we'll get one right out.

Dr. William Attaway: 32:54

My goal is to put this into the hands of as many leaders as possible. This book captures principles that I've learned in 20 plus years of coaching leaders in the entrepreneurial space, in business, government, nonprofits, education and the local church. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn to keep up with what I'm currently learning and thinking about. If you're ready to take a next step with a coach to help you intentionally grow and thrive as a leader, I'd be honored to help you. Just go to catalyticleadershipnet to book a call with me. Stay tuned for our next episode next week. Until then, as always, leaders choose to be catalytic.

Intro/Outro: 33:37

Thanks for listening to Catalytic Leadership with Dr William Attaway. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss the next episode. Want more? Go to catalyticleadershipnet.