In this episode, Ajay Saini speaks with Scott Carley, a leadership consultant, speaker, and author of Can I Trust You? Scott spoke about trust, leadership, and personal transformation in business and life. Scott shares his unconventional journey from formal training in theology and decades as a pastor and church growth consultant, to a major personal failure that shattered trust and forced him to rebuild his life, relationships, and career from the ground up. Scott explains how that experience led him into the business world, where he has spent the past 25 years helping organizations strengthen leadership teams, navigate growth, and integrate cultures during mergers and acquisitions. Central to his work is the concept of a “Trust Credit Score”, a practical framework that recognizes that people are constantly, often subconsciously, asking one critical question in every interaction: Can I trust you?

He breaks trust down into five measurable areas:

1. Vibe (how you show up and your body language),

2. Motives and agenda,

3. Values,

4. Skillset and expertise, and

5. Track record and results.

Scott explains how individuals and teams can score themselves or others in these areas to identify gaps, build trust intentionally, and improve collaboration and performance. The conversation also explores how understanding personality differences helps teams appreciate diverse working styles rather than seeing them as personal conflicts. Scott shares how trust frameworks and “courageous conversations” allow leaders to address issues directly, keep people “in character” in their roles, and maintain high-performing, energized teams

The episode concludes with Scott’s advice for business owners: real success starts with personal growth. Investing in yourself through coaching, masterminds, reading, and reflection creates internal change that naturally spills over into stronger leadership and better business outcomes. Scott emphasizes that even small, consistent habits, like reading or listening to books for 10 minutes a day, can compound into life-changing results over time

Khivi Care is a six-bed residential care home in Livermore, California, built on compassion, dignity, and a deep sense of community. Sharan Kaur shares her personal journey from a diverse career spanning tech, healthcare, banking, and startups to finding purpose in senior care, a decision driven by her desire to create meaningful, people-centered work.

Sharan discusses the emotional, physical, and practical challenges seniors and their families face when transitioning into care, including loss of independence, isolation, guilt, and financial stress. She explains how Khivi Care addresses these challenges through highly personalized care plans, consistent routines, and a home-like environment that prioritizes comfort, familiarity, and human connection over a “one-size-fits-all” approach.

The conversation also explores the broader senior care landscape, comparing small residential homes, assisted living, memory care, and in-home care. Sharan highlights why smaller facilities can often better serve seniors with higher or changing care needs. Sharan emphasizes the importance of community, social interaction, and continuity of routines in improving seniors’ quality of life, sharing real stories that bring these principles to life.

Finally, Sharan offers advice for business owners: lead with purpose, take care of the people who support your business, stay deeply involved, especially in the early stages, and never lose sight of the human element. The episode closes with practical guidance for families to plan early, gather information ahead of time, and make informed decisions rather than emotional ones during moments of crisis.

Andriana Mendez, Certified Senior Advisor and co-founder of Custom Moving Solutions shares her entrepreneurial journey from corporate marketing and grocery retail into building a family-owned moving and senior move-management company founded in 2017. The business evolved from residential moving into a specialized focus on seniors and adult children navigating downsizing, relocations, and crisis-driven transitions, emphasizing compassionate, highly personalized service and real human connection.

She explains how Custom Moving Solutions provides end-to-end move management - planning, packing, moving, downsizing, item dispersal, donations, estate coordination, and unpacking, while prioritizing stress reduction during time-sensitive and emotionally charged situations. Andriana also highlights her community initiative, Sensational Seniors, which offers free, in-person educational workshops and events across the East Bay. These programs help seniors and their families understand care options, plan proactively, and connect with trusted local professionals, while also fostering collaboration and business growth within the senior services ecosystem.

The discussion underscores key lessons for business owners: the importance of relationships, consistency, community involvement, and staying grounded in one’s “why.” Andriana emphasizes proactive planning, dignity in aging, and building a supportive village for seniors and caregivers alike, positioning both her business and community work as mission-driven efforts rooted in service and trust.

Lilit shares her journey from growing up in Armenia during its independence movement to immigrating to the U.S., pursuing foreign service, and then navigating careers in Oracle, pharma, and entrepreneurship, all of which taught her that change is constant and success depends on readiness. As co-founder of Realatable, she helps long-established small businesses identify operational gaps, regain alignment, and avoid piling disjointed solutions on top of each other, especially during today’s rapid technological and AI-driven shifts. Her CORE framework (Clarity, Optimization, Readiness, Evolution) guides companies to strengthen foundations before adopting AI, which she emphasizes will only amplify existing strengths or weaknesses. She explains how her team acts as fractional operations support or an outsourced COO, bringing corporate-level expertise, entrepreneurial experience, and a strong partner network. Lilit stresses that good consulting starts with deep discovery, not quick solutions, and that clear, honest communication is the single biggest driver of business success. On AI, she warns against both blind adoption and total avoidance, advocating for thoughtful use, daily training of tools, human oversight, and skepticism toward “silver bullet” promises. She encourages businesses to stay focused on real problems, think 2 to 3 years ahead, and communicate vision clearly.

April Mora shared her remarkable journey, from launching a financial literacy mission in 2007 to help individuals and business owners understand money, to shifting toward health and wellness after witnessing aging family members struggle with chronic wounds and limited continuity of care. She explained how Wound Menders MD addresses a growing but underserved problem; millions of seniors nationwide suffer from chronic wounds, yet many lack access to consistent, high-quality wound care, often relying on urgent care visits or untrained family members. April described how their mobile wound care clinic brings specialized care directly to patients’ homes, assisted living centers, and communities, offering services from traditional wound care to advanced stem-cell patches that are Medicare-reimbursed and can speed healing by up to 62%. She highlighted major challenges such as lack of awareness, limited mobility among seniors, and the burden placed on families, especially when wounds worsen due to delayed treatment. April also explained the importance of partnering with home care agencies, home health companies, and assisted living centers to provide proactive care that prevents wounds from progressing to more serious stages. She discussed insurance coverage, how Medicare Parts A and B impact wound care options, and the growing need to serve not only seniors but also diabetics, surgical patients, and veterans. As we concluded, April offered her biggest business lesson: success requires a strong team. Instead of trying to fix your weaknesses, she advises doubling down on your strengths and surrounding yourself with people whose strengths complement your own. Her mission, and that of Wound Menders MD, is clear, to educate, empower, and deliver accessible, high-quality wound care that truly improves lives.

Despite a successful career in tech and healthcare, it was Brian's own family’s difficult experiences with inconsistent caregiving that ultimately redirected him toward home care. This personal connection fuels his mission today: to raise the standards of reliability, caregiver training, and compassion for families who need support the most.

Brian explained that families typically reach out when they are overwhelmed or burned out, especially when caring for a loved one with dementia. While some people start with private caregivers, he shared how that route often leads to challenges such as last-minute cancellations, lack of backup support, and no liability protections. Agencies like ComForCare, by contrast, offer fully vetted caregivers, strong training programs, and the peace of mind that comes from backup coverage, workers’ compensation insurance, and ongoing oversight.

Brian also highlighted ComForCare’s standout differentiators. Their nationally recognized DementiaWise program, endorsed by the Alzheimer’s Association, equips caregivers to support clients through all stages of dementia with confidence and empathy. He also discussed the advantage of being part of more than 260 ComForCare offices across the U.S. and Canada, which allows his team to tap into shared best practices and nationwide expertise provided by the corporate. Additionally, his East Bay office is fully vendorized with the VA, a status no longer available to new agencies, enabling them to guide veterans through the benefits process and provide specialized support.

On the business side, Brian shared two pieces of advice for entrepreneurs: pursue work you are passionate about, and surround yourself with a strong team you trust. Home care, like many service-driven businesses, demands long hours and emotional investment, and passion is what sustains you through the tough days. He also emphasized the importance of listening to clients first and offering guidance based solely on their needs, not on selling a service.

You can reach ComForCare East Bay at 510-538-2273 or visit comforcare.com/alameda to learn more.

Melissa shares her 25+ years in recruiting and business development. She describes how ZRG Partners (a global talent advisory with a deep interim/fractional bench) steps in when stakes are high, say IPO prep, leadership turnover, audits/compliance, transaction readiness, and rapid scale. She touched upon uncertainty in the market, the cost of a wrong hire, and why speed, precision and culture fit matter. Typical process is to listen, assess, tailor a mix of interim, fractional, embedded recruiting, or exec search and deploy vetted consultants (often within a day). Tech/AI help, but relationships, trust, and ongoing partnership do the real heavy lifting. Melissa’s advice to leaders is to invest in relationships and stay flexible.

Fractional COO Guy Beretta, explains how small businesses can stop firefighting and scale with structure.The COO guy shares a practical playbook; start with your P&L, clarify the owner’s vision, run dual SWOTs (owner and business), and set a weekly 90-minute execution rhythm. We cover picking the right fractional leader, common franchise/real-estate ops pitfalls, and why fundamentals beat AI hype. Walk away with steps to streamline operations, grow revenue, and build toward a succession or exit.