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Second in Command: The Chief Behind the Chief with Cameron Herold

Ep. 541 - Brand Built COO Meghan Donnelly - How Automation Unlocks Freedom And Calm Now

Second in Command: The Chief Behind the Chief with Cameron Herold

Second in Command with Cameron Herold

Business, Entrepreneurship, Careers, Management

4.9 • 225 Ratings

🗓️ 2 January 2026

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Are you drowning in busywork, feeling alone at the top, and itching to create a business that lets you actually live?

In this episode, host Sivana Brewer talks with the dynamic Meghan Donnelly, COO of Brand Built, who reveals how neurodivergence and automation can become your most thrilling business superpowers.

You’ll get the raw truth on turning chaos into opportunity, why clean data unlocks peace of mind, and the revolutionary systems that make a five-person team outperform companies with hundreds.

If you want to break the chains of burnout, build a brand you love, and create the operational lifestyle most entrepreneurs only dream about… this real, radically honest episode is your shortcut. Listen now or risk falling even further behind. These are actionable insights you won’t hear anywhere else.

Timestamped Highlights

[00:00] – Why “stop working” might be the smartest advice for results

[03:39] – The accidental secrets of scaling despite ADHD—and how neurodiversity can become a victory

[07:52] – How being first and different as a woman in tech nearly broke Meghan Donnelly

[13:47] – The surprising trap of big projects—and the revolutionary 30-day solution

[20:13] – A radical approach to getting business partnerships that pay forever

[27:21] – The automation freak’s shocking rule: automate, delegate, then eliminate

[44:47] – How poor onboarding quietly destroys teams and revenues (and the proven fix)

[52:03] – Loom + AI SOPs: The must-know trick for effortless documentation

[58:29] – Why most business goals keep you stuck—and the “life-first” blueprint

About the Guest


Meghan Donnelly is the Chief Operating Officer of Brand Built, a fast-growing peer-to-peer coaching community for founders focused on LinkedIn branding and business automation. With 15+ years in digital operations, Meghan Donnelly has gone from coder to corporate leader to founder, transforming her ADHD diagnosis into entrepreneurial firepower. She’s known for building operational systems that are so lean and automated, five people can run what usually takes fifty. She’s also the creator of the Queen of Automation podcast and Digital Magic CRM SaaS.

🔗 LinkedIn | Website | Podcast



Mentioned Resources

  1. Digital Magic CRM
  2. Nat Berman (LinkedIn expert, founder)
  3. Darren Mass (Brand Built founder, exited entrepreneur)
  4. Go High Level (software platform)
  5. Loom
  6. Notion
  7. Slack
  8. Google Workspace
  9. ChatGPT
  10. Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS, referenced in approach)
  11. Vivid Vision (Cameron Herold’s book)



About the Co-Host

Sivana Brewer is a Fractional COO for Remote Teams and former COO at Closers.io, where she helped scale the company to multiple eight figures and built over 500+ sales teams in just 2.5 years. She specializes in leadership development, remote operations, and systems that empower teams to grow sustainably.

🔗 Connect with Sivana on LinkedIn



Important Links

  1. Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn
  2. Explore the COO Alliance - The World’s Leading Community for Seconds in Command
  3. Get Cameron’s book: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
  4. Take Cameron’s leadership course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)
  5. Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi



The Second in Command Podcast is an original production hosted by Cameron Herold and co-hosted by Sivana Brewer. Brought to you by COO Alliance. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

if you can't measure the success of the thing that you're working on, stop working on it.

0:06.4

Why the heck are you? Why? So, right? Like, companies create goals. Like, we, we create three big

0:14.1

goals, just three. You only more than that. And usually one is revenue. One is ops and one is lifestyle. Because, well, we'll get

0:25.1

that's up. Yeah. So revenue ops lifestyle. Those are the three big goals. If the task that you're

0:30.6

working on right now, let's actually use this as an example. When you asked me, I said, okay,

0:37.0

let's think about this podcast. And I was like, and then you started giving me information about the podcast and the listening, like who's, who the audience is and how many listeners you have and not kind of stuff. And I was like, yeah, this is good opportunity. If I got one person from your listeners or two people from your audience that reach out to me to talk to me about brand built and what we do, what our services are, it's paid for mail.

1:08.2

Welcome to the Second and Command podcast, produced by the COO Alliance and brought you by its founder, Cameron Harold.

1:16.4

In the Second in Command podcast, we talked to top COOs who share the insights, strategies, and tactics that made them the chief behind the chief.

1:24.8

And now here's your co-host, former COO of a multi-eight-figure

1:29.2

remote company and alumni member of the COO Alliance, Savannah Brewer. Today's guest is Megan Donnelly,

1:40.4

the dynamic COO of brand built. With over 15 years in digital operations, Megan has a powerful

1:46.9

story of turning early ADHD challenges and an unconventional path into entrepreneurial superpowers.

1:53.9

In this episode, we dive into her journey from launching the digital unicorns to leading operations

1:58.5

at Brand Built, a peer-to-peer coaching platform helping founders scale

2:02.2

through LinkedIn branding and automation. Megan shares her favorite tools. Every CEO should be using

2:07.5

the importance of clean data and quality control, and why LinkedIn is one of the most

2:11.8

underutilized growth platforms for operators today. If you are looking to systemize your backend

2:16.9

and strengthen your brand,

2:18.5

this episode is full of real talk, real tactics, and the kind of insight that only a tech-savvy

2:24.3

operator can provide. Let's dive in.

2:31.1

We are live with Megan. Welcome to the show.

2:34.1

Hi, thanks for having me. Welcome to the show.

...

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