The Manager That Makes You Money

With James Sinclair

By the end, the owner is no longer the management system. The management team is.

A 40-page workbook, eight video lessons that help you put it to work, and three tools. How I find, hire and run the managers who grow a business without me in it.

£99Pay once, keep it

Buy now, £99

Included: 3 online tools, worth £33

The People Analyser~~On its own £7~~
The Interview Scorecard~~On its own £19~~
The Manager Maths~~On its own £7~~

You're buying the 40-page workbook. The 8 video lessons and 3 online tools come free with it.

Secure card checkout. Your login follows by email. 14 days to change your mind.

You already know most of this

Anyone who has watched a few of my videos knows the shape of it. Hire attitude over skill. Give people ownership. Measure output, not busyness. Get out of the middle.

The hard part is doing it. You know you have to hire to grow, but the day to day eats every hour, so you never get time to think, let alone find a manager properly. The next hire starts to feel like a massive risk, and you sit on the fence.

Then, when you do hire, the questions start. How do you find the talented ones? How do you measure them against your own standards?

This course is the way I answer both, written down: the questions I ask in the interview, the ten things I mark every manager against, the decisions I hand over and the ones I keep. With the templates pulled out so you can use them on Monday, and the videos for when you want me talking you through each page.

If everything comes back to you, you're still acting as the manager.

From lesson 5: the People Analyser worksheet, filled in

What's in the workbook

Forty pages, seventeen sections. Every one of these is a page you can print, fill in and put in front of a manager.

The 43 interview questions: plus the killer closing question, scored 1 to 5 as you go.Pages 9 to 11
The E + M = S interview scorecard: eight areas, evidence not impressions.Page 12
The People Analyser: 10 criteria, Y or N, a score out of 10 for every person on your team.Pages 8 and 9
The Four Interview Process: group, one to one, colleague-led, presentation.Page 8
The six-step senior-hire checklist: for the day you decide "we need an FD now".Page 13
The role framework: what they own, what good looks like, how we'll know, when we review.Page 15
The manager scorecard: outcome, target, current result, evidence, next action.Page 18
The decision-rights grid: what the manager decides, consults on, or brings to you, across people, operations, customers, finance and marketing.Page 19
The six-step coaching flow: observation, impact, conversation, agreed action, evidence, review.Pages 20 to 22
The delegation conversation and worksheet: outcome, why, authority, measure, review.Pages 23 and 24
The four-part management rhythm: check in, review, develop, communicate.Page 25
The LION meeting: last week, issues, opportunities, next week. The weekly town hall my managers run without me.Page 26
The 90-day, eight-stage plan: diagnose, decide, find, build, lead, measure, audit, grow, with the evidence for each.Page 36

Plus the Manager/MD and Finance Director role maps, the five management standards, the seven manager review questions, and how I briefed Doug to take the finance function off me.

Workbook page: Find and hire the right manager — Find and hire the right manager

Workbook page: Interview questions — Interview questions

Workbook page: People Analyser — People Analyser

Workbook page: Give managers permission to lead — Give managers permission to lead

Workbook page: The LION meeting — The LION meeting

Workbook page: The 90-day plan — The 90-day plan

Six of the forty pages, as they print.

The eight lessons

Filmed in my own businesses. Watch a lesson, then do that section of the workbook.

01
Intro: How to Recruit, Train and Measure a Manager Who Drives Profit
E + M = S, and how the videos and the workbook fit together.
02
Understanding Leadership & Management
Turning 80% operating and 20% growing the other way round.
03
The Dinner Party Rule
Why a team of more than six needs systems, and what management really is.
04
Managing Culture
Hire slow, fire fast, and only hire people who work above the line.
05
The People Analyser
Score each person out of ten, then cultivate them or change them.
06
The Recruitment Process
The four-interview process, run as deselection, not a talent show.
07
The LION Meeting Method
Last week, issues, opportunities, next week: management meetings that stay short.
08
Financial Director Case Study
How I hired a finance director and got my own time back.

Use these on Monday, before you've watched a video

Most of the value in here needs no homework. These six come out of the workbook as stand-alone templates and scripts, so you get paid back before you've done any of the work.

The interview script

All 43 questions in seven categories, the scoring scale, and the closing question: "If I spoke to your previous boss and asked them to give me one reason why I should not employ you, what would they say?"

Use it in your next interview

The People Analyser

Ten criteria, Y or N, everyone on the team on one page. More Y, they're the ones. More N, cull or cultivate.

Use it on the team you already have

The decision-rights grid

People, operations, customers, finance, marketing. Three columns: manager can decide, manager must consult, your approval required.

Fill it in with your manager this week

The LION meeting agenda

Last week, issues, opportunities, next week. Run the first two to four together, hand it over, step away.

Run it this Monday

The delegation conversation

Outcome, why, authority, measure, review. Five questions that turn "can you look after this" into something you can audit.

Use it the next time you hand something over

The 90-day plan

Eight stages with the evidence that proves each one happened. Diagnose to grow.

Print it, pin it up

By the end, you'll be able to say

Seven things you'll be able to say and mean. They're the last page of the workbook, so tick each one off as it comes true.

I can see where I am the bottleneck.
I know what management ownership I need.
I know how to assess and build the right manager.
I have made sure my managers know what they own and what they can decide.
I review outcomes and evidence instead of chasing activity.
I delegate and audit instead of taking the work back.
I am spending more of my time on marketing, innovation, sales, opportunities and growth.

What happened when they put it to work

From reviews of my books and podcast, and from owners who've worked with me. This course is new, so none of these are reviews of it yet.

...it's only when I discovered James Sinclair it dawned on me how little actual business experience most of them have. ... James teaches business and marketing from the position of someone who runs multiple real life, bricks & mortar businesses

Andrew J. GardnerReviewing the Business Broadcast podcast

It has really opened our eyes to what we weren't doing. I am absolutely loving it. You can really see the difference now between me and my manager, as I have stepped away from the day to day operations.

Paul KingPaul J King Funeral Directors. Business Accelerator member

Great book that really puts the growth journey into perspective for your team. It made me realise a lot, and I'm already putting it into action in my business and seeing results. Definitely one for entrepreneurs with bigger teams.

Christopher GeorgeReviewing The Dream Team

A great read for any business owner, I have taken a lot of great ideas from this book. I have used the rules of your business on page 43 within my company already and it has made a big difference.

Darren TaylorReviewing The Millionaire Clown

James showed me what was possible - we were around £400,000 per annum and he just made me push to the next level and we're now turning over £1,000,000!

Carmel JaneOwner, Carmel Jane Photography

In the process of growing my start up I think about what James would say. Sales before operations, E+M=S, you want a business with margin, a business with scale, high barrier to entry, the 4 company philosophy, invest 50% of profits into slow pounds etc etc.

Josh WoodeReviewing the Business Broadcast podcast

I was on the podcast a few years ago, when I was only making £20k per year. I went away and implemented some of the knowledge James shared. Since then, I've done £100k, £80k and £100k. Thank you.

David GottThe Lovely Car Company. Podcast guest

At first I wondered what I could glean from a clown about business, but it turns out rather a lot! A lot of thoughts, beliefs and ideas swirling in my head have been articulated well by James and it's great to hear how they work in his businesses, I'm certainly enjoying applying them to mine.

Scott JonesReviewing The Experience Business

James speaks from a place of passion and experience. He's built a fast-growth, profitable bricks-and-mortar business and a dynamic team culture. His talks are fast paced, funny, irreverent and packed with value.

Daniel PriestleyEntrepreneur and best-selling author

What you get

The 40-page workbook: the People Analyser, the org chart, the scorecard, the 1/3/10 plan
Eight video lessons that help you put the workbook to work, filmed in my own businesses
Three online tools: the People Analyser, the Interview Scorecard and Manager Maths
Watch on any device, print the workbook

14 days to change your mind

If it isn't for you, reply to your receipt email within 14 days of buying and you get the full price back. Your access switches off when the refund goes through.

James Sinclair teaching a room of business owners

Who's teaching this

You're getting me

I run over 40 businesses: a £55m group of companies, over 3,000 staff and one million customers a year.

Every lesson is me, on camera. I'm teaching what I actually do in my own businesses, with the real numbers and the real mistakes.

The frameworks are mine. The People Analyser, the 43 interview questions, the LION meeting, the decision-rights grid. They're how I hire and run managers in my own businesses.

I started with a clown suit and a party business. Everything in here is what I learned getting from there to a group I don't have to manage.

Who it's for

You're hiring your first manager and want the 43 interview questions and the scorecard before the first candidate sits down.
You've already got a manager who keeps bringing decisions back to you.
Nobody on the team can tell you what happened last week.
You can see you're the bottleneck, and you'd rather be on marketing, sales and the next opportunity.

Not employing anyone yet? Start with Before You Employ Anyone (coming 8 Dec) and come back to this one.

Questions

Is this a book or a course?

Both. You get a 40-page workbook, with eight video lessons that walk you through it. The workbook is the thing you print, write in and put in front of a manager. The videos are me explaining each page and the thinking behind it.

How do I watch it?

On any device, as soon as your login arrives by email. The workbook is a PDF you print. The three tools open on your phone, save as you go and need no login.

How long do I have?

Pay once, keep it. The workbook, the lessons and the three tools stay yours for good.

Do I need staff for this to be useful?

Yes. This is written for owners who already employ people and want a manager who owns the result, or who have one and want them to actually manage.

Will this make me money?

I won't promise a figure and neither does the workbook. What it builds is capacity: fewer decisions coming back to you, and your time moving into the sales, marketing and opportunities that only you can do. What you do with that capacity is the return.

Is this the Business Masterclass?

No. This is eight lessons you watch at home. The Masterclass is two days in the room at Ashridge House, 19 and 20 January 2027. Every course points there in the end.

What if it's not for me?

You have 14 days. If it isn't for you, reply to your receipt email within 14 days of buying and you get the full price back. Your access switches off when the refund goes through.

Get out of the middle

The workbook, the eight videos, the templates, three tools and a 90-day plan. The way I hire, build and delegate to the managers who run my businesses for me.

£99Pay once, keep it

Buy now, £99

You're buying the 40-page workbook. The 8 video lessons and 3 online tools come free with it.

Secure card checkout. Your login follows by email. 14 days to change your mind.

The Manager That Makes You Money

Three tools, sold on their own for £33

The People Analyser

The Interview Scorecard

The Manager Maths

You already know most of this

What's in the workbook

The eight lessons

Intro: How to Recruit, Train and Measure a Manager Who Drives Profit

Understanding Leadership & Management

The Dinner Party Rule

Managing Culture

The People Analyser

The Recruitment Process

The LION Meeting Method

Financial Director Case Study