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The official CEO.com podcast featuring unfiltered conversations with the leaders shaping our world.
Clint Betts: John, thank you so much for coming on the show. It’s an honor to have you. You’re the CEO and founder of Fast Slow Motion. Tell us what Fast Slow Motion is.
John Burdett: Thanks, Clint, for having me.
Fast Slow Motion is a Salesforce and HubSpot consulting firm. We help small businesses become big businesses on those platforms. We love helping people grow and scale the right way by making wise decisions and implementing good systems and processes.
Clint Betts: Those two platforms are competitors, but they work together as well. Give us a sense for why someone should use one or the other. I’m sure people think about that all the time.
John Burdett: Honestly, one’s a Mercedes and one’s a BMW. Which one do you like best, and which one fits your business?
We like both because you can scale and grow your business without ever outgrowing either platform. We’re big believers that most businesses should consolidate their tech stacks and put their systems, processes, and data in one place. That allows them to have a full 360-degree view of their business.
That becomes especially important in today’s AI-driven world. Data consolidation is huge. We started in the Salesforce ecosystem because, at the time, it was really the only truly scalable platform out there. Over the last few years, HubSpot has emerged as a very viable competitor.
Clint Betts: We actually use HubSpot here. They’re both great. Give me a sense for how AI is changing this. You mentioned the AI-driven landscape. Five years from now, do these platforms even exist? AI is changing everything.
John Burdett: Fundamentally, good systems, good processes, and good execution will never go away. AI is simply a tool that elevates everything. It allows us to do things faster, better, and more efficiently.
We see AI as an accelerator. The people who execute well, add value, and solve customer problems will still win in tomorrow’s world. The tools will just be better.
The challenge is that you have to have your data house in order, and most businesses don’t. AI is good at reading unstructured data, but it also hallucinates when that data isn’t organized. If your structured data is clean and you supplement it with unstructured data, you’re really positioned to win.
Right now, we see a lot of businesses scrambling because their house isn’t in order and they need to get it organized to use AI effectively.
Clint Betts: Tell us about your personal journey. I know you wrote The Scalable Business Framework, and you’ve gone through some significant health challenges. Give us a sense of your story.
John Burdett: It’s been a crazy journey over the last 10 months.
I started my career in technology and spent years helping build and scale businesses. I had a lot of success, but I was exhausted. It wasn’t fulfilling.
I’m a man of faith, and about 12 years ago I surrendered everything to God and decided I was going to do things His way. I started focusing on building businesses with systems and processes rather than heroics, so they could scale without depending on me.
Over the last 10 months, I unintentionally proved those principles work.
We wrote The Scalable Business Framework, and while we were finishing the manuscript, I had a severe flare-up of ulcerative colitis in January 2025. We’re recording this in November 2025. I lost 60 pounds in about eight weeks, was hospitalized for 21 days, and had my entire colon removed in February.
Then, three months later, I found out I had Stage 3 melanoma skin cancer, completely unrelated to the ulcerative colitis.
Today, I’m cancer-free and receiving treatment to make sure it stays that way.
What’s remarkable is that the principles I’d spent 12 years teaching actually worked. The business ran fine without me. Honestly, it probably did better without me, which is both humbling and encouraging.
More importantly, I had built a business I loved. I had meaningful relationships. I wasn’t lying in a hospital bed thinking about money or awards. I was thinking about the people I loved.
Spiritually, relationally, and physically, I was in a good place before all of this happened. I certainly didn’t have 60 pounds to lose, but I was healthy enough to weather the storm.
The book came out shortly after I got sick, and I got to stand behind it and say, “This actually works.”
Clint Betts: What got you through those hard times? I can’t even imagine. That sounds like hell in a lot of ways.
John Burdett: It does, and yet in many ways it’s been the best year of my life, which sounds crazy.
My faith, first and foremost. God really showed up. His presence was with me throughout the entire journey.
I also woke up every day with gratitude. I was thankful it was me and not someone in my family. I was thankful my business was healthy. I was thankful my kids were grown. I was thankful my wife and I were financially stable.
I had spent years building systems so the company could function without me. That gave me the freedom to focus entirely on getting healthy.
I also learned that I’m not in control. It didn’t matter how hard I worked, how much money I had, or who I knew. I wasn’t getting out of the hospital without having my colon removed.
Then three months later, I learned I had another disease to fight.
It was incredibly humbling for a Type-A person who’s always striving and pushing. But it taught me that everyone will go through trials. This was mine. Yours will be different, but we all face them.
The good news is that you can prepare yourself and build a life and business that can withstand those seasons.
Clint Betts: What is The Scalable Business Framework?
John Burdett: It’s a framework we developed while building the company.
Like most entrepreneurs, I did it wrong the first few times. I made mistakes and learned lessons the hard way. I became passionate about helping other people avoid those mistakes.
The foundation is what we call the Three Ps.
First is Purpose. You need a mission bigger than yourself. It can’t just be about making money.
Second is People. Customers matter. Partners matter. Most importantly, employees matter. You need principles that attract and retain the right people.
Third is Profit. That sounds obvious, but a lot of businesses miss it. If you’re not making money, something is wrong with the business model.
Without those three things, nothing lasts.
Then we build systems and processes on top of that foundation. Businesses start with heroics, but they can’t scale on heroics. We focus on process, automation, and visibility so leaders can be proactive instead of reactive.
I call it driving your business through the windshield instead of the rearview mirror.
Clint Betts: What makes a great leader?
John Burdett: A servant-first mentality.
I work for my team. They don’t work for me.
Leadership is about service. People want something worth following, and they want leaders who are authentic.
Vulnerability matters too. Life isn’t perfect. I’ve been open about my health journey because people want to follow real people.
Leaders need confidence, accountability, and humility. They need to be willing to say, “I made a mistake,” or “We need to pivot.”
Nobody wants to follow someone who thinks they have everything figured out.
Clint Betts: How have you thought about culture and building the right culture?
John Burdett: It starts with intentionality.
Your culture should be your culture, not somebody else’s. You need to define the type of company you want to build and the kind of people you want to attract.
Our Three Ps form the foundation of our culture. We talk about them constantly.
At this point, we have about 135 full-time employees. I can’t personally control culture anymore. Our people are the culture.
So we hold one another accountable. When someone isn’t living out those values, we have those difficult conversations.
We’re not for everyone, and that’s okay. There are plenty of great companies out there. But we won’t compromise on who we are.
People want authenticity. They want leaders who say what they mean and live it out consistently.
Clint Betts: How have you approached remote work versus hybrid or in-person work?
John Burdett: Fast Slow Motion has been 100% remote from the beginning.
I started the company 12 years ago, long before remote work was popular.
I wanted to build a company where people had flexibility. We work hard and believe work is a good thing, but we also want people to enjoy life.
We want them to be with their families, go on dates, coach their kids’ teams, attend dance recitals, whatever matters in their stage of life.
We built systems and processes around that philosophy from day one.
When COVID hit, most companies had to pivot. We didn’t change a thing.
I think that’s why so many companies have struggled with remote work. They were forced into something that didn’t align with their culture or infrastructure.
My advice is simple: decide who you are and be consistent. If you’re office-only, be office-only. If you’re hybrid, be hybrid. If you’re remote, be remote.
Just be clear and consistent.
Clint Betts: By the way, I love the name Fast Slow Motion. What’s the story behind it?
John Burdett: There are two parts to that story.
One day my son was little and threw a ball at me. I reacted and caught it. He looked at me and said, “Dad, that was like fast slow motion.”
I thought, “That’s a cool phrase.” Like any entrepreneur, I immediately checked to see if the domain name was available and bought it.
The deeper meaning comes from sports.
A Major League Baseball player sees a 95-mile-per-hour fastball and it looks manageable because they’ve put in the work. To the average person, it’s just a blur.
The same thing happens in business. When you’ve built the right systems and processes, things slow down and you can move faster.
When you haven’t done that work, everything speeds up and you slow down.
That’s really what Fast Slow Motion means.
Clint Betts: How are you thinking about the economy? There’s been a lot of uncertainty this year with tariffs, inflation, and changing policies. How are you approaching 2026?
John Burdett: I’m a big believer in controlling what you can control.
There will always be external factors—tariffs, inflation, wars, economic cycles. We don’t control those things.
Fortunately, our client base is diversified, so while certain industries have struggled, others have remained strong.
What I focus on is preparation. I can control margins. I can control consistency. I can control the inputs that produce good outcomes.
I can also control culture and mindset.
During COVID, I gathered our team and said, “I have no idea what’s going to happen, but here’s our plan.”
That’s all leaders can do.
Lay out a plan, communicate clearly, avoid overreacting, and stay prepared for opportunities.
The last few years have definitely been harder than the years before that, but we’ve continued to grow and remain profitable. That’s a blessing.
Clint Betts: Finally, we end every interview with the same question.
At CEO.com, we believe the chances one gives are just as important as the chances one takes.
When you hear that, who gave you a chance that helped get you where you are today?
John Burdett: There are a lot of people I could name.
But I’ll start with one of my professors when I was studying computer science.
I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do after graduation. He had started a professional services company that built large enterprise systems for Fortune 1000 companies.
His name was Steve Atkins. Along with his business partners, Larry Lilly and Sanjay Singh, he gave me my first real opportunity.
I was 21 years old and knew absolutely nothing.
They gave me responsibility, mentorship, and room to make mistakes. And believe me, I made plenty.
They invested in me long before I deserved it, and I owe a tremendous amount of my career to those three men.
Clint Betts: John, thank you so much for coming on the show. What an incredible business. And by the way, you’re feeling good? You’re healthy?
John Burdett: Yeah. I was telling someone the other day that about three or four weeks ago was the first time all year that I started feeling normal again.
So I’m incredibly blessed.
When your health gets taken away, you realize how much you took it for granted. Once you get it back, you become a different person.
I wake up grateful every morning.
Clint Betts: Good for you. God bless, my friend. Really appreciate it.
John Burdett: Thanks for having me.