Do you behave like a CEO or an employee?

Being an employee in your own business will cause you to fail.

This is not a “maybe” this is a definite, I have seen it time and time again. I have seen this in organisations that are a single person but also large scale businesses.

When running your own business it is essential that you learn to balance the time you do strategic thinking vs taking action. Without the thinking the action could be misplaced.

So many of my clients come to me because they have this problem, and it is born out of the way we have worked for years before starting our own business. The thought we need to be attached to our desks, phones, emails. We have to be “on” all the time. We have to show up every second of every day.

Lets look at what each of these mean and then how you can move to being the CEO of your own business.

What does an employee do?

Task!

This is the key to getting work done. And is needed at times in your business. Without the task doing, your business will struggle to be successful. But you need a balance.

Have you heard people say “I was working in my business instead of on my business.” This is exactly what they meant.

So being an employee is

• Doing all the tasks, activities or jobs yourself
• Doesn’t make critical decisions in the business
• Looks to other people for advise or direction
• Posts, reply or scrolling through Social Media

If you are a bad employee – you might be doing the bare minimum and hoping you don’t get caught. But remember that you are only fooling yourself now. If you busying yourself with tasks, tell people you are busy when you are not, or procrastinating doing the important tasks, it will only effect you and your bottom line. (watch this video on how to stop procrastinating)

What does a CEO do?

Strategy!

This is about thinking, directions and vision. These are the skills that set you part from others and make your business a success.

So if you are spending time being the CEO of your business, what would that look like in action?

• Scheduling time for thinking
• Scheduling time to review systems, products, clients.
• Working on your message and thought leadership
• Planning core content and campaigns around your message
• Planning your customer journey to increase touch points and sales
• Scheduling and undertaking sales generating activities

If you are not making decision, then you are not steering the ship. This means you will end up with a business you might not love. Creating a business that suits your lifestyle is so important. Otherwise you might as well have stayed employed.

So how do I become a CEO in my business?

This is all about discipline and habit building.

Working to become more strategic is actually easier than it sounds. It is about giving yourself space for thinking. I suggest to clients that they book in at least 2 hours a week for CEO time and another hour a week for sales generating activities. These two blocks of time – if used correctly – will help you move your business forward at a faster pace.

So in your CEO time you want to do thinking, think about your customer journey, the products your offer, the message your share. Think about what you stand for. And think about how you share that message.

In your sales generation time you want to take action, but only action that will get your sales. So this hour a week you will be following up with potential clients, sending offers or invoices, upselling to existing clients, getting on discovery calls to upsell one to one work and asking past and current clients for referrals of work.

Feel like you might need a little help?

Join me on the 19 October for a live webinar on my 6 strategies to fast track your business, I will cover all the amazing things you need to move your business forward and give you loads of questions for your thinking time!

You can find out more here and sign up to get access!