How to Think Like the CEO of Your Solobusiness
I wanted to talk about this before you finish setting your New Year’s resolution, as this will make for a really good one that will definitely make you more money.
Start by asking yourself this question: Who are you in your business? Are you the self-employed worker or are you truly the CEO of your Company?
You may have read about me saying ‘think from where you want to be”. So unless you want to be stuck working full time and always being busy in your business you want to think like the CEO of the company you want to create.
Often it’s very tempting to get caught up in the day to day busyness and loosing sight of the things that really matter. I mentioned this already in last week’s article about time wasters. Today’s post really takes this to another level.
Here are the top 3 things that you should focus on, on a daily basis to truly step into the CEO mentality:
1. Know Your Numbers
This is a big strategic focus and so often neglected. A lot of Solopreneurs don’t pay enough attention to the Performance data of their business: The Profit and Loss Statement, The Balance Sheet, Weekly Sales, Subscriber numbers etc. I used to be guilty of that as well, my excuse was: “I am too busy making money, I’ll look at it later. “ – Sorry, this isn’t how it works. I guarantee you, you will make more money the more you focus on this. And it’s hugely motivating once you see the results of your action black on white on the page. Your decisions will be much more informed and it really takes a lot of stress away when you know exactly what is happening in your business.
Practical tip: Build yourself a reporting sheet (or have your assistant do it) that you review once a week at least. Track your subscriber numbers, your sales, your cost as a minimum.
2. Focus on Strategic Relationships
Rather thank focusing on the next client, focus on getting your message out to as many potential clients as possible. In other words, look to build relationships with Joint Venture Partners. Spend your time networking with them, see how you can benefit them and build win –win agreements. Developing such relationships takes time, so start early and regularly do something to maintain these relationships. This will grow your business exponentially faster than focusing simply on getting one client at a time.
Practical tip: Research 5 potential JV partners and start building a relationship with them eg. by commenting on their blog posts or retweeting their work.
3. Focus on Systemizing Your Business
In order to grow your business successfully you need to build leverage. You can only leverage your own effort by systemizing everything you do. Ideally you will find a piece of technology that replaces your manual effort. For everything else you want to start hiring team once you start to grow. In fact the time to start hiring team is when you know you could be doing income producing tasks but you don’t’ get to it because you are stuck doing something someone else could do.
Practical tip: Make a list of 5 things you want to let go of doing in the next 4-6 weeks, decide how to c them and start to action this immediately. Document your processes as you develop them and start creating a procedures manual or even better – hire a virtual assistant to do that.
I know it’s a big step for many Solopreneurs to shift their focus to these things above, and it really makes a big difference to your productivity and your time and ultimately your income when you do.
Being successful in business often means getting delayed gratification for our efforts. The 3 things above take some time to pay off and I promise you when they do, they do so in multiples. So lift yourself up and do the things the small number of successful entrepreneurs do who are making solid 6 figures and more.
What is your experience with implementing these things? How has it paid off for you when you made the shift? What practical tips have worked well for you? Leave me a comment here, I’d love to hear from you! Please leave me a comment here!
Yvonne McIntosh is a solo entrepreneur business coach specializing in helping coaches, small business consultant and wellness professionals to Brand their Unique Brilliance. Yvonne’s also provide executive business coaching and business advice for entrepreneurs to break through their limiting beliefs and growing their business.
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