As a new entrepreneur, you feel inclined to say yes to everything. But as your business grows and those yeses pile up, they become overwhelming to the point where they prevent you from doing the necessary CEO level work you need to focus on.
In today’s episode, I share the top three boundaries that’ll give you the confidence to say no so that you can concentrate on the work you’re truly here to do.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
2:59 - Having clear boundaries doesn’t get talked about much in business circles. Why is having clear boundaries in place so crucial as a CEO?
8:07 - I discuss the different types of clear boundaries you need to place in your business, starting with your calendar.
15:31 - What’s one reason why people get drained and feel tired when working with clients? I talk about the most important thing you can do about it.
21:57 - I reveal how I handle emergencies (on both my end and a client’s) and requests for meet-ups to ensure I protect my time and energy.
27:29 - Constant communication can become an energy drain too. What do you need to look at when setting boundaries around people contacting you?
37:28 - While email is my go-to business communication channel, I reveal how I handle questions and messages through other channels.
42:17 - What do you do when people just want to pick your brain? It’s easy to get sucked into this thinking it’ll lead to a client relationship!
45:46 - Having these clear client boundaries in a scheduling policy will nip problems like last-minute cancellations in the bud quickly.
50:45 - This client boundary challenge is something I see a lot in service providers who are good at a lot of things.
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My entrepreneurial dad taught me that you have to fire yourself from every other position in your business. But when you first start your business, you have to wear so many hats: customer service, bookkeeper, tech person, assistant, and so on. So it can be quite challenging to let go of some of the roles as you grow your business and your team.
Today kicks off a new podcast series that discusses how you can become more productive and focuses as a CEO. And in this episode, I talk about how to redefine your role as CEO of your business so you don’t become the bottleneck that holds everything up.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
3:56 - Why is it so difficult to let go of the other roles and stay in your CEO lane as your business grows?
7:07 - Founder of Spanx, Sara Blakely, gave insight on how she had to learn to get out of her own way.
12:05 - You being the bottleneck in your business has this unintended consequence as well.
13:06 - How can you start redefining your role as CEO? I reveal the first thing I did and some red flags that signal you’re getting in the way.
17:29 - I discuss the role of the traditional CEO in defining their business’s vision. I also share my favorite exercise to get clarity on your business’s vision.
22:00 - CEOs also have a responsibility to set the culture for the company. I talk about one of the values I’ve had for my business since the beginning.
26:36 - What’s the difference between how corporate CEOs go about creating the strategic plan for their business vs. small business CEOs?
28:49 - I discuss how running a small business team contrasts with running a large company team and how that’s reflected in my business.
31:53 - This final role-playing piece for CEOs is one of the most difficult. It’s the one thing you can’t outsource.
38:35 - Where do you need to put your time, energy, and attention so that you can focus on generating business growth and results? To get clear on this, here are some questions to ask yourself.
48:44 - I share how the avenues where I focus my time, energy, and attention on show up in my business every week and month.
56:15 - How do I divide up my time between doing all the things I’m focused on in my business?
Mentioned In This Episode
Visibility is scary. It’s one of the reasons why so many female entrepreneurs don’t seek out more of it for their business. Yet, it’s also the thing that’ll grow your business.
So how can you feel more confident and empowered in the spotlight? In this episode, I talk with my friend Erica Courdae, a CEO Collective mentor and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion consultant, about what it’s been like to have more visibility than ever before and how you can more confidently embrace greater visibility for your business and message.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
5:54 - What kind of visibility journey has Erica gone on? She talks about her roller coaster ride since 2018 and the dilemma she faced in 2020.
11:51 - Erica used to say yes to every opportunity. Now a bit more discerning about what she takes on, she discusses the key pieces that helped her handle the demand for her time.
15:21 - What does it take to get your message out into the world? We reveal why consistency is key to gaining and handling greater visibility.
17:26 - Having this missing piece really makes things easier when you find yourself suddenly confronted with more demands for your time.
23:25 - How has Erica navigated exposure to larger audiences with people who may vehemently disagree with her message?
31:59 - There’s a difference between visibility for yourself as an individual and visibility for your message.
40:50 - To wrap up, I go over a couple of key points I want to make sure you take away from this episode.
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Do you think you’re attracting new people to your business through social media? The social media platforms that have been around for a while used to be that way. These days, though, fewer people see your content on most social media.
So what is social media good for? Most of it now works best for nurturing your existing audience. But in this episode, I talk about my experiment with TikTok and reveal what I look for when leveraging it to attract brand new people to my business.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
2:36 - I discuss the social media landscape that existed when I first started my business and the magic space you need to best leverage a new platform.
5:15 - What happens when you miss your window of opportunity on a social media platform?
8:20 - I reveal my hypothesis about what makes TikTok different and get into how I decided to play around with it.
16:38 - I’m committing to six months of posting to TikTok five times a week as my goal. What’s my secret to staying consistent on this (or any other) platform?
19:17 - How is my experiment going? I share what I did and what has happened in the two and a half months since I started (as of this recording).
27:02 - I disclose some of my videos that took off and reveal what I’ve learned so far using the platform. It makes me feel even more confident in my TikTok hypothesis.
34:49 - What platform can you use to help you amplify your message? (It doesn’t have to be TikTok!) And why is passive marketing online a myth?
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