From Entrepreneur to CEO – pt 1
By VICKY BROWN
I’m sure you’ve heard the term from employee to entrepreneur – and I’m also sure you know what that means. You’re not working for someone else anymore, you’re an entrepreneur – setting your own course, deciding what, where and when you work.
Now, I know lots of people want to, and do, move from employee to entrepreneur. But what about making the leap from entrepreneur to CEO.
What’s the difference? Well, it’s rooted in what you envision for your business.
I guess the best way I can explain it is to give you a peek into how I got here.
When I started my first business, a colleague of mine constantly teased me because I kept referring to we. We’re going to do this, we got that client, we need to change this.
She wanted to know who was the magical ‘we’ I kept talking about. Because, truth be told, it was really just me. I was a one woman show – doing everything, planning everything, executing on everything. But in my MIND, I already had a full blown company with a team. I knew from day one that I wanted Idomeneo to grow to be a good sized company, with a full team, so that we could offer a variety of HR services to our clients; and maybe even go beyond that – which in fact we did with insurance services and now our education division IDO Ventures.
OK, I know – I’m getting ahead of myself.
Anyway, like I said, I was VERY clear on what I wanted this company to be – and I was like a homing pidgin, 100% focused on the vision.
Maybe you’ve heard the phrase, begin with the end in mind – well that was me. I could actually see it, heck I even built out an org chart! That’s right, when I was the only employee, I had a future org chart of over 50 people.
Now, and please hear me, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING wrong with wanting a lifestyle or boutique business; or wanted to stay a solopreneur. If that’s your vision, then go for it. It’s just that it wasn’t my vision. I wanted Idomeneo to outlast me, to be my legacy.
Now, of course, with that in mind, it would mean I would have to build a team – and that in turn meant that I would have to become a CEO and lead the company.
Now again, that’s not the only path – you might choose to become the creative head of your business, and hire a quote “professional CEO” to run the day to day. Oh, there are all sorts of ways you can structure things. But I knew I wanted to grow into the role, and take it on myself.
So that brings me to the first question you have to ask yourself – do you even want to be a CEO? Because if you really want something else, some other type of structure for your business – then you’ll have to get real with yourself, and start the doing of getting things in place. Going out and finding those people who can run part or all of the business for you.
But, if you’re going to be the grand Poo-bah, then you’re going to have to get comfortable leveling up your skill set.
Doing the job is one thing, managing people to do the job is another thing – and motivating people to follow your lead is a different muscle altogether.
“… Maybe you’ve heard the phrase, begin with the end in mind – well that was me. I could actually see it, heck I even built out an org chart! That’s right, when I was the only employee, I had a future org chart of over 50 people.“
First, you have to get really comfortable with delegating. I had to let go of my perfectionism, and my only child-ness, and admit to myself that other people could not only do the job, but they actually might be much better and more experienced at it than I was.
Holding on to doing everything is the #1 mistake I had to get over. Honestly, I would hire someone, someone who was good at something, and then not give it to them to do. What a waste. A waste of money, their time, and mine. How in the world did I expect them to add value, if I wouldn’t let them do anything.
Anyway, so I had to get over that tendency.
And then there’s the organization. The more people that are involved, the more organization you need. The more coordination you need, and the more communication you need.
Don’t waste another minute trying to figure out how to get your business going and what should come next.
Grab your Free 3-Step Leader’s Journey Business Builder course, and get freedom and peace of mind, knowing you are on the right, proven track.
People hear things differently, learn differently – and to be successful, you need to reach them where they are. And let me tell you, that’s going to take a lot more time and attention than you think. But the payoff can be massive. Because, when you have a team, and each member is fully contributing – well then you’ve got something. Now you have a solid foundation that you can grow on.
I’ve done a lot of episodes on how to select, hire and grow a team – in fact, that’s part of what the Leader’s Journey Experience is all about. So, I won’t hammer on about that. But just know that the people that you decide to bring on your journey with you, the team, your team – will be your greatest accomplishment and your biggest challenge. Because like I said earlier motivating people to follow your lead – well, that’s an art and science. And you are definitely going to have to level up your skills to be effective at CEO’ing. And it’s not just people skills, you’ve got to get your arms around the technical side of the job too.
In the next episode, we’ll talk about what those technical skills are, and how you can grow them so you’ll be unstoppable.