There are two ways business owners can run a business:
Solo mode
CEO mode
Solo mode is when you look at your business through the lens of ME.
"What do I want/ not want? What's best for me?"
CEO mode is when you look at your business as a separate entity. It's something that stands on its own, separate from you. CEOs ask questions about the business and business health.
"What is best for the business? What does the business want/not want right now?"
Depending on which lens you are looking through at the moment, the answers could be very different.
You might think this is about the size of the business... a solopreneur is running in solo mode, and a bigger business is running in CEO mode.
That is not always the case.
I know of many bigger businesses that are still being run in solo mode - where the owner of the company is making decisions based on what THEY want/don't want... and not always based on what is best for the business.
Likewise, I know many a solopreneur running their business in CEO mode - where they are looking at what is best for the business, and not just at what they want/don't want.
The truth is - as a business owner there are times when you are called to make decisions that you personally may not want to make.
Let's look at a couple of examples:
1. Expanding your Team
I've had many conversations with business owners who say:
"I know I should get more help but I just don't want to spend that kind of money on hiring someone..."
I get it. YOU may not want to spend that money, but what does your business want?
Better yet. What does your business need?
Is your business at the point where a team is becoming necessary?
When you are constantly doing everything yourself and there is simply too much work to do. It’s time to hire.
What is a lack of support costing you in your business?
How much work is still on your plate because you don't have the right support? How much work isn't getting done at all because you don't have anyone else to do it?
Likewise, what could the right team/support allow you to create more of in your business? How does having a team in place free you up to do the things that your business needs you to do so that you can grow your business?
2. Documenting Processes
"Bah! This seems like such a waste of time and I don't think we need to document processes."
At face value, yes, processes are boring. They aren't sexy or fun to create. And it might seem like a lot of work to document processes and get them all laid out into a Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) guide.
But let's take a look at why processes matter...
Without them, you have to rely on what's in your brain to get things done. You know the tools. You know the steps. You know what needs to be done and how to do it. This means that you always have to be involved for things to get done... and that is no way to run a business.
Even with a team in place, without processes, your team may not be doing things 'your way.'
I hear this as a common complaint from business owners:
"I've hired someone but they keep messing it up, so I may as well just do it myself."
To which I would say:
"That is only true so long as the process - the way to do it - lives in your head."
In other words, get the ‘HOW TO’ out of your head and into a documented process that someone else can follow so that they *can* do it right.
Documented processes are the key to freedom. They are the key to getting the same results from a documented process. Even more, they are the key to taking a vacation and not having everyone scrambling in your absence.
And the best part? You don't have to do any of this alone!
When you hire a Certified OBM® they specialize in team and processes.
When you have an OBM on your team, THEY become the one to make sure you are building a solid foundation for your business. A foundation that allows you to operate in CEO mode to build more of what you want, in less time.
If you’d like to explore what working with a Certified OBM® could look like in your business, I would love to connect.
Let’s talk!
Dana Hitchcock is an Online Business Manager and a People - Processes - Projects Strategist. She helps entrepreneurs organize, strategize and prioritize their business to go from overwhelmed to streamlined and fancy-free!
After over 20 years in education and a decade as a successful entrepreneur, she launched her own business to help entrepreneurs clean up the back end of their business. She is a Certified OBM and HR professional. In her spare time, she loves watching Food Network, especially Alton Brown, and cooking up new things.
Dana is also a wife, mom of 4 with dreams of traveling the world and seeing it all!
Book a free call to talk more about your business goals and vision. Let's see if hiring an OBM is the right fit for you and your business.