0:00

One thing I'm focusing on in my

0:02

business in 2024 is list growth as

0:05

always, but more importantly, making the content

0:07

I already have go further. Can I

0:09

get an amen? So

0:11

when my good friend Jenna Kutcher told me

0:14

she was offering a free masterclass teaching three

0:16

easy steps to 20 times

0:19

your traffic using

0:21

Pinterest in under

0:23

an hour a week without spending

0:25

a dime on ads, I was

0:27

like, uh, yes, please. And

0:30

I knew that you would want to know about it too. So

0:33

listen up. Pinterest is a

0:35

massive search engine. It is not

0:37

a social media site. It's a

0:39

massive search engine with each pin

0:42

having a lifespan of six months

0:44

to a year, a

0:46

year compared to an Instagram post that

0:48

remains visible for like 48 hours max.

0:52

Even a YouTube video only hangs around

0:54

in the algorithm for about three months.

0:57

So it's no competition. You get so

0:59

much more mileage by sharing the content

1:01

you're already creating and putting it

1:03

on Pinterest. And Jenna is teaching

1:05

how you can get started in

1:08

a really, really simple way. So go

1:10

to amyporterfield.com/pin to

1:13

save your spot in this free

1:15

masterclass and learn how to get

1:17

more visibility and more subscribers without

1:19

creating a ton of new content

1:21

and without running ads using

1:24

the power. Amy

1:27

porterfield.com/pin. When

1:31

you're looking to hire your right

1:33

hand, whether that's in

1:35

the present or something you dream of in the future, look

1:38

for people in your business that just get

1:40

it. They're not pushy or

1:43

aggressive or want to be involved in everything because

1:45

of their ego. They're

1:47

genuinely interested. They care. They're

1:49

curious. Beyond just their

1:51

role. I'm

1:54

Amy Porterfield, ex corporate girl turned

1:56

CEO of a multi seven figure

1:58

business, but it wasn't all about long

2:00

ago that I lacked the confidence,

2:02

the budget, and the time to

2:05

focus on growing my small but

2:07

mighty business. Fast forward

2:09

past many failed attempts and lessons

2:11

learned and you'll see the business

2:14

I have today. One that changes

2:16

lives and gives me more freedom

2:18

than I ever thought possible. One

2:21

that used to only exist as

2:23

a daydream. I created

2:25

the online marketing made easy podcast

2:27

to give you simple, actionable, step-by-step

2:30

strategies to help you do the

2:32

same. If you're an ambitious entrepreneur or

2:34

one in the making who's looking to

2:36

create a business that makes an impact

2:38

and a life you love, you're in

2:41

the right place then. Let's get started.

2:50

I know you're focused on marketing and

2:52

selling your digital products, but I know

2:54

many of you also have physical products

2:56

and I want to talk about Shopify.

3:00

Shopify is a user-friendly commerce platform

3:02

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3:16

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3:36

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3:38

online entrepreneur, my customer's experience, especially when

3:40

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3:42

important. Plus, not only do they support

3:45

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3:49

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3:52

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4:10

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your business no matter

4:17

what stage you're in. That's shopify.com slash

4:20

made easy. Well

4:23

hey there welcome back to online marketing made

4:25

easy. In this shorty episode, I am

4:28

going to talk about my

4:30

first year of working

4:33

with a CEO. Now listen, before you're

4:35

like, wait a second, I'm far away

4:37

from hiring a CEO. I'm just getting

4:39

started. This is not for me. It

4:41

is because I want you to

4:43

future pace. I want you to think about what's

4:46

possible for your business. I want you to get

4:48

to success faster than I have. And

4:50

I probably should have hired a CEO years

4:52

ago. And so I think

4:54

there's a lot you can learn even though you

4:56

might feel far from being ready to hire CEO.

4:58

And then many of you are listening that you're

5:00

ready. You might not have done it yet,

5:02

but you could absolutely hire a CEO now. And I'm

5:05

going to share with you what it looks like in

5:07

my first year because there's been a lot of ups

5:10

and downs and JAWS who's my CEO,

5:12

JAWS and I learning together. I can

5:15

hardly believe that it's been a full

5:17

year. And I want

5:19

to just talk about what it's

5:21

looked like over the last year, the good,

5:23

bad and ugly. And I mentioned her

5:25

name JAWS. For those of you who are new here,

5:27

it's a nickname. It's Jen Dawes.

5:29

It's her maiden name. And we've always called her

5:31

JAWS when I worked with her at Tony Robbins.

5:34

And then when she came to work with me

5:36

at team Porterfield, there's

5:39

just nothing else I can call her. So it's

5:41

very weird when new people come on, they're like,

5:43

what do I call her? Her name is

5:45

JAWS. So today, I am

5:47

going to share some of the biggest

5:49

takeaways that I've had from this experience,

5:52

the struggles I've had, what I've learned,

5:54

and also what you might look for

5:56

when you are ready to hire a

5:59

CEO or for any role for

6:01

that matter. Now, before we dive in,

6:03

I just wanted to say that this

6:05

shorty episode is actually going to be

6:07

a little bit longer than my usual

6:10

shorties. When I was preparing the outline,

6:12

I just felt like, oh, I have a lot to

6:14

share here and a lot of value to give. So

6:16

it's a little bit longer than my typical short Tuesday

6:18

episodes, but I think you're going

6:20

to appreciate that. So if you've

6:23

been listening for a while, you know that

6:25

before Jaws transitioned into my CEO, there

6:28

was Chloe. And Chloe, for lack

6:30

of a better term, was my ride or die

6:32

for a very long time. She

6:34

started as a marketing project manager

6:37

and then became my integrator and

6:39

eventually the chief marketing officer. She

6:42

rose through those ranks over seven years

6:44

and she was made for that job.

6:47

Now, just a side note here, you'll

6:49

hear me refer to the term integrator

6:51

throughout this episode. An integrator is someone

6:54

who, you guessed it, integrates all major

6:56

operating functions of the business and ensures

6:58

that everyone is rowing together in the

7:00

same direction. Having an

7:02

integrator on your team allows you, as

7:05

the owner, to become more

7:07

of a visionary and

7:09

work in your zone of genius, which

7:11

Michael Hyatt talks a lot about. So

7:14

if you want to go way back in

7:16

the online marketing made easy archives, check out

7:18

episode 224, where

7:21

I share a behind the scenes conversation with

7:23

Chloe. And at that time, she was

7:25

my integrator. So needless

7:27

to say, as my integrator, Chloe was

7:30

my right hand woman and

7:32

she also became my best friend, which is a

7:34

whole other side note that I'm going to talk

7:36

about in a minute. But again, if you

7:39

want to hear from someone who

7:41

is in the integrator role

7:44

in my business years ago,

7:46

but it's still completely valid,

7:48

amyporterfield.com/224. Okay,

7:51

so I just mentioned that Chloe was my right

7:53

hand for seven years, but she also became my best

7:55

friend. And while it was great to

7:57

have someone so close to me, helping me run, on

8:00

my business, one of the challenges

8:02

we had is that we were

8:04

very codependent. Because

8:06

I was so close to her, I would

8:08

just kind of check her vibe all the

8:10

time. Are you good? Are you

8:12

okay? I think so. Right. And

8:15

she would do the same for me. So if she

8:17

was off, I was off. If I was off, she was off. Not

8:20

a great combination. And we were very aware of it

8:22

at the end for sure. We talked a lot about

8:24

it. And so that is something that

8:26

I learned from. I don't want

8:29

to get into a codependent relationship with

8:31

someone I work so closely with, although

8:34

I don't regret it one bit. Chloe and I

8:36

are still best friends. I was in her wedding,

8:38

her and her little baby, Ruby Rose, and

8:41

her husband spent time with us in Nashville

8:43

recently. And she's a huge part of my

8:45

life still. Chloe is. However, I

8:48

learned a lot from that relationship. And

8:50

to be a better leader, I have

8:52

to be careful of that codependency. Codependent

8:54

relationships in business simply do not work.

8:57

Yes, you're both working hard.

9:00

Yes, you're making strides towards success,

9:02

but a part of your focus is

9:04

constantly diverted towards supporting the other

9:06

person. And as a result of

9:08

Chloe and I being codependent, there were a lot

9:10

of emotions tied up in the day-to-day operations and

9:13

growth of the business. And that was hard on

9:15

both of us. So I

9:17

learned my lesson and Chloe and I, again,

9:19

I wouldn't talk about anything we haven't talked

9:21

about together. So we've talked about that many

9:23

times. Now she's been out of

9:25

the business for two years. Chloe went on

9:27

to, at first she was just going to

9:29

get married and have babies, which she's done,

9:32

but now she's kind of venturing out. She

9:34

started her own blog. I

9:36

say she's going to be an influencer. She doesn't

9:38

necessarily love when I use that word, but I

9:40

use it in all the best ways, and

9:43

she is going to have a

9:45

thriving business. I know it for a

9:47

fact. So she's kind of gone

9:49

in a different direction, wants to try new

9:51

things. She's experimenting and she's really enjoying being

9:53

a mom and she's really good at it

9:56

too. So she's been out of

9:58

the business for two years. And

10:00

the reason I'm telling you this is for a reason.

10:02

It's because I have 100% found

10:06

My new right hand and that is

10:08

in jazz and

10:10

this time around I plan

10:12

to Be a little bit more

10:15

mindful of how i'm getting into this be

10:17

mindful of my codependency

10:19

ways And

10:21

I will say that jazz doesn't have

10:24

that inclination, but I do like

10:26

the codependency part So

10:29

i've learned to be careful with it, but she doesn't

10:31

even have to worry about it That's just not

10:33

in her dna cloe and are much more alike than

10:35

jaws and I were And

10:38

if you my friend also have

10:40

tendencies toward codependency This

10:42

is absolutely something you should be aware

10:44

of as you get set to hire

10:46

your right hand They don't need to

10:48

be your best friend. They don't need to be your

10:50

everything You don't need to be tied at the hip

10:52

with them And if they

10:55

can be a little bit different from you Personality-wise,

10:58

I think that's great. Jaws

11:00

is a thinker You give her

11:03

something and she will not just spew out

11:05

what she thinks. She will not just word

11:07

vomit. I absolutely will Not great.

11:09

That's not great, but it's just who I am

11:12

And she will think about it. She

11:14

will marinate on it. She will be

11:16

mindful and then when she communicates She's

11:19

doing so in a very intentional way. I

11:21

wear my emotions on my sleeve more. I'm

11:23

a little bit more shoot from the hip

11:25

Here's what i'm thinking. Here's what my gut's

11:27

saying a lot of times i'm really right

11:29

So I celebrate that but we have very

11:31

different personalities and I think that is good

11:34

So when jaws transitioned into the role

11:36

of ceo, I already knew that this

11:39

relationship had to be different Than

11:41

what chloe and I created only

11:44

based on the difficulties we had being

11:46

so close But I just want to

11:49

point out chloe was a master. She

11:51

killed it. She's one of the best

11:53

marketers. I know So there was way

11:55

more good than i'm focusing on

11:57

this codependency. This is a tiny part We

12:00

didn't have issues and that's why she left.

12:02

She left to try new things and new

12:04

adventures. So it was an amazing relationship, but

12:06

there was that one thing that I just

12:08

needed to learn from and be more careful

12:11

about. I also knew that I

12:13

needed to get crystal clear on what her

12:15

role was, what Jaws' new role was, and

12:17

what my role was from the beginning. I

12:20

had to do my research on what

12:22

my responsibilities would be as a visionary

12:24

of the company and what Jaws' responsibilities

12:26

would be as a CEO. And this

12:28

is any role you hire that's

12:30

high level, that might be your right hand,

12:32

that's working closely with you. You've

12:35

got to be clear if you're gonna bring

12:37

someone in, what does that mean in terms

12:39

of your role? What will change? How do

12:41

you have to show up differently to allow

12:43

them to be a really strong right hand,

12:45

to allow them to be a kick-ass integrator,

12:48

CEO, CMO, whatever it might be? And

12:51

this is something that I've had to learn over

12:53

the last year, how does my role change? Because

12:55

essentially I was the CEO. I

12:57

was a lot of different things. And

13:00

I had to step out of that role, which

13:02

meant I need to start showing up differently, but

13:04

I had to define what that meant. You've

13:07

got to go in it thinking, what

13:09

is my role? What does it

13:11

look like? And what are my

13:14

expectations for this new role? And

13:16

then you have to get out

13:18

of the way. And that was

13:21

really the hardest part for me, getting out

13:23

of the way, because I still wanted to

13:25

be the main point person on the team.

13:28

Here's an example. We do quarterly team

13:30

meetings for the whole team on

13:32

Zoom. We call them State of the Company.

13:35

And I used to run those, or at

13:37

least like be the main person that spoke.

13:39

I would kick us off. I would give

13:41

everyone a pep talk. We'd run through all

13:43

the details. And then at the end, I

13:45

would wrap it up with a bow. I

13:48

started it and I ended it. And

13:51

this felt very normal to me. The

13:53

last time we did a State of

13:56

the Company, I

13:58

hardly said a word. by

14:01

design. And I want to

14:03

be honest about something that is hard for my

14:05

ego. Because when I realized,

14:07

wait a second, Jaws runs

14:09

this now. She's managing my leadership

14:12

team. The only person I manage is

14:14

Jaws. She manages the leadership team.

14:16

The leadership team manages the

14:18

rest of our company. So

14:20

she runs the state of the company. She

14:23

is in charge of hitting our revenue goals.

14:25

At the end of the day, that

14:27

is what she is in charge of. And

14:29

so the state of the company is all

14:32

about our goals, our direction,

14:34

our strategies. So it makes sense for her

14:36

to talk about it. And

14:38

when I say that my ego takes a

14:40

hit sometimes, I'm just not used to taking

14:42

a backseat in my own company. Now, some

14:44

of you hear that and think, then don't,

14:47

you don't have to. I understand

14:49

that. However, I am

14:52

shooting for really big things,

14:54

really big growth. I've got goals

14:57

upon goals for this company. And

15:00

if I let my ego drive it, I

15:03

want to be the person doing the talking. I want to show

15:05

up in front of my team. I want

15:07

to have the last word on everything. I will

15:09

never get to where I want to go. So my

15:12

ego needs to take a backseat. So

15:14

I am still the visionary of the business. I

15:17

still have a very big voice, but

15:19

I do take a backseat and

15:21

I am enjoying the discomfort of

15:23

figuring this out. I know that sounds weird,

15:25

but it's pushing me, it's helping me grow,

15:28

and I'm becoming a better leader. So I'm

15:30

going to embrace it all day long. And

15:32

it helps that Jaws is killing it. She's

15:35

doing a great job. Something funny about Jaws

15:37

is she doesn't like public speaking. She doesn't

15:39

want to be the center of attention, telling

15:41

her that she needs to do a webinar

15:44

to sell a course. She would rather pay

15:46

you not to do that. She has no

15:48

interest. However, I Was telling

15:50

her the other day, you're kicking butt, being

15:53

the voice of the company, talking to our

15:55

team, standing up and doing things that she

15:57

wasn't normally comfortable with. So I See her?

16:00

Growth every single day. But.

16:02

Again, when I say I still have

16:04

a voice I meet with just every

16:06

single week. We talk a daily about

16:08

the different strategies that we're working on

16:10

or challenges for having which he members

16:12

or whatever. So my voice gets hurt

16:14

the jaws and then she decides how

16:16

am I going to build decision that

16:18

any house for this company and that's

16:20

where I have to let go of

16:22

rain and give her some room to

16:24

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Forward/ Podcast. Soothe.

17:28

Your higher. In a Ceo or a marketing

17:30

manager, or even a virtual assistant Whatever it

17:32

is, you're going to have to let them

17:34

take the lead in areas of expectations that

17:36

you put out there. You're. Going

17:38

to need at times to take a backseat.

17:41

You're. Going to have to let them

17:43

mess. Ah, That. Was hard for

17:45

me. I learned this to my coach Michael Jai.

17:47

It. He. Says you're gonna have to

17:49

let Jaws make decisions that might not

17:51

work out. Mess that. And

17:54

then allow her to fix it. And

17:56

that is how you grow. That's hard

17:58

for me and. He's right.

18:01

Now, of course, if I see Jaws going

18:03

into direction, then I'm like, oh my gosh,

18:05

we're going to lose a lot of money

18:07

or we're going to really disrupt our students.

18:10

First of all, that would never happen. She'd come to me and be

18:12

like, this feels a little risky. This is

18:14

what I want to do. What do you think? And

18:16

that's what I love about our relationship. But

18:19

she will never come to me and say, I don't know

18:21

what to do. What should we do? So I would never

18:23

happen. So what I love is she's

18:25

always coming to me with this is the challenge.

18:27

This is what I'm thinking. What do you think?

18:30

And then together we kind of figure it out. That's

18:32

kind of where we're at for some of the big

18:34

things right now. And then so

18:36

I said, you have to take a back seat at times. You

18:38

have to let them mess up. And also you

18:40

have to let go of your ego. Those

18:43

three things have not been easy for me, just so you

18:45

know. But I'm keeping

18:47

my eye on the bigger prize of where I want

18:49

this business to go. And this business needs a CEO

18:51

to grow in the way I want it to grow. So

18:53

with that, I also wanted to share something that

18:56

Michael Hyatt shared with me in one of my

18:58

coaching calls. And he says that you

19:01

are now Jaws' mentor. You

19:04

are acting as a guide, meaning you are

19:07

no longer the big cheese in the company anymore.

19:09

You're not the main person that's

19:11

running everything. You're not running the show. At

19:14

the end of the year, if we don't hit

19:16

our revenue goals, I'm looking at Jaws and I'm

19:19

asking why. If I controlled

19:21

everything she did this year, if I told her

19:23

how to do everything and she did

19:25

it exactly the way I wanted, then

19:27

I can't look at her at the end of the year and say,

19:29

if we don't hit our goals, what happened? Why

19:31

didn't we hit our goals? That just wouldn't

19:34

be fair. And so I have to allow

19:36

her to find her way through this

19:38

with, of course, a lot of discussion between the

19:40

two of us. I think that's the one big

19:42

caveat. It's not like I'm drinking my ties on

19:44

the beach. I'm just not the

19:47

only one leading this anymore. And

19:50

I'm not the main person leading the team. And

19:53

if I give her the space to run with

19:55

it and I fully trust she will, if

19:58

we don't hit our goals, she will be very,

20:00

very in tune to why. She'll know exactly

20:02

what we did, why we did it. She's

20:04

making a lot of the decisions. And

20:07

if we don't hit our goals, she's going to

20:09

be so invested in it that she's going to

20:11

see the opportunities for the next year that

20:13

we plan it all out. And

20:15

I think that's important as well. In

20:17

addition to that, I've also learned that

20:20

it's much better to be

20:22

Jaws' mentor than her boss. So I

20:24

mentioned just a moment ago that Michael

20:26

said, you know, you need to be her mentor, a

20:28

guide. So being Jaws' mentor

20:31

versus her boss has given her

20:33

more freedom to experiment, ask questions

20:35

and be vulnerable with me. In

20:37

fact, I've never seen Jaws

20:39

be more vulnerable than she has in

20:41

like the last year. She's

20:44

not really a crier. She's not

20:46

really dramatic. She doesn't wear her

20:48

heart on her sleeves. She's definitely

20:50

more reserved. But because

20:53

I have been able to step into

20:55

more of a mentor role, it's allowed

20:58

her to trust me. And

21:00

I've seen her really open up with me more

21:02

than when she used to be the director of

21:04

content, than when she was the director of content.

21:06

I think we have a really good mutual trust

21:09

with each other. I trust that

21:11

I can tell her anything and

21:13

share with her my concerns,

21:15

my frustrations, my fears. And

21:19

I know that they're going to be well-received. And

21:21

I feel as though she feels that from me

21:23

as well. And that is because I'm

21:25

not looking at her like, you messed this up, or why

21:27

didn't you do it this way? Or I don't agree

21:29

with that decision. That feels like a boss in like the

21:32

worst way. Whereas we can

21:34

just kind of look at some decisions

21:36

we've made. Do we

21:38

agree that was the right way? And if not, what

21:40

are we going to do to correct it and giving

21:42

space for us to kind of figure it out? That

21:45

feels like the right temperature for our

21:47

relationship. So what I really

21:49

wanted to share with you was over the last

21:51

year, what it has taught me is, yes,

21:54

I really do enjoy having a right

21:56

hand in the business. It's

21:58

the second time I've done this. Though I've

22:00

learned from my mistakes thing, that's

22:02

poor. Chloe kind of had to.

22:05

Endure. Because I didn't know any

22:07

better. And now hopefully Jaws is benefiting

22:09

from the mistakes I made the first

22:11

time around, but also benefiting from what

22:13

Chloe and I did together that totally

22:15

worked in a when change for the

22:17

world. And also I just keep reminding

22:19

myself I want this business to grow

22:21

in a really big way and that

22:23

means that I can't be the chokehold.

22:26

For everything. Remember.

22:28

Also, jaws with my Director of

22:30

Content development as I mentioned and

22:32

she had never been a Ceo

22:35

before and. We. Really

22:37

never talked about her running the business

22:39

in that capacity until a few years

22:41

in. So if you listen to episode

22:43

Five Hundred and Ninety, you'll hear the

22:46

story of how she jokingly mentioned she

22:48

might be the Ceo one day and

22:50

how in that moment it made perfect

22:52

sense it from a joke to. Oh.

22:54

My gosh, this could actually work. So

22:57

we talk about that and Episode Five

22:59

Nineties If you go to in porterville.com

23:01

for such. Five Ninety. you can

23:03

get that story. Their. Here's.

23:05

The thing now. She was

23:07

the director of content so.

23:10

In addition to that, She. Always

23:12

knew our numbers. That's. Not really the

23:15

role of the director of content, but she

23:17

did. She always knew the numbers. She.

23:19

Always knew where marketing was and what they

23:21

were doing. She. Was able to

23:23

speak to our weaknesses and she was able to

23:25

bring solutions to the table that were outside. Of. Her

23:28

department. So. I tell you this. Because.

23:31

When you're looking to hire your

23:33

right hand, whether that. In.

23:36

The Present or something you dream of in the future.

23:38

Look. For people in your business

23:40

that just candidates. They're. Not

23:42

pushy or aggressive or want to be

23:45

involved in everything because of their ego.

23:47

They're genuinely interested. They tear. Their

23:49

curious. Beyond. Just the

23:52

role. and look no one's going

23:54

to love your business as much as you

23:56

do or take as much responsibility as you

23:58

that's normal but there are people who

24:00

really take a special interest

24:03

in the company as a whole. And

24:06

that's very easy to see when

24:08

you look for it. And you might not

24:10

have anyone in your business that is at

24:12

that level yet, but there might be people that

24:14

are coming up the ranks that you'll start

24:16

to see it. And you also have

24:19

to be the kind of leader that welcomes that.

24:21

So I have been in a situation

24:24

in a corporate environment, not my Tony

24:26

Robbins days. I was in

24:28

a publishing company where when I was

24:30

curious about the business in a bigger way, it was

24:32

almost like my hand got slapped, like stay in your

24:35

lane. You don't need to worry about that. And

24:37

so I was really nervous to

24:40

go beyond or add value in

24:42

any other way except my own

24:44

role because it

24:46

was looked down upon. And I think it had

24:48

to do with the leader was threatened by that.

24:51

So you can't as a leader be threatened

24:53

by other people in your company wanting

24:56

to up level, wanting to

24:58

know more, wanting to get more involved. It's

25:00

a little bit weird and unsettling at times

25:02

to give up some of that control. But

25:05

I think it's so necessary to get to

25:07

the next level. And my

25:09

last takeaway from this past year is

25:11

the importance of regular communication. Even

25:14

though I've taken a step back, I

25:16

still want to know how's the podcast

25:18

doing weekly? Did we hit our goals

25:21

this week? What does the email list

25:23

look like? Are we having

25:26

any personnel issues? I still want to know

25:28

it all. This business is my baby. And

25:30

so I talk to Jaws

25:33

on a regular basis. We

25:35

might do voice text during the day,

25:37

flack each other, just checking

25:39

in on her. But then every single week

25:41

we have an hour long meeting. And that's

25:44

incredibly important to me as well. And in

25:46

the beginning, we just kind of

25:48

were trying to figure it out. But then I

25:50

finally said, I feel in the dark about a

25:52

few things. Like I used to know every week

25:54

that we hit our downloads, I used to know

25:56

certain things about the leadership team

25:58

and the direction. we're going and what

26:01

we're focused on in just like week by week.

26:03

And I feel unsettled that I don't know that.

26:06

And so she's like, all right, then let's get

26:08

you the information you want. So she said, what

26:11

information do you want to know on a regular

26:13

basis? I told her she created a template in

26:15

a Canva slide deck,

26:17

putting together. And once a month,

26:19

she delivers all the numbers to

26:21

me, and shares with me where

26:24

we're at, what's going on. And then every week,

26:26

if we have a personnel issue, if we have

26:28

a big challenge, if she's stuck, we

26:30

talk all about that as well. So

26:32

we are in constant communication. And as an

26:34

owner, I think that's important. And I asked

26:36

for what I wanted, and she put a

26:38

plan together to get me there. So

26:41

I just wanted to share that it doesn't mean

26:43

you have to be clueless about your business. You

26:46

just in order to grow, you can't

26:48

control everything. And

26:51

that is a hard thing to let go of

26:53

when you created this baby from scratch, which most

26:55

of you listening, you created

26:57

what you have from literally nothing.

27:00

And so it's hard to let go. But

27:02

if you're looking to make a really

27:05

big impact in this world, you

27:07

have to let other people in. And

27:10

even in leadership roles. And

27:12

that was one of the best decisions I've made

27:14

to create a leadership team, which I did about

27:17

four years ago, I'd say four or five years ago. And

27:21

then from that leadership team found

27:23

a CEO, which I feel very

27:25

fortunate about. So let's do

27:27

a little recap on the biggest things I've

27:29

learned over the past year of having a

27:31

CEO. And please know that this can apply

27:33

to anyone you're hiring

27:35

in your business, but especially an integrator,

27:37

a right hand, even a virtual assistant, because they're

27:39

going to work really closely with you as well.

27:42

Number one, you cannot be codependent when it

27:44

comes to the other person on your team,

27:47

period. Number two, it's oh,

27:49

so important to have clearly defined

27:51

roles from the beginning. For yourself,

27:54

you need to redefine

27:56

your role, especially when you bring

27:58

in a right hand, you communicate

28:00

your expectations that you have for the

28:02

other person and then get out of

28:04

the way. Number three, look at

28:07

yourself as a mentor rather than their

28:09

boss. And this one mostly

28:11

applies for those of you who are

28:13

thinking of hiring a higher level role

28:15

like a CEO, maybe even an integrator,

28:17

but the higher the role, they don't

28:19

need a boss. They need a

28:22

mentor. Usually if they're really good at

28:24

what they do, if they mess up, they're going to be

28:26

harder on themselves than you will ever be on them. They

28:28

don't need that. They need the

28:30

guidance and support. Number

28:33

four, when you're looking to hire for

28:35

a big role, look for people who

28:37

are genuinely interested and curious about your

28:40

business that you've been working with for

28:42

a while. I could have

28:44

brought in a seasoned 20-year

28:46

veteran of being a CEO

28:49

and I believe they would have

28:52

been a huge disruptor. Maybe

28:54

down the road it could have worked out great. So

28:56

I'm not against that, but it would have

28:58

been a rough road for them to get to

29:01

know my team and how I do things and

29:03

how we've gotten to our success and respect the

29:05

history of the business and all of that. I

29:08

didn't have to worry about any of that because

29:10

the person I hired had been with me for

29:12

a while. I know it's not

29:14

always that good. I'm going to have to

29:17

hire some leadership roles that haven't been in

29:19

my company for a while, but I will

29:21

always look internally if I can first. I'd

29:23

rather train someone and work along someone to

29:25

get them to where they need to be

29:27

versus having to bring a stranger in

29:29

if I can. And

29:32

then finally, number five, stay in close communication

29:34

while giving them the space to do their

29:36

thing. And that's like a cadence that you

29:39

got to kind of figure out. So

29:41

I hope you enjoyed this shorty episode. Again,

29:43

you might not be ready to hire a

29:46

CEO, but one day you will be. These

29:48

are really important things to keep in your back

29:50

pocket, but also there's other hires you're going to

29:52

do that. I think that these tips, my

29:55

hard lessons learned can add immense

29:57

value to a lot

29:59

of different hires you make on your team. The

30:01

last thing I'll leave you with is I don't believe there's

30:04

a badge of honor and doing it

30:06

all on your own. I understand that you

30:08

might need to get to a point to afford the

30:10

support. I get that, but the minute you

30:12

can afford it, even when it's scary to part

30:14

with the funds, one of the

30:16

best decisions you can make is start to hire

30:19

so it's not all you. You will get

30:21

to where you want to go

30:23

so much faster. Thank

30:25

you so much for hanging out with me today and

30:27

if you'd be so kind to share this episode with

30:29

someone that you think would find it valuable, I

30:32

would greatly appreciate that. Have a wonderful

30:34

day and I'm gonna see you on

30:36

Thursday for more entrepreneurial goodness. Same time,

30:39

same place. Talk to you soon. you