Why Weekly CEO Time Is Essential To Growing Your Business

How much time do you spend working “on” your business? What about working “in” your business? These aren’t trick questions, and these two concepts aren’t the same thing. 

Working on your business is all about taking a more strategic view of the business in order to set the company and yourself up for long-term success. This includes strategic planning, reviewing and revamping your marketing strategy, sales strategy, and anything that needs tweaking. This dedicated chunk of time gives you a bird’s eye view of your business and allows you to make robust, informed decisions. 

Working in your business is what you do on the day-to-day. This could be managing tasks, client service, administrative tasks, client on- and off-boarding, training, and execution. 

Both of these elements are essential to running your business. You can’t run a business without doing something, but you’ll be infinitely more effective if you have a strategy. These are complementary processes.

If you’re like most business owners, however, you likely spend the vast majority of your time focused on execution. It’s easy to get sucked into this vortex because most of us started our businesses because we’re experts in our field and love doing the work. Even as we grow, we continue doing the work. 

But a focus strictly on execution means we’re operating like employees as opposed to the CEO of the business. We can’t effectively grow if we don’t know where we’re heading, and that’s what working ON your business is all about.

So, what does this mean on a practical level?

It means dedicating time each week to get clarity on what’s happening in your business, creating or revising plans, looking at your revenue and where you sit in relation to your targets, and what the week ahead looks like. This is what I call CEO Time, and today, I’m going to break down the different elements I use in my own business to work on the business and set myself up for execution success.

Every Monday morning, I sit down at my desk, without fail, and work through my CEO Time checklist. I’m sharing a handful of the topics I work through to give you some insight into my approach.

• Metrics review - What are the key metrics you use to determine business growth? I look at email list growth, which lead magnets are performing well, and social media growth. These indicators give me a sense for which of my actions are working, especially if I’ve put a growth strategy in place.
  
  For example, last July, I decided to give Pinterest a try. I hired a strategist, we agreed to go all in, and see what growth, if any, would come from it. As I looked at the metrics, I could see some movement, but not enough to justify continuing to expend time, energy, or financial resources on this platform.
  
  The data you gather really allows you to make strategic decisions, to evaluate what’s working and what’s not, and then take action.

• Revenue Review - What is your revenue for the year? Are you on track to hit your annual target? How does this compare to a year ago?
  
  I like looking at numbers. That’s not something I could say even two years ago, but the more I do it, the easier (and more exciting) it gets! Numbers tell a story, and they provide incentive to get your booty in gear, in some cases, or reinforce that what you’re doing is working.
  
  I also like looking at historical numbers because it provides context. For example, January is a historically slow month for me. If I didn’t have that insight, I might start to panic because sales are slow, but I know from data, that this is the norm for my business.
  
  See how powerful your numbers are?

• Impact Goals and Outcomes Review - This is a new area for me, but one that is absolutely vital to the success of my business. I believe strongly that there’s no point in doing business if you’re not making an impact that goes beyond profit.
  
  What impact are you trying to make? What measures show you how you’re doing in relation to that goal? How does your work connect with others who are trying to make an impact in that same area? Are there opportunities to partner? What steps do you need to take?

• Weekly Top 3 Focus Areas - What’s happening this week that requires your attention? What are the 3 things you need to focus on to move the needle forward?
  
  If you’ve done strategic planning or participated in my Rock Your Year workshops, you’ll know that part of that experience is building out your weekly focus areas for the quarter. These ensure you know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and allow you to take action.
  
  Hands down one of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face is chasing shiny objects. Having weekly focus areas eliminates the question marks and decision fatigue that comes with it.

• Marketing Strategy - what are your marketing goals? What actions do you need to take in order to grow your audience, set yourself up for sales, and make offers? How are you caring well for your current clients?
  
  I break this down into 5 areas - The 5Cs. Using the metrics from above, I’m able to focus my efforts to ensure I’m proactively growing my business.

• Self Care Plan - This is also a new focus area for me. I haven’t always been great about self care, but I can see how powerful it is - and I am - when I take time for myself. When I eat well, sleep well, move by body, and incorporate play into my business.
  
  In fact, over the last month, I’ve actively been doing fun things - making a massive paper flower mural for my office, spending some time during my work day making sourdough bread from scratch, and taking time for weekly sound healing appointments.
  
  It’s a tired analogy - put your own oxygen mask on first - but so true. When I’m firing on all cylinders, my business performs better.

• Support Needed - What help do you need? This is often one of the most challenging areas because we’re conditioned to do things on our own, but you can’t run and grow your business alone. What do you need your team to do? Do you need a colleague to make an introduction for you? The sky's the limit here, but asking for what you need is a game-changer!

As you look at your business, you may find that you don’t need every single area or that your needs are different. Tailor your CEO Time for YOUR business. That’s the beauty of setting aside CEO time. It’s 100% about what you need to know and do to run and grow your business. 

What’s on your list?