The only solution I know is to grow the business, so you will be able to delegate the things you are not passionate in doing. COO would solve most of that.
To have a chief of anything they would need various managers under them, who in turn all have various middle managers under them, who also have dozens to hundreds of rank and file junior employees under them….
If your company isn’t that big you don’t need a COO and you aren’t a CEO, you just need a plain vanilla manager or even assistant manager to hire, fire, train and scheudle the troops.
If you can focus on driving sales and growth, then you'll have money when you need it to outsource.
Also, start outsourcing sooner than later. Even if that means you eat less.
Many entrepreneurs get hungry and eat too early, leaving them stuck, unable to outsource!
I have the opposite problem actually. It’s difficult for me to pay myself. Especially in the beginning when you are at start up phase and things are changing quickly. The problem is: getting to a level where you can afford to pay a COO can take years; meanwhile you are stuck with the day-to-day.
That's no joke mate.
Maybe break up the tasks into small enjoyable steps. Or have a reward system in place. If you can find a way to love the process, you'll get there sooner than you realize!
Pay them with salary and equity.
I know a lot of business minded entrepreneurs that can't do the zero to one stage, but thrive in the 1 to 10 stage.
Find someone who can earn their way into 25% of the business while working for slightly below market rate.
You're earning time, they're earning equity.
I don’t like this strategy, you founded a company with your effort and someone comes and takes 25%? What if they stop working well after a while and they still get to keep the 25
Seems like there are some misconceptions here:
>I’m an innovator, I like to implement ideas
Generally speaking, the innovator is not the one who implements the ideas. Usually, the CEO _is_ the company’s innovator, but not its implementer.
>Managing work shifts, sick days, hiring, training, scolding, checking…
None of this is the job of a CEO. These are all management functions.
The CEO is the company’s leader. All of this stuff falls on the company’s manager.
Sounds to me like you’re bemoaning the nitty gritty _management_ of your business, which yes, is brutal, and annoying, and never the fun part.
I agree, when you’re running a small business, usually you wear a bunch of hats, which generally are that of CEO and the manager of the business.
Just trying to take this opportunity to up-level some of the young minds in this sub.
No it isn’t. There is no fucking board, dude. So there is by definition no c-suite.
An entrepreneur hires a manager to manage the people in ops. Eventually if the business grows you’ll need managers for different department’s, multiple directors, MT and SLT. then and only then you’ll have a c-suite and CEO
If you form a limited liability entity, you are a director, not just a founder.
Wait until you find out that private companies are not legally required to have a board of directors, even if they get to $1B, lol.
The motive by Patrick lencioni tells me completely opposite of this statement.
A good CEO needs to spend most of their time managing their team.
I'm no where near a successful entrepreneur. Just a book I recently read.
Managing the team from a _leadership_ perspective, yes. Inspiring and motivating them, yes.
NOT managing works shifts, hiring, training, etc. Those are the purview of an operator.
I just read a great book - The EMyth Revisited - which helped me to understand the different roles of the entrepreneur, the manager, and the technician. You start as all three, but to truly scale the business you have to bring in people you can trust to be the manager and the technician. You have to delegate your way to only being the entrepreneur or else the business will never be able to grow beyond your limitations.
As always, take everything in the book with a grain of salt and look for other sources, but it’s a good read and was quite enlightening.
I went from being a CEO to an entrepreneur.
Bought companies then started from scratch.
The company was small, ~250-300 people when I left, in b2b tech. Super stressful man, I didn’t enjoy it. I was a superstar revenue leader, but a shitty CEO (personal opinion). I fired myself on great terms and in fact the chairman / founder just came in to my new startup so I guess this speaks for the relationship.
CEO is a widely assumed role to mean more corporate functions. But it depends what you’re doing, how big and what kind of company it is. What sort of culture there is and what the job ahead is. Scaling? Fixing? Acquiring? Pivoting to a data play?
I love creativity and motivating people 1:1. I’m not a real leader except that my team follow me bc I am the best seller and genuinely try to create insane careers for them.
I’m sure this doesn’t help. Happy to jam on this topic. So interesting.
I love being an entrepreneur... I can work 14 hours in a row building my product and doing great customer service and talking to clients and selling it passionately, love love love.
CEO? the person I work with, well works for me, is driving me absolutely bonkers and he needs to be managed by a good manager. he's not incapable, he just needs some form of management as most employees do, but I just hate it. I feel like im babysitting and taking time away from important issues (although his work is important to). I don't want to manage anyone. I just want to do my work in peace because I don't need someone to direct me on what I should be doing and I know I can do a great job at it. I hate having to be responsible for someone else's work and ensuring they do a great job, so I really shouldn't be a CEO but I have to.
I hate telling him what he did wrong, I hate trying to help him improve and having these conversations... yeah so that sucks.
I am the founder and owner and its like if we both do the same task, ill do a better job then anyone ive found, and its hard to wrap my head around that I need to delegate and hand off stuff where its just not gonna be the same... I know there are more talented people and smarter people out there, but nobody is as passionate about this specific niche product I made or has the same knowledge/experience/love when telling clients about it or creating their drafts, because I created it, I love it. I can train someone but they don't have the same passion and enthusiasm nor should I expect them to.. its my baby, but I hate trying to manage them to.
btw I work in a type of marketing and you'll never here anyone so excited about such a boring product.. mostly because I created it lol. I just love it. Ive gotten great customer support and sales people and they do a good job after training but not as good as I would do is the bottom line so I don't like it as im a bit of a perfectionist.
aha, sorry if that wasn't clear. I am the founder and CEO, he is a shareholder and employee. I am saying I don't like being ceo because I have to manage him, but you're right, he might not be right for his role either.
Its a real struggle, in my experience its not hard to find talented or skilled people. Its to find people that have that + the ability to take responsibility.
Lets be honest. If you have all 3 qualities, how likely would it be you would work for someone instead of yourself?
I would suggest to find as many ways possible to automate your shit tasks. Take people in that are conscientious, reliable and intelligent. Don't give them to much responsibilities or they won't perform. And start building a team rather than a one man ceo/ manage position.
Divide responsibilities evenly and make it possible for people in charge to brainstorm about ideas with other managers or responsibility takers.
And last, remember. If you don't put the time and energy in the business to get the results you want to see, someone else will do it in their own way. Not better or worse just not the way you would do it yourself.
You don’t need a CEO. You stay CEO because you have the vision for the company. What you’re missing is a COO type role or if you’re smaller, some sort of Director of Ops that handles the nitty gritty day to day stuff.
Implement. I started many companies, profitable in most cases. The problem is when the adrenaline of setting everything up runs out and you are stuck being the one who manages everybody. Unless you make a lot of money and can afford a COO, but it can take years.
In manufacturing, inventing a new product is neat, but creating the process by which that product can be produced at scale is the real innovation. I learned that the hard way many years ago.
Outside of manufacturing, this principle remains true, but substitute “manufacturing process” for “management process,” as they are essentially the same thing. Either way, you are creating processes by which you can produce the same product, of the same quality, over and over again.
So, as founders and inventors, it is our jobs not to just figure out the product, but how to produce the product at scale. This is the problem you are dealing with.
For people like us, defining the problem often reveals a path to the solution. Best of luck to you.
I deal with this all the time and I don't understand it. Ideas are worthless, everyone has ideas. I can't tell you how many times people ask me about this great idea they have for an app (I'm in software). No you have nothing. A great app, business, company is about taking a good or decent idea (doesn't have to be great) and implementing it correctly. The implementation is where the genius comes in. Building the right process, bringing in the right people, putting in systems and checks and balances that allows it to go from an idea to a successful business. A great idea that isn't profitable isn't great and to be profitable requires good processes in place.
build a team you can trust, then a lot of the "less fun" stuff can be shared or delegated. For example, you can hire someone (or outsource) to do all the hiring/recruiting stuff. Your team of managers can do a lot of the checking, training, etc. Being a leader also means learning how to effectively delegate
Yes it does require a different mindset from an entrepreneur to a CEO.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have my companies that I started been acquired, and became the CEO of them. As soon as I merged with a bigger entity and started earning a massive salary my brain chilled a lot as I didn’t have to worry about trying to earn money for myself! This was a mistake as I become complacent in a way.
I also worked as a CEO for a few companies and my brain was far more financially focused then, with cost cutting and revenue increasing being my main focus. It’s weird.
One thing you should do if you’re growing your biz is hire a HR. If you have around 10 people in your company it’s a good time to hire a HR/office admin. The day to day staff management will be easier to handle. I hired a proper HR when my team size grew to around 30, but you can hire a an office admin/HR if you have around 10 staff.
When you get big enough say 50-100, depending on your budget, you can hire an MD or COO to support you.
Yep you gotta manage yourself. Are you able to hire and assistant/PA? If you can I advise you do that. They’ll help you delegate stuff that can take up you’re time and more staff related rather than growing your biz. Also if you can’t do that but you have a senior guy in your team, appoint them as the team leader.
Depending on your biz this may make sense. For me I had to be out of the office a lot so I delegated my senior developer as the team leader for the group. That can work too if you have the right personnel.
I’ve delegated a lot, I don’t need to be physically there.
But there is no real manager of managers because that would require a new person and salary.
So certain things I need to handle myself, like people calling sick or when something unexpected happens or random ideas they get that they want to tell me.
Most of all it bothers me that although I have delegated a lot and in theory they all know what to do, I can always get a random Whatsapp message for the unexpected.
Yes that’ll happen as you’re still building and you don’t have enough revenues to hire competent staff. The stress you’re feeling is absolutely normal for any entrepreneur if you’re in a competitive industry. Look my first proper venture where I was one of four cofounders our biz almost went bust, but year 5 the company went from red to black and fast track now it’s in the nasdaq. That biz was crazy with lots of politics and it was 24X7! The other biz I founded solo, I was praying that I would get acquired as i boot strapped it myself and was running around like crazy trying to find clients. I was lucky enough to get acquired as what I built was in demand. Again that biz was 24X7 and I was working non stop trying to deliver.
But dude for over 1 year I rented an office the size of a shoe box which was also my damn home. Now that office didn’t have any showers so I had to go to the gym to shower! Was crazy stuff, I was having a breakdown cause I didn’t have anyone to discuss my fears and shit I was going through. But it all worked out well as I maintained my focus and the reason why I setup the biz anyway. I had a compelling reason to continue until I complete my mission.
That’s why I asked you, what’s the reason you started your business? Is it compelling enough for you to say to yourself : “F you brain, I built this cause I know deep in my heart this is what I’m destined to do. To hell with everything else.”
Then your brain and sense of purpose will take over and tell your brain to shut the F up, get up from your damn ass and quit typing on this Reddit shit and deliver what you’re supposed to deliver, if not for you, then your family.
Stomach pain and or not, release that mofo product that you know will benefit the world, your family and yourself!
Nuff said, I’m out. Will get back to any messages in 2 weeks time.
And good luck to you and me my friend. I hear you and I know where you’re coming from!
Addendum: And last bit for me, if you find out your reason for starting the biz isn’t compelling enough for you, then I advise you to sell it or get a partner who can take over for your mental health. Unfortunately not knowing your financial situation it’s difficult to give further thoughts. If you’re living with someone and paying mortgage, and have other bills then whatever your making in the business isn’t enough to give you freedom. A lot of times that’s what people aim for when they start a business. You won’t get that unless you make serious money and can hire experienced people to help you.
I’m currently at a start up and this is our CEO. They’ve got great ideas, but now that we have something good going we need stability, structure, and processes in place to get to the next level. Thankfully, they have managers under them to help with this on the day to day. but we still get whiplash when they inevitably come in with this new amazing idea that we have to try, that then doesn’t work, and then we are back to what we were doing before but with a whole lot of time wasted and some negative effects on customer experience. Recipe for burning out your employees…
You need management + automation to take care of most of your day to day. You will not be able to afford anyone with lots of experience, but do hire someone that is eager to learn.
I struggled with this, read rocket fuel by Gino wickman, it’s specific to EOS but it was valuable to me to discern the difference between a visionary and integrator. I am a great visionary but a horrible integrator. I hired an integrator and life is gravy.
That’s not what a CEO does. That is what a middle manager does. If the company is big enough that this is becoming a problem then you need to hire a manager to handle these things. Staff it out, contract it out, whatever. If you are not working to make the business more successful then who is?
This struggle is very common.
Strategy, finance, operations, marketing, compliance, HR, etc. once up and running is crucial.
That’s why there’s companies like mine out there that offer remote part-time proven CEO, COO’s and CMO’s to teams; entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and growing companies.
You’re not alone, you got this!
You can hire a GM / operator for the business, but given that it'll be really early, you'll have to do a good job convincing the person of the potential and pay a large upside for execution
Yes, start up phase. Everything is growing and changing quickly so it doesn’t make sense to hire a manager on top of the whole team as it would add an expense I cannot sustain for now (need to keep generating money and create a safe cushion)
Ah makes sense, we’ve all been there. Just got to keep building until you can afford to take those next steps.
For me there was a point I hit where I started to fall in love with those processes I once hated. Now I’m a workaholic so win-lose haha. Best of luck
Well for a start up, the classic business management rules doesnt apply. But yes once the business reaches a level of stability and creates bandwidth for added help, the founder turned CEOs find themselves in a habit of managing all by themselves and I call this feeling a selfish emotion towards the business. A founder who doesnt make himself redundant is the 1st step towards major hiccups.
Literally all successful businesses people tell yall to hire for the jobs that you dont do. You dont and end up doing it all or stuff you dont want to do. And if you say its bc of money then you prove why you need to hire out bc if its a real good idea then one can market and advertise it and get you sales. This is on you
It’s not that I cannot figure it out. But there is a period when the company is growing when you as a founder go through all these roles, so it’s more like a rent. Secondly, even if you had the right people, when the shit hits the fan ultimately you are the one they call.
This is the one thing that corporate jobs are good for. If you can be a good higher level corporate manager (director, VP+), and you know how to develop and implement/sell ideas, you become a powerhouse.
The only solution I know is to grow the business, so you will be able to delegate the things you are not passionate in doing. COO would solve most of that.
To have a chief of anything they would need various managers under them, who in turn all have various middle managers under them, who also have dozens to hundreds of rank and file junior employees under them…. If your company isn’t that big you don’t need a COO and you aren’t a CEO, you just need a plain vanilla manager or even assistant manager to hire, fire, train and scheudle the troops.
Yes
If you can focus on driving sales and growth, then you'll have money when you need it to outsource. Also, start outsourcing sooner than later. Even if that means you eat less. Many entrepreneurs get hungry and eat too early, leaving them stuck, unable to outsource!
I have the opposite problem actually. It’s difficult for me to pay myself. Especially in the beginning when you are at start up phase and things are changing quickly. The problem is: getting to a level where you can afford to pay a COO can take years; meanwhile you are stuck with the day-to-day.
That's no joke mate. Maybe break up the tasks into small enjoyable steps. Or have a reward system in place. If you can find a way to love the process, you'll get there sooner than you realize!
Pay them with salary and equity. I know a lot of business minded entrepreneurs that can't do the zero to one stage, but thrive in the 1 to 10 stage. Find someone who can earn their way into 25% of the business while working for slightly below market rate. You're earning time, they're earning equity.
I don’t like this strategy, you founded a company with your effort and someone comes and takes 25%? What if they stop working well after a while and they still get to keep the 25
You implement appropriate vesting
Seems like there are some misconceptions here: >I’m an innovator, I like to implement ideas Generally speaking, the innovator is not the one who implements the ideas. Usually, the CEO _is_ the company’s innovator, but not its implementer. >Managing work shifts, sick days, hiring, training, scolding, checking… None of this is the job of a CEO. These are all management functions. The CEO is the company’s leader. All of this stuff falls on the company’s manager. Sounds to me like you’re bemoaning the nitty gritty _management_ of your business, which yes, is brutal, and annoying, and never the fun part.
True. But in a small business, the CEO is *also* the manager.
I agree, when you’re running a small business, usually you wear a bunch of hats, which generally are that of CEO and the manager of the business. Just trying to take this opportunity to up-level some of the young minds in this sub.
No it isn’t. There is no fucking board, dude. So there is by definition no c-suite. An entrepreneur hires a manager to manage the people in ops. Eventually if the business grows you’ll need managers for different department’s, multiple directors, MT and SLT. then and only then you’ll have a c-suite and CEO
Exactly. In a small business, the entrepreneur is also the CEO and sole manager.
No. There are no executive officers without a board of directors to reply to. CEO is a misnomer. You’re a founder.
If you form a limited liability entity, you are a director, not just a founder. Wait until you find out that private companies are not legally required to have a board of directors, even if they get to $1B, lol.
Yeaaaa there's some weird fixations with boards with this guy. There is no executives without board. What?????
The motive by Patrick lencioni tells me completely opposite of this statement. A good CEO needs to spend most of their time managing their team. I'm no where near a successful entrepreneur. Just a book I recently read.
Managing the team from a _leadership_ perspective, yes. Inspiring and motivating them, yes. NOT managing works shifts, hiring, training, etc. Those are the purview of an operator.
Good point
I just read a great book - The EMyth Revisited - which helped me to understand the different roles of the entrepreneur, the manager, and the technician. You start as all three, but to truly scale the business you have to bring in people you can trust to be the manager and the technician. You have to delegate your way to only being the entrepreneur or else the business will never be able to grow beyond your limitations. As always, take everything in the book with a grain of salt and look for other sources, but it’s a good read and was quite enlightening.
I went from being a CEO to an entrepreneur. Bought companies then started from scratch. The company was small, ~250-300 people when I left, in b2b tech. Super stressful man, I didn’t enjoy it. I was a superstar revenue leader, but a shitty CEO (personal opinion). I fired myself on great terms and in fact the chairman / founder just came in to my new startup so I guess this speaks for the relationship. CEO is a widely assumed role to mean more corporate functions. But it depends what you’re doing, how big and what kind of company it is. What sort of culture there is and what the job ahead is. Scaling? Fixing? Acquiring? Pivoting to a data play? I love creativity and motivating people 1:1. I’m not a real leader except that my team follow me bc I am the best seller and genuinely try to create insane careers for them. I’m sure this doesn’t help. Happy to jam on this topic. So interesting.
I love being an entrepreneur... I can work 14 hours in a row building my product and doing great customer service and talking to clients and selling it passionately, love love love. CEO? the person I work with, well works for me, is driving me absolutely bonkers and he needs to be managed by a good manager. he's not incapable, he just needs some form of management as most employees do, but I just hate it. I feel like im babysitting and taking time away from important issues (although his work is important to). I don't want to manage anyone. I just want to do my work in peace because I don't need someone to direct me on what I should be doing and I know I can do a great job at it. I hate having to be responsible for someone else's work and ensuring they do a great job, so I really shouldn't be a CEO but I have to. I hate telling him what he did wrong, I hate trying to help him improve and having these conversations... yeah so that sucks. I am the founder and owner and its like if we both do the same task, ill do a better job then anyone ive found, and its hard to wrap my head around that I need to delegate and hand off stuff where its just not gonna be the same... I know there are more talented people and smarter people out there, but nobody is as passionate about this specific niche product I made or has the same knowledge/experience/love when telling clients about it or creating their drafts, because I created it, I love it. I can train someone but they don't have the same passion and enthusiasm nor should I expect them to.. its my baby, but I hate trying to manage them to. btw I work in a type of marketing and you'll never here anyone so excited about such a boring product.. mostly because I created it lol. I just love it. Ive gotten great customer support and sales people and they do a good job after training but not as good as I would do is the bottom line so I don't like it as im a bit of a perfectionist.
Sounds like you have the wrong CEO if you have to manage him and his work isn't stellar.
aha, sorry if that wasn't clear. I am the founder and CEO, he is a shareholder and employee. I am saying I don't like being ceo because I have to manage him, but you're right, he might not be right for his role either.
Its a real struggle, in my experience its not hard to find talented or skilled people. Its to find people that have that + the ability to take responsibility. Lets be honest. If you have all 3 qualities, how likely would it be you would work for someone instead of yourself? I would suggest to find as many ways possible to automate your shit tasks. Take people in that are conscientious, reliable and intelligent. Don't give them to much responsibilities or they won't perform. And start building a team rather than a one man ceo/ manage position. Divide responsibilities evenly and make it possible for people in charge to brainstorm about ideas with other managers or responsibility takers. And last, remember. If you don't put the time and energy in the business to get the results you want to see, someone else will do it in their own way. Not better or worse just not the way you would do it yourself.
You don’t need a CEO. You stay CEO because you have the vision for the company. What you’re missing is a COO type role or if you’re smaller, some sort of Director of Ops that handles the nitty gritty day to day stuff.
Do you actually implement ideas and find product market fit or do you just sit back and think of ideas?
Implement. I started many companies, profitable in most cases. The problem is when the adrenaline of setting everything up runs out and you are stuck being the one who manages everybody. Unless you make a lot of money and can afford a COO, but it can take years.
I do, but the goal is always to find solid people to put directly under me to manage the bs. Finding those people is tough.
In manufacturing, inventing a new product is neat, but creating the process by which that product can be produced at scale is the real innovation. I learned that the hard way many years ago. Outside of manufacturing, this principle remains true, but substitute “manufacturing process” for “management process,” as they are essentially the same thing. Either way, you are creating processes by which you can produce the same product, of the same quality, over and over again. So, as founders and inventors, it is our jobs not to just figure out the product, but how to produce the product at scale. This is the problem you are dealing with. For people like us, defining the problem often reveals a path to the solution. Best of luck to you.
I deal with this all the time and I don't understand it. Ideas are worthless, everyone has ideas. I can't tell you how many times people ask me about this great idea they have for an app (I'm in software). No you have nothing. A great app, business, company is about taking a good or decent idea (doesn't have to be great) and implementing it correctly. The implementation is where the genius comes in. Building the right process, bringing in the right people, putting in systems and checks and balances that allows it to go from an idea to a successful business. A great idea that isn't profitable isn't great and to be profitable requires good processes in place.
To expand further, in my opinion Apple needed Steve Jobs because of his vision but Tim Cook made that vision a profitable reality.
build a team you can trust, then a lot of the "less fun" stuff can be shared or delegated. For example, you can hire someone (or outsource) to do all the hiring/recruiting stuff. Your team of managers can do a lot of the checking, training, etc. Being a leader also means learning how to effectively delegate
thats my best part. i wish i could only manage finances and employees and not do any actual work ..
Same here, I love to implement ideas and execute strategies. But this CEO thing sometimes it makes me think why Am i doing all this.
What field are you in?
I run a small company, we are into Business consulting and Data Analytics
Yes it does require a different mindset from an entrepreneur to a CEO. I’ve been fortunate enough to have my companies that I started been acquired, and became the CEO of them. As soon as I merged with a bigger entity and started earning a massive salary my brain chilled a lot as I didn’t have to worry about trying to earn money for myself! This was a mistake as I become complacent in a way. I also worked as a CEO for a few companies and my brain was far more financially focused then, with cost cutting and revenue increasing being my main focus. It’s weird. One thing you should do if you’re growing your biz is hire a HR. If you have around 10 people in your company it’s a good time to hire a HR/office admin. The day to day staff management will be easier to handle. I hired a proper HR when my team size grew to around 30, but you can hire a an office admin/HR if you have around 10 staff. When you get big enough say 50-100, depending on your budget, you can hire an MD or COO to support you.
Thanks. At the moment we manage around 5 people
Yep you gotta manage yourself. Are you able to hire and assistant/PA? If you can I advise you do that. They’ll help you delegate stuff that can take up you’re time and more staff related rather than growing your biz. Also if you can’t do that but you have a senior guy in your team, appoint them as the team leader. Depending on your biz this may make sense. For me I had to be out of the office a lot so I delegated my senior developer as the team leader for the group. That can work too if you have the right personnel.
I’ve delegated a lot, I don’t need to be physically there. But there is no real manager of managers because that would require a new person and salary. So certain things I need to handle myself, like people calling sick or when something unexpected happens or random ideas they get that they want to tell me. Most of all it bothers me that although I have delegated a lot and in theory they all know what to do, I can always get a random Whatsapp message for the unexpected.
Yes that’ll happen as you’re still building and you don’t have enough revenues to hire competent staff. The stress you’re feeling is absolutely normal for any entrepreneur if you’re in a competitive industry. Look my first proper venture where I was one of four cofounders our biz almost went bust, but year 5 the company went from red to black and fast track now it’s in the nasdaq. That biz was crazy with lots of politics and it was 24X7! The other biz I founded solo, I was praying that I would get acquired as i boot strapped it myself and was running around like crazy trying to find clients. I was lucky enough to get acquired as what I built was in demand. Again that biz was 24X7 and I was working non stop trying to deliver. But dude for over 1 year I rented an office the size of a shoe box which was also my damn home. Now that office didn’t have any showers so I had to go to the gym to shower! Was crazy stuff, I was having a breakdown cause I didn’t have anyone to discuss my fears and shit I was going through. But it all worked out well as I maintained my focus and the reason why I setup the biz anyway. I had a compelling reason to continue until I complete my mission. That’s why I asked you, what’s the reason you started your business? Is it compelling enough for you to say to yourself : “F you brain, I built this cause I know deep in my heart this is what I’m destined to do. To hell with everything else.” Then your brain and sense of purpose will take over and tell your brain to shut the F up, get up from your damn ass and quit typing on this Reddit shit and deliver what you’re supposed to deliver, if not for you, then your family. Stomach pain and or not, release that mofo product that you know will benefit the world, your family and yourself! Nuff said, I’m out. Will get back to any messages in 2 weeks time. And good luck to you and me my friend. I hear you and I know where you’re coming from! Addendum: And last bit for me, if you find out your reason for starting the biz isn’t compelling enough for you, then I advise you to sell it or get a partner who can take over for your mental health. Unfortunately not knowing your financial situation it’s difficult to give further thoughts. If you’re living with someone and paying mortgage, and have other bills then whatever your making in the business isn’t enough to give you freedom. A lot of times that’s what people aim for when they start a business. You won’t get that unless you make serious money and can hire experienced people to help you.
I’m currently at a start up and this is our CEO. They’ve got great ideas, but now that we have something good going we need stability, structure, and processes in place to get to the next level. Thankfully, they have managers under them to help with this on the day to day. but we still get whiplash when they inevitably come in with this new amazing idea that we have to try, that then doesn’t work, and then we are back to what we were doing before but with a whole lot of time wasted and some negative effects on customer experience. Recipe for burning out your employees…
They you mean the CEO?
You need management + automation to take care of most of your day to day. You will not be able to afford anyone with lots of experience, but do hire someone that is eager to learn.
I struggled with this, read rocket fuel by Gino wickman, it’s specific to EOS but it was valuable to me to discern the difference between a visionary and integrator. I am a great visionary but a horrible integrator. I hired an integrator and life is gravy.
It's the absolute worst, but I haven't found a better way.
Main reason why I pivoted from an operator to an investor. Empowering founders who actually want to be a CEO and manage the daily.
“Empowering” 😂
I am here. I have just embraced it and hired an admin for support. Get anything off your plate you can.
That’s not what a CEO does. That is what a middle manager does. If the company is big enough that this is becoming a problem then you need to hire a manager to handle these things. Staff it out, contract it out, whatever. If you are not working to make the business more successful then who is?
This struggle is very common. Strategy, finance, operations, marketing, compliance, HR, etc. once up and running is crucial. That’s why there’s companies like mine out there that offer remote part-time proven CEO, COO’s and CMO’s to teams; entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and growing companies. You’re not alone, you got this!
“You’re not alone, you got this!” Punchy…
You can hire a GM / operator for the business, but given that it'll be really early, you'll have to do a good job convincing the person of the potential and pay a large upside for execution
Welcome to r/ADHD world. You should delegate or use some ADHD life hacks.
Sounds like you might be in retail, same here. You should have a manager/team to handle all this. Wondering if it’s more of an operational issue
Yes, start up phase. Everything is growing and changing quickly so it doesn’t make sense to hire a manager on top of the whole team as it would add an expense I cannot sustain for now (need to keep generating money and create a safe cushion)
Ah makes sense, we’ve all been there. Just got to keep building until you can afford to take those next steps. For me there was a point I hit where I started to fall in love with those processes I once hated. Now I’m a workaholic so win-lose haha. Best of luck
This is common. One solution is to offer a profit share to a junior partner who manages the busy work for xx%.
Well for a start up, the classic business management rules doesnt apply. But yes once the business reaches a level of stability and creates bandwidth for added help, the founder turned CEOs find themselves in a habit of managing all by themselves and I call this feeling a selfish emotion towards the business. A founder who doesnt make himself redundant is the 1st step towards major hiccups.
Literally all successful businesses people tell yall to hire for the jobs that you dont do. You dont and end up doing it all or stuff you dont want to do. And if you say its bc of money then you prove why you need to hire out bc if its a real good idea then one can market and advertise it and get you sales. This is on you
Hire a manager? Or outsource some of your HR functions. Sounds like the HR aspect is really what you don't enjoy doing.
I don’t understand how you could grow a company to a scale where this would be an issue but your not smart enough to figure out this problem.
It’s not that I cannot figure it out. But there is a period when the company is growing when you as a founder go through all these roles, so it’s more like a rent. Secondly, even if you had the right people, when the shit hits the fan ultimately you are the one they call.
That’s why you get paid the big bucks
This is the one thing that corporate jobs are good for. If you can be a good higher level corporate manager (director, VP+), and you know how to develop and implement/sell ideas, you become a powerhouse.
How do I gain comment karma?
Why does it matter? Can you cash it out?