If I asked you right now, “Is your revenue goal high enough to pay yourself…
Want to know how to think like a CEO even if you’re a freelancer or solopreneur? As a freelancer or solopreneur it is easy to keep your head down and do the work, but in order to grow your business in a way that truly works for you you’ll need to think like a CEO. Embracing a CEO mindset isn’t about having a team. It is about being strategic and intentional. Keep on reading to find out how to think like a CEO even if you’re a freelancer, solopreneur or one-person business.
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HOW TO THINK LIKE A CEO (EVEN IF YOU’RE A FREELANCER OR SOLOPRENEUR)
1. Thinking long-term
As a freelancer or solopreneur you might just be focused on what is happening this week or this month. As a CEO you want to be thinking about the long-term future of your business and hopefully long-term growth too. This means having a bigger vision for where you want the business to go. This could be anything from where you want it to be in 3 years, 5 years or even 10 years from now. If you are someone who has never thought that a month ahead this might seem like a lot, but you can build up to that longer vision. Try thinking about where you would want the business to be in 6 months time, and then a year from now, and then you can build up to a 3,5 or 10 year vision.
As well as having a long-term vision you’ll want to be having annual goals. Setting annual goals for your business not only means you can set goals that help move your business closer to the long-term vision, but it also enables you to plan what will happen in the business over the coming 12 months. Having clear goals and planning means you can be proactive and use the resources in the business as effectively and efficiently as possible. Having clear goals will also mean throughout the year it is easier to make decisions and you’ll be able to make choices based on whether they are helping you move towards your goals or not.
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I’ve been running annual planning strategy days with small business owners since 2019. Doing your annual business planning with someone external from your business and with tons of business and marketing experience and expertise makes a massive difference. I’ll support you to face the facts about your current position, dream big about the future and get really strategic about what you need to do in order to achieve those big business goals. So if you are planning on preparing for the upcoming year and you want to get your annual planning done in the most effective and efficient way, book a Strategy Day. |
2. Understanding the business finances (even better)
As a freelancer or solopreneur, your understanding of the business finances may be pretty basic. The likelihood is that you’ll be focused on revenue and it might be that you are focused on revenue coming in, without even having a clear goal you are tracking against. As a CEO, you’ll have a more in-depth knowledge of the business finances.
As a CEO you’ll set clear financial goals for the business, do financial forecasting and then monitor key financial metrics. You’ll look not only at the revenue of your business, but expenses. This will enable you to calculate your net profit. As the saying goes “Revenue is vanity, profit is sanity”. Whilst it is fine to monitor revenue, it isn’t the most important financial metric and switching to focusing on profit can highlight a lot in a business.
You’ll also really understand the divide between the business finances and your personal finances. You’ll understand what needs to happen financially within the business for you to be able to pay yourself properly. You’ll also use financial forecasting to think about cash flow in advance and ensure the business doesn’t get into a situation where there isn’t enough money in the bank.
3. Standardising what you offer
As a freelancer or solopreneur the ways you are currently working with people may vary drastically as you’ve been reactive. Someone says they want to work with you, you have a conversation with them, and then you suggest a way of working together for a certain price. You are very much in reactive mode and changing depending on what the client needs. This can mean you spend a lot of time having conversations with potential client, putting proposals together, and wondering what you should be pricing something at.
As a CEO, you will be looking to be proactive and to standardise what your offerings are. You’ll want as much as possible to have an offer suite where, in advance, you have been able to package up how people can work with you, strategically price that package and then be able to clearly and confidently market that package.
4. Make data-driven decisions
As a freelancer or solopreneur you might currently be making all of your decisions based on how something feels. And whilst you shouldn’t ignore your feelings as a CEO, you’ll want to be using data to help make decisions. In order for this to happen, you’ll need to be gathering data in your business and reviewing. Nowadays even as a one-person business you can gather so much data which means you’ll be able to make decisions from a more informed position.
5. Commiting time for regular reviewing and planning
As a freelancer or solopreneur you might not be doing much planning in your business. You are likely to be fairly reactive, but as already discussed a big part of being a CEO is being proactive. Earlier I mentioned having a long-term vision and doing annual planning. On top of that, CEOs also make the time to do more regular reviewing and planning. Quarterly planning is a very popular time length of planning in business and for good reasons. It is a long enough period of time to achieve a lot, but a short enough period of time to be able to plan in detail. For example, when I do quarterly planning with clients we’ll plan on a week-by-week basis. This level of detail mean the business owner can be super focused on what they are doing and use their time with maximum productivity,
In addition to making the time to plan throughout the year, CEOs also ensure they are reviewing progress. This is where deciding key metrics for your business is vital. This allows CEOs to be able to look at the data, see how the business is performing and adjust a plan if necessary.
| GET 1:1 MENTORING AND BE THE CEO YOUR BUSINESS DESERVES
My 1:1 mentoring includes personalised strategy, planning and accountability so you can be the best CEO possible. Together we’ll plan for each quarter, you’ll have me to hold you accountable with following through, and each month we’ll review your key metrics. Being your best CEO means making the time ongoingly to strategy, plan, review and refine. With my mentoring that will happen. |
5. Creating systems and processes
As a freelancer or solopreneur you might think “it’s just me in the business so I don’t need systems or processes”. As a CEO of a business, you create systems and processes because you understand they help you work faster, deliver a consistent experience, and if you do outsource in the future will make things a lot smoother. Systems and processes can be applied to every area of your business from client onboarding to marketing workflows. If there is something in your business you have to do repeatedly you can make a system or process for it.
That’s it. You now know how to think like a CEO (even if you’re a freelancer or solopreneur).
Just because you are the only person in your business doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be thinking like a CEO. CEOs are focused on the long-term future of the business, they set goals, and they make decisions based on data and whether it is helping move the business in the right direction. CEOs are also proactive and look for ways to make the business operate as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Embracing these CEO ways of thinking will help your business to grow, but grow in a manageable, and sustainable way, so you can truly love your business this year, next year and beyond.
I hope you’ve found this blog post useful and you are ready to think, and act, like a CEO.
All of my services are designed to help you be your best CEO whether it be a Strategy Day (where in one day we’ll put roadmap achieving all your goals for the next 12 months) or my 1:1 Business and Marketing mentoring (where you’ll get ongoing strategy, training and accountability).
To find out how we can work together click here.
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