Elevate Your Business: The Power of CEO Days for Strategic Growth and Success

Ever feel like you're stuck in the endless cycle of daily tasks, making no real progress on your bigger business goals? It's time to break free! Discover the game-changing habit of CEO Days as Mary and Laura share their strategies for setting aside dedicated time to work on your business, not just in it. They reveal how this special practice can revolutionize your approach to strategic planning, help you stay ahead of your goals, and ultimately boost your growth and profitability.

Tune in to learn how to set up your CEO Days effectively, from scheduling them consistently to minimizing distractions and focusing on high-impact activities. We offer practical tips on writing down specific objectives, choosing the right day of the week, and aligning your actions with your goals. Hear Mary and Laura's personal practices and insights on how CEO Days can alleviate stress and keep you ahead of the curve in your strategic initiatives. Don't miss these invaluable insights that can transform the way you run your business!

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Transcript

Mary Fain Brandt: 0:03

You're listening to Scale Up Strategies, the business growth podcast for coaches, consultants and speakers. We're your hosts and business coach experts Mary Fain Brandt and Laura Bas hore.

Laura Bashore: 0:16

We're sharing all our insider tips from 20 plus years in business, including how we successfully scaled our businesses without losing our minds or our husbands.

Mary Fain Brandt: 0:27

Sure, you can piece it together and try to DIY your way to success, or you can listen to us every week and learn the shortcuts, because we promise they're really awesome.

Laura Bashore: 0:38

So grab your favorite cup of coffee, tune in and let's start the show.

Mary Fain Brandt: 0:42

Hey there, fabulous listeners, Welcome back to Scale Up Strategies, the business growth podcast for coaches, consultants and speakers.

Laura Bashore: 0:52

And I'm Laura Bashore, and we're here to help you scale your business with smart strategies and a splash of staff.

Mary Fain Brandt: 1:00

I love that, Laura. Hey, so today's episode is about one of our favorite topics, and it's actually something that I've probably been doing it for a couple of years, and it's called CEO Days, and you might be thinking what does that mean? Let me ask you this question Do you ever feel like you're spinning your wheels, working on 10 projects and never getting anywhere? Spinning your wheels, working on 10 projects and never getting anywhere? Your to-do list is this long and you're not crossing things off enough, because I know I've been there, laura. Have you ever been there?

Laura Bashore: 1:34

Oh yeah, I'm the kettle here doing that. So, yeah, that's why we're going to break down the magic of CEO days. You know, that's a simple concept that can really revolutionize your business and help you as you strategize to take and scale your business forward. So first let's talk about kind of what's holding back some business owners. Statistics show that a staggering 70% of owners often get so caught up in their day-to-day operations that they neglect strategic planning for their own growth. So that's when you hear people say are you working in your business or working on your business? Right, we've heard that.

Mary Fain Brandt: 2:18

Yeah, yep, absolutely. I get them confused all the time, but that's just my dyslexia kicking in. But there is a big difference of working in your business versus working on your business, right?

Laura Bashore: 2:31

Exactly. I mean, you really need to understand that working on your business is critical for you to be able to grow, and so that's why, you know, imagine if you can dedicate an entire day to look at your big picture. You know, think about the business owners. You know who are really successful, and they seem like they're always innovating or coming up with the next thing. I bet they use this, don't you think, mary?

Mary Fain Brandt: 2:54

Oh, amy Porterfield, they have strategic planning days, right, and then quarterly. So I think CEO days are magic. Let's dive into what a CEO day is. First up, you've got to plan it right. You can't just wake up and say today's my CEO day. I learned that a long time ago. My CEO days are on Thursdays and I don't have a whole day. So maybe you start with two hours, right? Maybe you're not at a point where you can dedicate a whole day. Two hours, right. Maybe you're not at a point where you can dedicate a whole day. I block off from 10 am to 2 pm on Thursdays for my CEO days. You got to schedule those in advance, you guys, right. Just like anything, you have to plan and you have to treat it like a non-negotiable. It's like me putting time. I'm looking at my calendar over here. I have swim, like going to the gym or working out. I have to put it on my calendar or it's not going to happen.

Laura Bashore: 3:46

Same thing, sorry, I thought swim was a tool or something at first. Cause you said, " I have swim" I was like, oh, that's what we use, Okay.

Mary Fain Brandt: 3:55

No, I'm sorry, Swim is for Mary to go swimming in the pool and I have. I'm trying to get there three days a week. Get there three days a week, but if it's not on my calendar it's not going to happen. The same thing with my CEO days. So I just decided Thursdays 10 to 12, and I just have it on repeat, block it out and guard it fiercely.

Mary Fain Brandt: 4:13

Trust this or make this your time to work on your business, not in it. And you need to on top of blocking timeout, like what are you going to work on? You know, and you need to on top of blocking time out, like what are you going to work on? You know you should focus on tasks like reviewing your business goals, analyzing your metrics, what's working, what isn't working, and also that allows you to have time to brainstorm new ideas. So that creative time that you need, I also use it to do writing sometimes, like my marketing and my content. Like it's a good time to have that time blocked off. So I'm not switching to 10 different things like okay, this will be some writing time.

Laura Bashore: 4:54

Yeah, and I think, in addition to that, you know focusing in on personal development as well. This is something that many business owners are lacking. You know they don't put the time in, and if you think you're going to do it as an afterthought, you know after you get your kids settled or after you're done watching a movie with your husband or your spouse or your partner, you're not going to. That's just the bottom line. You've got to get these things on your calendar, and it's also a really good stress reliever. Have you noticed that? That you just feel better?

Mary Fain Brandt: 5:30

I feel like I'm ahead of the eight ball instead of the eight ball coming to hit me right. I feel like, oh, I worked four hours in my business. I got these things done today that I've been putting off, and having dedicated time for those type of projects is important, so this isn't client work. I think we need to clarify CEO days. They're not the day that you get caught up on client work.

Laura Bashore: 5:55

No that's working in your business. Yeah, that's working on your business.

Mary Fain Brandt: 5:58

This is working on your business, things that you need to do to grow your business, to scale your business, to make your business more streamlined, right? So?

Laura Bashore: 6:09

Mary, can you then share with us, because we're talking broadly about concepts, but a lot of times it's easier for us to focus in on a story or something that we can really hold on to, that's tangible. Do you mind sharing with us? When was your last CEO day and what did you accomplish?

Mary Fain Brandt: 6:28

So, on Thursdays, one of the tasks that I do during that time is I create my newsletter. Right, that's one thing that I do, but what's coming up, a big one for me, is there's two things that I need to accomplish to grow my business, and one is updating my website, because, ironically, there's nothing on there that says I'm a certified AI consultant or that I know anything about AI. I can't grow my AI business if my website doesn't talk about it, so I'm going to be using my days in June to update the website, and we've been talking about this, laura a CRM system.

Mary Fain Brandt: 7:08

I am getting so many leads and I you know I'm going to be real, honest and authentic. Here's my CRM system Right?

Laura Bashore: 7:18

It's a sticky note. For those of you who can't see it, it is a colorful sticky note, but I will tell you the color is on brand.

Mary Fain Brandt: 7:26

Thank you.

Mary Fain Brandt: 7:28

So every week yeah, every week I write down who I'm supposed to follow up with and I just I've been lazy, I guess, or I'm like, well, I don't know which CRM system, and so I'm just going to dive in and I'm just going to pick one and set it up, and I do have one, but I'm not using it, right? So if you're not using the tool, why have it? So I need to find a CRM system that I, like I, can use and it works for me, my business and where I'm at in my business. So what are you going to work on on your next CEO day?

Laura Bashore: 8:03

Well, that's really great. So one of the things I already started working on is I did choose the CRM system, so I'll share that with you, so you can take a look at it too and I started I started importing all of my contacts from all of the different databases that I have them in at this moment. And the next thing that I'm looking at yes, updating my website to include my AI information, but also focusing in on my automated offers.

Mary Fain Brandt: 8:37

So making sure that I have that in line.

Laura Bashore: 8:39

So getting those in order, setting everything up, and my goal is to have all of that in place before July because, as you know, I'm going to London and so I want this done so that when I'm in London I can just see things happening to cha ching in my bank account. We feel good about it.

Mary Fain Brandt: 9:00

So we might have to do a work day in June, because we're working on similar things, so yeah, talk about that after the show.

Mary Fain Brandt: 9:07

And you guys, ceo days don't have to be by yourself. I know someone, a colleague, dana she hosts CEO days once a week, so they don't have to be where you're working by yourself. You can grab a partner, a colleague, and say, hey, maybe it's once a month that you guys get together and do the CEO day together, like Laura and I are going to be working on websites and CRMs. Well, maybe we should schedule like a two, three hour zoom call and just focus on that. But anyway, so right, let's talk about some of the benefits of why you need a CEO day.

Mary Fain Brandt: 9:43

Studies show that businesses that engage in regular strategic planning so, if you don't like the word CEO, think of it as your strategic planning day. Okay, that's what it is. So companies and businesses that have strategic planning days, hours, retreats they grow their business 60% faster and are 70% more profitable than those that don't. So, because it's that planning and that strategy, ceo days also help you align your actions with your goals, because if your actions are not aligning with your goals, you're not going to make your goals, you're not going to be moving in the right direction. So some tips, right? So doesn't that make sense? Like we can do actions?

Laura Bashore: 10:28

It does Well, and. I think it also helps to kind of keep you on track and give yourself permission to stop doing things that aren't working for you, right? So I like that.

Mary Fain Brandt: 10:43

Yeah, you have to ask yourself does this action move me closer to my goal? And I know that we're going to be talking about that in one of the episodes on how to set your goals right. And it's not making a list of everything you have to do, that's a to-do list. That's a task versus a goal and I think we need to get clear on that difference. And maybe that's where you start on your CEO day, you know, changing your mindset on what a task is versus a goal.

Mary Fain Brandt: 11:13

So let's go over Laura, a few tips on how people can set up a CEO day. First one is schedule them. I have mine, as I said, thursdays 10 to two, and I'm going to be completely honest here. There are times where things come up and I have to use that and I'm trying to be better at protecting it. But, for example, like a speaking or training gig, I'll go ahead and book that clients. I won't. I try to. You know I have certain days for client calls. Do you have a certain day? Is it weekly for you or monthly? At this time, what are? Are your CEO days looking like?

Laura Bashore: 11:53

I have not chosen a specific date just because it's almost like I couldn't do the commitment of it. So I choose one weekly. But I really like just picking a day and sticking with it and I'm thinking I'm going to choose Monday, Monday to be that for me, because I don't find that I get a lot of speaking engagements on Mondays.

Mary Fain Brandt: 12:19

So to kind of avoid that situation.

Mary Fain Brandt: 12:22

I think that might be the best place to put it important, Like you have to find the day of the week that works for you. I find like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdays are my heavy days, like client consultations, client calls, networking events. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are I'm just slammed like this. Last week, this week, Laura, I think I went to five networking events in three days. Good job, I know it's crazy. So you have to understand how does your calendar work and what are your boundaries. So Thursdays is like oh, I can take a little time and work on in my business then or on my business.

Mary Fain Brandt: 13:02

I always say that backwards Um on my business in is with clients on Uh. So the next thing you guys want to do to have a successful CEO day is set clear goals. So, laura, you just said what you're going to work on. Now do you write that down? Are you putting that on your calendar? Like this CEO day, on Monday I'm going to work on the website and then the following week might be dedicated to the CRM.

Laura Bashore: 13:35

Yeah, I think so. That probably sounds the way to do it, because if I write it down, I'll hold myself more accountable to it, instead of just saying, oh today's, what can I do.

Mary Fain Brandt: 13:45

Yeah, so put it on your calendar, make it a repeat event and then for each week that you're, you know it's on your calendar, put in your calendar description what is your goal to get done. Because if you just have it on your calendar then you're like, oh, you might get distracted and work on something else. And that's another thing to work on during your CEO days is minimize your distractions. So and we all have this, we live by the cell phone, right? Turn your notifications off. You guys close your email, like I. That's hard for me, right? I? I'm just letting you guys know it's not easy, right, but have on CEO days. I want you to minimize. Close your email out, put your notifications on If you have an office door I don't have a door to my office, but close your office door.

Mary Fain Brandt: 14:39

No, because my office like, so everyone that's on video, that's okay, yeah, it's an open space and I thought about putting a barn door, but I like the openness and it's, yeah, I don't have kids, nobody's running in. Um, but don't go on to facebook unless there's something strategically you need to go. You need to like, have your plan, okay, is it website? Is it crm? Do I need to work, um, you know, on my marketing game plan, my strategic marketing plan, not just content, not not post just to post. What are you trying to accomplish with that?

Laura Bashore: 15:20

so, get really, yeah sorry, I was just gonna add in while you were talking it just came into my mind, which which is you know how I've been doing that 45 minute challenge. You know almost weekly, and like posting about it. So maybe this is what you do on your CEO days to make sure you don't start getting distracted, right? So 45 minutes you do this, then you're going to take a break, then you're going to come back for your next 45 minutes. That could be a really good way to make sure that you don't get the squirrel syndrome and think, oh, what can?

Mary Fain Brandt: 15:52

I do on Facebook. You have to know what your time span like I can work for 90 minutes, like that's a really good I can. I can crank out some work.

Laura Bashore: 16:03

Good.

Mary Fain Brandt: 16:03

Yeah. I can focus for 90 minutes, like, okay, let me get these email funnels going, or you know, whatever it is, but 90 minutes is my sweet spot. And then I need to get up and eat something, walk around, do a little laundry, you know cause I'm always multitasking uh, working from home, but you gotta know what your sweet spot is and maybe, if you're working on something hard, maybe it is a two hour block and then a break, and then and then smaller blocks, you know what do they say?

Mary Fain Brandt: 16:34

um, chew off what you know. What is that saying like, do the hard thing first oh, they eat the frog thing. Yeah, eat the frog. I was gonna say chew an elephant, but I'm like what it's not true enough.

Laura Bashore: 16:49

I've I've not heard that one, but I love it.

Mary Fain Brandt: 16:54

I really like that right to the elephant?

Laura Bashore: 16:57

no, it's eat the frog, so eat the frog first I'm just visualizing you gnawing on the leg of an elephant like that is a visual for me, like to the elephant first.

Mary Fain Brandt: 17:08

No, eat frog. Do the hard thing first. Turn off all your notifications. And this is something you know, laura. We got to reflect and plan, so you should save a half hour of your time block to reflect what did you get done? And if you didn't get it done, why Did you not have the resources? Did you not block enough time? Were you on facebook or instagram? Anybody go down the. I'm an instagram rabbit hole person, but I I allow myself to do that at night, like I. I allow myself to go watch all the cat videos and dance videos because I think I'm a I could be a great dancer. I'm like I could do that, um. And then the cat videos because I'm a cat mama, and recipes. But I allow myself, like, after you know 6 o'clock, I'm allowed to go on Instagram and spend 30 minutes.

Laura Bashore: 17:59

Yeah, it's like your reward that you're looking forward to, which I think is a great, great idea, and I do just want to piggyback on what you're saying here. And I do just want to piggyback on what you're saying here. Really think about how an organization that has multiple employees or multiple departments is ran. Each department has a review, whether they're doing it every 30 days, whether they're doing it weekly. All of those reports that you've made before you owned your own business, that you used to give to your bosses or your leadership, those KPIs. The reason they use them is because they work, so reflecting and making that plan is so important. I think that's something that we overlook is what was the outcome? And I really like what you said there, mary, which was if something didn't work, then why? So that we don't continue to do the same thing over and over again? Right, because that definition of insanity, that's Albert Einstein. I do know that one.

Mary Fain Brandt: 19:02

Yeah, I know that one, I know that one and I just want to. You know, I think as business owners, we always feel like we have to be working on the clients and maybe the marketing, but I feel most business owners do not give them, don't create space and time to reflect and think we don't give ourselves permission right by blocking out time Like I'm just going to work on my strategy or I'm just going to think about what I love doing in my business or do I need to shift my services. I think, as small business owners, that we don't do that. We're not the big corporations that have a strategic retreat or board of directors. Right, we've both worked in corporate before where you had corporate retreats and strategic retreats, and I think, as much as there are things I don't like about corporate, you know what that's something that they did well, I agree, not all the time, but yeah right.

Laura Bashore: 20:04

Sometimes the execution wasn't, but the thought process behind it is what you need, and that's a great place to kind of leave it, which is that if you have plateaued in your business and you are not doing a CEO day, or if you're not being as structured with that, this is what we're encouraging you to do. This is going to help you figure out how to scale to the next level. You have to give yourself the opportunity and the space to think about what's next because, just like when you were starting your business, there was a lot of thought put behind that, there was a lot of strategy. So don't forget about that now. You have to continue that if you want to continue to grow.

Mary Fain Brandt: 20:49

That is such great. That's a great way to wrap this session up on why you need a CEO day and you guys, we're here to help you every step of the way, so if you've got questions or need guidance, just reach out to us. We love hearing from our listeners.

Laura Bashore: 21:05

That's right. Your feedback fuels our fire, so keep it coming and don't forget to subscribe, rate. Your feedback fuels our fire, so keep it coming and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review our podcast. It helps us reach more amazing listeners like you.

Mary Fain Brandt: 21:17

So until until next time, here's a good coffee, great conversations and even greater success Cheers. Now it's ciao. If you enjoyed the podcast, show us some love. Please rate, review and subscribe to our podcast, and if you have any feedback, go ahead and share that with us too, because we want to hear from you. Until then, stay focused, stay motivated and stay caffeinated.