fbpx

How To Become The CEO Of Your Business (And Work Yourself Out Of A Job)

It’s possible for you to become the CEO of your business, where your business can make money and survive, even when you aren’t there. Here's how!


Michael Tindall, founder and CEO of Opus Global Services | Source: Courtesy Photo
Michael Tindall, founder and CEO of Opus Global Services | Source: Courtesy Photo

Many millennial business owners (like you!) are finding themselves in the same dilemma.

After working hard, pushing yourself to the max—long nights and weekends—you have built your business to six-figures. But there’s something no one warned you about. You’re tired, frazzled, and haven’t taken time off in ages.

Not to mention, if you aren’t doing the work, talking to your clients, or accomplishing the 1,001 things you need to do, your business can come to a grinding halt.

If you stop, your income stops. Sound familiar?

 

The delegation and ‘do it yourself’ conundrum

You’ve probably flirted with, or have even tried, to bring on contractors, employees, and vendors, to leverage your time and outsource the smaller tasks, which can help. But there are so many things that only you can do, right?

If you delegate tasks to others, they don’t go as well or as fast as when you do all of the work, or it takes too long and costs too much, so you stop. Instead, you go back to doing it all yourself, and you are right back where you started, working your job in your business.

It may pay well, but just like an hourly job, if you aren’t serving existing clients or meeting with potential new clients, you aren’t making money. This limits your success and takes away from the time you’d rather be sleeping, spending time with friends, loved ones, or just living life!

Here’s the biggest problem though—not hiring help can lead to burnout, decreased productivity, and forgetfulness. It can even lead to losing your business altogether.

 

Become the CEO of your business

A lot of business owners find themselves facing down this scenario at one point or another on their entrepreneurship journey, and it can be scary. But that doesn’t have to be your story.

It’s possible for you to become the CEO of your business. Becoming the CEO puts you in a position where your business can make money and survive, even when you aren’t there. That means real business growth and freedom.

Here’s the step-by-step plan to becoming the CEO of your business.

 

Step 1: Figure out how to replace yourself

Business owners often think that they’re the only person in the world who can do the exact quality of work they’re doing in their business. Other people won’t do it as fast, as efficiently, or as well.

Unless you are one of the top three practitioners in the world at what you do, many people can take over the day to day work you’re doing in your business.

How to become the CEO of your business
© Jacob Lund, YFS Magazine

You may have to adjust how things are done in your business, and that’s okay. This may mean charging more to cover the cost of hiring someone else to do some of the work you are doing, setting new client expectations, or investing in other things like software, equipment, or training.

By having someone else handle the things that truly aren’t necessary for you to do, your time is freed up to focus on your genius, growing the business, and taking some time off.

This won’t happen overnight. There’s a transition period. But the sooner you start the process, the better.

 

Step 2: Ensure the process is profitable

When you work for yourself, especially in today’s digital economy, it is easy to underestimate the cost of running a company vs. being a full-time freelancer or consultant.

Some consultants, coaches, and experts keep an estimated 90 percent of what they charge their clients (before taxes) for the work they do, and that is great.

Hiring others to do the work costs money and will most likely mean you make a fair amount less for the services your company performs. But don’t let that keep you from hiring and delegating. When you have help, you can grow your business. That means instead of having 90% of a $10,000 per month pie (about $9,000), you could have 70% of a $30,000 per month pie (about $21,000).

That’s a big difference!

Make sure to calculate the cost when you have someone else do the work and what you need left over to turn a profit.

 

Step 3: Hire the right type of help for your business

You can typically hire two types of people, and there are pros and cons to both.

The first is a freelancer who you contract on a per-project or per hour basis. At the start of your business, you will only have them work once in a while, and you can hire different people for different types of work.

The downside is they will have other clients, so they may not always be available. Not to mention, freelancers may suddenly raise their rates and are generally more expensive than someone on salary or who works exclusively for you.

The second is a dedicated team member that works exclusively for you (they can still be a contractor vs. employee depending on your legal arrangement). The upside is their paycheck depends on you, so they are more responsive and will take on more to get the work done. Since they’re more stable, they’re also generally more profitable for your business.

The downside is there’s usually more work, initial cost, and recurring cost to hire a dedicated team member. You may have to take a pay cut initially to hire someone, and it will take time to train them. However, the long-term investment, knowing someone is properly trained, dedicated to your business, and will get better over time is a win-win!

 

Ultimately, whether you decide to hire a freelancer or a dedicated team member, one thing is for sure—you need help growing your business and waiting is just going to cost you time and money.

 

Michael Tindall, founder and CEO of Opus Global Services, uses his 10+ years of experience in international business, sales, customer service, and leadership to help business owners, entrepreneurs, and corporations create and scale their business by providing a white-glove service that custom hires top tier global talent, so they don’t have to go through the exhausting hire-fire cycle that keeps companies starving for talent and sacrifices profits. When Michael isn’t working, he’s traveling the world, learning foreign languages, enjoying international culture, or studying martial arts. Michael’s story has appeared in Forbes, The Brave Visibility Podcast, The Financial Gravity Podcast, and more.

 

© YFS Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Copying prohibited. All material is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this material is prohibited. Sharing of this material under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International terms, listed here, is permitted.

   

In this article