IMPLEMENTING A CEO DAY TO HELP YOUR BUSINESS GROW FASTER
As entrepreneurs, we spend a lot of time working in our businesses. The key to grow your business faster as an entrepreneur is to carve out quality time to work on your business too.
We’ve all been there and felt it when things start to feel a little swirly, haven’t we? You have a lot of new ideas, or old ideas sitting in your notebook that are just waiting to be implemented. You get mired in the day-to-day tasks and haven’t had a chance to sit back and take a bird’s eye view of the big picture and path ahead.
Especially as the year progresses and the New Year’s starting line has faded into the background, we can lose sight of the goals we set out to achieve.
You might even start feeling resentment as you’ve been furiously working away for your clients and leaving your own projects, tasks, and objectives on the back burner.
A CEO Day allows you time to focus on strategy for your business, so you can grow faster.
In order to get unstuck and ensure you’re buckled up and back in the driver’s seat, you need a Strategy Day. Or, as I like to call it, a CEO Day. This is time you’ve carved out just for YOU to focus on your own business, internal projects and tasks, and momentum. A day to focus on your personal and professional growth, and not your client work.
You’ll walk away feeling more rejuvenated and clear in your direction. You emerge with fresh ideas and valuable insights and likely be more excited and energized about the path you’re on.
WHAT EXACTLY IS A CEO DAY?
A CEO day or strategy day can look different depending on who you are and what you’d like to set out to accomplish. The key thing to remember is that this is a day to focus on growing your business as an entrepreneur.
I often like to take it as a big-picture planning day with one desired outcome I’d like to have taken action on in some way or implemented.
Here are some examples of things I’ve worked on during a CEO day:
- Mapping out my content plan and strategy for the next quarter on a high level, taking action on creating an outline for 1-2 content pieces
- Looking at the projects I’ve done and analyzing revenue / time required for each product or service, taking stock of whether or not I still want to be doing everything I’m doing, and implementing by sharing products or services that light me up through at least one marketing avenue.
- Thinking through the steps to a group program, determining cost, ideal client, and implementing by sharing my idea with at least one fellow entrepreneur to get feedback
You could also include:
- A financial review / money date
- A strategic look at your analytics and website performance
- Working on your own copy and content: website copy, writing blog posts, or creating social media content
- Creating an outline for an upcoming presentation or workshop
- Doing a digital clean up – from your downloads folder to your photos to your dauntingly full inbox, anything that could use a little sprucing is fair game!
- Revisiting your values, mission, vision, and DEI statements, – do they still apply?
- Walking through your systems
- And more!
The secret is that there’s no secret to doing this right. It’s all about choosing what YOU want to accomplish and how you want to plan your CEO or Strategy Day to propel your business forward as an entrepreneur.
I’M ALREADY SO BUSY, HOW DO I FIND TIME FOR A CEO DAY?
Start small. And as infrequently as you need to. When I first started doing a CEO strategy day to grow my business as an entrepreneur, I was completely overwhelmed and too busy working in my business to form complete sentences. I knew I needed to take a CEO day to get my head screwed on straight and stop the downward spiral.
I began by taking one day per quarter to focus on these higher level tasks.
At the time, this included far less visioning and dreaming work, and far more handling all the things on my plate that I’d pushed aside while handling client tasks.
I’d organize my Google Drive folders, archive completed projects, sit down with next month’s calendar, get large emails off to the right people, and edit podcast episodes.
Now, I’ve increased the number of CEO days that I take. I take up to two CEO days a month (I strive for every two weeks) and because as I’ve grown my business, I’ve improved my day-to-day systems and task management, I’ve also been able to use these days for more strategy, personal growth, professional development, and mapping out the vision for the coming months.
If you want to grow your business faster as an entrepreneur, you need to prioritize working on your business which means this can go in your calendar just like any other appointment or client obligation.
I stick a giant, “DO NOT BOOK: CEO DAY” in my calendar, and just like that, magically no one can book with me on that day! If I find myself going into my calendar to sneak an appointment on there, I have to stop and face the “CEO DAY” all-caps music.
Do I really want to take that away from myself?
Answer: Always “No”.
Prioritizing your personal and professional growth is a muscle, and I promise you it gets easier over time. Choose a frequency for your CEO Strategy Day that works for you and your client load and when you’re able to, add in more, more often.
OK, I’M SOLD, HOW DO I STRUCTURE MY CEO DAY?
Congratulations! You blocked out your calendar and you’re ready to grow your business faster by designating a set CEO strategy day. I’m patting you on the back right now, you just can’t see me.
Now what? How do you actually structure your CEO day to grow your business faster?
I want to touch back on the fact that there’s no wrong or right way to do this – this is all about what works for YOU, your brain, and the goals you have for your business and its growth.
I like to start by giving myself a little extra time in the morning for my routine. I might take more time with my coffee, read another chapter of the book I’m loving right now, walk my dog somewhere new, or run a personal errand before I dive into work.
This part’s important: TURN OFF communication and distractions so you can focus. Yes, this includes social media, but also text messaging, WhatsApp, Slack, etc. You might even want to put your phone in “do not disturb” and put an “out of office” on your email. I’ve been there… and it’s easy to get sucked back into not putting ourselves and businesses first, even when we set aside the time to do it!
Typically, I have a desired outcome for the day or three main objectives (don’t go too much crazier than setting three goals or you will get overwhelmed!)
Example of three goals I might have for the day:
- I need to get a new blog posted to my website
- I want to edit, post, and schedule out a podcast episode of Content with Character
- I want to look at the website copy for a page on my website and see if it’s still valid and accurate
I also typically might wrap up with something that feels rewarding like making a list of celebrations, writing something for me that’s just for fun, reading an article that’s been in my “Bookmarks Bar” for a month but I haven’t indulged in yet, etc.
Sometimes, I’ve had business besties be a part of the CEO and strategy day with me! We’ve worked alongside each other and offered feedback to help one another grow our businesses as entrepreneurs.
Check out my blog on Collaborative CEO Days HERE and make sure to listen to the She Built This podcast episodes that correspond with this blog at the bottom of this page!
Having a CEO strategy day in your business is a game-changer and I can’t wait to hear the great things that come from yours!
Need ideas of what to focus on in your own CEO day?
My Strategy Session is for you if you’re looking for a strategic look at the content in your business and want the action steps that will help grow your business faster. We focus on quick wins, content strategy, and what you as the CEO of your business can do to tune up your messaging to better attract your ideal client. I provide you with a strategy document including specific recommendations to move the needle forward in your business
emily@emilyaborn.com
Emily Aborn is a Content Copywriter for women entrepreneurs, Podcast Host of Content with Character and She Built This. She’s been an entrepreneur since 2014 and has experience in running brick-and-mortar as well as online businesses. She’s worked with over 98 different industries in their marketing and loves helping businesses increase their visibility, connect with their clients, and bring their dreams and visions to life. For fun, Emily enjoys nerdy word games and puzzles, reading, listening to podcasts, and tromping about in the woods with her husband, Jason, and their dog, Clyde.