In Praise of the CEO Day
Which day is YOUR CEO Day?
Most everyone has heard the Michael Gerber-inspired adage about working ON the business rather than only IN the business. And yet, business owners universally find it difficult to carve out the mental and temporal space to focus on growth. We recommend a weekly (ideally) or monthly (if that's what you can manage for now) CEO Day for you to do the work of growing your business.
How to schedule a CEO Day:
Find the day in the week when you are least required for the other functions of your business. It may not be a Monday, and it's probably not a Friday either. Those are the days bosses are most likely managing staff or clients. Pick a mid-week day and block it off. You might consider even a half-day if that's all you can carve out at first. One idea is to combine a half-day CEO period with a half-day for personal care (medical appointments, errands, etc.) or a half day for networking. You can be creative in the structure of your CEO time - the most important thing is to carve it out and keep it sacred. Block it in the calendar and let your team know you are unavailable during that time. Don't take calls or meetings unless absolutely vital. (Hint: it's almost never absolutely vital.)
What to do with your CEO Day:
Take stock. Using the analytics you regularly collect (more on that in an upcoming newsletter), look at how you are doing with sales, expenses, accounts payable and receivable, customer and employee retention, social media engagement, etc. Reflect on what's going well and what needs action.
Take care of any finance and bookkeeping items outstanding.
Look at your goals for the month, quarter and year and see where you need to focus attention.
Evaluate your sales process progress. What have you done in the last week or month for new customer outreach, and what needs to be done?
Evaluate your staffing, now and in the coming period.
Read an industry article, catch up with LinkedIn, and get inspired by what competitors in other markets are doing.
Create content for your community.
Document or refine a system or process in your business that needs attention.
Get a handle on your calendar and your inbox. Even if you don't want to take care of a particular item during the CEO Day, you can schedule a time to address it in the coming week or month.
Book time with your coach or mentor(s) to discuss the broader picture. A chat with a business friend (other entrepreneur with a non-competitive business) will also do the trick here.
Growing a business doesn't happen by accident. However you use your CEO Day, our clients universally find it vastly helpful to set time for analysis, reflection and growth-oriented action. When is your next CEO Day?