3 Mental Models to Help Creators Think Like A CEO

Mental Models: pathways to bigger thinking

As a digital creator looking to scale your business,

If you are a digital creator looking to scale your business, the first step might surprise you. It’s not adding new products or onboarding team members. In fact, the first step to scaling is scaling your mindset.

Moving towards a larger business means that you’ll need to think in new and different ways than you would as a solopreneur. Even though you’ve likely had great success with building your audience or even selling products, scaling up requires different approaches. Fortunately, there are lots of tools and mental models that can help you build new ways of thinking in your business. Read on to lean more about what mental models are and some examples of how you can apply them.

Mental Models in Action

So what exactly are mental models? And how do CEOs use them? Mental models are simply thought frameworks that are used to view something from a variety of different angles, in order to make excellent decisions. CEOs use them as different lenses through which to view the same idea, concepts, questions, problems, opportunity, or situations. Let’s take a look at 3 examples of mental models and how they work.

1. Second Order Thinking

Second order thinking is about big picture, long-term decision making. Instead of only thinking about the immediate results or consequences of a decision, second order thinking asks you to think about all potential trickle down effects of whatever you are planning to do. Your decisions and resulting actions as a CEO will typically have far reaching consequences, whether positive or negative. When you apply second order thinking, you move from simply thinking about what will happen three days, weeks, or months from now, to thinking about 3 to 5 years into the future.

One way to apply this model is to visualize a long chain of dominoes. It can be helpful to think of each subsequent reaction to your initial action, as having an knock-on impact on the next domino.

2. 80/20 Rule (a.k.a the Pareto Principle)

Level Up Founder and CEO Amanda Northcutt is a big fan of this mental model. The Pareto Principle states that 80% of impact will come from 20% of actions. So, for example, it’s likely that 80% of your business income will come from just 20% of your customers.

For a creative spin on this model, Amanda says: “I often take this out of context and use the 80/20 rule like this: 80% of a persons time, especially a CEOs, should be doing activities that only they can do and provide the greatest return on their investment of time and effort. Also, when someone can do a task at least 80%, as well as the CEO, that task should be delegated. This principal is kind of a mathematical phenomenon and I find it very interesting to see how this principle is applied in a myriad of ways in life and business.”

3. Five Whys

This mental model is all about asking?why.? By asking the question why, five times, you will almost always get to the root of any problem you are trying to solve. Dig far beyond the surface of a situation so that you deeply understand it before making assumptions. The Five Whys framework is helpful for making strategic business decisions and even when you’re thinking about your customers. Let’s take a look at an example.

Let’s say you’re planning to launch a new cohort of group coaching. Ask yourself why someone who follows you on social media will join your upcoming program. Then ask why again, for each answer, at least 4 more times. Dig deep until you get to the root reason someone would be willing to join. It could be because what you have to offer would meet one of their foundational desires, like knowledge, power, wealth, community, recognition, or acceptance. Try the Five Why approach next time you want to understand a problem at a deeper level.

Practice Makes Progress

Shifting your mindset and adopting new ways of thinking through problems can take time. The only way to get better is to consistently practice. The good news is that business growth presents lots of opportunities to think like a CEO.

The mental models above are just a small sample of many different thinking strategies. Sign up for a free course on moving your mindset from a Creator → CEO in 7 Days. Taught by 6-time executive, recurring revenue expert and CEO Amanda Northcutt, you’ll learn these and many more mental models. Plus, you’ll receive a brand new lesson each day to help you level up your creator business and think more like a CEO.

Join Level Up Creator School

Struggling with growing your creator business? Level Up Creator School is the only membership community for creators with built in, hands-on support to help you take your business to new heights. With weekly LIVE events, workshops, AMAs, creator business courses and 1:1 support in every area you need to scale your business sustainably. Doors now open. Learn more here.