Do You Trust You?

When I started in entrepreneurship I knew I was betting on myself. We all did. We wouldn't have started companies if we didn't have some belief we could achieve something.

The stars in our eyes had us ready to change the world ??

What I wasn't prepared for was how that light would dim through the trial and error of running a firm.

? Decisions that felt right but then had to be scrapped and redone.

? Hiring team members that I had hope for and didn't work out.

? Investments that turned out to be a waste of money.

It's enough to make you question whether you're qualified to make choices. If you're like me, it also starts to make you doubt whether your intuition / gut / guiding light can be trusted.

But here's the thing: every time we bounce back, we've learned something.

After the "fails", I've gotten better.

• I chose the best option the first time, instead of settling for what would work for now.
• My interview questions got more specific, and initial onboarding period more measured.
• "What problem are you trying to fix?" is now the first question I ask before I invest.

You know your business better than anyone else. You know its highs and lows and everything in between. But most of all, you know what you its capable of, even if you don't know all of the steps that will get you there.

Trust in you.

This Week's Updates

???On the Pod

How's being a CEO going for you? As expected?

If so, tell me how you did it. Because that is not my testimony.

In this week's episode I get candid about my experience and share some insights to help you cope with the realities we face as CEOs of small firms. We get into the isolation, decision fatigue, and financial pressures that come with the role, and offer options to offset those feelings building support systems and managing stress.

LISTEN HERE

?? On My Mind

As your team grows, one of the hardest things to get out of (if you want to) is direct client service. Your clients are used to you and want to continue to get your attention, and you may want to stay connected even as your role in the company gets more high level.

Dave Olsen wrote an excellent post about this that digs into ways we can think about striking the balance of staying connected while getting out of the weeds. Read it here. He also graciously provided some resources for further reading from Harvard Business Review :

• When CEOs Make Sales Calls
• When CEOs Engage Directly With Customers

Thanks, Dave!

??? Tool of the Week

Did you know that Slack has templates? ??????

We're onboarding a new employee this week and after getting it wrong a few times, we wanted to make sure there was an easy to way to provide a hub of sorts to get her started. Since Slack is our team communication tool (we don't email internally), it was a natural fit to create a Slack canvas based on a template so that she could access as soon as she starts. I love it already and can't wait to see it in action on Monday!

See the template here or search "Employee Onboarding" in the Slack canvas templates.