How to shift your perspective to see from the eyes of a CEO

When I worked as an employee, I had no idea what the CEO did.

I saw the CEO when I sold a lot, when I lost an account, or when something was broken. I knew they sat in some corner office with old school wood paneling on the walls, I just didn’t know what was actually going on in there.

And building a business of my own and eventually becoming a CEO has completely blown my mind.?

Not even just with the tasks that I do, but with the perspective from which I see my business.

Because as an employee, I was always taught “Do this thing that was assigned to you. And if you don’t, you’re fired or written up.”

But as a CEO, it’s NOTHING like that.

From the outside looking in, you see all of the marketing that goes into a business, so when you start your own, that’s where you start.

Business cards, brand decks, culture decks, websites.

But do you notice something? None of those things make any money. And a business is only a business when it’s making money.

Trust me, just because you have marketing or a website doesn’t mean that people will be flocking out of nowhere looking for your services.?

It’s a gradual growth from going to business owner to CEO in tasks and perspective. Might as well start that switch now.

The Donnie Test

I developed this test about 6 months after starting my business. I was having a conversation with a friend who had run a couple of successful companies and asked him for advice.

I told him all of the things I was doing for my “business” from graphic design to accounting to operations to billing to taking out the trash. And he told me something that punched me in the gut –?

“Donnie, you’re not building a business, you’re just creating a crappy job for yourself.”

Let me tell ya, that was a rough ride home after hearing that.

But on the ride home I kept asking myself,

• What does a CEO think about?
• How does a CEO work?
• How does a CEO manage their time?

I had no clue.

So that’s the day I created my test.

I sat down and wrote all of my tasks on a piece of paper. Then I asked “Would Steve Jobs do this task?” And if not, I knew I needed to get it off my plate.

An employee is really focused on the how and they ask “How do I get this task done?” while a CEO is focused on getting the task done no matter who does it so they ask “Who can get this done for me?”

This simple mindset shift is a major way to really wrap your head around what you should be thinking about and how to move things forward.

Have the courage to reach out

CEOs seem, on the outside, to be tough people. They go through a lot of adversity building a business and keeping it going.

That doesn’t mean they don’t need help.

One of the first steps to start thinking like a CEO is to have the courage to reach out to somebody else and ask for help.

Now, you don’t just want to go knock on your neighbor’s door or post something on Facebook. You want to find people who you respect and someone who is possibly doing what you want to do or something like it.

And another thing to keep in mind is to approach your conversation not from a place of desperation. “Help me! I’m drowning in my business! Nothing is working!”

You want to approach the conversation ready to level your business and yourself up. Listen to that person, learn as much as you can, and like a sponge, take everything in.

To go even further, if you don’t have anyone you can reach out to specifically or you already did and want to go deeper – get a coach or grab my book F*cked to Focused on Amazon.

Investing in yourself is one of the best ways for you to take your business up a notch.

If you think about the most successful people in the history of business, Steve Jobs for instance, they have a coach, successful peers for a sounding board, or an actual board at their company where they can share what they’re up to.

You have to hang out with people who are going as big as you are or, even bigger.

Keep this in mind wherever you are.

Find communities you can join where those people are and talk to them. You have to put yourself out there and raise your standards.

Successful people want to hang out with other successful people. They’re not hanging out with broke people – mentally or financially.?

Want to get around successful people come hang out out with us at the Badass Business Summit.

So that means you have to do the things that those people are doing.

And I can look back and see the circles I was apart of at different stages of my business and point out how they were a direct reflection of where I was at that moment in life.

Keep raising your standards of the people around you. No more playing small.

Think and see long term

Like I said, there are evolutions of being a business owner to CEO.

At the beginning, it may feel like all you can focus on is how to make payroll this month or pay the bills to keep the lights on.

But moving into CEO, you start thinking in different timelines.?

Of course you still need revenue to hit goals and such, but you also have to look six months or a year down the road.?

Ask yourself if the client you’re about to sell to will be good for your long term growth or are they just someone for an immediate sale?

Because you’re no longer just making sales. You’re building relationships.?

As CEOs, we need to be willing to have conversations that aren’t going to necessarily bear fruit tomorrow, but will be planting seeds for plans that will reap benefits in six months or further out.

And as you continue, you will switch the focus from your business from days and months to multiple years out.

Have meetings with yourself

For Success Champions, Kevin and I have meetings every week with each other going over tasks that need executed and keeping us laser focused on all the different moving parts and pieces to the business overall.

But what happens when you don’t have a business partner to have meetings with?

That’s right, you have them with yourself.

Just because another person isn’t there to hold you accountable doesn’t mean you can’t hold yourself accountable.

Even someone who runs a multi-million dollar business and has a full on team can have meetings with themselves.

This is especially important when you’re a team of one because how else would you be able to keep up with the tasks that need to be done while you’re wearing so many different hats? It’s nearly impossible, at least while running a business and staying above the red.

And if you can keep everything that’s going on in your life in your head, you’re playing way too small.?

As you continue to grow your business, bring other people onto your team. Whether it’s an assistant who helps and takes things off your plate or an accountant who manages your books, or helps you budget.

At some point, in order to scale, you have to realize that you can’t do everything.?

Main takeaways:

1. The Donnie Test
2. Have the courage to reach out
3. Think and see long term
4. Have meetings with yourself

As always, if you’ve got any tips or tricks of value out of this, do us a favor, and make sure you’re subscribed to our newsletter! Become one of our Champions, Visit SuccessChampionNetworking.com & email us at: [email protected]

Donnie Boivin is the Founder and CEO of the Success Champion Networking, a 4x best-selling author and host of the Growth Mode Podcast.

#Networking #SuccessChampion #Business

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