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156: How Stepping Back Can Move Your Business Forward · CattleUSA Daily

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  Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily podcast, your go to source for
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  the latest livestock markets, industry insights and the update
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  shaping agriculture today. I'm your host, Lauren Moylan, a
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  passionate advocate for agriculture, here to keep you
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  informed and connected. Now let's dive into today's
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  episode. Welcome back to the podcast guys
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  that today I had my monthly CEO day and I was having it doing
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  all the things, going through the motions of that and I was
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  like I need to talk about this on the podcast.
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  This is something that has single handedly been one of the
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  single things that has changed how I run my business.
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  It is extremely simple, it is repeatable, and every single
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  time I do it, I walk away clearer, calmer, and way more
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  focused on what actually matters in my business.
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  So today I wanted to come on and I wanted to share those thoughts
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  with you. What is ACEO day?
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  How do I structure it and why has that been so impactful for
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  me and my business? And here is the good news.
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  When I say CEO day, it does not have to mean a full day.
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  If time does not allow for you to sit down and dedicate a full
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  day to this, even half a day or a couple hours can really start
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  to make a real difference. The point of this is not how
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  long you spend on it, but the point of it is actually stepping
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  away from the chaos long enough to think like the person leading
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  your operation, not just the person working in your
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  operation. It allows us to step back, re
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  evaluate, take it all in and make informed decisions from
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  there. So what is ACEO Day?
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  This is the one day a month where I stop working in my
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  business and I start working on my business.
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  A day where I'm looking at the bigger picture, what's working,
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  what's not, and where I'm headed in my business.
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  It doesn't need to be complicated, guys.
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  You don't need fancy software or a boardroom setup.
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  You just need some time that you set aside in your calendar to
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  think, review, make decisions without a hundred other things
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  pulling on you at the same time. Whether you run a few cows or
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  thousands of cows, the point is the same.
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  Somebody has to step back to lead that operation.
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  ACEO Day gives you the space to do exactly that.
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  Again, this is single handedly been the thing that has changed
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  all of my businesses. And as ACEO as a business owner,
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  as an entrepreneur, so often we can get stuck working in the
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  business rather than on the business.
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  And here's why that matters. In agriculture specifically,
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  everything moves extremely, extremely fast.
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  We are in a fast-paced environment.
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  Market shift, inputs change, weather throws a ton of
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  curveballs left and right, and suddenly you're just reacting.
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  And that's where most of us live.
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  In reaction mode. We're fixing what's broken,
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  solving the crisis of the day, and hoping that we are still
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  standing when the day starts to settle down.
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  The CEO day pulls you out of that cycle, pulls you out of
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  that reaction mode, and it gives you a chance to catch problems
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  before they become disasters. It helps you look at your
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  numbers and spot red flags early.
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  It's the time to say, OK, where are we headed and what is
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  actually working here. And honestly, it reduces stress.
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  I am a stress person 99% of the time.
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  And when you know that you've set aside time to plan and
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  review and stop carrying all of those things around in your
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  head, you will go from feeling behind to feeling prepared.
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  You will go from feeling like you are just reacting to every
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  problem to being proactive in your business.
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  So what do you actually do on ACEO Day?
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  For the sake of this podcast, I'm going to keep it extremely
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  simple. My CEO days have expanded over
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  time to be something that worked for me.
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  My CEO days during certain seasons of life my only be a few
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  hours long because that's the only time that I have to
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  dedicated to that. Some other CEO days look like
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  entire days. They are entire days where I go
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  away, I sit down, I go through everything and I also treat it
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  also it's like an admin day. So it's like ACEO day and an
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  admin day where I can. The admin side of it is like,
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  this is everything I've been putting off for the last month,
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  So let's deal with all of that too, right?
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  So it can look different, but for the sake of this podcast,
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  let's keep it simple. Review, refocus and reset.
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  Those are the three pillars that we're going to be looking at
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  today for the structuring of ACEO Day.
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  So First off, review, this is where you're going to look back
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  on the last month. What worked, what didn't?
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  How's our cash flow looking? Are there any issues?
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  Did we miss anything? Write it all down so you've got
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  record of it. It is really, really easy for
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  time to go by by and us to forget things that happened that
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  month. Or we remember the big picture,
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  but we don't remember the details of it.
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  Write it down, see how you're doing, and actually have
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  somewhere where you can track all of these things #2 refocus.
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  This is where you are asking yourself, what are my top three
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  priorities for the next 30 days? The key to this is naming them.
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  Otherwise everything is going to feel urgent.
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  So what are your priorities? Set them, name them, and move on
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  from there #3 reset. Take what you've just reviewed
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  and refocused on and make it actionable.
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  This is where you are updating your To Do List setting 1 clear
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  business goal for the month. And then after all of those
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  things, you're making sure that you communicate that plan that
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  you have just made with your spouse, your family, your
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  workers, whoever is working for your business and on your
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  business with you. Everyone needs to be on the same
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  page. So it's extremely important that
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  you share those 3 aspects. It does not have to take all
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  day. Even two or three hours of
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  intentional time can give you more clarity than two weeks of
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  running around without a plan can.
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  I know that everyone has been through this where two weeks go
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  by and you're like, I don't actually feel like we did
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  anything for the past two weeks because we spent the entirety of
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  it reacting to things that were going wrong.
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  Fence got broke, the weather went to crap, a cow broke her
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  leg, calving season is here. Like all of these things, it's
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  all very reactive. Whereas those things obviously
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  need to be done. You can't really plan for them,
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  but trying to mitigate that as much as possible and trying to
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  be in a proactive place rather than a reactive place in any way
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  that we possibly can is going to improve our businesses.
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  So now for the obvious question of this, how do you actually
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  make this happen? I encourage everyone that it is
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  going to implement this to pick a recurring day every month.
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  Maybe it's the first Monday, maybe it's the 15th.
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  Just make it consistent for you. That way it is on your calendar
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  every single month. Everyone knows, hey, the first
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  Monday you're out of office, that day you've got your CEO
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  day, no meetings, yadda, yadda, yadda.
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  For me, it's not necessarily a super consistent thing because
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  my schedule is all over the place.
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  So I just try to multiple months in advance schedule this day.
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  In that way, I'm not scheduling any meetings that day.
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  I've got it blocked off. I know that it's coming up
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  around the same time, around the same week every single month.
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  The next part of it is stepping away from your distractions.
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  If you can't leave the office, if you can't leave the ranch, I
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  encourage you to just step out to where maybe you're not
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  getting pulled in every direction.
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  Maybe step out to a room where your phone isn't at, where even
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  your computer isn't at to let yourself actually reset without
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  getting pulled away to something that is going to distract you
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  from what you need to be doing that day.
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  The next thing, make sure you're bringing what you need.
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  Things like records, notepad, like whatever you need, whatever
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  you need to make that day successful for you, make sure
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  that you were bringing it and make sure that you're bringing
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  notes from your last CEO days. All of these things.
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  And with this, give yourself permission to sit down, review,
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  think, be in your own mind for a a little bit and remember that
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  it does not have to be perfect. Even just spending 90 minutes
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  once a month can change how you lead your operation.
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  And once, I promise you, once you start implementing those 90
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  minutes, it's quickly going to turn from 90 minutes into a
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  couple hours. And then a few months down the
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  road, you're going to look at this and be like, holy cow, like
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  this has seriously changed the way that I'm able to just view
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  my business at the end of the day.
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  And here's the thing, guys, you don't necessarily need more
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  hours in your day. You need better leadership.
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  It's a hard truth. Sometimes you just need to be a
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  better leader. ACEO Day isn't about making your
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  business fancier, it is about making it extremely functional.
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  It's about stepping back and like stepping back just long
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  enough to make sure that not only are you working in your
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  business, but you're also working on your business.
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  So here is my challenge to everyone listening today.
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  Pick your first CEO day, block it off of your calendar and
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  protect it like it's sacred because it absolutely is and
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  absolutely should be. Do not put anything else in
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  those that hour, that hour and a half.
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  Do you have blocked off to start working on your business rather
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  than in your business because this is the day that you are
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  building the future of your operation, not working on your
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  operation as it is today. You were built to lead this
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  amazing operation that you have. So it's time to do it.
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  It's time to step back and act like a business owner, act like
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  ACEO and actually take the time to work on your business.
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  Thank you guys so much for listening to another podcast
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  episode. I appreciate you all being here
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  for another solo episode. This is something that I've been
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  doing my business for so long and it has just impacted me so
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  much that I knew I had to share it with all of you.
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  I hope that you enjoyed today's podcast.
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  If you did, if you could like subscribe, rate, review the
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  podcast to all the things, we would really appreciate it here
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  at the team. And as always, we will see you
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  all tomorrow on another episode. Have a good one y'all.