Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / How to Transition from Business Owner to CEO with Michelle Snow

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How to Transition from Business Owner to CEO with Michelle Snow · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  Three, two, one, zero.
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  Ignition.
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  Lift off.
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with the number one small business expert, Melinda
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  Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's your host, the small biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
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  Have you subscribed to the small biz chat podcast?
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  Well, it's time.
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  Every Wednesday, we offer listeners bite sized actionable tips to start and grow a successful
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  small business.
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  In just twenty minutes or so a week, you can get a ton of insight and resources to propel
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  your business forward.
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  Be sure to subscribe to the Small Bitch Chat podcast today.
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  Hi, everybody.
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  Welcome to this episode of the Small Biz Chat podcast.
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  I am so excited to be with you.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady, America's number one small business expert, and
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  it is our mission here at the Small Biz Chat podcast to end small business failure.
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  And I am so excited to have with us today a guest expert who's gonna be talking about how
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  to make that transition from being a business owner hustler to actually operating your
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  business like you are a CEO.
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  Now as always, if you enjoy the small bitch chat podcast, we love it if you give us a
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  review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.
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  But now listen, no hate mail.
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  If you don't like it, don't say nothing.
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  But if you do, we would love it if you would share this with others.
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  Now let me introduce my guest, miss Michelle Snow.
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  Michelle Snow is the coach making connections.
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  She's a business coach who empowers entrepreneurs and organizations with tailored
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  strategies and visionary insights.
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  She specializes in professional development and outreach, helping clients unlock growth.
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  Michelle's client roster includes local businesses and brands such as CVS, Oak Street
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  Health, Rutgers University, and the School District of Philadelphia.
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  And her business is growwithsnow.com.
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  Michelle, welcome to the Small Bitch Chat podcast.
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  Thank you, Melinda.
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  I'm so excited to be here.
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  Oh my gosh.
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  You know, I don't let people come back on my show more than once, but I've let you come back
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  on.
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  So listen, talk to us today about this idea.
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  Like what do you think is the difference between running your business like a business
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  owner and running your business like a CEO?
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  What is the difference?
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  Well, do I do feel like one of the biggest stumbling blocks to getting there is that
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  people understanding that that exists.
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  Right.
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  I've heard you say that in other conversations, you know, most people who open up a small
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  business, I'm not talking about people who who inherit corporations.
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  I'm not talking about people who pass down a family line that's been in existence for
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  decades or a century.
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  That's a whole different framework.
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  Many people who identify as a small business owner, they started as the hustle.
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  Like they found a great water ice and said, Oh, you like it too?
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  You like it too?
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  Maybe I should sell these water rights instead of just giving them out to the block.
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  Right?
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  That is typically how most of us stumble into ownership.
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  So when you stumble into ownership because you found a passion that began to pay you, Who's
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  thinking about the CEO mindset?
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  So first, stopping yourself after you've made some money and you've gotten past the original
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  hustle stage.
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  It's very important, Melinda, that business owners make a decision to just simply say, I
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  better get educated.
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  And I'll say for people like me, the education was just the streets.
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  I believe that if your business is going to get past the micro stage, if your business is going
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  to get past the hustle stage, it's important that you carve out a season of your life where
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  you're going to go to get some credible education, like going to Melinda's class at a
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  university.
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  That will be the first start to getting awareness of what the heck is a CEO.
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  So talk to me about the the mindset shift required, right?
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  Because it's not just, oh, I'm a you know, there's a lot of people run around calling
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  themselves CEOs and they barely run-in a business, right?
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  So talk to me about the actual difficulty of making the mindset shift into a CEO.
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  In my thinking, there's a difference between working on your business and in your business,
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  but is it more than that?
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  Yeah, I mean, you know, we've all heard that tagline, but after a while that begins to even
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  just sound like white noise.
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  And so the first part is understanding that a startup, a micro business and the initial
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  launch of small business is simply learning the marketplace, learning how to sell, learning how
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  to rinse and repeat.
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  After you get past, oh, wait a minute, okay guys, we are selling these water ices, we're
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  selling this coaching system, but that's when you ask yourself, can I step away from this
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  business for an hour, for a day, for a week?
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  And what happens if I become incapacitated or there's an emergency?
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  Can this business operate without me?
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  So Melinda, that is the transition.
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  But it's important Melinda that as coaches and as leaders that we celebrate, hey, you're doing
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  a great job selling the thing, but now can it sell without you?
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  Am I answering your question?
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  100%.
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  You're reading my mail and my intimate thoughts.
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  I mean, I am a firm believer that if you can't take a laptop free vacation, your business is
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  running you and you're not running it.
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  So one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about though is does this transition talk
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  about delegation too, right?
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  You know, I believe when it comes to a business, you're supposed to have two x's.
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  You're supposed to work yourself out of a job and you know take yourself off of your own org
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  chart and then one day you will have a business you can sell.
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  But that's my personal opinion.
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  What do you think, you know, how does delegation and hiring more people to help you
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  go into this, you know, how does that all work together?
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  I mean, I would love to give you a cute answer cut up in a box that people can just bite and
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  it feels so good.
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  But the truth is that is why businesses don't move from startups, small business and micro to
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  CEO and a corporation because that part of stop of that that part of you and your mindset that
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  stops saying this is my baby.
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  That is the first problem.
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  Your business cannot be your baby, which means it needs twenty four hour care all year round.
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  So the delegation is extremely challenging because that's when you have to admit that this
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  thing that you called a baby is an adult and it should be taking care of yourself.
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  For those of you who are parents, it was cute when they were little, but baby, you want them
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  to move on.
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  So when you have to delegate, do you have enough confidence in yourself to be okay with
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  other people making mistakes with the thing that you've built?
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  You are not going to delegate effectively unless you unless you allow people to make a
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  few mistakes with this transition.
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  Now, I got to got to put a quarter in the meter for just a second here, Melinda.
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  The other challenge is that when some people who are transitioning into the CEO stage, you
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  give the wrong and the biggest and the worst responsibilities to a team member, and then you
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  say, that's why I don't share, and that's why I do everything myself.
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  No, you were at fault.
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  Your first transition can't be turning over all of the payroll.
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  It can't be turning over all of the checkbooks.
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  It can't be turning over all of the customer care.
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  You have to learn and teach yourself how to delegate one project at a time, one person at a
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  time, one system at a time.
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  And I would also, I would co sign what you said, but
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  I would go further than that and say, you have to train people and you can't just train them
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  the first day you hire them or the first week you hire them.
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  Training has to be an ongoing thing in your business.
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  You know, I'm a big believer and I can't be the person that knows how all this stuff runs in
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  here.
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  You know what I mean?
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  So I think it's really important training and onboarding and onboarding as an ongoing
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  activity is you can train people into understanding how to do things, but assuming
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  that people know how to do things, no.
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  If they didn't, would start the business, not you, right?
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  So you have to train people into responsibility, I think.
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  Now, what would you say, I know that, you know, the systems and tools that have the biggest
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  impact on, you know, business scalability and making this transition from business owner to
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  CEO.
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  What would what do you think they are?
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  Are you asking me what tools do they use?
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  What tools do they need?
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  Do you like what systems and tools do they need so that they can delegate so that they can stop
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  doing everything?
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  I mean, everybody's going to tell you they have to find the AI prompts and the apps to be able
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  to make that transition.
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  And you've got experts that can speak directly to that.
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  But I'm going to say if we back up before I start saying to you, Okay, well, for a great
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  CRM system, they need to have go high level for a great CRM system.
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  Have they thought about a company similar to a Salesforce?
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  Like I can give you all these name dropping, but before you get there, the leader who is
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  overseeing these wonderful apps and CRM systems and tools that you have in place, what's the
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  integrity measures that you put in with them?
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  Because this is why if I was to really talk about what my strength is, before we get to
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  that, the top thing that we are seeing in the marketplace is what we thought were very
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  successful businesses that had leaders in place, but those leaders had had extreme
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  integrity issues.
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  So this is why our leaders, especially in the black community, are going bankrupt.
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  They're losing entire corporations because they trusted a person over their finances, over
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  their team, who was not integral, who did not have accountability practices.
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  There were no meetings.
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  That's another system and tool in place to have performance reviews, to be intentional about
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  accountability.
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  And you as a CEO, it's so cute.
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  It is so cute, Melinda, When these business owners tell me, oh, I'm not involved or I don't
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  check or my team does that.
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  You are not in your right mind.
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  If you think it's okay to let your business and your and your corporation to go wild.
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  Check the news, check the top scam, the scams, the chop, the top bankruptcies, these business
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  owners.
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  Now, I know I'm I'm on a roll and you gotta stop me.
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  I gotta pause in a second but Melinda, this is so important because I'm not gonna allow the
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  audience to think that if I just get these five apps, these three books, and these two coaches,
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  it's going to be alright.
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  Your people have to be trained for the integrity and the culture of your business And
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  at the end of the day, and I'll stop here.
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  This is my last piece, I promise.
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  Mr.
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  IRS, Mr.
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  Government, and Mr.
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  Feds, yeah, they may come after those too, but baby, trust me, they're coming after you
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  because at the end of the day, you are the core visionary for this organization.
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  All right.
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  I feel like I need to pass a collection plate with you, Michelle.
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  You was on a roll, but look, so what do you think, Is this a culture issue?
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  Is it cute to be a hands off CEO?
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  Is it because we value the wrong things?
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  Like, why does this keep happening to big, big businesses out here that people aspire to?
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  I mean, I think I think slutty vegan comes to my my mind when you start talking about this
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  stuff.
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  But there's so many businesses that everybody was excited about, you know, that that crash
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  because of poor systems and people not checking on things and things like that.
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  What do
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  you say about that?
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  I think culture is a one hour discussion in itself.
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  And because we don't have that much time, I'm gonna give you the speed version of it.
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  But social media has trained viewers, fans and followers to glamorize at all costs.
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  Okay, this person says that they are $100,000,000 Let's look at the MLL industry.
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  It was a multi level marketing, right?
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  If we look, if we look at that industry, look at their that what's happening with their top
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  black leader.
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  Everyone can tell you that they've got a beautiful story but yet, that person is in the
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  news as well.
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  We look, let's look at the alcohol industry.
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  What happened?
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  That person is in the news.
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  So I'm going on a tangent here.
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  I want to make sure I'm answering your question, Melinda, because I'm just thinking
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  about how hard this is and how many people are hurting.
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  So as far as culture goes, what we must do is stop glamorizing success without the downside.
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  I am here to tell you that I have worked with businesses who were negative $10,000,000
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  because they have over glamorized the success in the wins, in the jet, in the big meetings,
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  but they don't tell you, yes, I got a 5,000,000 or $10,000,000 contract, but I lost it because
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  I didn't have the right tools or people in place or when they went to do the integral
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  check, I didn't have the systems in place or we just did a bad job and I and I lost it.
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  So, I know last year, I said I was up but we've got to be honest that what goes up, it
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  absolutely comes down.
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  Can I just say one more thing?
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  And I'm a I promise you I'm a stop here.
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  Go ahead.
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  Every successful organization and business person and leader and star that you know has
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  had a huge failure.
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  The challenge is that each of us have found a way to decide what you are going to know.
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  So stop believing that just because we are up, we are up all the time.
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  Culture needs to tell people the truth that these wins are not always what they look like
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  behind the scenes.
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  I think you're absolutely right.
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  And I think that it's important for people to be transparent about ups and downs.
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  Now you can't tell everybody your secrets, but I think that, you know, the problem with social
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  media, and this is my personal beef with social media, is that it's nothing more than people's
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  personal highlight reels.
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  The only bad thing people were willing to put on social media is death.
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  If somebody loses a parent or a spouse or something like that happens, people will share
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  that.
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  But nobody's sharing their truly bad day.
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  Nobody's sharing their IRS audits on social media, right?
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  Know, so I think that there is something of value to be said around transparency and
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  nothing is ever as good as what it looked like no matter what, right?
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  Know, so I just think as adults we have to stop being, you know, you know, to me social media
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  is such a comparison engine and comparison is the enemy, right?
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  Comparison is how the devil will fool you into thinking you're not successful at all, right?
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  That you gotta keep chasing things because that's gonna make you finally feel good, that's
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  gonna make you finally feel worthy, right?
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  Know, which is a whole other thing.
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  But just to wrap this up so that we can settle this conversation, I wanna know what is the
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  thing that you think a business owner could do right now to operate in full integrity?
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  Wow.
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  I think the first thing is just having to talk with yourself and being honest with where you
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  are in the marketplace.
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  If I am going to continue with this business or launch this business, am I doing it just for
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  cash?
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  There are some times when you do a thing just to get money, but you got to be clear that it's
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  seasonal, that is short term, like, hey, ugly sweaters are trending.
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  I'm going to get 100 ugly sweaters and I'm going to sell them for the holidays.
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  That's a campaign.
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  That's a project.
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  That's an initiative.
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  That's okay.
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  But the problem is that people take their project campaign initiative mindset and tell
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  the world it's a full business and it's not.
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  And so you're here now with the stress of trying to pay for everything, trying to
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  maintain the business.
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  And you hate the people, you hate the culture, you hate the systems, you're frustrated, you're
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  burnt out and you just want the money.
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  You no longer have love and a desire to actually serve.
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  And when you ask yourself those questions and you see that, you know what, I really, I'm not
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  sure if I can make this commitment, then you need to pause because you're on the edge now
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  become a grifter and a scammer, which is what the marketplace is absolutely sick of.
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  Wow.
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  Okay.
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  I think you said a lot there.
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  Tell me, what is the best business advice you've ever received?
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  I learned it from a good, great coach.
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  Her name is Melinda Emerson.
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  You may have heard of her.
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  And she says, Michelle, one of the challenges that you're having is that you are too broad
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  and too wide.
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  You are trying to help everybody and everyone knows that a heart surgeon makes more money
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  than a general practitioner, and you've got to figure it out.
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  That was the best advice that I've received, which did truly elevate my business.
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  Well, you're very sweet.
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  Thank you, Michelle.
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  And I'm glad to know that somebody actually uses my advice.
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  Well, Thank you so much for being a guest here today on the Small Bitch Chat podcast.
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  If people want more information about Michelle or to work with her, her website is
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  growwithsnow.com.
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  Thanks for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
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  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and join us next Wednesday for
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  more fantastic information and interviews.
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  You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
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  website, succeedasyourownboss.com.
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  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.