Build to Enough

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Keila Hill-Trawick: Hello. You're listening to Build to Enough, a podcast for entrepreneurs who want to scale at their own pace. I'm your host, Keyla Hill Traywick, and I'll be your chief storyteller and cheerleader in a world that glorifies endless expansion, we're tuning out the noise and discussing the beauty of enough. Each episode will dive into inspiring stories, practical insights, and strategies to cultivate sustainable success on your [00:00:30] own terms. So whether you're a solopreneur, small business owner, or aspiring entrepreneur, get ready for a refreshing take on the entrepreneurial journey. This is billed to enough. Welcome back to another episode of Build to Unnerve, where we're going to be diving into the journey of entrepreneurship and achieving your version of enough. So today I want to unpack a topic that is commonly misunderstood and often glamorized, and that is the title of a CEO. Specifically, we're going [00:01:00] to talk about some expectations versus reality. Um, and being the CEO, those often overlooked isolation periods and loneliness that comes with the role. So if you're a CEO or aspiring to be one of your business, let's dig into those details. When people think of CEOs, they often think of the power that comes with it. You get to make all the decisions, you have all this freedom. But the reality is it's hard work. It's [00:01:30] sacrifices. Nobody cares about the business the way that you do. And that's a lot of pressure. It's a lot of work for you to kind of carry this business on your back, regardless of how many team members you actually have, I wanted to talk about this today because I think it's important that we share light on all aspects of running the business as a CEO, not just the highlights.

Keila Hill-Trawick: And for clarity, when I say CEO, I think a lot of people use it in different ways. I am talking about people who are running their own business [00:02:00] for purposes of this podcast. With a small team, large team, whatever. You have people that report to you. So if you're a solopreneur and you're calling yourself a CEO, no shade on that. But this is really going to be specifically towards people who either have teams or are building teams to support them, because you have more people that you have to answer to and that answer to you beyond just yourself. So here's the thing. When I started this business, I started it the reason that most people start their firms right? I wanted the freedom and [00:02:30] the opportunity to create my own hours, to create my own money. It was going to be fabulous. And the reality is, I've burned out. I've talked about that on the podcast here. It has been challenging to feel the mental and emotional load of running a team with full time employees for whom I am responsible for their livelihood. It can feel like a lot.

Keila Hill-Trawick: And while I am, you know, achieving that freedom that I asked for, there are some things that you have to think about when you start this role that you may not consider [00:03:00] when you're just looking at the shining star of being an entrepreneur. So some background when I started, I said I was not going to have a team. There would be no, um, employees. I was going to hire a contractor or two and basically be a solopreneur. But the thing is, I started thinking about what I really wanted to achieve in the business, and that was to get out of the day to day work so that I could provide more high level advisory, more support around what it meant to be a business owner, how to use [00:03:30] your financials to be able to support those dreams. And that was really difficult when I was the main person doing all of the work. So I shifted a couple of years in, I hired my first employee, which we've talked about on previous episodes too, was very scary, but very necessary. And now we are a team of six. And alongside that, I was taking on all of the tasks of the building, this company and of managing this team. Right. So I am recruiting, I am hiring, I am onboarding, I [00:04:00] am managing personalities, I am managing people's work. I am managing feelings. You have all of these things in addition to being the visionary for the company overall in figuring out what little fish needs, how often it needs it, and what are the best tools and resources that I can use to make sure that we're a success.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Alongside that increasing responsibility, there was a lot of isolation of being at the top of this business. So think about it this way when you work for [00:04:30] someone, you have peers, you have coworkers, you have colleagues, you have people that are doing the same job as you or something similar that you can bounce ideas off of, that you can go into thought partnership with. You are not alone. When I became the CEO, one of the scariest things for me was that no one would review my work. I didn't really have peers in the industry yet, and I didn't have anybody that I could ask questions to. It felt like I was in a maze of my own understanding. Google some very specific [00:05:00] like accounting based and entrepreneurship based resources. But it was lonely. I was figuring all of this out by myself and along the way, probably making more mistakes than I'm even aware of. The reality is to a lot of entrepreneurs see their peers as competition versus collaborators. And so the natural isolation that comes with not having potentially somebody else in the C-suite in your company is exacerbated by the fact that you're not talking to other people who could be doing what you do because you're scared of giving away [00:05:30] your secret sauce.

Keila Hill-Trawick: So how do we bridge this gap? First of all, you have to build community, trusted advisors, mentors, other people who are doing what you do. You need people like CEOs, industry experts, and leadership coaches who can provide guidance and support to you along your journey. Also, we have to think about collaboration over competition. I've said this many times, but nobody can do what you do the way that you do it and you don't know everything. [00:06:00] We don't know everything. We need other people who have been doing things longer or differently than the way that we've been doing it, to really provide insight as to how we can improve our own operations in the ways that we run our businesses and our teams. Finally, invest in leadership development. I've mentioned before that I had never managed anyone before I started the Little Fish team, and so it was learning on the go and it was hard. I dropped a lot of balls. I figured out some things failed at others, and while we have [00:06:30] gotten to a really good kind of, um, landing place here for me and the other leaders on my team. It was a requirement that we invest in things like continuing education. Um, my team and I are in a manager's book club right now.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Um, for the leadership team of learning more about manager, uh, managing a team, learning more about how we can improve our leadership skills, sharing with each other, resources that we've come into that can support us so that we are better to the people that report to us. The other reason that this is [00:07:00] beneficial for me specifically, is that it helps me relate to our clients. So I say all the time, we know you because we are you. The same things that our professional service providers with one owner that they're going through, little fish has gone through or is going to go through. And so I'm able to pass on lessons and insights that I've learned from running the company in ways that can really support their specific brand of what they do in their business. You are going to have to caveat to that. Be really mindful of the stress and the additional information that you give your team. [00:07:30] You want to be transparent about what is going on in the business, but you don't want to scare them or have them take on your emotional baggage. Remember, you're the head of this company, and so you take on responsibilities and feelings that shouldn't have to be shared across the team. Another challenge that I have faced as CEO and it is annoying and it feels like it never goes away, is decision fatigue. At the end of the day, I am the person that is making the final decision on most things within the company.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Now, I've been able to delegate quite [00:08:00] a bit of that, and we'll talk about that in a bit. But you know that the reality is when you want things done a certain way, you need to be the final check mark to ensure that it is. And in that way, it always feels like there are a myriad of decisions that are waiting on me. Every time I have answered something, it feels like new questions are coming up, which kind of feels like playing a game of whack a mole. I'll make a decision. I'll implement something new, I'll move on, and then something else will be falling. I use the example all [00:08:30] the time of Encanto, which, if you haven't seen it, amazing a Pixar movie. But there's a point in the movie where, like, the bricks start shaking in this house, right? And so the character runs over and puts her hand on that brick to stop it from shaking, and she's like, whew! So glad that that stopped moving. And while she's doing that, like a column on the house is falling down, that's what it can feel like to run a small business where as soon as you're putting a fire out in one place, you realize that a flood is happening [00:09:00] in another. Now, I will be honest and say I haven't figured out the perfect solution in relying on my team and kind of building this bridge between what I should be responsible for and what they have to do.

Keila Hill-Trawick: But what I have done is set priorities and set boundaries. So the first thing is I require that the team go to other resources before they come to me. If this is a tax question, you know how to get to the IRS website. Go look at that, see what you can glean from that [00:09:30] information, and then ask me the specific questions about how we'll respond or the ways that we'll respond. I also try to make sure that we are really giving resources to the team, uh, trainings that we are specific about how everything works internally, everything from naming conventions to how we communicate with each other and clients to where we put information that we're going to use. We have an intranet that gives a ton of information about how we work, and that also [00:10:00] helps with redundancy throughout the team, because now anybody can step in and at least have the basic framework for how things get done here. That helps me to have to make less decisions because they are at the forefront of the work. And so I tell the team often if there is something that will improve your role here, let's pay for it. Let's make that easy for you. Don't leave it to me to make a decision on something that is going to directly impact your work.

Keila Hill-Trawick: If you can do the research to bring us to a point where we can make a choice without me [00:10:30] having to be the final word. The reality is, there's only so many things that I can effectively focus on at one time. So I can look at a couple of big things, but I can't look at all of the things. And that means I have to rely on the team that I hired to be able to take that off my plate, but I also have to empower them. We have to make sure that they have everything that they need in order to make decisions and feel confident doing so on our behalf. On the client side, this is also helpful because we're able to take some of those decisions off of our client's plates, [00:11:00] right? So when we're doing our financial and business advisory services, we're able to say, hey, this is the best software for you to use. These are the numbers that you should be looking at based on the goal that you told me. Here's the KPI that best reflects that, and here's where you are in comparison to that benchmark. What we want to do is make sure that our clients are not using all of their time, just trying to figure out what they should be thinking about, and instead, how can we be proactive about bringing to the surface the things that are most important to them, and [00:11:30] then them being able to use what they have to be able to make the decisions that only they can make.

Keila Hill-Trawick: After all, we know our businesses better than everyone. Our goal is just to provide as much support as possible to the final decision maker, so that they don't have to take on all of the baggage of figuring out how to get there. Another critical aspect that CEOs deal with is financial pressure. You as the CEO, are responsible for the financial health of the company. Does it matter if you have outsourced sales or if you have outsourced marketing? [00:12:00] At the end of the day, whether this company is made or broken by the financials is partly dependent on your leadership. And I would gather to say, mostly dependent on your leadership. This includes managing cash flow, securing funding and ensuring profitability. The stress of financial responsibilities can feel overwhelming. I have had my own fears where I'm looking, and I'm just trying to make sure that, you know, incoming is in sync with what is outgoing. And [00:12:30] obviously because I'm an accountant, it is something that's already in my wheelhouse. But it doesn't mean that it doesn't bother me or not something that keeps me up at night, just like our other entrepreneurs. The thing is, you have other people's livelihoods in your hands.

Keila Hill-Trawick: So not only do I have the livelihoods of those that work with me, I also have the livelihoods of those who work for me. I am responsible for making sure that everybody's money is doing what it's supposed to, and that can feel stressful. You know, I've thought about for us, [00:13:00] is there enough money to cover all the expenses long term? Early on, I was worried about whether or not I was bringing on enough clients and the right clients who were paying the right amount. And of course, everybody worries about what if a client leaves? What if they're just not here anymore? How am I going to make up that cashflow? So I know that my duty is to make sure that I am doing everything that I can to ensure that the company is performing well. And my number one priority was always to be able to make payroll. I'm gonna pay everything. [00:13:30] But we always want to make sure that I am covering the expenses of my team. And I have never been late. That is super exciting. I've never missed payroll. Um, and I think that that's something that a lot of businesses want to set as, like a foundational thing. I just want to make sure that my team is paid not only because it's the right thing to do. Making sure that your team always gets their check is imperative, but it also creates a culture of your business partners, and that includes the people that work with you, knowing that they're going to get paid on time because they've got responsibilities [00:14:00] too.

Keila Hill-Trawick: So I have an accountant. She is all over my books. She is wonderful. She constantly reassures me that we are doing fine. Even when my non-money brain gets in the way, she's able to kind of bring that comfort back to me to say, hey, I've looked at everything the same way that you look at everything for your clients. Here's where you stand. Here's what you need. Here are the things that you should be thinking about. And it's really the reason that I started Little Fish. It's exciting to see [00:14:30] full circle and be able to articulate what I couldn't say at the very beginning, which is that finances are scary for everyone. And I know that if people felt educated and empowered and empowered, they would be less scared about what their finances were doing. It doesn't have to be a dark hole. There is information that we can glean from that in order to make strategic decisions. So when you are in doubt, especially around finances, [00:15:00] make sure that you're hiring a trusted partner. Make sure that you're getting someone on the team or outsource that can give you some background information about where you stand, give you some eye opening results about where you've been and where you're going, and have those non-financial conversations with the financial data to back you up.

Keila Hill-Trawick: So the last thing that I will touch into is the leadership aspect. And if you haven't listened to the leadership episode [00:15:30] before this one, definitely take that as your next step because it is and can be a really challenging part of running a business, even if you have managed before, which I hadn't. It is much different being the rule maker than it is when you're doing that for another company and following their rules in order to support somebody else. There's no, you know, better than they can just feel different. And it also means that there's very little room for trial and error. You're the top. And so [00:16:00] everybody who works for you, you're just trying to make sure that they're getting what they need and are on top of everything. Your team is expecting you to be decisive, confident and inspiring from day one. But the reality is most of us as CEOs are just learning on the job. We're going to make mistakes. We're going to face self-doubt. And sometimes it's a struggle to find your leadership style, especially as your team expands and you're trying to figure out what everybody needs because everyone doesn't need to be led in the same way without a mentor or some [00:16:30] kind of support system, this can feel like managing your way through a minefield blindfolded.

Keila Hill-Trawick: It is scary, it is overwhelming, and you can feel really isolated and alone. At the end of the day, we want to make sure that we are giving ourselves the best foundational steps in order for us to be growing and profitable CEOs. It will feel scary at first, it will feel isolating, and that may go on for a while, and you will hit peaks and valleys of that throughout your tenure [00:17:00] as CEO of your company. But the important thing is, if we can get out of glamorizing this role as the I just work from the beach and do what I want and really focus on the hard work that it takes to build a culture where that's even available to you. The more effort, the more time, the more work we do at the beginning to build that, the better off as a CEO you'll be in the years to come as you're managing your business. Thank you so much for tuning in. Until next time, keep building. Keep growing. Thank [00:17:30] you for tuning in to another episode of Build to Enough. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate and share the love with your fellow entrepreneur friends, and make sure to sign up for the Build to Enough newsletter. The link is in the show notes. Stay tuned for more episodes as we continue to redefine success one intentional step at a time.