Mid-Year CEO Day for Business Planning

[00:00:00] Emily Thompson: Welcome to Being Boss, a podcast for creatives, business hours and entrepreneurs who want to take control of their work and live life on their own terms. I'm your host, Emily Thompson. And in this episode, I'm guiding you through the reasoning and process of doing a mid-year check-in or CEO day. As we like to call it with your business, to keep you on track, to achieving your.

[00:00:24] For the year, you can find all the tools, books, and links. I reference on the show notes at www.beingboss.club. And if you like this episode, be sure to subscribe to the show and share us with a.

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[00:01:05] What you know is perfectly aligned to the conversations that we have here at Being Boss. Learn more and listen to CEO School, wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:01:21] Welcome back bosses to a solo episode with just me. That's what solo means. Just me by myself, hanging out here today to talk about doing a midyear CEO day. So it is midyear looking at my calendar right now. I cannot believe this year is half over, which means that we're all flipping out that the year is half over.

[00:01:44] And it also means that it's time to touch base on what we are all doing in our businesses. I cannot believe that it is. I mean my calendar, as of recording this, it's midway through June earlier this week, I put my mid-year CEO day on my calendar. I heard the Cicada sing for the first time two nights ago, which is my favorite sound in all the world.

[00:02:08] It means that summer is here. I don't hate summer. I kind of love summer, but it also is a little bit sad because it means that like summer has started and is therefore going away. Isn't that morbid. But it's here. This is probably my favorite time of year. For both the purpose of the cicadas and the warm weather, but also because this is such a pivotal moment in business every year.

[00:02:35] So this is the time of year that I like to sit down and do a mid-year CEO day to touch base on what has been happening and do some things around, checking out with my goals. Am I still on track with my goals? Do I need to do any course correction? Do I need to scratch my old goals and start over with totally new ones and otherwise making sure that the next actions that my team and I are taking are aligned with where I actually want to go.

[00:03:07] Now that we're halfway through the year, if you've ever listened to any of my previous CEO day episodes, that CEO days are incredibly exciting to me. I love business. And I know that for a lot of creatives, what you actually love is your creativity. And I love that for you, but if you're going to be a business owner, it's really important for you to occasionally show up as the CEO of your business, not just the maker and the doer, but the actual CEO for me, I'm a business person.

[00:03:39] I love business. I love being a CEO. I love just sort of getting that bird's eye view and just sort of like directing the things that happen next. It's very exciting to me. I love being in that space. So CEO days are just really good days for me. So I put one on the schedule for myself in three weeks from now.

[00:04:00] I will start prepping. I've sort of let the team know that I'll be sort of out of commission for a couple of days that I'm gonna be sticking my nose in spreadsheets and not just spreadsheets. Oh, my goal is to make this sound fun. Maybe if I say sticking my nose in spreadsheets, is it gonna sound fun to some of you that's like.

[00:04:19] A candy store to me. So it can look like, however you want it to look kind of, it doesn't have to be spreadsheets. It can be like colored pins and highlighters. You can do it from a hotel room just downtown because you wanna feel fancy. Like you're taking yourself on a, like a CEO retreat. You can do it, you can do it

[00:04:40] however you want. The idea is this is gonna be fun. You're being the boss of your business. That is why we're all here. And this day is the day that you actually do it. So it's time for a CEO day. I'm always talking about these things for a couple of reasons. Number one, it is at the core. Of how we at Being Boss help creatives do business.

[00:05:05] Most of you are creative, it's not all, most, some of you would say that you're not creative, so maybe you're real estate agents or accountants, or, whatever. But like, if you're here listening to this, you want to do what you do in a new and probably kind of creative way. And therefore I call you a creative.

[00:05:25] And actually I call every, everyone is a creative in some capacity. So don't cop yourself. On that. Okay. And know that CEO day is how we help creatives. Anyone listening to this do business. Because as I mentioned before, Oftentimes creatives struggle with the business side or struggle with like seeing the importance of sitting down, or let's even say maybe your business isn't doing, you think as well as you sh it should be.

[00:05:51] In which case you could feel a little shame around sitting down and doing as like, you don't wanna see your numbers. You don't, you don't wanna look, I get that, but CEO days are incredibly empowering and they put you in a place so that you can do better. You can do better. So it is at the core of how it is that we help creative do business.

[00:06:09] And it's also a toolkit that we have created. We have a CEO day kit, you can go purchase it for yourself at beingboss.club/CEO. This is not meant to be a sellsy situation. I actually wanna lay this out to you for you in a way that you don't have to have CEO day kit to have a CEO day. But if you want that additional support, if you want the tools that we have created these

[00:06:32] a series of videos and worksheets that you can use to guide yourself through a CEO day, the way we see it, you can go snag that kit for yourself, but you also don't need it. All you really need is some time that you've set aside some numbers. So maybe this is from your website or your, your accounting software and a plan for what you want to do next.

[00:06:54] That's, that's really all, this is more or less some reviews looking back and some planning looking ahead. You in space and time doing the thing because in general CEO days are how you show up to be the boss of your business. Right? One of the things we actually say on the sales page is like, are you the boss of your business or is your business the boss of you.

[00:07:17] Because quite oftentimes, creatives who are in business, who don't like dealing with business will often find themselves in a place where their boss or their business is the boss of them. It tells them what to do all the time, takes up all of their time and energy, all of these things. But if you can flip it, if you can be the boss of your business, if you can show up and gain that big picture of you.

[00:07:38] Then you become the boss of your business. And at this point, this six month point in this year and any year, but in this year, it is the time to sit down and reflect on the CEO day that you had the beginning of the year, that mapped out the course of the entire year to make sure you're either still on course to adjust as needed and to otherwise continue to show up and make it do.

[00:08:02] So really what is the CEO day? It's pretty simple. It's a day that you set aside to work on your business. And in my experience, that is one of the biggest struggles of bosses. I hear it all the time. I just wanna work on my business. I wanna get out of, from working in my business from the daily grind of doing, of shipping, of emailing of cetera, et cetera.

[00:08:27] And I work, wanna work on my business. I wanna plan what I'm doing next. I wanna feel like I'm moving forward, knowing where I'm going, not just being reactive. So a CEO day is really about making you proactive instead of reactive. And this is something that most. Bosses struggle with in some capacity, a CEO day is the day where you get ahead of your problems.

[00:08:49] Right? You get ahead. It's the day that you're doing the big picture planning. You're laying the roadmap for what happens next year. Sort of looking behind at what's been happening and you're going, okay, this is where I am. This is where I want to go. And you lay the roadmap for how you get there. I also often call these big brain days.

[00:09:12] This is a big brain work y'all and you're gonna, at the end of the day, you often feel like you're you're, your brain is sleeping out your eyeball holes and stuff out your ear holes. It's a big brain day. You're thinking you're looking, you are taking in this big picture in a way that makes it a bit of a big brain day.

[00:09:32] Personally. I love big brain days. It makes me feel. I got a big brain. hopefully you can find some joy in that as well. Because it's a day that I'm sitting down, I'm looking at my numbers. I'm looking at my money, my traffic, all of my metrics. I'm looking at performance of things that we have done. I'm looking at my goals to see where we are along the way.

[00:09:55] And then you're taking all of the information for where you've, what you've done so far this year, and you're using it to lay a more concise plan moving forward. So that's what a CEO day is. It's just, and it's just one day the way we've put together our kit. And the way I like to do it is it can be done in a single day.

[00:10:15] So I will literally open up my calendar. I already have done this and I will block out from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM. And that way, nothing is popping up in the morning. Nothing is popping up in the evening. I have a whole day to just do what I need to do. Does that mean I get started at 8:00 AM? No, I don't start anything at 8:00 AM.

[00:10:36] Y'all does it mean that I'm going until 7:00 PM? Nope. Sure. Doesn't I don't do that either, but it is a whole day that nothing else is going to touch because I am being a CEO that day. I am. Making that a priority. I'm creating boundaries around it. I am showing myself and my business that I do take this incredibly seriously.

[00:10:58] And I'm showing up to do that work. So quite often we are talking about CEO days in the context of annual CEO days. We do like a big marketing push at the beginning of the year for our CEO day kit. That's the day that everyone is sitting down to, set their word of the year. And what do you wanna accomplish?

[00:11:16] What are your goals? Who do I wanna be? All of those things like that is the time of year that we all do that in some capacity, whether it's an official CEO day or not, it doesn't matter. But a CEO day can actually be anytime. And I encourage bosses who coach with me, or, work with me to do them significantly more often than just once a year.

[00:11:39] And it doesn't have to be at any particular time. The wonderful thing about the year is it does give us a nice little framework for showing up to do CEO days in a way that is aligned with how we sort of track business success. I personally do a couple different CEO days and I do them all a little bit differently.

[00:11:57] This is what it generally looks like. First is I do my big annual CEO day where I will go through the entirety of the CEO day kit. Like I'm looking back at my values. I'm really getting in there with every single piece of that kit. I'm looking at, my, my role in the business, what other roles I need to hire for what my goals are, both in revenue, but also in performance.

[00:12:21] And those sorts of things like I'm going through the entire kit every single year. And I have four years for both of my companies, both Being Boss. And Almanac and I will schedule two CEO days, one for Being Boss and one for Alman. Sometimes I'll also schedule a third because I feel like there's always like between the two of them.

[00:12:41] There's always a little bit like a little extra stuff I wanna do afterwards. Maybe I need to work on, solidifying up a spreadsheet or I wanna task out the next project or whatever it may be. So I do quite honestly do three whole days for, especially that beginning of the year CEO day, I also do a sort.

[00:13:00] Secondary one right at the midyear. So right now, as of time we're recording this end of this episode, coming out where I may not go through, I'll go through. 80% of CEO day kit. There's a couple of exercises that I do reserve to just do at the beginning of the year, but I will go through most of it. And I will look at it not as like my plan for the year, but mostly as a way for me to focus on how I'm going to wrap up the year.

[00:13:30] So that I'm really making the most out of that initial CEO day at the very beginning of the year. So instead of focusing on where I'm going, I'm focusing on getting back on track with where I want to go or maybe even redefining where I want to go based on what I thought I wanted at the beginning of the year, I also do a medium size CEO day, every quarter.

[00:13:53] I do a little bit less of the CEO day kit because what I really wanna do quarterly is I wanna review past quarter, my past quarters projects. So what do we just accomplish any wins that we had along the way? And I lay out a quarterly plan for the next quarter. So looking at priorities and projects and always sort of looking back at the last big CEO date that I did to make sure I'm in line with, with what those goals and priorities are.

[00:14:20] And this is like, it becomes a little more actionable during those quarterly CEO days. What, what are the things that I need to do to move things forward? Like very. Significantly more granularly. I'm also doing a little CEO day and it's really about half a day, or really like a long morning, I guess you could say I'm doing a little CEO day check in once a month.

[00:14:43] And this one is really about reviewing metrics. So I'm looking at my money. I'm looking at my KPIs, both the things at Being Boss in an Almanac. And these can look, these are different for everyone. We actually did an episode, an episode, not too long ago on tracking metrics for business success or something similar.

[00:15:05] I'll include the link to that in the show notes. But your KPIs are your key performance indicator. So, something like Being Boss, I'm looking at podcast numbers. That is a key performance indicator for the success of this business at Almanac, I may be looking at something specific, like the number of products sold, maybe it's a specific product or maybe total products or whatever it may be.

[00:15:25] I've identified some KPIs. And I look at those once a month. So even though CEO day kit, and the way we usually talk about CEO days is, a big once a year situation. And I think at the very least everyone should be doing it once a year. I'm actually a CEO one kind of every day. Right. But also I'm making time for it

[00:15:48] literally every single month, in some capacity. So every single month I'm looking at just at least just getting my eyeballs and my metrics every quarter. I'm making sure the project plan for the quarter is aligned with making sure we're meeting the things that we've, planned in our larger half year CEO days, that are really about the sort of broad view of getting us to these goals that we set at the beginning of the year and maybe adjust mid.

[00:16:17] So that's all the CEO days that you can do. You can even do more than that, if you like. And there are actually several pieces of the CEO day kit that I just pull out occasionally. I keep, the job roles around because I never know what I'm gonna need to hire, or if I need to adjust my own role or I need to adjust someone else's role.

[00:16:35] The marketing and revenue is always present to make sure that we are, consistently moving forward with our plans that we've created. But when it comes to CEO day, The big one, I think beginning of the year is the most important, but the mid-year one, the one that's happening pretty soon is the second biggest planning day of the entire year.[00:17:00]

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[00:17:53] and I'll see you there.

[00:17:59] And so it gets lost. It gets a little lost with all the hoopla of like that early beginning of the year, let's set up our planners and our projects and like all the things like that's the big one, but this one, this mid-year CEO day is the second biggest one is the second, most important planning day of your year.

[00:18:17] It has been six whole months since you sat down and did a big picture planning day and you have six, only six months until you have to do it all again. And at that, the next one you're gonna be looking back and going, oh, did I meet those goals that I set for myself 12 months ago? Sometimes it is the mid-year or CEO day.

[00:18:39] That can be the difference between a yes or a no, because even as I was prepping for this episode, I went and I was like, oh, what, what did my CEO day say? for the beginning of the year. And looking at it, there's a couple things that I forgot. I forgot how to put them on there, even though I did review it whenever I did my Q2 CEO day, but that was a whole three months ago.

[00:19:03] And so going back and having these times every, every couple months that you were going back and looking at what that big CEO day planning session set in front of you for the year, Going back and reviewing it, having these days to go back and purposefully, make sure that you are working towards those things can be the difference between I did it and I forgot.

[00:19:32] So second biggest day, this is real important. Y'all so what does this look like? Or more importantly, what kinds of things do I do for a mid-year? So I mentioned that beginning of the year is when I'm really hitting all the things that I need to right. And making sure that I'm still feeling our values in our business and, and not even still feeling them, but.

[00:19:54] It's important to touch base with your values in your business every year. What do they mean to you now? How is it different? How have they evolved? Do you need a reminder as to why you're here and why you're doing what you're doing? What sort of phase are you in and all these areas of your working life?

[00:20:12] So you can decide what you need to focus on and what can just like continue being. As it is. What are your goals what's happening with your money? What's important to you this year, like CEO day, the kit really outlines all of those things. You're doing all of those things at the beginning of the year.

[00:20:31] Mid-year you are, it's more of a reflection. I feel like beginning of the year is also very much so a reflection, but this, but it's a reflection of like all last year and the entire DLI entire life span of your business. Like it's just, what's way bigger. Whereas mid-year is really like, okay, what have we done this past six months?

[00:20:51] What do we need to do in the next six months? Like, it's, it's significantly more contained to just this like one year window where you're looking back for six months looking forward for six months and just really making sure that it's tight. Really tight to what it is that you want to do most. So I always begin with the review process.

[00:21:11] I'm reviewing the progress that we have made from the beginning of Q1. So my first CEO day, I'm looking at my Q2 plan, which I created at the beginning of Q2 to sort of set the projects in place for second quarter. And I'm just, I'm just, I'm checking in, checking in. So, and I'm, there's always aha moments.

[00:21:31] He's like, oh, Or whatever aha moments around the goals or the objectives from the beginning of the year, because you get into the daily grind and you forget that there are other things or that there's this bigger purpose or there's this goals that you're working towards. So these really important moments of looking at it, and it can go a number of different ways.

[00:21:52] On one hand, there's like, oh, That was something that I wanted to do, which happened to me whenever I looked at my CEO day yesterday, as I was prepping for this episode, you remember that there are things that were important to you and maybe still are important to you. You just forgot when you were answering your emails and packaging, your packages and dealing with your clients and delivering the thing that you're here to do, right?

[00:22:13] You, you are prompted to remember. What you're working towards. For some of them it's like, nice, we're doing it. We're totally on our way to that. Like maybe not quite yet, but you have checked off some of the boxes and you were on your way. That's also a nice feeling, especially when you forgot that you were working towards something, you're like, oh yeah, I'm doing it.

[00:22:36] Totally doing it. Very boss feeling. But what's most boss is when you're like, this is really nice because they already did it accomplished six months. There should be a couple of things, I think, from your objectives, from your goals from CEO day, from your beginning of the year, one, that you are able to go ahead and mark off.

[00:22:55] Congrats. You did it, you accomplished it. So it's a review progress or, or it's a review of your progress to make sure that it's either brought back top of mind. You can high five, cuz you're already there or really high five, cuz you already did it. Right. That's where you start then from there, you have to identify where there needs to be

[00:23:20] any adjustments. To that plan that you made at the beginning of the year, maybe some goals are no longer relevant. Maybe you need to adjust them. Maybe, you wanna make them bigger. Maybe you wanna make them smaller. Maybe you need to add some objectives. Maybe you need to remove some, there are some adjustments that you need to make.

[00:23:42] If you were looking at your CEO day plan from the beginning of the year, and it's still all perfect, then you're like a wizard or something. Because in general, things need to change. I've never, I'm not a wizard. , I've never had it not change in some capacity. Some of them are fine, but there's usually like something, something came up a different, opportunity or you lost an opportunity or you changed your mind or some circumstances in your life or business change, whatever it may be in general, you need to make some adjustments, not everything that you put forth in your first CEO day of the year.

[00:24:21] Is still going to be relevant. And so you sort of need to make a change to your plan for the year at this point. And this is the time when you do it that way, you're not working towards things that are no longer relevant or that you no longer need to be working towards. So first thing you do is you review your progress.

[00:24:38] And then you make any adjustments that you need to make to your goals or your objectives. And these can be things like, meeting certain metrics. So at the podcast, we have download metrics that we really want to get to this year. That is one of our main objectives for the year. So I'm able to review that progress.

[00:24:56] How are we doing almost there? Not quite. Not quite, but almost there. Do I need to make any adjustments? No, I think we are still very much so on track to make that by the end of the year. And I don't think I need to make any, any changes there. There's a different project here at Being Boss that. Is on the calend or is on our CEO day plan for the beginning of the year.

[00:25:22] And it's actually already irrelevant I did not get to do it. And actually I'll just super vulnerable. I really thought I was gonna write book number two this year and it's in our CEO day that we were gonna clear my calendar so that in, at the end of Q1 and through Q2 of this year, I would make time to.

[00:25:44] The second or my second book, I guess my first solo book and the universe had different plans for me. Instead, I got the opportunity to open a new retail shop at the end of Q1 and all of Q2, that took precedence. So even so I had this objective that I would buy the end of Q2, have a book ready to publish one way or the other.

[00:26:08] And that y'all, that did not even happen. Are you kidding me? I have a new store. It's open and I'm very proud of that. Literally no regrets, but it that's an example of how there was an objective. A goal that I had that six months later is no longer relevant. And I honestly don't think I have the capacity to do it at all this year.

[00:26:27] I have a store that's about to go into its first holiday season. That is what I need to be here and present for. And so I will be completely removing that objective from the CEO day plan for the entire year. No longer relevant. I'll revisit that next year. So as you see things shift and change. And so if I were to send my initial CEO day to the team and tell them, or the plan to the team and tell them like, let's make it due, they'd probably try to clear my calendar to write a book because it's still on the plan instead.

[00:27:02] I'd rather remove it. So that no one is confused and no one removes everything from my calendar though, that still does sound kind of nice, but I'm definitely not planning on getting a book out of me anytime soon. So this is a perfect example of why it's so important to do a midyear check in and adjust things so that the plan that you create next, which is the next step in your mid-year CEO day, really reflects where it is that you want to.

[00:27:31] So it's time for you to create a plan for the next six months to get us towards the sort of new. Reimagined or otherwise adjusted goals for the year. It's also part of this is also includes checking with your metrics, like really, as you're reviewing progress, knowing where you are with things so that whenever you are creating your new plan is within the context of where you are now.

[00:27:58] Now not where you were six months ago. And in my experience when it comes to creating plans, this is actually why I do quarterly planning. I can plan pretty solid solidly the next three months. Like that's for whatever reason. And for some people it's six weeks. Some people it's nine weeks for me, it's a solid three months.

[00:28:17] I can usually especially month one, two real solid months, month, three, pretty good. The next three months. So the last three months of the year, the last three months of this six month plan are always a really loose. And for a long time, I tried really hard to really schedule up precisely. All six months of every sort of six month plan.

[00:28:44] And I just kept getting disappointed, disappointed, because I wasn't meeting some expectations that I made months and months ago. And so I instead adjusted the way I plan things where I go and I'll plan things out. Like I'll put, I want to do this phase of this project here, this phase of this project here, and then launch it here and then review it here.

[00:29:08] And so that's a four month situation, right? I'll do that. I will map things out in that way, but I know, and I've conveyed to my team. My team knows that the first three months let's lock that in. Let's make that happen the last or the next three months. We it's gonna move. Like, we'll be lucky if things happen in this way, because things do happen.

[00:29:33] The world changes. You change a team member leaves. One comes on, you need a vacation, whatever. It may be, things shift and change. And so I always go into my plans with the idea. The next three months are as solid as I can totally get them. And the next three months are a little loose and anything beyond that is just a dream.

[00:29:53] And it may be like a nice like roadmap dream, like sure. I'd love to get there. And it might happen a little bit, but again, we're not wizards or at least I'm not. At least I'm not. So I cannot, I cannot at all, really do much hardcore planning beyond really three months, but definitely six months. I will say, this is where the revenue and marketing exercise from CEO day kit comes in really handy.

[00:30:19] I always have a stack of those printed out, because it has 12 month blocks. I always know that the first three blocks are solid. The next three blocks are a little loose and they're sort of in lines like this on the sheet. And then anything beyond that is just like, I'm just shooting in the dark here.

[00:30:37] just hoping that something sticks. But I'm able to consistently go through those and get a new sheet and consistently moving up every quarter of plans to be a little more solid every single quarter. Another thing to focus on with this mid-year CEO day is the holidays that big old holiday season that happens really throughout most of the fourth quarter of the year.

[00:31:05] And even if you're not in a product business, you still probably have a lot of life stuff going on. Right. There's a lot of traveling. There's a lot of parties. , there's a lot of shopping that needs to be done. There's a. Stuff that has to happen. That gets crammed into those last two months of the year for a large portion of the population.

[00:31:26] And so this gives you the opportunity to start creating those plans. In the context of that, if life stuff is really just what you have to deal with, if you're a product business and the holidays for you is when you make basically all of your money, then strap in and get the planning done. For me this time, especially at Almanac O M G the amount of plans I have to put into place for hiring and having enough staff at the store for making sure the store is decorated and totally stocked up for making sure that everything that we make is completely made and stocked up and ready to go and otherwise creating new projects or new products so that they are ready for the holiday.

[00:32:07] Like I was not ready to do that at the beginning of the year, because at the beginning of the year, I'm just thinking, okay, holidays are over. What sort of business sort of planning growth situations do we wanna implement before? We have to start thinking about the holidays, which is what happens now. So in this aspect, especially for a product business, I think your midyear CEO day could become your most important planning day of the.

[00:32:32] Just gonna say that real quick. Right. And for anyone who cares about their life during the holidays, , this is a really important day for you too. So you can start laying the groundwork to give you what you need during that busy time of year. So that's what I do for my midyear CEO day. I'm really digging into all kinds of things.

[00:32:55] It really is as important if not, or almost as important, if not as important as my early year CEO day, but really what I love about this one. As opposed to the beginning of the year CEO day, which is really about, it really is about looking at this entire picture. Like, what do you wanna accomplish in your business?

[00:33:17] What is your mission? Who do you wanna be in five years? What has your business been doing for the past five years? Like what, what is this year in my business and how is that gonna help me get towards that five, 10 year goal? Love that, like that is some that is some big picture planning. That is the beginning of the year CEO day.

[00:33:36] For me, the midyear CEO date is really just relegated to that 12 months. Here's what I did the past six months. Here's what I gotta do the next six months. I will worry, worry about that big picture. Five, 10, whatever year plan. How am I gonna retire and go to the beach? I don't even know. I'll worry about that in January.

[00:33:53] right now, I just have to finish this year off strong. And so it really gets a little more contained, a little more concise, a little more actionable, in a way that's really about meeting these goals, these like these one year goals, not these like 10 year goals. So I think I like this midyear CEO day better.

[00:34:14] It feels. And I feel more actionable on that level. I have a hard time and I know many creatives also have a hard time really envisioning five years. Like, I don't know. , I've no idea what I wanna be doing in five years. I just know I want white linen cheats on my beds. What I think about my CEO day, if you've never done our CEO day or not, if you've never done our ideal day worksheet.

[00:34:42] We'll include a link to that in our, in the show notes as well. One of the questions, let me explain, I have to explain this white sheet situation. One of the, one of the questions on or of the prompts on that worksheet is like to really sort of dream about your ideal day. Literally think about waking up in the morning, like, where are you, what does it smell?

[00:35:04] Like, what are you, that sort of thing. So for me, it literally is like waking up and white line and sheets on my bed. I don't know. So that wasn't as weird as it maybe came across, but it might still be weird. I'm okay with that. So anyhow. This, this CEO day is not about your white linen sheets, necessarily.

[00:35:22] This is about making this year a home run . And that for me is very exciting and, and relatively easier, I think for me to accomplish personally, which is why it's also so important for me to do it. Because it is so energy giving and it really does lead to that success in this year, so that whenever I am showing up for my CEO day, at the beginning of the next year, I'm able to look back at what is closer to a success or more of a success than if I had not done this.

[00:35:56] And it's easier for me to, to then make big goals and have big dreams for what comes next. It really is important to important to success.

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[00:36:58] What does this look like? Maybe a little more finitely for me, because I am running two companies, of two very different companies. I have Being Boss here, which is a podcast. But it's also a community. I do some coaching. We actually will be launching very soon publicly a group coaching program that we've been beta testing with some members of the clubhouse and the Being Boss community.

[00:37:24] So we like getting in the coaching game again and I'm loving it so much. So keep your eyes open for that. This is not related. That was a little bit of a plug, but I'm super excited about it. Just wanted to share. So I do have Being Boss, but I also have Almanac. Almanac supply co, which is a product brand.

[00:37:42] It's a retail brand where we make and curate products. So we have an online store. We do subscriptions. We do client gifting, we do wholesale, but I also have a physical retail store. So two very different businesses. Like incredibly different businesses. And I use CEO day, or I have a CEO day for both, and I use CEO day kit for both of them as well.

[00:38:04] Being Boss is seven years old, eight years old, couple years old. Almanac is four years old. And I started, I remember doing the CEO day kit for Almanac literally the month that we launched. So it's really applicable, no matter how long you've been in business, whether you are just starting or just about to start, because yes, please start your career as the CEO of this business, whatever it may be.

[00:38:32] And it's very helpful many years into it, for sure. And I know bosses who use it for business, that businesses that are significantly older than Being Boss. So I'm actually using this tool. And I wanna give you an idea of kind of what this looks like for both Almanac and Being Boss. So at Almanac, and as I was prepping for this episode, I went and did a bit of a review

[00:38:54] of what our plans were and where I need to make some tweaks and changes. And I just wanna share some of those too, make this a little more, I'll make this a little more real world for you. So it's not as abstract, but incredibly practical. I mentioned earlier that at Almanac, whenever I created my, or whenever I had my beginning of the year CEO day, wait, we weren't even planning on getting a new store this year.

[00:39:19] Y'all we're not even planning on it. It was not. I mean, I'm always open obviously. But it was not in the plan. So our plan said nothing about open a new store and hire a bigger team and like do all of that stuff. We were just gonna continue operating our little shop and see what happens. So, or, but not even so, but

[00:39:42] two months later, we got the opportunity to get a new shop, which pretty much negated everything that I had in my CEO day at the beginning of the year, because my revenue goals don't even include a new shop. Some of the things that I wanted to create it create are no longer relevant or. Should take a backseat to what is really a priority, which is creating new systems to support a new shop.

[00:40:08] Things like, ordering more and tracking inventory across multiple locations, cetera, et cetera. I could go on about that one for days. But also hiring and hiring differently than we were previously planning on hiring. Whereas, previously we could have sort of, one sales associate working the store, working the little store.

[00:40:30] And now I need a team of about five people to work this larger store with the expanded hours that this like main street frontage requires of us. So my CEO day plan from beginning of the year is basically null and void it makes no sense at all. So in a lot of ways, this one really is about reinventing what our goals are for the rest of the, this year, as well as what I was talking about previously with prepping for the holiday.

[00:41:02] There's some new products that I want to do. There's gonna be some popups and market opportunities that we need to go ahead and sort of start building a framework with or framework around. What's going to be yes. And what's going to be a no and otherwise planning events for ourselves because we now have this wonderful storefront that we can do our own holiday events in.

[00:41:21] And I haven't even thought about that yet. So many opportunities. So in a lot of ways, in most ways, Almanac is a very different business than it was just six months ago when I sat down and did that CEO day at the beginning of the year, which means that now I like really need to sit down and have that day.

[00:41:42] It's almost giving myself anxiety, not a bad anxiety, like I'm excited about it, but wow. I really do have a lot to do around that one. I'm here for it, here for it. So at Almanac, there's gonna be like, there's gonna be a lot, a lot, a lot that happens Being Boss, thankfully gets to be a little more simple. I mentioned earlier how there is that, that book objective that I'm just, I'm just not even gonna try actually like literally timeline has already passed my plan was to have it written right now, basically.

[00:42:17] And I did not even start it because I got the opportunity to open a new store. So that one needs to be removed in all of its like related things, as well as, adjusting some timelines on some projects. Again, I had planned on sort of cutting back my time and actually here's the funny thing, cuz as I was going to write a book, I had told the team that I needed to cut back my time so that I could write.

[00:42:44] Instead, I had to cut back my time so that I could open a store and I actually needed to cut back my time a bit more and for a bit longer than I would have for the book. So this means that there are some timelines on some other projects that need to be adjusted because again, the first half of my year just did not go at all as planned.

[00:43:08] And I'm so glad that it. I also wanna put that out there of if entrepreneurship has taught me nothing else, it has taught me that like, fuck a plan y'all

[00:43:23] and that like, I am going to make plans all day long. I literally like, I'm telling you right now how I'm making plans. But I'm also open to this adventure and like just how crazy it is. And like, I'm not married to any plan whatsoever. I will change it in a heartbeat, especially if a cool opportunity comes up.

[00:43:44] Or if I just have a responsibility that I just need to manage and like take care of. So, anyway, there's a bunch of timeline tweaking that needs to happen at Being Boss with some other projects, because I did have to cut out for a little longer than I had expected to. And another thing too, as I was looking through it is because I had to cut out

[00:44:08] for a minute and we had to adjust some other timelines already. One of the things that I need to make sure we're getting on for the next rest of the year is some revenue generating projects. And I feel like a lot of creatives out there can probably relate to this pretty well where it's easy and fun to do a lot of stuff.

[00:44:28] Like, social media, for me, that search engine optimization, I will work on SEO all day long. I just love it. Or, one of the things that we have implemented back in the first half of the year that I love so much is our in-person meetups. I've been doing monthly meetups here in Chattanooga, and as I've traveled around in a couple of places, I've, I've hosted Being Boss meetups in other cities.

[00:44:51] And I love doing. But all of these great things that we're putting into place, they're wonderful for, for foundational stuff. For some behind the scenes, sort of footwork on getting things ready for stuff, but they're not great for revenue generation. So as I was looking back at our plans, one of the things that we've, we're going to be focusing and we would have anyway, we're to that point, but where I just need to make sure that the team truly understands that these projects are priority is in revenue generating projects.

[00:45:25] Right? So that's one of the things that like looking at this, we've done a lot of great stuff. But we haven't done a lot of stuff around some of the revenue generating projects that we need to do, which bottom line business y'all is money. So focusing on making sure that we get those things done in the next quarter will really set us up for meeting our bigger goals for the year.

[00:45:47] And that's kind of what that looks like. It's not about reinventing the wheel. That's not what this CEO day is about. This one is about pumping up your tires. Is that a, I feel like that was a really good analogy. look, and I, I didn't mess it up except now that I'm bragging about it and that kind of messes it up, maybe.

[00:46:06] But that's what this is about. It's about making sure that you are on the right path and that you are getting yourself down it for sure. Which leads me to you should do one for yourself. You should. It's mid-year it's the second biggest planning day of the year. Why don't you already have your calendar out, writing it down?

[00:46:26] That's the first step, put it on your calendar. That was my first step. Literally pulled up my Google calendar marked out two days in mid-July. So that, everyone has their work done. So like all of my metrics have been tracked. All of my bookkeeping has been done. All these things have been put into place so that whenever I sit down in mid-July for my two CEO days, one for Almanac and one for Being Boss, I have everything that I need.

[00:46:49] I have all numbers at my disposal, so I'm gonna sit down and do my CEO days. And that's what you should do as well. So put it on your calendar, show up for yourself and for your business, all stink and day. And then you're gonna sit down. You're gonna show up and sit down and gain the big picture that you need.

[00:47:10] Okay, you're gonna look at your CEO day or your plan from the beginning of the year. You're gonna look at, the projects that you've completed. You're gonna look at your money. You're gonna log into that accounting software and you're gonna review it. You're gonna click things and you're gonna look at your numbers, draw eyeballs on it.

[00:47:26] It's gonna be good for you, even if it's scary, even if it feels gross, you're gonna do it. And every time that you do it more, it will be better. And easier for you to do. I do recommend that you go back and listen to, oh, I have it right here in my notes, episode number 2 95, the tracking business metrics for success episode.

[00:47:47] If you don't already know what your KPIs are, what the key metrics are in your business, go do that and set them up for this CEO day. And so that every following CEO day, whether it's weekly, monthly, yearly, whatever, you know what it is that you're tracking. And get the big picture view that you need of your business so that you can make a plan for what comes next.

[00:48:07] One of the great things about CEO days is that as you do them, you start walking in on what you need to look at and what you need to do to gain the perspective that you need. The first couple times you're gonna show up and you're just gonna look at a bunch of diving. Like, I don't know what I'm looking at.

[00:48:20] What's what matters, what doesn't matter. I don't. Right. It's fine. Feel like that. The important thing is, is that you're looking at your stuff, but as you start doing them, you'll know what you need to look at. Like, I know I'm gonna show up and I'm gonna look at, I'm gonna look. I have a notion database with all my projects.

[00:48:35] I have some spreadsheets with some numbers. I have my accounting software and I like already, literally yesterday when I was prepping for this episode, I just pulled up my CEO day plans from the beginning of the year. And like my eyeballs went to exactly what they needed to go to. For me to like know quickly and easily what needs to happen next, the more you do it, the better at being the CEO you are going to be.

[00:48:58] So you're gonna look at all the things and then you're gonna update your plans to reflect your new or your renewed priorities. So you're not gonna be operating on who you were six months ago. You're gonna be operating on who you are now, and it may be similar or the same as who you were six months ago, but chances are some of it's gonna change maybe a lot, maybe a little, but you're gonna be operating from you now.

[00:49:23] Not you, then not your business now or not your wow. You're gonna be operating on your business now. That's it not just, or not your business then super important. And then you're gonna lay out your. Whatever this looks like for me, I always write down a couple of objectives, usually three, four objectives or goals, same thing.

[00:49:46] Like, these are the things we're working towards. Usually put a couple little milestones or a couple little thoughts, or like some things that we can do under it. And then I send it to my project manager and she starts making tasks. Actually we have conversation about it first, and then they go into tasks.

[00:50:00] Sometimes I will do a tasking myself. So I have a project manager at Being Boss, but I don't have one in, at Almanac. I'm the project manager. So I will literally spend the last half of my C or last part of my CEO day, creating tasks. Making them real projects in Asana and beginning to task them out. So that they are a little more real and then telling the team, look, I did this thing.

[00:50:24] Here's our plans for the year or for the rest of the year. Here are the things here are these objectives. Here are the projects we need do first. Here's where I wanna go. And then the best part of a CEO day is that you're gonna take yourself out for a nice end of day. Treat. If you could get a massage, maybe you meet some friends up for some cocktails or mocktails or dinner.

[00:50:48] Take yourself for a nice walk, like, like a different kind of walk, not your regular around the block. Walk, you know that what I'm talking about. A nice walk. You're gonna take yourself for a nice walk or I know a boss who likes to treat herself to a nice bag. Right by yourself, something sweet. some sort of high five for you being the CEO.

[00:51:12] There are perks that come with this job. You just gotta remember to do them. And we are habit stacking here. You have a CEO day, you enjoy the perk of being a CEO, whatever that is for you, whatever it is. That's it. That's how you do it. And that's why the mid-year CEO day is so important. Again, we talk about that beginning of the year one at Naum I know, cause I just, you gotta do that one.

[00:51:37] You gotta do that one, but this mid-year one is also really important and you really should take this one as seriously as you do the one you do at the beginning of the. Because this is the one that's gonna make sure that the plan that you created at the beginning of the year actually comes to fruition or that you actually make it to where you wanna go.

[00:51:59] Even if where you want to go changes. So I'm excited. I'm super excited about my CEO days. Now I'm more excited than I was, in a couple weeks and be sitting down to do it. And I hope that you have now planned one for yourself. If you are in the Being Boss community, I encourage you to pop on in, let us know when you're scheduling it, what you learn, what you.

[00:52:21] How you've adjusted things, whatever it may be. And if you do want help facilitating your CEO day, I cannot recommend our CEO day kit, enough beingboss.club/ceo. It really is one of the best things I've ever created. And I literally continue using it all the time, cuz it works and I love it and it's helpful and it will help you too.

[00:52:46] And with that, you have everything you need to go be the boss of your business. So good luck.

[00:52:53] All right boss, because you're here, I know you want to be a better creative business owner, which means I've got something for you. Each week, the team at Being Boss is scouring the news, the best entrepreneurial publications and updates and releases of the and tools that run our businesses and is curating it all into a weekly email that delivers the must know tips and tactics

[00:53:13] in the realms of mindset, money and productivity. This email is called Brewed. We brew it up for you each week to give you the insight you need to make decisions and move forward in your creative business. Check it out now and sign up for yourself at beingboss.club/brewed. That's beingboss.club/B R E W E D.

[00:53:34] Now until next time, do the work, be boss.[00:54:00]