The 7% Club

Episode 3: CEO vs Business Owner - is the difference important?

• Jenny Stilwell • Episode 3

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Are you a CEO or a Business Owner?

There are two aspects to this question: one is your title and actually seeing yourself as the CEO; the other is your approach to business growth and leadership. This shift in attitude to your role means you step up and acknowledge that you are the leader of a team now. They need your guidance and direction.

There are many fundamental differences in the business owner approach versus the CEO approach (which I outline in my book ‘Small Business CEO’), but the main difference is that business owners fail to evolve and up-level their own role.

If you're serious about upscaling, then it's time to make the shift from Business Owner to CEO.

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💡 Need help scaling your business from 7 to 8 figures? Get in touch jenny@jennystilwell.com.au

Remember: Better strategy, better business, better life! See you next time!

UNKNOWN:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

Hi there, this is Jenny Stilwell and welcome to the 7% Club podcast for the 7% of business owners who break through 2 million in sales and for those on track to join this club. If you want to upscale from 7 to 8 figures, you'll need to make some shifts in how you grow, structure and lead your company because you cannot get to 10 million in the same way that you reached your first 1 or 2 million in revenue. This podcast is to help you upscale. This episode is called CEO versus business owner and in it I'm going to cover why it's important to make the shift from being the business owner to the CEO as you grow your company. The title of my new book is Small Business CEO as well and the reason I call it that is because most small business owners do not think of themselves as CEOs but if you're growing a business then you really need to. There are two aspects to this. One is your title and actually seeing yourself as a CEO and the other is your approach to business growth and leadership. This shift in attitude to your role means you step up and acknowledge that you are the leader of a team now. They need your guidance and direction. I can't tell you how many clients I've advised over the years who are reluctant or or actually completely resistant to changing their title from anything other than director or principal or worse still, no title at all. Many of them protest that titles aren't important and no one needs them. I think that's just an excuse in many cases for not stepping up and being the leader. Your customers and clients like to know the people they're dealing with in your company because it makes them feel comfortable that they're talking to the right person. And when talking to you, they also like to know that you are the person with ultimate authority and experience to handle any problems and make decisions. So whether you have a title or not, you cannot hide from the fact that you are the leader and the driver of your business. The shift from doing and being one of the workers, as a client of mine used to say, to thinking and being the leader is is essential for personal and business growth. There are many fundamental differences in the business owner approach versus the CEO approach, which I outline in my book, Small Business CEO. But the main difference is that business owners fail to evolve and fail to up-level their own role. They want to be involved in everything while employing relative juniors or people who don't have the experience for what the business requires. When this happens, the competency gap between the owner and the next level down is way too big. The owner still has to step in and make decisions and solve problems and give plenty of direction to their team because the team just simply lacks the skill and experience to take charge. Many business owners lament the growth of their team for this reason. And I've heard so many of them actually say, I don't know why I employ all these people and I have to do most of it myself. So if you really are serious about wanting to grow your business, there are two big reasons that you need to make the shift from business owner to CEO. Number one, you have to let go if you want to grow. You can't do it all, especially when your business becomes more complex. You can only utilize other people to help you grow when your own role changes. When you let go and step up, everything shifts and your perspective will naturally shift and you will see your business with fresh eyes. And reason number two is that you need to be strategic about your business and your role in it if you want a better business and a better life. You need to shift how you think and you actually need to think more than do. Your team will do what needs to be done to enable the business to grow. You direct them. That's when you become a captain with a capable team as opposed to a team with one too many players and no captain. So in summary... The fundamental difference between a CEO and a business owner is a focus on growth. The CEO spends more time on thinking and strategy, often away from the office, whereas the business owner is at their desk, more focused on the doing. CEOs realise the importance of employing experienced people to add value to their team. Knowing they have to pay well to get top talent, they consider it an important investment in their business. Business owners, however, fear the cost of such people, favouring inexperience instead. And finally, to shift from business owner to CEO, you need to start thinking strategically and let your team step up as you step back from the coalface to start driving the business. I hope you've enjoyed this episode, CEO versus business owner. If you'd like more information on how to make the shift, you'll find it in my new book Small Business CEO. And remember, Better strategy, better business, better life. Bye now. And that's all for today's episode of the 7% Club podcast. And thank you so much for listening. If you'd like advice and support on how to grow your business from seven to eight figures in a manageable and profitable way, get in touch via my website, jennystillwell.com.au. And that's one L in the middle and two on the end. Or connect with me on LinkedIn. I'd love to chat to you. I'd love to from you and i'd love to be able to help you and as always wherever you are in the world remember better strategy better business better life