044: The CEO Wake-Up Call You Didn’t Know You Needed

Running a business is not for the faint-hearted, and let’s be honest, there’s no one-size-fits-all guide to guarantee success. In The Dentistry Support the Podcast, Sarah Beth delivers The CEO Wake-Up Call You Didn’t Know You Needed, cutting through the noise with tools and mindset shifts essential for building a sustainable, thriving business.

With her signature wit and actionable insights, Sarah Beth empowers overworked entrepreneurs to transition from overwhelmed to in control. Each bite-sized episode is packed with practical advice on profit margins, scaling strategies, and creating systems that drive success. From revamping SOPs to uncovering the real obstacles holding you back, this podcast provides a clear roadmap for business growth.

Whether you're a solopreneur, a six-figure hustler, or just starting out, Sarah Beth offers the blueprint to transform hustle into harmony. It’s time to step out of survival mode and become the decisive, empowered leader your business needs. Ready for your wake-up call? Tune in now!

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Transcript

Hello and welcome to season two of Dentistry Support the Podcast with your host, the kindhearted and infectious Sarah Beth Herman. We're back for a new season and ready to pack a punch. In every episode, we'll be sharing you quick, impactful insights into the challenges our dental community and leaders in all industries face.

Expect a little bit of flair, a few laughs, and you might even recognize a friend or two. Because of you, we are the number one podcast in dentistry and number one in management and business, and we couldn't be more excited. To keep bringing you practical wisdom and leadership with a servant's heart all delivered in just enough time for your commute or morning team huddle. 

We are glad you're here, so let's get into it. Please welcome your host, Sarah Beth.  

I could be wrong, but I think this is your reality. You've put in the hours, you've taken the big risks, and you've built a business that brings in six figures, maybe seven. But instead of the freedom you imagined, you're stuck in the day-to-day grind, carrying every decision, every task on your shoulders. 

Now I want you to ask yourself an honest question. What would happen if you had to step away for six months? Would your business survive without you? Could it even run on its own? I've seen this situation unfold for too many business owners. They've got enough revenue coming in. 

Maybe they're growing on paper, but when it comes down to it, the foundation just isn't strong enough to support true growth. They're working hard, but they're not building something that could sustain itself. This is the fact for many solopreneurs, right? You're a photographer. 

You're a marketing specialist. You're a consultant of some category. Today, I'm talking about what it really means to understand your business from the inside out. 

Not just the top line numbers, not just how busy you feel, but the actual financial foundation. We're going to cover what you need to know about your profit, your costs, and the systems that will let your business grow sustainably because bringing in revenue isn't the same thing as building a business that's set up for real success. Let me be clear. 

Knowing your numbers isn't about being a finance expert. It is about knowing your business well enough to lead it. Dave Ramsey says, if you don't control your money, your money will control you. 

And that same rule applies to your business finances. When you understand your numbers, you're in the driver's seat. You can make informed decisions about where to invest, where to cut back, and where to grow. 

Without this, you're left reacting to every single challenge instead of steering your business toward your goals. Let me start with profit margins. Profit margins are an essential number that reflects your business's health.

For smaller businesses, particularly those six figures and under, you want to aim for a profit margin of around 10 to 15 percent. This is the percentage of revenue left after all expenses are covered. It's what allows you to invest, save, and prepare for unexpected costs. 

As your business grows and hits seven figures, your profit margin will likely shift. You may reinvest more into scaling so the margin could initially dip, but that's okay as long as you're tracking it and you have a plan. Now let's talk about your profit and loss statement, or your P&L. 

Think of this as a story of your business finances. A basic P&L includes your revenue, cost of goods sold, gross profit, operating expenses, and net profit. Each of these numbers tells you something critical about your business. 

Knowing these numbers doesn't make you a finance pro. It makes you a leader who understands where your business stands and where it's headed. Now let's talk about client acquisition cost, or CAC. 

This is simply the amount you're spending to bring in each new customer. Why does this matter? Well because if you don't know what it costs to acquire a customer, you don't know if you're making, if your marketing is actually working. So what goes into your CAC? It could be money spent on social media ads, networking events, referral bonuses, whatever you're using to reach and convert customers. 

Knowing this cost helps you make better decisions about where to spend your time and money. And then there's operating expenses. These are the costs that keep your business running day to day. 

Your staffing, equipment, admin, you name it. I suggest breaking these into sections so you can see exactly where your money is going. Whether you're a virtual business or you have a brick and mortar location, knowing these numbers brings clarity and focus for you. 

Now you might be a solopreneur that's like, hey I just have a photography business, or hey I'm a makeup artist. None of this applies to me. No one can do what I can do. 

But I want to just bring to light for a minute that I think you're thinking really, really small. You should have employees. You should scale and grow your business. 

You have an eye for something and you're great at it. You have an amazing craft. But why aren't we duplicating you? Why aren't you doing what you really love and teaching other people to do it so that you can make more people just like you and increase your profitability? Another strong figure in the finance world is a man by the name of Dr. John Deloney. 

You will often see him speaking alongside Dave Ramsey. And he says, if you don't tell your money where to go, you'll wonder where it went. In business, that couldn't be truer. 

Maybe you're thinking, I make enough on my own or I don't make enough on my own. But I don't know how to make more and I don't know how to get people to do what I do. So I don't want to do it. 

Or it's just too stressful to hire employees because then I have to train them. And it's way too stressful to have to train someone over and over and over again. Welcome to business. 

Welcome to business. It's kind of like that. Let's talk building a budget for growth. 

If you're bringing in six figures, it might be time to think about allocating 20 to 30% of revenue towards staffing. Now, this could mean hiring a virtual assistant or a part-time manager or someone that you need to help you with marketing. Think of this as an investment in freeing up your time so you can focus on the high-level tasks that only you can handle.

Because there are only things that you can handle. And if you're the founder of your company, you're the CEO of your company, you've got to start acting like it. Let's talk equipment and operations. 

Even if your business is entirely online, there's equipment you rely on. Software, tools, subscriptions. Look closely at what you're paying for each month. 

Are there things you're not even using? Are there tools that could be upgraded? Being intentional about these expenses can make a huge difference in your bottom line. Ask yourself honestly, if you took six months off, could your business still run? If the answer is no, it's time to start planning and not just reacting. There's something that I call the illusion of success. 

In my opinion, busy doesn't mean productive and running yourself ragged doesn't equal growth. Too often, business owners feel they're moving forward because they're constantly busy, but they're just filling up their time. They're not building their business or building other businesses or grooming more people so that have more time. 

John Maxwell said, you cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything. Not every task on your plate is critical to your business's success. Ask yourself, are you staying busy because it feels like progress or are you building something that could thrive without you working on it every day? When you focus on the numbers and the foundation, you'll start to see where you can streamline and prioritize. 

You'll move from a place of survival to a place of true growth. There's a reality out there that you're not immortal. There will come a time when your life is over, your time has run out. 

What will happen to your business? Will it be immortal or will it not be immortal? What will happen to your business if all of time stood still and something tragic happened in your life where you couldn't work for six months? Who would take care of your clients? Who was taking care of your customers? I want you to step fully into the CEO role. Fully. Doesn't matter how big your business is or how small. 

To be the CEO of your business, you have to see yourself as more than just the worker. It is about owning where your business is and guiding it to where it needs to be. This means thinking of every dollar as an investment and every hour as an opportunity to build a foundation. 

Start by creating standard operating procedures or SOPs for routine tasks. If someone had to step into your role tomorrow, could they keep the business running with clear instructions? That's what being a CEO is about. Leading your business, not just working in it.

And yes, this is applicable for all of those entrepreneurs of you out there that are a one-man show. There is going to come a time when you're going to hire someone. You're going to hire a team. 

You are going to want to expand your business, your organization. You're going to want it to be more. There is no better time than right now to expand yourself to the point where you're actually writing out all of your processes, exactly how things are done. 

And even if you aren't scaling today and hiring six employees, that's fine. You still have other steps and processes that need to go on. I know that many of you started your businesses because you wanted freedom. 

Freedom to teach, to create, to grow. But to get there, you need to start letting go of what's not essential and building systems to let others support you. If you're feeling stuck in the grind, my Blueprint to Breakthrough program is exactly what you need. 

This program is 16 weeks and it is taking you from the blueprint of where you are right now to truly that breakthrough moment. This program will walk you through building each layer of the foundation that will actually support your growth. We are covering everything from understanding your financials to setting up systems and creating budgets that work. 

There is an entire section of this program that is dedicated just to this financial foundation. The goal is to move you from doing all of the work to leading with confidence because your business should work for you, not the other way around. If you're realizing now that you've been winging it, I want you to know there's no shame in that. 

Every successful business owner has been where you are right now. The key is to learn and grow from here, not to keep moving without a plan. There is no shame in learning your numbers now. 

It is never too late to start building a strong foundation and I am here to support you, to help you move forward without fear or embarrassment. This is about setting yourself up to lead, not just work. And yes, this matters for one employee businesses. 

I want you to understand that I've been nervous too. I've come to the realization that I've spent too much money on something. I've let things get out of hand. 

I haven't tracked the numbers enough. I haven't developed processes. And maybe you're thinking, well, that's just too type A. That's too type A. That's not me. 

My business model is different. I don't need all of that. That doesn't apply to me. 

If you're the kind that watches TV, I want you to go watch The Prophet by Marcus Limonis. He is incredible. And he talks a lot about how every single business is really not too different and that it all comes down to people, product and process.

And I often say that where you use the word product, we say service because I have service-based businesses. And so every business is truly just three fundamentals. It's not overcomplicated.

It doesn't need to be this really stressful and intense thing that we're looking at. We can break it down and find which leg of the pillar, which leg of the three-legged stool is falling because we don't have a true foundation or we're not giving even an adequate work to that one leg of the stool. We can break it down and look at it. 

That's exactly what we're going to do. For 16 weeks, we're going to work together. And this starts in January 2025. 

You've got just a few weeks left to get yourself on the wait list. There will be limited spots, and I'm not saying that to be salesy. I can't tend to everybody for 16 weeks, but what I can do is spend intentional time with those of you that want to propel yourself forward. 

This program is going to have an entire podcast episode designed just for it so that you could listen and understand what it's going to be about and how it's going to work and how you fit in. And one of the most important things that I want you to know about this program is that it requires accountability. Now, I've had mentors before that will meet with me once a month, give me a packet of things I need to do, and then meet with me the next month and say, you didn't do anything in the packet.

Now, some might say, you have terrible accountability. Me, being a high-level entrepreneur, high-functioning CEO with a plate that's fuller than 10 lives combined, I would tell you that I choose to spend my time in places that are worthy, financially beneficial, and that serve me well. If you hand me a list of things that don't already fit in there, and I don't see how they fit in there, you haven't given me the value on that, I'm not touching that task. 

I won't go to it. I'll likely push it to the side because it's just not important. There's going to be a couple books we're going to read because I want you to see some things that have changed my life. 

But more than anything, you're going to do this with an accountability partner who's going to walk you through and help you get all of it done. You're going to learn where you're a little bit weak, or you're really, really strong, and it might wreck your world a little bit. I think you need it. 

I think you need someone to say, we got to get this right. 2025 is your time. It's your time, and I'm here to bring you to that realization. 

To help you get started, because this year isn't over yet, I've created a resource that you can download for free right now. It's called your Financial Foundation Workbook. This workbook will help you calculate your client acquisition costs, track your operating expenses, and build a realistic budget aligned with your goals. 

In the show notes below, you'll see a link to that digital download section. You can enter the promo code you see listed there. That will make it free. 

I don't just create this stuff because I want to make money off of you. My biggest desire is that I leave this world a better place, that I leave your business better as a result of us connecting. I want you to take these first steps toward being the CEO that you've always been meant to be. 

Success isn't about running harder. It is about building a business that can thrive with or without you, holding every single piece in place. I recently agreed to run a half marathon with a friend of mine. 

She just asked me if I wanted to do it, and I just said yes. Truth be told, I didn't even know how long a half marathon was. I've done 5Ks, I've never done a 10K, and I've never done a half marathon. 

I have two 5Ks lined up this month, a 10K next month, and a half marathon in January. I don't know how I'm gonna do it. I don't. 

But what I'm gonna do right now is every night when I'm done with dinner, I go run four to five miles. And right now, it's really, really hard to run those miles. I time myself, and some days I'm faster than the day before, and some days I'm slower than the day before, and sometimes my muscles hurt to stand or sit or to start running again. 

And then after about 30 minutes, my muscles kind of go numb, and I can't really feel the pain anymore because I'm just on autopilot. And I know I have to finish these five miles, these four or five miles. It's hard, and I wanna give up, and I wanna quit a million times. 

But I know I have to run that half marathon in just a few months, and if I don't get used to running for a long period of time, I'm never gonna be able to do it. So I get up and I run every single night, and sometimes my husband gets on the treadmill next to me, and he walks or he runs for 30 minutes, and he's there. And I'll get off the treadmill, and I'll come out to the kitchen, and I'll grab a bottle of water, and he'll say, you motivate yourself like I've never seen someone motivate themselves. 

You literally are yelling at yourself or whispering under your breath to keep going, go faster, just do it, keep going. You clap when you realize you had two seconds shaved off of your mile time. I'm telling you that it's not easy.

Changing the way you run your business, changing the way you operate your business, deciding that you will be the CEO that you were crafted and created to be is not easy. I'm not telling you all of this because it's a get rich quick scheme or that it's some sort of holy cow, this is super easy, just do this, and then you'll be safe. I'm telling you this because it builds the foundation so you can have a better life in the future, but it is gonna take work. 

It is going to take work. I talked with one of my mentor clients earlier today. She owns a business that has three employees and she currently has six figures. 

She told me the thing that she hates the most is that she's in the grid of it. She does all the hard work. Her employees do some admin things, but pretty much does everything. 

The business is six months old. She doesn't need to do any marketing and she doesn't want to get any more clients because honestly the ones she has are rude. She doesn't want to have to overload herself and it's already as stressful as it needs to be.

And she's at six figures, six months in. She's happy with her 10 clients. Cool. 

But after we got done talking, I realized that all she's doing is being an employee. She's just being an employee working for her business. She's not working on it. 

She doesn't have a single SOP created. She doesn't know what her budgets are. She doesn't know what she can afford for additional staffing.

She has no plan, but for some reason she wants to expand her bandwidth, start teaching, make digital products, but she doesn't know where to begin. How can she stop working on her clients if they need her and she's the only one that can do what she does and she just wants more bandwidth? The answer is not more bandwidth. The answer is working smarter, not harder. 

I'm running a marathon in a few months. I'm not going to run that marathon faster by starting off quicker. I have to pace myself.

I have to know how I'm going to get through the marathon. I have to know that my body can withstand three hours of running. Are you kidding me? I'm not going to get there by starting off really, really fast or running a random path. 

I have to follow the path laid out. I have to practice. I have to build the mental toughness to get through it. 

It's hard. It's not easy for me right now. It's not easy for her right now, but I think we have to choose what our heart is going to be.

You're that's good moment for today. Knowing your numbers isn't just a business skill. It's a leadership skill. 

It's understanding where your money is going and planning for growth, not just hoping that growth happens, not just hoping your bandwidth will be there, not just hoping that you'll have time next Saturday at three o'clock to create the digital product that you really want to launch. Building a business is about creating something that gives you freedom. It's about leading, not just working. 

Even if you are the only person on your team, even if you have no employees, you're still leading. You're showing your clients what to expect. You're showing your customers who your brand is. 

Everybody started with just one. Everybody started with one person, with one idea, with one thought. I want you to take that first step. 

I want you to know your numbers, and I want you to let clarity guide you toward the business and the life that you truly want. Check the show notes for links that are going to help you in your business. There's also a link in the show notes for you to join the wait list for Blueprint to Breakthrough. 

I know you're going to love it here. I know it's going to matter, and I know it's going to change everything about how you get to work on your business, not for your business. You are not an employee anymore. 

You are the CEO. It's time to start acting like it. Thank you for joining me today. 

And remember, this journey doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be real. You're building something incredible, and I'm here to support you every step of the way.