183 | Why CEO Time Is the Most Important Time Block for Business Growth

Monthly Workshops: (https://generatealifewelllived.com/workshops)

Work with Me: (https://tidycal.com/eringray/45-min-call-with-erin)

If your calendar could talk, would it say CEO or busy employee? In this episode, I share my thoughts on CEO time which focus on 3 pillars: feminine leadership, weekly financial stewardship, and clear vision.

Learn how to create space for strategic thinking, anchor into spiritual and nervous system care, review your numbers with confidence, and protect your focus so growth feels lighter and easier. 

In this episode we discuss:

• My thoughts on CEO time
• Feminine energy practices 
• Receiving support and hiring before you need it
• Weekly financial reviews 
• Vision casting and quarterly reviews
• Team health, feedback loops, and culture
• Energy audits and boundaries

Other ways to connect with me:

Grab your free Human Design chart

➡️ Get your chart here

Work with Me

➡️ Schedule your clarity call here

From my soul to yours,

Erin

Transcript

Are You Leading Or Just Busy

Erin Gray 0:00

If I looked at your calendar last week, would I know that you are the CEO or would you look like a busy employee? Today I'm going to be walking you through the CEO time, what I think CEO time actually should look like, and then what I advise my clients to look at when they work with me. So let's dive in. Okay, I've talked about CEO time before. I think that CEO time, it probably has more than three pillars, but these are the ones that I came up with is one is like your energetic leadership. Like think about leadership, feminine power, feminine energy. That's one part of CEO time. The financial oversight, like the actual 3D of like looking at your numbers, having someone like me in your corner, going over a lot of the business stuff that needs to happen in your business. And then the third part is like the vision, the future vision, you being the visionary. I always say like the founder is the endless vessel of their company. And so it's very important that you allocate time to envision, to visualize all of that. So let's talk about the first pillar, that feminine energy. I want you to ask yourself, how much are you in feminine energy? I obviously have told you multiple times that I have been around and worked in very masculine energy industries, right? Financial planning and construction, very masculine. And so I've had to turn back on my reconnect to my feminine energy. And the more that I do this work, the more that I work with women and I see like this is actually how it you actually lead with feminine energy, and then you have the masculine that like molds and helps you structure things and steward and flow money and things of that sort. So, how much are you in your feminine energy? I would also look at from a spirituality standpoint, how connected are you to God and dialed in there? That is something that over the last year, I think that was a big missing piece for me. So, how much are you trusting? How much are you connected to God? How much are you looking at Him as your supply versus your clients, your business, investments, things of that sort? Are you allowing time for rest? Are you allowing time for play? What is your visualization practice like? Think about what is your meditation and meditation can look like whatever, but like how much time are you allowing for stillness, for what I call being bored? Are you just like for a while? I just put in my calendar, like be bored, like 10 to 15 minutes a day. Just sit because if we constantly have every single second spoken for, we don't have the capacity or the allowance to allow for ideas to come in, right? To to hear from God, to have our intuition, to listen to our intuition, things of that sort. Are you journaling? Are you reflecting? Like, what is your practice of spiritual practice as well as taking care, like self-care practice? Do you have or are you in the process of hiring people to support you in ways that you want to be supported? You know, I reached out to um someone that I've been referring clients to, and I've also used her for my husband's business. And one of the things that I said is like, I know how to do all of this stuff, but I would love some help because I just want to do the review of what you come up with, and then I will review it versus me actually having to sit down and do it, right? So just think about the ways that you want to be supported and are you allowing and taking care of yourself and receiving that support? What are you doing for your money mindset and your relationship with money? Like, are you loving on your money? Are you appreciating it? Are you energetically in alignment and congruence when it comes to money? Or are there things that you need to clean up in your relationship with money? I think about like our energy, the more as I evolve, right? Like how precious my energy is. And I'm very, I don't like the word protective, but let's just say honoring. I honor my energy, taking care of my nervous system. Are you taking care of your nervous system? Let's call it a calm system instead of a nervous system. So if you feel dysregulated, if you're rushing around, if you're overextended, if you're saying yes to everyone else, then your business is going to like everything as a mirror. Your business is going to mirror that, your money is going to mirror that, your relationships, the people that are in your business are going to mirror that. So I want you to think from the feminine energy standpoint that CEO time includes luxurious space to think. Like could be multiple hours a week to think and contemplate. Like that is one of the most important things you can do. Time to feel into decisions that you're currently making. Like if you need to ride your wave, are you allowing yourself the time and the space to be in your own auric energy? Or are you constantly with someone? You know, reflection, reflecting on things that you've decisions you have made on where you're going before you just like we want to get out of that reactive energy and we want to get into a responsive. But in order to be responsive, you got to take care of your nervous system. You got to take care of you first. And then also, are you honoring, you know, the boundaries, like very clear boundaries? And I know that that is something that I've had to work on because yeah, I don't think I've respected my time the way that I do now. And so that is something that I have had to work on over the last, well, probably six years, but like really being more focused on it over the last probably six months. Okay. So that's like think about it from a very feminine, taking care of you, flowy energy as well as self-care, self-love. So that's one pillar. The second pillar is like the actual 3D, the masculine energy, the financial CEO time. So I always say it's always your responsibility to know your numbers, to not outsource your power and to know actually what's going on in your business. You know, some of my clients in the past have said things like, well, I'll just let like, I don't really want to deal with that. Like, I'll just let the bookkeeper and the CPA do it. And like, I don't really like that. I don't really enjoy looking at the numbers or I'm not so great at it or whatever. It's like, no, this is part of being a CEO. If you want to go from where you are to whatever number you want to get to, you need to take responsibility for running your business. And that includes numbers. So if you don't have someone like me in your corner, maybe it's time that you reach out and we have a conversation and see if we're a good fit. Because having someone like me in your corner that loves on you, that supports you, that looks at everything from a very holistic view and isn't just like, okay, here are the numbers. But we're looking at your team, we're looking at all of your advisors that, you know, your CPA and your bookkeeper and you know, your insurance, like we're looking at the whole picture in your business and also your personal life, right? And so when you have someone like me who can easily look at things and be like, hey, have you thought of this? And then you run it through your filter. I think it one is so much more fun when you do business with people that can support you. And two, like, even though it is a more masculine energy thing to do is to look at your numbers, you have someone that can support you while you do that. So I think that you need to be looking at your financials once a week. You know, what are your numbers, your PL, your balance statement? You know, what does revenue look like? What does cash look like? What is cash flow projections and, you know, money moving in and out of your business? What does sales look like? Like just all of the things that you have ideas on for like projections, looking at that stuff as well as looking at, because you know, all of your reports that you're gonna look at, that's all a past, right? So you also want to be thinking about where you're going, but also know like what is it, you know, my dad would always say, like keeping a pulse, right, on the company. And you have to think about like your financials in that way. So, you know, I would know like what our AR, our AP, what cash looked like, how much cash we needed on a monthly basis, what was payroll like. Just knowing all of that, I think also calms the system, right? When you know what it is, then you're able to be like, okay, you're allocating money towards that. And also you are aware of where your money is. Like it is our responsibility as CEOs to know where our money is and where it is going. So you got to know your numbers. I also think about this, you know, from the masculine part is yes, you have the support and also like money wants to be directed. So from like I'm very masculine, like I think money is feminine and also masculine. So money likes to flow, it likes to go in, it likes to go out, it loves to be loved on and supported and appreciated. You know, think about it as a relationship. And it also likes to have, I don't like boundaries as the word, but like, where does it like to be stewarded to? It likes to know where it's gonna go when it comes in. So think about how by sitting down and doing, you know, this, the financial part of the CEO time of like, okay, where are we gonna allocate this money that came in this week or this month or whatever it might be? You know, what am I planning for expansion in my business? So, really like knowing where your money's going and where it's going to go. Money likes to be guided. So, CEO time, I think also too, should include that financial block every single week. And I think it also what this does is it's another opportunity for you to check in with how you feel about money, how you feel about your business, you as a CEO and a leader and a woman and all of that. So it just gives you another opportunity to show appreciation and gratitude for how far you have come, for where you are going and appreciate everybody that's in your business. And it's just a nice thing to feel on a weekly basis for sure, and also to show that gratitude and appreciation. And then the third pillar is like I think about like visionary direction, expansion. So are you staying focused on what you're good at and letting others support you in your company? Or are you having like shiny object syndrome, or are you more so dialed in and like focused, right? And so this is where no becomes so valuable because I think we really want to be saying no more than we're saying yes. We have to honor our time. We have to honor our energy. When you say yes to something, you are effectively saying no to something else. So you got to be crystal clear on what you want, where you are going, what your vision is, and spending, you know, where you are investing your energy. Because if you aren't clear, then you wake up and you're like, oh, now I'm in this and now I'm in this. Like I remember it was my dad and my uncle, you know? And and sometimes other ideas would come into for different ways for revenue. And we would always go back to, yeah, but what do we do really well? Right. Like you have to stay focused and know where you're going because it's so easy. Like we want to do all the things. I get that as entrepreneurs, and we have to stay really focused on what am I really good at? What do I want to continue? What is profitable for me and move in that direction? So think about the CEO time from the direction, the expansion, that kind of pillar of like, are you doing quarterly? I don't want to say quarterly plans, but quarterly reviews, quarterly visions, like moving forward. Are you evaluating where the revenue is coming from? Do you still like doing that? Is it something that you want to pivot on? Like really giving yourself the time to decide what you want to continue to pursue, maybe what you are no longer in love with, and what are your next level moves? And this comes from that long-term thinking, that long-term vision, you being the founder, not the short-term reacting. So, really allowing yourself the opportunity for visionary forward vision casting. Where am I taking my company? You know, who's coming with me? Who might have we outgrown? Things of that sort. Okay, so let's talk about then if you want to do a time audit, I definitely advise that. And I'm gonna give you just some ideas and then you play with it, you run it through your intuition and you see what you what feels good. And maybe these time amounts, you know, don't necessarily fit you, but it's just something to go off of. So from a financial review every single week, 60, 90 minutes, it may even become shorter. The more you do it, the better you'll get at it. You'll be in a in a system, an autopilot, right? Not that you're won't be aware, but like it'll get easier because you have looked at, you know, however many times of a PL and a balance statement and cash flow projection and all that kind of stuff. So what is your cash like? What is your PL? What is your AR, your AP? Just knowing what your numbers look like. The next one is the leadership, right? I think this actually should be every day. And I also think that you should block out some time, uh, maybe an hour, a week, even more. But I think every single day you need to be like from that, from that feminine leadership. Like, how much are you resting? How much are you playing? You know, what is your meditation and journaling and walking and thinking and contemplating, like allowing that luxurious space to do that? Think of it also. So that would be like the daily that you'd be doing that. Then on a weekly basis, like, what is my team health look like? What is my the morale? What is the culture? Like, how can I continue to support my people? Like, you know, if you're getting constant feedback from your people, then you're able to correct whatever needs to be corrected. If anything needs to be corrected, you're able to do that on a weekly basis versus three months goes by and you've been sensing that an employee has been having some feelings, but you haven't really addressed it, right? So if you're in constant connection and contact with your employees and they are sharing, you know, what's working, what isn't, what they want, you know, to see different, then you're gonna be able to have that more constant feedback. And then you're able to take action and modify things. Also, too, like from hiring decisions, you know, you're not gonna be doing this every week, but like, okay, as you're growing, you need to be thinking about hiring people before you're at that level. So who would be a perfect fit? Planning for that, what would what is that gonna look like? Envisioning that person, things of that sort. And then the vision, you know, vision casting, blocking out time for envisioning envisioning and vis visualization a couple hours a week. And like I said, play with this and see what feels good. But like this is space to think and contemplate how far you've come, where you're going, being in such gratitude of where you are, all of that feminine energy, like taking care of you, the plane, the expansion. And then one other one that I would throw in is just do an energy audit. I know I've done a podcast on are you leaking energy? But maybe it's something that you do, maybe it's once a week, maybe it's once every other week, you know, as you fine-tune it. Like I always like to look at things as like we're just constantly fine-tuning and being more precise. So if you are, you know, you've done this multiple times and you're pretty clear, but then maybe you go to once a month. You're just gonna have to play with this and see what feels good. But like, where are you leaking energy? What is feeling heavy? What are you avoiding? What are you tolerating that you've outgrown that you haven't decided, okay, time to let that one go, or let I don't mean let that one go as an employee, but let whatever it is go, right? Are there boundaries that you need to put up for yourself to put to honor your energy? So, what I see most of the time with women is that we overgive, we are over-available, we have thoughts about our worthiness or our lovability. And so we're doing things that other people in our organization can do. And we're doing that because we don't want to feel like there's not a place for us or like, hey, but really ultimately, you should put yourself out of, and I'm you're quoting a job, right? You should really just be that vision planning higher 30,000 foot view, and then having people that support you. If you're avoiding any type of financial stuff, right? If you're not looking at your numbers, if you're saying yes just to keep the peace, like that, that isn't true leadership. I think a lot about that is more so self-abandoning, right? It's disguised as generosity, it's disguised as like, oh, I'm being so kind. But I think when we're saying yes to people before we're saying yes to ourselves and taking care of ourselves, we're people pleasing in some way. So I want you to think about CEO feminine energy is calm, bold, it is confident, it's decisive, it's financially literate, it is has boundaries and it doesn't apologize for it. It's future focused, takes care of herself, like all of those things. So think about where are you already doing this? And then where can you start making some shifts? And where you want to grow to isn't going to come from doing more. It's going to come from doing less. It's going to come from contemplation, being in your feminine energy, being more bold, being more like a decisive leader, cleaner energy, right? Like knowing what you need to do and just doing it, like collapsing what I call collapsing that time or the gap between when you're a yes for something, you've ridden your wave, and then when you actually take action and move into it. So over the next week, do a time audit and see what you come up with. That's always the first step because awareness, like we cannot change what we are not aware of. And then you can start making changes from a new identity because what you find on your calendar and what you're not a fan of, there's an identity associated with that, right? So who is the woman that is tolerating that on her or in her calendar? And then from that place, you get to start feeling different and taking different action. And if you want someone like me in your corner that acts as the holistic advisor and supports you and your business with full financial team integration and intuitive leadership, I would love to see if we are a good fit. You can schedule a call with me and and we can have a visit and see what you're needing support with and how it could help. Okay, as always, I'm rooting for you. I love you, and I will see you in the next episode.