How Solo Entrepreneurs Can Adopt the CEO Mindset to Scale Your Business
If you’re a freelancer or solo entrepreneur, then you’re running your own business. Even if your business is just you on your own, you have to take over the role of CEO. In order to do this, you need to adopt the CEO mindset. Anyone can do this and see the benefits. Here are the keys to how you can approach your work like a CEO.
Focus on Results
Did you know that 80% of your results come from only 20% of your activities? Do you know which of your daily activities make up that 20%? For a CEO, results are everything. They’re aware of which actions produce which benefits, and they focus their energy here. A CEO doesn’t waste time on activities that don’t get results.
Always Trying New Things
You can think more like a CEO by constantly trying new things. Leaders of companies are driven by an insatiable curiosity. One great way to cultivate this is to try one new thing each day. Purposely seek out new experiences and areas to learn about, even if they don’t seem strictly related to your business.
Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
Humans naturally fall into patterns, but these can quickly turn into ruts. If you want to think like a CEO, learn to recognize when you’re stagnating and seek out new challenges. Never back down from a risk when there’s great potential reward. CEOs are fearless risk-takers because they know that facing risk, whether you succeed or fail, is a great learning experience.
Look at the Big Picture
As the leader of an organization, a CEO has to always take the big picture view. This means looking at your company from the top down, considering its place in the market, its history, and where it’s going. The big picture view means not just looking at the next week or month, but the next five or ten years.
Connect to Your Core Values
Why did you start your business? Do you think about this every day? Reconnect with the reason you started. What big change did you want to make in the world or in the lives of your customers? Clarify your core values and keep them in mind at all times. Use them whenever you make key decisions.
Think Strategically
A successful CEO is never surprised by even the most sudden change in the market because they’ve considered everything and made a plan for anything that could happen. Stay one step ahead of competitors and industry changes by considering possible outcomes and how you would respond to each. Then, when it comes time to make a major decision, you can do so quickly and decisively.
No matter where you are in your business, start thinking like a CEO now and you’ll see your business grow and get closer to its goals.