This past year, Katie, a bookkeeper with 10 team members, joined my beta group for Momentum Coaching with two goals: one to improve her profits by 10% and 2nd to take a week-long unplugged vacation. She accomplished both in the first 90 days! She’s on the road to becoming a true CEO rather than the Chief Everything Officer. She also spent considerably more time with her daughter this summer because she learned how to work less, profit more.
And you can too!
What would it mean for you to spend more time with your friends and family?
What would it mean for you to increase your profits by 10% or more — what would that allow your family to do more of?
What would it allow you to do in your business with 10% more available money?
Take a week unplugged vacation – what would that mean for your health? For that exhaustion that you feel?
Katie actually left her laptop with her friend so she could not access it. And she came home saying that one week was not enough time to rest! Next year – two weeks unplugged!
As we build and grow our businesses, it’s easy to get into the habit of working long hours, missing soccer games, and continually deferring vacations. We get into the habit of believing that work is fun – but my friend, there are other things in life besides work.
What hobby could you take up? Hobbies are important to our well-being and to our brain. They allow us to focus on something else other than our businesses so that when we come back to our business, we see it with fresh eyes!
But let’s get back to the main question – are you a Chief Everything Officer or a true CEO?
You can tell if you’re a Chief Everything Officer by taking The Bottleneck Test here. This quick 5-question test allows you to see what needs to shift in your business to allow it to grow beyond your capacity. If you’re honest with the scoring, it will also help you prioritize the structural changes that are required so that your business doesn’t revolve around you.
Here are the 5 questions:
1. Do you have a written three-to-five year vision for your business? (YES or NO) Not in your head. Written down. And does it include what your life looks like, not just your revenue target?
2. If you stopped all your current marketing activity for 60 days, would qualified leads still come in? (YES or NO)
Would your sales process still convert them? Would clients still get a consistent, excellent experience without you personally managing every detail? (And NO – referrals are not part of the answer!)
3. Did you spend the majority of your work week on what I call $10,000-an-hour work: strategic planning, building systems, developing your offers, your own professional development? (YES or NO)
These are growth mode activities versus maintenance mode. So are you being proactive OR reactive?
4. Did you take a real vacation this past summer? (YES or NO).
Not a working vacation. Not ‘I checked email from the pool.’ A real one, where your business ran without you for five full days.
5. If you disappeared for 30 days, is there something in your business that would break? (YES or NO)
If yes, what three things would break first? Those are your highest-priority systems to build.
So how did you do?
If you have even ONE bottleneck, then you’re the Chief Everything Officer rather than a true CEO.
Would you like to close those gaps?
Would you like to eliminate those bottlenecks?
If the answer is YES to even one of those questions, then I invite you to check out my new Momentum group coaching program. While it launches November 12, several individuals have already started changing their habits and have reserved their seats by first booking a CEO Strategy Call with me.
The purpose of the Momentum program is to give you:
- Clarity on where you’re going and what will work for you!
- Momentum comes from the structure of the program (3 live sessions with me per month PLUS additional ongoing support).
- Community of other female entrepreneurs who are ambitious and doing the same work as you – you’ll never feel alone in your business again!
Want to learn more – www.dianalidstone.com/group-coaching.
For those of you who want 2027 to be different than 2026…your first step is to book a CEO Strategy Call with me today.
YES, you can shift from a Chief Everything Officer to a true CEO.
Diana
P.S. Over my 40 years as an entrepreneur, ONE THING I know for sure: the ones who move their business forward the fastest are the ones who have guidance, support, and community. Entrepreneurship is NOT a solo sport.
