When starting a business, most of us don’t realize we are playing the role of not only CEO—the visionary behind our business—but also the employee. In the midst of having a million tasks to check off at the end of the day, the long-term vision is what we all aspire to achieve, right? So how then, do we step into a CEO mindset within our business and also continue to get the daily tasks achieved?

I think at the very core we first need to look at the difference between a CEO and employee mindset.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CEO AND EMPLOYEE MINDSET

A CEO mindset includes transitioning into becoming the visionary of your brand, not just the muscle that crosses boxes off your to-do list. In order to do this, I really believe we have to understand that a CEO mindset is completely different than an employee mindset.

If we boil it down to it’s true foundation, having a CEO mindset centers on having forward vision and a clear overview of what it is that you’re chasing after in your business at.all.times.

A CEO mindset operates at a very high level grounded in strategy. It allows you to clearly see where you’re going in the future and what you need in order to make that happen. At a CEO level you aren’t focused purely on specific daily actions, but rather on big picture visions.

Whereas an employee mindset is constantly immersed in a to-do list focused only on what’s right in front of them. At the end of the day, you know if you are in an employee mindset when you constantly find yourself living within your business day to day. This is what I like to call working in your business instead of on your business.

I know that it’s so easy as you start to put in more work and more hustle to grow this dream to transition purely into an employee mindset. But if you aren’t able to step back and assess where you want your business to be in 6-12 months from now, that tells me you are out of touch with your CEO mindset and on the fast track to burnout. You’re doing all the things with no clarity if you are moving in the right direction to actually reach those dreams.

Friend, if that’s you, it’s okay.

There is no reason to beat yourself up because realistically this mindset shift is an easy fix. It might just take some simple and intentional steps to get you out of working in the trenches of your business and instead working on your business for the long run.

3 WAYS TO STEP INTO A CEO MINDSET

In my relationships with my mentoring and group coaching students, I’ve found that it’s really easy for us in seasons of purely operating as an employee of our business to think in terms of scarcity. We think only of what we have to do today, tomorrow, this week, in a very short term way in order to propel our businesses forward.

But the more we do that, the more I find we fall into this hamster wheel mentality where we find ourselves in a constant sprint forward at breakneck speed because any delay could keep us from achieving our dreams or to fall behind.

To me friend, that feels like a scarcity way of living and doing business.

So instead of living in our business as an employee with a scarcity mentality, let’s flip our mindset and focus on strategy. When we are able to take a step back from the nitty gritty of actually doing the work and instead see where that work is taking us a year, three years, and even five years from now, we are able to make more intentional, purposeful decisions that propel us forward.

If you are on the other side of this screen wondering how you could possibly get out of the trenches of your business and step into a high-level visionary role let me ask you this: if you aren’t able to see what you’re chasing after in the long run, then how are you going to see what actually lies right ahead of you?

So, if you’re feeling the fire, ready to step out of the employee mindset and into something bigger and more beautiful, then here are three easy ways to make it happen.

#1 – GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR VISION

The first way to step into a CEO mindset is to get back in touch with your vision. Remember, being a CEO is all about strategy and big picture vision in order to understand where you’re going and why you’re going there.

When I find myself in a season of uncertainty and I’m not sure how best to move forward, I always get back in touch with my vision. I sit down and ask myself: where do I see myself in one year from now, three years from now, five years from now, and 10 years from now. I write it out in my favorite notebook to truly get in tune with my vision.

Doing this helps me understand my short term versus long term picture of where I want my business to go and it allows me to reverse engineer the path in order to make that happen.

Now the daily tasks are aligned with my big picture goal instead of doing all the things just to do them.

Do you see how that long-term visionary mindset changes even the tasks I need to do today?

#2 – ASSESS YOUR HIGHEST POINT OF CONTRIBUTION

The second step to integrating a CEO mindset in your life and business is to assess your highest point of contribution.

One of my favorite books about this topic is Essentialism. I love this book because it clearly presents what it looks like to spend all of your energy in one cohesive direction that is ultimately pointing you to where you have the most impact, where you are the most needed, and where your energy is best spent.

So many times we live day to day in this employee mindset that we are throwing our energy in literally every direction. As a result, we spend our energy in a million different directions and become confused as to why we aren’t seeing the results we want to achieve.

Instead, we need to focus on how to assess what exactly our highest point of contribution is and then implement our energy in that one clear direction.

I recommend getting in touch with what your highest point of contribution looks like and then assess what actions are part of your day that are keeping you from that contribution. An easy way of doing that is to write down all the things you are doing in one day and then go through and highlight the things that only you can do.

I promise you, the more you do this the more you will begin to see there are very few tasks that require your specific energy and talent. There are so many things you can teach others to do or find the right kind of people to step in and do for you.

When you are able to assess how much of your calendar requires you and you alone you’re able to see how much time you free up by simply outsourcing to the right people.

If you get stuck on this step and need more clarity and direction to figure out what your highest point of contribution even is, then the Heartfelt Brand Society might be exactly what you need in order to find clarity in your purpose.

#3 – FIND THE RIGHT PEOPLE TO HELP YOU ACHIEVE YOUR VISION

Which leads me to step three to transition into a CEO mindset and that’s looking for the right people to help you achieve your big picture vision.

If you went through step one and are now in touch with what you want to chase after and why. And you’ve gone through step two and assessed what is taking up your precious time—but not contributing to your highest point of contribution—then now is the time to take action and look for the right people to help you on this journey.

This might be as simple as hiring on a VA. Or, if you are a photographer maybe that’s outsourcing your editing. If you’re a designer it could be having an associate designer or intern to help you package up final files for your clients. Or maybe even it could be hiring someone to walk alongside you to help you gain clarity and confidence in your big vision dreams.

Whatever your industry or need, there are so many ways you can look for help so you can move in the direction of your dreams.

I know a lot of people feel they can’t afford to outsource or grow their teams. But if you’ve actually gone through step two and realistically see how much time you’re wasting doing tasks that don’t require your time specifically, then think about what you could fill that time with if you had it available.

What profitable, purposeful work could you fill that time with if the right people were filling those positions?

IT’S YOUR TIME TO STEP INTO A CEO MINDSET

If you’re choosing to step into a CEO mindset in 2019 and go from working in the trenches 24/7 inside your business to instead working on the big picture vision of your business, then I’d love to empower you on that journey.

Maybe you went through step one and two and realized you need a brand that better suits your long-term vision. Then as a brand designer and strategist I’d love to create an authentic, beautiful, elevated brand that sets you and your business up for long-term success.

Or if you walked through all three steps and feel you need someone to guide you through how to create the clear marketing and brand strategy to chase after your big beautiful dreams or even to help you see your highest point of contribution, then I’d love to partner with you through my group coaching program to make that happen.

There are so many ways we can work together and I would love nothing more then to meet you right where you are at and walk alongside of you as you get out of working IN your business to instead work ON your business.