We’ve talked a lot about outsourcing and hiring on the blog because it’s essential as you grow your handmade business. There are a lot of factors involved with moving from a solopreneur to a CEO, though. In this post, I’ll be giving you some of my best tips for making the transition a little easier on you and your team.
1) Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses
As a leader and CEO, it’s important to know your strengths and weaknesses when managing and building a team. It doesn’t come naturally to some people, and that’s completely normal. It might just become a bigger learning lesson for you, and it might take you longer to figure out the type of leader you want to be.
2) Deal With Difficult Conversations
When we move into a CEO role and have to manage a team of people, we have to overcome some inner mindset obstacles. One of those that usually comes up is when you need to deal with difficult conversations. It’s inevitable when running a business and managing a team.
While we might want to avoid having these difficult conversations, it’s always easier to have them vs. putting them off until later. It is truly a necessary evil of being the business owner, but I promise, if you don’t put it off and let your feelings stew, you and your team will be better off for it.
Let me tell you, they are not easy, but getting them over is always so much better than letting it hang - and even worse, just ignoring it and problem then becomes unsolvable.
3) Setting Boundaries
Similar to the above about difficult conversations, setting boundaries for your team and employees is critical for a fun and productive environment. We need to make sure that those boundaries are set right from the start so our team knows our policies, expectations, and how we would like to see things run.
People are not mind readers, and within your leadership role, you need to be open to having these conversations and setting these clear expectations.
4) Hire Slow, Fire Fast
Have you heard the phrase ‘hire slow, fire fast’?
I do agree with it, for the most part. We want to hire slowly, so we aren’t making rash hiring decisions and are more likely to find the right fit for our team.
In terms of firing fast, it’s important to set those boundaries, stick to the employee guidelines of your company and state, and have those difficult conversations. If nothing changes and your expectations are not being met after multiple discussions, it’s time to let them go.
It’s not easy, but sometimes it needs to happen. That’s another reason why ‘hiring slowly’ is a great idea. You’re less likely to hire the wrong person who needs to be fired if you do your due diligence and fill the role more slowly.
Have any questions about making the big move from solopreneur to CEO? Let me know in the comments!
