25 Founders on How to Scale Your Business to 6 Figures—and Beyond
Growing your company’s revenue to six figures, and beyond, is an exciting milestone to celebrate. Beyond the financial stability that scaling provides, it’s also a sign that you may have product-market fit—you’re putting something in the world that truly impacts others and the hard-earned lessons gained along the way can be of service to others.
So, how do you get to this point? Thankfully, learning from the founders who have paved the way already, can accelerate your journey, or even help you avoid pitfalls. From nailing down your messaging to building a strong community and honing in on your personal development, these entrepreneurs share advice that proves that hitting, and exceeding, your financial targets is absolutely within your reach.
If scaling your business to six figures and beyond is on your vision board for this year, or if you’ve done so already, but are committed to never stopping to learn, or grow—we challenge you to let a few of these tried and tested strategies work their magic for you.
1. Christina Langdon—Founder of Christina Langdon High Performance Coaching & Consulting, helping CEOs, Founders, and high-achievers scale their business by scaling their minds.
My experience: The power of your mind is at the foundation for scaling any business. Scaling my business started with scaling my mindset and belief in myself as CEO. I built my CEO self-concept by deciding ahead of time who I wanted to become. When I launched my business, I wrote a job description for the CEO role for my six-figure business. I answered questions inside of the job description: what will I be thinking, how will my clients refer to me, how will I be spending my time, and who I will become as a six-figure CEO. When we get into comparison and despair and feel less confident, as every business owner on their way to six figures feels at some point, it’s most important to recognize that you are the biggest influencer in your life. When you recognize your influence over you, it's a game changer.
2. Lucy Bedewi—Founder of My Write Hand Woman, empowering women-owned ventures as they scale with strategic messaging and bold copy.
My experience: I scaled my business by transitioning from traditional project-based packages to a VIP Day model. I was able to free up hours of time, and pour those hours into content creation, networking, and client acquisition. If you're having a hard time getting to the six-figure mark, my advice would be to make sure your business model can support hitting that revenue mark without you having to work more than 20 hours a week. Those extra 10 to 20 hours can be used to make sure you have precious CEO time to scale into your sustainable business model.
3. Jessica Alderson—Co-Founder and CEO of So Syncd, a dating app that matches compatible personality types.
My experience: At So Syncd, we maintain a rigorous focus on our core metrics. Tracking key performance indicators on a daily basis enables us to understand the return on investment within each area of the business. With this knowledge, we can make informed decisions about how to allocate capital and resources to optimize the business for growth. Data-driven decision-making has been fundamental for us in scaling our business.
4. Melissa Lohrer—Founder of Waverly Ave Consulting, an independent, female-founded fractional business development partner and coach for agencies on the rise.
My experience: I built a six-figure business in the first six months of launching my business. When I launched, I had an ambitious revenue goal and a flexible schedule that would give me the opportunity to live the life I wanted. Then I determined how many clients I needed per month, quarter, and year. The hardest thing for founders is saying no to the wrong clients; the clients who don't want to pay you what you're worth or find value in your offer. Those clients take up your time and hold you back from reaching your goals.
5. Alice Kim—Founder and CEO of PerfectDD, a mission-driven sustainable clothing brand designed to fit and flatter DD+ cups, sizes 0-16.
My experience: Keep reiterating your message. Since you live and breathe your business, you may think your audience has heard your message before, but it’s always good to remind them. With so many distractions in our lives, statistics show that less than 10 percent of your followers on Instagram see your post/story on any given day. If you send emails, check your open and click rates. If people didn’t open your email, try changing the subject line and resend. They signed up for a reason; now it’s your job to engage and show them value. If they opened your email but didn’t click, try changing the image or phrase your message in a different way. It’s important to check metrics for every output produced. Reiterate what worked and ditch what didn’t.
6. Meredith Fennessy—Founder of Le Chéile, where boutique creative studio and agency founders regain creative freedom and grow profitable businesses.
My experience: Network, network, network. Continue to grow your community and make meaningful connections for others. Direct referrals are your best friend.
7. Sara Miller—Founder of Student Organ Donation Advocates (SODA), supporting passionate student organ donation advocates who share the life-saving power of organ donation.
My experience: From the very beginning of scaling SODA, we prioritized finding aligned partners—other organizations who shared the same goals as us but had different strengths. By valuing and collaborating with these partners, we were able to form meaningful and lasting relationships that have resulted in revenue, generated leads, and created visibility. My advice for others is to ask yourself who is doing complementary work and to reach out to learn more about what they're doing and to ask to collaborate!
8. Selena Soo—Founder of Selena Soo, a publicity and marketing expert helping coaches, consultants, and creatives reach millions with their message.
My experience: If you want to scale your business, scale your visibility. In other words, instead of connecting with one person at a time, share your message with many people at once. You can do this through podcast interviews, writing articles for online publications, or speaking on stages. There are an infinite number of ways to scale your reach. The most important thing is to just get started!
9. Claudia Richman—Co-Founder of Starling Training, offering cohort-based, virtual, synchronous training designed to sharpen the skills that build productive, supportive relationships.
My experience: Focusing on emotional intelligence has been the key to breaking the six-figure barrier for Starling Training. By keeping the people part of business front and center, we’ve built connections with like-minded leaders who understand that growing their people will ultimately grow their bottom line. Our training introduces concepts that often aren’t taught or measured and give people a safe space to experiment and learn, which ultimately results in deeper business relationships with high return on investment.
10. Hannah Nieves—Founder and CEO of HN Haus, a community and social club for women in business, helping six- and seven-figure founders magnify their influence and amplify their reach.
My experience: The first step is self-trust. You have to believe you can achieve six figures before any strategy and action is taken. To get to six figures you need a strong offer and clear positioning and messaging that directly speaks to your target audience. Once you can provide a transformation it's all about the client experience to help with retention, referrals, and repeat business.
11. Katie Ward—Owner of Katie Ward Photography, a full service photo studio that specializes in editorial, brand/advertising, and portrait photography.
My experience: As a solopreneur, the most important step to reaching a sustainable six-figure business was to have profitable pricing. Without sitting, doing the accounting, and understanding, annually, how much it costs to run my business, how often I want to be working, and how much I want to make, I would have burned out and closed my business years ago. By being profitable, I can fully show up for myself and for my clients who are trusting me to produce the highest quality of work.
12. Vivian Chen—Founder and CEO of Rise, a leading diversity recruiting platform for ambitious professionals.
My experience: My business had almost no revenue coming out of Covid-19. I had a make-or-break moment where I gave myself one more quarter to give it a shot. During those months, I remember telling myself, "A business is an exchange of value for a product or service. So go prove that your business has value." And I became laser-focused on revenue. I firmly believed that if I didn't invest in myself and the tools I needed, why would others? So, I made a conscious decision to invest in software that truly leveled up my operations. It was a game-changer. For a solid three months, I ignored all emails except for those that were revenue-related. My efforts paid off and we broke even. Then, within a mere two quarters, we were profitable. My advice to fellow founders who are aspiring to achieve similar growth is to prioritize revenue-generating activities and have the courage to invest in themselves to support their goals.
13. Kimone Napier—Founder of Hire Breakthrough, dedicated to helping founders overcome hiring challenges and achieve breakthroughs.
My experience: To scale my business to six figures, I implemented a targeted marketing and lead generation strategy. By focusing on attracting and converting qualified leads, I was able to achieve consistent growth. My advice for other founders is to prioritize building strong client relationships, providing exceptional customer service, and staying adaptable to industry trends. Delegating tasks outside of your core strengths can also help free up time for high-impact activities that drive business growth.
14. Joanna Sapir—Founder of Joanna Sapir Presents, LLC, providing health and wellness practitioners with education and resources to build more resilient and sustainable businesses.
My experience: Don't be afraid to invest money in support for you and your business. This can look like coaching, consulting, or hiring help. It's so worth it to spend money on learning skills or receiving services that will directly help you make more money. The key is to make sure that investment provides you a great return.
15. Nirali Guzman—Founder and CEO of Casa Amarosa, a thoughtfully curated collection of home and lifestyle goods, with an unwavering commitment to sustainability and culturally progressive design.
My experience: To scale Casa Amarosa to six figures and beyond, we optimized our supply chain, building strong relationships with artisan communities for a steady supply of unique products. My advice to founders is to deeply understand your market and align your business model accordingly. Build a committed team and never compromise on product quality. Remember: scaling isn’t just about growth in size, but also in value delivered to your customers.
16. Sarah Lambert—Founder of The Rosewood Agency, a course creation agency for service providers who want to create passive income so they can have a greater impact and get their time back.
My experience: My own personal development has been absolutely crucial in building a multiple six-figure online business. I went all in on my business after having my first baby in 2019, and I had no idea how much it was going to force me to grow personally. It doesn't matter how great your strategy is, your business can only grow as quickly as you are. In order to create a six-figure business, focus more on who you're being, your emotional intelligence, and leadership, and less on hacking the social algorithms. You'll be blown away by what you're capable of creating.
17. Marnie Rabinovitch Consky—Founder and CEO of Thigh Society, a brand of size-inclusive, anti-chafing slip-short underwear designed to help women move through the world with comfort and confidence.
My experience: Hire out for key leadership positions earlier than it may feel like you need them. No founder can possibly do all things well at once, and no brand can scale without bringing on a strong leadership team of experts who bring high-level knowledge in their specific areas of expertise and experience. When I decided to go all-in on Thigh Society, I brought on a Chief Marketing Officer, a joint Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Our CFO/COO brought in an ability to nurture supplier relationships, forecast inventory, manage cash flow, and carve a path to maintaining profitability as we grow. Our CMO brought in a small but mighty team to ensure that, as a direct-to-consumer brand, we were investing in, experimenting with, and iterating on marketing strategies that drive growth. Spend the money. These people are worth the investment, and your future growth will thank you for it.
18. Fiona Nguyen—Founder of Balannx, a virtual CPA firm that provides CFO, tax, and accounting advisory for female founders.
My experience: Building a strong community is the key to success, contrary to the belief that the business is transactional. Once you build a strong community that roots for each other, you cultivate a stronger root for your business and it sustains your growth for a long time. Through working on nurturing relationships, I have been able to build a sustainable business. We could never grow our business without them. My advice for other entrepreneurs is to pay attention to that one client you have in front of you and do everything you can to help them. That is the root of your community.
19. Sally Joy Wolf—Founder and CEO of LightWorks, empowering executives and their teams to flourish through well-being advisory, keynotes, workshops, and coaching.
My experience: Even when I'm focused on growing, I'm still willing to say "no" when amazing opportunities don't feel quite right. My first six-figure client cold called me after seeing me in the guest slot on a popular LinkedIn Live. As excited as I was when invited, I declined the first two dates they offered me, both the week of July 4th, given it's such a big holiday week. When no other dates were available, I chose to wait until something better opened. Despite being a new entrepreneur, I believed I was worthy of a better date, and having the confidence to wait paid off.
20. Tsvetta Kaleynska—CEO of Rila Global Consulting, a boutique social listening agency located in New York City, studying consumers, brands, markets, and trends.
My experience: To scale my business to seven figures, I leveraged free online resources. First I started with free email-finding services to create a targeted client list by gathering their email addresses. This allowed me to focus on reaching out to the right people. For streamlined outreach, I relied on no-cost email sequencing email add-ons. These tools automated follow-ups and lead qualification, freeing up my time for other tasks. Consistently using these completely free resources, I generated leads, nurtured relationships, and closed huge deals. It was cost efficient and helped me own everything in-house, which resulted in remarkable results. My advice to other founders: explore free online resources. Utilize tools that identify potential clients, automate outreach, and manage leads effectively. Leverage these resources to save time and money while achieving significant growth. Stay focused and consistent, and adapt strategies based on results.
21. Ashley Rector—Founder of Quimby Digital, providing organic and paid social media services to revolutionary brands looking to stand out online.
My experience: If you want to scale, you need to learn how to delegate. The biggest mistake is thinking you’re an expert at everything and can do it all yourself. You will propel your growth three times by figuring out what you do poorly and hiring someone smarter than you to do it!
22. Sarah Loughry—Founder and CEO of Em Dash Blogging, an end-to-end solution for content.
My experience: Hire and outsource. I chose to hire my first employee months before paying myself. Obviously, I would have preferred to start seeing a personal income, but hiring help allowed me to focus on business development. This turned out to be pivotal in our growth. Not only was I able to scale more quickly but I also built a nest egg.
23. Lis Best—Founder and CEO of Girls Club Collective, an intentionally intimate personal and professional development community for change agents.
My experience: The No. 1 thing I did to scale my business to six figures was get crystal clear on who my dream clients are, what their challenges are, and what they want. I conduct what I call dream client interviews at least once a year to find out what people are craving, where they're going for connection, and what's feeling most sticky in their lives and careers. There is no substitute for getting on the phone with real, actual people. Making time to listen and craft my programs and offers around what real people are actually looking for right now is the biggest thing that helped me scale my business to and past the six-figure mark.
24. Amanda Aldinger—CEO of Antonym, a white glove copywriting and voice strategy studio that conspires with industry-defining beauty, food, and lifestyle brands.
My experience: Early on—when Antonym was a nameless vision—I invested in an expert brand-building process, yielding a clear strategy, name, visual identity, website, and the assets a luxury creative studio required to show up with professional panache. Most importantly, I refused to rush it, which has become a devoted practice for all Antonym's internal transformations. It's a more significant investment and more time upfront, but each project—from our original branding to a brand refresh four years later and the current overhaul of our entire ops system and process—has led to ascendant interior growth, a transformation of our services and client experience, and in turn, a steady, organic increase in revenue. Time-starved desperation rarely yields impactful results, and a rush toward growth you can't support is neither sustainable nor net profitable.
25. Natasha Miller—Founder and CEO of Entire Productions, creating bold experiences for corporate entities that drive guest engagement and brand evangelism.
My experience: Our system and processes enabled us to produce 777 events in one year with only two people in operations. We couldn't have done it if we didn't have the framework and foundation in place. I ran my business with a do-it-yourself mindset for years. It wasn't until I started seriously educating myself in solid business practices and learning from mentors and advisors that I skyrocketed our growth!
—Written by Gesche Haas
About the author: Gesche Haas is the Founder and CEO of Dreamers & Doers, an award-winning community that amplifies extraordinary women entrepreneurs and leaders through PR, authentic connections, and high-impact resources. Prior to founding Dreamers & Doers, Gesche held senior positions at venture-backed companies covering growth, strategy, finance, operations and business development. She also spent five years as an investor at a healthcare-focused hedge fund. Gesche is half German, half Chinese-Malaysian, and was born in Swaziland, Africa. She lives with her two kids, husband, dog and chickens, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
We Need to Talk: How I Dealt With Founder Depression and Came Out on Top
Never doubt the underdog.
We Need to Talk is a bi-monthly, anonymous series, where contributors share stories about business, life, and the stuff we don't like to talk about.
Photo credit: Laura Dee
“Worse than losing competence is losing the ability to even tell if you are competent or not.”
It was a sentence I circled around for what felt like twenty minutes. Once I got to “not” I’d find myself back at the start with “worse.”
Not worse. Not worse. Not worse. It began to feel like a mantra where I was trying to convince myself of a feeling opposite of what was happening. I’m “not worse” than I was a year ago. I’m “not worse” than anyone else in my position. Except, I was; at least I felt so in this particular moment.
The piece was written by Hanna Rosin for Lenny Letter. She was chronicling her switch from a 20-year career as a working writer to radio—a medium which she had no experience in. She then found herself back at career ground zero. Now, she is a co-host of the NPR show Invisibilia. It was a bold switch she made in her ‘40s and I was nothing short of envious.
Especially to me, founder of company "X," devouring her words while simultaneously spooning Honey Nut Cheerios into my mouth and wondering, what if I gave it up all too? What if I said screw this entrepreneur thing, the pitching, the selling, the sweat and tears, and pumping my own money into company "X" for the last five or so years, and started over? Would that even be possible? It’s one thing to switch careers, but to shutter your own baby? I don't know, I whispered to myself, I just don't know. Not. Worse. You're not worse.
The last statement is not untrue. My company is profitable, though small. I employee 7 people. They have health insurance and paid vacations and I do the right thing by them. I feel respected by other business people and can hold my own in a conference room full of investors. On the other hand, I feel a wave of uncertainty.
It's a feeling often pegged as "impostor syndrome." When you're not sure why or how you've made it and that soon those rose-colored glasses through which everyone sees you, will become less rosy and more mossy. They'll see that you don't have the experience, the foresight, and will challenge that you are charging exorbitant prices for your services. (Stick to your money guns, you're not. There's a reason someone paid you XYZ to start—you're worth it).
In some cases, impostor syndrome can manifest into something far less talked about: founder depression. They don't talk about it in business school or boardrooms. Women certainly don't seem to talk about it in front of male peers. From what I've seen, they don't even like to talk about it in front of other female founders. But why? What is founder depression and why does it hover like a grey cloud over your professional and personal life?
Starting a business takes a leap of confidence. It’s you telling the world, “Hey, you need this service or this product and I am going to be the one to deliver it to you. Me. Out of the 7.125 billion people on the planet, I have the ability to solve this problem for you…" That’s no small undertaking. And the outcome of all your hardworking and determination to make you company successful may not always end in happiness or perfection. In some cases, it is common to develop a form of depression that is hard to shake. And how does that affect your confidence and ability to sell yourself as a business owner and your product? Telling someone you're depressed feels like the opposite of both confident and competent. Especially as the leader of a business venture that you’re trying to sell to the world. Scary, right?
No one, not even your best, most trusted employee, will care as much as you do about your vision for your business. There are days when you’re completely disheartened, as if the anxiety is a tide waiting to pull you under and all your doubts pull you to the bottom of the ocean. There will be nights when you stare at the ceiling wondering why you started the business in the first place and there are moments where you lose the ability to discern if you’re competent or not.
"There are moments where you lose the ability to discern if you’re competent or not."
Tweet this.
There is no worse feeling—the feeling of incompetence. But it's also temporary. (You should also talk to other founders and understand that this feeling, this doubt, this low—is completely normal.)
As a female founder, you don't want to be perceived as weak. Beyond that, no one wants to feel weak in their leap of faith to launch your own business. I’m telling you to reconsider that feeling. Doubt should be used as a driving force rather than a setback. It’s our missteps that make us stronger. It is our weaknesses that make us reevaluate our strengths and propel us forward.
Look. Here’s what happens on a bad day: an employee quits, three deals blow up in your face, and your dog runs away. You feel completely alone; solopreneur for life.
Here’s what happens on a good day: homeostasis.
Here’s what happens on your worst day: your business folds.
Here’s what happens on a great day: you land an account, something that has been pending for months gets SIGNED, Forbes sticks you on 30 under 30, the most talented copywriter comes to work for you, and your grandma calls to tell you she’s proud.
And that is when you realize, you're "not worse." No. Quite the opposite.
"You are competent." You are brilliantly competent.
This story was originally published on June 26, 2016 and has since been updated.
More from our blog:
How to Go Hunting for Your CEO
Let someone else steer the ship.
photo credit: Corrine Kutz
This post originally appeared on Hey Mama.
Written by: Syama Meagher
Scaling your business requires a capable CEO who can steer the ship, make short and long-term decisions, and keep everyone on track. The CEO will also report in to a board of directors, and can marry the bottom line of investor/financial needs with the day-to-day operations of the business. A great CEO will ultimately give you the opportunity to be the Chief Innovator or Chief Visionary of your business. Not all founders should be, or need to be, CEO of their companies. Being the CEO can kill your dream if you are not into financials, managing teams and be willing to separate what’s right for the business vs. what you feel is right. If you think you are ready to hire a CEO then read on to make sure you land yourself a good one.
Evaluating Skill Set and Experience
Bringing a CEO onboard requires that they have a strong skill set and set of experiences that you don’t have. To avoid redundancies, make sure you have a solid list of your core competencies. In addition, you should evaluate your goals with your business. Are you interested in selling it eventually? How big do you want your business to be? Identifying your long-term goals will assist you in finding the right CEO who can make it happen.
“Bringing a CEO onboard requires that they have a set of experiences that you don’t have.”
Personality Profile
I wish there was a Match.com for finding a good CEO. It’s certainly challenging to meet someone who can share a vision for your business, yet also has the right personality to execute on it. A CEO’s primary responsibility is managing the all-star team, and therefore all the major department heads on your big or small team should meet with the CEO to test for fit. A CEO that has been brought on by investors or the founder in a small company without any briefing will be greeted with some resistance- primarily because people are afraid of change. To ensure a smooth transition and high levels of performance, really think about the personality fits of your current employees.
“A CEO that has been brought on by investors or the founder in a small company without any briefing will be greeted with some resistance- primarily because people are afraid of change.”
Hide and Seek
Finding your dream CEO will take time. Angel List is a great place to post your job opening. Angel List attracts innovative businesses and employees in a primarily tech dominated space. I also suggest to my clients that they talk to their current CPA’s and lawyer’s as they tend to travel in C-level circles working with investors, founders and CEO’s. LinkedIn is also a valuable resource to seek out CEOs and vet for experience.
A note on Interim CEO’s
I’ve served as an interim CEO for fashion companies in the past and it’s been useful for companies in two ways. First, it’s great for startups that know they need some guidance and direction as they build the structure and are hiring more key players. Secondly, it’s helpful for brands that are in transition and are having difficulty finding the right long-term fit. An interim CEO will be on board for 6 months to 1 year. A long-term CEO should be someone with your business 5 years +.
How much will this cost?
Expect to pay a full-time CEO between $75,000 – $400,000 a year depending on experience and the size of the business. You can hire a part-time CEO, but that is only really effective in smaller startups. Alternatively, you can hire a strategic consultant who can help groom you with CEO skills and the cost will range between $150-500 hourly. This is not a bad idea if you just need some direction and an experienced advisor.
What exactly should your CEO be doing?
I love Steve Robbins’ job description for a CEO:
A CEO should be doing “everything” Everything includes:
1. Setting strategy and direction.
2. Modeling and setting the company’s culture.
3. Building and leading the senior executive team.
4. Allocating capital to the company’s priorities.
In essence, the failure or success of the company will rest in the hands of your future CEO. This is why hiring a CEO can be such a difficult process and time consuming. Most startup founders will want to stay on as long as possible as the CEO of their ventures, and most investors will want you to stay on as well. Your impact on your business and getting it this far is impressive and all parties involved, employees and investors, will need your passion and vision to stay strong. Good luck making this big decision for your business!
Syama Meagher is a retail strategist and CEO of Scaling Retail. She works with fashion brands and retailers on product and brand launches internationally through ecommerce, wholesale and brick & mortar. Syama has previously worked for Barneys New York, Gucci, AHAlife and Macy’s. To build your brand and create a profitable business visit www.ScalingRetail.com and email hello@scalingretail.com
MORE FROM OUR BLOG
How To Reclaim Your Time & Your Meetings
Hello timesaver. Hello future.
If you were super-duper, pep-talk in the mirror honest with yourself, how would you answer this question: Where are your eyes during a meeting? Are they on your phone? Scrolling through emails?
Liking photos on Instagram…
We’ve all been there, to the point where we at C&C have a company-wide policy that at all-hands meetings, it’s all hands off phones. That’s right. They stay in our pockets or at our desks. Because ACTIVE listening is how we truly get into action.
And while you might be thinking, hold up, wait a multi-tasking minute. That’s how I stay productive. Studies show that you’re not actually getting as much done as you think while “multitasking.” The truth is, our brains can’t handle jumping from task to task.
Just. Not. Possible.
However, thanks to Bamboo, we've found a solution to the meeting madness. They introduced us to the idea of Mindful Meetings and their new smartpad is unplugged digital note taking at its finest! All you need is the Bamboo Folio and the accompanying pen, and it does the rest-- tracking your notes, sending them to your device-- it will even auto-type your handwritten notes with its Inkspace app. It’s been a HUGE timesaver for us. It also helps us focus on the meeting at hand. And the less you’re distracted in meetings, the less meetings you have to have! Who isn’t keen on that? (Your boss will love it, for one.)
And speaking of bosses, we asked 3 successful CEOs their best advice for having more mindful meetings in the office. This is what they said.
WEEKLY TEAM MEETINGS
"Something Social values weekly meetings to their core. We meet weekly to discuss major team goals, updates on clients, new initiatives, and more. While it may seem really easy to do all of this while also being on your laptop and phone, we make sure we don’t waste this time by fully focusing on the conversation. We leave our laptops and phones at our desks. Oftentimes, we’ll also take a few moments to discuss personal goals as well as professional, which helps us tie our work to our personal growth. Ironically, one of the things that most helps us stay mindful at the office is a piece of technology – the Bamboo Folio. The Folio lets us write meeting notes and ideas with a pen on any paper and then save the work as a digital file with the touch of a button."
Cali Cholodenko, Founder/CEO of Something Social
Read more on Something Social’s mindful office practices here.
TIME BLOCK YOUR SCHEDULE
"If you’ve been around these parts for a while, then you know time blocking is a method that I absolutely swear by! I give each hour of my workday a specific task and I focus solely on that task during that allotted timeframe. This keeps me from spending hours in my inbox or getting caught up on one client project that eats away my entire afternoon. Plus, having a consistent schedule for my workday allows me to plan accordingly and know what’s next. Rather than floating from task to task, I know that I’ll spend 30 minutes answering emails, one hour working on client design projects, 15 minutes brainstorming future content ideas, etc. If you haven’t tried time blocking before, I highly recommend it!"
Bonni, Founder/CEO of B is For Bonnie Design
Read Bonnie’s Time Management Tips + Tools For Running A Business here.
STAND UP!
"When your body is active, so is your mind! Have a standing, no-tech meeting. You’ll be surprised how fast people will try to get things done in that meeting. You could also invest in a standing desk. We use them for when we are really ready to bust out tasks. Plus, it’s easier to do a victory dance when you’re already standing."
Promise Tangman, Founder of Go Live HQ
Read more on how the Go Live HQ Team tackles their to-do lists.
Want to learn more about how you can apply mindfulness to your office culture? Read more about Bamboo’s Mindful Meetings movement + see what their Smartpads have to offer. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
MORE FROM OUR BLOG
Uncommon Opinion: I Don’t Want to Be the Boss
Head honch-no thank you.
Personally, I blame Bruce Springsteen because no one blames him for anything ever, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that we have romanticized the idea of the Boss.
The Boss is in charge. The Boss has flexibility. The Boss takes fancy lunch meetings. The Boss also carries the weight of the company, everyone’s salaries, deals with HR, paychecks, keeps the company afloat, and more.
Head honch-no thank you.
Do you think Grace Coddington wanted to be Anna Wintour? Maybe somewhere along the 25 years she worked for Vogue she thought, ‘I’d like to be Editor-in-Chief,’ shortly thereafter realizing, “Oh no, I’d much rather smile!”
That doesn’t mean she wasn’t aspirational and kick-ass at her job. "Do I dream very much? Do I dream predominantly about fashion?” she asked herself in the 2009 documentary The September Issue. “No,” she answered, “I dream much more about cats.”
I can’t help but feel the same. I have dreams and hopes for myself, but running a company or making Forbes 30 Under 30 aren’t them. Jokes on them! I'm over 30. (Cats have nothing to do with my dreams either.) But why does that feel so uncomfortable to say out loud? As if it makes me less powerful, less feminist, less of the woman I should aspire to be. We hold professional advancement in higher regard than performing well in our position.
Running the show means that if shit hits the fan, it’s your fan and you’re cleaning it. Yes, it also means there is the potential for a high payout. The accolades are more high profile. The dinner party invites might be better and the dream wardrobe more of a reality, but the pretty version of jet-set-dinner-party-squad-goals boss that we see projected through the Valencia filter on IG isn’t real life. Everyone knows that, and yet we are still conditioned to think that "boss" means success.
Well, CE-no thank you. Here are 5 reasons why.
IT’S RESTRICTIVE.
TO me, the idea of being the boss seems like being the Queen or King; neither are roles I’ve ever wanted to play. There are rules, restrictions, public personas— things you can and cannot say, etiquette and financial stressors. Sure, as Queen you don’t need a license to drive (or in the case of Queen Elizabeth to ill) but you are in charge of all your subjects. Or in the case of being the boss, your employees. (Fun fact: Queen E owns all of the swans in the Thames River.)
When you are the boss there are no job requirements. Your job is everything. When you own the company you don’t get a raise because you performed well; most often that money is pumped back into the company to show potential investors that you believe in your idea.
BEING THE BOSS OFTEN MEANS $$. BUT MONEY CAN’T BUY HAPPINESS.
Let’s hit refresh on that always cited Princeton University study published in 2010 that found that happiness rises as income rises up until you hit $75,000 a year. At that dollar point, happiness ceases to improve as you earn more.
The study actually found the opposite to be true. Those who are happiest are proven to be more productive which, leads to better pay.
Not all founders or bosses are unhappy, but the stakes are higher, so is the pressure, and as we’ve heard from Create & Cultivate panelists, “Founder depression is real.”
YOU HAVE LESS JOB MOBILITY.
When you are unhappy or unfulfilled by your job or career path, you can change it. (This should not be taken as advice to monkey around from one career branch to another.) But with less responsibly comes more mobility. When you are in charge, or own your own company, that company has custody over you. You can’t simply pick up and leave— there are people who rely on you after all. No pressure.
Moreover, shuttering your own company and going to work for someone else is viewed as a set-back. Even if it's not true, people view it as a failure. Having to walk away from a company you created is not a position I want to be in.
Being crucified on the cover of Variety as a failure? Seems unpleasant as well. Multi-million dollar payout and all (see point 2).
IF YOU DO WHAT YOU LOVE...
You’ll never work a day in your life. So the saying goes. This is one of those really tired, unrealistic job-related aphorisms that f’s with people’s heads. Even if you love what you do, you will not like it all the time. In fact, you might hate it some days. TOTALLY OK TOO.
As employees we tend to give ourselves more leniency when it comes to the days we don’t like our jobs. When you own the company, or when you’re the boss, there is more pressure to believe in and love the work.
It’s simply not possible to love it all the time. As a founder you have to be obsessed with your company to make it work, but obsessions come in waves. Some days are easier to ride out than others.
When you're the boss it’s very stressful and scary on the days when you’re simply not feeling it.
THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH NOT BEING THE BOSS.
So you don’t want to be the boss? GREAT! Let's high-five each other. There are currently almost 10 million boss hashtags on IG.
You can be a high-performer without being in the highest position. Success doesn’t mean car or corner office or cabana. You can create an amazing career without striking out on your own. Being someone's right hand doesn't mean you've chopped yours off.
[If you do want to be the boss: read this.]
Success means going home and having the ability to dream about cats. It means that you are satisfied with the decisions you’ve made for your career. For many people that means acknowledging that you don’t want to own a company or be in charge.
Even it if means you don’t own all the swans, you’ve still got the wings to fly.
Arianna Schioldager is the Editorial Director of Create & Cultivate, and therefore, not the boss. Find her on Instagram: @ariannawrotethis and on this site she never updates www.ariannawrotethis.com
More from our blog:
5 Incredibly Useful Tips from Top Startup Founders
"You want people who've watched boats burn."
photo by Irida Mete.
When Create & Cultivate founder Jaclyn Johnson took to the Shopstyle Stage on Saturday for the Startup 101 panel the first question on everyone's mind was, "Who makes that amazing chair?" (Bend Goods for the goods FYI.) The second, of course, was "What can I glean from these founders?"
From Ariel Kaye CEO founder of Parachute telling Cultivators "Being a founder is the best and worst thing ever, all the time," to Carly de Castro co-founder of Pressed Juicery joking, "I didn't know any entrepreneurs. I didn't know anything about business. And I thought well if I can learn to make juice, how hard can it be? It was really hard," there was so much note taking, nodding, and knowledge dropping. So we're recapping the best of the best to encourage and aid you with your entrepreneurial dreams.
YOU HAVE TO BE OBSESSED WITH YOUR COMPANY, OR IT WILL BURN YOU OUT.
Josh Zad, founder of Alfred Coffee told the audience, "Coffee is a timeless beverage. I opened the cafe and I became obsessed with it. I'm focussed 100% on food and beverage."
Gabby Etrog Cohen SVP of Brand Strategy at SoulCycle echoed this sentiment. "I'm not a founder," she told the crowd, "but I am SoulCycle's 5th corporate employee and helped grow the brand from four to 60 studios. We deliver service, we don't sell. It's of utmost importance for our riders to feel like family and to feel like from the moment they walk through our doors to the moment they leave they have someone who cares about them. It's why after six years I'm still so committed to the company."
"My soul," said Carly de Castro, "is part of this brand."
"My soul is part of this brand."
Tweet this.
KNOW YOUR BRAND AND STICK TO YOUR GUNS
If people aren't initially following or engaging, but you have a brand and a social strategy that you believe in, you can use that to carry you through until they do. Get your grid right but also stick to your vision.
"Coffee is infinitely sharable," said Josh Zad, "and the trending coffee shop phase took off at the same time as Instagram. But we had a strong social media strategy from day one. The same way we treated developing our menu and customer service strategy we had a focus on social media that we stuck to. When not that many people were following or engaging with us, we didn't get upset or change it all up. We stuck to the plan."
photo by Sarah Natasha.
CONTINUE TO ASK YOURSELF WHAT PROBLEM AM I SOLVING?
One of the most important questions you can ask yourself is "What problem am I solving?" It's a very simple question, but it's something that goes a long way. And if it's a problem that someone has already solved, ask yourself, "How am I doing it differently?"
There can be many solutions to one problem.
"We are a commodity product at the core of our business," said Ariel Kaye, "but there is also this movement around investing in yourself. One of my biggest ah-ha moments was that I didn't know where to go to buy these products and none of my friends knew where to go either. I had a brand background and I couldn't believe there weren't brands people were loving. You spend a third of your life in bed and yet none of these companies were asking me how I was sleeping at night or suggesting that I could do something differently to enhance my sleep."
"As a brand," Kaye added, "you should keep circling back to that core question."
ACCELERATORS ARE AN AMAZING RESOURCE FOR ENTREPRENEURS
Ivka Adam, founder of Iconery whose company was part of Amplify, one of the top accelerators in Los Angeles, talked about the difference between incubators and accelerators.
"Incubators" explained Adam, "give space and a little bit of money to a company with an idea to get it off the ground. An accelerator is one step beyond that. It's for a company with fully formed idea and most often you get somewhere between $50,000-$250,000 to take your idea to launch. After a year of forming the idea, we had a working prototype and our manufacturing figured out, and we were starting to sell, which is when we got accepted into Amplify. Three months later we were able to raise our seed round."
Ariel Kaye chimed in on the importance of accelerators as well, telling the audience, "I was also in an accelerator and I have to say when you are are a sole founder and you feel like you are an island of one, being with other founders who are in that grind with you is a lifesaver."
THE RIGHT PEOPLE MATTER
Key hires are part of the founder struggle. (Along with "founder depression," something Ivka Adam told the audience "is very real.")
Creating the right team takes time, patience, and sacrifice, but it will also make all the difference in your business. Gabby Cohen shared "We like to say, if you have the right people on the bus, it doesn't matter where the bus is going. You change direction every 90 days." Ariel Kaye said something similar, "With hires you don't always need people to reinvent the wheel. You want people who've watched boats burned."
Hiring practices: "You want people who've watched boats burned."
Tweet this.
"Spend the money on talent," said Josh Zad. "Do not lose that person that's maybe a little more expensive. It will payoff in the long run."
More from our blog: