CEO Stories 059: How to Let Go of Control

As a CEO, one skill you have to master is surrender. As a solopreneur building a team, Kerry learned how to shift responsibility and let go of control to find more freedom and growth in her business.   Being a CEO is the driver of the business.  The one looking at the big picture. Remember that you can’t do it all, and you should work in your zone of genius.  Get a team around you to do the rest. She was often doing things in her dad’s small business that were not in her zone.  She could have been utilized better, but that sometimes comes with being in a small partnership.  You have to take care of things you don’t really love. When moving into CEO, you figure out what you are good at and what you are not good at.  Let go and delegate the things that you are not good at. When you let go and let someone else do these tasks, do not go back and redo it or worry that they are not doing it as good as you would do. To combat the need to control, she tries to focus on managing her calendar.  Kerry really focuses on what each time block is set for and not trying to do something else in that time block.   If you are paying someone to do things, make sure you leave things for them to do. Don’t always cram everything in because you can.  If you have some free time, use it. Take the dog for a walk or go outside.   If you try to do it all and do not rest, then things will just crumble.  You will get burnt out by all the work. Measurements:  List size, social media stats, engagements, what are you sending versus bringing in, emotional feelings about what you like to do and what direction to head.   Ask yourself if you are loving what you do and if you are jumping out of bed to go to work every day. As an entrepreneur you get to make sure you are having fun every day. You have the say so to take on new clients or not.  You get to make sure that the fit is correct. If it is not, you do not want to waste either person’s time. As the CEO, Kerry get to determine what time her day starts.  Her morning time is for her to journal, walk, take quiet time, or record thoughts and dreams.  Kick off the day right with the quiet time that you will not get the rest of the day. For her, she does want to live a nice lifestyle with financial freedom that lets her give and help others have freedom too.  The more money and time she has, the more she will be able to give. She wants to give the women that she works with the same freedom.  Kerry wants to coach their businesses to grow to where they also can have the time to spend with their families and money to help others.