CEO Stories 055: Micro-scheduling for Success

Alison has always balanced many things at one time, which also means she’s had to learn to do a lot with little time. The key to being successful with a micro-schedule? Delegation.   The CEO is the visionary.  They are in charge of the direction the company is going to go, the overarching missions, the purpose, the drive, the values, and having the leadership to achieve those goals. Being CEO is not being involved in all of the day to day operations and letting go of control during the time of growing your business. She was forced into the role very early on because she did not have the time to do every little thing.  She had to have trust to pick the right people to do certain activities. She was delegating things out from the very beginning.   She had to embrace the investment of hiring people who are better than herself at certain things.  Your role is most importantly the vision, direction, and values. Focus on your area of expertise 80% of your time.  Spend the other 20% of the time directing the team to keep things going in the background. Just because you can do something, does not mean that you have to execute those tasks.  They may not be the best use of your time. From day one start passing off a few things.  Learn to delegate small tasks so you can use your time more wisely.   Get people to help you with your personal stuff even, so you can focus those hours on your business. She weighed the delay of how long it would take to do it myself, versus the cost to hire someone else to edit her Podcasts.  She knew this podcast was the key to getting leads, and this podcast would exponentially excel the business. It could not afford the delay.    She does quarterly planning and strategies.  Then, even daily bookends of what she is going to get done today then what she actually got done.    Purposely keeping herself on a micro schedule is key.   When she takes the jump, she feels she will have more time to consult which will cause larger revenue growths.  This is a positive because she feels ready to take on this growth because this is her specialty in consulting. Added to this, she will finally have the time to be open for the creative juices to flow. In this new jump, making sure there is time to put the laptop away and take a break will be very important.   Her time with her kids gives her more ideas, so even scheduling more time with the kids and more traveling.   Advice:  Jot down and journal the things you are best at.  Spend your time focusing on these things. Know where you are in the business and don’t worry about the things to come.  Get super clear on the things you do and the things you serve. You must know your market, who you help, and how you help them.  What do they need, what do they want, and what are their pain points?  Do the research. Use it. You must know those things because no one else can show you those things.  This is your job as the CEO. If you can’t articulate these things you will never have employees that will understand these visions.