The CEO Help Desk from Run Like Clockwork

What do you do when you have a team member resistant to Clockworking? This question comes up much more often than we ever anticipated within our Accelerator group, so we figured we'd cover it here on the podcast in addition to the new module training within our program.

Three clues to know if this episode is for you:

• You've decided to Clockwork your business but have a team member resistant to it.
• You ask "how long does the Clockwork program take" instead of realizing Clockwork isn't a task you add to your plate but actually becomes a part of your culture and a way of thinking.
• You find yourself in a cycle of hiring + firing.

Remember, just because you've always done it that way doesn't mean you should continue.

In this episode of the Run Like Clockwork Podcast, Adrienne shares 3 tips to either get your team member onboard or get clear on if they're no longer a good fit for your company:

1. Make a list of all the benefits of Clockworking the business for your team member. Adrienne gives 3 really amazing examples to get your list started. Also, listen to the interview episode where Mike Michalowicz's team member, Kelsey, shares how she Clockworked herself from personal assistant to President!
2. Communicate the benefits to your team member and have a conversation with them to hear their concerns and address them one on one.
3. If you've done the first 2 steps, then you must clearly communicate your company culture of Clockwork and make a decision if the team member is a good fit for your company as it moves forward and grows.

So whether you're helping a team member get onboard with the Clockwork culture of your company, getting out of the hiring + firing cycle, or getting clarity on if/when to let that team member go, we hope this episode helps you!

Let's continue the conversation over in our new free Run Like Clockwork Community! Let us know if this is something you're currently experiencing and if you've tried these tips!

Metrics, spreadsheets, and data - oh my!

Metrics may feel like one of the most adult aspects of your business. My guess is, either you're naturally inclined towards spreadsheets + analytics… or it's a struggle bus because you're more of a creative visionary.

Metrics are vital in order to know where you are heading and understand when you've reached your target. Lead metrics, like a GPS, provide you with a perspective of what your performance will be in the future. Lag metrics give you an insight into your past performance, like looking in a rearview mirror.

In this Team Takeover episode of the Run Like Clockwork Podcast, Laurie + Tyler dig into metrics and answer the most common questions we get inside our Clockwork Accelerator program. Laurie is a lead coach within the Clockwork Accelerator program and Tyler is a finance + metrics expert who helped Adrienne (his wife) develop the Clockwork systems + methodologies. Both geek out about metrics, so you're in great hands!

Questions they answer in this episode:

1. "If I'm the sort of business owner whose brain operates more creatively rather than with numbers, (ie Bookkeeping was probably the first thing outsourced), how can I keep my dashboard easy and simple to maintain but still give me the information I need to grow?"
2. "What if my QBR is more qualitative rather than quantitative?" Example: Fun music lessons or compassionate therapy
3. "Is it a good idea for everyone on the team to see the dashboard or is it just for the owner only?"
4. "How often should I check or update my metrics?"
5. "Is there such a thing as too much data?"

If you have questions not addressed on this episode, drop your questions over on Instagram @rlclockwork and we will either answer them there or in an upcoming episode.

If you're looking for more in-depth support with your metrics and setting up efficiency systems within your business, then check out our Clockwork Accelerator program.

Just getting started and want to talk more about clockworking your business with like-minded business owners? Then join our free Run Like Clockwork Community!

Our Clockwork Community group is a space for people who are all working towards the same goal (Clockworking your business) to come together, share ideas of what's working and not working, cheer each other on when things get tough, and hold your feet to the fire when you want to give up.

The Clockwork Community group is a peer-led, collaborative experience and we'd love to have you be a part of the conversation!

Click here to join the Free Clockwork Community!

Exciting news!

In light of everything going on in the world, between the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, and economic uncertainty, what feels more important than ever before is community. I've wrestled with the idea of creating a Facebook community for a while because I wanted to make sure our team had the capacity to support and hold the energetic space for a community, but now I've felt this push - It's time. Let's do it!

Join our new, free Clockwork Community!

What the Clockwork Community is for:

• For Clockworkers with the common goal of creating efficiency within your team + business
• A space for peers to come together and discuss clockworking
• A safe place to share ideas + what is/not working for you so you're not doing it alone
• A space to cheer each other on + hold each other accountable

While our RLC team will not be doing 1 on 1 support + feedback like you would get in one of our paid programs, we will lead, engage, and do live q+a sessions within the free Clockwork Community.

The free Clockwork Community on Monday, June 15th and we're having a welcome party!

Request to join now + then on Monday we'll let everyone in!

I hope you'll join us!

One of the common hiring concerns we get from our Clockworking clients is that they worry hiring might blow out their 'expenses' category when also following Profit First.

On this episode of the Run Like Clockwork Podcast, Emily + Laurie from Team RLC share how Clockworking and Profit First can absolutely coexist when hiring. In fact, not only can they coexist, they can be a dynamic duo to make hiring efficient and profitable.

In this episode they cover:

• Actionable steps for how to leverage the Clockworking principles of time tracking for hiring.
• How to use metrics to inform your hiring decision.
• How to utilize Profit First accounts for hiring + training.
• Why contractors should be deducted first before finding your "Real Revenue" when doing your Profit First distributions.

Once you've identified who to hire or how to rebalance your existing team, the next key step to removing yourself as the bottleneck is effective delegation + communication with your team.

We have a free resource to help you do just that! Grab our 4 Tips to Efficient Communication + Delegation at www.runlikeclockwork.com/4-tips

We'd love to hear how you are implementing Clockwork + Profit First within your business and hiring process! Tag us on Instagram @rlclockwork

Are you fighting for your limitations?

You're probably saying "Of course not, Adrienne! That would be ridiculous."

I know, I know. To our logical, high-achieving, goal driven brains fighting for a limitation is not a smart move. Yet it's a question worth considering.

If you're listening to this podcast, I know you are a business owner who has big goals... and you also know that you desperately need to change the way you do business if you want to continue to grow — because right now you are maxed out in terms of your time + energy.

You would love to be able to free yourself up to focus on the more valuable projects...and maybe even hire some support to help you out, but you're:

• Unclear on what YOU should actually spend your time doing as CEO…
• Maxed out and don't have more time to pour into the business — or figuring out how to improve the business...
• Afraid you can't afford to hire someone no or ever...
• Not sure what position to hire for next… and uncertain what that person would do, even if you *could* find them because the future seems so uncertain now...
• Nervous because you've been burned before — and right now you feel like it's just easier to do it all yourself!

I talk to so many business owners who want a change... but "don't feel ready" or "don't know where to start."

Maybe they don't think they're ready for Clockwork because:

• They're afraid they don't have time to implement — because they're so busy working in their business, they don't have time to work on it.
• They don't have a huge budget or struggle with cash flow problems — so they're always waiting for the "next big project" to be able to afford to invest in their business.
• They don't want to lead a big team, or they're worried about making the wrong hiring decisions — so they've inadvertently created a revenue cap for their business and struggle to grow past it.

The truth is, what's really behind this feeling of being "not ready" is that they don't trust themselves to make the right decisions that will allow them to grow and scale.

So back to my original question: "Are you fighting for your limitations... or truly open to new ways of doing things for better results?

Aurthur Ashe said "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can."

Taking action starts with your mindset. I'm a super strategic and tactical process person, but I also know that your mindset will make or break your success.

So let me ask you: Who do you want to become as a CEO and business owner? Ex: I am a person who is resourceful with my time, money, and team.

Ok, good. Now what do you need to do/think NOW to be like that person now?

Ex:

• Become resourceful with my time now: 3T

• Become resourceful with my money: identify wasted time = $ (Amanda Bond screenshot on Kickoff sales page breaks down how minutes of trimmed time accounted for hundreds of dollars saved a year - super bite-sized)

• Become resourceful with my team: capture systems

There are tactical processes that we teach within our Accelerator. It's VERY robust and produces incredible results for our clients. If that feels too much and adds to the mind drama of overwhelm, then consider joining Kickoff. We created it for that exact reason: to help you START. You will get the tools to move your forward towards operational efficiency, even if you have no time, money, or team. Quick, sustainable WINS.

You want Momentum? That momentum begins with a KICK of motion.

runlikeclockwork.com/kickoff

Many people are talking about what to do if your business + sales are completely tanking right now. But what about the flip side? What if you are actually experiencing explosive growth?

On this week's episode of the Run Like Clockwork podcast, I want to address what you need to do to keep up with fast growth and high demand. I have 5 quick tips on what to do if your business is growing too quickly right now.

1. Know where your time is going.
2. Transfer, automate + trust.
3. Capture systems + hire.
4. Know your costs.
5. Deliver with excellence + determine client capacity.

I explain these 5 tips in more depth + give actionable steps on this episode. I also give an example of a business owner whose side business is now scaling too quickly and how these efficiency principals are vital for profitable growth right now. If navigating + leveraging quick growth is something you are struggling with and want support around, I'd like to invite you to join our Clockwork Accelerator. www.runlikeclockwork.com/vacation

"The best marketing you can do is delivering with excellence."

You are also invited to a free training Mike Michalowicz + I (Adrienne Dorison) are doing called GET LEAN: creating efficiency in your business during inefficient times on Monday, May 18th at 3pm ET.

In this training, we'll cover . . .

• The 5 stages of navigating a recession.
• Mike's block control method for getting shit done.
• A quick hack for shifting your mindset, even when things are tough.
• The Pareto method you can use to chop your workload in half.
• Plus we'll do some LIVE coaching w/ some attendees!

No one can afford to remain bulky in their business, regardless if business is slow or coming in fast, so join us for this free training and steal our best efficiency tools for your business.

This works for ANY business, in ANY industry, at ANY revenue level!

"Many businesses are getting temporary relief for longterm agony."

The biggest challenge we face is knowing what our biggest challenge is. As a result most businesses stay stuck in a pattern of 2 steps forward and 3 steps back.

On this episode of the Run Like Clockwork Podcast, Mike + Adrienne talk about Mike's newest book, Fix This Next.

Mike has spent the past five years researching the "DNA" of all companies. Within every business he has discovered a Business Hierarchy of Needs — a specific sequence of things that must be done for a business to grow properly and permanently.

Tune in as Mike + Adrienne discuss the simple method that helps you identify which of your company's Core Needs are not currently being satisfied + determine which one of these is the vital need, and fix it next. With that vital need resolved and your business moving forward, repeat the process to grow even more.

Business growth only happens when you do the right things… at the right time. This book will show you exactly how to do it.

As always, the discussion is lively, thought provoking, and actionable!

Make sure to grab your copy of Fix This Next along with Mike's bonus tools here.

You can also join Mike + Adrienne for a free training: Get Lean: how to create efficiency in your business during inefficient times on Monday, May 18th @3pm ET.

In every new season in our life + business, it's important to reevaluate efficiency. Time tracking is a great tool for understanding where you can improve your efficiency.

Last week we talked about creating efficiency in this new season and how, likely, efficiency in this season will look differently than it did in the past.

In this episode I discuss:

• How often we do time tracking as a team
• The difference between time tracking and taking action on it.
• How we use the tracking review to improve efficiency using the 4 Ts
• How each team member reflects and reviews their time tracking results
• What I do as the business owner to give feedback to the team
• Our biggest takeaways from our Q2 time tracking while taking into account the current pandemic

Even though everything feels far from normal right now, I want to encourage you to time track with your team right now. It is the perfect time to take a snapshot of what's going on, where you can improve, where inefficiencies are happening and then do a review as a team.

Keep us posted if you do time tracking. We'd love to hear how it goes for you!

Join us for a free training: Your Next Move: 5 Steps to Complete Clarity on What Your Business Needs Right Now on Wed, April 29th @4pm ET.

This training is dedicated to helping you discover Your Next Move in your business — no matter what happens next.

Needless to say, this is a very different and potentially challenging season for all of us.

In this episode, I share what efficiency looks like in this new season for me and the Run Like Clockwork team and give you some food for thought of what you can do to reevaluate potential shifts you can make towards better efficiency.

A big component of clockworking is this idea of continuous improvement. It doesn't serve us to do something just because "we've always done it that way."

These past few weeks, we are taking a relook at everything in our business to evaluate what is and isn't still working in this season. I'd encourage you to do the same.

Three examples of things that were working in the past but are now not efficient:

• Batching calls to now 1-2 calls per day
• Transferring tasks that other team members can do easier in this season
• Additional team meetings

I want to remind you that this is not a normal season. I want you to be empathetic of that for yourself and your team members as well as make smart pivots in your business and efficiency habits.

What can you give yourself permission to change right now to reduce frustration?

I'd love to hear what some of those micro and macro changes are that you're making in this new season. Connect with us on Instagram @rlclockwork

It's one thing for the CEO to clockwork themselves out of the business to take a 4 week vacation, but how about team members? Is it possible for them to take a 4 week vacation?

Adrienne interviewed Mike Michalowicz on a previous episode and he mentioned Kelsey as an integral part of his team. Listen here. We knew we had to have Kelsey on the podcast!

This week Kelsey shares how she went from a part-time personal assistant on Mike's team to now being president of his company. She shares how she clockworked herself out of her position, allowing her to take 8 weeks off in 2019.

She shares:

-How she prepared the team for her 8 week vacation and the mindset she needed to step away.

-How she used her time while away.

-The benefits the team experienced from her being unreachable for 8 weeks.

-What she did and didn't put back on her plate when she returned.

-Their next company goal is to clockwork all team members to the place they can take a 4 week vacation and what steps they must take to make it happen.

-How task management and role management is a constant cycle.

-The biggest growth Kelsey experienced through the process of clockworking herself out.

-How Kelsey & Mike balance their roles as a CEO and President/Operations Manager.

Kelsey's best time to other team members who are clockworking: Let go of control.

Ready to start handing things off with more trust + confidence? Steal our 4 top tips for efficient communication + delegation to transform your team + maximize your efficiency! Click here to grab the tips!