The CEO Help Desk from Run Like Clockwork

Generosity is one of our core values at RLC and one of my personal core values too. It's something that we've baked into our culture and into our company and I know many of our current and past clients are also motivated by generosity and value it deeply and end up incorporating giving into their culture and business models too.

There are 3 ways to give:

• Money -- give money to a cause you care about. Work this into your business model so that it's not an afterthought that you never have money for, but rather a part of the pricing + financial model! If you can't give 10%, start with 1%. This is about building a HABIT. It will be much harder to give away $100,000 once you make a $1Million if you've never given away anything before, believe me! Start small with stretching that muscle and habit.
• Expertise -- give of your strengths / expertise to a non-profit organization that may need it! We have a scholarship fund and application process where we award non-profit founders with access to our Accelerator program -- non-profits operate just like businesses, with way smaller operating budgets and they need operations support -- so that's one way we can give back and create a ripple effect with our impact.
• Time -- give your time in service of their cause. Giving your time will help you feel more connected to the cause as you see the impact right away. It also creates tons of perspective on how much you currently have and helps you increase your own gratitude.

Have open hands -- we often feel that if we don't hold on tightly to our money, it will slip away, but when you open your hands and give it allows even more to flow back to you. You allow the dollars to leave and the freedom to enter.

Pick one of these 3 ways of baking generosity into your own business and get started! Set goals for yourself of how you're going to incorporate the other ways in the future. Start with the one that feels easiest + most accessible right now, and then build from there!

Share with us on Instagram what you're going to start with, we can't wait to hear how you decide to bring more generosity to the culture through this exercise!

Generosity is one of our core values at RLC and one of my personal core values too. It’s something that we’ve baked into our culture and into our company and I know many of our current and past clients are also motivated by generosity and value it deeply and end up incorporating giving into their culture and business models too. 

There are 3 ways to give:

• Money -- give money to a cause you care about. Work this into your business model so that it’s not an afterthought that you never have money for, but rather a part of the pricing + financial model! If you can’t give 10%, start with 1%. This is about building a HABIT. It will be much harder to give away $100,000 once you make a $1Million if you’ve never given away anything before, believe me! Start small with stretching that muscle and habit. 
• Expertise -- give of your strengths / expertise to a non-profit organization that may need it! We have a scholarship fund and application process where we award non-profit founders with access to our Accelerator program -- non-profits operate just like businesses, with way smaller operating budgets and they need operations support -- so that’s one way we can give back and create a ripple effect with our impact. 
• Time -- give your time in service of their cause. Giving your time will help you feel more connected to the cause as you see the impact right away. It also creates tons of perspective on how much you currently have and helps you increase your own gratitude.  

Have open hands -- we often feel that if we don’t hold on tightly to our money, it will slip away, but when you open your hands and give it allows even more to flow back to you. You allow the dollars to leave and the freedom to enter. 

Pick one of these 3 ways of baking generosity into your own business and get started! Set goals for yourself of how you’re going to incorporate the other ways in the future. Start with the one that feels easiest + most accessible right now, and then build from there!

Share with us on Instagram what you’re going to start with, we can’t wait to hear how you decide to bring more generosity to the culture through this exercise!

Tyler and I just got back from a week-long babymoon -- that's a vacation before your baby arrives if you're new to the lingo like me. And I thought it would be fun to have him on and share what our biggest takeaways from this trip were as it relates to clockworking our own business.

1. When I'm not around, the team challenges themselves to be more resourceful and autonomous (proud mama) — sometimes you need to leave to give them the confidence they need.
2. Team actually feels the interruptions just as much as you do sometimes — they got so much accomplished while I was gone because they weren't stuck in the deciding distractions all day long back and forth — that's a huge inefficiency, whether it's because you're the one getting asked the questions or the one who can't make decisions without someone else. So because they felt the confidence to keep moving forward and make decisions in their areas, it allowed them to more efficient and productive without me!
3. I was able to be fully present this trip versus worrying and thinking about the business the entire time.

Time away always exposes the weaknesses and that's the only way we can improve! Schedule your 1-week vacation NOW and let us know on IG (@rlclockwork) what your biggest takeaway from this episode was!

Tyler and I just got back from a week-long babymoon -- that’s a vacation before your baby arrives if you’re new to the lingo like me. And I thought it would be fun to have him on and share what our biggest takeaways from this trip were as it relates to clockworking our own business. 

1. When I’m not around, the team challenges themselves to be more resourceful and autonomous (proud mama) — sometimes you need to leave to give them the confidence they need.
2. Team actually feels the interruptions just as much as you do sometimes — they got so much accomplished while I was gone because they weren’t stuck in the deciding distractions all day long back and forth — that’s a huge inefficiency, whether it’s because you’re the one getting asked the questions or the one who can’t make decisions without someone else. So because they felt the confidence to keep moving forward and make decisions in their areas, it allowed them to more efficient and productive without me!
3. I was able to be fully present this trip versus worrying and thinking about the business the entire time.

Time away always exposes the weaknesses and that’s the only way we can improve! Schedule your 1-week vacation NOW and let us know on IG (@rlclockwork) what your biggest takeaway from this episode was!

I was chatting with a long-time client this past week and she was sharing with me some of the decisions she was making around where the team was spending their time, if they're going to continue with some big projects and and how they're testing different things for the future to maximize their ROI.

And while this may seem like your run of the mill coaching call there was something she's doing very differently this year than she has in the past because of clockwork.

She's looking at the true cost of things in the business and making decisions from there versus blindly.

Their company does a lot of content marketing — as many of us do — and one of the things they've been working to understand is the true cost of a free blog post. That's right — the COST of a free blog post. And it's not FREE.

Their team calculated how much time it's spending them to write, edit, and then format each blog post — and then was able to calculate the cost by multiplying each team member's hourly rate by their time spent and adding it all up. On average ~ $300 per blog post. Not cheap. That's at least $1200/month we're talking and sometimes double that depending on how many posts they have planned.

Now that's not the end of the equation though...it would be easy to just say — well, that costs too much let's stop doing it. But we do content marketing for a reason — to connect with our community and eventually create sales. So, they now need to make sure they can track the conversion metrics related to this blog post to see how much each blog post is actually WORTH to them. How much does it earn them over time so that we can make a better decision.

Turns out — they're best blog posts have earned them over $30,000 over time by turning those readers into digital course purchasers at the end of the post. And we have another client who has earned multiple 6 figures from one blog post alone. But on average — each post is generating $500 — so we can still make the decision that this is a good investment. Spend $300, earn $500. But again...they don't stop there — because I want them to also analyze if there are other more profitable ways to earn that $500 that may be worth investing more of their resources in. Limited resources means constantly making decisions on where to spend that time, money and energy to get the MOST results out of it.

THIS is the value of knowing your true costs, your real metrics and then being able to make better business decisions from there.

I know we've been talking about free content here, but the same rules apply for your products, your programs, and everything else your business does. You need to have clear metrics of what the true cost is — including team time which most people leave out when doing their Profit/ Loss statement on a launch for example — oh we spent $20,000 on ads and made $50,000 — but if you also spent another $20,000 on team time developing assets + resources or delivering the program or answering customer support responses, we need to add that cost in to really know if something is profitable or not a good use of our resources.

If you're constantly asking yourself "hey, where did all that money we made go!?" or not feeling very confident when making decisions about what to trash and what to hold on to in the business...then we've got to get a better handle on where your time is going, where the teams time is going, and what each project truly COSTS you, so that we can calculate the real profitability and make better and more efficient decisions.

This is where you can get efficient much more quickly + confidently, and then be able to double-down + pour resources onto the things that are working well...creating even faster growth opportunities too.

If you haven't done a 4D time tracking exercise yet — I encourage you and the team to start there! This data and the metrics you can be tracking alongside of it are invaluable to your business!

Grab your time tracking sheet here.

If this was helpful for you — share this episode with a CEO friend! They'll thank you later + tag us on instagram!

I was chatting with a long-time client this past week and she was sharing with me some of the decisions she was making around where the team was spending their time, if they’re going to continue with some big projects and and how they’re testing different things for the future to maximize their ROI. 

And while this may seem like your run of the mill coaching call there was something she’s doing very differently this year than she has in the past because of clockwork. 

She’s looking at the true cost of things in the business and making decisions from there versus blindly. 

Their company does a lot of content marketing — as many of us do — and one of the things they’ve been working to understand is the true cost of a free blog post. That’s right — the COST of a free blog post. And it’s not FREE. 

Their team calculated how much time it’s spending them to write, edit, and then format each blog post — and then was able to calculate the cost by multiplying each team member’s hourly rate by their time spent and adding it all up. On average ~ $300 per blog post. Not cheap. That’s at least $1200/month we’re talking and sometimes double that depending on how many posts they have planned. 

Now that’s not the end of the equation though...it would be easy to just say — well, that costs too much let’s stop doing it. But we do content marketing for a reason — to connect with our community and eventually create sales. So, they now need to make sure they can track the conversion metrics related to this blog post to see how much each blog post is actually WORTH to them. How much does it earn them over time so that we can make a better decision. 

Turns out — they’re best blog posts have earned them over $30,000 over time by turning those readers into digital course purchasers at the end of the post. And we have another client who has earned multiple 6 figures from one blog post alone. But on average — each post is generating $500 — so we can still make the decision that this is a good investment. Spend $300, earn $500. But again...they don’t stop there — because I want them to also analyze if there are other more profitable ways to earn that $500 that may be worth investing more of their resources in. Limited resources means constantly making decisions on where to spend that time, money and energy to get the MOST results out of it. 

THIS is the value of knowing your true costs, your real metrics and then being able to make better business decisions from there. 

I know we’ve been talking about free content here, but the same rules apply for your products, your programs, and everything else your business does. You need to have clear metrics of what the true cost is — including team time which most people leave out when doing their Profit/ Loss statement on a launch for example — oh we spent $20,000 on ads and made $50,000 — but if you also spent another $20,000 on team time developing assets + resources or delivering the program or answering customer support responses, we need to add that cost in to really know if something is profitable or not a good use of our resources. 

If you’re constantly asking yourself “hey, where did all that money we made go!?” or not feeling very confident when making decisions about what to trash and what to hold on to in the business...then we’ve got to get a better handle on where your time is going, where the teams time is going, and what each project truly COSTS you, so that we can calculate the real profitability and make better and more efficient decisions. 

This is where you can get efficient much more quickly + confidently, and then be able to double-down + pour resources onto the things that are working well...creating even faster growth opportunities too. 

If you haven’t done a 4D time tracking exercise yet — I encourage you and the team to start there! This data and the metrics you can be tracking alongside of it are invaluable to your business! 

Grab your time tracking sheet here. 

If this was helpful for you — share this episode with a CEO friend! They’ll thank you later + tag us on instagram!

With Halloween just days away, at first, I panicked when I realized we didn't have any candy for all the cute little neighborhood trick or treaters...and then put my big girl panties on and headed to Costco (mistake #1).

We needed a bunch of other things too that people should never buy in bulk, like greek yogurt, and almond milk, spinach...so this wasn't just a candy only trip.

Finally made it to the Halloween candy section and Costco really went all out...I mean the smallest bag still costs $20 and has over 300 pieces in it, I don't think we have more than 15 kids in the neighborhood, but obviously we need to be prepared, so we'll get it.

I always wanted to be the "cool house"...you know the one where they give out the best candy (Reeses, not Smarties)....but never even dreamed of a life where I could be the BEST HOUSE...you know the one that gives out the full-size candy bars.

Well, thanks to Costco, that's me this year.

But...that's where the happy part of this story ends…

I should have known better, never open the Halloween candy before Halloween...because once it's open, it's basically begging you to eat it.

And now I have full-size candy bars (and remember, Reese's not Smarties) staring at me everytime I open the pantry...which is A LOT because additional reminder, 7.5 months pregnant.

All that to say...I truly understand why the fun-size bar was created. No one needs these full-size bars in their house, or given to their kids.

They created fun-size candy bars for a reason -- sometimes we shouldn't eat the whole thing.

The same thing is true for Clockwork...but up until NOW we've been giving you full-size bars and if you're anything like me this week, you've learned your lesson and you're sticking with fun-size from now on.

For the first time ever, we're offering a fun-size version of our Clockwork Accelerator program, and it's called Clockwork Kickoff.

So, now you can take a bite + get tonssss of the goodness of Clockworking your business, without feeling overwhelmed, overstuffed and regretful as you near the end...just like that fun-size candy bar.

A few weeks ago when we closed enrollment for our Run Like Clockwork Accelerator program, many of you reached saying you want to clockwork the business, but you didn't feel quite ready.

You felt you didn't have the team, time, or money to start clockworking just yet.

In fact, you told me you were looking for first steps to get you started with Clockworking now, until you're ready for the full thang!

I think that's smart, you wanted the fun-size.

So, we created it over the past few weeks for you.

Clockwork Kickoff -- how to start clockworking your business, even if you have no team members, no time, no extra money, and no clue how to hire yet!

So, what do you get when you join Clockwork Kickoff?

• Instant lifetime access to the training — no waiting for the next start date, and you can revisit the information any time you want to grow your business, dial in your efficiency, or make a new hire.

• 8 bite-sized lessons to get you clarity and into action — we've made them short, actionable, and easy to implement because we know you're pressed for time.

• Lesson 1: Start Here!
• Lesson 2: The 4 Types of Work
• Lesson 3: Moving Towards Your Ideal
• Lesson 4: Time Tracking Analysis
• Lesson 5: The 4D Debrief (Part 1 + 2)
• Lesson 6: 6. The Fastest Path to ROI
• Lesson 7: Your Action Plan
• Lesson 8: Do THIS Next!

• Our tricked-out tracking spreadsheets to make data collection 100x easier

• Action based assignments with worksheets to get you results fast!

PLUS -- when you join before Thurs. Oct 31st at 11:59pm EST, you'll also get:

• BONUS: exact schedule of how to go through this program successfully
• BONUS: 2 LIVE Q+A coaching calls to get all your questions answered!

That's right, LIVE feedback and coaching from our Run Like Clockwork team to make sure you're on the right track as you implement these first steps. This is a bonus we won't be offering in the future, so snatch it up this week!

Investment: $497

If money, time, or small/no team was what was standing in your way before, NOW is your chance to take action on Clockworking your business in a more bite-sized way!

Join us in Clockwork Kickoff here >> runlikeclockwork.com/kickoff

With Halloween just days away, at first, I panicked when I realized we didn’t have any candy for all the cute little neighborhood trick or treaters...and then put my big girl panties on and headed to Costco (mistake #1). 

We needed a bunch of other things too that people should never buy in bulk, like greek yogurt, and almond milk, spinach...so this wasn’t just a candy only trip. 

Finally made it to the Halloween candy section and Costco really went all out...I mean the smallest bag still costs $20 and has over 300 pieces in it, I don’t think we have more than 15 kids in the neighborhood, but obviously we need to be prepared, so we’ll get it.

I always wanted to be the “cool house”...you know the one where they give out the best candy (Reeses, not Smarties)....but never even dreamed of a life where I could be the BEST HOUSE...you know the one that gives out the full-size candy bars. 

Well, thanks to Costco, that’s me this year. 

But...that’s where the happy part of this story ends…

I should have known better, never open the Halloween candy before Halloween...because once it’s open, it’s basically begging you to eat it.

And now I have full-size candy bars (and remember, Reese’s not Smarties) staring at me everytime I open the pantry...which is A LOT because additional reminder, 7.5 months pregnant.

All that to say...I truly understand why the fun-size bar was created. No one needs these full-size bars in their house, or given to their kids. 

They created fun-size candy bars for a reason -- sometimes we shouldn’t eat the whole thing. 

The same thing is true for Clockwork...but up until NOW we’ve been giving you full-size bars and if you’re anything like me this week, you’ve learned your lesson and you’re sticking with fun-size from now on. 

For the first time ever, we’re offering a fun-size version of our Clockwork Accelerator program, and it’s called Clockwork Kickoff. 

So, now you can take a bite + get tonssss of the goodness of Clockworking your business, without feeling overwhelmed, overstuffed and regretful as you near the end...just like that fun-size candy bar. 

A few weeks ago when we closed enrollment for our Run Like Clockwork Accelerator program, many of you reached saying you want to clockwork the business, but you didn’t feel quite ready. 

You felt you didn’t have the team, time, or money to start clockworking just yet.

In fact, you told me you were looking for first steps to get you started with Clockworking now, until you’re ready for the full thang! 

I think that’s smart, you wanted the fun-size. 

So, we created it over the past few weeks for you. 

Clockwork Kickoff -- how to start clockworking your business, even if you have no team members, no time, no extra money, and no clue how to hire yet!

So, what do you get when you join Clockwork Kickoff?

• Instant lifetime access to the training —  no waiting for the next start date, and you can revisit the information any time you want to grow your business, dial in your efficiency, or make a new hire.

• 8 bite-sized lessons to get you clarity and into action — we’ve made them short, actionable, and easy to implement because we know you’re pressed for time.

• Lesson 1: Start Here!
• Lesson 2: The 4 Types of Work
• Lesson 3: Moving Towards Your Ideal
• Lesson 4: Time Tracking Analysis
• Lesson 5: The 4D Debrief (Part 1 + 2)
• Lesson 6: 6. The Fastest Path to ROI
• Lesson 7: Your Action Plan
• Lesson 8: Do THIS Next!

• Our tricked-out tracking spreadsheets to make data collection 100x easier

• Action based assignments with worksheets to get you results fast!

PLUS -- when you join before Thurs. Oct 31st at 11:59pm EST, you'll also get:

• BONUS: exact schedule of how to go through this program successfully
• BONUS: 2 LIVE Q+A coaching calls to get all your questions answered!

That’s right, LIVE feedback and coaching from our Run Like Clockwork team to make sure you’re on the right track as you implement these first steps. This is a bonus we won’t be offering in the future, so snatch it up this week!

Investment: $497 

If money, time, or small/no team was what was standing in your way before, NOW is your chance to take action on Clockworking your business in a more bite-sized way!

Join us in Clockwork Kickoff here >> runlikeclockwork.com/kickoff

Why most CEO's never see the ROI of time tracking -- they don't finish the final step!

Just by doing the time tracking exercise, and the debrief process, you can EASILY recover an hour or more a day THIS WEEK -- BUT, that doesn't happen magically, you've got to have the data, you've got to be relentless with the value of your time, and then most importantly you've got to be really intentional with the actions you take with that newly recovered time otherwise it won't result in any ROI.

Most CEO's are disappointed when they do time tracking because they don't follow it through with this final step and never get an ROI from the process.

After doing this work myself and working with hundreds of clients -- what I know to be true is there are 3 things that will happen with that newly recovered time...so, let's make sure we are choosing which one is most important for us personally! There's no right or wrong -- it's just what's right for you.

1. You can just let it disappear again (which is the most likely), because it's our natural default. If you're a doer, a high achiever, your default is going to be to take that recovered time and just fill it without thinking with more doing. But this doesn't come from an intentional place. This will not grow the business, and becomes a cyclical trap.
2. You can funnel that recovered time towards a more VALUABLE work type or work activity. If we've trashed + trimmed to recover time, it means you've freed up time that we can now spend on a higher value doing or something higher value like delegating or design time. Being intentional is what's key here. If you're intentional and spend this recovered time in a more valuable place, it will create ROI for the business.
3. You can use that recovered time to do less...if you're in need of more personal time, more free time, more family time, more time for a new business, etc -- you can just take this time back for yourself. It will also likely grow the business even without DOING more because you'll have more mental space and be more refreshed when you do spend time in the business.

The key is to not let #1 happen -- the unintentional time filler -- but instead intentionally choose option #2 or #3.

And how do you intentionally choose it?

Think about what your goals are for the business. Think about what you personally need. Think about what would be a more valuable use of your time in the business.

And then…

Actually BLOCK IT OFF on the calendar.

That's right, each week you're going to start blocking this recovered time off on your calendar and write in what you're doing during those blocks. Whether it's an hour or 20 hours. If you don't protect it, it will get filled up with something less important. If you don't block it off, you'll forget to spend it in that intentional way, someone will pull you into a meeting or you'll get sucked into something you've previously trashed...it's not because you're a bad person or have poor work ethic -- it's because this is what's most natural for us and we have to build habits to keep that time moving in the right direction.

Some helpful links for you:

Grab your time tracking sheet here.

Listen to the time tracking episode here.

Listen to the time tracking debrief here.

Listen to the clockwork delegation episode here.

Share with us over on instagram and let me know what you're doing with your extra hours this week! (@rlclockwork).

Why most CEO’s never see the ROI of time tracking -- they don’t finish the final step! 

Just by doing the time tracking exercise, and the debrief process, you can EASILY recover an hour or more a day THIS WEEK -- BUT, that doesn’t happen magically, you’ve got to have the data, you’ve got to be relentless with the value of your time, and then most importantly you’ve got to be really intentional with the actions you take with that newly recovered time otherwise it won’t result in any ROI. 

Most CEO’s are disappointed when they do time tracking because they don’t follow it through with this final step and never get an ROI from the process. 

After doing this work myself and working with hundreds of clients -- what I know to be true is there are 3 things that will happen with that newly recovered time...so, let’s make sure we are choosing which one is most important for us personally! There’s no right or wrong -- it’s just what’s right for you. 

1. You can just let it disappear again (which is the most likely), because it’s our natural default. If you’re a doer, a high achiever, your default is going to be to take that recovered time and just fill it without thinking with more doing. But this doesn’t come from an intentional place. This will not grow the business, and becomes a cyclical trap.
2. You can funnel that recovered time towards a more VALUABLE work type or work activity. If we’ve trashed + trimmed to recover time, it means you’ve freed up time that we can now spend on a higher value doing or something higher value like delegating or design time. Being intentional is what’s key here. If you’re intentional and spend this recovered time in a more valuable place, it will create ROI for the business. 
3. You can use that recovered time to do less...if you’re in need of more personal time, more free time, more family time, more time for a new business, etc -- you can just take this time back for yourself. It will also likely grow the business even without DOING more because you’ll have more mental space and be more refreshed when you do spend time in the business. 

The key is to not let #1 happen -- the unintentional time filler -- but instead intentionally choose option #2 or #3. 

And how do you intentionally choose it? 

Think about what your goals are for the business. Think about what you personally need. Think about what would be a more valuable use of your time in the business. 

And then…

Actually BLOCK IT OFF on the calendar. 

That’s right, each week you’re going to start blocking this recovered time off on your calendar and write in what you’re doing during those blocks. Whether it’s an hour or 20 hours. If you don’t protect it, it will get filled up with something less important. If you don’t block it off, you’ll forget to spend it in that intentional way, someone will pull you into a meeting or you’ll get sucked into something you’ve previously trashed...it’s not because you’re a bad person or have poor work ethic -- it’s because this is what’s most natural for us and we have to build habits to keep that time moving in the right direction. 

Some helpful links for you:

Grab your time tracking sheet here. 

Listen to the time tracking episode here. 

Listen to the time tracking debrief here.

Listen to the clockwork delegation episode here.

Share with us over on instagram and let me know what you’re doing with your extra hours this week! (@rlclockwork).