The Modern CEO Podcast

The nice thing about small start-ups is the sense of connection you can have with your customers, your team ... sometimes even your vendors!

But you don't want to stay small forever (you certainly won't multiply your revenue that way!)

Are you afraid that if you scale your business, you'll lose the intimacy and connection in your business model? Then the latest episode of the Modern CEO podcast is just what you need!

Have you ever heard of a concept called "Scalable Intimacy"?

I know, I know – it sounds like a total oxymoron, right?

But hear me out!

You don't have to lose out on that level of intimacy as you scale your business. It is TOTALLY POSSIBLE to hold onto that feeling of intimacy and collaboration with your customers and the people you're working with, even as you grow your business to amazing new heights! Scalable intimacy is a way of growing your business in a more fulfilling and connected way that can actually get you more sustainable results – not to mention more referrals!

In this episode, I'm going to:

• Explain why I developed the Scalable Intimacy model
• Illustrate the benefits of building intimacy into your business model
• Differentiate between scaling and growth – you need to know what you're trying to do!
• Get you brainstorming about what you can do to bake intimacy into the way you do business!

Sounds good? Let's talk intimacy

Highlights:

2:03 The history of the Scalable Intimacy concept

7:00 Build intimacy and connection into your business model

8:25 The difference between scale and growth

12:16 What is intimacy? What does it mean for your business?

18:43 Human interaction leads to innovation ... and referrals!

23:23 How do you achieve intimacy with clients?

Thank you for listening! Want more information and tips? Visit http://www.niceops.com and follow me on twitter and Instagram: @AmberMcCue

I have helped thousands of women grow and scale their businesses – and make a lot of money doing what they love!

But here's the thing – sometimes spending money can be pretty important too!

Here's what you need to know about me – I'm not the type of person who splurges on $200 jeans or first-class flights. So when it came to planning a summer retreat for my team (and realizing how much it would cost to get us all together in person), I went back and forth on it.

In the end, I decided to go for it.

Why was I willing to spend that money? Because a well-planned retreat is WORTH EVERY PENNY when it comes to keeping your business on the right track!

The virtual world we're now able to live and work in is amazing for convenience, but nothing can beat a face-to-face meeting when it comes to getting to know the people you work with and growing those relationships!

Let's face it. Humans need human connection!

When you meet with your team in person, it realigns everyone, gets them back on the same page, and reminds them of the vision that you, their leader, have put in place for your business. Once you're all marching to the same tune, you are FAR better positioned for taking over the world!

And you've got to love that!

Engagement and connection are kicked into high gear when you've got your team in the same room. You may communicate well on Slack, but nothing can beat those inside jokes and amazing brainstorming sessions that happen face-to-face!

In this episode, I'm going to:

• Explain the real benefits of face-time – no, not the iPhone kind!
• Give you a behind-the-scenes rundown of what made my last team retreat successful
• Set you up with the resources you need to help you build your own AMAZING retreat!

Are you ready to get your team fully on-board with your vision?

Highlights:

6:15 Why you should invest in face-to-face team meetings

8:54 Retreat agenda-setting

14:26 Put your game plan to a vote!

23:05 How do you transform your values into actions?

Thank you for listening! Want more information and tips? Visit http://www.niceops.com and follow me on twitter and Instagram: @AmberMcCue

I've worked with thousands of women to help them scale their businesses and build their financial freedom -- all you have to do is decide, RIGHT NOW, that you can overcome anything that gets between you and that amazing success you've been dreaming about.

Seems easy enough, right??

(Well, of course there is more to it. But this podcast is all about mindset!)

I'm the mother of three beautiful girls, and I like to compare building a business having a baby. Some people are just about ready to pop, some people have just conceived, and some people have already successfully nurtured a business baby or two!

I feel like I'm pretty early on in my pregnancy when it comes to this particular new business of mine. Business babies are a lot like real babies -- at first, you don't really know what they will turn out to be.

And that's the exciting part, isn't it? All of that potential?

And, like real pregnancies, all business pregnancies are different -- different challenges, different support systems, and different circumstances.

The one thing that they all have in common?

You need to have the will and determination to overcome any and all obstacles thrown your way!

In this episode, I'm going to:

• Share my own business baby (and real baby) story -- the challenges I faced and how I overcame them
• Tell you the one question you need to answer to know if you're ready to have your business baby
• Give you your (very easy) first step towards birthing your amazing business baby!

Consider this podcast your prenatal vitamin!

Highlights:

1:01 My baby story (and the crazy obstacles!)

12:22 Make the decision to pivot and adjust

13:00 Beware of addiction to extreme over-work -- listen to your body!

17:03 Slow and steady wins the race

18:08 Are you really ready to have this baby? (Psst: the answer is yes)

19:06 What is your first step?

Thank you for listening! Want more information and tips? Visit http://www.niceops.com and follow me on twitter and Instagram: @AmberMcCue

I gotta tell you, I am REALLY feeling the summer vibes these days – spending time at the beach, wearing my flip-flops to go buy ice cream cones, and soaking up that beautiful sunshine. I'm not rushing around to get the kids to and from school, packing their lunches, or making sure they do their homework. Instead, I get to slow down and just enjoy life a little bit more (which is harder than it sounds, when you're as productivity-prone as I am)!

Unfortunately, this blissful season doesn't last forever.

Summer is already halfway over and you know what that means: half-price sales on bathing suits!

But, of course, that's not all: we only have about 5 WEEKS LEFT to get our businesses supercharged for the busy fall season.

Hey, spring doesn't hold a monopoly on growth!

If I asked you right now what you need to do this fall to best support your business growth, would you have an answer for me? When is the last time you worked on your action plan?

• Are you operating in alignment with who you want to be in the world?
• Are your goals and vision lining up?
• What do you want more of? What do you want less of?

There are two times of year that are absolutely PERFECT for taking a moment to get yourself set up for the busy seasons to come: right now and December. Block out a week or two on your calendar to do some thinking, reflecting, and planning – busy days are ahead!

Now that I've got you on board the reflection train, I want to make sure that you're getting the most out of your reflection period!

In this episode, I'm going to:

• Help you figure out the reflection schedule that best benefits your business
• Talk about how to sidestep risks to your business – BEFORE they affect it!
• Share a few of my own reflection practices – including my own personal self-reflection questions!

Share a firsthand case study on how a little reflection helped to preemptively save my business from a potentially fatal Groupon-related disaster!

There are weekends and there are WEEEEKENDS, am I right? (Parents especially will agree with me on this!)

Let me tell you, the weekend before I recorded this podcast was definitely the latter! I dealt with so many temper tantrums, freak-outs, and plans not going as planned that I was actually happy when Monday rolled around.

I want to share a quick story with you.

Over Father's Day weekend, I took a trip with my girls to the mall to get a Father's Day present. This led to my girls deciding that they needed presents, too.

Of course, this could be a teachable moment for them, in an ideal world.

But you know what? Sometimes, the world isn't ideal. I was outnumbered, I'd been fighting a headache, and I thought that maybe a toy for each of them could keep them distracted for a few hours while we recharged after a morning of beach time and shopping.

The plan started off well, but then my three-year-old decided that one toy wasn't enough! Her new baby doll needed a FRIEND.

Cue: full-on MELTDOWN. That lasted for TWO DAYS.

Every rational parenting bone in my body fought against the impulse to give in. She JUST got a new doll. She has DOZENS of dolls already It makes ZERO sense to get her another one.

My husband and I debated this for a while. Even though it wasn't the rational parenting choice to get her that new doll, we agreed that it would make the rest of our weekend go by so much easier.

And it WORKED.

You know what? It wasn't a perfect parenting moment. But, sometimes, you have to throw perfectionism to the wind and make decisions that make sense for your situation!

And that doesn't just go for parenting – look at the situations in your life where you're actually being held back by your desire to be perfect. Not only that, but a desire to be perfect by SOMEONE ELSE'S standards, not your own!

Do you know what a focus on perfectionism leads to?

Anxiety and a fear of asking for help!

Both of those things can stop you in your tracks and hold you back from making decisions or starting projects that will help you move further along the path to success, in your business or whatever else you've got going on in your life!

Don't fall victim to the curse of perfection!

In this episode, I'm going to:

• Explain how chasing perfection can actually limit you in all areas of your life!
• Help you figure out what you need to let go of and what you should be focusing on instead in order to get the results you want!
• Highlight the importance of giving yourself permission to change your mind!

Give yourself a break!

Highlights:

5:25 Throwing perfectionism to the wind

7:01 The dangers of chasing perfection

7:36 What should we be letting go of? What will actually have a big impact on your life?

10:00 Aiming for the high-vibe energy and giving yourself guard-rails

Thank you for listening! Want more information and tips? Visit http://www.niceops.com and follow me on twitter and Instagram: @AmberMcCue

Is there anyone out there who doesn't want to get more done in less time??

Yeah, that's what I thought!

Well, in episode 7 of the Modern CEO podcast, I'm going to let you all in on a little secret.

Wait for it ....

I'm going to teach you how to clone yourself!

No, it doesn't involve test tubes, DNA, or freaky weird scientist hair.

This episode is about outsourcing, but outsourcing in a smart way – making sure that you keep a laser-focus on the things that you're really good at (and enjoy doing!), so that you're best serving your business!

If outsourcing isn't realistic for you right now, then systematization is a great way to do those tasks more efficiently so that you have more time to do the job of growing your business. You'd better believe that I'll be covering THAT in this episode, too!

After all, at least part of the reason you started your own business was to increase your quality of life, right? Well, if you're tied to the tasks that you hate to do (or kind of suck at), then you're not serving your business OR your spirit!

So let's get started!

In this podcast, I'm going to:

• Help you figure out which tasks you should hang onto for yourself – and which are just wasting your time and energy resources
• Teach you how to identify your Zone of Genius
• Explain how systematization works and offer some great resources to get started!

Ditch the DIY trap!

Highlights:

0:54 What should you outsource first?

2:17 Where is your time going?

5:24 Identify your 'keep', 'outsource' and 'systematize' tasks

12:03 How to 'park' your ideas for the future

13:16 There's nothing solo about being a solo entrepreneur!

Thank you for listening! Want more information and tips? Visit http://www.niceops.com and follow me on twitter and Instagram: @AmberMcCue

Mentioned in this episode:

• How to Clone Yourself
• List of resources

Business Brilliant: Surprising Lessons from the Greatest Self-Made Business Icons by Lewis Schiff

What makes an entrepreneur?

Can you still be an entrepreneur if you have a side hustle?

Do you need to quit your day job to be considered an entrepreneur??

These are the questions that we're going to be digging into in the 6th episode of the Modern CEO podcast!

"You're not REALLY committed to your business until you quit your day job!"

Sound familiar?

If you're anything like me, then you felt a lot of pressure to go all-in when you started your business. To just drop everything else and dedicate yourself fully to the journey of becoming a successful businessperson.

Often, this kind of pressure can come from people who don't even have their own business!

I want to tell you something: I felt SO RELIEVED when I stopped buying into this idea that I needed to quit my day job as quickly as possible. You know what happens when you start feeling less stressed out? You gain the ability to be more innovative and more creative – and doesn't that sound a lot more productive than worrying about whether you fit someone else's definition of an entrepreneur??

In this podcast, I'm going to:

• Help you shift your focus from fitting the entrepreneur stereotype based on constant hustle to finding a sustainable (and healthy!) path for your business
• Explore how slow growth can actually be a lot better for your business in the long run than hitting the ground running
• Take a look at some businesses that disrupted entire industries through building upon things actually happening in the market

Be the entrepreneur you want to be! Click here to listen!

Highlights:

2:25 The problem with going "all-in" too soon and the benefits to slowing down

4:15 Wise words from Adam Grant

6:41 Can procrastination actually be a virtue??

8:32 Innovation v. improvement

11:50 A case-study of the slow-burn approach

15:50 Find the $100-bill ideas

Thank you for listening! Want more information and tips? Visit http://www.niceops.com and follow me on twitter and Instagram: @AmberMcCue

Mentioned in this episode:

• Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant
• The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers TEDtalk by Adam Grant

I made it my goal to keep these episodes coming regularly for you! And since goal-setting is actually one of the topics of today's episode, I'm going to tell you my secret to actually hitting those goals.

And, no, it's not cheating!

Effectively tracking your progress is actually the best way to help you manage those goals. Not only does it keep you on top of what still needs to get done, but it's also an awesome way to keep yourself motivated. If you're a list-maker, you already know how satisfying it is to check off those boxes, so it won't surprise you when I say that measuring progress has been shown to improve happiness levels!

Speaking of goals, one of my major goals for the past few years has been to read 50 books (or more!) in a year. This is the first year that I've actually been on track to achieve this goal, so I am VERY excited!

Why reading? Let me tell you!

One thing that a lot of successful people have in common is that they read a lot. And I'm not talking V.C. Andrews paperbacks, either – they choose books that help them shift their ways of thinking, learn new skills, or take a more visionary approach to their industry.

In this podcast, I'm going to:

• Give you some recommendations for some great books that can help you build your business – as well as a few bonus personal development picks
• Help you get the most out of your reading by sharing some of my best tips for super-organized note-taking, whether you're reading digitally or kicking it old-school
• Give you the low-down on some of the best reading-related apps that will help you fit more books into your busy schedule

Keep your pen and paper handy for this one!

Highlights:

2:44 What gets measured gets managed

5:30 The Blinkist app vs Kindle samples

8:40 Note-taking – get the most out of your reading!

10:15 WhisperSync it when you can't read it!

11:43 Get into Goodreads!

12:15 Amber's Amazing Book List of 2017 (So far!)

Thank you for listening! Want more information and tips? Visit http://www.niceops.com and follow me on twitter and Instagram: @AmberMcCue

Mentioned in this episode:

• Blinkist
• WhisperSync
• Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh
• Goodreads
• Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living by Shauna Niequist
• The Brain Audit: Why Customers Buy (and Why They Don't) by Sean D'Souza and John Forde
• Covert Persuasion: Psychological Tactics and Tricks to Win the Game by Kevin Hogan and James Speakman
• Ask, by Ryan Levesque: Key Takeaways, Analysis & Review: The Counterintuitive Online Formula to Discover Exactly What Your Customers Want to Buy
• The Happiness Equation: Want Nothing + Do Anything=Have Everything by Neil Pasricha
• Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction by Derek Thompson
• The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington
• Business Brilliant: Surprising Lessons from the Greatest Self-Made Business Icons by Lewis Schiff
• E-Squared: Nine Do-It-Yourself Energy Experiments That Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality by Pam Grout
• The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy by Chris Bailey
• Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Timothy Ferriss
• No Limits: Blow the CAP Off Your Capacity by John C. Maxwell
• Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

Today, we're going to tackle the elephant in the room.

In this episode of the Modern CEO podcast, I get down and dirty with a topic that a lot of people don't really like to talk about – money!

Studies have shown that people would rather talk about politics and religion than this topic, but as business owners, we've just got to do it!

Women, in particular, tend to resist talking about their financials – we often don't ask for the raises we deserve or negotiate when we're taking on a new project, so learning to talk dollars is a huge key to being professionally successful. Doubly so, if you run your own business!

It's a fact – people who have reached self-made millionaire or billionaire status tend to talk about their money and their revenue goals with people who are in their inner circles so that they can support each other in reaching their goals.

So this podcast episode is all about talking about that C-A-S-H money, baby!

In this episode, I discuss:

• How super-successful entrepreneurs discuss their financial goals and issues
• How often you should check in and update your numbers and forecast – and the big psychological benefits of doing so
• The reasons why you feel that wall of resistance when it comes to looking at your finances – and how to climb over that wall
• Why your forecast is a CRUCIAL ingredient for an effective spending
• And, finally: how to build your all-important revenue plan!

Hopefully, this episode will help you get a little more comfortable thinking, talking, and planning about money so that you can really get your business on track to hit those revenue goals!

Highlights:

2:05 The importance of talking about money

2:49 The super-successful entrepreneurs' approach to financial discussions

5:30 The importance of checking in on your finances and forecasts

6:55 How your forecast helps you pinpoint where to invest in your business

8:03 Building your financial discussion inner circle

9:33 Businesses that have a revenue plan in place tend to grow faster than those that don't – build yours!

11:30 Getting intentional with your plans

13:30 Is your profit where you want it to be?

16:25 How often should you be looking at your expenses?

Thank you for listening! Want more information and tips? Visit http://www.niceops.com and follow Amber on twitter: @AmberMcCue

Mentioned in this episode:

• Business Brilliant: Surprising Lessons from the Greatest Self-Made Business Icons by Lewis Schiff
• Forecast Template
• Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine by Mike Michalowicz
• Personality Test

Why did you decide that you wanted to start your own business?

You were passionate about something – that's a given! But chances are, you were also excited about the opportunities that entrepreneurship can bring you, like the freedoms that you gain when you're not chained to a desk from 9-5 in someone else's office. The opportunity to carve out a life for yourself that based on your own dreams – that's something that I like to call the 'millionaire feeling'.

Being an entrepreneur means having the freedom to make a LOT of choices in your life.

But what's guiding your choices? How are you approaching your life and work?

Are you operating at your highest levels of joy??

In this podcast, I get a little personal – I want to share with you a little bit about my own entrepreneurial journey (just between us!).

It took a lot of time, hard work, and tough choices for me to move from the 9-5 corporate path to where I am today. Trust me, I learned a lot of lessons along the way!

In this episode, I talk about:

• How to keep your eye on the prize and figure out exactly what "the prize" means for you in the first place! (If you don't know what "success" really looks like for you, how are you going to chase it??)

• How to stay in touch with yourself and stay aligned on your path – even when you can't find your map!

• How to shift your approach so that you can operate at your highest levels of joy

No matter how dedicated or determined you are, life ALWAYS finds a way to knock you off course. I want to help you develop a mental GPS system that will nudge you back onto the path to your best self!

Highlights:

0:20 The big opportunities we have as Modern CEOs

1:58 How do you start succeeding and living your dream today?

3:08 The 'Millionaire Feeling'

14:22 Stay in touch with yourself and keep yourself aligned with your path

16:00 We have choices in how we approach things

16:43 Learn how to operate at your highest levels of joy!

17:39 Figure out where your ideal day starts

20:02 Your action step for this week!