Promote Yourself to CEO | Small Business Strategy for Women Entrepreneurs

Say YES! to a full year of business mastery inside The CEO Collective.

Ready to fully implement and integrate our proven 90 Day CEO Operating System into your business?

During this live Open House, Racheal and our incredible mentor team will share an in-depth look at the experience working directly with us inside The CEO Collective and answer your biggest questions about taking the next step with us towards being a fully supported CEO.

Watch the video version on-demand.

Apply to The CEO Collective.

The CEO Collective is a 12-month immersive mentorship meets mastermind experience for women entrepreneurs who are ready to sustainably scale and step into the role of CEO. Applications are currently open for the next cohort until Friday February 23rd, 2024!

>>> Click Here to Apply

CEO doesn’t mean Chief Everything Officer!

When we start our businesses, it’s a one-woman show. We are the marketing team, the sales department, and the bookkeeper. We are used to rolling up our sleeves and just figuring it all out!

But as the saying goes “What got you here won’t get you there!”

Continuing to be the Chief Everything Officer will not only make you the bottleneck in your business but will create a ceiling that limits your growth potential.

In this live training, we’ll share the top mindset shifts and CEO habits that our CEOs embraced as they said yes to building a more sustainable business, 90 days at a time.

Watch the video version on-demand.

Apply to The CEO Collective.

The CEO Collective is a 12-month immersive mentorship meets mastermind experience for women entrepreneurs who are ready to sustainably scale and step into the role of CEO. Applications are currently open for the next cohort until Friday February 23rd, 2024!

>>> Click Here to Apply

For one week only, we are sharing the live 90 Day CEO Sustainable Success Series with you here on the podcast!

For small business owners ready to grow – what comes first – growth at all costs or stabilize then scale?

It’s easy to believe that more revenue solves all business problems. But growth at all costs creates more chaos and leaves the business owner feeling out of control.

Research shows that small businesses fail to grow when the business owner feels out of control.

In the first live training, we are diving deep into the research behind the sustainable scale stack – a set of proven tools that help business owners regain control over their business.

Watch the video version on-demand.

Apply to The CEO Collective.

The CEO Collective is a 12-month immersive mentorship meets mastermind experience for women entrepreneurs who are ready to sustainably scale and step into the role of CEO. Applications are currently open for the next cohort until Friday February 23rd, 2024!

>>> Click Here to Apply

Entrepreneurs earning 10x more aren’t working 10x harder. They are working smarter.

Hustle culture has many small business owners convinced that if only they could just do MORE, that their business results would explode.

This mindset has trapped many in the weeds of their business, constantly looking for the next silver bullet tip or trick that will explode their growth. After a year or two – they are burned out and stressed out.

In this live training, we are walking through our research backed and client proven 90 Day CEO Operating System®️ growth framework for more ease and less stress in your business.

Watch the video version on-demand.

Apply to The CEO Collective.

The CEO Collective is a 12-month immersive mentorship meets mastermind experience for women entrepreneurs who are ready to sustainably scale and step into the role of CEO. Applications are currently open for the next cohort until Friday February 23rd, 2024!

>>> Click Here to Apply

This week, I went live on Instagram to share a little Rach Rant that I knew I needed to share with you on the podcast.

I've been hearing from so many small business owners who are looking for real support but when they bring their legitimate business challenges to the so called experts - they are told that the reason they are stuck is mindset.

Mindset it important! But there are very real challenges that we all are facing that impact our small businesses. If 2023 was a challenging year, then listen in!

On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
00:00 Rachel Cook challenges mindset struggles for small businesses.

03:09 Challenges faced by women micro business owners.

06:56 Limited availability drives up costs for working families.

11:35 Global pressures can't be offset by mindset.

13:11 Consumer behavior shifts impacting small business owners.

18:45 Get proactive with marketing to boost sales.

20:19 Be wary of misleading marketing messages on social media.

Are you running your business… or is your business running you?

It’s time to get your business in order so you can step into your role as a confident, in control CEO! Join Racheal Cook for this free 4-part training series February 12th-15th to sustainably scale your business with more ease and less stress.

RSVP at http://www.theceocollective.com/successseries

It’s one thing to have the right people on your team. But do you have them in the right roles?

Assessment tools like StrengthsFinder (now officially called CliftonStrengths®) can help you not just learn more about yourself and your team members but also give you the information you need to help put them in a better position for success. Specifically, StrengthsFinder helps you discover your top talents so you can maximize your personal and professional potential.

CEO Collective member La Tondra Murray has over a decade of experience with CliftonStrengths® and uses it as part of her strengths-based leadership coaching to help established entrepreneurs create business results with a lean team. She’s helped more than a thousand individuals and over 40 teams (including my own) in assessing their talent, work-life integration, and emerging leadership.

In this episode of the Promote Yourself to CEO podcast, you’ll learn about how using the CliftonStrengths® assessment tool can help you truly set your team members up for success. La Tondra will teach you how each of the four domains of StrengthsFinder can express itself in your role as leader, and you’ll even get a peek into what she discovered about me and members of my business team.

On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:

6:14 - How did La Tondra first start working with strengths-based leadership as a powerful piece of her work?

10:32 - La Tondra explains what strengths are (specific to the CliftonStrengths assessment).

13:01 - La Tondra reveals what stands out to her the most when looking at others using their leadership strengths.

17:04 - What does La Tondra look for when assessing how members of a business team work together?

22:37 - La Tondra discusses what StrengthsFinder isn’t, the importance of all types of strengths, and pivoting from one domain to another.

28:07 - What are the four domains of the CliftonStrengths assessment, and how can they show up in leadership?

38:12 - La Tondra talks about her delightful discovery as a CEO Collective member for the last six months.

Mentioned in How to Leverage StrengthsFinder to Be a Better Team Leader In Your Business with La Tondra Murray

• La Tondra Murray
• What’s Your CEO Style? Quiz
• StrengthsFinder/CliftonStrengths® Online Talent Assessment
• The CEO Collective
• Racheal on Instagram and TikTok
• Rate and review on Apple Podcasts

You have all kinds of personality assessment tools available to use. You’ve probably even taken some of the tests like Myers-Briggs, StrengthFinders, or the Enneagram.

But what about a tool that can help you assess and build your team in the best way possible? That’s where the Kolbe A™ Index comes in! It’s a tool that small business owners can use to understand their natural instincts in problem-solving and decision-making.

So, how does it work, and how can you implement it for yourself and your team? Kendra Tillman is a former client and founder of StrongHer.Me Coaching & Consulting specializes in using this system so that you understand your natural strengths as well as those of your employees. And she’s here to tell you how!

A system like this is essential when building a strong company culture. In this continuation of our culture series on the Promote Yourself to CEO podcast, you’ll learn how the Kolbe system works and how to use it to build, support, and lead a better business team.

On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:

8:02 - I originally took the Kolbe test in 2005 and still have the printout. How did Kendra first start working with this assessment system?

13:01 - Kendra explains what you can use Kolbe for as an entrepreneur who’s growing a business and leading a team.

16:39 - When you first get your Kolbe report, you see all these numbers, colors, and other information. What does it all mean?

21:35 - Kendra discusses how you can use the system to hire people or figure out who on your existing team needs to come in and support you.

28:46 - What do you need to pay special attention to when using Kolbe to evaluate potential hires for a spot on your business team?

31:53 - Kendra demonstrates how this assessment system can change the dynamics within a team.

34:55 - How does following the results of your Kolbe assessment affect the energy you put into your business? Kendra uses my Quick Start strength as an example.

About Kendra Tillman

Kendra Tillman is the founder of StrongHer.Me Coaching & Consulting. Her company’s mission empowers rising women leaders to RECLAIM their authentic voice, OWN their leadership potential, and ACTIVATE the courage to live their calling.

• StrongHer.me
• ‘Activate Your A’ Mini Session

Mentioned in How the Kolbe A™ Index Helps You Better Support and Lead Your Business Team with Kendra Tillman

• Kolbe A™ Index
• The CEO Collective
• Racheal on Instagram and TikTok
• Rate and review on Apple Podcasts

You’ve seen and heard about it from the hiring room to the Hollywood screen. For the last few years, every workplace imaginable has been discussing and trying to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion by implementing DEI practices in their company.

But Mia Henry, founder and CEO of Freedom Lifted, sees a flaw in the way these concepts often get applied. Her approach involves pioneering innovative work, and she has lots of experience working with those committed to promoting justice and equity.

In this episode of the Promote Yourself to CEO podcast, we’re continuing our work and business culture series with Mia. You’ll learn how to cultivate a sense of belonging within your team by using a more effective way of applying these concepts in your small business. Mia will reveal what shared power looks like, why it’s important to have it, and the process she uses to help others begin to do DEI work differently.

On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:

7:03 - Why are diversity, equity, and inclusion so important within the culture of a company? Mia explains from her unique perspective.

12:42 - Mia discusses what social power and equity are and how they relate to shared power within team dynamics or management of organizations.

20:07 - Many still aren’t ready to have this conversation, so what is necessary for people to be ready to do this work? And how does Mia help them start to tackle it?

23:12 - Issues still arise when those with marginalized identities gain positional power. Why? And why is privilege not necessarily a bad thing?

25:23 - We talk about the two stakeholders I think small businesses really need to consider in this and how too many businesses approach it instead.

32:33 - How is this kind of social justice and movement work similar to doing trauma work? Mia also discusses a critical (and sometimes revolutionary) part of her work.

38:21 - Mia gives some examples of people she looks up to who are leading from this new paradigm of shared power.

41:11 - We share why we have hope for younger generations to make a difference, and how our generation can help.

45:08 - Mia has been part of The CEO Collective for a year. What has happened to her business since joining?

Mentioned in Build a Business Culture That You and Your Employees Love with Tiffany Slater

• Freedom Lifted
• The Shared Power Podcast
• “Redefining Leadership with Deborah Harrington” | The Shared Power Podcast
• The CEO Collective
• “How to Re-Align Your Business With Your Values with Erica Courdae”
• “Values Matter: Taking a Real Stand In Your Business with Erica Courdae”
• Racheal on Instagram and TikTok
• Rate and review on Apple Podcasts

Are you a small business owner who is hiring more employees and building a real team? Then it’s time to start thinking at an entirely new level about how this will change the game for your company. And you need to have a culture in place that helps you attract and retain the talent you want onboard.

In the last few years, we’ve seen huge changes in the way people work. In fact, the pandemic accelerated changes that were already underway. These changes very much revolve around company culture and how that affects its employees, something that the human resources department of every corporation has a direct hand in.

Dr. Tiffany Slater is very much a product of this change. She has over 20 years of experience as an HR professional but had to leave a toxic workplace situation. Now, she specializes in helping other busy entrepreneurs take the lead on their human resource needs. And she’s here today to help me kick off a new podcast series on business culture.

In this episode of the Promote Yourself to CEO podcast, you’ll learn how to get really honest about the type of business you want to have now that it’s no longer just about you. Tiffany will teach you how you can start building a more intentional culture for your small business that’s enjoyable and effective for you and your employees.

On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:

4:27 - The dichotomy between the old and new way of work management has changed in the last few years. How does it impact small business owners?

12:09 - Tiffany explains what being a fractional human resources executive means for small business owners and reveals the tipping point for managing the HR side of a company.

15:55 - What does it mean to have a culture in your business? Every organization has one, even if they don’t plan for it.

17:59 - As a solopreneur, your company’s values are your values. But what happens with those values as you build your team?

23:23 - When you’re not intentionally thinking about your company’s culture, it tends to create one by accident. Tiffany describes the challenges she sees in those businesses.

27:45 - How is creating a healthy, functional dynamic for your team within your business similar to hosting a party? Tiffany reveals the two things that bring it all together.

31:22 - If you want to attract and retain talent in your business, you must build a company culture that does this.

Mentioned in Build a Business Culture That You and Your Employees Love with Tiffany Slater

• HR TailorMade
• Free HR Strategy Session with Tiffany Slater
• The CEO Retreat
• The CEO Collective
• “How to Re-Align Your Business With Your Values with Erica Courdae”
• “Values Matter: Taking a Real Stand In Your Business with Erica Courdae”
• The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker
• Racheal on Instagram and TikTok
• Rate and review on Apple Podcasts

Do you often have to throw your 90-day business plan out of the window because events come up that throw a wrench in the works?

Over the past few years, pandemics, social justice movements, and wars have made the world feel more chaotic than ever. And that impacts you as a small business owner, as do the things just going on in your personal life.

So, how do you bridge that gap between your quarterly plans and yearly goals? In this episode of the Promote Yourself to CEO podcast, you’ll learn how to take your goals for the next year and turn them into an achievable plan. I’ll teach you the difference between process and project goals, the critical systems you need to make it all work, and examples of where you might need to shore up your business.

On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:

5:19 - What type of goals are you setting for your business? There’s a difference between process goals and project goals.

10:43 - Many small business owners are doing project goals they think will grow their business. Ask yourself these two questions when it comes to your goals.

15:00 - Is your business leaking anywhere? Do an audit to see where you need to plug the gaps.

22:35 - Make sure you have these three systems dialed in for all your offers so that you (and your team) succeed without burnout.

26:50 - What can happen if you don’t implement these systems in your business before adding new things?

29:54 - Here’s an example of a project versus process goal within my business. It enables me to take this next step with The CEO Collective I’ve been working on behind the scenes.

Mentioned in How to Bridge the Gap Between Your 90-Day and 12-Month Plans

• Plan Your Best Year Ever Challenge
• 90-Day CEO Operating System
• The CEO Collective
• Racheal on Instagram and TikTok
• Rate and review on Apple Podcasts