When the Founder Has an Unexpected Personal Issue | Ep #92

Hey, I'm Chris Plackey, host of the Lead you'd Team podcast. Running a million dollar business is not easy. And whether you're just getting started with building your team or you've been at this for a while, I'm going to bring you honest, specific and clear practices you can use right now, today to improve how well you lead your team. Let's go ahead and get.

Foreign.

Well, hello, hello, welcome. Welcome to the podcast. This week I want to talk with you about when things don't go as planned. So of course I'm recording this.

At the end of October 2020, which of course has been the year where nothing has gone as planned. So like we're just gonna, I'm just adding to my own list. But I had this really interesting feedback from my team and it really got me thinking and so I just think it's an important part of my mess to message to you. Although I don't find it messy, I just think it's important to share. So I'm going to. About this time last year I was in the midst of sort of pre celebrating my almost 50 birthday, which is in December. I had just finished my annual Hawaii retreat that I lead for amazing women and this will be the first year I haven't done that. I also was planning and getting excited for a family trip that my family took with my in laws to Belize. We went for Thanksgiving and it was quite a trip, quite an amazing experience. Belizean Thanksgiving dinner, so good, there was lobster. I'm just gonna say it was so good. Then I came home and a very dear girlfriend took me and my husband and another dear friend and her husband and some of her family to Four Seasons Resort in Punta Mita and we stayed in a four bedroom villa on the friggin ocean. It was unparalleled experience. I had this beautiful birthday party on the beach. I, I'll never forget it, it was, it was insane. And then shortly thereafter Christmas, I went to Grand Cayman for a week by myself. So let's just say that last year at this time I was staring down an incredible coming year with all sorts of fun celebrations. And then of course by March, you know, you all know what happened. Well, unfortunately I've also had an unexpected health issue happen to me. And so that's going to mean that I need to have a procedure and I'm going to be unavailable and out of the office for probably at least two weeks. I'm hoping it'll only be two, but we're going to plan for at least three. Hopefully not more. I don't think it'll be more. And so I, you know, I've been working very hard. I don't say that like I. I think I would say we have been working very hard as a small but mighty team to build in all of our infrastructure. Everybody has job descriptions. Everybody knows what their roles are. We have a much clearer plan for how we launch our business and do our business and support our clients. And so as this all started to unfold, for me personally, you know, I realized I'm not worried about being out of the office. I just kept being grateful to these women who are on my team for how capable they are. And so we were talking about how I was going to notify clients, because I, of course, just rolled out a new program. Right? That's the way it works. And I had some concerns about how we could make that right for them while I was out. And I wanted to make sure that we communicated it. So I was compiling my message. How did I want to tell everyone and what did I want to say? And. And Camille on my team offered me this insight that ironically didn't occur to me. And she said, you know, you are proving how to CEO. You are a living, current example of what happens when you do know how to build a team, when you do know how to create the structure for your team, when you do create team, the culture of team, that you could walk away and know it will all be handled, that we all have your back, that we. That there is a plan and it's handled. And it's like I said, it was kind of funny because it didn't occur to me. I was. Because to me, it was so like, oh, I was just. I've just been so grateful. And from her perspective, she's like, no, you built that. You're modeling what you're teaching your clients. Because, of course, so many of you, you female entrepreneur types, you don't have systems to help you. You don't have the team, you have people, but you're still working tirelessly. And so it's an incredibly important question. Could you unexpectedly have to step out of your business.

And it would still be okay? Now, the truth is, even if you don't have anything in place, I know everything will always be okay. But what I would love for you is that you really could just, like, turn off the phone, turn off your slack, not check your email, know that your clients or your customers are supported, that your future revenue will, whatever your model is, is on the radar, right? Because that's the other big thing that happens if the founder has to step out is sometimes it just stops the growth. Do you know that all of that could happen? And if you're like most of the women that I know, especially when they first meet me, the answer to that is no. So what we do, of course, as women, is we put ourselves at the bottom and we don't take care of ourselves. So if I didn't have all this set up, I can tell you what would happen is I would have this procedure and then like three, four days in, I would try and figure out how I could keep working and I wouldn't heal, I wouldn't recover the way that I know that I need to. Because the truth is, 50 kind of sucked. I'm going to be honest, like, pre 50 was awesome, slightly post like six weeks in, but the rest of 50 was a terrible, crappy year. So. And it's when this is the capstone.

So 51 needs to be amazing and I need to be strong and resilient and have lots of energy because we gotta go. Because there's, you know, if I can tell you, man, we started how to CEO four or five weeks ago, and these women are.

So amazing. I. I get to do. I teach every week live, but that. And we interact a little. But then I get to do the office hours calls, and I get to, like, talk to all of them and coach them and answer questions and advise and what a brilliant, brilliant group of women. And for me, it's so rewarding to watch this slow but consistent confidence with every new thing they learn. Like, okay, wait, like, we had a client say to Michelle last week, after a couple weeks of kind of talking about the same thing, she sat on the call and she went, oh, I get it. That is everything. Because it's not enough, you guys, to build a successful business. Are you building a successful life? Are you building a life you want to live?

That almost, like, makes me want to cry when I say it. I think that is the most important gift. I feel like it's one of the gifts I. I believe my work in the world does is it changes women's relationship with their business so that they can savor their success instead of drowning it. So we don't know what's going to happen to us tomorrow. We don't know what's going to happen to us later today. But your business is your legacy. And if you have a team, this is how I think anyway, I don't want my team to immediately not have a job if I can't be there. I would love to be building a business that could eventually exist without me. Now, I like it, and I want to keep being in it, so I'm not going anywhere. But I know that what I do is less about me and more about the lessons that I teach and the body of work that I've created and the philosophy that the work is grounded in. And I believe that has a legacy to it. But I wouldn't be able to do that if I didn't build the team to support it. And I want you to understand that I know how hard that is. And I know that you have to kiss a lot of not great employees before you find princess or princess charming employee. And you have to have a process to follow so that you're consistent with that. And you have to have difficult conversations with people that you love. I just coached someone yesterday who has to fire a best friend.

This person just isn't doing the job anymore. Not. Not out of. Because they're terrible. Just that the business has outgrown their skill set. So the process of this growth is not simple, and it isn't painless. I was coaching someone else last night, and I was yelling at her. She didn't. All she wanted to do was fight to keep her problems, and she didn't even see it. When will it get easier? She kept saying to me, when can I stop being so involved in everything? And there's a lot that comes with that question. One of the first steps is building the support system for the business, which is the team. So, as I said, I'm recording this at the end of October. This will probably air several weeks from now. So by the time this airs, everything will be all done, which will be so fun. And if you want help and if you're ready, I want to support you. I want you to know you don't have to be drowning. There's a lot of women I'm coaching right now who are wicked successful because of the pandemic, because the market shifted so fast, and what they offer is driving people in droves to what they do. They are so unprepared. Not for. Not because that's their fault. Just. It's just the way the world works. And so there's a lot of you listening to this that I think actually really are drowning in your own success. You don't know where to start. How do I make time to actually hire people? How do I even do that? I don't have time to write a job description. And of course, my position on that is you don't not have time, but you can create time if you work with me in this program, because then it's your dedicated time. This is when I do this work. And in 12 weeks, your CEO blueprint will be built. So the next one is going to start at the end of January. We currently are putting people on the waitlist. All you have to do is go to how to CEO Join.

And you will be able to add your name. And we will be making special little maybe offers for people who are on that wait list. So you might want to be on there soon.

To see what comes to you as a treat if you're on the list. All right. Okay, everyone. So look at your life. Look at your business. Ask yourself, could my business absorb my unexpected absence? And if not, why not? If it's related to team, you know what to do. If it's already designed, that it could. This is good news. All right, I'll talk with you again soon.

To claim your complimentary download, just go to thewomenwhoboss.com that's the womenwhoboss.com One more thing before you go. In a world of digital courses and online content, I like to work with my clients live. Because I know that when you have someone you can work with, ask questions of, and meet with, you're so much more likely to get the success that you want. So head on over to howtoceolive.com to learn more about our very exciting, very exclusive program just for female entrepreneurs. We'll see you there.