Ep. 39 Are you BEING the CEO in your business? (with special guest Donna Dube)

Donna Dube, Director of Operations and the mind behind the CEO Amplify podcast shares her wealth of knowledge of what she sees behind the scenes with business owners.  In this episode, we challenge you to approach the way you view leadership by refining processes that not only streamline your company's operations but gift you with more time, freedom and joy.   



In this episode we discuss:

• Giving our power away and not owning that we are the CEO
• Should'ing ourselves
• Roles vs. responsibilities
• Why we procrastinate
• Letting go of control
• Making play and rest a priority
• Always running advice through the lens of your Human Design (strategy/authority)

You can connect with Donna on her website here (https://ceoamplify.ca) or listen to her podcast here (CEO Amplify | Small business operations, time blocking, setting priorities, business growth strategies on Apple Podcasts)



Donna shares her CEO Power Hour Playbook here, (https://ceoamplify.ca/ceo-power-hour) to empower you to maximize profits, optimize operations, and make impactful decisions that drive long-term success.


Books mentioned in this episode:
The Soul Sourced Entrepreneur by Christine Kane

Compassionate financial mentor and guide to female entrepreneurs so that they have peace of mind and fun with their money in order to live life now and in the future.

To join the waitlist for Grow the CEO cohort click here.

Generate a Life Well Lived website

Generate a Life Well Lived YouTube Channel

New to Human Design? You can receive your Human Design chart here

As always, thanks for listening.

From my soul to yours.
Erin

Transcript

Erin Gray: 0:00

You're listening to Generate a Life Well Live podcast. I'm your friend and confidant, erin Gray. I created this podcast to have a place where I could express and vulnerably share my insights with you regarding money, self-development, parenting and travel. I hope you enjoy the journey where I share everything I know and am continuing to learn along the way, as I honor my heart's desires while inspiring and encouraging you to do the same. Okay, hey, hey, my friends, I have Donna Dubey on the podcast today and super excited to talk to you about all the things, but she is the director of operations and also the host of CEO Amplify podcast. So, first and foremost, thanks for giving your time and coming on the podcast and having a conversation with me.

Donna Dube: 0:45

Well, thank you for the opportunity. I'm so looking forward to it.

Erin Gray: 0:49

Yeah. So when people you know, a lot of times we're like what do you do? And then there's these big words that come out of people's mouths and it's like okay, what exactly? Like layman's terms, like what exactly is director of operations?

Donna Dube: 1:01

Yes, good, good, Thanks for asking. So I like to think of our business like a house. So the front of our house is, you know, we've got nice grass, we've got the flowers, it looks good. That's our visibility, that's our marketing. When you think about your business, that's the front end of what people see your website, you know your social content, all that good stuff. The back end of the house is, you know, that trap door where the dog might come in and out and the kid's muddy boots, right. That's your operations side, that's your internal side that you're not showing to the rest of the world and that's where I like to hang out.

Donna Dube: 1:33

So what happens back there? Well, we've got team management, we've got hiring, we've got sometimes firing, we've got project management. We've got finances in terms of where are we and what are our goals. We're not replacing a bookkeeper by any means or an accountant by any means, but just let's have a look at those numbers and where are we, where do we need to be? And then data and metrics so, as we're running our business, what things are working, what are we getting in return on investment on, and then the systems and the processes to make it run smoothly, right. So we want those rinse and repeat systems that are happening in the background. Everybody knows what they're doing and we're rowing the boat in the same direction. So what I really like to do is focus with the business leader on three areas, three T's I like to call it their time, their talent and their tactics.

Erin Gray: 2:28

Say more about that.

Donna Dube: 2:29

Yeah, so really, what that is it is how can we leverage those three things within your business to grow to that next level, whatever that is for you, right? So if you're an entrepreneur who's like, oh, I'm drowning in the work, I'm constantly being buzzed by my team, I don't know what to do next. There's so many things Then let's look at what things you're doing. Get some things off your plate whether that's handing to a team member, delegating, automating or stopping, whatever those things are right so that you have some more time freedom. Because the truth of the matter is, when we look at the evidence, most of us got into business for time freedom. Yeah, most of us don't have it.

Erin Gray: 3:11

No, and I think you and I talked about this offline. It's like I don't know where I read. Or someone says it's like entrepreneurs are the only ones that'll leave like a nine to five to be able to work 80 hours and get paid like half as much as what? Right? Like that's not the goal. Right it is for the like you're saying, it is for the time freedom it is. And then I think so many of us, we, a lot of us, have come from a corporate right nine to five and so we have that employee mentality.

Erin Gray: 3:36

And then we take that employee mentality with us, versus, okay, I do have to be an employee in the beginning, right, those are the things that I like doing and I also have to be the business owner in regards to like thinking about my business and how do I want to run my business and what feels good and, like you're saying, setting boundaries and things of that sort. You know, when would you suggest or when do you typically notice? You know, like, if you're a new business owner just getting started, and some of the things you're describing aren't necessarily well, I think I mean for sure time and boundaries, like that's for everyone, right, yeah, but like, kind of what is the area of business owners that you like to like your sweet spot or like what you you know when you like to work with them?

Donna Dube: 4:20

Yes, yes, so definitely someone who's got an established business, and what I mean by that is that they've got an offer, service, a program, whatever it is, and they're selling right, there's some momentum there. They can see they're reaching their audience and they're getting some return on investment. They want to take that to the next level, and so I'm not real picky about you must have this revenue goal, because you know revenue, as you well know, is just one number and it's not the bottom line, right, yeah? So you know we have to go beyond the revenue, and so I don't like to focus just on revenue, because there's so much happening behind the scenes underneath that. So it's more about okay, I've got this offer, it's working. Now I want to make it, you know, work more for me and remove myself from the day today.

Donna Dube: 5:06

Yeah, I will say, though, if you feel like, okay, I'm not quite there yet, there's still things you can do to be the business leader.

Donna Dube: 5:14

And so I like to encourage everyone to think of themselves as a CEO of their business. And I know some people now are like CEO, I'm not a CEO like you think of the big businesses. Yeah, you're not that same CEO, but you are the CEO of your business, even if you're a solopreneur, because you are the one responsible for the vision and the strategy, right, where is this business going in the next year, three years, five years? That can only come from you, and hiring a team of 15 is not going to bring that vision. That vision and strategy has to come from you, no matter if you're by yourself or you have a team. So I always encourage everyone to have some time to work on the business. Put on that CEO hat, do some reviewing and reflecting and looking at those things so that you're in the pattern and in the habit of thinking of your business that way. Then, as you grow, that continues with you.

Erin Gray: 6:12

Oh, I like have full body chills. I'm like, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, because it's not a fake, it until you make it. It's like you are like reality is you are the CEO. Like you had a vision, you had this idea, you created it, you birthed it, you brought it to life, right?

Erin Gray: 6:29

And in order for us to continue to grow and evolve, is we have to spend that time, Like I have it on Mondays on my calendar. It's like CEO time, right, and it's like I get myself a latte and I do my QuickBooks and like I envision and like what's really working and what did I love about last week. And it's just like spending and it doesn't have to be in the beginning, it doesn't have to be this huge thing, right. Like it doesn't have to be all these hours, right, it could just be maybe a couple of 15, 20 minutes here or there a couple of times a week where you actually, like are reflecting and giving yourself time and space to think about what do I love right now, what's not working out so well, what do I need to make some changes on?

Erin Gray: 7:16

So how often, since you've seen so many entrepreneurs? How often? Because this is something that I've really been paying attention to and notice a lot of that. Entrepreneurs give their power away to our coaches, to our mentors, to our accountants, bookkeepers, all of the people that we hire to help us, and so do you see, a lot of times when they come to you and they are overwhelmed, they are so overworked for lack of a better word that they've kind of gotten off course of their own values and why they started the business. And yeah, I mean what has been your experience with that?

Donna Dube: 7:54

Yes, for sure, and I think I always approach a consulting partnership as just that. It's a partnership, right? And so you are still the owner of the business. You're coming to me for my strategy and my brains, but the end result and the end decision is yours to make right. And so if we discuss scenario A and scenario B and you go away and you're like, no, I really wanna do B and I think A is the best one, okay, we're doing B because it's your business right, and so don't give that away.

Donna Dube: 8:26

As you say, the people that you bring on to mentor you, to help you, are providing suggestions based on their experience, but you still have to go with what's gonna work for you, because if someone suggested to me you need to get on TikTok and do more reels and make more videos and do some dancing, like that's not my thing, that's a no Right, right, right, that's just not my thing, but I know it's other peoples right. So I think, as a coach or consultant, you have to be having an open mind to the fact that the person you're dealing with is different from you, and so what you intrinsically might think is the right thing, it might be different for them and so being open to that and, as the business owner, also not sticking yourself in a box. How many times have we heard people say well, my coach said I should do dot dot dot. Right, but does dot dot dot feel good to you? Is it in alignment with you? Have you tried it for three to six months and looked at the data?

Donna Dube: 9:25

Because that's another trap we fall into is we'll try the tactic but then we don't go look at the metrics and see well, is it actually working for me, right? What is it? I'm putting my time into. Whatever that strategy is, I wanna make sure I'm getting return on investment. Or, if I have a team and they're putting time in, I wanna make sure we're still getting return on investment. So, again, that CEO time is for reviewing and reflecting, and part of that is looking at your numbers. No, you don't have to go crazy in 25 different software systems to find those things, but there's some key metrics that you're gonna wanna be looking at. Say, okay, we're spending time on this, we try this. We started in January. It's now the end of March. Where are we Right? Are we enjoying doing it and is it working?

Erin Gray: 10:10

Yeah, you said a couple of things. I want to go back to One. This is why I think for me, it's been so important of learning about my human design and learning how I'm supposed to make decisions, because here we go back to giving our power away to other people, versus how do we actually make decisions? And what feels good in our body and, like you said, in the alignment, in the honoring of like, this feels true to me, this feels good. And so giving our power away, I think it comes down to.

Erin Gray: 10:39

Sometimes, I think it's like we might subconsciously do that, because then we don't have to be the ones responsible right At the end of the day, right, like, oh well, so and so said I should do that, versus no, the buck always stops with us. Right, yes, and taking that responsibility and ownership and I know it might feel heavy for some people and also, like you, chose to be in business right, like, that is part of being a business owner. And so just noticing, when we want to outsource our power to other people, is that coming from a place of like, I don't want to be the one holding the bag if it doesn't work out the way that I thought it would you know, yes, and all of it works right, like TikTok works, instagram works, facebook works, blogging works, youtube, like, all of it works.

Erin Gray: 11:26

If you come from it with the energy of that's what I want to do, right, and I think we think there's a right or a wrong way versus, like you said, tiktok might work for that person that loves being on TikTok, but for me and you, we're not TikTokers, and that's and it probably won't work because we're coming from the energy of like I don't want to, or we're coming from the energy of shooting ourselves versus no, that doesn't. That doesn't excite me, it doesn't light me up, it's not something that I want to do, and so you know, being mindful, I think for business owners of like, anytime we hear the word should like, that's like red flag, right, like you said that like, what should I do? It's like no, what do we want to do? What do we want to try?

Erin Gray: 12:08

What feels good, what feels expansive, like moving, moving towards something versus moving a weight, like a fear base, right, yeah. Or, or a close, a closeness, versus an expansion, evolving, like this would be fun. Or let's try this. And you also said, like numbers and it's just like that's just data, right. But we I'm just so curious like, how many, how many of your clients like attach all of this story and this meeting, something that happened right Versus just like, okay, this is just information. How do I want to run with it and make new decisions?

Donna Dube: 12:44

Yes, yes. And the truth of the matter is, when we come from that mindset of this numbers or these numbers are going to help me make a more informed decision, it becomes so much easier, right? Remove that emotion and let's just be objective. So I'll give you an example. I was working with a client once and she was selling courses to young people fresh out of university, and so in her mind she's like I need to be on all the social media channels because that's what young, very young people are. They're everywhere, right. And so she had a social media assistant who was working I forget how many hours for her, but she was at capacity, she couldn't do anymore.

Donna Dube: 13:20

And so the business leader was saying well, maybe I need to hire another social media assistant, but the budget so she was wavering in that, in that state. So she's asking me what should I do? So immediately I'm like well, I want to know the numbers, right, what kind of budget do we need to pay for the second social media assistant? But, more importantly than that, of all the content we're putting out there right now, what's resonating? Yeah, where are people clicking and following through on the action that we asked them to do?

Donna Dube: 13:49

Good, so we go back and Google Analytics, we take a look and, surprisingly, two channels really stood out. Facebook stood out in terms of getting just brand awareness, but Instagram was the channel for her where people were actually taking action. The other channels barely any traction. Yeah, so when she sees that, she's like, oh, light bulb moment, I don't need another social media assistant, we can focus on Facebook and Instagram, dump the rest and we're rolling right out to worry about my budget and let's concentrate on where it's making a difference. So that's where I'm seeing those small, looking at those small numbers. But it makes it so much easier to make that decision.

Erin Gray: 14:28

Yeah, it's so fascinating because our brains always want to go to more immediately, right, like we need to do more. We need to like have more, we need to hire more, versus what, if we actually, like you're saying, we just look at what's really working well and let's just pour jet fuel on what's working really well, right, it's not sexy, right, it may not be sexy to most, right, and I don't think business is really like business is kind of boring, right, like you don't. You don't want like drama business, right, but you know, when you like you're saying how important and this is with you, know your business, with your money, like it's just information, right, if we can just look at it and then we can look at it from a very neutral place and be like, okay, now how do I want to, you know, make a decision moving forward, what feels good? Like you're saying it's just like how much you know, time, money, energy did you save her, in a way, by just looking at the numbers, because she might have just gone off and just hired, and then now I, you know I'm paying something to that. I don't need to pay. You know all of this stuff, right, verses.

Erin Gray: 15:32

And I think this is also important too, because we don't live in this type of culture. Is slowing down, right? Oh yes, slowing down to actually take a look and see. Like you said, let's just look at the numbers. Like the immediate response for most people is I need to get into action, I need to do something.

Erin Gray: 15:50

But, how often do business owners just need to slow down and pause, yeah, and kind of like be for a moment and kind of so.

Donna Dube: 16:00

So true, erin, right, because we're getting this thing where we have to do the next, we have to do the next, we have to do the next, and sometimes I say you have to slow down, to speed up, oh yeah. It sounds funny, I know, but slowest pro is what I say.

Donna Dube: 16:16

Right, right, right. So we have to slow down, get those foundations in place and know where we're going, right. Otherwise it's like we're turning on the car and we're driving. We don't have our GPS. Yeah, we don't know where we're going, we don't know the destination, we don't know how we're going to get there, but we're rolling, yeah, right.

Donna Dube: 16:35

And so we can save so much time, energy, like you're saying, stress all of it can be reduced if we just slow down and say, okay, how can I simplify what's really working? Well, what do I want to concentrate on and let go of the rest? Yeah, right. And I know it's hard to do, it's hard to let go, right.

Donna Dube: 16:54

I know once I was working with a client and she was wrestling again with two offers and which one is going to be the one that's going to go ahead. And we have to take a step back and say, okay, what do you enjoy delivering? Yes, right. Which offer really do you enjoy delivering? And what's getting you that return on investment in terms of profit? Because some offers we may really enjoy delivering, but we're not actually getting much of a return on it because maybe we didn't price it right or we're not looking at it from that perspective and so just taking a step back and saying you don't have to have six, seven offers that complicates your business and makes it so much harder, right, so sort of reduce to be able to simplify and really hone in on what you enjoy and what's working.

Erin Gray: 17:41

You said slowing down and then you said, oh, it just reminds me. Here we go back to human design. Like all the five energy types, we all need to pause Right, like, first of those are you that are manifestors, that are listening and you're like, well, I initiate, yes, but a lot of times there is a pause first before you go and take action and do the thing Right. And so, really, like, what Don is saying is like that, slowing down.

Erin Gray: 18:05

And I think this ultimately comes back to like how do we like, how is our being, like our body on a daily basis? Like, are we in this survival rush based state, right? Or are we in this creative, relaxed, you know flow? And I think that the more that we can tap into ourselves, tap into our bodies, be connected with ourselves, versus here we go back to like everything, you know everything and everyone teaches you like, look outside yourself, what is everyone else doing? Right, yes, but here we go back to like you started a business because you wanted more freedom, you wanted to serve people and you wanted to make a lot of money.

Erin Gray: 18:45

I mean, I would assume that's why most people started business, right, and so you know, coming back to like values of like what like that groundedness of like, what do I, what do I want? Kind of I say focus, but like putting the blinders on and like staying true to what you like you're saying like six or seven offers. It's like you've got to do P&Ls for all of that and figure out like what's working right, like it's not just some, it's just not add more and more and more. So I love what you said about you know choosing like really, really slowing down and really connecting. And if you are acting from that place of like I think there's a little bit of like scarcity built into right. It's like am I going to make the money? Am I going to you know all of this stuff versus, hang on a second, like it can marinate for a couple of days or a week, right, like no decision needs to be made right at this moment, you know.

Donna Dube: 19:43

Yeah, yeah, and I like that, erin, because it's so true. You know, before I got into the online business, I was an ICU nurse for a number of years, and so that probably relates to my next statement. But I often tell my clients there is no, hardly any, life and death situations in the online business world. Right, yeah, a link might be wrong, yeah, you might not have a Zoom, this might, but these can all be fixed. They're not life and death, right, so let's bring it down. Let's look at the perspective, and the reality of it is that you know we can move forward at a calm pace.

Erin Gray: 20:18

Yeah, what I wrote down when you said that is, when we are trying to rush, I think we're trying to avoid a feeling, right, we're trying to like.

Erin Gray: 20:26

Anything we ever do or don't do is because we're either trying to go towards a feeling or trying to avoid a feeling, right, so the link that's broken or the you know, the payment or whatever it is, it's like we're trying to fix that because that makes us, might make us feel anxious in our bodies right. But if we can learn to sit with that feeling, if we can know that it's okay to feel that and we can fix whatever's right, it's like that rushing is trying to get rid of something versus being with it and allowing the feeling. So, in terms of here we go back to. You said this a little bit ago about control and bottlenecking, like something that I have seen in business and I was a part of in my family's construction business. Is that bottlenecking right? It's like I think a lot of us want that control because that little child in us wants to be seen, wants to be needed, wants to be heard, right, and so we almost create systems or do certain things so that people have to come to us so we feel needed.

Donna Dube: 21:27

Right, right, it's counterintuitive, right it is. It's like, wait a second, I'm hiring these people so they can take autonomy and run with it, but I'm still inserting myself in there. Yes, yes, and so you know what I do in this state. Let's look at a big corporate business. Right, we have a CEO, we have board of directors, we have several VPs. That CEO is not on top of everything.

Donna Dube: 21:50

The VP of sales is doing, right, there's a weekly executive team meeting, whatever it is. They're reporting back and forth, but that VP is able to work autonomously. Yeah, right, same with the marketing, the different areas. And so, yes, I realize you haven't hired VP level people in your small business, but we still have to be able to give them that sense of autonomy and responsibility for the tasks that we've given them. Right, and if we give them a task, then we say but it has to come to me, for me to check it every time. Well then, we've set up that bottleneck right. We now cannot walk away from that thing, because it's constantly coming back to us, and from a team member's perspective doesn't feel very good.

Donna Dube: 22:36

Yeah, it doesn't feel good, right, they don't feel like, okay, I'm a part of this, I own this. No, I constantly have to keep going back to my leader, right, and so really trying to build that autonomy from the bottom up and not having a top-down mentality can make a world of difference and relieve you, as business leader, from so much of the day to day.

Erin Gray: 23:02

Yeah, I think that well, there's two parts of this. It's like if you're hesitant and you don't have the trust in them, then maybe you need to pause.

Erin Gray: 23:11

On the hiring from the get-go right, there's that piece of it, and then there's also the piece of well, if you have interviewed 10 people and none of them are up to your air quotes standards, then maybe we need to evaluate what you think an employee is. It's just like there's employees and also there's the employer or the business owner, and letting go of like 100%. I think a lot of perfectionism shows up, like they're not doing it my way or perfectly, or there's so much wrapped around of like we don't wanna let go of that control because we have this idea and it's true, right, like all of your employees represent your company, your brand, all of that. And how do you think people learn? I mean, we have to mess up, right.

Donna Dube: 24:01

Yes, and if we went back three, five, 10 years, whatever it is, when you started doing the thing, you also made mistakes, right?

Donna Dube: 24:10

So, as far as I'm concerned, when I am working in businesses or with business leaders, if we hire someone after we've onboarded them and they're rolling and they're doing 75 to 80% of what I was doing in terms of doing it correctly, we're good to go right, because we're all humans, we can't look for perfection, and so, yes, I think we need to let go a little bit of those things and making sure that we have set some standards in place for them, because I see this a lot in the online world, where it's like I hire someone, they're supposed to read my mind and just know how to do it right.

Donna Dube: 24:48

It doesn't work that way, and so making sure we have okay, this is the task, this is the deadline, this is what success looks like to complete this task, right, if that's an example, if that's a Canva image, if that's your brand colors, whatever it is, but make sure we're providing that person with the resources that they need to be successful. So they know, at the end of the day, I gotta do this task, I have to have it done by Friday, and this is kind of what I want it to look like.

Erin Gray: 25:16

Yeah, which brings us into systems right, like I think that we want people to help us, we hire them to help us, but we a lot of times haven't put systems in place, aren't clear on the expectations of what the employees or the contract worker is going to do, and so then we get to this point where we're frustrated and it's like, hang on a second, if you back up a little bit, did you ever sit down or did you ever do a recording, or did you ever have some type of procedure in place so that they could do all of this to your standards? And I'm curious if the answer for you a lot of times is like no they did it.

Donna Dube: 25:56

Yes, yes, exactly, because the reality is and I get it right You're solo partner, you're doing all the things. You're working more than you should. Okay, I've got a budget, I'm gonna hire somebody, right? Hopefully, you took the time to actually figure out what you want that person to do and make a proper job description and vetted candidates, and you got your unicorn. I don't believe in buying a unicorn, by the way, but okay, you got a unicorn, right? And now what?

Donna Dube: 26:22

They know nothing about your business, right? They don't know. They may know some of the tools that you use because they've had experience with it already, but there's so much more than just how to use the tool. And so, yes, when you hire, you're gonna have to put some time in, either before or when they come on, to help them and to show them, to be there to answer the questions. But know that once you get over that mountain, it's gonna be smoother sailing on the other side, right? Because, yes, there's some extra time up front to prepare things for them, make sure that they can be successful, but once they know how to do the things, now that's off your plate. You just got two or five or 10 hours back that you can now put towards those CEO level tasks.

Erin Gray: 27:06

I would say it just pays dividends, right? Like if you're willing to set up and spend that time and, yes, your mind is gonna tell you this is a waste of time and I have so many other things to do. But you're thinking in such a that's such a short-term thinking concept, right? Versus? Once you teach someone how to do something, then that person can either train if they end up leaving or whatever. Right, that person can train and can do like you said, you freed up 10 hours for the rest of your business, and so really thinking like long-term for your business versus, I call it like putting out fires all the time, right?

Donna Dube: 27:47

Right, yes, it's more being proactive rather than reactive, right? Yeah, and you can start thinking ahead of time, Like you can look now and say, okay, next week, what are the routine tasks that I do every week or twice a week or whatever it is that I could hand off to someone in the future and when you have a few of those, okay, next time I do task B, which is making an invoice for client X. I'm going to either jot some notes down in SOP or I'm gonna record myself doing it, talk a little bit through the things I look for and how to do it, and have that ready and have that stored. So when it does come time to hire someone, you've got a few of those under your belt.

Erin Gray: 28:30

Yeah, and I think also like really getting curious with yourself of like, what do you not love doing, right? Like I think sometimes here we go back to like corporate or just I think, at least Western society like we want to look at. You know, dollar amount versus just like what is the actual value to me? And so you know the value of your sanity, the value of you having someone help you, the value of you not sitting down, and every time you see that on your calendar you want to poke your eyes out with dull pencils. You know what I mean.

Erin Gray: 29:05

Yes, there's value in giving or offloading, like you know, people are always so quick to be like oh well, this is what you need to offload first. It's like, no, you need to offload first the things you do not enjoy doing so that you can, here we go back to like your creative juices and like your visionary and like you when you're like sloughing through the stuff you don't love to do. How much longer does it take you? What is your energy after you're done with that right? And so really kind of gaining some clarity on like what are the things I love to do and then what are the things that I'm like. This is how can I, you know as quickly as possible, to free up my energy? You know?

Donna Dube: 29:48

Yeah, yeah for sure. And I think we have to think about, you know, when we're getting things off our plate. Yes, we can delegate to a human, but we can also automate, which, in my mind, is delegating to a machine, right. And so I'm not saying remove the human touch from your business completely no, that would not be a wise move, but there are certain pieces of processes that you can remove, right.

Donna Dube: 30:13

So, as an example, I enjoy doing guest podcasting like this, right? So coming on someone else's podcast and sharing, having a conversation, and so a lot of the process of what day and what time and all of that can be automated behind the scenes, right? Obviously, the actual interview no, I want Erin there, right, I wanted to have done a research, pass me the questions and we have a good conversation, but then, following this, editing, getting social media posts, putting it out in the world, that doesn't have to be Erin, right. And so, looking at the things that you do in your business and saying what pieces, breaking it down, what pieces do I, as business leader, actually have to do and what pieces could I start automating, delegating, getting off of my plate, because it doesn't have to be an all or nothing.

Erin Gray: 31:02

Yeah, and this goes back to control and this goes back to letting go, and I wrote down, like being uncomfortable, like it's not that you don't do it, it's that you do it and you know you're going to feel in your body, uncomfortable. You know you're going to feel like this, doesn't? This feels uneasy, right? And I think that I don't know if a lot of business owners actually talk about the emotional side of business. You know what I mean. Like no, every business owner probably goes through this, because that is the growth, right, the growth is letting go and trusting, right, that it's gonna be okay, that it'll all work out, and so it's not a control, it's just like, okay, I'm going to do this and I'm willing to feel the uncomfortableness as I work through this systems or hiring someone.

Erin Gray: 31:58

The other thing I wanted to say and I'm so curious on it your take on this. Yeah, what I have found is sometimes, sometimes we wanna look at like, oh, this person does this one thing and then I hired this person for this. But if you hire possibly a couple of yous and you pay them really well, right, that might actually like run in a smaller, tighter team.

Donna Dube: 32:21

That does that make sense in my yes, yes, 100%. So I think what you're trying to say is that we don't need to hire Sally Sue and put her in a box. Sally Sue only does this, right. And then we hire Joan, and Joan only does that, right. It's wanna think more residue. So I guess it's roles versus responsibilities, right, because you could have a role that had responsibilities in several areas of your business. Maybe they help with some marketing, but maybe they also help with some client delivery, right, yeah, and so they've got a couple of hats that they wear inside your business. Call the title what you wanna call it, but they don't only have to own one area. Yeah, right.

Donna Dube: 33:05

And that's where it really becomes important taking the time again, slowing down in that hiring process to really find out who am I speaking to, what is their zone of genius, what do they enjoy doing? Right, because many times I may hire them for X. Then I find out afterwards oh, they're actually very creative, they're very good at doing this over here. I didn't even think of that. And let's have that discussion, right? Do you have more hours? Can we bring you on to do this, this and that as well?

Donna Dube: 33:31

And so it can grow and evolve over time. But we have to be open to it and be willing to to have those conversations and I think that's another piece of when you're bringing on those people is to have those one-on-ones. Yeah, no, it doesn't have to be, you know, a formal performance review, corporate style. But we need that time, that open space where you know you, as business leader, are meeting with your team and saying one-on-one, saying how are things going, what's working, what's not working, are there areas where you'd like to grow into? Let's see what we can make happen.

Erin Gray: 34:04

I love this because I think a lot of times too. Here we go back to Western society, right, like we're taught, like to go out and make the money, not to go do work.

Donna Dube: 34:11

We love and the money will follow, you know, and so how?

Erin Gray: 34:14

many people have applied for a job that they're not like a really hell yes for, but they do it because it pays well or it might work for hours or whatever. And then, when you actually like, if you are a, when I say, intuitive owner, what I mean is like when you are in touch with your people and you can ask them these questions like does this actually excite you? You know, because you could have someone that loves social media and someone that doesn't love it that doing it and it takes them twice as long. And you know what I mean. It's just it's here we go back to the energy of like, what do your people love doing?

Erin Gray: 34:49

And I think part of being a CEO is and a leader is like supporting them right, like giving them, putting them in positions where they feel empowered, putting them in positions that they love Like. I think we're taught that. You know, a leader is like almost like I say you go, do right. Versus I view a leader is very quiet behind the scenes. You know how can I support you, what can I do to you know what I mean and really understanding what do your people want and how can you support them? Because ultimately and you said this a little bit and we didn't touch on it like the morale of the people that work with you, right, like you want people to, like I always think about, like you know, as I grow, it's like I want people to feel like this is the best place ever to work you know, Like that is the community that I want to create for people you know, Not just your employee.

Donna Dube: 35:50

That saves you money Because you have to turn right, your people stay with you longer and you're not continuously looking for a replacement for that. You know, whatever position you have. So you know it's a win-win all the way around.

Erin Gray: 36:04

Yeah. So in regards to money, tell me about like. Do you have a lot of business owners that make decisions based on money, versus like what we were talking about, over value? Or like they look at the dollar sign and that's their like main decision maker versus like. Okay, let me think of how this is gonna improve my life, or how this is gonna evolve my business, or whatever it might be.

Donna Dube: 36:30

Yeah, so 100%. So what I find is, you know, again, we're taught well, it's the end of the year or the beginning of the new year. Do your planning? Okay, what's your goals? Okay, my revenue goal is 200,000, right, I picked that number from somewhere.

Donna Dube: 36:47

Maybe I looked at my reports last year and I'm, you know, upping it a little bit, but then we don't dive any deeper than that, and what I mean by that is okay, I wanna make 200,000, but what do I wanna do with that 200,000? Right, how much do I need for myself and my family? What do I need to invest back in my business, you know, are there vacations I wanna go on? That I haven't had a chance to do. Am I saving for a different home or a retirement?

Donna Dube: 37:17

So, again, it's life and business, not one or the other. And so I really think we have to be. We're making those revenue goals. We have to dive deeper and say, okay, fine, if I make that 200,000, how am I using it? What do I actually want out of making it? Because I don't think most of us are making it to store in the bank. Yeah, right, we want to do something with it, whether that's investing, you know, purchasing, whatever that is, we want to do something, giving back to our community, whatever that is, and then from there, actually now we have that revenue goal. What are we gonna do within our business to meet it? What products, what services, what programs at what price point to how many people? Right? So breaking that down rather than just having a pie in the sky number sounds great, but again, we don't have a roadmap of how we're gonna get there and when we do get there, what we're gonna do with it. So I think really you know, diving into that deeper than just I've got a revenue goal, I'm set.

Erin Gray: 38:16

Yeah, and, like you said, I mean a lot of it just comes from like it's literally a number you pull out right, like it's either based on what you did before and you want to like exit by some number, right, or you're looking outside of yourself and it's like how many people have actually sat down to be like, okay, this is what I want to bring home, this is what taxes would be. So then I have to then up that number right, this is what my payroll or, you know, my contractors or whatever it is right, any type of engine you know what I mean Like actually sitting down and doing some of that legwork, which here we go back to emotions. If you are someone who might not have which a lot of us are right we don't necessarily have a wonderful relationship with money, right, so we avoid that stuff because it doesn't feel good in our bodies.

Donna Dube: 39:03

Yes.

Erin Gray: 39:03

Versus working through those relations. You know the relationship that we have with money, with our business, so that we can be empowered to just look at it from just it's literally. I mean, if you were to take the dollar sign off and you were to put right Kleenex boxes out to the side, you would have a completely different feeling around it right yes.

Erin Gray: 39:24

But like we like put the dollar currency sign on it and we get all squirrely with it and I make light of it. And I also know like in our bodies it doesn't feel right, right, like it doesn't feel necessarily safe. You know, and that comes from, you know, like our conditioning and our culture. And you know, I think a lot in the business world is like how much you make equals your net worth, right, like that is a big thing that we have. You know, I don't know how we got to that place, but a lot of people equate their self-worth with how much money they're making or what their profit is. And that like can we just clear, cancel, you know.

Donna Dube: 40:05

Yes, yes, yes. So let's go with that.

Erin Gray: 40:07

Yes, let's go with that right and so yeah, which then takes me to like emotions, like do you see a lot of, or do you help business owners when they come to you and you're like, okay, when they're stalling for a decision? Do you find that a lot of times that there's some underlying emotions that are going on underneath there that are that they are because of that they aren't making decisions?

Donna Dube: 40:33

Yes, yes, for sure, but it's excuses that are given.

Erin Gray: 40:38

What do they show up like? What do they like? What's just some of the.

Donna Dube: 40:41

Well, I don't have time to decide about that right now. Put that off to the next month, right, and listen, I'm laughing, but it's not funny. I know it's not funny and I've been there. I've done it right.

Donna Dube: 40:53

It's not that I'm perfect at making decisions by any means, but you know, bringing up those excuses that get in the way. Well, when I finish this, then I'll look at that. Right, because I've got something else on my plate that I'm dealing with, and the truth is, you know, we always have something on our plate that we're dealing with. Life happens. You know when we want it to and when we don't want it to.

Donna Dube: 41:18

So I think really again, trying to remove that emotion and say you know, this new thing, do I want to bring it? What's it going to cost me in terms of the business leader, energy, time, money, if I have a team, do I have capacity, do I have the right people and my team in the right seats to be able to see this thing forward? Right, and what in terms of risk? Right, because the truth of the matter is there's risk when we make decisions in business, whether it's financial risk or you know other, and so you know what are the risks and am I willing to take that risk Right? So kind of looking at it on those three different levels, I think sometimes helps to break it down to say is this the right decision?

Erin Gray: 42:08

Yeah, I always say procrastination is the form of resistance, right? So for procrastinating something, we're in resistance, right? And so here we go back to slowing down, asking ourselves what am I trying to avoid feeling, right? Is it because if I make this decision, then I might feel anxious or I might feel, you know, disappointed if it doesn't work out? There's always going to be a or multiple feelings, right, that we are trying to avoid when we aren't making decisions. And so you said the word and I love this because I'm like I don't know if it's an emotion, but it's a word I use all the time. It's like are we willing, right? Are we willing? It's not that can we, or can we it's? Are we willing? Like what you know? If you look at other, you know business owners and you're like what's different about them than me? Ask yourself, what are they willing to feel that I'm not?

Donna Dube: 43:04

willing to feel.

Erin Gray: 43:05

What are they willing to do? That I'm not willing to do right now, right, and we don't have to throw the shame and the guilt on top of it. Right, because that's just the doesn't have to have all that stuff on top, but we can. We can ask from a place of curiosity of, like, what are they feeling? On a more consistent basis that maybe I'm not as practiced in, right.

Donna Dube: 43:24

Yes.

Donna Dube: 43:25

And so so you know for sure, and you know I can relate to that just from a making decisions perspective, because I am a what would you call it? A high fact finder and a low quick start. So I like to go through all the details first and know all the different angles before I'm ready to take action Right. Once I've done that, I'm good to take action. Many of my clients, however, are exact opposite of that. Right, they've got ideas flowing, they're very high, let's do it. Yesterday was good enough. And so for me, you know, I kind of have to relax that a little bit and say, okay, I have to be willing to look around a little bit and then go Right, because I could research until the cows come home, yeah, right, before I take action, right. And so what am I willing to? You know, make a decision on this is enough information. I can go forward with this and let's see what the outcome is without, you know, researching it to death.

Erin Gray: 44:25

My brain's like, oh, I want to run your human design chart, like I wonder if you're a one three profile, but it's just like that is like you know.

Erin Gray: 44:31

This is also why it's so important to understand like your strategy, your authority, your decision making and like your profile Right, because profiles of the one three are like I do need to research, I do need to like experiment, I do need to go down the rabbit hole, because that makes me feel safe, right.

Erin Gray: 44:47

And so knowing where your profiles are, knowing what your, you know what your human design, you know how you make decisions is, because I think it's like I think for business, a lot of us have just been like almost like pushed into doing something right, versus, like you're saying, I do like to go down the rabbit hole and I also know, at some point I'm running a business and I want to make a decision Right, but there is a certain level of comfort that you need and you need, you want to, you know, research to get to that place and so allowing ourselves to have that and also make decisions.

Erin Gray: 45:24

And I'm so curious to you know, because you said a lot of your clients are like just go, go, go how many of us have been conditioned. You know, like I was brought up in the entrepreneur world is like you just make decisions, because if you're not making a decision you're wasting time, right. Versus here we go back to slowing down, like no, maybe some of us actually need to take a little bit more time to let it kind of simmer. And here we go back to willingness, like how many of us are willing to let these ideas or these decisions percolate for a little bit, right?

Erin Gray: 45:56

To ask ourselves these questions and to allow the answers to come when they're ready to come, versus like. I need this answer right now because I have to make a decision right now. You know, yes, yes versus being willing to sit with that uncomfortableness of like I don't know yet. But clarity is coming and it's okay.

Donna Dube: 46:14

You know, yes, and seeing if that decision, if you make it the way it's going to go, is that in line with what your goals are and where you want your business to go in the next two or three years? Right, Because if it's not, then good, I like to say let's put it in the ideas parking lot, write it down, so we've documented it. Right, because I know we'll forget and we'll be gone. So put it over there. And then, once a quarter, let's look, let's take a look at that idea as parking lot. Okay, can some of this come forward now? Right, yes, I have time, my team has time. It fits with my goals. Now we can move forward.

Erin Gray: 46:50

I love that because, as I think, an entrepreneur, we have no shortage of ideas, right, but we don't have to act on all the ideas, right, like the shiny object syndrome is legit, right, yes, okay, and I think that sometimes calms the brain a little bit, to be like we're still listening to you. We're going to just put it over here for a little bit, but we're staying true to what we said for the next quarter, six months a year, and we're going to reevaluate. We'll bring you back out, but you know, and so like, like you say, I love that, like having that idea parking lot, because our minds want that, that relief, right, like they. You know it'll continue to ruminate versus, like I put it down, I can always come back to it, but right now we're staying right here, you know, yes.

Donna Dube: 47:37

Yes, and I think that helps with the momentum too, because the truth of the matter is for us, before this idea comes out in the world, we're thinking about it, we're, you know, trying to come up with our messaging, our copy, how are we going to deliver it? And so it's with us a long time sometimes before we put it out in the world. And we put it out in the world and boom, we want to move on to the next thing. Right, but we haven't given it a chance to build some momentum. Right. So have it out there three, six months, and then let's see. Because the truth is, the results you're seeing now in your business are what you did three or six months ago. Right, but if you're continuously moving to the next thing, you haven't given a chance for that water to boil, if you want to put it that way. Right. And it also helps with your team, because if each week on team meeting you're bringing up a different direction, well, you know, they don't know what you do, right?

Erin Gray: 48:30

Frustration? Yeah, I think of it like it's like a baby, right, like we don't have a baby and we're like, why aren't you walking? Why aren't you feeding me already? Why aren't you paying for my retirement? Right, the baby has to grow and that's what we you know, we, we bird these ideas and then we're like, okay, well, it's not working.

Erin Gray: 48:49

It's just like you did it one time or two times or four times, right, like, let's, let's stay consistent with it for a while and then let's actually and not just like a couple of months, right, like you're saying, like let's actually give it. And here's the other thing, too, is like how committed are you to your offer? Right, like, you said this at the very beginning, you know. It's like how much do you love your offer? Because if you want someone to use their resources and money and time, you better love what you are selling and offering. You know, just as much as the person you're expecting to buy from. Right. And so, having having our little idea babies and then bringing them to life and making sure that we're cultivating them and giving them all that they need to grow, versus, oh, it didn't work, okay, onto the next, do you think that is because we live in that kind of culture of like quick hit, like it should be working already. Do you think that's?

Donna Dube: 49:43

what it is. I think there's definitely that thought there. I think the other piece of it is boredom. To be honest with you, right, because so many entrepreneurs are high achievers. They want to go get the next thing, and so you know you put it out there it doesn't get the result you want, maybe right away, and so you want to move on to something else. I try to encourage my clients when they're in that moment of boredom and they're like I need to invent something else, I need to create something else. Yeah, you've got that energy, but let's leave your business where it is. It's rolling fine right now. Put that energy towards a passion project, Right, Something else you enjoy doing. Maybe you know you've loved dancing and you haven't done it for years. Get back into it, Right. Maybe I want to do more with your community or church Great, Go, put that energy somewhere where you can get joy and leave your business alone if it's working.

Erin Gray: 50:35

I love that. I love it so much because I have you read the book Soul Sourced Entrepreneur by Christine Kane.

Donna Dube: 50:43

Oh no.

Erin Gray: 50:44

She talks about first of all, just spoke to me because I like opened the page and it was like you know, we businesses changing or we're you know, we don't want to follow the way that old school businesses, anyways. And she talks about practicing being bored and how many of us aren't bored? Right, like I think some of our greatest ideas come from the stillness, come from the silence. Right, and like you're saying, if you're wanting to move some of that energy because a lot of us do have that energy like you're saying, go do some other things and also practice being bored too. You know like it's okay to have stillness in your life, it's okay to not have a jam packed schedule.

Donna Dube: 51:28

Yes, yes, yes, oh, that calendar, that's just another item, isn't it? Yes, yes, it's true, and I think again it comes from okay, I'm going to start my business. My calendar is wide open. I'll take anything anytime, right? No, set your time when you're open, right. Have those 10 hours when your team and your clients know they can meet you when you know your laptop's open. But it doesn't have to be every minute scheduled out, right? You don't need six zooms in a row, like we're humans. You need a break, right? And so build those in, purposely build those in. So if you say, okay, well, tuesday is my client day, I'm gonna have two meetings, I'm gonna have a half an hour break, go for a walk, get a cup of tea, whatever it is, and then two more client meetings, right, so that you have some space in your calendar. Because, again, we want that freedom. But then we block up our calendar, you know, back to back, and then we wonder why we don't have that freedom.

Erin Gray: 52:29

Yeah, and I think it comes back from that whole nine to five. If you've come from corporate, right, you've worked a nine to five, 40 hours a week. You have literally been somewhere for 40 hours a week, but you don't you weren't necessarily working for 40. So, like, make the hours count, right. Like, utilize your time that you're actually working and you don't need to sit at your desk, like I always say, like the playing and the space and the downtime and the rest is why you're able to come back and give so much to your business, right, it's like, like you said, like we're not robots, we're not meant here to work 40, 50, 60 plus hours a week. Right, like we need that quiet time, we need that play, we need that rest, and that all goes back to you know what do we think about ourselves?

Erin Gray: 53:18

And you know why are we making the calendar so full? Like, what are we trying to put our importance on? Right? Like busyness that's another, I think, societal, cultural conditioning too. Right, like, if you're not busy, like everyone talks about, like I'm so busy, it's like I'm not busy, I'm not busy. Everything that's on my calendar is because I want it on there and if I'm not doing it, don't want it, it's not on there and I am not busy because, like what is even busy? And why do we even want to be busy?

Donna Dube: 53:44

And you know, it's just because we equate busy equals productive. Yeah, worthiness, yep Right.

Donna Dube: 53:51

But it doesn't not at all Right, and you'll find, like, when you actually do take that rest, you come back stronger. It's so much easier, right, the ideas flow whatever that hard thing was that you've been working through comes easier. I mean, it's the same thing we tell our kids right, they're busy studying, studying, studying for the exam. It's like, okay, take a break, right, go sleep and get up tomorrow, you'll feel so much more refreshed. We have to do the same same medicine for ourselves.

Erin Gray: 54:21

Yeah, donna asked me before we got started.

Erin Gray: 54:23

She's like you get much snow and I'm like, oh, my family's been snowboarding and like I'm at like day three of, like you know, working and tomorrow and Friday I'm gonna, and I feel it in my body, I'm like I need to go play because, like you know what I mean, and so really being in tune with yourself was like, and it's a practice right, like our brains are going to tell us like, oh, you have so much to do and you need to. You don't have time to play, and the house play going to be helpful and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right and willing to feel, okay, I'm going to go play and it's going to. I'm going to feel guilt or I'm going to feel shame, or I'm going to feel, like you know, a little anxious and I'm going to be okay and it's going to be so good for my mental, my emotional, all of it, you know, health of getting getting out like some of my best ideas go when I'm, like you know, out there having fun, you know and so I love that you said.

Erin Gray: 55:13

You know like we need to. We need to play, we need to rest, all the things. Oh, donna, I could talk to you all day long about all the things I love it.

Donna Dube: 55:20

Do you have anything else?

Donna Dube: 55:21

that you want to share you know, I think the big thing, just along the same line you were saying, is that to do list and just coming to an understanding and believing that that to do list is never going to end Right, there's continuously things you're going to want to put on there and so, instead of thinking I can't take a break because I've got too many things on my list, yeah, flip the script there and let's say what I want to be strategic with this to do list, what are the real priorities in this to do list, and let me get them done, yep, and then I'll take a break.

Erin Gray: 55:57

Yeah, like top, like I always say like top, what are the top three things that have to get done today? Like, do those. And then you know, I think we like over, we put way too much on our list and then we, then we use it as a reason to beat ourselves up you know, so thank you, Donna. So is there ways that people can connect with you? How would you love for them to connect and learn more about you and all of these?

Donna Dube: 56:17

Oh yes, thank you for asking. So yes, my website is CEOamplifyca and so they can check it out there. If the discussion we had about having you know that hour, that half an hour to work on your business, resonated with you, then I do have a resource called CEO Power Hour Playbook, and so that's what I call that little hour for you, as business leader, to really focus. So you can download that from the website. It kind of walks you through the important things to go through as you're, as you're having that power hour, so you're not just saying they're going okay, I'm here and now what?

Erin Gray: 56:51

No, it's good for some of us. We need those prompts right, we need the, we need the beginning. Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate everything that you shared and your time and all of the things, Donna.

Donna Dube: 57:00

Thank you. Yes, so happy.

Erin Gray: 57:03

If you want support as you unpack your money beliefs so that you can start having fun with money and enjoy all that you have created, you can head over to my website to schedule a call. And, as always, from my soul to yours.