I Accept Your Resignation

Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. Just a little over a one minute investment every day for a lifetime of results.

As an owner, not everybody's going to come with you and they don't want to.

So stop trying to drag them along. Get used to this. I know it's hard, Ed, and you and I talk about this.

It's a hard expression to say as an owner. You don't like to say it, but when somebody's giving you the, I think it's time to go, just say this. I accept your resignation.

I accept your, and like some of them out there are like, no, take it out, right? Just let them go. They don't want to be here. And they probably stayed longer because of their lawyer, but they're miserable.

Let them go. Tell them we're a better company for you being here. Let's stay friends.

I'll still invite you over for Thanksgiving. You can come to the company picnic, but let's go. Well, we got to get you another job somewhere else because you hate it here, you know, and they'll be all the happier, but just have the expectation that people are going to serve you for a window of time.

They are not going to serve you after that. And then it's time to move on. I know it's hard because you build trust and relationship and loyalty and all that, and that's all still present, but they're just not ready for the job anymore.

And they don't want to be there.

Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.

To Grow and Scale, Commitment Is Non-Negotiable

Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. Just a little over a one minute investment every day for a lifetime of results.

A lifestyle business, convenience and comfort will be the champion.

And so they'll come back, and they'll say, ah, this growth is uncomfortable. You need to be committed if you're going to grow and scale. It's one of the world's greatest challenges, and it's almost one of the world's greatest rewards.

If you can get a business to scale, you are unfairly and exponentially rewarded because you're in the top 4% of all businesses. You get the 10 million or more, you're less; it's less than 1% of businesses on the planet are over 10 million in US equivalent, $10 million. So you are unfairly rewarded if you get the $10 million or more and you know, you get market share, you don't always deserve and you get, you know, you get the benefit of the doubt when you don't always deserve, and you know, your brand kicks in and all those things, but you gotta be committed.

And there's, you know, it's a graveyard between one and 10 million because you've gotten to that point and you figure, okay, and I'm like, no, no, it's time to turn the jets on again. There's no jet back there. There wasn't before, but that was 20 years ago.

So it's, I do feel for business owners because they really, really thought they, once they got to a certain point, they can coast and they realize that you don't always have to work harder, but you do have to be more clever. You have to have intellectual property. Your how has to be as compelling as your why, you know, how you do things, your secret sauce, your differentiation.

There are elements that you need to put in place or you're simply another me to a business that can be ripped off way too easily.

Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.

You Can Always Out Hustle Somebody

Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. Just a little over a one minute investment every day for a lifetime of results.

That's why business in many ways, especially in the entrepreneurial world, I love it so much because you really do get out what you put in and you can out-hustle somebody.

They can be better at what you do, but you could beat them on that day because I can get to that networking event five minutes before you, I can stay 10 minutes later. I can get that extra business card. I can get you, you know, and there's always someone who's watching you that says, Hmm, I think I could do it a little better.

I can automate this. I can add a system there. I can put a little tweak on it, and I can do an end around, and I can get you.

So we hear that all the time.

Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.

Comfort Over Commitment

Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. Just a little over a one minute investment every day for a lifetime of results.

In the lifestyle business and in many businesses, convenience wins out over commitment. You know, comfort wins out over commitment. Growth is insanely hard.

It's relentless. And I get, this is the question I get all the time. So I get a client, a CEO, and they're 40 plus, which means they've been at this 10 years or more.

And at some point, cause they're always embarrassed to ask some point, they'll pull me aside and they'll say, um, um, when does it get easier? Like, when does it, like, I've been at this a decade. I've been at this for 20 years. I've been doing this stuff.

Like at what point do, uh, does, do my close rates go up? Do the leads, like, does the brand kick in and people come to us, and I'm like, oh, you want the date? I got it. I said, never, never. I said, it doesn't get any easier.

This is a competitive sport, you know, and everyone's out for your job, and it becomes more and more sophisticated and complicated to get the same result going forward.

Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.

A Non-Family CEO Might Be the Healthiest Hire You Make

Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. Just a little over a one minute investment every day for a lifetime of results.

Best of all worlds, if that's the case. If you can get that CEO to take the job because they, in all seriousness, they'll come in and if they're a pro, they've been through situations like this, and they kind of know family dynamics. But if you can get that person who knows the dynamics and can come in and run the business, it's the best of all worlds because they're emotionally neutral. They don't get caught up in the Thanksgiving day baggage, the Easter or Hanukkah or family dinners.

And they'll be invited to the barbecue now and again, but they're optional, they're not mandatory and they can be a good voice of reason. And so from that standpoint, that's a very healthy hire. That's a really good point.

Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould, and this has been your #70secondCEO.

You Can't Be Both President and CEO

Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. Just a little over a one minute investment every day for a lifetime of results.

And I love this, when I see this in email signatures and I tell my clients, I'm like, you gotta stop this because it shows you don't know what the role is.

I love it when a small business owner says, I'm president, CEO, and founder. I said, those are two different, like the president and CEO are two totally different jobs. I said, the CEO is much more of the ambassador, sovereign, face of the company role.

President is a lot more tactical. So if you're gonna be CEO, and there's no way around that, then let's hire a president. Let's hire a president, they'll run the day-to-day or make them COO or VP of ops or something along those lines, GM, managing director, managing partner, something along those lines.

But get somebody in here who knows how to run the business because you can. And that's a hard pill to swallow, but if they're bringing in somebody to give them guidance, there's a part of them that knows it's true. They just don't know how to exit gracefully with dignity and also reassure the company that they're on a good trajectory.

Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.

The Chances Your Kids Want The Family Business Is Low

Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. Just a little over a one minute investment every day for a lifetime of results.

Conversation with a good friend recently, well, a few years ago.

He was talking about his three sons and two, these two are coming into the business. And I had met the two, I'd never met the third, and I said, about the second, I said, there is zero chance he will come into the business. Zero.

He's like, oh no, I've already talked to him and we've assigned him a role. I said, he's saying yes to appease his dad and his mom, but he will do it. And I said, I guarantee, I said, this one is so easy.

There is no chance he wants part of this business. And it's got nothing to do with anything else, but he's just not passionate about it. And his interests lie in other areas, and it's just never gonna be this business.

And that was a hard pill to swallow because the parents forever were positioning this business as a legacy multi-generation business, and as more options for what you can do in your life evolve, like, I hate to say it, but when you and I were younger, there weren't as many options. And there were like 10 things you could be. Well, today, there's 10 things you can be today.

Tomorrow, there are 10 more things you can be or do. So, with technology and remote working, I mean, forget it. There's so many varied interests.

The chances that your kids want your business is really low. It's really low.

Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould, and this has been your #70secondCEO.

In Family Businesses, Roles Are Assigned by Convenience

Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. Just a little over a one minute investment every day for a lifetime of results.

In family-run businesses, we assign a role based on convenience or need, not talent and skill, and propensity for the job.

And so, you know, we make people managers when they're not really managers. We put people in certain parts of the business because that's the opening that is there. And you do your best to try to match the, you know, some skillset to what they're doing.

In that dynamic, it's more important that the person has a job and is busy than they can do the job, at least, you know, for the family survival, if you will. And so it's oftentimes very mismatched who's working in the business and where.

Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould, and this has been your #70secondCEO.