5 Strategies for Leading Your EC Business As the CEO You Are Meant to Be
Leading with a CEO mindset is far more than just managing your business. It is guiding those around you and the overall goals of your entire Early Childhood business.
To do so successfully, it is important to invest your time in developing a clear foundation for your Early Childhood business. You need to define what your business stands for, what direction you want your business to go, the lifestyle you want to live. Then you can craft an impactful plan to share with your entire team and take action that leads to success. Developing this foundation is one of the most crucial steps in the PEAKE Operations Framework and laying the groundwork for your long-term success.
If you want to lead your business instead of merely managing it, you need a proven foundation. Our clients have found this foundation that we built with these five strategies especially helpful during these past tumultuous years. We hope to challenge how you believe you have to work and give you the opportunity to pursue the things you never have time for and find a more time freedom lifestyle.
We see unstoppable momentum happening because of our proven PEAKE Operations Framework foundation. One key pillar, Passion and Purpose, is based on five key foundation strategies.
Believe In You|
Decide What You Want
Know How to Identify Your Limiting Beliefs and Eliminate Excuses
Powerful Planning Routine
Shine Your Light
Believe In You
You create a new sense of possibility when you believe in you!
While the circumstances of the past few years have challenged us deeply, the biggest barriers you and I face in creating the life we want are the ones inside our heads. That’s why in this lesson I want you to look at how your beliefs shape your thinking and your actions, especially how they limit you. When it comes to developing a foundation for operating your Early Childhood business with unstoppable momentum, it’s important to recognize three truths about your beliefs.
In Michael Hyatt’s book, Your Best Year Ever, he tells us that your beliefs shape your reality. We tend to experience what we expect, and because our expectations shape what we believe is possible, they shape our perceptions and our actions. That means they also shape the outcomes, and that means they shape our reality.
I’m not discounting the effect our external circumstances can have on reaching our goals. There are times when our original goals simply aren’t possible, which may have happened to you more this past few years than ever before. Our success depends on the ability to tell the difference between what is reality and what is the story we’re telling ourselves.
Decide What You Want
Clarify your dreams and start getting results.
If you could have anything you want in life — in your career or business, your family, love life, health or finances — what would it be? Hold on to that image. Now, if there’s any area of your life that’s not how you imagined...guess what? You can change it. When you’re willing to face what’s not working, you’re already on the path to victory. Clarify your dreams and start getting results.
Once you decide what you want and fully commit to it, everything else will follow. Clarity = Power. Problem is, when I ask people what they want, most people say, “Yeah, I’d really love to make more money, that would be nice...” or “I think I want to get into better shape this year” or “Yeah, I wish I could be my own boss and run my own business someday. That would be cool.”
Purpose fuels persistence.
To accomplish anything big, you have to believe in it 10,000%. The more heart and emotion that you have in your why, the better. It will be easier for you to stay committed and stay passionate about getting what you want.
Know How to Identify Your Limiting Beliefs
You must eliminate your excuses.
Reality check. The biggest thing standing between you and what you want is not your age, income, hair color, or number of hours in your day — it’s your excuses.
Do any of these sound familiar?
Oh, I can’t afford it.
I can’t because I don't have time.
I just can’t get up to work out every day.
You know, I can’t find the time to get writing done.
I can’t seem to forgive her.
I can’t find a babysitter.
I can’t call and ask for help.
I can’t because of where I’m living.
All of these excuses have one thing in common — the word can’t. And 99% of the time we say we can’t do something, we really mean that we won’t do it. Until now, we haven’t really wanted to do what it takes.
When you flip the script, you give yourself room to choose a new path. What stories are you telling yourself about why you can’t get what you want? (Hint: time and money are likely number one and two.)
Michael Hyatt tells us that you can upgrade your beliefs. If we think a solution is impossible, we don’t entertain it very long or at all. Instead, we settle for something else. When you’re up against a challenge, upgrading your beliefs allows you to see new ideas and possibilities. Your beliefs have defining power. They can provide the perspective you need to keep you moving toward the win.
Powerful Planning Routine
The reason to maintain a powerful planning routine is simple. When a business flows with a person’s lifestyle and personal values, work feels less like work and more like a passion. Developing a planning routine and using a weekly or daily productivity system will prevent burnout.
With a productive planning process:
You will know what to focus on
You will know where your life is going
You will no longer wake up in a fog.
You will know what to do, despite how you feel
You will make progress every day on your life goals
You will know what you are supposed to do next
You will feel a deep sense of meaning
Everyday you go through your routine, you will feel that your life has a purpose, because it will
You will get enough done every day that you don’t feel like you are wasting time
You choose how you spend your time
Deep down, we know that taking a little time to plan at the beginning of each year, bi-annually or quarterly, will provide the meaningful structure we need to operate our successful preschool businesses with less chaos and more clarity.
It is true that when you focus on work that truly matters, you will be more productive.
Whether you love it or hate it, the success and vitality of your business depend on creating a purposeful planning routine of some kind. So find one you like and can stick to to help you maintain your momentum.
Shine Your Light
You’ve already made a clear decision and eliminated the excuses standing in your way. Now, there’s five little words you need to remember: “Everything happens for a reason.” These five words, the life-changing mantra I have lived my life by, can be your guiding light as you take action to create your dreams and shine your light.
Whether you want to grow your enrollment, add more parties, build a team, write a book, redecorate your kitchen, redesign your website, learn how to watercolor, or work on your marriage, it doesn’t matter.
You have the resourcefulness within you to figure it out and make it happen. Momentum will help you find the practical action steps to turn your dream into reality and shine your light. You’ve got this!
Thomas Edison said, “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” He knew something about that. We’ve all heard that he performed not tens, not hundreds, but thousands of failed experiments before finally getting the light bulb right. Edison had an idea, he had a plan, but more importantly, he knew it took persistence to succeed.
How about you? This is not a goal setting episode to better manage your business. No, it’s not. It’s five leadership strategies you can implement today to lead your Early Childhood business to success. Planning is only part of the journey. Leading requires taking stock of everything we’ve discussed so far and then taking action.
Resources
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We give Early Childhood business owners/managers the operational strategies and tools they need to grow their profitable businesses with more joy, confidence, clarity, and less overwhelming.
You will learn how to spend less time on small details and daily tasks. You can spend more time doing the things you truly enjoy. Focusing on the things that really matter, your top priorities, your key relationships, your most important projects, all the things that will bring you more joy and your business more success.