Hello and welcome back to the podcast. Here's what I want to start with today. Your business growth can't outgrow the pace of your personal growth. If you're stuck, it's because stepping into the CEO role requires becoming something different, someone different than you've been showing up as. This is about who you are being in your business.

You say that you want to be the owner, the CEO, and technically you've got the title, but you're still showing up like an employee. And we need to shift that. At the level that you're operating at right now, you've grown your business, you've passed 6 figures, 7 figures potentially, and yet you are still in the day-to-day. The business is still built around you, and it's time to step into this CEO role.

Here's why you haven't yet. These are the 3 areas that you're going to need to work on from an identity standpoint to make that shift.

First, you're still getting your identity from execution. You're an expert. That's why you started your business. You're really great at something. You get your clients incredible results. So you've grown your business from getting them these phenomenal results. Clients hire you because of your expertise. Many of them actually want to work with you directly. Maybe you've built a personal brand around your expertise and skillset.

The thing is, you've been rewarded for being good at what you do. You've been rewarded for being great at implementation. Your entire business has been successful because of the fact that you are an expert. Revenue came from your output, from your expertise, and so letting go can feel really challenging because it feels like losing relevance in your business. It feels like you're not as valuable to your business anymore.

If you're not the one doing it, then it opens up questions around who you are, because you've identified as the type of expert that you've been for years. Who are you if the business isn't counting on your expertise, you to be the one to do everything? And also, what do you do if you were to let go? If you're not the one doing it, then what are you doing now?

That's a question so many business owners face. My clients have gotten to that point where they've taken a really successful, solid business, they've scaled it past 7 figures, they've reduced dependence on them so sales can come in without them, so clients can get results without them, so that the team can move forward without them. Then they say, okay, wait, hold on, what do I do with my time now? They face a dilemma where they have to redefine their identity and detach their identity from output, from being the expert, from being the reason why everything is successful.

The second reason is because you're addicted to being needed. This is a really uncomfortable one. A lot of people say that they don't want to be the bottleneck in their business, or they know logically that they shouldn't be the bottleneck in their business, and yet at the same time, being the bottleneck still serves them.

It feels powerful to be involved in everything. It feels safe. Being the one solving problems gives that hit of dopamine. Being the smartest in the room feels really comfortable, and being required or needed feels really validating. But being needed in your business becomes a weakness. The feeling that you get from being needed might feel good to you short-term, but it's worse for your business.

So you need to begin to get comfortable with no longer being needed. Get comfortable with a business that isn't dependent on you.

The third reason is you haven't fully accepted the cost of growth. This is a deep shift because to fully step into the CEO role, you have to tolerate things that you didn't have to tolerate before. You have to get used to execution being slower when other people do it than when you do it. You have to let go and let others do things imperfectly or differently than you would. You have to stop being the hero. You can't jump in and fix everything or be the one or the reason why things are successful. You have to begin to think about longer time horizons.

The CEO role actually costs you something. You don't just gain. There's a lot of gain, a lot of benefit, but you don't just gain something by stepping into the CEO role. The CEO role costs you something too. It costs you control. It costs you instant gratification, immediate relevance, being the best implementer.

But what does it give you? The ability to scale, strategic leverage, time freedom, more sustainability. That's just to name a few things. So that's the trade-off.

You have to ask yourself, are you willing to let go of control in order to get true scale, true freedom, true sustainability? It sounds good to be the CEO. It sounds good to want to be the CEO. But if you haven't actually stepped into that role, there's a reason. These are 3 of the most common reasons.

Which of these apply to you? What part of you is afraid to let go? What part of you is afraid to change? What are you afraid that it will cost you? How will it change how you see yourself?

All of these are shifts to your identity that you have to get comfortable with, that you have to wrestle with first. You just have to wrestle with it and let yourself evolve. Your business does not need more of your effort in order to keep growing. It needs you in the CEO role, and that means it needs you to evolve. Not just what you're doing, but how you identify. It needs your self-concept to evolve.

Are you willing to let others be the expert? Are you willing to no longer be needed? Are you willing to accept the cost of growth and let go of control?

For that to be a yes, you really need to understand what's on the other side waiting for you. You need to show yourself what's possible, and you need to let yourself understand why it's worth it.