A Trusted and Experienced Guide
Let’s face it, running a business is hard and stressful work – full of ups and downs. The payoffs though can be hugely rewarding – freedom, retirement, quality of life, and the fulfillment of having created something successful that benefits the world. Unfortunately the statistics state the dim prospect of success:
- 70% of businesses fail in the first 18 months
- More than 200,000 business close each year
- 8 out of 10 businesses fail
- Many business stay at the same level for years without reaching the success they desired
There comes a point in every business, at least the smart ones, when they experience what I like to call an inflection point. It’s a point when a decision has to be made that will be critical to the future success of the business. This decision is whether the company has the expertise and knowledge to even go to the next level.
Many founders fight for years and years to find the right path to success; trying to learn new things, attempting to combine ingredients to make the secret sauce that will propel them forward; the whole time unable to hire someone that does have the experience to help the company move beyond the ledge that they are stuck on and climb to new heights.
The founder could hire consultants, hire coaches, join peer groups, go through training programs, and do a bunch of things that help solve small pieces of the puzzle. In the end though, what the founder needs is: strategic direction, someone to hold them accountable, someone to help them make the right decisions, someone to connect them to the right people, someone to help oversee the P&L, someone to help them understand their data, someone to advise them on the day-to-day operation, and many other aspects that might not be a perfect fit for the founder, who’s real talent might lie in other areas.
No business will be successful without business planning, sales and marketing planning, execution know-how, industry knowledge, product and service innovation and creation knowledge, KPI tracking and forecasting and many other things that are often out of the skill set of a typical founder.
At this inflection point the company needs someone that has the experience and know-how to do all those things that will bring the desired success. A full-time experienced and seasoned executive though, is usually beyond the budget of these companies. So they continue to struggle and make meager success. Who the heck wants a little success? So the founder is stuck… well maybe.
Get Unstuck with a Virtual CEO-COO
What this kind of company needs is a Virtual CEO. A Virtual CEO or even a Virtual COO depending on the company, is a concept that allows a small business to gain the experience and knowledge of a seasoned executive, for a recurring nominal investment. A virtual CEO will provide some or all of he following, based on your needs:
- Provide strategic direction for the future
- Provide business planning and goal setting expertise
- Provide metric analysis and forecasting
- Provide market and industry analysis
- Improve efficiency through process and policy development
- Perform operations analysis
- Enhance service delivery effectiveness
- Develop staff through coaching and training
- Provide accountability for management and staff, including founders
- Train and develop staff on leadership, management, and teamwork
- Implement execution structures to achieve results
- Assist in conflict resolution
- Perform expense analysis & reduction
- Provide P&L Oversight
- Provide assistance in pricing and developing of innovative service offerings
- Help protect the company by putting in place policies, procedures, and structures
- Connect founders to peers, vendors, and resources
- Help develop goals, and structures to achieve desired plans
- Provide accountability, direction and feedback on marketing and sales activities
- Provide direction, development, and assistance in the development of sales, marketing, and operational plans
- Counsel on meeting structures and formats to create maximum effectiveness
- Provide consistency, and repeatable success models
- Convert industry best practices, forms, policies, and processes for the company that only a seasoned executive would have
- Perform risk analysis to determine proper courses of action
- Provide detailed project management tracking and expertise in rolling out initiatives
- Bring tools and resources that will help the company monitor, track, and improve initiatives
- And much, much more….
The experience and knowledge of a seasoned executive would be invaluable to any organization. For 12 months, Todd Nielsen, your Virtual CEO or COO will work hand in hand with you. He will help provide the insight and guidance to help move your organization to greater levels of success. This is much more than a coaching role, a consulting role, or an advisory role. It is an all-inclusive hand-holding type of role in which he will look at your organization through a seasoned set of eyes, will help create the plans, and then will help execute the plans on an ongoing basis.
Hope is not a strategy for success. Time is not going to slow down, and success is not guaranteed. Let’s partner together to create the success that you dream of.
