Beyond Margins Podcast

Can you build a business based on… “calm?” 

On Beyond Margins, host Susan Boles looks beyond the usual metrics of success to help you build a business where calm is the new KPI. With over 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur, CFO, and COO, Susan shares the business strategies that lead to a business with comfortable margins—financial, emotional, energetic, and scheduling margins. 

Join her and her guests as they counter the prevailing “wisdom” about business growth, productivity, and success to provide a framework for making choices that align with your values and true goals. 

Episode by episode, you’ll get a look at the team management, operations, financials, product development, and marketing of a calmer business.

(Formerly Break the Ceiling Podcast)

Creator & Show Host

Beyond Margins

As a CFO and business strategist, I focus on helping businesses get clear on their numbers and truly understand their inner workings at a deeper level so they can make decisions from a place of intention and purpose, instead of panic.

Over the course of my 15+ years partnering with CEOs to build high-growth companies, I've seen way too many business owners burn out - or build businesses they want to burn down. I've even been one of them.

On my own journey back from burnout, I thought that there had to be a better way to build businesses - a calmer, more sustainable way.

But calmer businesses don't happen by accident. You have to design them that way.

And that's what we do here.

Virtual CFO & Business Strategist

Scanned Inc.

• Oversee the day-to-day operations for 4 different brands, including both a hardware development company, Doxie Scanners, and a software company, Barcode Producer.
• Rebuilt the financial and personnel systems from the ground up, including accounting system conversions, company card and vendor management platforms, and payroll systems.
• Developed a company handbook, including implementing a new benefit program and developing company-wide processes and policies.
• Implemented a new project management system and workflow development, particularly for the product development and design processes.
• Designed and implemented a Customer Care Quality Assurance tool that increased our customer care happiness and quality scores by 25%
• Revamped the hiring process to be more inclusive, shorter and faster.

Chief Operating Officer

University of Arkansas

•	Manage human resources and IT for 370+ employees, $100M+ annual budget, 100+ vehicle fleet
•	Implemented a new cloud-based maintenance management system to track maintenance on 20,000+ assets and 600+ buildings. Software vendor said it was the best (and fastest) implementation in 10 years.
•	Supervising implementation of ERP to move from a DOS-based system to Workday ERP. 
•	Cut $450K+ in expenses in both 2017 and 2018 and on track to cut another $500K in 2019.

Chief Financial Officer, Facilities Management

Twisted Trails Running Company

•	Analyze retail consumer buying patterns and historical purchasing behaviors to forecast apparel and shoe demands for a retail running shop
•	Develop and maintain seasonal forecast calendars
•	Manage stock levels and supplier relationships 
•       Selected, integrated and supported the operation of Xero, Vend, Collect, Deputy, Gusto, Entryless and Float

Founder/Chief Financial Officer

Tier One Services, LLC

Out-sourced CFO to high-growth businesses $1M-$20M, with an emphasis on business intelligence

•	Positioned clients in multiple industries to scale by providing financial clarity, business intelligence, streamlined processes, and by reducing risks
•	Developed a dynamic financial model for a funded startup which reported actuals & projections to investors and integrated with the operational budget

Accounting Consultant & Data Guru

Elk River Guest Ranch

• Started guest ranch business on dilapidated ranch property, turning it into successful operation
• Served as Chief Executive Officer/Chief Financial Officer –responsible for all accounting, budgeting, marketing and business administration
• Converted financial records to Xero and created a financial ecosystem with multiple add-ons including, VendHQ and Checkfront.
•	Created new website & positive social media presence for the business (100% rating on Tripadvisor.com)
• Selected, integrated and supported the operation of Xero, Checkfront, Vend and Gusto.

Owner/Chief Financial Officer

United States Air Force

•	Created data warehouse and front-end customer application using Microsoft Access and SharePoint that has been benchmarked by US Air Force Antiterrorism offices and is being distributed for use throughout the US Air Forces in Europe. 
•	Served as the senior security advisor to the base commander, creating required reports and presenting information to base leadership on a regular basis.

Security Specialist

University of Richmond

•	Researched and presented briefing for university administration to explain new federal race/ethnicity reporting procedures – coordinated university compliance efforts
•	Created and published university fact book, reporting all applicable institutional data for web and print media
•	Compiled and reported data to accrediting agencies, state and federal governments
•	Provided leadership in the use of data for decision making and planning
•	Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Keyholder

Research Analyst and Reporting Coordinator

College of William and Mary

•	Redesigned institutional research website and fact book to make data more accessible
•	Coordinated internal and external reporting of official university statistics
•	Worked closely with administrators, faculty and staff to provide information and analysis to support administrative decision making, strategic planning, and strategic initiatives
•	Assisted campus constituents in using and interpreting institutional data

Research Analyst

CFO + COO | Helping biz owners understand the story behind their numbers & make profitable decisions from a place of purpose, not panic.

"Just be consistent and you'll succeed" 
"Work harder, outlast the competition" 
"Consistency is the key" 

It's not... wrong advice. Ok, well, it kind of is. 

Consistency is important. And if you quit before you get to your goal, you won't actually reach it. Those are true things. 

But... we're thinking about consistency from a perspective that's way too narrow - we need to zoom out. 

Think about consistency from a seasonal perspective - or quarterly - or annual. 

You don't have to show up every day. 
And you don't have to put in the same level of effort every day, or week, or month. 

You can be a potato/tornado - and work for 3 weeks and take a whole week off. 
You can work at 50% some days and 25% the next. 
You can spend a whole quarter in rest mode, if you need to. 

Yes, showing up is important. 
But, being consistent can look different for everyone. 

And, usually, the further out you zoom, the more consistent the picture looks. 

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👋 I’m Susan, CFO + business strategist.

💬 Most CFOs talk about finance. I talk about humanity and how finance can serve yours. 

🔔 Follow along to learn how to build a calmer business with comfortable margins. 

#CalmIsTheNewKPI #humancenteredCFO


Susan Boles

Make Calm your new KPI // Host, Beyond Margins Podcast // I help business owners build calmer businesses with comfortable margins // Speaker, CFO + COO, Consultant

It's finally here 🎉

The Beyond Margins podcast (formerly called Break the Ceiling) is coming back and the new trailer dropped today! 

New episodes coming on May 14th and the first theme tackles sabbaticals and leaves - how to plan for them (financially and logistically), a few different approaches to taking a break from your business, and some unconventional ideas about what it actually means to take a break from your business. 

Plus, the first episode will take you behind-the-scenes of my own sabbatical, so make sure you're subscribed in your favorite podcast player!

Open article: Introducing Beyond Margins by podcast.beyondmargins.com • 4 min read

I wouldn't be who I am today, professionally or personally, if I hadn't had the support and mentorship of some amazing people along the way. 

Thank you for taking me under their wing and into your communities - and for being the voices I get to have in the back of my head every day. 

Jaime Campbell, CPA, MBA, CGMA, CTT, MCT - for turning me into the nit-pickiest financial data reviewer ever! 🤩

Pia Silva - for teaching me about lead products, pricing + capacity planning (I STILL use so much of what I learned 8 years down the road!) ⚙️

Rachel Jordan - for being a business bestie AND for introducing me to Margo Aaron and the Arena where I met Caelin Aerin, Michelle Warner and so many other amazing people that have helped me build my business. The Arena was my first taste of the power of working in community with others - and it's still the foundation of my business network almost a decade later. 🥰

Tara McMullin - for bringing What Works into the world, for teaching me how to be a podcaster and helping me bring my voice into the world, and for opening my eyes to SO much about the world and how i see my place in it. 🧠

Allison Davis - for teaching me how to not feel icky about sales, for being an amazing business bestie who always answers her Voxer, and for being my business wingwoman every single day. 🦉

Jay Acunzo - for helping me figure out how to say what I want to say to the world in a way that actually makes sense. 📣

Brittany Berger - for helping me unlearn productivity culture, accept + work with my energy levels, disabilities and neurodivergence. 💖

Melanie D. - your model building model changed my life and my business. And, for always being the voice in the back of my head that says "no new shoes" on repeat. 😁

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👋 I’m Susan, CFO + business strategist.

💬 Most CFOs talk about finance. I talk about humanity and how finance can serve yours. 

🔔 Follow along to learn how to build a calmer business with comfortable margins. 

#CalmIsTheNewKPI #humancenteredCFO

Just do what I did and you can have what I have. 


🤯

Being a business owner is hard. We all know that. 

And, sometimes, when things aren't going that well, we look to other folks we see as "successful" and try to replicate what they did. 

We follow their frameworks, their tactics, deconstruct their every move. 

But following someone else's path just leads to building someone else's business. (And, TBH, you don't even know if they're actually doing well, or just posting some made up revenue benchmarks). 

Build the business that works for you (not for someone else). 

And that means, sometimes, you have to forge your own path. 

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👋 I’m Susan, CFO + business strategist.

💬 Most CFOs talk about finance. I talk about humanity and how finance can serve yours. 

🔔 Follow along to learn how to build a calmer business with comfortable margins. 

#CalmIsTheNewKPI #humancenteredCFO #defaultdecisions #entrepreneurship 

Your business is an ecosystem. 

You can't make decisions about one area of your business without it impacting another area. 

💰Finances isn't a silo - operational and marketing decisions impact your finances.

📣 Marketing isn't a silo - decisions here impact your product sales, your finances and your team requirements. 

⚙️ Operations isn't a silo - it's impacted by your marketing decisions, your financial resources, the team you have available. 

We tend to treat each area like it exists on its own - but that's a fallacy. 

To build something calmer, more strategic, more thoughtful - you have to realize how interconnected it all is (and communicate accordingly). 

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👋 I’m Susan, CFO + business strategist.

💬 Most CFOs talk about finance. I talk about humanity and how finance can serve yours. 

🔔 Follow along to learn how to build a calmer business with comfortable margins. 

#CalmIsTheNewKPI #humancenteredCFO

Profit margins aren't the only kinds of margins you should be concerned about.


Margin literally means space - and you need to build space into lots of different kind of margins if you want to build a calmer business. 

-> Building space into your emotional margins might look like shifting your services away from high-touch done-for-you style services. 

-> Building space into your capacity margins might look like shifting your pacing or work intensity (or taking on fewer clients). 

-> Building space into your energetic margins might look like shifting towards offering services that bring you tons of energy, or leaning into working only in the mornings (or late at night), when you're at peak energy. 

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗯𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻𝘀. 
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👋 I’m Susan, CFO + business strategist.

💬 Most CFOs talk about finance. I talk about humanity and how finance can serve yours. 

🔔 Follow along to learn how to build a calmer business with comfortable margins. 

#CalmIsTheNewKPI #humancenteredCFO

🔥 Fractional C-Suite roles are the future of support for small businesses.  

You get all the benefits of having a high-level, strategic brain in your business - without having the price tag. 

And having those kinds of brains in your business can really accelerate your progress towards your goals. 

But you probably don't need them every day. 

As a fractional CFO, my role is to serve as the strategic thought partner for a business owner and to help you understand the story that your financial data is telling you - so that you can make the decisions that are right for you and what your goals and focuses are. 

Whether you're a business owner or you want to become a fractional CFO - come hang out with me and Colin Hewitt at Float Cash Flow Forecasting tomorrow. 

We're going to be chatting about:

🧠 How fractional CFOs + business owners can build an effective, strategic relationship

🏦 Cash Flow - how to handle it, why it's important, and how I work with clients with their cash flow forecasting + strategies

🤝 What a successful finance team + finance operation looks like (and how to get there)

Come geek out with us!

You can sign up  ⬇️
https://lnkd.in/g4SBh4tV


Your business will look like whatever you solve for. 

If your top priority is growth, you'll solve for growth. 
Every decision you make will reflect that (to the detriment of other things). 

If you want to build something calmer, you have to solve for calm. 
It needs to be build into the DNA of your business - in your policies, practices, benefits, work style. 

If you want to run a calmer business, you have to make calm your new KPI. 
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👋 I’m Susan, CFO + business strategist.

💬 Most CFOs talk about finance. I talk about humanity and how finance can serve yours. 

🔔 Follow along to learn how to build a calmer business with comfortable margins. 

#CalmIsTheNewKPI #humancenteredCFO

🏆 One of my goals for 2024 is to take 12 weeks off. 

Here's how it's going and what I've learned: 

I've taken a total of 3 weeks off so far. 
• Week 1 - I tried to turn this into a work retreat, but by Weds realized I actually just needed the time off 🤦‍♀️ and took the rest of the week actually off 
• Week 2 - took the whole darn thing off and didn't do much otherwise 😎
• Week 3 - worked Monday/Tuesday on "fun" projects and did home reno for the rest of the week. 🔨

What I've learned: 
• I need to lean into whatever feels good that week/in that moment. Sometimes it's more restful to do fun projects, sometimes I need to just sit and be a TV potato. 
• Having a scheduled week off every 4-6 weeks feels WAY better than a big multi-week break for me. It's allowing me to work in a way that feels good to me - high intensity for a few weeks, and then completely off for a bit 🥔🌪️
• It's always going to be a little messy - this is an experiment, after all. If I don't do it perfectly and rest the 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 week, that's ok. I'm still getting a lot closer to my goal of having more rest. 

What I've changed for how I'm planning the rest of the year: 
• The only multi-week break I have scheduled is in December now, where I'm taking most of the month off. I had a few multi-weeks in the summer, but right now I'm really loving the shorter but more frequent breaks. So I broke up the summer multi-weeks to spread them out. 
• I started off with hard and fast "no-work" rules after that first week, but when I was out on week 3 last week, it felt good to let myself just work as I felt like it (and on fun projects I hadn't had time for), so I'm being a bit more flexible about my definitions of "work" and "rest" 

How're your goals going for the year? What have you changed/modified so far? 

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👋 I’m Susan, CFO + business strategist.

💬 Most CFOs talk about finance. I talk about humanity and how finance can serve yours. 

🔔 Follow along to learn how to build a calmer business with comfortable margins. 

#CalmIsTheNewKPI #humancenteredCFO

You don't have to be a calm person to run a calmer business. 


I was on a call with someone the other day and they said, 

"I love what you're talking about and your content really resonates, but I'm not sure I could ever run a calmer business - because I'm the least calm person ever." 

And, yeah... me too. 

I'm definitely not someone who is naturally calm - I've been told I'm actually pretty intense. 

But, working towards running a business that's calmer doesn't require you to change who you are (or to be a calm person). 

Calm businesses have care at their foundation -- especially care for the people who work in the business. It's about working with how YOU work, how your brain likes to work. The more you lean into designing your business for how your brain works, the calmer it will feel (because you won't be fighting your natural tendencies). 

I've said that I'm either a potato or a tornado. I'm going at 150% or 0% - there really isn't much of an in between for me. So, I look at calm and consistency on a BIG scale (like a season, or a quarter). 

Over the course of that time, am I working sustainably? Am I resting enough? How does it FEEL to me? 

And that helps me build something that feels calm to me (but might not actually feel calm to someone who likes working at a steady pace). 

Build what works for you - even if you're not a calm person - it'll start to feel calmer. 
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👋 I’m Susan, CFO + business strategist.

💬 Most CFOs talk about finance. I talk about humanity and how finance can serve yours. 

🔔 Follow along to learn how to build a calmer business with comfortable margins. 

#CalmIsTheNewKPI #humancenteredCFO #entrepreneurship #consulting 

You can build a business that's technically "correct" and it's still not successful.


You can follow the checklists, the frameworks, make all the "right" decisions to grow. 

But if growth at all costs isn't success to you, your business won't feel successful. 

You have to define what success looks like FOR YOU. 

Because whatever your top priority is for your business, that's what every decision you make will solve for. 

If your priority is growth, you'll make decisions that prioritize growth - at the expense of everything else (like your health, your team's wellbeing, maybe even your ethics).

So, if you want to build a business that's calmer, you need to solve for something calm.

Which means, you need to make calm your new KPI. 

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👋 I’m Susan, CFO + business strategist.

💬 Most CFOs talk about finance. I talk about humanity and how finance can serve yours. 

🔔 Follow along to learn how to build a calmer business with comfortable margins. 

#CalmIsTheNewKPI #humancenteredCFO

Emotional margins = underrated & overlooked, but BIG impact on how your work feels. 


When you're working with clients, you probably aren't really considering how much emotional labor goes into that work. 

But you only have a finite bandwidth for your emotional capacity and there are LOTS of things (not just work) that suck up that bandwidth. 

🧒 If you're a parent or a caregiver, caregiving takes a BUNCH of emotional bandwidth. 
❤️ If you're in a relationship, that takes some bandwidth too. 
🧠 If you're neurodivergent or chronically ill, the energy that goes into emotional regulation = bandwidth. 


But when we're thinking about our work with clients, we rarely recognize that they also suck up some of that emotional bandwidth (even if you're someone who loves working with clients & gets lots of energy from it). 

When you're looking at your capacity in your work, or building out your services, consider how much capacity you have for emotional labor with clients -- and maybe modify how you're working to take that into consideration. 

So, for example, if you have a pretty small bandwidth for emotional capacity naturally, and then you're a parent and in a relationship, so you really don't have a lot of capacity to do emotional labor for clients, maybe you're better off shifting to focus on digital products, or speaking, or something else entirely. 

And, likewise, if you have a lot of capacity for emotional labor with clients, because you have a big bucket naturally or you don't have a lot of other demands on your emotional capacity right now, maybe it's time to lean into high-touch done-for-you kinds of services. 

Margins aren't just about profit - there's lots of different kinds of margins - and you need space for all of them if you want to build something calmer. 

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👋 I’m Susan, CFO + business strategist.

💬 Most CFOs talk about finance. I talk about humanity and how finance can serve yours. 

🔔 Follow along to learn how to build a calmer business with comfortable margins. 

#CalmIsTheNewKPI #humancenteredCFO

🧠 When you try to build more margin into your capacity, are you considering pacing? 

Pacing is basically how intensely you prefer to work. 

Are you someone who loves batching - or hates it? 
Are you a potato/tornado person (going at either 150% or 0%, nothing in between)? 
Or are you someone who prefers to work a consistent amount, day in and day out? 

If you solve for capacity using a kind of pacing that isn't your natural work preference, it probably won't feel better. Even if you DO create more margin, it might not feel calmer. 

If you're a potato/tornado, pacing might look like two weeks "on", one week of rest - that way you can go at 150% for a short sprint, and then have complete rest. 

If you're someone who likes consistent effort level, it might look like 3 weeks, but only working at 65% every day. 

Results are the same - you're still working the same number of hours, probably getting the same amount of work done. But it'll feel very different. 

And if you're in the wrong style for how you prefer to work, it might feel really awful. 


💖  Working in a way that works for you = calm

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👋 I’m Susan, CFO + business strategist.

💬 Most CFOs talk about finance. I talk about humanity and how finance can serve yours. 

🔔 Follow along to learn how to build a calmer business with comfortable margins. 

#CalmIsTheNewKPI #humancenteredCFO

🌸 What are you focused on for May? 

For me, I'm excited about: 

🎙️ Beyond Margins Podcast relaunch 🎉 (new trailer drops tomorrow!) 

💖 Connecting with other creators + new friends at CEX next week

🧠 Product development on a new offer coming in June
(𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵, 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵! 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵: 𝘩𝘵𝘵𝘱𝘴://𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘴.𝘤𝘬.𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘦/21380𝘧9𝘣𝘢𝘦) 

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👋 I’m Susan, CFO + business strategist.

💬 Most CFOs talk about finance. I talk about humanity and how finance can serve yours. 

🔔 Follow along to learn how to build a calmer business with comfortable margins. 

#CalmIsTheNewKPI #humancenteredCFO

Margins = Space 

Mostly, we only think about profit margins. But we need to think beyond that to build a calmer business. 

We need capacity margins, emotional margins, energetic margins to allow us the space to operate our businesses at our best. 

In order to do that, though, we need to understand what our goals are, what our own definition of success is (not what the default tells us it should be). Having a clear picture of what WE want allows us to build towards that, to solve for that. 

I shared my thoughts about this in an audio summit session called "Going Beyond Margins for Emotions and Capacity" where I dig into my perspective on business success, building wealth -- and what it actually means to be "wealthy." (Spoiler alert: it's probably not what you're thinking it is). 

This new audio summit from Eleanor Beaton and SAFI Media is for any woman entrepreneur who wants to build their business into something more sustainable. It's delivered via private podcast feed, so you can listen on the go. 

Get my recording and the thoughts of these other women when you register for free at : https://lnkd.in/gqDmivmB

I'd love to hear from you - what are YOU solving for in your business? What's your "why"?

If you own a service-based/client-based business and you've taken any investment in your company, I want to interview you! 


I'm working on a theme for the Beyond Margins Podcast all about the different capital options for service businesses and I'm looking to talk to a service business owner who has gone through the process of having someone else invest in your business OR a consultant who walks service biz owners through the investment process.

If that's you, shoot me a DM, or fill out the guest pitch form here: https://tally.so/r/w48Dvd

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👋 I’m Susan, CFO + business strategist.

💬 Most CFOs talk about finance. I talk about humanity and how finance can serve yours. 

🔔 Follow along to learn how to build a calmer business with comfortable margins. 

#CalmIsTheNewKPI #humancenteredCFO #BeyondMarginsPodcast  

Care-Centric + Comfortable Margins = Calm Business


I talk about Calm as the new KPI... but what do I 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 by calm? 

Calm businesses have two main components -> 

1️⃣ First, they are care-centric, meaning they prioritize caring for the people in and around the business (the founder, the team, the clients, the community the business serves). The policies, procedures and day-to-day operations put taking care of the PEOPLE first, before anything else.

2️⃣ And... they focus on building comfortable margins. Not just profit margins (though that's SUPER important), but also capacity margins, pacing margins, energetic margins, emotional margins. Margins = space and space = calmer days, calmer work, calmer brains. 

If you want to build a calmer business - you have to start focusing on making gains (even if they're tiny) in these two areas. 


Calm businesses should be the default. 

Think back to when you started building your business - why did you want to start a business? If you're like me - you probably wanted to do some interesting work and have a lot of freedom and flexibility. 

But, the path from that vision to actually building it isn’t always smooth. For most of us, we end up building at least a few versions of something entirely different first. I’ve done it. You’ve probably done it. And so has Rand Fishkin 

Today, Rand is building a business that exemplifies what I mean when I talk about building a calm company. He’s the co-founder of SparkToro. 

But at the beginning, he was just a guy, running a marketing agency with his mom. That agency eventually ended up turning into a 130+ person vc-funded software company (Moz). 

And from the outside, it looked awesome! 

But... inside, it was a different story. The TL;DR version is that Moz went all in on a big project - invested a bunch of time, money and resources. It didn't go well. Rand sunk into a year+ long depression, the company did layoffs, and eventually Rand ended up leaving Moz. 

Why? Because they HAD to make growth their top priority (𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘝𝘊 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺?)

Whatever your overriding priority is for your company - that will drive every one of your decisions, to the detriment of everything else.

But it’s not about intention. It’s not about the quality of your execution. It’s your incentives and values that chart the course of your business towards chaos and stress – or towards something more sustainable and in line with your values. 

The thing we need to realize is 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗞𝗣𝗜𝘀 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀. 

Moz was running the way it was designed. Rand was making choices according to that design. 

Often, we don’t want to, but we end up designing a business that is “feast or famine.” What we 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 IS values-aligned with our goals. 

But what we’re actually solving for in our business? That’s a different story. 
We need to change THAT to change the outcomes. 

I propose that the thing you should solve for is calm. 

Rand came to the same conclusion - and when he left Moz, and co-founded SparkToro with Casey Henry, they didn't rely on wishful thinking - they built both their values and financial incentives into their company foundations, which is the missing piece for so many of us. 

• They created an entirely new type of funding structure to finance SparkToro. It prioritized profitability over growth, allowed them to pay back their investors from company profits (so their financial incentives were aligned)
• And prioritized people first: customer satisfaction, team happiness, community value and investor performance. 

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 - 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗞𝗣𝗜

When things aren’t going all that well, or there’s just a million decisions to make, or we don’t really know what to do next, we end up making the choices that we see other business owners making. 

I call these default decisions.

These are choices you make in your business, based on what everyone else is doing, without really ever thinking about them or whether they're the right choice for you and your business. 

👉 Default decisions sound like "best practices" or "what's working right now" 

These defaults are really hard to escape because they're ingrained in everything around us. The "successful" business owners that get profiled in the media, the "let me teach you how to make 7 figures" business courses, the (probably fake) revenue screenshots from your favorite business influencer. 

The default = growth, so following default decisions will lead you to prioritize growth for your business. 

But if that's not actually what you care about, following the defaults will lead you in the wrong direction. 

Consider what you 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 want to prioritize - and then solve for that.

For me, the thing that I care about is building a calmer business. 

That means prioritizing taking care of the people in the business (like myself, my team, my clients, my community) and focusing on building comfortable margins. 

Instead of default decisions leading to a focus on growth, I make calm my KPI. It's the thing I'm measuring, focusing on building, and the thing I'm actually solving for. 

If you're at that inflection point where you are knee-deep in trying to hire (or figuring out who is the right fit or what position you need to bring in), check out Melissa Carson's free workshop series! 

We maximize your competitive advantage together: having the right people in the right roles doing great work + how you lead the organization | Leadership Coach + Talent Strategist + HR Advisor for women leaders in Tech

Your next hire could redefine your company’s future.

But, only if they’re aligned with your vision.

In the fast-paced world of tech, every decision you make is magnified, and hiring is no exception. 

It’s about amplifying your capacity to innovate and lead. As a founder or CEO, the clarity you inject into the hiring process is paramount.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝟯 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀:

First, figure out the role’s 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸s. 𝘈𝘴𝘬, “W𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦?”undefined

Next, find the 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝘁. L𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 3 𝘵𝘰 5 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵-𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮'𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘨𝘰𝘢𝘭𝘴.

Lastly, set clear 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀. 𝘋𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦.

If you’re on the brink of expanding your team or you’ve hit a stumbling block with a recent hire, it’s not too late to recalibrate. 

Your hiring strategy is not just about growth—it’s a statement of your commitment to innovation and leadership in the industry. 

Register today for the May 7-9 Workshop Series:  𝗠𝗔𝗫𝗜𝗠𝗜𝗭𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗣𝗘𝗧𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗔𝗗𝗩𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗔𝗚𝗘: 𝗣𝗘𝗢𝗣𝗟𝗘 & 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗣 

Share in the comments what feels hard today in finding the right people for your organization.

#WomenInTech #FemaleFounders #TechLeadership #StrategicHiring

Registration link: https://lnkd.in/eTB7TRHY


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