Podcast
CEO Shift
Hosted by Jenn Bays · EN
Welcome to the CEO Shift Podcast! I'm Jenn, your host. You may know me from my first podcast, Success Beyond the Lens, where we focus on bringing actionable tips and advice to photographers looking to start, grow, and manage their businesses.
My mission is to help service providers run boundary-led businesses they love, and this podcast is one way of fulfilling that mission.
Within each episode, you will find key takeaways that will assist in shifting you from worker bee to CEO within your own business. There can be a ton of chaos during this shift when done haphazardly, which I want to help you avoid.
Are you ready to make your own CEO Shift?
10episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Final Episode
Mar 21, 202400:03:56Tap to summarizeHey Y’all! I have absolutely loved putting out the CEO Shift podcast. It’s been so much fun to expand on the conversations that I’ve been having with other creative professionals and give voice to the ins and outs of growing and scaling business past the six-figure mark. Which is why I’m so sad to say that this is the LAST episode of the CEO Shift. But, I’m not saying goodbye! Listen in to hear why I’m shutting down the CEO Shift and why you can expect to hear these amazing conversations over on Success Beyond instead. I’m still here. I’m still supporting you. Sending you all my love and if you haven’t already, go check out Success Beyond. Link is below. Links and Resources:Use this link to get 50% off your first year of HoneyBook https://share.honeybook.com/jennbaysva Find Jenn:Success Beyond - https://successbeyondthelens.com/Jenn Bays - https://jennbays.comInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/theceoshift/@theceoshiftGrab your Boundaries Resources - https://view.flodesk.com/pages/5d6d09f19b5f4c0015d956e7
Transcribe →Communicating with Your Partner 101
Feb 15, 202400:32:33Tap to summarizeWe chat a lot in this podcast about communicating and delegating within your business. I’m shifting gears in this episode, and we’re talking about how we communicate in the home with our partners.As business owners and entrepreneurs, we often blur the lines between home and business. Your home life 100% impacts how you behave in your business, and your business impacts how you behave at home. If you’re feeling resentment towards your partner because you feel like you are carrying the majority of the load in your relationship – it’s time to have a conversation with your partner before you go too far down the path of resentment. The biggest thing that you can do in this instance is to stop feeding the negativity that you are feeling in your relationship. Instead, you have to come from a place of understanding what the priorities are for your partner. What items in the house do they see as a priority, how is that different from what you interpret as a priority, and where is the compromise? At the end of the day, you want a happy marriage, and you want your relationship to succeed. So let go of the negativity, engage in neutral and meaningful conversations, and avoid micromanaging the tasks that you delegate to them. These concepts are just as relevant in the home as they are in your business, and I know this episode is going to shine a new light on how you interact with your biggest partner of all. Tune in today for some free relationship advice and tips on how to successfully communicate with your partner! Links and Resources:Use this link to get 50% off your first year of HoneyBook https://share.honeybook.com/jennbaysvaFind Jenn:Jenn Bays - https://jennbays.comInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/theceoshift/@theceoshiftGrab your Boundaries Resources - https://view.flodesk.com/pages/5d6d09f19b5f4c0015d956e7
Transcribe →Getting the Right Support at the Right Time
Feb 1, 202400:14:40Tap to summarizeWelcome to Season 2 of the CEO Shift Podcast! I’m back from my holiday hiatus, and I’m ready to hit you with some fantastic insight that has helped me shift my outlook on business and make more significant moves to launch my business forward. Here’s the question you need to ask yourself this year. Are you playing it small? Are you looking for a way to grow your business, but you’re hesitant to make the moves you know you need to make? Are you lacking the confidence it might take to get you there?Guess what? So was I! I sought the outside perspective of a coach who gave me a loving kick in the backside to get me moving to the next level with a heart full of confidence. The message I’m trying to send here is that it’s OK to lean on others to help you achieve your goals. It’s more than OK, it’s the best way to do it, honestly. For you to grow your business in the direction that you need to be going, you need the right support to help get you there, whether it’s a coach, an assistant, a consultant – whatever! Just get the right support at the right time to help you keep kicking ass and making awesome moves.Tune in today to hear more about the different types of support that are out there for you to lean on while you grow your business!Links and Resources:Find Jenn:Jenn Bays - https://jennbays.comInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/theceoshift/@theceoshiftGrab your Boundaries Resources - https://view.flodesk.com/pages/5d6d09f19b5f4c0015d956e7
Transcribe →Lessons I Learned as a CEO in 2023
Dec 28, 202300:29:55Tap to summarizeWe are wrapping up 2023 in a few short weeks! The end of the year always brings reflection on what worked, what flopped in my business, and what I need to do to set myself up for success in the coming year. I thought I’d share the lessons I learned – from one CEO to another. One of the lessons I learned is to always trust your gut. I learned this lesson the hard way this year and it cost me a fair amount of time and money.Another one is to always know your numbers. You need to know where your money is coming in and where the money is going out. I learned this lesson the hard way by not realizing that one of my accounts was on reduced rates, and I lost a lot of money by taking so long to be aware of my numbers.My biggest lesson, though? How to best manage my time. After an ADHD diagnosis, I was able to understand more about my brain and how best to navigate my days and be more productive. So, with these lessons behind me, I’m walking into 2024 with a kickass action plan to make my goals happen! Tune in to this episode to hear more about the steps I’m taking in 2024 and the boundaries I’m putting down to take my business to the next level. What does 2024 have in store for you?Links and Resources:Find Jenn:Jenn Bays - https://jennbays.comInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/theceoshift/@theceoshiftGrab your Boundaries Resources - https://view.flodesk.com/pages/5d6d09f19b5f4c0015d956e7
Transcribe →How To Audit Your Business
Nov 30, 202300:38:55Tap to summarizeWe are coming up on the end of the year which is the perfect time to audit your business and your home life. Listen in as I share my top tips for how to look at both your business and your home and set the stage for a smooth Q1. Every year around this time I like to take some time to see what’s working and what’s not, both at home and in business. Sometimes super simple systems make all the difference in how we feel about the life we’re building. Let’s first start by reviewing the things that are going wrong. Where are the hold ups in your business? When I did this audit toward the beginning of the year, I realized that I was the hold up in several areas of my business. I had held on to the ongoing client management tasks for so long that they were starting to slip through the cracks. Things like setting up recurring invoices, following up on outdated contracts, and additional client related items. So I was able to increase my VAs’ hours and have her take over these tasks which freed up not just my time but my mental space. Not to mention providing a more seamless client experience for our clients. Listen in to hear more about things you can do to audit your home and business to set yourself up for success in the coming months. Links and Resources:Find Jenn:Jenn Bays - https://jennbays.com Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theceoshift/ @theceoshiftGrab your Boundaries Resources - https://view.flodesk.com/pages/5d6d09f19b5f4c0015d956e7
Transcribe →Hiring Pitfalls To Avoid
Nov 16, 202300:17:58Tap to summarizeHiring is a fact of doing business. We cannot do and be great at all aspects of business. And we shouldn’t be. I have hired A LOT throughout my six years in business, and it hasn’t always been a walk in the park. Listen in to hear about my experiences and learn the hiring pitfalls to avoid.I’m curious, when you made your first hire, were you so overwhelmed in your business that you just wanted to hire someone to offload some of the work? How did that work out for you? This is one of the most common mistakes I see people make. Hiring is not going to instantly make your life easier. In fact, for a period of time, that new hire is going to make your life a lot harder. Because you have to teach them what you expect in the role and how you do things in your business. This is made easier if you have a fully fleshed out role in mind before you start the hiring process. Before you ever even think of putting up a job listing, take the time to sit down and write out what exactly you are looking to outsource. Line up the most important things that you need to get off your plate, create the role, and THEN post that job listing. This one thing will make your life so much easier when it comes to hiring, but it’s certainly not the only thing. Listen in to hear all the rest of my hiring tips.Links and Resources:Find Jenn:Jenn Bays - https://jennbays.comInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/theceoshift/@theceoshiftGrab your Boundaries Resources - https://view.flodesk.com/pages/5d6d09f19b5f4c0015d956e7
Transcribe →Is Perfection Hindering Your Business Success?
Nov 1, 202300:12:37Tap to summarizeWe are full of amazing ideas that never come to fruition. I want to talk today about why that might be and how we get in our own way and keep our ideas from coming to life.We may not know how to create our ideas, or we don’t have the resources we need to bring it to life, or we didn’t launch because it wasn’t exactly what we wanted it to be. If you take a step back and look at it, does it really need to be perfect?By not putting it out there, what did you really lose?Today, I’m diving into what it means to put perfectionism aside to bring our genius into the world and serve others, even if it’s not exactly how we wanted it to be. You will never reach anyone with your podcast if you never launch the podcast. You will never get sales from your digital product if you don’t launch it.Whatever your great idea is – do it, and do it messy instead of waiting for it to be perfect! Links and Resources:Find Jenn:Jenn Bays - https://jennbays.com Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theceoshift/ @theceoshiftGrab your Boundaries Resources - https://view.flodesk.com/pages/5d6d09f19b5f4c0015d956e7
Transcribe →Systems - Why This Isn’t Just Your CRM
Oct 19, 202300:24:22Tap to summarizeJump into this episode with me today to understand how your systems go beyond just your CRM!Systems are life, you already know I will preach about this all day long. But, your systems involve more than your CRM, such as Dubsado or Honeybook. When you’re running a six-figure (or more) business, there are a ton of systems that you need to have lined out to run your business effectively.One of the big ones that is often overlooked is our home systems. When you’re working from home, like most entrepreneurs are, it is so easy to get distracted and pulled away from your business.Establishing a routine for your work-from-home day is much like implementing a system. Develop routines for your morning to set yourself up for success, and determine your routine of getting a pulse on your business – the things you must do to “open” your business and the things that you need to do to “close” your business.Setting up a system for time-blocking, prioritizing, and delegating your tasks is the next system that is overlooked but infinitely valuable. Know which days you’re reserving for specific tasks to ensure you’re not getting burned out juggling multiple tasks.Systems go far beyond software, and I know you’re going to get so much value from this episode! Tune in today to hear more about how you can set up routines and put systems in place to support your routines to keep your business running efficiently!Links and Resources:Kendra Hennessy - Mother Like a BossFind Jenn:Jenn BaysInstagram @theceoshiftGrab your Boundaries ResourcesEditable Welcome Packet TemplatePinterest Freebies
Transcribe →How to "Vacation Proof" Your Business
Oct 5, 202300:23:54Tap to summarizeThere is nothing worse than needing a vacation after you get back from vacation. When you take time off of work, it’s supposed to give you the opportunity to unplug, relax, and reflect. However, for those of us who find ourselves running our own businesses - we find ourselves working more of the vacation than we wanted to.Trust me on this one, friends. I’ve done the working vacations, and they are far from the reset that I so desperately needed. But, you live and you learn, and this episode showcases some of the things I learned along the way from not vacation-proofing my business.Setting your business up for success so that you can take a legitimate vacation without answering every email immediately is something that so many of us need. We are tired, we are burned out, we are overwhelmed - we need vacations. And we need actual vacations, not the kind of vacation where your phone or laptop does not leave your hand. This week, I’m sharing some of the main ways you can set up processes and put down boundaries to make sure that your business still functions successfully without you being in the thick of it. With appropriate planning, proper communication, and solid systems, you can peace out for an amazing, guilt-free, unplugged vacation!You can’t take your business to the next level if you’re not giving yourself the opportunity to recharge. You have to make time and space for yourself. Tune in to this episode that will bring you into a whole new era of enjoying your vacation without stressing about all of the nitty-gritty, day-in, and day-out tasks that keep your business running. Shift into the kind of business that you can step away from!Links and Resources: Find Jenn:Jenn BaysInstagram @theceoshiftGrab your Boundaries ResourcesEditable Welcome Packet TemplatePinterest Freebies
Transcribe →3 Mistakes I Made as A New CEO
Sep 21, 202300:29:14Tap to summarizeWhen you’re building a business, you’re going to make mistakes. It’s how you respond to them that determines whether or not you’ll still have a business five years later. Knowing which pitfalls to avoid is key. Listen as I share the three mistakes I made as a new CEO. First up, I definitely needed to have more of my contractors be client facing, sooner. When I started bringing on contractors, I was already on the brink of burnout. Then I had a team and instead of finding relief, I found more responsibility. Because they weren’t client facing, I was still taking on the bulk of my business while then having to relay information. It was a problem. Once my contractors started being the ones interacting directly with clients, that’s when the whole structure of my business started to shift. Next, I wish I’d learned to trust my gut a little bit sooner. Not just with clients but also with hiring team members. If I had, I would have acted more quickly when I realized some of my first contractors were not a good fit and I would have saved myself thousands of dollars and many, many hours of time. Last, I did not have any kind of contractor onboarding process when I started hiring. In fact, I told my first contractors that we were building this ship together. But if I had taken a moment before hiring them and asked myself, “What do they need to be successful in this role?” I would have had at least a basis for training and responsibilities put together for them. Obviously I go into more detail in the episode, so take a listen, but these are the three things that I would have done differently had I known better. I don’t believe in having regrets, every “failure” is a moment in which we can learn. But I do wish I’d had hindsight to help me with these things at the time. What do you wish you’d known sooner? Links and Resources:Find Jenn:Jenn BaysInstagram @theceoshiftGrab your Boundaries ResourcesEditable Welcome Packet TemplatePinterest FreebiesJoin the Become a Virtual Assistant for Photographers waitlist!
Transcribe →