Entrepreneur Intel

In this episode, we dive into the transformative relationship between a visionary entrepreneur and a Fractional COO with our guest Melissa Rose Fractional CMO at Operate Light. The conversation highlights the critical need for founders to recognize when they can no longer do it all themselves, and how hiring the right COO, even fractionally, can propel their business forward. Through real-life anecdotes, the guest outlines the unique benefits of fractional leadership, including the ability to achieve quick wins, navigate chaos, and ultimately free the visionary to focus on the big picture.

Takeaways:
  • Fractional COO Benefits: Hiring a fractional COO offers expertise without the full-time cost, allowing visionaries to focus on their strengths.
  • Visionary Bottleneck: Entrepreneurs often become bottlenecks in their own companies by trying to manage everything, and a COO helps them step out of that role.
  • Quick Wins Matter: Achieving small but impactful wins early on helps maintain momentum and keeps visionaries engaged.
  • Tailored Solutions: Not all processes fit every founder, so a good COO tailors their approach to the needs and personality of the visionary.
  • People and Processes: Visionaries are often not great at managing people or processes, and COOs can bridge that gap effectively.
  • On the Importance of Delegation: Many entrepreneurs feel they need to do everything themselves or hire someone with minimal experience, but delegating to someone more experienced can save time and money in the long run.
  • Balancing Vision and Execution: A visionary needs a COO to focus on the details while they pursue the bigger picture, creating a harmonious balance between creativity and operations.
  • Managing Expectations: One of the biggest challenges for COOs is managing the rapid expectations of visionary leaders who crave quick results, but the relationship works best with a mix of immediate wins and long-term planning.
Quote of the Show:
  • “A Fractional COO brings high-level experience and guidance without the long-term commitment and cost.” - Melissa Rose

Links:
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-rose-coo/
  • Website: https://www.operatelight.com/

Ways to Tune In:

Creators & Guests

Host
Wes Mathews
KC
Producer
Kyle Conover

What is Entrepreneur Intel?

Welcome to Entrepreneur Intel, a podcast where we discuss the most important strategies for success from amazing entrepreneurs. Host Wes Mathews sits down with business owners to learn about how they got started running their own business, what helped them succeed and the biggest lessons they learned along the way.

Be sure to catch new episodes every Thursday morning, and to make sure you never miss out on any insights, don’t forget to subscribe to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, You Tube or wherever you get your podcasts.

This show is sponsored by Stealth Consulting, your Fractional CMO. Stealth provides the roadmap and accountability to reach your business and marketing goals. Learn more at https://stealthconsulting.com/

EI - Melissa Rose
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Intro: [00:00:00] This is the unfiltered truth about entrepreneurship. Raw. No VS. No sugarcoating. Welcome to Entrepreneur Intel. I'm your host, Wes Matthews. Each episode, we'll learn from experienced founders and uncover the top 5 percent learnings that led to their success in all things personal, family, and business.

This show is sponsored by Stealth Consulting, delivering clear marketing strategies, ROI, and no surprises.

Wes: So I am super excited for today's guest. Um, she gets visionaries on track. I'm excited to dive into that. Uh, she helps ambitious entrepreneurs conquer the messy and architect clear roadmaps that propel their businesses towards success. She has over 15 years experience as a fractional COO. Welcome Melissa Rose.

Welcome.

Melissa: Thank you, Wes. It's great to be here with you today.

Wes: Well, I'm really excited to [00:01:00] talk to you because I'm a visionary and you're a COO, like peanut butter and jelly, I guess. Uh, but I gotta ask you, you've been, you kind of went off on your own the last two years as a fractional COO. Uh, what's the, what's the biggest lesson you've learned in doing that thus far?

Melissa: Oh, gosh. Um, usually when my clients come to me, they're in a really messy, chaotic point in their business. Um, they've grown, they've like hit that explosion of business. But everything behind the scenes is a mess. Their employees aren't happy. They have things all kind of all over the place. Their customers are starting to not feel like they're being taken care of quite the way that the business wants to be taking care of them. And it's just kind of a disaster. Then they call me up and say, Hey, can you help me with this thing? Sure. I, I can help you so we can fix all [00:02:00] this. Like, you know, in a month we can do this new thing, right? No, um, I really wish entrepreneurs would hire me sooner. And it doesn't have to be a bunch of hours. I think there's this idea, and I think sometimes fractionals can perpetuate this idea. Oh, it's gotta be like 20 hours a week, or 10 hours a week, in order for there to be any benefit. And I I have seen not that. What I have seen is five hours a week, three hours a week can be extremely beneficial. It sort of steers the business in a direction. I work a lot with visionaries, like you said, keeping them on track instead of, Oh, bright, shiny object.

Let's go chase this thing. We can absolutely do that. And I love that energy. It's so much fun to work with. Always interesting to make that stuff happen. But it also drives [00:03:00] people's employees crazy because they don't know where to focus. They don't have the processes. Is this a real thing? How do we make this happen? So I kind of bring everything back. To reality back to the tangible doing so that the visionary, the founder, the entrepreneur can go do that big creative thinking, that ideation, the dreaming. But then they have someone like me who comes in really knowing what the founder wants to do and then can implement it with the team and really set them up for growing. In a way that avoids some of that messy middle space.

Wes: So you bring up a good point, right? You're like, I wish visionaries would get in contact with me sooner. I mean, speaking from personal experience, like I didn't even know what an integrator or COO was. Or existed until I personally read the book traction. [00:04:00] And then I was like, Oh my gosh, all of the problems that I I'm looking externally, I realized they were all caused by me and I'm causing organizational whiplash.

Um, I love COOs because I used to call them the fun police and the fun killer. But the reality is like, I know the importance of a COO. And like, if you have a strong visionary and a COO, like you can conquer and do anything. Um, full disclosure, my new company that we started in December, uh, one of the first hires I did was a full time COO.

And somebody told me, they're like, why in the world would you do that? That probably costs a lot of money. And I said, you know how much it's going to cost me if I, if I don't do that, because like Papa, I know I, I am what I am. And when it comes to people process technology, I like to skip things. I don't like to follow process, but I feel a visionary at some point to your point, something happens, right?

It's either headcount revenue, like a visionary's head [00:05:00] explodes. And they're like, I need to find a Melissa Rose. How do you think a visionary could find you before that or recognize there's a problem before they really know there is one?

Melissa: Well, I think listening to podcasts like yours and a conversation like this, I think also if you're going to be an entrepreneur and you're going to start a business, you know, you, or you have to be honest about what your skills are and realize that you probably need some of this help. Um, I don't know how we get the message out to people other than just, you know, telling them in places like this. I, I think a lot of times business owners think they need to do things on, on their own. Just me, or like they hire maybe an assistant or maybe someone who has some other technical knowledge. I also think they don't really understand the value of what they're doing. A person like me can [00:06:00] add to their team. I think a lot of people see dollar signs when they think COO. They don't realize that, yes, while I am a more expensive resource, man, will I save you tons of time and money and pain and

Wes: Well, I think to like correct me if I'm wrong but I also feel a visionary has to sort of look in the mirror and like humble themselves a bit to be like I Need help

or I'm not the best at everything and I can't be everything to any everybody

That was kind of like my moment to say hey, like I really bought in the EOS concept And said, man, like I need a COO, an integrator to propel this business to the next level.

Melissa: Yeah,

Wes: You know, yesterday I had a guy we were trying to like, he wasn't, something wasn't resonating. And I said, he's in the home service business. And I said, I can walk into Home Depot and buy a really expensive tool and build that [00:07:00] thing. But like, you don't want me to do that. Cause I'm not an expert. Right.

I think similar to what you said, like you as an expert, Right.

Be a better check writer and find the right people because I think what a COO will allow a good visionary to like is be free and handle all of the stuff that they're not really good at. Anyway,

Melissa: That's right.

Wes: it's that leap though, of that, how do you bite that bullet? Right. And just, Hey, I'm going to try this. But on the fractional side, the beauty is you don't have this hefty expense of this full time employee.

And correct me if I'm wrong, if it doesn't work out, then it doesn't work out. And

there's no harm, no foul.

Melissa: Yeah, I think that is the beauty of Fractional, is you, you get a lot of expertise, years of expertise, most of us, and you get to try us out for a bit. You know, we're contractors, but We're more of a partner, without taking any equity from your business. We are not an employee, so we'll [00:08:00] tell you our honest opinion.

At least, this is for me. I'll tell you when you're acting like a spoiled brat. Or if your idea Kind of sucks, but not in a mean way, always in a productive way. I

never,

Wes: it right there.

Melissa: I never want to hamper the vision of a visionary. That seems completely obnoxious. It's also not going to work. I've worked with plenty of entrepreneurs to know this and. If you find that nice dance, it can be an absolutely beautiful relationship. Like you said, the visionary gets to go off and do the dreams. I get to say, okay, how do we make the dreams happen? And then the dreams happen. And then we're all doing the work that we're naturally good at, the work we love, the work that's fun, the work that makes money.

Wes: One of my good friends, he's like 10 X visionary. Like he's on a whole [00:09:00] nother level and there's a running joke in his company that his COO started. And like, anytime he gets too much for the team, they're like, Hey, dude, just go play in traffic. Like that's his key for like, just get out of here and go do your thing.

Melissa: Yeah.

Wes: So like, what, what would you recommend then for an entrepreneur? Like, let's, let's, let's think about what are some signs or like, you know, when I see, I have this vision in my head of like, you know, the little kids playing that jump rope game and like, you're trying to jump in, like, when's a good time, right?

Cause a visionary is always like, I'm busy, I'm busy. Or I've got to hire this person, do this person, but like for, for, from your perspective and experience, when's that like perfect timing to have, you know, how, how do you do that?

Melissa: I think. If the visionary is spending a lot of time in the day to day, or there are starting to be fires, it's almost that place where the momentum has almost started to pick up, where you can kind of feel that, [00:10:00] you know, this isn't just a, is this going to work kind of business, like, You figured it out.

You know that this is viable and you're right there on that place where you can kind of feel success is going to happen. We're starting to get traction with customers. People understand what we sell. They know what we do. Leads are starting to pick up. People are interested. I'm thinking I need to hire some people.

If you're thinking you need to hire people beyond someone to manage your inbox or your calendar or like an executive assistant type role, then you probably could use a COO to help you map out what are the right resources. Is there a software product that we could use to automate some of this stuff? So you're not throwing resources at it, which It's a lot to manage.

They're expensive when you could pay 200 a month for some software that would, you know, do it for you [00:11:00] and do it better because employees don't like mundane, tedious tasks. You get the most out of your team. You have the least amount of turnover when your team is engaged in valuable work that they enjoy.

Wes: I have a, I have a friend client that he was going through an issue and I was in his office and he had this big whiteboard and he's like, he wrote down all of his problems and he's like, can you, can you help me or like give me direct feedback? Cause I'm like, no nonsense. Like, I'll just tell you straight up if you ask me.

And I started laughing at him and he's like, well, what's so funny. And I said, like, these are the problems of the week and your problems are never going to go away. So like every time we talk. You like think you're going to clear these issues and like, you're going to have a clear board and you're going to go like do whatever, but the reality is like new problems pop up.

And I said, you have all these problems up there. You're missing one thing. He's like, what's, what's that? I'm like, you need to hire A COO and [00:12:00] like give them all your problems and just give 'em your vision and how you want 'em solved and all that. And he's like, huh, I can't afford a COO. And I said, well, the hire a fractional one.

He's like, I didn't even know that even exists. Like what's fractional? So I think what you and I do is use specifically and this fraction, like not a lot of visionaries or people know it even exists because I think one of the objections is, well Melissa, you're fractional. Like how are you really gonna get to know me and my company?

Can you really move the needle on a handful of hours per week without being an employee? Like, tell me how you're going to solve my problems.

Melissa: Yeah, I think maybe even more so because as a fractional, I have a set number of hours. And we have to get shit done. I'm not one of those people, you know, who likes to, Oh, okay, well, let's wait and see, let's drag this out. That's, that's not my jam. I really like to get results. It's one of the very first things that I do when I come in to a new business is, [00:13:00] what is one win that we can do almost immediately so we can pick up some of the momentum. I can understand how your team works or how you work. What are the values? Really understand lots of conversations in the beginning, obviously. And then we just get going. You would be surprised. I think this is kind of like exercise. You know, you don't do one big workout every weekend, like once a week. Once a week, you do a two hour workout and think that you're going to become crazy strong. What the research has shown is if you do a little here and there, you really at the end, or you know, you start to pick up some momentum, you get some strength, and then you're stronger. You've like reached your goal.

You've hit that weight loss challenge goal or whatever. And I think it's exactly the same. A little bit here and there goes a long way.

Wes: So in my experience [00:14:00] with visionaries and like myself being a visionary, if I don't see results quickly and then I sort of lose interest or start to say, Hey, this isn't working. And I don't like coming to the gym for four hours or whatever. I want results like yesterday. How do you manage that as a fractional COO or just a COO in general with a visionary that's like, you know, like how, how do you throttle that, um, that tempo with them?

Melissa: I think it depends on the visionary. know, no entrepreneur is the same, even though so many of them have. You know, similar characteristics and that they're not so great at processes and, you know, they have shorter attention spans, um, as far as like what you're talking about results go. I think it's really getting back to what are we trying to create? And if you want to create something, sometimes you do have to think of it in the long game. But what are some wins that we can demonstrate quickly and also continually? [00:15:00] Can we make improvements as we go? And when people hire me before they're in their oh shit moments, that's a lot easier to do. Because if I go into a company that is already in chaos, it's a hard message to tell the founder, Hey, I need six months to clean this up.

Wes: So I had an epiphany when I kind of went through this challenge and it was kind of interesting because hindsight's easy. Right. But as I was going through the experience, I had so many yes men around me. And nobody would want to disagree with me cause I was a loud visionary and somebody had gave me direct feedback and said, you know, if there's a volume switch and, and let's go from zero to 10, like when you think you're at like a three.

You're at like an eight and it's kind of intimidating, good, bad, or indifferent. And I'm like, what? Like, I'm, I'm not trying to be loud, but then he's like, these are your employees, or they're going to tell you whatever you want to hear. So I love what [00:16:00] you said about being a fractional. Cause as a COO, as an employee, there still might be a little bit of that versus being a fractional.

That's a big differentiator right there.

Melissa: Yeah, it's a It's kind of subtle, except when you experience it, I'm not there to make friends. And I think I'm also an intense personality. And I think that's exactly what most visionaries need. They need someone who's going to give them some boundaries, but someone who understands. The greater goal, the ultimate, and that I'm not there to hinder.

I'm also not there to say great idea to everything. And when I'm not having to play the political game, we make a lot more progress because I'm also super direct. Let's just not waste time with, you know, dancing around your feelings or making you want to give me a raise at the end of the year. [00:17:00] That's, that's not how it goes with me. And I would say most fractionals, we want to get in there. And prove our value nearly immediately. It's really important to me. I

Wes: Yeah. You mentioned something like a dance, right? Like figuring that out. Like I, every time I talk or see what the spend time with the COO, I'm like, I always see them as like a conductor, like an orchestra. Cause you have people, process, technology, like so many things that are happening in the background that the visionary is like not privy to, or they just, they just ignore it.

Like, where do you focus on or where do you see some of the biggest challenges? Is it, is it people? Is it process, technology? Does that even like, I'm a visionary. I don't even know if that makes sense if I'm asking that properly, but I'm always COO and people to me is always like the biggest thing. And I think a visionary has so many gaps.

And dealing with people.

Melissa: think it depends of course on the business and the visionary, but I would say generally [00:18:00] speaking, the first biggest thing that I have to address is the visionary being a bottleneck or. Visionary having a thousand ideas a week and every single one of them is good. I think that makes people crazy. I think visionaries also are incredibly inclined to throw people at problems. And when they figure it, when people figure it out, which they're going to do, they solve a short term, immediate problem. And having a visionary understand, look, can fix the short term problem. But we can also fix the short term problem in a way that we can prepare ourselves for growing your business or for the next pivot that you want to do. And I think when you hire people who have less experience, well, they can be incredibly helpful. [00:19:00] A fractional COO, COOs in general, we have this broad overview of things. And I think. Working with a visionary to understand we're looking at everything. And so if I make a suggestion to you, I'm going to give you the reasons why, but not always like at the granular detail that you really don't care about giving you enough information to be confident that I'm making good decisions and keeping it at a pace that's effective. Also asking you what your new ideas are. I love to touch base like at least once a month. What is the new thing that you're thinking of? How can we prepare for this thing? What are you liking about the current offering of what you do? Do you like this service thing? What's going on in the market that you're seeing?

What are customers saying? So we're always touching base. I think that helps a lot. Um, as far as what visionaries do the worst, I think [00:20:00] it's people. Um, I think they're not great managers. Uh, they don't, most of them don't have developed people skills. Um, it's just kind of not their jam and I think that's totally fine. I don't think we need to send every entrepreneur to, um, HR management school.

Wes: Yeah. Yesterday, yesterday we had an all day session here and we had a, uh, a part about accountability chart, right? Where like, who sits in what seat? And my name showed up in a seat that required management. And I said, you guys all know, like, this is going to be a disaster, right? Like I'm the worst manager known to man.

It took a while for me to say that. Cause at first I'm like, oh, I can do everything. I'm the only one that can. But then I realized like, no, I'm like horrible at it. Um, like I used to have an assistant and I brought her coffee in the morning. Um, but like, so [00:21:00] for you, right. As a COO, super process oriented, uber smart details, what do you, what do you bring, do you bring like an EOS model?

Like, do you come, do you have your own model? Like, what do you like to operate from that makes the most sense?

Melissa: think it depends on where the business is. I know, gosh, I am such a broken record with this, but really my solutions are very unique because I found that if you come up with a grand plan and it doesn't fit the founder, It's not going to work. So yes, I have things that I've learned over the years, processes.

I pull things from different places. EOS is one of them, but I don't like to shove people into a framework or a system, at least not until I understand how they operate, who they are, what their motivations are. And what I can and cannot say to [00:22:00] them, you know, you have said, I looked in the mirror and realized that, yeah, I need a COO because I'm not good at processes and workflows and standardization and documentation

and whatever,

Wes: right now, just saying those things.

Melissa: but it's great that you know that because then you can find someone to do that for you. And if I'm working with a founder who doesn't have that kind of realization or thinks that they are. Good at some of those things, then putting them into a process or a framework that's sort of standard, I don't know that that's really going to help.

Wes: So what's the, like, I'm just curious around, like, what's your onboarding process or how do you make sure it's a good fit on both sides? Right? Because you're kind of meeting the entrepreneur visionary where they're at. There's probably people on the team that are like, Oh, who's this person that's coming in?

Right? Like, maybe that should be me. Why are we going outside hiring a fractional if there's somebody in [00:23:00] operations? I'm just assuming things as a visionary. But like, how do you do that dance? I mean, are there like deal breakers for you or like, how do you kind of get that relationship to the next level?

Melissa: Yeah, usually, obviously, I pre qualify people. There's certain people that I'm Not qualified or interested in working with, um, skills that I don't have. Things like mergers and acquisitions. And if you want to take your company public, I don't do any IPO work. Um, like immediate IPO work. I think it really starts with sitting down with a founder and listening. Lots of questions, really gaining that trust, but also having a nice conversation, lots of dialogue. What do you think about this idea? You know, really collaborating together. I think that's the place to start. At least that's where I start all the time and I found [00:24:00] great success with that. As far as Coming into a business where there are, you know, maybe operations, people are ready, I think it's usually me saying something like, I'm here to make it better, and I'm not here to take your job. Here's what my goals are. Here's how we're going to work together. And then also listening to them. I think people really just want to understand how they're going to be affected by it, and I think that's the first thing you have to do. How does this affect me? That's the question I want to ask, answer first. And then it's, how can we work together? Here's the stuff I want to know. Tell me what's working. If I act interested in what an employee has to say, they're going to share so much more. And if I say, I'm here to fix it, or I'm not an expert in this thing, but I'm really good at listening and putting things together. I [00:25:00] think that collaborative spirit works better than coming in and saying, Okay, in 90 days, we're going to be doing an assessment of who should stay and who should go. You know, not effective. Also staying silent is people start gossiping and we make up stories. It's who we are as humans. We judge things. If we can not do some of that, I think that's really a good place to start.

Wes: That's really cool because you're solving a big problem for entrepreneurial companies, which I really respect. And what my company does at Stealth, it's fulfills the CMO seat, which the visionary typically stays too long in that seat because it's usually founder led sales. They're the best one to sell.

They throw a lot of money at marketing tactics that don't work. And like, that's where we come in. Cause it's like, they're tired of spending money. They're tired of being lied to. But what's funny for me is anytime I have like the team, I can speak to about the [00:26:00] visionary to say like, I bet you, your visionary does this, this, and this.

And they start laughing. And I'm like, I'm the visionary whisperer. You know, I can like have these weird, but it's, it's, it's interesting because, you know, as an entrepreneur, it's hard, you know, there's so many different things, you're starting a company and then you start to realize like, Oh gosh, I have to put a process behind that.

It all lives in my head. It's really easy. And here. But once you sit down, so I almost look at, I don't know if like, if you could add to this or, or what your thought process is. I never need an assistant, my true assistant, and I hate to use the word assistant. It's like my partner, it's like the yin yang.

It's a COO. Like now I literally try not to do anything without filtering it through my COO. Like to the point like, we'll be in the room together and like I'll kind of look at him and he'll be like, or he'll be like, yeah, like, and I'll like, ah, like I'll go, you know, it's kind of funny 'cause I'm just like.

I, my hands have been slapped so many times where it's just hard. It's like, I'm a recovering visionary. Like I go back to who I was, but you have to be [00:27:00] mindful of the people around you.

Melissa: Yeah, that intensity is definitely something to work with. Sometimes having meetings without the visionary is, that's what gets the truth talking. People feel more comfortable. Or saying, Visionary is going to sit here and we're all going to brainstorm these things. They're not going to pipe up quite yet. That'll be the last one to share if we're trying to solve some sort of problem or, or whatever.

Wes: We're, we're a, we're a C, we're the COO really helped me. I had to like, you know, what are some of my dilemmas? And one was. Maybe other visionaries can relate to this. Anybody I interviewed, I fell in love with and I wanted to hire everybody. And then a week later, I was like, what is going on? To the point of like, I had to remove myself from the hiring process, but it took the COO to be like, [00:28:00] dude, like, this is terrible.

Like, what are you doing?

Melissa: Well,

Wes: they're perfect. You know,

Melissa: this is a visionary thing. I find most visionaries really bring out the best in people. And so, yes, you are terrible to interview people because if you're bringing out the absolute best in everyone, You don't get to see the other pieces. Plus, visionaries usually are kind of salesy, charming, you know, intelligent.

They've got, they've got it going on and people, people.

Wes: Yeah, it's funny. Um, yeah, I, I reflect back and I'm like, man, I, I, I talk 90 percent of the time. And that person's like, yeah, I can do that. Yeah, I can do that. Like, I had no idea what they were capable of. So that was for me, like, I got to get out of this. Like, so now I set the tone of the vision, go through, like, we're both EOS fans, like the VTO, kind of who we are, who we stand for, and then I'm like, all right, I'm out and it's got to go through [00:29:00] those.

So if, if somebody listening learns one thing at all, if you're a visionary, Think about getting out of the way of hiring

and delegating that task. Cause I also think that's a big one too, like delegation. What are your thoughts around, you know, you're like delegate and elevate, you know, the visionary spend their time in the top three priorities, the revenue generating things.

Do you have any tips about how to delegate as a visionary?

Melissa: Yeah. Um, this is incredibly unpopular, but doing a time study, writing down, keeping track of your time, what you work on for an entire week, it is painful. I've done it. It sucks. What it reveals is gold. What are you spending your time on? Okay. The next time you do that task, when you do it, record it, use Loom, create a Loom video, record what you're doing, show your screen, and [00:30:00] then send that off to an employee to make a procedure for that. Document it. And then if you do that, you hand it off. Every single time you do something that is more tactical in nature, then you'll stop doing a lot of the tactical stuff. And it's easy because if you're doing it anyway, you may as well record what you're doing and explain it just a little more. You can always handle edge cases. You know, in the future, if something comes up, your employees should know that, Oh, this doesn't follow the process. What are we going to do? Well, we're going to go to the founder. I think delegating is, it's the only way you're going to grow, frankly, because you can't do it all. And if you start doing tactical day to day work, then you lose your visionary. And then what? The business becomes boring like everyone else's.

Wes: I, I feel like the homework assignment of that and getting that back, there's probably so many [00:31:00] unproductive things on there or like time gaps were so like now you have that, like, how, how do you now start to work with a visionary to like, get them focused on the top three? Priorities, um, cause like what you're saying to me sounds great.

Right. But like after that week and I actually do it, it's like, Oh, okay. Now I have to make a change or it's not comfortable. Like, how do you now start to turn that around? Or

Melissa: I think thinking about the big picture for most people is incredibly intimidating, overwhelming, um, and sense of dread, but just like everything, it's small steps. So it's literally taking one thing away at a time, or maybe taking a section of work away at a time, okay. Make sense to do so. And then I like to set an agenda for myself, uh, usually on Friday before I call [00:32:00] it quits for the work week. And I encourage entrepreneurs to do that too. And a lot of times I'm the one leading that with new people that I'm working with. We happen to call for 15 minutes and we talk about what the priorities are for next week. We write notes, we get really clear. This is what we're doing. And, you know, the time study certainly informs that. The time study also shows like, are you wasting your time on LinkedIn leads? Or are you wasting your time doing something else? Do you need to restructure your day? So you're more productive. Like, do you need to get out at noon, go for a run or go to the gym? Do you need to play fetch with your dog in the backyard for 10 minutes?

Like, can we do to keep you productive throughout the entire day and focus on those things? I tend to find when. Visionaries go off the rails is when they're sitting for too long, [00:33:00] they're kind of in like that funky, I know I should be doing some work and I want to accomplish something. And if I do a small tactical task, I can say it's done and check it off my list. So it's finding how we can create some enjoyment in the things that maybe are not so tangible to see the results.

Wes: have you met a visionary that's also. An integrator or COO, like an all-in-one combo. In your experience,

Melissa: Never. Not a single one. Nope.

I don't,

Wes: who think they are one and I'm like, nah, you're not.

Melissa: I don't know if they exist. I think it's a very different mindset, very different view. The skills are very different. I am definitely a COO integrator, but I am not a visionary. And I'm okay saying that because I can make your visions reality. The big [00:34:00] dreams, the goals, but coming up with my own stuff. Yeah, I'm not going to find the next big idea.

Wes: So like your experience though, like you were a COO for many years prior, prior to you becoming a fractional. My assumption as a visionary is it's boring doing one thing and you'd much rather touch many companies and it's exciting and you have more bandwidth, but like. Is that, is that the reason why you went fractional or like, what's the, what's that experience from, from being a COO with one company relative to today?

Melissa: For me, being with one company had its perks. Uh, I definitely really knew the people I was working with. The work was predictable, but at some point I get bored and I'm like, I also am really curious. I like to know about things and I love to know about how different businesses and different industries do it. Different businesses in the same industry. How do they do it? I [00:35:00] find that is what really keeps me going and having that base of knowledge, obviously doing it in one company and getting results has helped me to get results for all of my various clients. And it's fun. I like seeing what's going on. It gives me creative ideas about what I can do with another business, if I'm seeing success in one. Like recently, I've had many clients who are saying, What is going on? Business is like stalled. I don't, I don't know what's going on. Our sales are down. Are any of your other clients having this issue? And I think that's kind of helpful sometimes. Like, yeah, actually, I have a few clients who are having some low sales months, but let's not freak out about it because you're not the only one.

I think that's also really reassuring.

Wes: Yeah, that's interesting because you can get into the minds of [00:36:00] multiple visionaries, right? And as you say that, I immediately say, well, it depends, right? Like it all depends on the business, the visionary. Are they in a growth mindset? Are they looking to maintain? What does it say? There's a million different things.

So, so a fractional COO, you're, you're impacting sales and marketing, operations, finance. All of it. Is there anything a fractional COO doesn't really touch?

My vision is like yin yang, right? And I think if you're an entrepreneur and you're a visionary and you're alone on your visionary Island with like, it's a very scary place to be. I almost think like a good, a good COO is like a good there, like a business therapist, kind of for the visionary.

Melissa: I always say,

Wes: anything for like a visionary?

Um, Is there any good books to read? I mean, EOS or like Traction's a good one. I think if you're a visionary and you read that, you're going to have some aha moments and think that Gino Wickman wrote that book for you.

Um, that's what happened to me anyway. But is there anything else out there that can kind of help a visionary [00:37:00] along?

Melissa: I really think people need to find some sort of community, people like them, um, a group, online group, in person group. Whatever, because I think that the journey of entrepreneurship can be incredibly lonely. And when you're in an echo chamber, everything sounds great to you. And you know, your friends and family, they certainly mean well, and they want to cheer you on, but they're not great to brainstorm with, bounce ideas off of. You really need someone who's doing it, who understands what you're going through, so that it's not such a lonely journey. So I think that's the other thing, especially with really small businesses. It's lonely out there. You can't talk to your employees like, Oh my gosh, what are we doing? This business sucks. Because that's inappropriate. Yeah.

Wes: visionary get in trouble

Melissa: Yeah, you do

Wes: we've all been there as visionaries.

You [00:38:00] bring up a good point. I, you know, I've been part of EO for over a decade, entrepreneur organization. When I found my tribe of people, I'm like. Yeah, I was on that lonely Island, right? I'm like, Oh my gosh, there's other messed up entrepreneurs out here too.

And they're all visionaries. And I think our group was probably 99. 9 percent visionaries, but like that one integrator COO was there too. Um, but that's great. I have a lot of respect for, uh, COOs and what you guys bring to the table and how you keep visionaries. Uh, I think it's a, it's a necessary and a successful company.

Thank you so much for your share. Um, how can people get in contact with you? There's a visionary that's like, Hey, I want to reach out. Like what's the easiest way people can contact you?

Melissa: Well, you can find me on LinkedIn, of course. And you can also go to my website, which is OperateLight, L I G H T dot com. Schedule a consultation. Send me an email melissa at operate light calm Happy to talk about how we can work [00:39:00] together. And if I'm not the right one for you, I happen to be quite well connected

So we'll get you some help.

Wes: Well, awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on. I definitely learned a little bit, a good reminder of how impactful a COO is to a visionary. So I appreciate the time today.

Melissa: Yeah. Thanks Wes. I appreciate it

Wes: Thanks.

Outro: This has been another episode of Entrepreneur Intel. Thank you for joining us. For show notes or other episodes, please visit us at entrepreneurintel. com. Until next time.