Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
The podcast focuses on fiercely empowering women in business, as entrepreneurs and women in male-dominated industries, featuring guests who embody strength, resilience, competence, and a touch of sass as they navigate business and life.
Looking for guests who are willing to bring a wealth of experience and knowledge but also possess the strength, resilience, and sass that align with the tone of my podcast.
I want their stories and insights to provide immense value to my audience, helping me to establish a powerful podcast as a must-listen for women looking to empower themselves in business. The goal is to build competence and discover how brave women can be in business.
Welcome to Superheroes in Heels, the podcast where powerful women rise, lead, and own the room. I'm Kimberley Borgans, your host, fellow trailblazer, and unapologetic advocate for women in the world of business. With over thirty years of experience building success in a male dominant industry, I'm here to empower you to do the same. Each week, you'll hear bold conversations with inspiring guests who embody strength, resilience, a little dash of sass, and a little bit of grace. Together, we'll challenge the status quo, break through barriers, unlock your confidence, and unleash your inner superhero.
Kimberley Borgens:You ready? Let's go.
Kimberley Borgens:Hello. Welcome. Welcome to Superheroes in Heels. I'm your host Kimberley Borgans. Like, Superheroes in Heels is about highlighting women in leadership.
Kimberley Borgens:Women who step into the role of being lead on a project in their community, building a business. And I'm here to fiercely empower women to step up and to step into their roles of leadership and on their space in with command presence and with grace. So last week, I shared about being a CEO of the corporation that, I founded with my business partner, and really got a little passionate about being the CEO, and not in designation only, but actual in the running of the business. So if you missed that episode, make sure you go and have a listen. Like I said, I was pretty passionate about being the CEO.
Kimberley Borgens:So I thought today what I would do is share with you about what it really means to own your role as a CEO, in your small business or own your role as the representative of the company that you're working for. Own your role as the the woman of the household, right, who's raising a family, building a relationship. Maybe you're a single mom, but owning that space in such a way that there's no question that that you are meant to be listened to, you are meant to be heard. And, you know, I really wanted to talk about today is how do you navigate the strategy, right, and the leadership and the identity, in your business, in your job, and in your household as a woman leader? And what does it truly mean to be a CEO, especially in the context of a small business?
Kimberley Borgens:And, you know, I've stated this before in previous episodes that, you don't have to call yourself the chief executive officer. But if you're running a company and you want to get it to the top levels of, if you wanna make half a million dollars a year, if you wanna make a million dollars a year, if you wanna make $10,000,000 a year in your company, then you have to embrace the title as CEO. You can shift those words a little bit if you want Instead of saying the chief executive officer, right, you can call yourself something else, the chief empowerment officer. You can call yourself the chief encouragement officer. You can change that just a little bit, but understand that chief executive officer means that you are the executive in charge.
Kimberley Borgens:You are. Right? But when a lot of times when people hear chief executive officer, it kinda conjures up a lot of images of large corporations. Right? Glass towers, global strategy sessions, and really who wants to be part of that.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? I I can say I'm still a small business, but at the same time, understand I'm not a global a global entity. And so I still have the small business feel of everything that we do. And you have to think about it is if you're if you're running a business that's, you know, leading $5,000,000 budget or less, right, you you have to lean on a team of people. You have to be nimble in operations and in the footprint of your business.
Kimberley Borgens:And though the role might have, you know, different personalities to it, different mindset, how you how you view it, it still sets the reality that you're in the lead. Okay? And any opportunities and any challenges that come up, you get to take the lead. And that's what I really want to explore today about being a CEO. The those nuances, those questions.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? Like, I don't know. People have asked me all the time, like, what does it mean to say, I'm setting a strategic vision for my business. Right? Or, you know, how are you managing your public perception?
Kimberley Borgens:Right? It really is about knowing what a CEO does. And I think there's a big misconception out in the entrepreneurial world that, nobody wants to be a CEO. Look. I've been honest in the past, like, I never thought about really being the CEO when I started the company.
Kimberley Borgens:I didn't even think that far ahead. I just got into business and started working in the business, started working on the business, started building business, right, and didn't even realize what a CEO did. You know, I'm just being truthful and honest here. I never thought about turning it into a corporation. It was a sole proprietorship.
Kimberley Borgens:It was a sole proprietor partnership. Okay? And so it was just us doing a business so that we could have the freedom to spend time with our kids and work around our schedule because at that time, we didn't have a whole lot of money. And the the cost of childcare was way outside of our budget. It really is just that simple.
Kimberley Borgens:So let's talk about it today. What really is, you know, for CEOs, as you're growing your business up, what really does it mean when somebody says that you have to set the strategic vision? Right? Just think about it like this. You're the CEO of the business, meaning you're basically the chief architect.
Kimberley Borgens:You get to build the business any way you want. You it's your fundamental duty to set the strategy to see the vision for anybody who's working for you, working with you, working around you. Right? Giant enterprises, this involves analysis. This involves competitive intelligence, multinational marketing at this man.
Kimberley Borgens:Okay. Am I boring you yet? But for small businesses, CEOs, their strategic vision is really tied to the daily working of your company. What are the things that you do on a daily basis? Right?
Kimberley Borgens:You're the it's the external, perception. Right? From the outside, what is it that you want the public to see? What that's your public statement. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:Your branding messages, your visions. Right? How you want people to react to you when they hear the react about you when they hear your name in in the industries. It's about making sure that the vendors that you work with and the employees or the the customers that come along through that when you put out there who you are, they see it in such a way that they want to do business with you. When you launch new offers or you adopt new values or you shift your branding, you want your customers to come alongside you.
Kimberley Borgens:So you have to set the vision. So okay. I'm just gonna you know, this podcast will come out a few weeks later, but I'm gonna talk about real quick. Think about here's the global, you know, message that just happened recently was the Cracker Barrel. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:They sent a million dollars to rebrand themselves to one of the most boring looking, in my opinion, not pretty, new logo that just tanked in the world. Right? And we can sit there and go, we can analyze this. Right? We can go, was that really their strategy?
Kimberley Borgens:Was their strategy to get people talking about their brand to increase their market share, to get relevant back into the game? And so they threw out this crazy little, you know, funky, boring branding? Or was or did they really strategically create that branding and then go, holy cow, our people don't want this. And within seven days, they returned it back to the original branding, to the original logo. Now, I don't know what they're gonna do next.
Kimberley Borgens:Okay? But I do know as soon as they made that shift, their market share went back up, stocks went back up. So we could look at that as saying, you know, for you as the entrepreneur, what are you putting out there? Are you creating the kind of brand that ten years down the line, somebody's gonna say, hey. Why did you do that?
Kimberley Borgens:We don't like it. And luckily for you know, again, I'm questioning the strategicness on this. Right? But luckily for them, somebody in upper management, they were actually listening to the people and they shifted it back because that went crazy socially. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:So when you think about what is your role as a CEO, how are you be setting that strategic vision? Right? It's really what do you want people to see about you when you're out and about, when you're online, when you're putting your work out into the world, you have to set that tone. And if you're not setting the tone, somebody else is, they're doing it on your behalf in essence, and that's you're just letting it slide. K?
Kimberley Borgens:As a CEO, it's your job to make sure that the perception out in the world is what you want it to be. If you make a mistake, you course correct it. You fix it, and then you resubmit. You keep going. You get newer testimonials.
Kimberley Borgens:You keep moving on. That's about setting the vision. That's the external process. There's also the internal process. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:Setting the direction of the company might mean, you know, having regular brainstorming sessions with your team, with, a mastermind to help you move forward and what it what you want it to look like. It looks like your customer feedback. It looks like implementing quickly on new ideas, making decisions, you know, more immediate and with more tangible effects for your business and your operations. That's the internal perception of that strategic vision. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:You're not gonna go through all the layers to get to the employee when you're a small business. It might be you and one other person as a layer. Right? That could be a vendor and it could be an employee. Whereas a corporation has multiple layers before it actually reaches down to the employee that they really wanna talk to.
Kimberley Borgens:So you have to be the one to be able to make quick decisions. You have to for staffing, for client relations, for operations, all of that. You can go straight to the source. That's a huge benefit that you have as a small business. But if you're just winging it and you're not staying focused and being strategic about it, which a lot of entrepreneurs are doing, I just wanna say stop winging it.
Kimberley Borgens:Don't fake it till you make it. Set a strategy. Have a a one on one one day call with me. Right? Do a one day coaching session with me, and I'll help you figure out what your strategy could be as an entrepreneur.
Kimberley Borgens:I promise. Because you have to move forward with that strategy as the the lead of your company, whatever you name it. Okay? You also have to have communication with your vision. You have to you have to share it out there.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? You have to, like, communicate not only the what, but also the why you do what you do. What I do in the security realm, for example, is I provide security officers out into communities to create safer communities. Why do I do that? Because I believe everybody has the right to have a level of safety in their life and that goes for the the people on the street.
Kimberley Borgens:It also goes for the children in their homes with their families. It also goes for women not being assaulted and and, you know, sexually assaulted, raped, molested, all of that. I believe people have the right to have a reasonable amount of safety. That's why I do it. I know what it feels like to not be safe.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? So why you know, what is the what that you do? But not only that, why do you do it? Because that has to run everything and you have to communicate it. You have to strategically communicate that out into the world.
Kimberley Borgens:Big companies. Right? They they have, a complaints department. You are the complaint department. They have a different a bigger impact.
Kimberley Borgens:You have a small impact, but your small impact is not, insignificant. It is still an impact nonetheless. And I really wish and I hope that those of you that are listening, hear that. You might not think that you're making a big impact, but if you can look yourself in the eye in the mirror and say, you know what? I helped that person.
Kimberley Borgens:I shared information and somebody heard something today even if they didn't tell me. Like, you have to own that, or why are you doing what you're doing? But as a CEO, you have to strategically put it out there. Right? There is no hiding in a glass tower as an entrepreneur.
Kimberley Borgens:A small business entrepreneur, we don't have a glass tower. Okay? We might have a glass door, and we're trying not to walk through. You know? But, hey, I'm ready to break whichever one.
Kimberley Borgens:Okay? So think about when it comes to strategic visioning, I wanted to share with you just a couple of characteristics. Right? You're looking forward as the CEO. You're the one who is painting the details, right, of the compelling picture of what you want the company to look like in the future.
Kimberley Borgens:You're clear and you're concise with your vision and your messaging so that it makes it memorable and easy to understand. You're inspirational. Right? You're inspirational with your team, the people that you work with, people that you don't work with. Making people feel connected to something bigger than just themselves.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? And motivating them to achieve the vision that you've casted out there. And then you have to be action oriented. It connects to those those goals, your objectives, but your actions have to speak. People have to see you taking action.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? Action is what helps to achieve the ultimate why you're doing the things that you're doing anyway. So you wanna make sure that you're doing the things and people can see that you're doing them or that your team is doing the things and people can see that your team is doing it. You have to provide direction for the people that you're working with, your vendors, independent contractors, the clients. You have to provide direction.
Kimberley Borgens:You're the compass. Right? And it has to align with the people that you're there. Has to drive growth and you have to have accountability. Look.
Kimberley Borgens:I look. I was named queen of accountability by my clients. Don't use that so much anymore, but seriously, I hold people accountable to what they say. So if you're not even holding yourself accountable for what you say, how can you expect to hold somebody else accountable for what they say? When I work with a client, for example, I write down what is it that they wanna accomplish?
Kimberley Borgens:How are they gonna get there? And let's say next week, we get on another call and they say, I'm like, have you done this? And they say, no, not yet. You know, I'll get there. I was really busy.
Kimberley Borgens:And I'm like, great. When are you gonna get it done by? They give me a new date. So we get on this the third call. And the third call, I'm like, well, have you gotten this done?
Kimberley Borgens:No. I got really busy. I'm like, great. Here's the deal. Clearly, this coaching isn't working for you.
Kimberley Borgens:What do we need to do to get you to get this done? What is holding you back right now? And they'll go, oh, she's serious. And and I don't let it go much further because I'm like, we're either gonna do something. Okay.
Kimberley Borgens:Great. So here's the deal. You said you were gonna do this. We're gonna hang up. You're gonna go get that done, and we're gonna get back on a call in one hour.
Kimberley Borgens:I do that out of love and respect for them because they said that that's what they wanted to do. I'm just the one who's bold enough to hold them to it. If you need accountability coach, pick up the phone, call me. We will get it straight. I will do it with with as much respect and love as possible because I truly want women to succeed and I don't want us to keep using the excuse.
Kimberley Borgens:I'm a little busy bee. Look, I'm a big bee proponent, but being a busy bee means you're fluttering all over the place, but you're not taking it back to the hive. Alright? Come over to the hive hangout. Let's talk.
Kimberley Borgens:I'm taking it back to the hive. Okay? You gotta take it back to the hive. You have to go, I said this and I'm gonna take it back and get it done, and I'm gonna I'm gonna deliver it. I'm gonna create the things that need to happen in our business.
Kimberley Borgens:So think about you as the CEO. Are you building a team of people, whether it be independent contractors, whether it be vendors, employees, a few good friends that'll help out, whatever that is. You just have to remember you're the head coach. K? If you're, you know, looking at it for sports, you have to think about does the the head coach has to keep everybody on track.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? I know as the head coach of my company, as the CEO, I have to hire people. I have to fire people, and I have to motivate people. In the smaller organizations, the executive team might consist of one, you. It also might consist of a couple of advisers or, you know, a handful of people.
Kimberley Borgens:Not like a big conglomerate that has multiple divisions and has somebody else doing the hiring, the firing, and the motivating. You're it. So when it comes to hiring for a small business, you have to think about, like, who is it that you want? You want a mini me. Okay.
Kimberley Borgens:Find a mini me. Maybe you don't want a mini me because a mini me is gonna tell you what you need to do and get things done. Maybe you want somebody who's a half mini me and a half, you know, let's see, an analytical person, somebody who can manage your books for you. Right? Or maybe it's a half mini me and somebody who, you know, shows all the love and the support and, you know, will just bring everybody together and is your your face, like, going out there going, you're, you know, your on-site cheerleader.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? Whatever that is, figure out for you as a leader, what kind of culture do you want for your company? What what what's the trajectory you want for the future with that? K. You have to interview people.
Kimberley Borgens:You look. I interview people. I've interviewed over 5,000 people in my in my I stopped counting a long time ago. Right? But I can do one on one interviews.
Kimberley Borgens:I can do group interviews. I do panel interviews. I do panel group interviews. Like, you name it, I can do the interview. Alright?
Kimberley Borgens:As a CEO, you have to interview people, not just employees. You interview the people that you're hiring to work for you to be a vendor for you. Don't think that just because you're a small business entrepreneur that you don't need to, like, have have hiring skills because you do. You do in so many different ways. You also have to have firing skills.
Kimberley Borgens:Okay. I'm gonna just like, let me take a deep breath here because some of y'all are like, oh, no. I can't fire anybody. Right? But you'll put up with all their BS for a really long time.
Kimberley Borgens:And I really wanna say, how does that serve you? Right? I don't fire people just willy nilly because I'm like, ugh. You just made me mad. Go.
Kimberley Borgens:You're done. Get out of here like the movie show. Right? You're fired. No.
Kimberley Borgens:We let people go when we've exhausted every other opportunity to try to get it to work with them. They're either willing and not capable or they're not willing, right, and not capable. But you have to figure that out. Some people are so willing to work for you that they will change as much as they'll do training. They'll do everything that they can so that they can continue to work for you.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? Some people work for you until they don't like that you didn't give them the raise when they wanted or they don't like how you said something to them or whatever. And then they're like, peace. I'm out of here. You know, they say people don't quit jobs.
Kimberley Borgens:They quit management. Right? They quit people because someone didn't treat them nicely. Right? That's true in so many ways.
Kimberley Borgens:Can you have a balance of both? Yes. But you've got to hold people accountable for what it is that you hired them for. You have a job description. Are they doing it?
Kimberley Borgens:If they're not doing it, they're probably the wrong fit. And it's better to fire more quickly than it is to hire quickly. Right? You hire slow, fire fast. You've heard it before.
Kimberley Borgens:There's a balance between it. Right? And don't overwhelm people that you hire. Don't dump everything onto them and overwhelm them. As a CEO, it's your job to make sure do they have what it takes in the skill set to do the things that I need?
Kimberley Borgens:And do they have space in their in what they're doing every day? And if they have space, can I add new responsibilities? And is it outside of what you originally hired them from? And if it is, you might just have to pay them a little bit more money. I don't care if it's 10¢ more per hour.
Kimberley Borgens:I don't care if it's 5¢ more per hour. Like, do something to them so that they you know, for them so that they feel that you're giving them something else. Right? And you have to motivate. Motivate.
Kimberley Borgens:Motivate. Motivate. As a small business owner, you're gonna come up against some things. Right? You're gonna come up against some setbacks.
Kimberley Borgens:You're gonna come up against some bad feedback. You're gonna come up against some stuff. Well, guess what? Your team will feel it too, Especially if you're giving that feedback to them as they're working for you. You're not doing what I asked you to do.
Kimberley Borgens:When you asked them to do it, did you ask them to repeat it back to you so that we both had the same understanding? That might be on you. But pay attention and recognize when those things happen, those setbacks, you have to be the person to say, you know what? Yep. We mucked that up.
Kimberley Borgens:How are we gonna fix it? Here's what I see. What's your thoughts? Right? Put it out there.
Kimberley Borgens:Let them also see that they're part of it. Help them motivate it. Now, I'm gonna tell you something that I don't think a lot of people realize. I learned this, like, twenty plus years ago is that people are motivated by different things. I don't know about you, but some of us are motivated by what I call recognition.
Kimberley Borgens:K. That's not me. I'll just tell you flat out. I am not recognition motivated. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:But recognition motivated means that they like to be recognized for the contribution that they're making for your company. And you can use this, by the way, you can use these three little tips here with your kids. So if you got kids at home, got a spouse, pay attention on how they like to be motivated. Because once you figure it out, there's a whole lot more fun in the relationship. Okay?
Kimberley Borgens:But the recognition, some like recognition. Some people need you to tell other people that they did a good job for you. Those people, if you have a company, they want, like, their personalized parking spot, you know, at at the office. They want have employee of the month. I don't they don't care if they're the only employee there.
Kimberley Borgens:They wanna know that they're employee of the month. They wanna be recognized for the work that they do for you. Recognition is a huge motivator to get people moving forward and get doing the things that you want them to do. They feel excited about that recognition. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:If you give recognition to somebody who's not excited about recognition, you're gonna know it. You're gonna go, what? I told everybody all about you. What's the problem? Right?
Kimberley Borgens:So understand that recognition is just one of three ways that you can motivate people. The second way is money. Okay? Look. Not everybody's money hungry.
Kimberley Borgens:I'm gonna say it, but some are. They want some kind of reward. They want a financial gain when they're doing things well. So giving bonuses, giving a raise. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:Giving them stocks or shares of your company. Financial gain is their game. They just want to play it, and they want to be compensated for that because it's about the financial game. They're motivated by money. They need you to say there's a bonus over here.
Kimberley Borgens:You know, those a lot of network marketing industries have these carrots. Right? Companies do it sometimes, but there's these little carrots. We'll dangle the carrot, get people to it. Hey.
Kimberley Borgens:If you do this, I'm gonna give you a $100, you know, gas card. Right? If you do this, you know, if the employee of the month right? They don't wanna be employee of the month. They want that gas card.
Kimberley Borgens:Okay? They want the money, the financial gain that they can use for whatever they want to use it on. If you have somebody who's money motivated, like your kids, for example, they're the ones, hey. Can you get your chores done? I'll give you a dollar.
Kimberley Borgens:They're like, I'm on it. Right? If you do that to somebody who's recognition motivated, they're like, whatever. I don't care. And they're dilly dallying in their room.
Kimberley Borgens:But somebody whose recognition, you might go, you know, a child, I hey. I need really need you to clean your room. If you clean your room, we'll go out to so and so place. We'll, you know, we'll invite a whole bunch of your friends over and have a party in the backyard because I wanna keep that room clean. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:When you kinda play with it, but if you understand where where they're motivated. And the third way that most people are motivated by is what we call cause. Right? It's about showing that you care about what they care about. When you reach when they reach a milestone in your company, in your business, or how you wanna motivate them and you know that this person is cause motivated, look, if you will donate to their favorite animal rescue, a favorite cancer nonprofit, a children's program, like, are ready to step in in any challenge.
Kimberley Borgens:Look. If you want me to donate $500 to the animal rescue, down the street that supports you and your your love for animals. I need you to do x y z. They will get x y z done for you if you're willing to support their cause. Like, people fly buildings into airplanes for a cause.
Kimberley Borgens:You just have to find the right cause. Right? That is that's what will create the most loyalty members. So understanding there's three ways to motivate people, recognition, money, and cause. And you have to figure out people and what is gonna motivate them.
Kimberley Borgens:And if you're motivating them, the only way that you get motivated, you tire your team out. Okay? And then you get frustrated. And that's where the firing comes in because they don't wanna do it because you didn't understand the person. That's part of the hat of the CEO that you have to wear, is knowing your people well enough and understanding the dynamic of what it takes to motivate them.
Kimberley Borgens:Alright. Let's talk about money real quick. I say real quick because we can do a whole, I don't know, 10 podcasts on money. But your financial oversight as a CEO. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:You have to be the steward of that money, and you have to have agility in that stewardship. And what I mean by that is your profit and loss statements. Right? Your p and l and your your money allocation or what they call capital allocation for your small business budget. CEOs of large corporations, they have these, I don't know, sprawling financial portfolios.
Kimberley Borgens:Small business CEOs often oversee every line item from payroll to spending, to, you know, where do they wanna put their programs in the future, how much are their programs gonna cost. All of this matters when it comes to the finances of your company. And most small business CEOs that most small business women, I'm gonna say, don't know their numbers, and you need to know your numbers. It's your responsibility for the profits and the losses in your company. You have to make sure that your company operates, sustainably.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? And just like the weather fluctuates, many businesses will go out of business. I mean, think about COVID for example. Right? Many businesses went out of business during COVID because they were not prepared for those fluctuations.
Kimberley Borgens:They couldn't withstand the storm. I wanna make sure that you can withstand the storm. New companies were also started during that time, right, as a small business. You have to pay attention. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:So it's out summer out, summer in, some shift, the weather shifts, then there's a new shift. Right? In the security industry, nine eleven changed the the whole layout of the security industry. I had already been in business for many years. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:And we had to change our whole industry over because of nine eleven. Guess what? COVID happened. Uh-huh. We had to change our industry again.
Kimberley Borgens:Hey. People thought, oh, it's no big deal. It was a big deal because we were were working all through COVID, but we had new requirements. We had new laws that we had to take care of. And let me tell you, employees, if they're mad at you because you're not doing what is all over social media, right, and it's a law, you can bet your sweet little whatevers, they're gonna put it out.
Kimberley Borgens:I know companies that their employees told on them because they weren't doing it exactly the right way because the laws kept changing so fast. Right? You have to make rapid adjustments. You have to sometimes, like, almost daily make new and rapid decisions for your business because of the fluctuating of what's happening in the industries. So I'm gonna tell you this.
Kimberley Borgens:You have to be the company's chief financial officer. You have to manage the money so that you can expand. And I'm gonna say it, look, I'm the shoe girl. I love my shoes. But what I'm gonna tell you is do not go out and buy the person the shoes just because you have a little money in the bank.
Kimberley Borgens:Don't get me wrong. Like I said, I love a good sexy pair of shoes. Alright? Shoes just sing to me and I'm just like, oh, speak more. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:But spending all your money each month is not gonna help you create the legacy that you desire. If you wanna get to a 6 figure, you know, multi 6 figure, if you wanna get to a 7 figure business, you can only do that if you put yourself indulgence on the back burner. Everybody wants now now now now now, and I'm telling you, put yourself on layaway. Alright? Delayed gratification when it comes to business.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? You have to do this every single month so that you can get the freedom that you got into business for to begin with. You have to hold off on the fancy car, right, until you are prepared for future growth in your business. Right? I have a whole classroom topic in the HIVE society on profit profit acceleration.
Kimberley Borgens:Because so many businesses do not last long because they're not planning for the future. They're focused on the money that we have right now mindset, and I need you to get out of that mindset if you want to build your multimillion dollar business. Create a savings. Look at your vision so that it helps you to prepare to ex execute exactly where you want money to go to. Spend spending your earnings, it's not gonna take you there.
Kimberley Borgens:So you have to pay attention to your profits and your losses. You have to reinvest in your company. You have to stretch your resources as long as you can. Don't forget about your retirement. And are you putting you know, so are you putting your money away for the future?
Kimberley Borgens:I mean, think about it. Are you even paying yourself with taxes coming out? Most entrepreneurs aren't even willing to do that. You can you're like, oh, don't have to pay the taxes. Yes.
Kimberley Borgens:You do. Even the bible says, pay Caesar what Caesar's. But there's a lot of opportunities for expenses and things that you can do with your money, but you have to pay yourself. Look. You either pay yourself on a regular basis or you're gonna have to pay at the end.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? The taxes are nonnegotiable.
Kimberley Borgens:Sorry. I was just getting on my little soapbox there.
Kimberley Borgens:Look. I don't like to pay taxes any more than anybody else. But when you pay your taxes and then you do your taxes at the end of each year, And if you have the right financial, advisers on your team who can help you with it, a great CPA, like, we have a great CPA, and I know that my business partner, he will pick up the phone and he will call our CPA, and he'll say to our CPA, hey. Can I do you know, if I do, can I do this? And she was like, nope.
Kimberley Borgens:You can't do that. He's like, what? Okay. But if I do it this way and nope. You can't do that.
Kimberley Borgens:Okay. So if I do it this way and this way, you could do that. Right? Having a great adviser to support you can help you move forward in it. Sometimes it's gonna get cut down.
Kimberley Borgens:No. You can't do that. It doesn't mean you can't do the thing you wanna do. It just has to be done a different way. You just have to shift it just a little bit so that it falls in alignment with what your state regulations, local law, and, you know, federal law.
Kimberley Borgens:Pay attention to that, but pay your taxes. So many people, so many entrepreneurs close shop, and they go back and they get a job because they never took care of themselves. They only had allocations for their business. They didn't have allocations for themselves. They didn't do it in a way that respected you, the human being who's running the company.
Kimberley Borgens:Your company doesn't have feelings. You do. Right? Your company doesn't know who needs to get paid, but you do. And if you don't know that you're supposed to get paid, I'm telling you right now, you're supposed to get paid.
Kimberley Borgens:Give yourself a salary or a monthly stipend or, you know, 10% of whatever the company's profits or 10% of the net, whatever that is, you gotta pay yourself. It's important. Trust me. So as the CEO, you have to forecast what it is that the financial data is gonna give you for to anticipate any downturns, any upcoming opportunities in the communities, you know, in the industries that you're working on. Pay attention to your industry news.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? It's your job to assess the future costs, the planning for those congruencies and incongruencies in your industry. Keep the stakeholders if you have any informed, but keeping your company in a financial healthy state just like you need to keep yourself in a financial healthy state. Alright. The other thing that I wanna just point out as the CEO is you have to be the public face of the company, but do you?
Kimberley Borgens:Something has to be the public face. In my business, traditionally, the CEO I I would say in corporations, traditionally, the CEO is viewed as the public face of the company. They're the ones who represent the interest at all the events, the media. They'll talk to the stakeholders. But as a small business person, this responsibility can be allocated a little bit differently.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? You can delegate out public representation. You can somebody else to be the public face. And that's why I think that people in my community often mistake myself and my business partner as the CEO or president because I just didn't wanna be the face of the company for a really long time. So I gave that role to our president.
Kimberley Borgens:It didn't it didn't dismiss or diminish the authority or the significance of me as a CEO. In fact, it really was a strategic choice for me because it's a male dominated industry. Guess what? Men wanna talk to men, so they talk to the men. Most men in our industry I mean, most, salespeople in our industry are men.
Kimberley Borgens:They wanna talk to men. Okay. Let them talk to the president. I don't care. I just want the business.
Kimberley Borgens:So whoever is best suited to be the face of the company, you can do that as a small business. But there also has to be an impact. Right? And you want outsiders to still have an association with the company and their direction and and the decisions that a CEO makes. Regardless to what the public says, I'm gonna make the right decision in the company.
Kimberley Borgens:What matters most is that internal clarity that the team understands who ultimately has the strategic authority. Now my business partner and I can butt heads sometimes, Right? About wait. Wait. And then I'm like, hold on.
Kimberley Borgens:This is what really needs to happen if this is what we're gonna accomplish. And if I can get his buy in on that, guess what? Boom. Authority created. The external audience can know him.
Kimberley Borgens:They can see him. They can have media engagement with him. They can have a public persona with him. But when it comes to the internal aspects of it, you can bet I'm paying attention to every about our company and in our company. And as a small business, you can do that.
Kimberley Borgens:You can also balance the roles. Like I said, the line between the CEO and the president, right, those can be fluid. So just think about that. So let me just kinda wrap it up with this. What does it look like in practice?
Kimberley Borgens:Okay. Typical scenarios for a small business CEO. In the morning, we get up. Right? The best thing would be, like, you get up and you review your financial reports.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? Check with your team and set your priorities for the day. There are some people who believe in, I have these three things to accomplish by the end of the day and I don't end I don't quit working till those three things are accomplished. For me, I accomplish all the tough stuff first thing every morning. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:I handle this the tough stuff first. Why? I'm wide awake. I'm I have more clarity in my brain at that time, and I get the hard stuff out of the way so I don't even have to think about it for the rest of the day. Then the rest of the day is just having fun or trying to figure out what next.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? So that's the morning. That's how a lot of small business CEOs, that's their morning. Midday, we'll do meetings with our leadership, with our vendors, with our, you know, employees, contacts, clients, whatever that is. Sorry.
Kimberley Borgens:Troubleshoot any problems that are coming up, any issue that are that we're being faced with, soliciting feedback on new ideas, like being more creative. Right? Then you go and you have some lunch and, you know, regenerate a little bit. Make sure you drink plenty of water throughout the day. And then the afternoon, you're negotiating with vendors.
Kimberley Borgens:You're speaking with customers. You're attending to local chamber of commerce events, for example, all your networking events out there, your women network, whatever it is. Perhaps, if, you know, you're the public face or you send your president to represent your company. Look, I go out there and then network. Okay?
Kimberley Borgens:I have networks all along. I just don't need to be all up in everybody's face and say, I am the CEO. I talk about the business. I've had people say to me, oh, are you still working for your husband's company? And I'll go, yep.
Kimberley Borgens:We're still building that business. I don't need to argue with them. I'm not attached to it. I know my role. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:So get out there. Get and and let people see you. And in the evening before you go home or before you shut your off your computer, maybe you're at home and you're working late at night because small business owners do that, is reflect on your strategic goals. Right? Update what you wanna forecast.
Kimberley Borgens:What are those things that you know you wanna do down the line? Update those based on the information that you figured out throughout the day. Right? Prepare any communications that you need for your team to motivate them for the days ahead. Prepare what you wanna say.
Kimberley Borgens:Sometimes I'll sit and chew on something for a little bit. I need to say something to my team and I really need to put it out there and I have to do a little bit of work. And look, AI, you can utilize AI to help you, but make it your own, make it personal. Don't just put AI stuff out there. Okay?
Kimberley Borgens:Your team knows the difference. They know how you talk. And I don't care if it's your employee team or your vendor team or your client team, they know how you talk. When you put AI stuff out there that's not in your language, that's not who you are, they know. Okay?
Kimberley Borgens:But remember, you have to be flexible. You have to be adaptable to anything that happens. You have to put on the many hats that we wear. Right? Like, right?
Kimberley Borgens:Tall stack of hats that we all wear. Right? Creating in the vision, being the manager, communicating everything. Sometimes you're the frontline worker. You're the one who's doing all the tasks.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? Just know. I hear you. I know you. I'm right there with you.
Kimberley Borgens:So, you know, think about what your day is. How do you want your mornings to be? Are they productive right now? And maybe your morning I say morning. You just think of it like shifts.
Kimberley Borgens:Look. I have multiple I have day shift. I have swing shift. I have graveyard shift when it comes to security. So you can put this into a shift.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? Morning shift, swing shift, graveyard, whatever time of day you start working, just adapt the morning. Just say start of day. Right? Start of day.
Kimberley Borgens:I'm reviewing and updating my financials. I pay attention to what needs to happen, and I set my priorities for the day. Right? So think about for you, what could those priorities be? What are the things that you do need to get done that day?
Kimberley Borgens:I know every Friday, I gotta get my invoicing out. Right? I want people to pay me. We invoice every single week. I wanna make sure that invoicing is accurate.
Kimberley Borgens:I'm very, very meticulous about that with my team. I don't wanna have to go back and go, oops. We forgot to bill you something, so we're sending you a new invoice. That doesn't look good. Get clarity.
Kimberley Borgens:No. It happens occasionally, but it it can't happen every week. That's my point. Right? So what are those priorities?
Kimberley Borgens:What are those things that you need to do for the day? Are you setting a time where you are discussing ongoing, you know, issues, any troubleshooting, soliciting for feedback on new ideas and things like that? Are you talking to your vendors and speaking to your customers? This is really important so that you represent the company well. And then reflect and set the next strategic things that you wanna accomplish.
Kimberley Borgens:Wrap up your evening with, yes, there's something for us to move forward in. K? Alright. And the last thing I would say, lead by example. Recognize achievements with people.
Kimberley Borgens:Provide regular feedback. Foster a culture of trust and, empowerment and encouragement. It's the role of the CEO in order for the company to grow. The CEO, the journey of, you know, a small business CEO, it creates it has to have a lot of balance in it. You have to be agile.
Kimberley Borgens:You have to be relentless. Relentless for forward motion. Right. And while that like I said that earlier that that title might evoke some grandeur corporation, just remember that it really is about the daily acts of leadership steps that you take as a steward of your company, as the vision you wanna create. You have to steer the company in the right direction.
Kimberley Borgens:You have to manage your finances. You have to choose how you want your company represented publicly. You're the heartbeat. You're the heartbeat of the company. You're the one who gets to mold it and shape it into the path that you want it to create.
Kimberley Borgens:You get to inspire people, encourage people, and make decisions that create ripple effects throughout your organization and throughout your future. So embrace your unique reality of being a small business leader. The CEO cannot only they cannot you know, think about it like this. You as a CEO, you are the guide of your company. And in order for you to be resilient, you have to create ways that you innovate, that you are accountable, and that you have a lot of pride for.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? It's an ever changing role, and you have to change and adapt with it. And the reward is the long term impact that you're gonna create, the financial impact that you'll have within your family, within your community, and in your life that you can leave a legacy. That is the ultimate measure of success. I just wanna thank you so much for joining me today here on, superheroes and heels.
Kimberley Borgens:I really do just want you to know that you have to give yourself some some grace in business, but you also have to take ownership and own your role and own your space in your industry, in your business, and in everything that you do moving forward to grow into a healthy, strong business so that you can be a healthy, strong person and vice versa. So thank you so much for joining me today at Superheroes in Heels. I look forward to having you on the next or list having you listen on to the next one. Please make comments. Ask me questions.
Kimberley Borgens:Let me know what you got out of this. If you don't find a way to do it when you're listening to it as a podcast, then please, by all means, hit one one of my social, like, platforms up. You can go to LinkedIn, Kimberley Borgans. You can, find me on Facebook under Be A Legacy or Kimberley Borgans. Like, share your response to this because I'd really love to hear if this was helpful or impactful for you.
Kimberley Borgens:Thank you so much. I look forward to talking with you soon because you've left something for me to respond to. Have a blessed week.
Kimberley Borgens:Thanks for tuning in to Superheroes in Heals with Kimberley Borgans. If you're walking away feeling a little braver, a little bolder, and a whole lot more powerful, mission accomplished. Be sure to subscribe to the show and leave a review. It helps us to reach more women who are ready to unleash their power and lead with confidence. And if you do leave a review, you might just hear your name in an upcoming episode.
Kimberley Borgens:If today's conversation lit a fire in you, share it with your network and join us inside the hive society at Kimberleyborgans.com, where powerful women gather to break barriers and rise together. Until next
Kimberley Borgens:time, keep showing up, standing strong, and heels or not, keep embracing your inner superhero.