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What Do You Do When the Numbers are SOBERING?

Release Date: 05/29/2023

When chasing your dream becomes a nightmare

CEO Chronicles

Welcome in, everyone! It’s your hosts Michele and Karamel here to talk all about what it means to chase your dream and what it means when that dream can become a nightmare. While we do acknowledge that there are lists out there that help you determine how you know that your dream is becoming a nightmare, we point out several different ways to tell, starting with assessing whether or not your personal life and/or business is/are suffering. Your dream can also, of course, become a nightmare when you’re not making enough to cover your costs, obviously a big one. We discuss the problems that...

Is It Still the New Year...Let's Catch Up!

CEO Chronicles

We are back for a new season, everyone, and we are starting off by catching up on our entrepreneurial journeys, sharing insights, challenges, and triumphs. As brick-and-mortar and e-commerce business owners, we've navigated the ever-changing landscape of entrepreneurship for years, adapting to market shifts and personal growth along the way. From managing brick-and-mortar insurance agencies to e-commerce ventures and luxury travel experiences, our diverse businesses keep us on our toes, and we discuss the daily grind of entrepreneurship, the constant pursuit of growth, and the importance of...

Do You Make the Cake? Working On or In Your Business

CEO Chronicles

We hope that you will join us today as we discuss the challenges and triumphs of small business ownership! As the year comes to a close, we reflect on our experiences, sharing insights on working in vs. working on the business. Michele discusses her shift from working IN the business rather than ON the business due to rising costs and the need to cut expenses. With a strategic approach, she streamlined operations, making tough decisions like letting go of certain expenses, including a beloved billboard. Embracing an abundance mindset rather than a scarcity mindset, she emphasizes the...

Defining Employee Roles

CEO Chronicles

In this thought-provoking episode of the show, we hope that you'll join us as we discuss the intricate process of defining employee roles within our businesses! As we gear up for the upcoming year, we find ourselves at a crossroads, facing challenges in hiring the right candidates and clearly outlining their responsibilities, so we explore the delicate balance between employee expectations and employer needs, discussing the importance of effective communication and setting realistic goals. Through candid anecdotes and valuable insights, we share our personal experiences of managing teams,...

Season 2, Episode 28

CEO Chronicles

In this episode of CEO Chronicles, we take a deep dive into the blurred lines between a hustle and a business. We grapple with the challenges of expanding our income streams, sharing personal experiences and candid insights. The conversation revolves around the critical decision-making process, exploring when a venture evolves from a mere hustle to a fully-fledged business. Discussing the importance of strategic investments, we emphasize the need for experts' guidance and how hiring specialists can elevate a side hustle into a thriving enterprise. We reflect on our own approaches, Karamel's...

Bottom Line Up Front - BLUF

CEO Chronicles

Welcome back to another exciting episode of CEO Chronicles in which we dive deep into the essence of effective communication and time management, both incredibly important when it comes to being CEOs! We share our no-nonsense approach to business dealings, emphasizing the importance of getting straight to the point. Karamel discusses her frustration with unnecessary details and the need for clear, concise information in business interactions, and we both stress the significance of the "bottom line up front" mentality, focusing on what truly matters and making decisions swiftly. We also explore...

Coming into your Bossdom!

CEO Chronicles

Join us this week on CEO Chronicles as we provide insights into both of our journeys as CEOs! In this candid conversation, we discuss the challenges and responsibilities that come with leading a business, and Michele reflects on her background in radio and sales, emphasizing the importance of never missing work and always achieving goals. Karamel, on the other hand, coming from a startup background, shares her experience of building something out of nothing and navigating the complexities of running a business. We both touch on our interactions with vendors and the need for clear communication...

Career Considerations…Do We Have To?

CEO Chronicles

Join us today as we get talking about whether employers should consider things like commute times. We believe that you need to set clear expectations up front. We discuss how we are both upfront with our employees - the work needs to get done, even if it means staying late some nights. We do also talk about how we understand that people's lives change and how showing a little flexibility can build loyalty, but we also do not believe in showing favoritism. Listen in as we also get into how we each manage teams and how our styles are both similar and different. We like to consider their needs,...

Entrepreneur Arrogance, Competence or Confidence

CEO Chronicles

Join us today on a thought-provoking episode of CEO Chronicles as we delve into the complex interplay between confidence, competence, and arrogance in the world of entrepreneurship! While we acknowledge that as business owners, we certainly exude confidence and certainty, we also explore the distinction between arrogance and competence. Reflecting on our roles as confident leaders with a clear vision, we emphasize the value of humility and the importance of balancing confidence with approachability. We also discuss the challenges of decision-making, the nuances of leadership, and the...

Who is the Keeper of Your Institutional Knowledge?

CEO Chronicles

We are talking all about institutional knowledge today, and some of you may be wondering, what is institutional knowledge? Well, listen in today as we talk about what institutional knowledge is and why it’s important, offering personal examples along the way such as something that happened on Karamel’s recent trip to St. Lucia (not Croatia)! As we explain on the show, institutional knowledge is the sum of information a company and its employees possess, including but not limited to techniques, expertise, policies, data, skill sets, processes, and experiences. We also explain that there is...

More Episodes

What makes a business great? Is it merely the money that it’s making and the financial numbers, or is there more to it than that? We are discussing all things businesses dying or thriving as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and what it means for numbers to be sobering.

Sobering numbers aren’t always a terrible thing. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the business is bad, and it could just mean that something has to be restructured. Maybe you need to scale or grow.

Remember, however, that this podcast is all about encouraging you, but it doesn’t mean anything unless you have a plan. You have to walk away from a pep talk with a plan of action or else you’re not going to improve. Sobering numbers just means having to develop a plan to move forward.

As always, we had a great time sharing this conversation with you and hope that it’s helpful and insightful for you! If so, please consider subscribing to the podcast if you aren’t subscribed already so that you never miss a new episode when it drops. We are also now on YouTube, so please feel free to follow our YouTube channel if you want to both hear us and see us from here on out. Until next time!

Time Stamps

[0:56] - Can a business be better than its financial situation?

[3:18] - Karamel explains why her numbers are sobering right now.

[5:53] - Michele reflects back on February 2020.

[7:04] - Karamel offers an example of sobering numbers.

[10:14] - Numbers being sobering looks at the entire picture.

[13:55] - Michele brings the book The 12 Week Year into the conversation.

[16:26] - Michele discusses how 75 Hard has been helping her manage stress.

[20:17] - Can you do more with less?

[23:35] - Improvement requires taking action.

[27:05] - Karamel hasn’t booked a trip in sixty days which is unheard of for WTA.

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