If your business still needs you for everything, and you’ve started to suspect that something you’re doing without realizing it is part of the reason, this episode is for you. Founder mindset habits, like taking every lost client personally and avoiding your numbers, keep a business dependent on you even after you’ve added the software and made the hires. Jennifer shows you where those habits hide, so you can start building a business that runs without you propping it up.
Jennifer walks through where those habits show up, from how founders handle their numbers to the expertise they hold back from their team. Each one leaves the founder covering the gap personally, which she calls the founder subsidy. She also explains why your team adapts to how you treat them, and what that does to your ability to step back.
Before her CPA firm shifted its focus to profit and performance, Jennifer’s work was taxes. It was highly profitable and a sure thing, and she dreaded Mondays and IRS calls. She stayed because leaving meant giving up the one thing she knew would pay.
What's covered:
Why taking your business personally keeps it dependent on you, and why your financials reflect every decision made by your vendors, customers, team, and you
What playing ostrich with your numbers costs, and the shame that often sits underneath it
The difference between your comfort zone and your genius zone, and how a genius zone turns into gatekeeping when it makes you feel needed
Why correcting your team without teaching them makes you the lowest-risk option, and why letting them fail on small things builds the skills that free you up
Which questions to ask before you spend on the next fix, and when an outside facilitator is worth bringing in
Jennifer’s advice starts with slowing down. Before you add anything new, she asks you to look honestly at your own habits and at how your team makes decisions, then name the root cause. If you want a second set of eyes, her business performance analysis finds the gaps, and the performance optimization work after it closes them.
"When responsibility travels farther than the decision rights, the number eventually comes back to the founder."
If your business isn't profitable even though you're the one holding it together, or you want to work on the business instead of in it, this episode explains what has to change first.
And if you want to find where your business leans on you, book a 90-minute strategy session with me.