How to Bridge the Gap from Social to CEO

I’ve been amazed over the last 10 or 12 years as I’ve watched the rise of women. We have so much more impact and influence because we have social media. We can reach so many more people than we ever have before because of our online influence. And it’s time to start owning that. Here’s how to bridge the gap from social to CEO.

I believe in who we are becoming, but I’ve noticed many of you have doubts about that. Because of that, this post is dedicated to 4 actionable steps you can take right now to shift your mindset from “I have a social media following and sell products” to “I am a CEO of a booming business and influence lots of people through my products and services.”

If you’re ready to take the leap and turn your business into what it’s really capable of becoming, hire my marketing agency to help you do it. You can outsource your marketing efforts and have a serious upgrade to your website and brand that proves you are a CEO ready to make things happen. Check out my agency HERE to get started!

I’ve seen some crazy things happen in the online sphere over the past six months. One of those things is seeing so many women business owners who stop showing up on social media or shut down their businesses altogether. I don’t know their specific circumstances, however, I do think this is something worth talking about.

There are so many women joining social media and creating businesses and they do an amazing job at growing a following. But it’s the next step of taking the business seriously as a CEO that many of us struggle with. Many people are not taking the step and keeping themselves small, but I don’t want this to be you. I want you to think bigger about yourself and think about your business differently.

Now, I get it. When I say “CEO” you are probably thinking that’s Devil Wears Prada and that’s too corporate for you. You might think that if you claim CEO then that means always choosing your business over your family, kids, sleep, health, or whatever it may be. But there’s a different definition of CEO.

For instance, I am the CEO of a marketing agency that makes multiple six figures. I lead a big team that helps me run my business. I am also a mother who loves spending time with my kids. I love coaching my girl’s softball team, having dinner with my family every night, and being a super-involved parent.

You can have and be both too. We can have a serious business without giving up the things that really matter to us. We’ve just got to do the mental work that will bridge the gap. Let’s start with the 4 steps you can do right now.

4 Practical Steps to Help You Bridge the Gap from Social to CEO

As I’ve done mindset coaching with women business owners and strategy calls with businesses, I found that there is some emotional and mental work that you need to do to bridge this gap. You can know all the strategies and check all the boxes, but if you don’t do the internal work then you’re never going to see yourself as a successful CEO.

The mental work looks like journaling out your thoughts that are holding you back and changing the stories you tell yourself to ones that serve you. Doing so will help you act like the person you want to become–and so will these 4 steps. Let’s dive in!

Social to CEO Step #1: Choose to be a creator, not a victim.

A victim is when everything is happening to you. The algorithm, Instagram, your husband, your circumstances, your kids, your messy house, and the list goes on. All of these things are happening to you and when that happens you have no control…and your lid gets flipped.

You’re not creating a creative space. Instead, you are doing all these things reactively because you’re just putting out fires. And while doing so you’re probably thinking all these things are happening to you and you wish you could do something different, but you can’t because the world is against you/the algorithm hates you/etc.

We need to start stepping into being the creator and owning our space. Of course, we cannot control everything. That’s why we are the creator, not the controller. We look at our lives differently when we say, “I am the creator, and life isn’t happening to me, I’m happening to it.”

So, own your creator identity and nail down what you really want. Write it down. Admit to things that you didn’t know you really wanted–like a successful business that makes lots of money. This will be so empowering for you and help you get your mind exactly where it needs to be in order to complete the next steps of bridging the gap from social to CEO.

Bonus Tip: Pay attention to how/when you use the words “but” and “and.” If you say, “I want to grow on social media, but…” that is a victim mentality. If you say, “I want to grow on Instagram and…” that is a creator mentality. Notice the difference and start using “and” to make things happen!

Social to CEO Step #2: Own the identity you want.

We tell ourselves a lot of things without questioning them. I was talking with my two sisters a little while ago, and my sister said to me, “You are a working mom.” And I immediately said I wasn’t. I didn’t want that identity because that meant I didn’t make time for my kids, my house was in shambles, and whatever else I made up in my head.

But being a working mom is a neutral statement. It was my perspective that put all this emotional weight behind it. For the longest time, I said I wasn’t a working mom because of all these beliefs I had attached to it and never questioned. But in reality, I’ve been a working mom throughout all of my kids’ lives and things have been great! (Hard, but great.)

Think about the beliefs you have attached to being a CEO and put those beliefs on trial. Are they really true? Could you have a successful business AND be a present mom? You get to decide what it looks like. You can set boundaries and create the life you want. It’s definitely not easy, but possible as is everything in life, right?

Social to CEO Step #3: Take your business and yourself seriously.

Allow yourself to become the expert in your business. This is easier said than done, but I have four ways that will make this shift easier for you.

#1 – Set aside work time.

Create a designated time and space for yourself to work on your business. I promise having this planned dedicated work time will help you be way more productive as a business owner AND a mom rather than pretending you’re not working and carrying around your laptop throughout the day trying to complete little tasks here and there.

#2 – Know your numbers.

We can’t be afraid of what our numbers are and what they mean. Actually, the more you understand your numbers (i.e. profits, revenue, cost of doing business, number of followers, follower-to-customer ratio) the more you will understand how these numbers affect your bottom line. If you have trouble figuring out your numbers then ask for help. Get an accountant, coach, strategist, etc. who can help you grow into the next step of your business.

#3 – Sell your product.

Stop being afraid of selling. You have to sell to stay in business. It doesn’t have to be hard and you’re probably better at it than you think you are. Think of it as showing up and solving a problem for people through your product. To get some extra support with this one, check out my blog post HERE.

#4 – Use your analytics to create a strategy.

We are too precious about our social media accounts. We need to start looking at social media as a marketing arm of our business–not our business as a whole. Your Instagram account is not you. You are not your Instagram account. Add some space between you and your analytics so you can then look at it with curiosity instead of fear.

Look back at your posts and see what content did better this month and last month and which content is bringing you more sales, followers, and likes and saves. Looking at this information objectively will give you so much information about how you can be more successful in the future.

You can build a strategy based on what your audience is showing interest in rather than on your own emotions and what you feel like creating that day.

Social to CEO Step #4: Be bigger than Instagram.

I love Instagram. However, there are some things that I can’t do on Instagram that I can do through other platforms and channels. For instance, I can’t write out this huge blog post of information on Instagram as I can here and you were able to discover and (hopefully) find value in it.

Also, I don’t own Instagram. You don’t own Instagram. We could wake up one day and all of our followers could be gone. We could get locked out of our account. We could have content taken down that we don’t agree with. And all of it would be OK because we don’t own any of it. This is why I am always talking about having an email list. Using Instagram to bring your followers over to your email list is one of the best things you can do for your business strategy.

By the way, you should join my email list HERE. I am putting a considerable amount of resources and time into building my email list to be the best. I created a FREE masterclass that will dive deep into this same topic of social to CEO and all of that will be in my weekly emails.