The CEO Shift: Filling Up at the State Line

The CEO mindset shift is tricky. What feels responsible — logical, even — is telling yourself you'll do more to protect what you already have: work harder, take on more, prove you're ready before you let anything go. That instinct is exactly what keeps you stuck.

You can't say "I want to go from NC to CA" and then wait until you hit the California state line to fill up your gas tank and map the route. Do that, and you're still sitting in your driveway three years later. Every "I'll hire this person after X happens" is really "I'm not filling the tank until I see the state line." You commit to the trip first, then you take the necessary steps to make sure you can get there.

I'm rebranding everything I do from $1M+ to $10M+. I love the people that are pushing to $1M+ and have that as the focus point. But, if you’re here and this is your vision for the future, it means you’re still testing and DIY’ing it all. You haven’t honed in on what you’re selling and you aren’t yet ready to make the commitment to a different future. This is a totally normal part of the entrepreneurial journey. And I’ll be here for when you are ready to shift into CEO mode and aim for $10M+.

The $10M+ Destination isn't about doing more. It's actually about doing less. WAY less. It’s about getting ruthlessly clear on what you're actually committed to, and cutting everything that doesn't align with it. It’s about getting things off your plate that shouldn't be yours anymore.

And it’s about making sure your team knows exactly where you're going, and has permission to move even when you're not in the room.

Getting to $10M+ isn't about hustle. It's about freedom. Stay small, and you stay trapped in “doer-of-all-the-things mode.” It’s about not being ready to make the leap and step into the role of CEO. And your team feels this: when your own priorities keep shifting, so does theirs…and the momentum never builds.

Commitment to what you have in the present, over where you want to go in the future, has a real cost. I saw it clearest in the accounting world: our small-ticket clients cost us the most in time. They price-shopped, questioned our value on repeat, and never had time to respond to our requests. When we decided they weren't our focus and made the shift, margins grew nearly 8%, churn dropped over 3%, and top-line revenue grew almost 7 figures. Freeing up that time didn't just help me as the leader of a team of 100 people… it also gave key team members room to actually grow, which catapulted our growth even further.

Real talk here: You can just read this as we did way less work for more money and enabled jet-powered growth into the future.

What are you doing right now that's costing you the freedom to actually lead?

Write down your $10M+ Destinations. Say them out loud.

Then, get honest about what you need to say No to… and the Who to help you get to where you want to go.

Not sure where to start? Reply to this email - I'll help point you in the right direction. No strings attached.

This RV trip didn't just happen. It came from a conversation with a former coach about alignment - one that made it clear the life we'd built didn't match what we actually wanted for the future.

The comfortable route would've been to keep plugging away at a 7-figure business we didn't love. Send our kids to public school. Stay in the same neighborhood, surrounded by the same people, doing it all the same way.

One week surrounded by people talking about alignment and outcomes led to a simple question over coffee after I returned back home: what if we just did the RV thing for a whole year? We already did it for a month or so each summer.

That question became our version of a $10M+ commitment. Instead of listing every reason we couldn't, we asked the question that actually moves things: how can we? That's where most people get stuck…they optimize for comfort and build the case for why it just won't work.

The people who make the biggest moves ask "how can I" instead. Then, they make sure that every question after asks “will this move the needle toward my vision?”

It took us over 18 months to make the vision a reality. We had to find a buyer for the business, go through due diligence (which is a pain in the rear), find and buy a new camper, pack up a nearly 3,000-sq-ft house and find a renter, and then get homeschooling figured out.

But, we didn't wait for it to feel safe. We just decided to commit to the future we truly wanted and then built the roadmap to get there.

One shift at a time,

Christy

P.S. August 11th is the officially becoming the first launch of The CEO Seat. This room is not for people chasing more hustle or trying to do it all themselves. It’s not for the people who want to stay comfortable in where they are at now. This room is only for founders ready to actually commit to being CEO: say No, let go, and build something that doesn't need you in every room. If that's you, claim your seat.

August 11th. 12pm EST

The CEO Seat: Your $10M+ Vision