tell me about your vision yeah so uh my vision
you know it took a long while while to get here
i didn't start out in the entrepreneurial journey
i actually started out in corporate on on wall
street doing finance and project management and
everything else and realized very early on that
that was not the that was not the path for me
that was not the journey that i meant to be on
and fortunately i was able to partner with my
wife we own a business coaching company together
and i stepped in to basically help execute on
her vision, right? So I kind of, you know, accidentally
stumbled into the role of a COO, chief operating
officer, sometimes called a second in command,
right? So I'm running the business. She's on
the front stage. I'm more on the backstage taking
care of the day -to -day and everything else.
And I did that for 16 years. And we built that
company to a very successful multi seven figure
what I would call a self managing company So
it just runs it works, etc And then there were
a lot of people that were in our community that
were tapping me on the shoulder and saying Derek
You know, can I can I hire you? I need you to
do for my business what you've done for your
wife's business And so I started to offer fractional
meaning part -time coo services for just a small
select few clients and there was more and more
need and more and more demand and i knew that
i couldn't scale that right because it was just
me and so last year i launched the coo solution
and i built out a team now we have 10 coos as
well as obms obms as an online business manager
that is a little bit more in tactical implementation
and we've been scaling and growing and it's an
interesting dynamic because i'm now I'm basically
on the front side of what I used to do with all
of the clients, right? So I'm doing all of the
vision. I'm doing all of the kind of the big
idea of the future. I just launched a podcast,
for example. I'm working on a book and I'm doing
all of these other, you know, founder visionary
activities, which is very, very exciting. And
that's my vision. My vision is to continue to
scale the COO solution and offer those services
to entrepreneurs and business owners that know
they need. Something different, right? Like as
you've probably heard, what got you here is not
going to get you there. So when they realize
they're at that. tipping point or glass ceiling
and they know they need something else and more
of the same is not necessarily going to get them
to the next level, that's where we step in and
really can contribute to make a difference. And
we're doing that with more and more clients all
the time. And that's my vision is to continue
to scale and build and offer the support for
those that need it and also for those that want
it. Yes. So now you're the visionary. Exactly.
Yeah. So the tables have turned a little bit.
Yes, but still with the COO. uh superpower yeah
i mean and that's that's the thing that's brilliant
about i mean like i i i talk my walk right so
i have one of my ceos who is the ceo of the ceos
the ceo solution so she's helping me in everything
that we would normally do for a client as i am
the client in this regard for for my business
um yeah so it's been very exciting to kind of
put myself out there in the front stage in this
way and leveraging those 16 years of how we do
what we do, right? We're very systematic. We
have a process. We have a structure in place
that we could put into a business and help them
scale and grow, whether it's a coaching business
or brick and mortar or they provide a service.
It doesn't really matter. Business is business,
right? Marketing is marketing. Operations is
operations. So we have the skill set and the
expertise and the experience of a well -versed
team that can help clients do that. I love that.
And then you have so much passion behind it.
I feel it and I hear it. Yeah. Interesting. I
just had this aha moment. So briefly, my own
personal story. I went from answering the telephones.
I was one of the individuals that would answer
a telephone from a billboard on how you tested
for HIV. Right. So I just. Yeah, it was a very
challenging job, but I wouldn't be who I am today
if I didn't. job. So answer the phone for many
years. Derek, I made it to COO from the phones
to COO. And I realized like, you know, just the
org. Yeah. I realized I was a visionary. Yeah.
Yeah. Couldn't be the COO and be a visionary.
And so when some things changed, it was grant
funded. When the grant changed, I accidentally
quit. I forgot to tell my significant other and
everything. OK, I quit. And then, you know, we're
just changing in salary. But in my mind now,
I just had that aha moment because COO and a
visionary, you actually have to have somebody
to balance that out. Being that person and that
one was too challenging for me to know that I
wanted to be on the side. That was the outreach.
feet to the pavement, you know, where they wanted
me in the office behind the computer. I'm like,
no, I'm going with them. So really, you just
gave me that aha moment to like, no wonder why
I just quit. Yeah, exactly. It's very true. And
there are. number of different assessments or
profiles that you can subscribe to to help us
understand am I more aligned to be a visionary
or am I more aligned to be that second -in -command
and oftentimes I would say majority of the times
you are either one or the other Right. Because
there are certain characteristics. You have innate
strengths and abilities and and characteristics
and and ways of taking action that define you
as a visionary, which is usually somewhat different
from somebody who enjoys getting into the weeds
of things and figuring out the minutia of the
problems and solving challenges at a detailed
level versus somebody who's like that. I need
the big picture. I need the vision. I need the
future. And it's interesting when I started working
with my wife. i didn't know anything about her
business i didn't know anything about the coaching
business i didn't know anything about online
marketing or anything of that regard and so i
often you know described the story i had to start
out in the mail room so to speak like getting
into the very beginning like so what's an email
list and what's uh what's uh what's a coaching
program and who are your clients and how do you
market your services and how do we do a workshop
and figuring all of that out and then realizing
that there are similarities right there are common
themes on how you scale and grow a business again
independent of the industry but when you know
thyself, when you know who you are, how you're
wired, what your strengths are, what really gives
you joy and fulfillment, and be able to leverage
that as an asset into the business, just like
an asset would be if you owned a store or your
email list or your presence online, and then
being able to leverage different assets, leverage
your second in command, leverage your visionary
to be more visionary. be more COO -like, that's
where you get real traction. That's where you
get momentum and a lot of results to go along
with it. So, and I mean, with all of that said,
it makes sense to me. And I'm so excited that
we're having this conversation together because
now an audience can see how, what it looks like,
what a system looks like, and just being okay
with what you just said, your strengths. Yeah.
your piece to the business, right? And making
sure you know exactly who you are. Yeah. Cross
those paths and do something that you have no
desire to do at all. So it brings me to this
thought process of vision versus execution. What's
the biggest misconception about the balance in
that vision and execution as a business grows?
Yeah. I mean, the trap, if you will, or sometimes
I call it the the entrepreneurial prison. I know
it sounds a bit harsh, but that trap that we
all fall into is that I'm supposed to be the
one to know how to do it. I'm the business owner.
It's my business. I'm supposed to know how to
figure out to get the WordPress connection to
the Zapier thing so it posts on LinkedIn with
my email. No, you're not. You're not supposed
to know that level of detail. You're supposed
to know that you want a solution. You want a
strategy in place. visionary and entrepreneur
is confronted with the reality that they're not
supposed to be the one to figure those things
out and if they still try to figure it out it's
going to feel like like two steps back right
and then oftentimes what happens is they beat
themselves up there's a tremendous amount of
shame or guilt of like how how am I not supposed
to know how to do my bookkeeping you're not supposed
to right that's why we have bookkeepers that's
why we have web designers that's why we have
social media managers that's why we have copywriters
ad specialists sales people etc and so i think
when they realize that visionary job vision having
the trust and confidence in the execution machine
to run like a well -oiled machine with the right
people the right seats the systems and processes
and everything else that can step out of that
that guilt that shame that kind of beating myself
up i'm supposed to know everything and how to
do everything no oftentimes i i like the expression
which is um rather than asking ourselves how
do i do something in some cases a better question
is to ask who Can do that for me. And I know
some people are like, well, I have to hire these
people, which means I have to pay for them and
I have to invest in team. Yes, you do. That's
the part of going to business is investing in
team. But the alternative is how much time is
it going to take you to figure out how to balance
your bookkeeping? And if you get that time back
and you reinvest that in other things that are
actually going to move the needle for your business,
you might be paying 30 bucks an hour for a bookkeeper,
five hours a week or five hours a month, whatever
it is. But can you. Take that five hours back
and reinvest it in something that's worth significantly
more than what you're spending at thirty dollars
an hour. Likely so. Right. So there's that magic
that happens. OK, I can invest and get back time
and then reinvest that time into money generating
activities, which is actually going to grow the
business. Absolutely. I mean, I think we could
just drop the mic right there. I mean, that was
a really, really, really good because you just
said some things that. I believe that the audience
will now feel better about where they're at.
And I really hope that the audience that watches
this understands that you don't have to. There
are people like COO Solutions. There are other
people. And I'm sure you have other connections
that can lead someone somewhere else that's needed,
especially once you hear their vision. It's like,
you don't just need this. So that so I truly
love that. And I don't want to miss the point
of saying that doesn't just help the audience
that actually helps me. I think I took a deep
breath of saying I don't have to know all of
that. I don't have to know how to do the things
that I just never actually thought to do it.
I just thought it was a really grand business
idea. And now people are making me do content
and people are making me, you know. it's a it's
a mindset shift really because it's so much easier
said than done i know because i work with people
all the time they're like i get it there and
you know but i have to invest to get the team
and you know I understand there's the reality
of the investment. I never say it's an expense.
It's the investment in getting the right people
to help you in the things that you are not wired
to know how to do or figure it out because it's
going to take you more time, more effort, more
energy. You're going to feel drained. If you
don't get it done right, you're going to beat
yourself up and everything else. So I realize
there's that reality. But here's here's a hack.
Here's what I do with my clients. And here's
how we provide the service that we work with.
you know in the clients that we support and even
something that i do which is i do this all the
time all the time because again i i am the ceo
and now i'm stepping more into be that visionary
so i'm asking myself the same question which
is this and i don't care what it is whether it's
responding to email managing your calendar reconciling
your quickbooks trying to build your website
right unless you were an expert in wordpress
you shouldn't be building your website right
and so every now and then prompt yourself in
the doing of what you're doing and in the energy
of feeling that this doesn't feel right and i
feel like i should be doing something else i
don't want to be doing this i'm sure there's
somebody else that could do it for me they could
probably even do it better find those activities
tasks start very very small and see If there's
somebody that's on your team or somebody that
you need to bring on to your team, I always say
start with a VA, somebody that can come in and
just very simply, like, can you please help me
do this? Can you please do this for me? And let
go. Relinquish control. Trust the process. Because
in order to scale, you actually have to let go.
And I know as entrepreneurs, we're control freaks,
right? We control everything. I want it like
this. I want it like that. But if you have a
systematic way and a precise. system as we provide
in exactly what needs to happen or how it needs
to be done then you don't need to figure out
the how you can have somebody step in and execute
it and again in a way that might be better than
you could actually do it in a fraction of the
time and then you feel okay i can then go and
do something else that's going to move the needle
And then once you get the confidence of delegating,
then you can delegate more and delegate more
and delegate more. And so it's like a muscle.
The more you delegate and the more you give,
the more you get back in terms of what else you
could be doing in your business to drive it forward.
So it's a little hack, just like find the small
things, just one or two things a day to be like,
should I really be doing this? Is this really
the best use of my time? Can I spend a little
bit to invest to get my time back to then go
and make 5x on that investment? Probably so.
And Derek, I was just sitting here thinking,
unelequently speaking, sometimes you got to spend
money to make money. Exactly. I know visionaries
think about the big vision in it, but the whole
point about... owning and having a business is
making profit so spending money to make money
which frees you up to still focus on what you're
super really super good at like you being a superhero
so i love that and delegation and delegate it
that is the key word to everything and so many
people have a challenge with that like you said
because we're we're i even say we we're control
freaks you know It's my business. I'm the founder,
co -founder, founder of the founder. And I should
do it. I should know it all. I get it. And that's
that's the journey. Right. And it's never entrepreneurship
is never linear. Right. It's never going to be
exactly how it's supposed to be. There's going
to be bumps. There's going to be hurdles. There's
going to feel like the roller coaster effect.
And so when you are in some of this roller coaster,
honor what you're feeling and try not to always.
persevere through the effort if it feels too
much like effort there's probably a reason that
it's not supposed to be that way and let's find
an alternative solution and visionaries are great
at finding other solutions other alternatives
can be improvised we come up with this approach
so do that mindset shift when it comes to delegation
hiring start small build your confidence build
your momentum and then you can scale you know
leveraging your team absolutely and just to be
kind of your time but I'm going to say this if
you are watching this rewind it over and over
Over again, just to hear the nuggets that Derek
is dropping right now. I know I said mic drop
once. There are some key things that he said.
So watch it over and over again. Treadmill, walking,
whatever you're doing. And this, I believe, Derek,
because you're so passionate about it and you
have that understanding, I believe that this
will comfort so many individuals trying. But
before you go, I have a favorite question of
mine. Sure. What are the greatest joys of what
you do? That's a great question. Wonderful question.
I love the word joy. Yeah. I would say the greatest
joy, like one of them. I have many in the work
that we do with clients. I have some, like, goosebumps
when I share this because I think it's pretty
empowering for those that are, you know, listening
to this and resonating with what we're talking
about. For me, one of the biggest joys is when
we work with a client. And visually, I can start
to see that they relax, that they become more
at peace and a little bit more calm in their
business because they get the realization that
they have an opportunity in the moment we start
supporting them in a new way of doing things
going forward, that it's kind of like little
popcorns are going up. I can see how things are
going to change. And it's primarily based on
the fact that they feel free. confident and empower
to be able to step more of working on the business
as opposed to having to work in it and when they
get that sense of freedom or enlightenment or
excitement or whatever you want to call it I
often ask them I said so how do you how do you
feel now that we've talked about these things
and making some of these changes and like oh
you know I can already feel that things are going
to be different and it's like i didn't ask them
what do you think i said what do you feel right
because we can intellectualize all day long but
what you feel here is often very intuitive based
on what's really energetically coming up for
them and when they breathe that sigh of relief
that sigh of relief and they feel that things
are going to be different and they they feel
calm and excited about it. That for me is a great
joy. Then we get to work, right? Then we get
to the practical stuff and we start to, you know,
make stuff happen and move the needle forward.
But they get this just calmness, this feeling
of relief, of almost kind of acknowledging that
they got to that point where they know that they
can't keep going in that direction. And so the
lever has been removed and then they can continue
to go in the direction they want to go in. So
for me, that's probably the greatest joy in some
respect, for sure. I love that. And I was just
thinking, because I love fitness, I'm just thinking
about when that that that arm exercise is over
and you drop the weights. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right.
And is that rush a little bit? Yeah, exactly.
Kind of look like, OK. Oh, yeah, I can do this.
You know, I got that whole vision when you said
that was like, that's the idea. Please share
with. myself and the audience how they can get
in contact with you website social media handles
Yeah, sure. I mean, my website, it's the it's
the COO solution dot com. I have a podcast as
well called the COO Solution Podcast, where I
share more about this message and different strategies
and techniques that help our clients, mostly
visionaries, founders that can help them scale
and grow their business. And I'll also offer
at the COO solution dot com website. There's
a there's a quiz that's there. If someone's interested
and you might be wondering. Is now maybe the
right time for me to consider bringing on a fractional
COO or, like I said, an OBM, an online business
manager, and it's a free quiz that helps you
understand where am I getting stuck? Would I
need that type of support and is now the right
time to consider that? So that's an option for
somebody to consider if they're looking for exploring
what that might look like to help them in their
business. Thank you for being here today. I'm
really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros
Live. I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions
as these episodes continue to move forward. This
is going to be more and more fun. We'll have
more and more engagement as well. We'll invite
people to participate in the show. And thank
you for giving us your time and attention. Have
an excellent time building out your vision. vision
and becoming a vision pro yourself.