Back End Visibility: The Secret to Scaling and Standing Out with Vickie Closson

In this episode of the Become the Visible CEO series, fractional COO Vickie Closson shares how she helps businesses scale by building strong back-end systems and processes. Learn why systems are the missing link to sustainable growth and how visibility and authenticity can transform your business success.

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Transcript

Unknown: 0:01

Welcome back to our become the visible CEO series. We have another visible CEO with us today, and I cannot wait to bring her up, but she is a fractional COO, which we're going to ask her all about this. And she is has been one of my amazing clients, still as a client for years, she is an amazing raving fan, um, cheerleader, and so let me bring up the one, the only visible CEO, Vicky Clawson, hi. How are you? I know that I'm so excited to have you on. Thank you for having me. I appreciate so you are a fractional coo. So let's chat about this. Can you just explain to my audience what that means? So fractional just means part time. So I'm part time in your business as a COO, so I am basically an Operations Officer. I come in. I advise the owner or the CEO of the company on all the things, from strategy to back end processes, SOPs, managing team, training teams, like all the things in their business, I kind of say that we are the missing link. You know, a lot of business will be like, I'm here. I want to be here, and I can see it, but I don't know how to get there. And so we kind of come in and become that bridge to they can walk across to get to the next level that they're dreaming of, they're hoping for, and they're planning for. So we just go in from a bird's eye view on a business and see where are their cracks, where are things that need to be fixed or filled in? Nothing wrong. Just a lot of times we're in our businesses so much we can't see the forest because of the trees. And it truly is true. So I just go in and say, Okay, let's break down everything, and let's, you know, start over if we have to, let's pick up where we need to and and we go from there. So basically, the difference between a fractional COO and a full time COO is just, you're not an employee of theirs. That is correct. Um, I am a part time in their business. It can be as little as an hour a week. It could be as much as 30 hours a week. It just depends on what that business really means. But I'm not a 100% employee of their team. I handle multiple different businesses at the same time. Yeah, absolutely. So. Why are you so passionate about being in the back end of someone's business? Because I found over the years that so many businesses focus on the front end of their business and how they view yet they don't have things in the back end completely lined up. So for instance, if a client comes to me and they're like, I want 1000 clients. Well, the first question is is, can they truly handle 1000 clients and not normally, not normally, and do we have a system set up for those clients? Like, what is that client experience journey going to look like? And do we have a team in place? And do we have this, and do we have that. And nine out of 10 times it's, oh, we have some of this, but we don't have everything. So it's just ensuring that, whatever their ultimate dream is, that there's some form a process to to go and when you hire new team members, or if you've never had a team member, and you're going to bring in a VA or even on OBM like, what is their job do? Can they walk in and read an SOP and know exactly what to do? And nine out of 10 times it's like, yeah, I have it in my head, and I'm just going to train them. A lot of people learn through video. They learn through reading. So I really encourage SOPs to be in both and so that's what I do. I make sure you've got all that lined up. So when you bring on new people that or new clients, that it all is very streamlined and it's very simple for the next person to understand. Sometimes we just can't bring it out of our brain and put it on a piece of paper. We just know what we're supposed to do, right? So you really come into play when people want to scale like when they want to grow bigger. Because, you know, I had a coach once who had a client who was went to Shark Tank, and they could not handle, they could not handle what happened on Shark Tank, and so it literally ruined their business because they weren't prepared. So you truly take the back end and help them scale so that they can grow without all of the bad things that could happen when you grow too fast, basically 100% and a lot of people are like, but I'm not, I don't have a team now, or I'm not growing my team right now. But if you don't have that in play, we're already behind the eight ball, because when you're ready to scale and you're ready to take on. More you can't because there's nothing lined up for it. So now you're spending the precious time that you were in growing your business and still trying to build it. So I help people in the beginning, the middle and at the end as well. So what resistance do you come up against when you want to work on the back end of somebody's business? Like I'm sure there's resistance there. Because there's a reason why people don't just say, Yeah, I'm going to go higher, a fractional COO, right? There's some kind of resistance there. So I'd love to know what typically comes up. The biggest thing is change. Like, business owners get so scared that if I change this or change that, the second thing I would say is time they think, Oh, if I have, if I have to stop to do all this, then it's going to take more time than I have in my day and money. Those are, like the top three objections that I always come and grant against. And you know, there's always a reason why someone's saying no or not right now, and it's typically those three, but we can typically come in and show them how we can take some of the systems you're probably using are not worthy of what you need, and so we can show you how we can divert that money to new processes, or to even pay us right as far as time, the amount of time that they're going to save doing this, and remember, we're doing the work for them with their guidance, so they're not really having to take a lot of time except for phone calls and guiding, right? And change. I mean, if they can't handle change, then probably business is not where they should be. Get out of this industry. Yeah. Yeah. So those are really the big three things, but I think every business or every service industry has that same thing, yeah, yeah. So why do you or what are your favorite types of businesses to work in? Because I'm sure you have some favorites that you love, because they they are probably the ones who need your services the most, and also that you can have the biggest impact on you know, I've really wrestled with that, and I think most businesses wrestle with who is your ideal client. And in one day, I might think my idea clients over here, and it's really over here, but I'm really passionate about service industry businesses, and I think for the right coach or or something like that that's hit a certain level in their business, I think this is perfect for them. That's kind of who I really like working with. But yeah, service businesses are are cool because sometimes they're brick and mortar and online, sometimes they're just brick and mortar that need to be online, and sometimes they're online and they really need to start looking at brick and mortar. So yeah, kind of like that aspect of it, but I like looking at some businesses that are online as well, only that are in different industries. So what led you to become a fractional CEO? Because I know you've you've supported and ran like a lot of businesses, but what kind of drew you into this? What was the path that took you to where you're at now, you know, I've been in the advertising world since 1990 and started out newspapers and radio and television before the internet really existed and before social media existed, and learned all the aspect of how to met, how to advertise a business that's a brick and mortar, right? And then I went into a corporate business and worked on that for a long time, and loved that. And then I went into my own company, and I got to see from that perspective, how a business owner can really struggle, and you almost struggle in silence. And I think when we're talking we're always talking about all the good things that are happening in our businesses, and we forget to talk about the negative stuff and the bad stuff, because we're afraid, we're afraid to look like failures in our business. And so it really drew me into, okay, how can I assist these people? And I looked at being an OBM, and then I looked at fractional COO, and really defined what the two differences were. And I didn't want to just be online, right? And I didn't want to just be in one business. I wanted to be able to help as many business owners that I could within a time limit, right? And so I think that's where I just kind of did my research and realized that being a CEO is what I love to do, because I get to do the bird's eye view. And when I went to Goldman Sachs 10,000 small business program and graduated from that, that really spurred me to be like, Oh my gosh, I have a gift. I have something that God's given me, and I really need to start sharing it with people. And this is what I'm really passionate about. So I. Once I realized that if I got out of my way and start following my passion instead of the money, then things would be a lot better. We could end this interview there. That was like, that was like a mic drop moment, yeah. Well, I just find so many people are going after the dollar sign instead of their passion, and eventually you go into complete burnout. And I've hid that burnout wall and like to the point where I was miserable. Life was horrible, and it it really sucked, horribly sucked. And the only thing that I can say now is it's not that I'm never going to hit burnout again, but I do want to value myself. That passion is, if I'm passionate about it, I'm going to do a good job. If I'm not passionate about it, I'm not going to do a good job for you, and it's absolutely not going to do a good job for me. So trying to and realizing that it's okay to shift and shift again and shift again, until my purpose, my value. Everything aligns with my passion. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So when it comes to, like, the back end, like, what are some of the changes or trends that you're noticing lately, and then how are you adapting to those, along with getting the business owner on board to adapt to those. A lot of the changes that I'm seeing right now are automations. Automations. Automations, as much things as we can automate to flow without a physical human having to touch at all times, saves time and money for the end user, saves time and money for the business owner and for the team. So automations are huge. I'm seeing a lot more people wanting to get organized, and I mean, down to where everything is and lives. I've ran into a lot of businesses that I look at them and I'm like, if your team walks out today, does your business close? Or does it keep going? And if they tell me it closes because they only can value their The only part of their their business is based on their team, then we have a big problem. Yeah. And so if we can divert it to make it to where, if everybody walked out, the system still runs. Now there's going to be things that will fall down, but for the most part, would it still run, and so really making sure that flows. The other thing I've seen a huge shift on is going away from traditional websites and moving straight into funnel, because there's so much more flexibility. You can do more things, you can accomplish more things. You can turn things off and fire things up and reconnect things. It's just a simpler way of doing business now. But automations is probably the biggest thing that I'm seeing. And not just automating the process for the client, but automating for the team and automating for new hires like that's huge right now, making sure they're SOPs. People just don't do a lot of SOPs right now, and I think that that's a real shame for those that don't know. What does SOP stand for, standard operating procedure. So what I tell people is, if you've never written an SOP before go into your email, and from the moment you say, I'm clicking on Google, I'm clicking on the little nine dots, I'm clicking on that, my email opens up. Now I'm going to organize my email, 123, when I get an email like this, this is how I respond with a standard message or whatever. That's the first SOP I tell people to practice on, and they're like, but I'm like, Yeah, but it's automatic for us. But if we have somebody coming in a VA or anyone else to help us with our email, if someone's out sick, then there's an SOP written, and they know how it's organized. They know how to respond. They know what to do. The simplest steps from there, once they get that part of the SOP, then they move on to other things. Yeah, so you're helping people really hire people to go in to do the things that they're doing every single day. But I have a question. So they have shows like this. I don't know if is it called undercover CEO or something like that, but do you think as a CEO of a company, even if that's not your daily task. Do you believe that the CEO should know how to do said thing, or at least know a good amount of how to do said thing, in case they ever had to step back into that role 100% but that's where the SOP comes in. Yeah. So like, I have one team that I work with right now, and every position is writing. Each person is writing their own SOP, it doesn't mean I have to go write the SOP. The owner of a company doesn't have to go write the SOP, the person performing the job. Because what if they're out sick, what if they go on vacation? Somebody has to slide into that position. And there's gotta be some sort of a manual, which is what an SOP, it's a. Manual on how to operate that part of the business, or that job or that function. So it can be so simple as how to clean the bathroom. We like to use this cleaner on this like it's very simple. But if you spend as the owner of the CEO, you spend more time instructing someone how to clean a bathroom than you do making sure that SOP is written doesn't mean they have to do it, but they gotta make sure it's done. Yeah, and basically it's, it's a, it's a backup protection system. If you think about it, you're protecting yourself for people leaving people being sick, people not being in the office, or somebody dropping the ball on something 100% like, I tell a lot of people, you have to protect your assets. Yeah. 100% Yeah. So basically, you are helping people make the back end of their business visible and all the things that are probably invisible when you walk in, whereas I help people make this visible, and their offers and their messaging and they are seen and heard, so their person is seen and heard. So what has visibility done for you? Well, joining you back a very long time ago. It's been several years now, many years. I remember one of our first conversations, and you said, you realize that may is foster care Awareness Month? And I went, yeah, why don't you talk about it? I don't know, and so I decided to come out of the closet, if you would say, about being a foster kid. And I had grown up thinking it was this bad thing, like there was something wrong with me, and it was something, you know, you just don't talk about it. And it probably back in my generation, we didn't. And I remember, after I did this and went live, I went, Oh, I should probably go tell my team now, and we're all sitting in my office. And I said, Okay, guys, just so, you know, this video just dropped, and it's about me being in the foster care system. And my son looked at me, and he goes, wait what? I go, Oh, I forgot my own kid was in this meeting. I went, Yes, and he goes, we need to have a chat about this. I had no idea did he was 19 years old and had no idea that his mom had been a foster kid. So I literally had to start get comfortable with talking about being a foster kid, and what could that look like for other people, and how I could connect with other people on that level? And so you really brought me out of my shell to start talking about being me, my authentic self, instead of putting on my glasses and letting that be my authentic self. Ooh, that's so good. So visibility to you also means authenticity, like being real and raw. Yeah. I mean, people will tell me all the time, what should I do about my videos today? Clients will and I'm like, listen, but the dogs bark in the background. I don't care if the dog is barking. That means you're real. You're a human, and you have a dog. So you're going to connect with pet lovers, no one cares. You know, if you're sitting in a meeting and a hand dryer goes off, it's called human life, like it happens, and being real and raw and authentic, and that's what you've taught me during these all these years, like so your hair doesn't have to be perfect, your makeup doesn't have to be perfect, your clothes don't have to be perfect. The background doesn't have to be perfect. It can just be what it is, because if you've got something to share, then the outer, external stuff doesn't really matter. Yeah, your conviction trumps your fear and all the other things, because it's that important that you it's basically like I created something. I can get you XYZ result, and now I want to shout it from the rooftops. 100% that's so good. That's so good. On that note, at three o'clock today, if you're watching this live or on the replay, we have a free program called become the visible CEO. Because just like Vicky said, there's so many things besides just pressing the go live button that gets to happen when we want to become the visible CEO, we truly take where we feel like we're in this category of all these people that do something similar to us, and we become the leader and a category of one. And so we are going to talk about all of those things. And this is a free program that is going to be a paid program in 2025 I'm doing it live with you for free. And so I would love to invite you. There is a link in the comments. If you don't see it, then I will put one in after our live. But it is such it's going to be such an amazing experience. And the thing that I you know, it's just like the. Conversation that Vicky just had. I said, this would be a great idea. Now she could have taken that, oh yeah, that is a great idea, and then she could have went about her day. But the thing that changed in Vicky is that Vicky decided, I'm going to own this. I'm going to show up and talk about this. She's also done it with some other things, her eyesight, and she's been very vulnerable about vulnerable about those things. And it's just like this program, yes, it's free for you. However, if you watch it as, oh, it's just free. That's what you will get out of it. If you watch it and be like, Oh, my God, this is life changing, I'm going to go implement. I'm going to go do the things Crissy suggested. It will change your life. It will change your business like I can tell you that with full conviction of I already did today's curriculum, and I did the presentation, and I know what I'm going to pour into you, and I know it's going to be life changing. You just get to decide if it's going to be life changing for you, because I know it's going to be life changing for many. With that note, I would love to put it back to Vicky, and if you have any questions about signing up, just reach out to me. But I would love to put it back to Vicky and like, what else would you like to share with my audience before we go? Because I know I asked you several questions about being a CEO, fractional CEO, and I talked we talked about visibility, but what did i What did I not ask? Or, what do you want to reiterate? Well, first, I have a question for you. Okay, so a lot of people tell me, and I actually got this from a client last week, so I'd love to hear your response to it is, I would love to go live, but I'm giving away everything. And then my competition knows what I'm talking about and teaching about, and if I do it, then I should not just be charging for that. And I think that that's a huge thing, why a lot of people freeze and don't go live, don't do things, don't go public, because they're afraid they'll give too much away for free. Tell us, okay, I'm about to give away a program that is going to be paid this week, and I am holding nothing back. And also it depends on what you choose to do with this, right? The other thing that I will say is, am I giving it all away for now, but I will be learning more on Tuesday, on Wednesday, on Thursday, on Friday, on Saturday, on Sunday, on Monday, every single day, 365 days a year, I am learning and growing. Meaning, can I truly give it all away. No that could never, unless I decide to stop learning, unless I decide to stay in my comfort zone, I can never truly give it all away. The other thing that I will say is I am giving you a general, massive value that will work for most businesses, right? Also, if I know Vicky's business, if I know my other clients that have been live with me, I would maybe tell them something different, because I know their business model, I know their back end, I know what their capabilities are, so I'm going to give them a different strategy when I know you, one on one. So can I give it all away? No, I cannot. It's not possible. I don't have enough hours in the day to give it all away. Am I going to not hold back? No, I'm not going to hold back this week. Am I going to gatekeep this week? Absolutely not. Matter of fact, my clients are probably going to be mad at me, because when you see the curriculum just created today, they're going to be like, where has this been? Where has this been? Crissy, because it is. It means that much to me. It is a Brand Builder. It is a visibility path. I believe that visibility and the more that I pour into people, and the more that I help people blow their own mind, they're going to come back for more. Maybe not right now, maybe not tomorrow, maybe it's a year from now. But I believe I never do anything for nothing. There is always a purpose, and there is always, always, always, always, and we're gonna talk about this today, a ripple effect. There is a ripple in everything I do. This interview with Vicky is a ripple. It will do something for her. It will do something for me. I may not know and she may not see that immediately, but there is a ripple to everything that we do. And the thing is, is that we show up wanting instant gratification, and it's like, well, I'm giving it all away. Like, what are you doing? You know, it's like, it's like, for for example, let's say this week I'm like, I'm here. I'm showing up for free. Y'all need to show up. That is me being in my ego, not me being giving, not me having a servant heart. I believe everything I do will eventually come back to me and not also don't expect it. And I think that is the big difference, right? That's the big differentiator. You cannot give it all away unless you choose not to learn anymore. You can't give it all away. Because people most of the time, most people will need to pay to pay attention. So I hope this week that many people take this as it is a paid program that I'm being gifted for free. And I hope that they like really do the work, and they really invest in themselves. And also maybe they don't, and maybe they pay for it in 2025, and then they, finally, they do right it either way, it works for me, however I want to give, and it's like this time of year, instead of doing a 12 days of Christmas or selling something every single which I sell every day anyhow, but instead of selling something, there is a bonus that you can upgrade with this program and keep it forever. There is a bonus mini mind happening in q1 so there are opportunities. And also you can literally take and make out of this free week what you choose to do with it. It's always a choice. It's always a choice. And I think I said this in an inner circle thing today, like you get to decide, like I decided this is going to be the best week ever. Week Ever, and also many times today I will have to recommit to that decision, because ish will hit the fan. Things will happen. Everything will try to block you from getting the maximum value out of any free thing and paid things right. And it's my choice to recommit. It's my decision to make multiple times a day. Am I deciding this is still going to be a good day? Am I deciding this is going to be the best program ever? Am I deciding to show up and pour my heart and soul into you every day I show up this week to to share with you? Yes, I am. And again, that was way more than the question that Vicky asked. But this is my conviction. This is why I don't normally prepare programs too far in advance, because I can't not talk about them because my conviction lights up. But again, this is how you get visible. This is how you pour your heart into someone. This is how you truly give it all away, but you really will never give it all away. I love that that was, that was me on my preachy stool. Sorry. Hey, you know what? I I'm totally okay with that. And this is, this is called the conviction hives when I really feel like I'm really like, in my preachy mode. This is what happens, like, I fire the fire like, comes up and it's like, yeah, well, visible has been an amazing thing for me, and I'm truly grateful to be part of your program for so many years. And I I've told many, many, many, many people, whoever will listen, like I never have the intention of ever leaving visible, ever I love you, I appreciate you. Vicky is the true definition of a raising fan. She is always calling me, saying, Hey, I talked to somebody about visible today, like you need to talk to them, and so I appreciate that more than you know, like you are truly an amazing client, friend and raving fan. So I appreciate your cheering me on always. Oh, thank you so much, and I am so blessed to have been here today. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And I can't wait to see what 2025 is going to bring for all visible people. Okay, one more thing, if people want to work with you, what are ways that they can work with you? Can they only work with you, like one on one? Do you have other opportunities and ways that they can work with you? Yeah. So I'm actually re launching in 2025 I'm working on all the things and all the structures with your help, of course. So one on one is typically how my services are done. I do have some half day and full day VIPs that I'm going to be offering in 2025 where I literally just come in and we just boom, everything out in one day with some follow up support. And then we have where I'm a retainer, I'm in your business on the on the regular basis, you know, once a week, twice a week, whatever that looks like for you and for myself. As far as capacity goes, I do have a free product that I'll be launching at the beginning of the year. It's basically asking yourself 15 questions about business and how you align with it. So I'm excited about that dropping. I am going to be launching a five day call with me on how to build your business. And I'm not sure what all that looks like, but I know it's coming out. It's built, built ish, and then I have my book in 2025, that will be launching as well on how to start and run a business. So I'm really excited about that. It's almost I love it. I love it. Well, we will make sure that we tag Vicky in this so you can connect with her. Is there a preferred way that you want people to connect with you? Is Facebook Messenger? Okay? Or Facebook Messenger is fine. Any of the social media messengers is fine. You can also email me, whatever is the most convenient. Okay? Yeah. All right, anything else you want to say before we go? No, just let's get visible in 2025 where we're crushing it, yes, yes. Become the visible CEO, not a visible CEO, the visible CEO of your industry. That's what we want. That's what we want for everyone. So that again, you are not one of many. You are a category of one. You stand out because of who you are, what you do, what you believe in, and the lives that you change. All right. Thank you so much, Vick. I appreciate you being live with us today, and again, we will drop the links to connect with Vicky, and also the link for joining become the visible CEO if you can't join us, live at three o'clock today, Eastern Time, there will be a replay as well, so make sure you get in so you can watch that limited time replay. Don't miss it. You.