Summary: Entrepreneurs often are used to doing a lot of things themselves but as their organization grows, they need help by potentially hiring a second in command. Cameron Herold, best-selling author and Founder of the COO Alliance, which is The World’s Leading Network for 2nd in Commands, talks about how and why to bring on a second in command on The Entrepreneur MBA Podcast with host Stephen Halasnik of Financing Solutions.
The Entrepreneur MBA podcast’s purpose is to help EXISTING business owners grow their companies past the $10 million in revenue per year benchmark.
Summary of Podcast
I first meet Cameron at the MIT/EO Birthing of Giants Program in 2007 which is a 3-year, 1-week extensive program made for 50 of the fastest-growing companies in the United States.
EO stands for The Entrepreneur Organization and if you own your own business, you should definitely look into joining it. It helps support you not only in your business but also in your personal life.
A business doesn’t grow like a hockey stick, it grows like a squirrel runs, up, down, and sideways.
A lot of entrepreneurs have learning handicaps, but those disabilities have actually helped them.
Business owners should make a list of things they like to do and things they don’t like to do, to determine what a second in command would be doing.
A second in command should help the business owner build the business. The business owner should be the visionary.
Michael Gerber said business owners should be working on their business instead of in their business.
Most companies have a couple of A players and then the rest are B and C players. You should begin to weed out the C players and coach the rest.
If you have a strong vision, B players will figure out how to accomplish that vision.
If your business is too small for a second in command, consider making team captains your management team until your company is big enough to have a dedicated second in command.
Make sure once you hire a second in command to pay attention to your organization after they are hired. A second in command can have good and bad ripple effects in your organization. As a leader, you need to help smooth those ripples out so he/she can be successful.
Vern Harnish and Cameron believe that you should try to hire from within if your organization is selling very technical expertise because there are unique nuances that an outsider might have a hard time grasping.
It might be a good idea to go over your idea about bringing in a second in command with your team. They might have great suggestions and you will get better buy-in when you do hire someone. Plus your team might know someone internally that they believe could do the job.
Cameron was brought into 1-800-Got-Junk as COO but later, when it was determined that they needed a second in command, the team thought Cameron would be a great fit.
Flip your org chart. Our job as CEO is to set the vision and share it with the team. Get the team’s ideas about how to achieve the vision.
Always be asking your team for their ideas about how to make the company great.
Second in command podcast. Everyone interviews the CEO but if you interview the second in command, you get a different story. There are 76 episodes as of October 19, 2019.
Cameron’s vision is to help COOs be successful at helping their CEOs be successful.
The number one thing for a CEO to do is to get things off your plate that you don’t like to do so you can then do things that you do like to do.
Once you hire a second in command, make sure you are constantly improving your relationship. It’s just like a marriage.
Both the CEO and COO should be listening to the second-in-command podcast.
About the Guest, Cameron Herold
Cameron Herold is a top business consultant, best-selling author, and speaker. He’s the mastermind behind hundreds of companies’ exponential growth and he’s touched thousands of businesses indirectly through his work.
At age 21, he had 14 employees. By 35, he’d helped build his first two 100 Million Dollar companies. By the age of 42, Cameron had engineered 1-800-GOT-JUNK’s spectacular growth from $ 2 million to $106 Million in revenue in just six years.
Cameron is now one of the most sought-after speakers and coaches for second in commands and is well known for his COO Alliance and 2nd in Command Podcast.
About The Host Stephen Halasnik, Financing Solutions
Stephen Halasnik is the host of the popular, Entrepreneur MBA Podcast. The Entrepreneur MBA podcast’s purpose is to help small businesses get over the $10 million per year in revenue mark. Mr. Halasnik is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Financing Solutions. Financing Solutions is a leading provider of Lines of Credit to small businesses and nonprofits
Mr. Halasnik is a graduate of Rutgers University and has an Executive Masters from the MIT Birthing of Giants Entrepreneurship program. Mr. Halasnik has started and built 6 companies over 25+ years with 2 of those businesses making the Inc 500/5000 fastest-growing list. Mr. Halasnik is a best-selling Amazon author on business and regularly tweets about his ideas about growing a business. You can also find Mr. Halasnik on youtube talking about Entrepreneurship.
Mr. Halasnik loves small businesses. He lives in New Jersey with his best friend, and his wife Gina. Mr. Halasnik’s number one purpose is raising his two boys, Michael and Maxwell, to be good men.
About Financing Solutions
Financing Solutions provides an easy-to-setup unsecured business line of credit to small businesses. The small business financing product is a great cash backup plan that costs nothing to set up, nothing until used, and is inexpensive when needed. Financing Solutions is rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and 5 stars by the BBB/Google Reviews.
Unlike a traditional business bank loan, our business credit line requires no collateral or personal guarantee (except in cases of fraud) making it an excellent alternative business financing option. Small businesses often used their line of credit for short-term expenses, working capital, to make payroll, or for a business investment especially when business cash flow is temporarily down.
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Note: Financing Solutions donates 10% of its profits to various nonprofit charities
