Ariana McWeeney: The Power Is in the Process
I’ve had a huge variety of clients join my CEO Hour and CEO Power Planning sessions. Ariana McWeeney of Ariana Lee Creative is an up-and-coming Gen Z artist with a thriving business. When we met, she was volleying between super productive days and days where she struggled to get anything done. Like most creatives, she needed structure to move her business forward. The power is in the process.
“Before working with Kathleen, I was all over the place, inconsistent with productivity, and frustrated by not achieving enough.” - Ariana M.
In our initial discussions, she shared that one of her frustrations was that she wanted to increase profit but didn’t know how to reverse engineer long-term goals. Somewhere along the way, she would lose sight of what she should really be doing to make more money. Let’s look at how she’s done over the last year and a half.
The CEO Hour Experience
Ariana was excited to continue after her first CEO Hour. She had been working more in the moment and often realized too late that certain things needed to get done.
“Kathleen is great when it comes to making you feel very comfortable. She's there with you and genuinely invested in your success.” - Ariana M.
As a chronic list maker with a passion for getting organized, she’s motivated by clear and specific goals. It took her a few sessions to absorb what it entailed, but she learned quickly how to customize the CEO Hour process for her business.
Benefits of Adding CEO Power Planning Sessions
Shortly after Ariana joined CEO Hour, she came to her first CEO Power Planning session. Previously, Ariana found long-term goals to be daunting, but taking on quarterly goals has motivated her to take more consistent action.
“I like how Kathleen gives us different categories for the goals we choose. It helps me narrow it down and prioritize. And I love using a mindmap activity to get clear on my goals and how I’ll achieve them.” - Ariana M.
She’s learned how to take her specific goals from the CEO Power Planning session and break them down to realistic tasks. Then she can schedule them during the weekly CEO Hour sessions. Having a 90-day window is way easier for her to manage.
Like many other business owners who have done CEO Power Planning with me, taking time to reflect on the previous quarter helps Ariana see how much work she can actually get done in 90 days. This helps set a realistic strategy for the next quarter.
Ariana’s Results from Consistent Weekly and Quarterly Planning
Streamlined customer experience. Ariana started using Honeybook to onboard and offboard clients, create and send invoices and contracts, build task lists, and track progress and deadlines. This is a huge time saver.
Increased income. Her revenue more than doubled in her first full year of both CEO Hour and CEO Power Planning.
Connection. Having a community of other female business owners provides a support system for questions when she gets stuck.
Realistic expectations. When Ariana didn’t have specific goals before, she would just keep doing what she was doing without direction. Now, each quarter, she can see her progress and where she needs to catch up. By checking in weekly, she’s more aware of what she’s getting done, or not.
“Kathleen is the ideal person to work with. She makes clients feel valued and not judged, acknowledging that getting organized, while seemingly simple, can be challenging. I always feel comfortable asking her for help, and I never feel judged.” - Ariana M.
For creative entrepreneurs like Ariana, having a framework and process can make a huge difference between struggling to maintain and achieving your goals to grow your business. I help all types of creative business owners move their businesses forward. Let’s chat about yours.