Which One is the Right One?

Wedding dresses, new cars, and business titles - it’s so hard to pick, am I right?

Business owners can be entrepreneurs, founders, creative directors, CEOs, CFOs, COOs - or the whole dang C Suite. I have seen clients struggle with this, and flip flop between two or three different titles. So how do you figure out which one is the right one for you?

A great starting place is how a title feels and how you show up in that title. Like a sweater, when it’s right, you know it. When it’s not, you spend the day worrying about how you look in it.

As a guest on Stacy Heller’s podcast, Stacy Connects, Stacy said, “I don’t know how to describe Kathleen…. She’s a coach, she’s a strategist, she’s my business therapist.”

I call myself a business strategist. My over-arching focus is creating the strategy that gets my clients closer to their goals. I also consult on the best processes and systems. As an expert, I am well versed in this and can make solid recommendations. I coach clients through getting clear on their top goals. I can’t decide for them, but I can ask questions, play devil’s advocate, and give feedback to help them find the answers.

But in the end, the priority is building a realistic strategy and using it to successfully reach your goals. The business therapy is a bonus.

There are endless amounts of perspectives and articles about different titles, and the difference between coaches, consultants, and strategists. Just like the creation of nicknames, your peers and clients will call you different things, regardless of your chosen title, like Stacy did with me, based mostly on how they see you or how you helped them.

I know I confidently show up with my best game face as a strategist. Other titles don’t feel as powerful.

In the end, the ball is in your court.

How clients look for you

Once you pick a title, you have to back it up with consistent content about what you do. The more you talk about how you serve, the more people will connect your work to your title. You also have to consider what title people use when they refer you as well.

The Ownership Dilemma

Once you get past the coach/ consultant/ strategist debacle, you are faced with ownership. Are you a founder? President? Entrepreneur? Or my favorite, a CEO? This again is intuitive. Does one make you feel like the ruler of your kingdom, but another makes you feel like you’ve chosen shoes too big to fill?

The CEO Ownership Dilemma

Many of my clients have come from corporate, some from the elite C-Suite. They have a hard time calling themselves a CEO/ CFO/ COO. But if you’re working for yourself, you are responsible for all the same hats - executive decisions, financials, operations, and more. Whether you work solo or manage a team or a department, the same things have to get done, just on different scales.

The Autonomy Struggle

Most business owners go through a creative title period. Rather than use a common title like so many others in their field, they can go to the other extreme. This results in really cool sounding titles that no one understands at all and are so overwhelmed they don’t even ask what it means. Instead, they assume it’s not for them.

I’ve had countless discussions with clients about the title and ownership concepts. Both new business owners or those making changes to grow or scale have this same challenge of choosing a title and ownership that feels right.

What title are you most comfortable with? Did you try any others?

You don’t have to make this multi-layered decision on your own. Schedule a call with me and we can chat about what title suits you best.