How to Scale Yourself Before Your Business with Leadership Expert Elizabeth Hartke
How to Scale Yourself Before Your Business: Why Most Entrepreneurs Are Doing It Backwards
Ever feel like you're working harder than ever but somehow moving backwards? You're not broken. You're just doing it in the wrong order.
Here's what nobody tells you about entrepreneurship: You'll become the biggest bottleneck in your own business.
Most entrepreneurs spend their days putting out fires, answering emails, and jumping between tasks. They call themselves CEOs, but when leadership expert Elizabeth Hartke audits their calendars, she finds something shocking. Over 95% of their time goes to work that has absolutely nothing to do with being a CEO.
Sound familiar? Yeah, we've all been there.
The Real Problem (It's Not What You Think)
Liz grew up watching her entrepreneurial family build successful businesses. They had flexibility, sure, but something was missing. “I noticed it was flexibility, not freedom,” she says.
That distinction changed everything. Most entrepreneurs get stuck in what Liz calls “maintenance mode.” They do the same level of work for decades until they retire. But what if there was another way?
After years of helping clients scale their businesses, Liz discovered something game-changing: Every entrepreneur hits the same wall. Themselves.
“We become our own bottleneck, and we can't outscale ourselves.”
The Secret That Changes Everything
Ready for this? True success isn't about scaling your business first. It's about scaling yourself.
Liz has developed a framework that shifts entrepreneurs from being the engine of their business (where everything depends on them) to becoming visionary CEOs who actually lead.
The difference? Visionary CEOs spend their time in what Liz calls their “sweet spot.” It's where their natural gifts, what lights them up, and what their business needs all collide.
The Question That Stops Everyone in Their Tracks
Here's where things get real. Liz asks her clients one question that usually makes them squirm:
“What level of disruption am I willing to go to access that calling?”
Because here's the thing. We all love to dream about our next level. But are we actually willing to do what it takes to get there?
“Don't ask and wish into existence the things you want most if you're not willing to go through the personal growth required to achieve them.”
Ouch. But also, truth.
Why This Matters for Creative Entrepreneurs
Look, building something meaningful is never going to be a straight line. You'll face the same problems over and over again. Just at different levels.
The goal isn't to avoid the struggle. It's to expand your capacity to handle it without burning out.
As Liz puts it: “The reward is in the pursuit. It's about who we're becoming, more than what we're doing.”
Your Next Move
Feeling that pull toward something bigger? That calling you keep pushing to the back burner?
Liz's advice: “Have faith that if it was placed on your heart and it has that lightness to it, ground will be placed under your feet with each step.”
You don't need to see the whole path. You just need to take the next step.
Ready to dive deeper? Listen to the full episode to hear Liz's 7-block visionary CEO schedule, her Visionary Matrix framework, and exactly how to start scaling yourself before your business.
Connect with Elizabeth Hartke on Instagram @elizhartke and grab her free clarity prompts by DMing “clarity.”
xo, Tracy
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