I was blissfully naive (and perhaps a tad arrogant) when I started my Fractional CFO firm, KFE Solutions (recently rebranded as Civil CFO!).

It's embarrassing to think of how many things went wrong in the early days. Despite the blunders, I somehow managed to keep things afloat, and we actually had our 9th birthday a couple of weeks ago.

I was sharing some of the lessons learned along the way with a buddy over Zoom. He encouraged me to write a letter to my Day 1 self to help me reflect on those lessons so I don't repeat them.

I wrote the letter and... oof.

In retrospect, my services were average at best, my sales skills were abysmal, I had no niche, and my CFO calls were a lesson in "How NOT to Handle CFO Calls 101".

So, to help you figure out if you're falling into the same traps, I've written a brutally honest letter to my past self and decided to share it with you.

(Tough love warning alert)

Hey Mike,

You're going to keep failing at growing your Fractional CFO firm unless you stop doing all the things I'm about to show you.

1. Avoid the distractions

When you start your firm, you have 2 and only 2 responsibilities:

1. Find clients.
2. Serve your clients with excellence.

There will be a great temptation to do other things outside those responsibilities.

Right now, you're fiddling with your website, creating shinier dashboards, scrolling LinkedIn for "inspiration," and making your models more accurate.

Knock it off.

Look for clients.

Look for them consistently.

Serve all of them with excellence.

2. Learn how to sell

You think you know how to sell.

You don't.

You actually kinda suck at it.

You already know this in the back of your head; you don't want to admit it.

The good news is that sales is a skill that you will learn.

You get to choose if you'll learn that skill now or wait 6 more years to figure it out.

Don't want to wait 6 more years.

3. Stop working with that client (you know which one)

Right now, you're fed up with a client.

I know you know which one I'm talking about.

It's the one that calls you on the weekends.

It's the one that always grips about the invoice.

It's the one that pays the invoice late every time.

It's the one that's late, rude, disrespectful and blah.

You think you need the revenue. 

You don't.

The reality is that she's taking up the space needed for better clients to come into your world.

Fire her today.

4. Find A-players, trust them, delegate

You're hanging on too tight to too many things.

You have yourself convinced that you can do it better than anyone else. Yeah, you're doing some of it fairly well. 

But the truth is, you are average (if not below average!) at a lot of the things you're holding on to.

Half of the problem is that you're scared. The other half of the problem is your ego.

If you hire well, document your key processes, and then lead well, you'll be amazed at the results. 

5. Listen to your clients

This one is going to hurt.

Those CFO calls that you're so proud of?

They suck.

Where to begin?

You're talking about the things YOU want to talk about.

You're reporting - no one wants reports.

You're not focusing on their priorities.

You aren't LISTENING to them.

You're drowning them with data.

Help hold them accountable.

Lead them.

Seriously, get it together.

6. Just do it

That beard you've been thinking about growing?

Yeah, don't wait on that one.

Go ahead and get started.