Welcome back to The COO Solution Podcast! In this solo episode, host Derek Fredrickson breaks down one of the most common turning points for growing business owners — recognizing when your company has outgrown you as its operator.
Suppose you’ve been feeling stuck, overextended, or like your business only moves when you’re involved. In that case, this episode will help you identify the five clear signs that it’s time to bring in operational leadership. Derek shares how a Fractional COO bridges the gap between vision and execution, creating structure, accountability, and sustainable growth — so you can finally lead instead of manage.
In This Episode:
- [00:07] The Hidden Leadership Gap — Why growth feels heavy even when business is booming.
- [02:07] Sign #1: You’re the Bottleneck — When everything runs through you, speed and progress stall.
- [04:11] Sign #2: You’re Managing Instead of Leading — Why CEOs should be thinking, not doing.
- [05:16] Sign #3: You Have a Team, But No Accountability — How lack of clarity keeps your team busy, not productive.
- [06:19] Sign #4: You’ve Hit a Ceiling — Why hustle alone won’t get you to the next level.
- [08:10] Sign #5: You’re Losing Trust in Your Business — The emotional cost of constantly checking in.
- [09:38] The Cost of Waiting — What happens when you delay getting the proper operational support.
- [10:55] Real Client Transformation — How one founder went from chaos to clarity in 90 days.
- [11:48] Your Call to Action — How to know if your business is ready for a Fractional COO.
📌 Why This Matters
Freedom doesn’t come from doing more. It comes from letting go. When you wait too long to install operational leadership, growth stalls and burnout sets in. A Fractional COO helps you reclaim time, clarity, and trust in your business, so you can finally lead with focus and confidence.
✅ Action Steps for Listeners:
- Identify which of the five signs describes your business right now.
- Audit your role — are you leading, or managing?
- Book a strategy call at thecoosolution.com to explore whether Fractional COO support is right for you.
Resources & Links:
Transcript:
00:07
Derek Fredrickson
You know that feeling when your business is growing fast, but instead of feeling excited, it feels kind of heavy. You’re juggling team issues, missed deadlines, projects that never seem to get fully done, and you’re constantly thinking, “Why does everything still depend on me?” You’ve tried hiring more people. You’ve tried new tools, better systems, and more meetings, but nothing really fixes it. That’s usually the moment most founders and CEOs start to realize they don’t have an execution problem. They have a leadership gap. And that’s where a fractional COO or chief operating officer comes in. And in today’s episode, I’m going to walk you through the five key signs it’s time to bring in real operational leadership. And what happens when you don’t? Because the truth is, waiting too long to get the right support doesn’t just cost you time.
01:03
Derek Fredrickson
It costs you growth, energy, and sometimes even your confidence as a leader.
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the COO Solution podcast. I’m your host, Derek Fredrickson. And if you’ve been listening to this show for a while, you know that this show is all about helping founders and CEOs build businesses that don’t rely on them for everything. Because freedom, scale, and sustainability all come from structure. And that structure starts with operational leadership. But here’s the challenge I see again and again, way too often, most founders wait too long to bring in help at that level. They’re convinced they just need one more hire, another person in a seat, or a better project management tool, or another training for the team. But here’s the truth. None of that really works without a true operator running the show.
02:07
Derek Fredrickson
So today, I’m breaking down the five clear signs that it’s time to hire a fractional COO. And how to know whether you’re there yet. Because here is the thing. If you’re still doing the job your COO should be doing, you’re holding your business back. Not because you’re not capable, but because your business has outgrown your current role as CEO. And that’s the hardest part of growth. You get to a point where what got you here won’t get you there. So let’s talk about how to know when you’ve hit that point. Sign number one, you’re the bottleneck. Let’s start with the most obvious, but also the most ignored sign. If everything runs through you, you are the bottleneck. Decisions, approvals, problem solving, client issues, you name it.
03:11
Derek Fredrickson
If your team can’t move forward without you, that’s not leadership, that’s dependency. And you might be telling yourself, “I’m just being a really good leader, Derek. That’s what I’m supposed to be. I want to stay involved.” But in reality, you’re stuck in the business instead of leading it. And the hidden cost is speed. Speed of execution, speed of results. Everything slows down. Projects stall, opportunities get missed. Your big ideas remain just that, ideas, not action, not results. And your team starts to play it safe because they’re used to waiting for your green light on every action. A fractional COO removes that bottleneck. They become the filter between you and the day to day. They make decisions, keep projects moving and free you to focus on growth. Number two is you’re managing instead of leading.
04:11
Derek Fredrickson
If you find yourself spending your days and maybe nights and weekends managing people, not leading the company, you’ve crossed the line. You’re reviewing deliverables, sitting in every meeting, checking Slack and following up on to-do’s. You’re constantly thinking about execution when you should be thinking about strategy. And here’s the truth. That’s not what a CEO is supposed to do. Your job is to think, not just do. I often say more thinking, less doing, so that you can set the vision to create relationships, to drive the next stage of growth. But you can’t do that if you’re buried in the day-to-day. A great fractional COO steps in and runs the operation for you. The people, the projects, the systems. So you can finally get back to leading. Let’s talk about sign number three. You have a team, but no accountability.
05:16
Derek Fredrickson
This one is huge. You built a team, you’re got people in place, but the results are inconsistent. Some are great, some are okay, some are questionable. And everyone’s busy, but not necessarily productive. And you can’t tell, at a glance, if things are actually on track. You have meetings, but they feel more like updates than real progress. And this is what happens when there’s no clear accountability. No metrics, no ownership, no follow-through. A fractional COO brings that discipline. They create your accountability chart, who owns what. They set up scorecards and dashboards so you can see KPIs and performance every single week. And they run effective level-10 meetings that actually solve problems rather than just recycling the same ones over and over. Accountability isn’t about control, it’s about clarity. And clarity builds momentum.
06:19
Derek Fredrickson
Okay, sign Number four, you’ve hit a ceiling, and you can feel it. This is the one I hear most often. You’ve grown to seven or eight figures in your business, and you’re proud of that, and you should be. You’ve built something amazing, but lately things feel stuck. You’re working harder, but not seeing the same growth. Right? You’ve heard the expression working harder but not smarter, and you’re stretched thin. The business is more complex, things are more confusing. And no matter what you try, more marketing, more offers, more people, it’s not actually breaking through. That’s the classic sign, in my experience, that your capacity as a founder has maxed out. You’ve taken the business as far as you can, all on vision and hustle alone.
07:08
Derek Fredrickson
And the next level requires structure, systems, leadership, operational collaboration, and communication at a completely different level. And that’s precisely what a fractional COO brings. They create the infrastructure your growth can actually stand on. Okay, number five, last one. You’re losing trust in your business. This one can feel a little harsh because it’s more emotional, but it’s often the most painful. When you start to feel like your business isn’t reliable anymore, when you can’t step away without worrying something will go wrong, waiting for the other shoe to drop. That’s a sign the foundation isn’t strong enough. You might notice that you’re checking in constantly with your team, or you can’t relax on vacation, or you wake up thinking about what’s falling through the cracks in the middle of the night. That’s not freedom. That’s anxiety disguised as leadership.
08:10
Derek Fredrickson
When you don’t trust your business to run without you, it drains everything. Your energy, your confidence and your joy. And you can’t scale from that place. It’s not possible. But a fractional COO restores that trust. They build the systems, the visibility, and the team alignment that gives you confidence that things are being handled even when you’re not there.
Now let’s talk about what happens when you don’t get the right support at the right time. Okay, let’s flip this in the opposite direction, because I’ve seen it over and over, and I have to say, to be honest, it’s not pretty. When founders wait too long, this is what happens. Team turnover goes up, margins go down, stress levels skyrocket, and growth stalls. You start resenting the very business that you built.
09:16
Derek Fredrickson
I’ve had clients tell me, “Derek, I don’t even want to look at my inbox anymore? It’s too overwhelming.” And that’s, it’s kind of heartbreaking because that’s not why you started this. This was not your vision. And the longer you wait, the more expensive it becomes, not just financially, but emotionally. And a fractional COO doesn’t just fix systems, they give your life back. I want to give you an example of this. You can see how this works in action.
10:05
Derek Fredrickson
A founder came to us recently here at the COO Solution. I won’t mention her by name, but her story is pretty profound and I think very relatable to our audience. She ran a multi seven-figure kind of service based business. Great clients, great brand, great reputation. But behind the scenes it was chaos. There was no clear ownership, the team was overworked. Processes that lived in people’s heads all day long. And she was the bottleneck. And she knew it. She knew she was the bottleneck and she was desperate, not certain how things could change for the better. Her vision felt more and more unachievable. So we had a conversation and I listened and I empathize with her situation and told her this is all natural, it’s all part of the journey.
10:55
Derek Fredrickson
And now you’ve reached this glass ceiling of complexity where the only solution is to actually get out of your own way. a little bit of tough love. And so we paired her with one of our fractional COOs here at the COO Solution. And within 60 days, they restructured her operations, clarified roles and responsibilities with her team, and rolled out a weekly leadership meeting cadence that kept everyone aligned and on task. Within 90 days, she wasn’t running the business anymore. She was really leading it. She told me later, “Derek, I finally feel like I have my company back.” And this is what we do at the COO Solution. We give you back control of your company. That’s what happens when you get the right support at the right time.
11:48
Derek Fredrickson
So do any of these signs sound familiar to you? Are you the bottleneck? Are you managing instead of leading? Do you have a team but no real sense of accountability? Have you hit this glass ceiling of complexity? Or are you just starting to lose trust and faith and confidence in your business? If even one of those hit home, it’s time to talk. At the COO Solution, we help founders and CEOs just like you install the structure, the systems and leadership that make a business run without them. You don’t have to figure this out alone. Head to the coosolution.com and book a call. Let’s have a conversation. We’ll talk about where you are, what’s keeping you there, and where you want to go, and how a fractional COO could change everything. Thanks for listening to our episode today. I hope you enjoyed it.
12:43
Derek Fredrickson
Listen, if this episode spoke to you, please share it with another business owner who’s maybe feeling a little bit of the weight of running the business on their shoulders. Because here’s the truth. You don’t have to keep carrying it all on your shoulders all alone. You built your business to create freedom. A fractional COO helps you finally experience it. I’m Derek Fredrickson, and this is the COO Solution. I’ll see you next time.