Welcome to The COO Solution Podcast, the go-to resource for business owners, CEOs, and visionary entrepreneurs looking to scale smarter, lead better, and build businesses that run without bottlenecks. I’m your host, Derek Fredrickson, and I’m here to bring you real strategies, real tactics, and actionable insights to help you streamline your operations and drive sustainable growth.
In This Episode:
- Why I Started This Podcast (00:17) – The mission behind The COO Solution Podcast and how it will help you break free from the day-to-day operations.
- Scaling Smarter, Not Harder (02:40) – How business owners can shift from doing it all to focusing on what truly moves the needle.
- The Role of a Fractional COO (05:06) – Why a second-in-command is the missing piece for many entrepreneurs stuck in the weeds.
- Leadership & Team Alignment (07:18) – The key to stepping into your CEO role and empowering your team to take ownership.
- Real-World Insights (09:36) – Lessons from my journey from Wall Street to helping scaling businesses operate with clarity and confidence.
Why This Matters
Most business owners don’t need more ideas—they need more execution. Scaling isn’t about working harder—it’s about doing less, better. This podcast is here to help you reclaim your time, delegate smarter, and build a thriving business without you constantly being in the trenches.
Action Steps for Listeners:
- Take 5 minutes today to review your calendar. Identify one task someone else could handle—and commit to delegating it this week.
- Take the free quiz at TheCOOSolution.com to see if your business would benefit from a Fractional COO or Online Business Manager.
- Please send me a direct message or email at [email protected] and let me know if scaling your business is your biggest challenge!
Resources & Links:
- Discover if Now is the Time for a Fractional COO: Take this quick assessment to see if your business is ready for this game-changing operational support. 👉 – Take the Free Assessment Here
- Learn More About The COO Solution: Visit The COO Solution to explore our services, discover new insights, and learn actionable strategies for scaling your business smarter.
New episodes drop soon—subscribe to The COO Solution Podcast so you don’t miss an episode!
Let’s connect:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-coo-solution%E2%84%A2/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecoosolution
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecoosolution
👉 If you found this episode valuable, share it with a fellow business owner ready to scale smarter!
Transcript:
Do you ever feel like your business is running you instead of the other way around? Like no matter how hard you work, things still fall through the cracks. Your team isn’t quite aligned and scaling feels like pushing a boulder uphill. Listen, I’ve been there and today I want to introduce you to a solution. That’s right, the COO Solution Podcast. Welcome to the very first episode. Ta-da! I’m Derek Fredrickson.
And I’m so excited to have you here. Listen, if you’re a business owner looking to scale with clarity, confidence, and the right support, this podcast is for you. Now, in this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on my journey from Wall Street to becoming a trusted fractional COO for scaling entrepreneurs. I’ll share why I started this podcast, who it’s for, and what you can expect from our time together in each and every episode.
Plus, I’ve got a quick actionable takeaway that you can use today to start shifting your business in the right direction. So let’s go ahead and get into it.
So you might be asking, Derek, so why this podcast? Why now? Well, I wanted to create a space where business owners like you, whether at six figures trying to break through that next big level or at multiple seven figures struggling to step out of the weeds could get real tactical and strategic advice. Not a lot of fluff, no theory, just practical strategies and insights that actually work in running your business on a day-to-day basis.
Now, each and every episode, I’ll bring lessons from my own work with clients, stories of business transformations and frameworks you can apply immediately. We’ll also share stories with featured guests and real world examples with my team working with our clients as part of the COO solution. This is about making sure you don’t just listen, you implement.
Because here’s the thing, most business owners don’t need more ideas. They need more execution. And that’s where we come in, right? I often say visionary entrepreneurs, their job is to make it up. Fractional COOs are to be there to make it real and with the right process and with the right people. That’s the solution to make it recur.
So too many entrepreneurs, try to do it all. They hustle, they grind, but at some point they hit the ceiling, right? In the beginning, you might’ve gotten started in your business doing it all. You were doing the marketing, you were doing the sales, you were doing the delivery, you were trying to do some of the finance. You were building your website, doing your bookkeeping, right? But at a certain level, you actually need to do less, better. You need to be thinking more on the vision, on the big idea, on the future, right?
And that’s when they realize they need a second in command, right? A trusted COO or a chief operating officer who can run operations on a daily basis, lead your team, execute on strategies while you focus on the vision. So this podcast is here to help you get out of the weeds.
And build a business that runs without you. Because true success isn’t just about growth, it’s about sustainable, scalable growth and giving you your business back, taking control of your business that you truly love.
So let’s talk about you for a moment. Who is this podcast actually for? Now listen, if you’re a business owner, an entrepreneur, scaling past six or multiple seven figures, but you feel stuck.
This is for you, if your team isn’t as aligned or accountable as you’d like, this is for you. If you feel like your business is running you instead of the other way around, this is for you.
My goal is for every episode to leave you with at least one actionable insight that helps you.
Build a business that works for you, not the other way around.
Okay, now let’s get real. If you wanted a job that consumes your life, you wouldn’t have started your own business in the first place. That’s why you got started. You took that risk, you had that idea, you have that passion, that mission to make an impact, and you use your business as a vehicle for that to become a reality. But in some cases, that business has become.
A job, it’s running you, I often say it’s like the tail wagging the dog, and so we want to provide you with the insights, the strategies, the idea to take that back and get control in your business so you feel aligned with your passion, you feel empowered with your mission that you provide to your clients and customers.
So whether you’re leading a small but growing team, with just a few individuals or you’re running a multi seven figure empire with dozens of team members and you need to step into your CEO role truly as the visionary, as the entrepreneur, this podcast will give you the tools to make it happen.
Okay, so now if you know me, you know I like to get real. I like to give actionable.
Tactical strategies. I’m all about taking action and making things happen. I’m not going to let this episode slide without giving you one actionable takeaway that can make this real. I want you to walk away from today’s episode with something you can implement today. So here’s your challenge I would like to take you to take five minutes today and look at your calendar. Open up your calendar whether it’s Google Calendar Outlook calendar.
Maybe you have a physical calendar on your desk, like a daily planner, that’s fine. And identify one thing you’re doing that someone on your team could and should handle. So this might be, I need to get back to my bookkeeper about a financial report, I need to, you know, review my social media, I need to check my email.
As a visionary entrepreneur, as a CEO and founder.
Part of what we do in our work with clients is getting them their time back. And one of the first things that we look at are what are the activities or the areas of focus that you could and honestly should delegate, automate, outsource, systematize to a person or have a process in place so that you get your time back. Because your time when you get it back can be invested into the business.
as opposed to invested into those activities that might be draining your energy, like the bookkeeping, the social media, etc. So what is one activity? It doesn’t have to be a big, big thing, just something to give you some awareness about this idea and about this concept and then to commit, commit to delegating it this week. What are the things that you need to put into place? Do you need to show how to do that to a team member? Do you need to.
write an email and maybe do a loom video to walk them through what to do and how to do it. So it’s one less thing on your to-do list, right? It might sound a bit, minor, but the small things often get in way of the big things and we need you as the entrepreneur to focus on that vision, to focus on that big picture goal and strategy. So we got to get the little things out of the way. Don’t let the little things get in the way of the big things.
Because here’s the thing.
Like I’ve said, it’s about doing less, better. Less doing, more thinking. And that starts with knowing where you’re the bottleneck. Where is your time going and what’s getting in the way? Ask yourself, where am I the only person who can do this and where am I doing things just because I always have? Those are the areas you need to shift. Just because you’ve always been doing something a certain way.
Doesn’t mean it needs to continue in that way. More of the same is more of the same. So let’s make a mindset shift to start to find these activities, these tasks, these, time blocks that are taking your time, energy, and effort away from the bigger picture, from the vision and the strategy.
Before we wrap up, a couple of quick things. Number one, subscribe and share. If this episode resonated with you, hit subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes. It would mean a lot and I would appreciate that.
And if you know another business owner who needs this, share it with them. Also, you can take a free quiz at thecOOsolution.com. There is a free quiz if you’re curious, if a fractional COO or OBM, otherwise known as an online business manager, could be the solution for your business, take my free quiz. It’s at thecOOsolution.com and you get a personalized report.
On what your business needs to scale. It focuses on marketing, sales, operations, finance, technology, team, all of the things that are in a business that we need to look at in order to understand, do you need this type of support so that you can get out of the day to day, utilize your team effectively and efficiently and focus on the big picture and the strategy. And third, let’s connect. I’d love to hear from you. What’s your biggest challenge in scaling your business?
Send me a DM on social or email me at Derek at the coosolution.com. Connect with me on LinkedIn. So that’s a wrap on episode number one. I can’t wait to take this journey with you. Looking forward to seeing you next time on the COO solution podcast.
