Welcome to another episode of The COO Solution Podcast! In this solo episode, host Derek Fredrickson dives into the four critical areas that separate stagnant businesses from scalable ones. If you’re a founder or CEO feeling stuck at the seven-figure mark—or you’re simply exhausted by the day-to-day—this is the clarity you’ve been waiting for.
Derek breaks down the leadership mindset, systems strategy, and operational frameworks that must evolve if your business is going to hit its next level of growth. You’ll also hear actionable advice on transitioning from operator to visionary, why micromanaging is the enemy of scale, and how building a culture of accountability unlocks freedom and results.
In This Episode:
[01:05] Why Businesses Plateau: The hidden growth roadblocks that stall companies at six and seven figures.
[03:22] Systems Built for Scale: Why outdated processes break and how to upgrade them.
[04:49] The Delegation Dilemma: Why founders must stop doing it all and start building a second-in-command.
[05:34] Visionary + COO = Alignment: The strategic power of leadership partnerships.
[07:58] Simplicity Scales: You can’t scale complexity—learn what operational simplicity really looks like.
[08:49] Accountability That Moves the Needle: KPIs, dashboards, and the culture shift that drives results.
[10:27] Creating Self-Managing Teams: Why micromanaging kills growth—and how to stop doing it.
[11:12] From Operator to Visionary: What this transition really takes and how a fractional COO makes it easier.
[15:16] Your Action Step: Identify one outdated process and delegate one energy-draining task this week.
📌 Why This Matters
Hustle and effort will only take you so far. To scale beyond your current ceiling, you need a structured approach, effective delegation, and efficient systems that operate smoothly without your direct involvement. This episode lays out the blueprint for growing your business without increasing your overwhelm.
✅ Action Steps for Listeners:
- Identify one inefficient process and upgrade it for scale.
- Delegate a low-energy task to free up your time and focus.
- Consider the role of a fractional COO or OBM in your next phase of growth.
Resources & Links:
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👉 If you found this episode valuable, share it with a fellow business owner ready to scale smarter!
Transcript:
00:02
Derek Fredrickson
This is episode 11 of the COO Solution podcast. Unlocking the next phase of growth. How to structure your business for the next level. Have you ever felt like your business has hit a wall? No matter how hard you work, you’ve reached a certain stage of success, but you’re still. But you’re still stuck trying to. Trying to scale, and it feels like something’s holding you back.
Welcome back to the COO Solution podcast. I’m Derek Frederickson and today we’re diving into how to get your business past those growth roadblocks. If you’re feeling stuck at the seven figure mark, this episode will help you break through to the next level.
In this episode, we’ll explore why businesses hit growth plateaus and how to move past them. We’ll also discuss the role of leadership and systems and accountability and structuring your business from sustainable growth.
00:56
Derek Fredrickson
And lastly, we’ll cover some actionable, tangible strategies to unlock the next phase of growth. Let’s jump in and get you on the path to breaking through those growth barriers. If you’re growing your business but feel like you’ve hit a ceiling, it’s not your efforts that are the problem. It’s how your business is structured. Here’s the thing. Scaling your business beyond a certain point requires more than just hustle. It requires more systems and leadership and accountability. It requires a different you as the business owner. It doesn’t require more hard work or what may feel like pushing the boulder up the hill.. The strategies that helped you reach your initial goals won’t work forever. And at some point, you need to rethink how your business operates to keep moving forward. And this is why this episode is so important.
01:48
Derek Fredrickson
Today we’re going to talk about why businesses stall at certain stages. We’ve all been there. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s part of the evolution of growing and scaling a business. But more importantly, how to ensure you’re structuring your business in a way that allows for sustainable growth and long term scalability. The right leadership and operational systems are key to unlocking that next phase of growth. So let’s talk about the common growth roadblocks founders face. Okay, I’m gonna talk a couple different points here in this episode.
And the number one point, the first one, is the common growth roadblocks entrepreneurs and business owners face. Part of this is we’re outgrowing initial systems and processes and structures and frameworks. When you got started, you kind of bootstrapped your business.
02:40
Derek Fredrickson
You built it together based on what you needed to do and how you knew how to do it. And at a certain point, that infrastructure is not built for scale. It may not be built for the growth phase of where your business is now. There’s always this foundation that needs to be in place. Think of your business as a house. And maybe in the beginning you had that foundation in place. But as you’ve built and expanded your house and added more rooms, and built another floor, and added in other extensions, et cetera, that foundation needs to expand to support that growth. And so as your business grows, your original systems start to become insufficient. What worked in the early stages can’t keep up with the increasing complexity of a scaling business.
03:22
Derek Fredrickson
So for example, when we work with businesses hitting that seven figure mark or scaling at multiple seven figures, we often find that the outdated processes, lack of delegation and unclear roles lead to stagnation. And again, that’s part of the entrepreneurial journey. We’re opening up the hood of the car, of the business in a way, and looking at, you know, what’s working and what’s not working. And maybe not to get all technical and car jargon, but maybe there are certain parts of the machine that are outdated or there are certain elements that need to be replaced or optimized or just fine tuned. And that’s part of the kind of scaling up of your processes and your systems and your structure of how you do what you do.
04:04
Derek Fredrickson
And the solution is you really need to assess, really reassess and upgrade your processes regularly, implement more scalable systems, and start building the right support structure. Okay, so that’s where we’re outgrowing those initial systems.
The second point here, in terms of common growth roadblocks is a lack of delegation and overwhelming workload. Most entrepreneurs and business owners in some ways are still doing almost everything, or what feels like everything and anything. But you can’t scale if you’re stuck in the weeds of day to day operations. You’ve heard me say this time and time again, you can’t scale a business where you’re involved in all of the decision making and all of the projects and all of the tasks and all of the to dos. It’s not scalable. It’s also probably not fun and enjoyable.
04:49
Derek Fredrickson
And entrepreneurs often resist delegating because of trust issues or belief that they can do it better. And here’s the truth. In some cases you can, but in most cases you can’t. Meaning there could be other resources, other people, or other processes that can actually do it very well, and in some cases do it better than you. So the solution is to start by identifying tasks that can be offloaded to a second in command or a hired CEO or an OBM, and bringing in that fractional element to take charge and of your operations. All right, so this is the first point about common growth roadblocks that we all as business owners typically faith face.
Let’s move on to number two, which is leadership and systems alignment and the need for strategic leadership.
05:34
Derek Fredrickson
Because at some point your business will outgrow your ability to do everything yourself. And that’s when you need a trusted second in command or a chief operating officer to step in and handle the operational work. And effective leadership at the top must focus on scaling and growth rather than micromanaging every detail. So when you bring in a fractional CEO, chief operating officer who can take charge and take ownership of operations and marketing and sales, that allows you to focus on high level vision and strategy. It gets you out, it kind of lifts you up from the day to day and all of the busyness of what’s going on. So you can focus on the bigger picture, you can focus on the long term vision and you can focus on the next phase at a higher level.
06:20
Derek Fredrickson
And this alignment between a fractional COO and the visionary helps you focus on growth while the COO handles the execution. And this isn’t about them stepping in and doing all of the execution. This is about leveraging your team and creating processes and structures so that the team members can rise up to the challenge and be able to provide more output and more productivity. I often say they can be more efficient and more effective not just in what they do, but in how they do it. The second element of this is building operational systems for scalable growth. So to grow beyond seven figures, businesses need scalable systems. It’s not just about more customers or clients or projects or sales. It’s also about better systems to manage increased demand.
07:08
Derek Fredrickson
An example, one of my clients has scaled from high multiple six figures and we just recently collectively crossed that threshold of that seven figure mark. And what really got us there of course was focus on marketing and sales and revenue. But at the same time, the infrastructure needed to be in place, those systems and processes needed to be elevated and expanded to support that next phase of a seven figure business. And so in the beginning when things were running on perhaps toothpicks and band aids and a lot of firefighting and jumping into deal with all of the day to day, we created this environment of accountability and the structure for process and simplified and streamlined, which in addition to contributed to the ability to scale and get to that seven figure mark. You can’t scale complexity, you can scale simplicity.
07:58
Derek Fredrickson
And when we simplify and streamline, that’s where it provides that foundation as you’re continuing to grow and market and scale your business. So the focus here is on automating systems and creating clear processes that a CEO or an OBM can do for your business that can be scaled without losing quality or efficiency. So that’s point number two about leadership and systems alignment.
Let’s talk about point number three, the role of accountability and scaling. Accountability as a growth driver. The biggest mistake many businesses make as they scale is lacking accountability, which means when no one is fully responsible for execution, growth stalls. There’s this lack of a kind of a structure of accountability or a culture of ownership or of responsibility where team members are more reactive than proactive.
08:49
Derek Fredrickson
They’re only taking the very next step as opposed to thinking through what are the next best steps that I need to do. Almost asking them to be not just executing, implementing and getting it done, but also thinking strategically and kind of taking ownership and businesses can’t scale if no one is held accountable for key metrics and tasks and results. It’s gotta be tied to results. Because when we create systems and processes and metrics and dashboards, we don’t create systems and processes and metrics and dashboards just for the sake of having systems and processes and metrics and dashboards. We create those because that’s an accountability measure.
09:26
Derek Fredrickson
It allows us to tie performance or output from team and team members and organizations to the things that actually move the bottom line, the things that move the needle in the business, which tend to be profit and sales and leads and revenue, right? And so when we implement KPIs,, key performance indicators or projects or goals or rocks for individual roles or functions of a business and ensuring everyone has measurable outcomes and clear expectations. That’s when you get momentum, that’s when you get traction, is when you have this culture of accountability.
So let’s talk about the power of holding your team accountable. Building accountability means giving your team ownership over their work, which drives results and innovation. It doesn’t mean babysitting, right? It doesn’t mean micromanaging.
10:27
Derek Fredrickson
It doesn’t mean checking in and say, did you do this and did you do that? And where are we with this? And where are we with that? That’s not how you scale a business. Scaling a business involves clearly defined systems and processes and standard operating procedures that allow team members to understand what they need to do, when they need to do it, how they need to do it. And it’s becoming a self repeatable process. It’s the framework for how we do what we do in the organization. And so as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, you know, one of the best things you can do is empower your team, with the help of a fractional COO to be more accountable, but also hold them responsible for the results. Okay, so that’s point number three, which is about that role of accountability and scaling.
11:12
Derek Fredrickson
Let’s move on to point number four, which is managing the entrepreneur’s transition from operator to visionary. This is a big one, right? Because entrepreneurs, business owners, if you’re listening, your role is you have to step back. At a certain point the business stops being about doing the work and starts being about leading the company. And the entrepreneur needs to focus on long term vision, strategy and relationships. Big picture thinking. For many entrepreneurs, letting go of daily tasks or being involved in the day to day, it can often be difficult, it can be a challenge, it’s a mindset shift. But the key is to shift your focus from being the doer to being the visionary. And this shift allows the business to scale and frees up you, the entrepreneur, to focus on the future.
12:03
Derek Fredrickson
So you might be wondering, well great Derek, how do I do that? How do I step out of the day to day? How do I not be involved in all of the things and let go of control in some respect? This is the role of a COO or a fractional Chief Operating Officer in this transition. A fractional COO helps make this transition easier for you by taking on the day to day leadership, right? Allowing the entrepreneur to focus on high level strategies that will push the business forward. So you have that trusted second in command that can own it, that can make it happen, that can make it real and cascade that culture of accountability and metrics and ownership to the team and to the organization. So it becomes a well oiled machine of this is how we do things around here.
12:50
Derek Fredrickson
And how we do things around here is no longer dependent upon you, the business owner. It’s dependent upon the structure, the process, the framework with a trusted second in command providing the leadership, management and accountability to ensure that’s scaling and growing. So that’s kind of a point about transitioning from the operator to the visionary. So I just want to take a moment and Recap. Because these four points are essential when we talk about unlocking the next phase of growth. Again, number one, understanding the common growth roadblocks that we as entrepreneurs face. It’s about outgrowing initial systems and the lack of delegation and overwhelming workload. Number two is about leadership and systems alignment. It’s about the need for strategic leadership and building operational systems for scalable growth.
13:47
Derek Fredrickson
Number three is the role of accountability and scaling and understanding that accountability is a growth driver. It’s the thing that moves the needle not only for you, but your organization and for your team. And also the power of holding your team accountable. And again, instilling this culture of responsibility and ownership. It’s not about micromanaging, it’s not about babysitting. And then lastly, point number four is managing the entrepreneur’s transition from operator to visionary entrepreneurs, business owners. Your job is to step back, in order to do that confidently and with the trust that you know that the wheels on the ship are going to row in the right direction, so to speak.
14:28
Derek Fredrickson
It’s that the role of that fractional COO to in this transition to help you feel confident and clear and capable and stepping more into that visionary role while allowing that second in command to lead and manage and hold accountable your people, your plans, your projects and your processes.
So let’s talk about something that you can do today. If you’ve been listening to the COO Solution podcast, you know that I love to give actionable takeaways and quick assignments that you could put into place.
So here’s the takeaway for today. A simple, actionable one that you can put into motion today. Identify one process in your business that is inefficient or perhaps holding you back. Whether it’s onboarding, you know, a new client or maybe onboarding a new team member. Maybe it’s communication.
15:16
Derek Fredrickson
Communication internally with your team or externally with your clients or customers or even something in the operations in terms of how you deliver your service or provide your program or the work that you do. Where is it feeling like there’s a bottleneck? Where does it feel like the process has kind of lived its time? And the, and the business as it is has kind of outgrown the process that is in place. I’m sure there are many. We all have them. At any point in time, as we grow and scale a business, there’s always a process that maybe as you’ve heard, the process that got us here is not necessarily the process that’s going to get us to the next level. So what is that process as it pertains to onboarding?
15:58
Derek Fredrickson
Again, whether it’s a team member onboarding a client, maybe it’s communication, maybe it’s customer service, maybe it’s your bookkeeping, maybe it’s your social media. We could go on and on. Find one process that when you’re using that process, when you’re in that process, you’re feeling, this isn’t working for me anymore. This is feeling like it’s causing more friction than ease. And how do we identify a more simplified or more structured way to create a new process? It doesn’t have to be a big ask. It could be something that your COO helps you with. It could be something that your OBM helps you with. But pick one process and focus on that as something that could be improved or replaced or streamlined and see how it starts to create a more fluid and consistent and peaceful operational workflow in your business.
16:48
Derek Fredrickson
The other thing you could do is again, you’ve heard me say this time and time again, delegate one task that you’re doing yourself to someone on your team or to a fractional COO. One of the first things that we do when we work with a client, whether they’re an OBM or a COO client, we identify what are the low hanging fruit. What are the tasks that you’re doing every day, all the time that are feeling like a drain. It’s no longer lighting you up, it drains your energy. It’s one of those things that you’re obviously not looking forward to because it’s more of going through the motions. It’s more maybe something that you did in the very beginning, but it’s not something that you get a lot of joy or fulfillment in. And identify what some of those are.
17:25
Derek Fredrickson
And we do that with our clients and say what are the things that are top of mind that if you could delegate, outsource, streamline, or just get rid of on your to do list, would give you a lot of not only your time back, but also energetically. It gives you a lot more kind of motivation and excitement. What are just one of those tasks that you can identify this week and see what you can delegate or outsource. Okay, remember this scaling doesn’t have to be harder, it just requires a shift in mindset and systems that support growth. So before we wrap up, a few quick things.
If you’ve enjoyed this episode, make sure to hit that subscribe button no matter where you’re listening.
18:02
Derek Fredrickson
And that way you won’t miss any future episodes and if you know someone, a fellow entrepreneur, maybe overwhelmed entrepreneur, or very busy, busy business owner that’s ready to break through and scale and grow to the next level, make sure to share this episode with them. I would greatly appreciate that. And again, you might be wondering if now is the right time to perhaps consider bringing on a fractional CEO, Chief Operating Officer second in Command to help scale your seven figure business. We have a free quiz that’s available at ww.thecoosolution.com where you can get personalized insights on how to scale, but how to scale smarter. Focus on results and focus on freedom and focus on revenue.
That’s it for today. Thanks for tuning in to the COO Solution podcast. I hope you enjoyed this episode.
18:49
Derek Fredrickson
Until next time, keep scaling smart and I’ll talk to you soon. Bye bye.
