From Solopreneur to CEO: 4 Leadership Skills to Grow Your Online Business
Growing a successful online business isn’t just about creating the perfect product, hiring a team, or even making more sales.
It’s about stepping into your role as a leader.
But what does that mean when you’re still building a team, and figuring out how the whole “Holy crap, I’m someone’s boss” thing works? Leadership skills are not only essential for managing other people on your path to business success, but managing yourself as well.
If you’re a few years into the whole online business thing, you might not consider yourself a capable leader…yet. But don’t worry!
Whether you’re a solopreneur, working with a few contractors, or leading a team of 20, effective leadership is a skill you can learn.
In today’s blog post, I’ll share the 4 leadership skills you need to go from solopreneur to CEO of your business, and practical tips to start implementing them in your day to day life.
Why Effective Leadership is Essential for Online Business Growth
Running your own business takes a strong work ethic and a lot of self-initiative. Think about it:
As a solopreneur, you wear many hats: marketer and social media manager, admin assistant, bookkeeper, tech set up, customer support, the list goes on and on…
You have to juggle a lot of moving parts which often leads to a “do it yourself” mentality.
But what many solopreneurs don’t realize is that this mentality is holding them back.
If you find yourself stuck at a certain level of growth—whether that’s financial, operational, or something else—you need to shift from doing everything yourself to leading with intention. And that requires stepping into the CEO role of your business.
Adopting a CEO mindset doesn’t mean you have to hire a huge team overnight. It’s about operating more strategically—setting measurable goals, making decisions with the big picture in mind, and creating systems that free up your time.
Even if you’re a team of one, you’re likely already flexing these skills by:
Deciding your working hours, packages, and pricing
Setting boundaries and communicating with clients
Marketing yourself and growing your network
Investing in tools or training to improve your skills (like this blog post!)
Effective leadership skills can help you accomplish these things more strategically, feel confident growing a team, and manage all the moving parts your business requires.
4 Leadership Skills You Need to Grow Your Online Business
Leadership Skill #1: Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
When it comes down to it, effective leadership is about understanding people, not numbers and spreadsheets.
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize and express your feelings, while also responding appropriately to the feelings of others. To have strong emotional intelligence, you need four things:
Self-awareness: Understanding your strengths, weaknesses, and areas you can improve as a leader.
Self-regulation: Managing your emotions and reactions appropriately in any given situation.
Empathy: Understanding and caring about the emotional needs of others.
Social skills: The ability to build and maintain healthy relationships.
When the people you work with feel valued, seen, and understood, they’ll be more invested in the success of your business. In other words, people are more likely to follow someone they feel connected to.
You can practice emotional intelligence by bringing more self-awareness into your daily life. The next time you feel tension during a conversation, reflect before you react. Ask yourself: “What’s really going on here?”
Whether you or the other person is in the wrong, practice responding with empathy and try to understand their point of view.
Leadership Skill #2: Delegation
Delegation is one of the toughest leadership skills to master—especially if you’re a perfectionist. It’s tempting to think, “It’s easier if I just do this myself.”
And you’re not wrong—it is faster and easier to do things yourself instead of training someone else to do it for you. But over time, those manual and repetitive tasks will become the bottleneck of your business growth.
That’s why delegation is a leadership skill you can’t afford to skip. The more time you spend delegating the tasks you’ve outgrown, the more time your future self has to invest back into your business.
There are two ways you can start delegating:
Hire a team member or service provider to take over a set of tasks
Set up systems and tools that can automate manual or repetitive tasks
What are the things in your business that need to get done every week? Make a list of all the tasks you don’t enjoy doing, you aren’t good at, or that don’t require your personal touch.
Which of those tasks can be automated using online systems and tools?
Which of those tasks can you hand over to an assistant or professional contractor?
Be strategic with what you choose to delegate, and remember to use online delegation tools to your advantage.
If you need more help delegating in your business, watch my free Delegation 101 training here.
Leadership Skill #3: Communication
Communication may sound simple, but it’s the foundation of every other leadership skill. Even the best ideas and intentions won’t succeed if you can’t communicate them clearly.
The best way to strengthen your communication skills is to understand how others process information—some people need detailed instructions, some are visual learners, and others need to look at the bigger picture.
Great leaders adjust their communication style to fit the needs of their audience rather than expecting others to adapt to them.
One of the biggest mistakes leaders make is thinking they know best because they’re the ones in charge. But that isn’t necessarily true!
Being a leader isn’t about telling people what to do. It’s about showing up and supporting the people on your team in the ways they need most.
The next time you’re communicating instructions or giving feedback, make sure you listen more than you speak. This will help you learn the other person’s communication style, so you can get your point across more effectively.
Then ask them to repeat what you shared back in their own words. This isn’t micromanagement—it’s communicating in a way that works for everyone, not just you.
Leadership Skill #4: Adaptability
If recent years in business have taught me anything, it’s that adaptability isn’t just ‘nice-to-have’—it’s essential.
With the evolution of AI, online business is changing at a rapid pace. In order to keep up, you need to be able to pivot as business models, marketing strategies, and online platforms evolve.
Adaptable leaders don’t cling to antiquated advice simply because “that’s how it’s always been done.” Instead, they’re open to trying new ideas so they can continue reaching and serving others.
As someone with ADHD, adaptability is challenging for me. My business success depends on structure and routine. When that structure is disrupted, I have to work hard to overcome the anxiety that creates.
But if I’m being honest, this challenge has only strengthened my leadership skills. Being adaptable means stepping outside of your comfort zone, and learning how to be flexible in challenging situations.
If you struggle with this too, embrace experimentation as part of your business. Try new things on a regular basis without viewing them as a permanent shift.
The more you can practice adaptability in your day to day life, the more confident you’ll feel making better (and faster) business decisions.
Online Business Tools to Set You up for Success
Effective leadership isn’t just about skills—it’s also about leveraging the right systems and tools to help you put those skills into action.
Here are some of my favorite online tech tools to help you implement the four leadership skills above:
Tools for Emotional Intelligence:
Client Relationship Management (CRM) (e.g., HubSpot, Zoho, 17Hats): Set up a CRM system to keep track of client and team interactions, birthdays, and preferences to make people feel seen and valued.
Gather Feedback (e.g., Typefrom, Google Forms): Send out surveys to your clients and team to better understand their needs and areas you can improve.
Tools for Delegation:
Project Management Tools (e.g., Asana, Trello, Notion, ClickUp): Assign tasks, set deadlines, and track progress to ensure everyone knows what’s expected and when.
Loom: Simplify the delegation process by recording yourself doing the task.
Tools for Communication:
Messaging Platforms (e.g., Slack, Voxer): Keep communication organized with channels for different projects, topics, or team members.
Collaboration Platforms (e.g., Notion, Google Workspace): Share documents, ideas, and updates in one place to avoid miscommunication.
Tools for Adaptability:
Data Analytics Tools (e.g., Google Analytics): Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) regularly to learn where you need to adjust your business goals and strategy
Brainstorming Tools (e.g., Notion, Google Doc): Have a dedicated space for writing down new ideas and experimenting in your biz.
Remember, leadership isn’t something you’re born with—it’s something you learn. Every small step you take toward improving your mindset, systems, and skills brings you closer to the kind of leader your business needs.
Wondering which tools can help you step into the CEO role of your business more effectively? That’s kind of my specialty!
Let’s work together to build the systems you need to support your growth as a leader.
Learn more about Tech Magic, our custom service for back-end systems set up, HERE.
