Mark Hartsell, CEO & President of CEO Advisor

How do you make the CEO of a company better?

More often than not, the entrepreneur and business owner has too much on his or her plate, is wearing multiple hats and working 24/7. How can someone help this entrepreneur focus and do more? That is a tall order indeed. Meet oGoing Pro Member Mark Hartsell, the CEO and President of CEO Advisor. He is on a mission to grow the CEOs, Owners and Presidents of young and emerging small businesses and startups in Orange County and Southern California. Mark helped me earlier this year on the oGoing business, marketing and financial plans, and getting them ready for potential investors or partners. I had the opportunity to ask Mark a few questions about his company, and what's going on. Here are the five answers that can help you grow your business:

1. What led you to start CEO Advisor? How is the progress?
Prior to selling my software company to Digital River, I focused on what my post-sale career would look like.  It was clear to me that I wanted to spend the rest of my career as a small business advisor helping entrepreneurs grow to the next level toward a successful exit of their own.  CEO Advisor has grown every year since its inception in 2004 and I really enjoy engaging with and helping CEOs tackle their many challenges.

2. What are your key services? What problems do they solve?
CEO Advisor focuses on the challenges and opportunities that every CEO and small business owner encounters.  These issues span across the entire business, including preparation for fund raising, fund raising, accounting, operations, sales, marketing, mergers and acquisitions, and my services solve problems in all of these areas.

3. What is your favorite customer success story?
I have many customer success stories, but I most like seeing my clients grow and prosper, as in two clients that are currently on the Orange County Business Journal - Fastest Growing Companies list out this week.

4. Why do customers love CEO Advisor? What makes you different?
My clients value my services due to my broad range of business expertise, and one-to-one meetings with a hands-on approach ensuring progress on a weekly basis.  I am also goal and accountability driven and my clients like this, as well.  My biggest differentiator is my hands-on approach to producing work and deliverables for clients each week versus the verbal coaching that I see in this field.

5. How do you define success within your company?
I measure the success of my company by the success of my clients.  When my clients are motivated, happy and seeing results this is very gratifying to me for my efforts.  Additionally, I enjoy what I do to such a high degree that it simply does not seem like work.  That is real success.

Connect with Mark Hartsell on oGoing today! His firm has great offers for oGoing members also.

Mark A. Hartsell, MBA, CEO/Pres. 
CEO Advisor, Inc. 
www.CEOAdvisor.com  
www.CEOAdvisorNetwork.com 
 (949) 759-8676