When I was first married, my husband and I decided to take a bare boat charter around the Greek Islands. I had done a fair bit of sailing as crew, and he had done quite a bit of speeding around in motor boats, so we figured, how hard could it be. Ha!
We soon discovered that being master of your own ship was a lot harder than it looked!
When I started out in business, it was a similar experience. Sure I’d worked in lots of different organisations, large corporations to ma & pa businesses, but in truth I didn’t really have a clue about how hard it could be to run my own business, and how lonely.
The excitement of choosing brand colours and fonts soon wore off under the swathes of paperwork and procedures. I found it hard to prioritise. How do you keep focused on the main thing, when EVERYTHING seems urgent and important? Most of all I found it hard to get my head around my numbers while working on my sales activities so that I could generate more leads and opportunities for people to work with me.
Over the years I have now been working as a business coach for small businesses, helping other business owners to reach their goals, I have been refining my own business model. Refining my own systems and processes, refining my products and services too, so that I get to do more of what I love – working 1-1 with clients and designing materials to support them between sessions. Now have the team and automated systems in place to take care of all the humdrum tasks that are part and parcel of being a small business owner so that I get to do the fun stuff!
Here is how a small business coach, like me, can help you to GROW your business.
SKILLS
Tapping into my skills you can shortcut your way to successful strategies for your business, without the trial and error, because I have already done that for you!
I can also help you to develop your vision for your business. Help you to set and achieve clear goals to enable you and your company to flourish.
Write an active and engaging business plan that is strategically aligned to your values and mission.
Connect you to the right people to help further your business through utilising my extensive international network.
Help you to develop your interpersonal skills, time management or organisational skills. Or to get the best from your staff looking at key performance, productivity or effectiveness. Help you to build the team that helps you to develop and build the business.
TARGETS
There is an expression “We can’t manage what we don’t measure” measurements and analysis of numbers helps you to make data driven decisions, based on fact not on impressions. Combining this with your gut feel is the most powerful way to drive your business forward.
A small business coach can help you to reach stretch goals and hold you accountable for your own success. With the support of a good small business coach you will achieve much more than you will on your own because just like a personal trainer might push you out of your comfort zone at the gym, a small business coach will push you to work in your zone of genius.
Together you can decide on specific areas to focus time and attention on, so that the main thing stays the main thing! Goals need a clear road map to help you see the mile markers along the way. And we can celebrate every win along the way. Learning to know what and when to delegate, delete and what to do, can help your boat go a lot faster.
DECISION MAKING
Being a small business owner it can be tough having to make all the decisions in your business alone. Because I am a small business owner too and have run a variety of businesses I know what works well and what to avoid. And because I am not emotionally involved in the decision making process I can help you make decisions from data and numbers rather than emotion. Being an outsider can help me to see clearly what is working and what is not, I can share my insights, empowering you to make decisions that work for you and your business.
It can be lonely and challenging to make decisions in your business, even if you have family and friends to talk things through with, the buck stops with you as it is your business. A small business coach can talk you through the decision making process, helping you to think outside the box and develop innovatively.
How do you find the right coach?
Investing in a small business coach is a wise investment of both time and money. However, just like any service you are paying for you need to do your due diligence and check that the coach you are working with has the skills, qualifications and experience you need to support you. All small business owners have their own unique way of working as do small business coaches, so taking time to talk and get to know each other before committing to a 6 month program makes complete business sense for both. THe best way to do this is to book a discovery call. In this free 30 minute call you will have a chance to ask questions about how I work and get a feel for what working together might be like. If we agree that we are a good fit, then we can discuss the best way forward from there to ensure you get started right away.
What can you expect?
Well each client journey is different depending on their needs and the stage their business is in. I offer a 1-1 6 month TRUE GROWTH coaching program. It is a 12 step model taking you through a process of transformation based on the agreed goals for the work. Because I like to work holistically these goals will usually include one personal, one health and one business goal. There are 6 additional in person sessions to focus on specific topics that we agree need more time. I also offer unlimited support in between sessions, worksheets, book and podcast recommendations.
We will start by establishing your Goals and gaining some insight and clarity about why they are important.
Next we will take a Reality check, figure out what resources you have and what might be standing in your way to achieving those goals.
We will consider a range of Options to take forward as ‘experiments’ to see what fully aligns with your vision and mission.
Finally we will turn these ideas into action points that you execute as the Way forward, to your inevitable success, on your terms. That is what I call True Growth.
Coaching is not for everyone. I will definitely be your cheerleader and hold you accountable. Coaching provides you with an opportunity to have time focused solely on you, for you and your business. It is not cheap or fast, if you are looking for that try McDonalds! You will get plenty of high quality food for thought, sustainable, strategic action plans and nourishing insight.