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Getting Started

Here are the steps in a coaching engagement. See if this sounds like what you want or need.

1. Self-Knowledge.

Who is the most important employee in your business? Right! Would you be open to learning more about you? Do you know what you're really great at? You may have a pretty clear idea of what tasks you avoid, don't want to do. Most of us are really surprised to find out what we're great at! (I'll explain the reasons when we speak.)

2. Vision:

What was the idea that caused you to start your business? Over time, that "vision" can get very fuzzy, or set aside "because you're so busy." Without that guiding star, you absolutely cannot produce the results you want. I can coach you to create a powerful guiding star - one which not only engages you, but one which others will follow as well.

3. Action:

Doing what needs to be done, when it needs to be done. This is the place most of us focus. You need to control crises, manage the Tyranny of the Urgent, get done the really important things that always get put off. Does this register for you?

Many of my clients use our accountability coaching relationship to make sure they get things done. You know how easy it is to put things off - especially the important things. Here's your secret weapon: make a promise to get it done, then ask me to hold you to it. I'll invite you to promise me that you'll get it done by this afternoon, by Friday, by the end of the month, by the end of the year. This seems to shift some of the responsibility from you to me. And accountability is tremendously effective.

If you put these three elements together, here's what can happen.

4. You'll really enjoy running your business.

Not moving forward is no fun. Being stuck is no fun. Living on the financial edge loses its charm qucikly. It's so great to set out to do something, do it, and then move on to the next target on your way to fulfilling your personal vision. The pain goes away, the joy returns.

"Today, I have several brand new clients, my team is expanding and my boyfriend has become my fiance! My business no longer runs my life, my client base is growing and my earnings are increasing. I have fulfilled my definition of success."
Jennifer Brightbill, Designer

Who's "the man" and is he accountable?

When you started to run your own small business, you decided that you'd get rid of "the man," someone telling you what to do. Now you are "the man," and you can do (or avoid) anything you choose. You have given yourself the absolute right to procrastinate. Do you take advantage of that right? Often?

Big Irony - many small businesspeople use me as an Accountability resource - someone to help them "stay honest," to help them "be the man" and make sure that they do what needs to be done in the right time frame. And, as my confession, that's one of the big reasons I work with my own coach.

"You helped me to see that I am the engine and mastermind that drives everything. I no longer lay with dogs. I am free of fleas! It is as if I have discovered my own personal compass."
Walter Lee, Architectural Photographer

5. Next step - Goal Setting

In my experience, clear goals are rare. You and I will identify some of the goals you want to set for yourself and your business. We'll talk about what motivates you - and what turns you off. We'll find out how interested you are to having your feet held to the fire. You'll probably discover that there's a new freedom and productivity in committing to goals and achieving them. And you discover what a winning game would mean to you.

"I set out 4 goals to achieve at the beginning of our work 6 months ago - I've achieved 3, and I should have the 4th one in a week! That's amazing - initially, I thought they were all pipe dreams. And my long-range goals are all achievable, probably by the end of this year."
James Berry, Wholistic Health Entrepreneur.

What About Costs?

We figure out how much time you want to devote to coaching over how many months, and what you want to pay for it. (We'll work out a fee schedule that works for us both.) We'll also discuss a Success Incentive which will help both of us to stay focused on positive financial results. You'll give me a credit card number and I'll run it. We'll schedule our first coaching call.

"Since I have been working with you, and it has been less than a year, I have reduced my hours by two thirds, hired six clinicians to do my work and I am on the verge of being financially independent. In a few weeks, I expect my passive income to exceed my expenses."
Bill Barnes, NY Physician (2005)

End of Day 1 - The Welcome Package and the first Coaching session.

I'll send you a start-up document which you'll fill out and return. You and I will commit to generating the goals spelled out on that document and I promise to keep you focused, accountable, and on track. At the first coaching call, we'll complete the details by scheduling the balance of your calls for the month, and then we get to work.

Completion - Some time later - a few months, a few years.

What keeps us working together is the commitment we made at the outset and how succcessful you are becoming. Most of my clients work with me for years. They do this because they are getting serious Return On Investment (R.O.I.) - they enjoy the contribution of coaching, and they see how well it pays for itself.