February 1, 2012 Dan Lacy

This is the third of a six part series on how to use personality assessments and profiling to understand your employees and build a better relationship with your management team and key employees.  The system I use is DiSC and there are four pure personality types: D which isDominate or high drive, I which is Influential or highly social and great communicators, S which is Steady or very patient and thoughtful and C which is Compliant whose goal is to get it right.  The D and C personality type are very TASK orientated and the I and S are very Relationship orientated.

Understanding the High I Personality

The best descriptors of a High I personality are: enthusiasm, trusting, charming, popular, influential, confident, persuasive, convincing, inspiring, spontaneous, sociable, talkative, emotional, generous, optimistic, self-promoting and a good mixer.

Famous people with High I personalities are: Rob Williams, Bill Clinton, Jay Leno, Tony Danza, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Martin, Arnold Palmer and Dolly Parton.

The High I personality types are creative, creative problem solvers, and great encouragers. They motivate others to achieve through a positive sense of well being and many times with humor.  They are good at negotiating conflicts and are peace makers.  Throughout the campaign of 1992, reporters continually commented on the way then Governor Clinton energized and connected with people.  President Clinton is clearly an extrovert, unafraid to show his emotion or express his concern.  Even his foes state that he clearly cares about people, even if they disagree with his agenda.

General Characteristics – High I’s are very talkative.  They are very relational and people orientated and like to talk about how their weekend was.  They are the most optimistic of the four personality types and are fun to be around.  They are good friends and very supportive of their other team members and are positive when dealing with goals for future success.

Communicating with the High I – They are motivated by popularity and acceptance.  A verbal acknowledgement of a job well done in front of their peers will go a long way with them.  Give them opportunities to verbalize their ideas, realizing that they will need assistance in turning their ideas into action.  They work well in a friendly environment and freedom from rules and regulations.  They don’t like structure and are motivated by new experiences, challenges and relationships.

Positive Characteristics of the High I personalities are instinctive communicators. They are, for the most part, very enthusiastic team players who do well in job positions that allow them to interact with others. They respond well to the unexpected, and willingly offer their opinion whenever asked for it. They thrive in group activities and a professional and social work environment.
Weaknesses - Many High I personalities avoid getting and staying organized. Follow through, detail and paper work is a constant struggle for them.  Since they are always very positive and their goals are usually much higher than is reasonable to attain (monthly sales goals for example).  Some may allow their friendships to dominate their time.

Areas of Personal Growth for the High I – Typically they make decisions quickly, so weighing the pros and cons before making a decision is very useful.  Exercise control over your actions, words and emotions (think before you speak).  Remember to slow down and allow your team members to catch up – pace yourself.  Talk less and listen more.  Identify and focus on results – write down what you need to do daily and cross each accomplishment (great way to see tasks accomplished).

Other Indicators of the High I personality

• Emotion: Optimism
• Drive: Visual, looking around, radio on
• Gestures: A lot of them with facial expressions when talking
• Read: Fiction, self-improvement books
• Stress Relief: Interaction with people
• Talking on phone: Long conversations, a great deal of tone variation in voice
• Judges others by: Their warmth
• Influences others by: Friendliness and interpersonal skills
• Fears: Not being liked enough

Managing the High I

• Assist in setting realistic goals
• Work with on-time management
• Be their friend and make time for daily interaction
• Keep an open door policy for them to discuss any issue
• Constant training of DiSC for your staff  to increase effectiveness of people interaction
• Situate them in areas with other people where they can interact and get their work completed
• Allow them freedom of movement
• Set clear objectives to tasks to be accomplish and review regularly with them
• Look for opportunities where they can make presentations and lead discussions

Next week we will discover the High S personality type, their strengths and weaknesses.

Have a great week.

Dan Lacy

Founder

P.S. The more I study these concepts the more I realize the strength it has in interpersonal relations and improving effective communications.

P.S.S.  For more information on using these tools for conflict resolution, organizational growth strategies and C level (CEO, COO, CFO and CIO) management development – contact us.

Contact Info

Dan Lacy

Dan@DynastyBuilder.com

765-644-8887

January 12, 2012 Dan Lacy

 Will 2012 Be Better than 2011?

The first 10 days of January are over.  Are you going to nail your business objectives for January without fail?  Or are you still trying to catch up from the Christmas holidays and get the year end wrapped up.  Well don’t feel bad if you haven’t reviewed and finalized your business goals and objectives for 2012, there is still time to make 2012 one of our best years ever, but time is flying away.

Setting key goals and objectives for your business in 2012 will not only be important for 2012; but it also sets the stage for success in future years.  Success breeds success.  Consider the Harvard MBA students of 1979:

• Only 3 percent of the graduates had written goals and plans
• 13 percent had goals; but they were not in writing
• 84 percent had no specific goals at all

Ten years later, the same students were interviewed to see where they were in their lives. The 13% who had goals were earning, on average,twice as much as the group that had no goals.  And what about the 3% who had clear written goals as well as written plans to achieve them? They blew everyone out of the water by earning ten times as much as the other 97% – put together.

So, if you don’t have your business goals and objectives set for 2012, here are 31 pre-planning questions that will help your business be more successful in 2012.  If you cannot find the time and energy to set your goals and objectives for 2012, but you know your business would grow and be more profitable if you did have a road map for 2012; see the special one-time offer at the end of this article.

1. Where are we likely to finish (sales/cash flow/profits) in 2011?
2. What went right in 2011?
3. What went wrong in 2011?
4. What should we have done in 2011 that we didn’t do?
5. What did we do in 2011 that we should not have done?
6. What are our three biggest remaining sales problems?
7. What will be the consequences if we fail to overcome them?
8. What new initiatives (sales, marketing, organizational structure, cash flow, financing) should we explore in 2012?
9. Besides solving problems and launching new initiatives, what must we do better than we’ve done in the past?
10. What can we do, for example, to insure that we will attain 100% of our monthly revenue targets?
11. How can we increase margins?
12. How can we reduce Account Receivables on a monthly basis?
13. Where are we wasting and/or spending too much money?
14. What can we do to maximize non-traditional revenue streams?
15. Where is our largest “growth market”, how are we going to identify that target market, and how are we going to sell them?
16. How can we do a better job of prospecting for new customers?
17. How can we improve the revenue from our regular and biggest-spending accounts?
18. How can we up-sell smaller accounts with big-account potential?
19. Should we consider any changes in organizational structure?
20. What additional people do we need for 2012?
21. What additional resources do we need for 2012?
22. What additional training do we need to improve performance?
23. What “unique expertise” that is not available from our competitors – can we offer our customers?
24. What standard of performance have we set for our salespeople?
25. How do we get the sales staff to buy into our 2012 goals and strategic game plan?
26. What can we do better to manage each salesperson for the good of the company?
27. How can we make our employees jobs more enjoyable?
28. What monthly profit targets should we set for 2012?
29. What monthly cash flow targets should we set for 2012?
30. Does this management team believe our goals are realistic and therefore achievable?  Why?
31. Am I willing to commit, without reservation, to hitting my targets and planning for them?

TIP: In talking with hundreds of business owners, bankers and accountants over the last few years, they indicated that only 8% to 12% of business owner have a written financial plan for the year ahead of them.  They DON’T have monthly revenue, gross profit, expense and profit goals or targets.  A larger percentage don’t have a cash flow projection that show how cash flows in and out of the company on a monthly basis and if there will be enough to fund operations, payroll and bank payments.

SPECIAL OFFER.  We will create a financial plan for your business for 2012; by month that will:

1. Evaluate the current financial condition of the business
   1. Last 3 years review: revenue, gross profit, gross profit margin, operating expenses, profit, working capital, current ratio and debt to worth
   2. Bench mark the company against peers in their geographic market – compare key financial statistics against over 100 businesses in the same industry and the same size
2. Evaluate the accounting system for: accuracy, functionality (does it help management attain financial goals and objectives), cash or accrual, timeliness, format, department break down,
3. Develop a forward looking set of financial forecasts (management input needed) consisting of:
   1. Monthly revenue, expenses and profit by month by department
   2. Projected balance sheet by month
   3. Projected cash flow forecast

Price ranges from $1,995 to $2,995 depending on he size and scope of the business.  Offer is good until January 31, 2012.  We only have the ability to do about 5 of these so first come, first served.

To your business success in 2012

Dan Lacy

Founder

Contact Info

Dan Lacy

Dan@DynastyBuilder.com

765-644-8887

Just last week I was speaking with a client describing how I partner with an individual or a business as a coach.  As I explained the difference between a consultant, mentor and coach, they suggested I put the information in a blog.  That is what I will attempt to do in this brief post.  When you hear the terms consultant, mentor or coach what comes to mind?  Do you see the terms as synonymous?   Many people do, and it is also likely that your definition of these different professionals will vary greatly from someone else.  Take it from someone who must almost daily scale the pre-conceived mental hurdles built by some people in order to explain exactly how I partner with a client.

I am a coach.  Plain and simple.  I do not consider myself a consultant, and while it is my pleasure to mentor a number of individuals, I am not a “mentor” by profession.  So what is the difference between a consultant, mentor and coach? 

First, would you agree with me that there is a separation between an individual and what they believe is their full potential?  I’ve never met anyone that would disagree with this assumption, understanding that this distance will vary greatly depending on the individual. 

Assuming that you want to close that gap for yourself and reach more of your potential, a consultant will tell you exactly how to do it.  They may provide excellent directions, recommend a couple of good books to help you, and throw in some powerpoint slides for good measure.  In short, a consultant usually gets paid for their advice.

The help of a mentor would likely consist of them explaining their own experience, what they did to reach more of their own potential, and then would conclude with encouraging you to follow a similar path.  Often, their advice is experiential and personal to them.   As with the consultant, this process can work albeit with limited success.

As a coach, I do not build a bridge from where you are today across to your potential and then proceed to drag you across.  I will however travel the road with you helping you discover for yourself where you want to be in future – providing encouragement, guidance and support all along the way.

Think back to when you learned to ride a bike.  A consultant could have explained to you how to ride a bike while explaining the act of pedaling, forward motion, and balance while a mentor might hop on your bike and ride around illustrating for you just how to ride.  These styles might have worked for you, but my guess is that you learned to ride through the support of a “coach” while you experienced trial and error.   As you got back on the bike and started to pedal, there was your “coach” running along side providing balance, encouragement,and  support as you gained more and more momentum and eventually…..SUCCESS!

No, there is no easy way to learn to ride a bike and coaching is not a “quick fix” process either.  As a coach, I am that person in my client’s corner partnering with them as they discover their full potential, reach greater success (both professionally and personally)and discover solutions to any challenge confronting them.

The best way to predict the future is to create it! Strategic Planning is a process that determines the future of the organization and the organizational resources that will be needed to ensure that success. The process helps determine business opportunities and resources that are required to convert opportunity into success. Business owners and leaders today have found that developing a strategy and an implementation plan is far more effective than leaving the future to chance. Furthermore, developing a strategy, a vision, a mission, and a specific plan of action contributes to long-term, sustainable success.

Since your vision will guide your company into the future, it is critical that it is well crafted and meaningful to all your employees. To make it powerful and useful, work hard on editing it down to its bare essentials. In other words, boil it down to what is memorable and poignant.

 An effective and “Compelling Vision” will be:

1. Based on an insightful analysis of the present situation facing the organization
2. A good choice from well-considered options
3. Appealing to deep desires of those who work within the organization
4. A clear statement of the motivating force that drives the organization forward
5. Achievable

 To help you determine your Vision, some of the questions you can ask:

• What do you want your organization to look like in the future (next 3-5 years)?
• What is your organization especially good at?
• How are you doing competitively?
• What changes do you expect to see in the demand for your products or services over the next five years?
• What other organizations do you consider ahead of you?
• What do these more successful organizations have that you don’t?
• What do use to judge success and how well are you satisfied that you are measuring important criteria?

There’s another huge mistake that can derail all the efforts you may make to overcome the mistakes commonly made by many organizations.  It’s failing to make sure that all employees’ activities support and are in alignment with the vision.  Let’s discuss a few reasons how companies get out of alignment. Often as a company grows there are power struggles for resources. Decisions are made to protect turf or to do it the “way we always do it” without regard to the impact on the end-user. One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself with any business decision is, “What will be the positive or negative impact of this decision on the end-user, the client?” Make sure you’re doing things for the right reasons.

While there are more that must be discussed, here is my top ten list of conditions that when present, are a good indicator that things are not in alignment.  

    1.     Excessive meetings

    2.     Cover-your butt mentality and decision-making

    3.     Lack of personal accountability

    4.     Meaningless performance evaluations

    5.     Communication problems

    6.     Difficulty terminating poor performers

    7.     Personality conflicts or power struggles

    8.     Difficulty keeping employees motivated

    9.     Time management problems

  10.     Unacceptable results

An organization’s real competitive advantage comes from harnessing the will, commitment and EMOTION of your people.

The challenge has never been greater! In today’s business environment of accelerating change and increasing uncertainty, only leaders who know who they are and where they are going will succeed. Today’s leaders must do more than manage change.  They must thrive on it!

A leader combines the vision and curiosity of a dreamer with the practical building skills of an architect. A leader is goal directed, looking forward with anticipation toward the attainment of measurable outcome goals. Goals give an effective leader meaning and purpose and serve as a continuous source of motivation in pursuit of organizational and individual success.

To most effectively lead others, consider mastering the art of self leadership. Working with a Developmental Coach will help you understand who you are and what gives your life value. Coaching will help you to establish your life’s purpose and pursue it with confidence, skill, and commitment. Know where you are going and how you are going to get there!

So what is a coach?  Perhaps the whole idea of having a business or life coach is new to you.  A coach is a professional who works with individual clients to help them achieve results and sustain life-changing behavior in their lives and careers.   In a recent interview, I heard the great college football coach Lou Holtz say, “I never saw myself as a coach of football.  I was a coach of life.”

Coaches – Consultants, what’s the difference?   Coaches address the whole person—with an emphasis on uncovering blind spots and producing right action that leads to more fulfillment, more balance, and more effective processes for living.  While consultants have been around a long time. Coaches are relatively new. The 2 professions take very different approaches.

Consultants are problem solvers. Their underlying message is, “I’m smarter than you are. I’ll tell you what’s wrong and how to fix it.”    Coaches are people developers. They don’t tell their clients what to do; they ask questions. Their message is, “You’re smart. I’ll be a mirror to help you look inside yourself, so you can not only solve this problem, but maximize your potential in all areas of your life.”     The goal of consulting is typically to maximize profits while the goal of coaching is to maximize potential.

As I partner with an individual in a coaching relationship, the deliverables will include:

• Strengthen Your Strengths

• Success Comes from Within

• Assessing Your Strengths

• Directing Change

• Criteria for Effective Goal Setting

• Obstacles to Your Success

• Overcoming Obstacles to Change

• Planning with a Purpose

• Delegation and Management

• Communication and Human Relations

• Decision Making and Problem Solving

 Natuirally I believe working with a coach can be key in ones professional and personal development.  Recently National Public Radio aired a feature entitled, “Athletes Have Coaches.  Why Not Everyone Else?”  The program was heard as part of Talk of The Nation with host Neal Conan.  A transcript of this excellent program is available at this link:

http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=140849085

November 10, 2011Dan Lacy

Top Ten Startup Mistakes…that Almost Always Lead To Business Failure

Many startup ideas fail to ever be launched and many, many fail within the first year or two. In most cases, the failure has nothing to do with the business idea, but how the business side is handled. The business of entrepreneurship is business first, then operations (what your business actually does). The Top Ten startup mistakes that lead to ultimate failure are:

1. Insufficient Startup Idea Development – Most startups do not fail because the business idea is bad. The problem is that many first-time entrepreneurs fail to actually plan the business before sinking cash into the startup. No matter how great a business idea is, it can’t succeed without detailed planning. Take the time to work through every angle of your business idea. Not only will you have a better grasp of how far your business can go, you will also reduce your risk and prepare yourself to make the best decisions as you go.

2. Failure to Understand and Comply with Legal Obligations – An unbelievable number of entrepreneurs leave the legal aspects of business startup to someone else or, worse, ignore them altogether. Eventually this failure to comply with legal obligations will come back to bite you and the outcome can be devastating. Every entrepreneur must understand and secure all necessary licenses and permits, and set up compliance systems for taxes and fees due to the local, state, and federal government.

3. Poor (or no) Marketing Planning – Marketing is the lifeblood of every business startup, and it is more than business cards and a yellow pages ad. A significant portion of your time and expense budget should be dedicated to marketing. Poor or no marketing equals no sales…equals business failure. Do your homework before you launch to identify your target markets, figure out how to best reach them, and establish clear objectives and evaluations to ensure your marketing efforts are paying off.

4. Poor (or no) Financial Management – Success in business is all about the bottom line — no profit, no business. Keeping the books correct is half the battle. Too many first-time entrepreneurs are willing to turn over complete responsibility of the books to someone else — a dangerous decision that very often leads to business failure. Reviewing and analyzing the financial reports is the other half. It is critical for every business owner to understand what the financial reports mean and how a change in one area affects all the others. Cash flow issues are also major financial management problems for many startups in the earliest stages. Good planning before launching a startup will clarify how much cash on hand your business idea will need to succeed. Whether you consider yourself a numbers person or not, as a business owner it is critical that you take responsibility for learning and applying basic financial management skills if you want to succeed.

5. Sales Forecast Errors: Establishing your initial sales forecast can be difficult, but there are procedures you can follow to make it as realistic and accurate as possible. All too, often would-be entrepreneurs build a sales forecast around what they would like to sell, rather than what they are likely to sell. While optimism is an excellent entrepreneurial trait, an overly optimistic sales forecast will leave you with serious cash flow problems and even greater difficulty in securing financing.

For example, one business plan we recently reviewed appeared well-written and professionally laid out. However, the sales forecast reflected sales that required every member of the staff to bill out 19 hours per day, 300 days per year. Another retail business showed average total purchases at $230 each, even though the average price of their products is only $12. Assuming that each customer will purchase an average of 19 items each time they visit is unrealistic. Any competent investor will look for these errors.

6. Under-Capitalization: Not starting with enough capital to support the business through the initial stages is a common error. By thoroughly planning your idea, you will know how much capital you need to cover while you build your customer base, including working capital to keep yourself eating ramen noodles until your business takes off. Good planning will also increase the chance of securing investors, whether public (banks) or private (family and friends).

7. Poor Web Presence: An effective web presence is an absolute must for any modern business. Simply posting a website is not enough. In fact, uploading a website without marketing it is like posting ad copy only in your own living room — if your target market doesn’t see it, it might as well not exist. Many recent startups have crashed and burned because the entrepreneur thought that simply posting a website to the internet would drive sales. It won’t.

8. Leaving Critical Tasks “To the Professionals”: Many entrepreneurs believe that a good idea and solid operations are enough to build a successful business, so they opt to turn over critical startup tasks, like marketing and accounting, to outsourced professionals. For some, the business side of business just doesn’t interest them, so they choose to forgo learning the details of financial and marketing management. Eventually, these choices backfire. If you don’t know how the money works, you can’t make the best decisions for your business. If you are not aware of the outcomes of your marketing efforts, you can’t accurately forecast sales and thus can’t plan for the future. It’s your business, you need to know and understand every facet from the beginning, or you might as well be working for someone else.

9. No Ongoing Planning & Review: As the actual operations of a startup take up more and more of an entrepreneur’s time, it is very easy to overlook the critical tasks of reviewing and planning. Every aspect of a company should be reviewed periodically, particularly the financial statements and marketing plan. If you don’t know where you are or where you have been, it’s impossible to know where you are going.

10. Lack of Patience – Pit of Despair: Every startup experiences a period of time between being ready to sell and actually building the sales. We call this gap the Pit of Despair because the entrepreneur is left wondering if they have made the right decisions and whether the business is ever going to work. Many startups hit this point and the entrepreneur quits in frustration. Startups don’t generally succeed overnight. The Pit of Despair should be used to refine internal systems, work through free internet marketing techniques (participate in relevant forums, write and publish articles, build website content), and plan for the future of the business. Don’t let the inevitable delay destroy your chances of success — plan for it, expect it, and use the time wisely.

For the most part, a strong focus on the three keys of startup success (planning, marketing, and financial management) will overcome most of the common reasons for business failure. Pay attention to the details from the beginning, learn all you can about running your own business, and don’t let anything get in the way of building your business into the thriving company it can be.

Have a great week!

Dan Lacy

Founder

PS. If you want an outline of the best business plan we have found – email us at Hannah@DynastyBuilder.com we will send it free!

Contact Info

Dan Lacy

Dan@DynastyBuilder.com

765-644-8887

Dan Lacy is a good friend and CATALIST VENDOR partner with whose team has put together this 1 Page CHECKLIST for MARKETING businesses. I encourage you to take the TEST and see how you do.

MARKETING issues faced by some of the clients DYNASTY has helped solve are:

• Frustration from not being able to consistently increase sales.
• Fear of wasting money on marketing that doesn’t work.
• Concerned that  they’re spending a lot of money on advertising and other media with no measurable results.
• Confused about what marketing options will work for their business, and end up just buying based on who is selling at the time.
• Frustrated need to increase revenue, but don’t know what to do.
• Overwhelmed because there is no game plan to increase revenue, no way to track results, and are paralyzed on which media to choose.
• So busy keeping their head above water, that they’re not able to plan for revenue growth.

I thought this might help you, challenge you, benefit you in some way. Let me know what you think.

COMPLETE THIS FORM  FOR A CATALIST REPRESENTATIVE TO CONNECT YOU WITH DYNASTY CONSULTING:

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Why We Don’t Reach Our Goals – Accountability, Responsibility, Frustration

Magic wands, Aladdin’s lamp, wishing wells, fairy godmothers, even Pixie Dust… all symbolize our ultimate desire to transform our dreams into reality.

The fact is, most of us have big dreams, but sometimes the gap between our dreams and our reality is vast.

• We expect to be at a place where we don’t worry about cash flow, but we do
• We expect to work and worry less – it hasn’t happened
• We expect to have retirement in our sights, but it keeping moving further away
• We expected to be in a place where we were nearly debt free; but we aren’t close

If the gap between your dreams and reality is larger than it should be, look at how you are approaching your goals and see if you are making any of these fatal mistakes:

You have no structure in place for creating what you want.

Every year you probably make some goals or resolutions for your business and they begin to work for you. But, then there is a few set backs, lack of time and they slowly move to the back of your subconscious and then are forgotten. Then next year you start the same process all over again. These actions have no strategy, no accountability and no plan to correct.

You’re not setting goals, you’re making wishes. Goals only work when you work on them consistently. Make sure that they are: specific, measureable, achievable, realistic and time-sensitive. For example, if you have a goal of growing revenue 10% in the next year, break it down into months, and measure to it monthly. At the end of the first month (you don’t have to start in January to do this) did you hit the target? By breaking down a 10% revenue growth into months, you are focusing for 30 days on your revenue goal. YOU can even break it down into weeks – make it fun and rewarding.

You’re relying on incomplete, outdated procedures.

So you have a handle on SMART goals; but you are still not getting where you want to be. What else can you do? You can super-charge them with imagination and emotion. Here are some examples:

Aaron Prickel, a great sales trainer with Lushin/Sandler is brilliant at helping people become excellent at selling; in part because he has been coached in journaling (it helps him increase focus and empowers him). He turns the most challenging part of his job into a rewarding experience because he mentally prepares through daily journaling.

Another friend has a vision board in her office. A vision board is a collage of images, pictures and affirmations of her dreams and desires. It can also be called a dream board, treasure map or vision map. Many people use this technique; they even have an ap for cell phones for this purpose. It is a powerful way to keep in from your minds eye, your goals. Search “vision board” in the web for additional information.

You can also memorize, write poems or rhymes, draw them, visit the place you want to retire; get in your minds eye what your goals will be. This will crank up the emotional side of goal achievement.

You haven’t changed your environment.

You can change your office around, paint, clear out the clutter, get focused so that each and every day you can start fresh perspective. Changing your routine will break the cycle that has created the comfortable setting of the same old stuff. If you are not meeting with your senior staff weekly, change that up and start expressing your goals with your key employees, helping them focused on what is important in the company. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is insanity. You start first and others will follow.

You’re not accountable to anyone.

The Weight Watchers organization has been very successful helping people loose weight for over 50 years. One of their secrets is to have each of their customers come to the office and do a “public weigh in”. Do you think that having to publicly present themselves in front of their peers weekly has any impact on the results Weight Watchers gets? Yes, they have been taking that to the bank for years.

Don’t go it alone.Although small business owners are known for their independence, tenacity and their strong will; that strength can be a detriment. Our goal achievement increases 10X when we become accountable for our actions. It helps us keep focused on our goals and provides the encouragement when things are tough and the future is bleak.

Get an accountability partner, hire a coach. Coaching does work. Over 40% of the fortune 500 companies employ coaches. Michael Jordan (probably the best basket ball player that I know of) had multiple coaches. Successful people want to become better, more efficient, and wealthier and they hire people that can help them attain reach higher levels. International Coach Federation in a recent survey stated that 70% of small business that hired coaches rated them as very valuable and would do it again.

How coaching can help your company:

1) Focus - The greater the focus the greater the results.

2) Brainstorming – Energy and experience sold many problems.

3) Systems – Developing and implement systems improve the company’s operations.

4) Accountability – Sliding or missed goals doesn’t accelerate goal accomplishment.

5). Objectivity - The second biggest benefit an outsider brings to a company.

You want things to change, but YOU’RE not willing to start

Many times, we try to grow our business without growing ourselves. We think that our situation will be better when our customers or employees or business partners gets their act together. We are looking for the pixie dust when we should be looking in the mirror. If you want your business to change, it has to start with you. If you want your profit to grow, it has to start with you. If you want to be debt free or have a $1,000,000 in the bank, it has to start with you.