Archive for the ‘Business Diagnostic’ Category

How can you deal with a conflict of values & beliefs?
Well I am a very fortunate person to be able to work with lots of people and help them to understand their values & beliefs, and how to deal with any conflicts and reduce any impacts due to conflict.

What happens when the ones you have had installed during your up bringing from our parents etc and you have true respect for these, as they have been proven to be successful many times over!

Then alongside these values & beliefs you also begin to develop additional values & beliefs of your own, which you have faith in and also think will be equally as useful. But when you are in business and you have two lots of values & beliefs, one you were brought up on by your parents and one you have nurtured yourself.

What do you do?
Which one do you decide is best for you and your business?
What If I get it wrong and I make the wrong choice?

For example:- If your business is not making money then you have no business? Yet you can have a very viable business potentially but without cash flow you cannot survive. Plus you have to speculate to accumulate.

In business you have to make many difficult decisions and you have to make them and not to deliberate to long on which option to I make. Then main thing is that you do make a decision and then stick with your choice. Avoid procrastination, as this will only confuse things and distract your attention away from the main focus of running a successful business.

There are many ways you can run businesses in this day and age, some are easier than others. But you cannot let a conflict of values & beliefs get in the way or stop you from achieving your business objectives. Once you have chosen which one suits you best can you make a judgement of which one was the best for you and your business.

There are so many businesses today that are virtual businesses with minimal overheads, i.e. out sourced office facilities, out sourced HR, freelance staff on a self employed basis, minimal ownership of equipment or stock etc. etc. that are very successful and everyone gains from collaborating with each other. Because they all work under one umbrella, then their over heads and running costs are greatly reduced and it is easier to make a profit and invest in future projects and ventures.

So you can run and build a business empire with very little money with the right amount of thought and planning put into place. Which means a business model that requires money to make money, seems financially viable, but you can have a business model that requires limited money or little financial investment. Which can also grow successfully, so it is about choice and which business model (value & belief) is best for you. The difference is one model is an old and trusted model and one is relatively a new model.

So check out all your options and then make a decision based on fact, and facts that suit you and formulate the correct value & beliefs for yourself!

 

Interesting title, I have decided to write about who are you and what do you want. Because so many of us wander around on this planet not know who we are or knowing what to do!

So first of all, who are you?  What do you currently do for a living and are you happy with the job you currently have?

I know I am asking lots of questions of you all, but it is for a reason and the reason is to identify what is right for you! Because by doing a job that you are either not suited to or are not happy with, can lead to you feeling down, under pressure. Which if you do not deal with can lead to stress and for your confidence and self esteem taking a basing at the same time.

Why did you choose your current role / job? Ask yourself if you know what you know now about the job, if you were applying for the role for the first time, tomorrow, would you! If you could say yes, then you probably have chosen the right career path for you.

But if you can say no I would definitely not, then we need to look at why? And what are the learns about your experience that you can incorporate into any future opportunities you look for.

So how do you set about identifying what is right for you, to be honest you should get yourself  a Life / Business Coach to help and guide you to a natural conclusion! The reason I say this is because everyone including myself will not ask ourselves the right questions, because we can avoid any difficult ones that put us on the spot. Secondly we are not always honest with ourselves and think we know best, but without help it is not always possible to come to the right conclusions.

If you do decide to go it alone, remember what has not worked for you in the past, take the learns you have gained and put them to good use in any future decisions you decide to make. Then challenge yourself about what is important to you.

What things do you enjoy doing?

What makes you happy the most?

What skills do you currently have?

What qualifications do you currently have?

What qualifications do you need to achieve what you want?

There are loads more questions that you need to consider to enable you to come to the right decision.

Then  you have to record the options you have available to you and then go through the pro’s & con’s of each option.

Once you have decided on the correct option for you then you need to know how to go about achieving this option!

Then there is the how?

Yes how do I go about achieving what you want?

What is required?

What support do you need?

What qualifications if any do you need?

Who do you need to contact to enable you to achieve your goals?

Set yourself time scales, when do you want to achieve you goal by?

Can you do it on your own, do y0u have enough resources yourself?

If not who else can help or support you in achieving your goal?

Provided you have a process to follow and to enable you to move towards your true goal and you focus on that goal you will get your desired outcome!

Timothy Galway – says that everybody has the ability to achieve what they want in life, and he uses a formula which is:-

The Formula is – Performance = Potential – (minus) Interference.  Which is simple, yet so powerful you, because it is simply staying you get what you focus on and avoid any distractions / interference!

If you want to contact me or need advice, please contact me and lets get you on the right path to your chosen career.

Martin

 

Elevator Speech / Pitch?

You need to describe yourself in detail, concisely and impressively, making sure you also inform what is you do and what you have to offer that is unique.

Also think outside of the box, by not having your own agenda, it is a bit like when you go fishing, there is you, your rode & reel, plus you have your hook & bate. Now all you need is a fish to take the bate, so you need to tease & entice your audience to take firm interest & for them to ask you questions! Once this happens you have the interest from you potential client or buyer? This is when you can switch into selling mode & to match the benefits & services to that you have offer & have established from them.

Be different.

You have to stand out from the crowd, so your audience want to know more & will seek you out to find out more! And remember people buy of people, but they want something that stands out from all your competitors. So be original & look to inspire those around you.

Help others.

Always seek to support & help others, for what you give out, you will get double in return. Also you will get support & free advice that is invaluable, which if you had to pay for would really cost you dearly.

Personal integrity.

Trust, reputation are key requirements that fellow businesses value & your potential clients will be looking for this, they do not want to deal with the insincere or people with the gift of the gab type of person. So invest in time & effort to build relationships that will stay with you & provide you with repeat business, but more importantly you also build your reputation & the key ingredient of respect & trust.

Relevant targeting.

One thing to remember no matter who your ideal target market is, that potentially everyone who has surplus cash available is a potential customer, it all depends on what attracts an individual marketing wise, as to what they will eventually spend that surplus cash on! So always remember even the most unexpected buyer could become your customer.

With this in mind, it is also good to know who your ideal target market is likely to be & how are you going to be able to actually present to them directly or in person.

i.e. Flyers, be mindful that these cost money, so make sure they are used effectively? For example do not suddenly decide to deliver a thousand flyers in your neighbourhood & a healthy return, the normal response rate is about 0.62% per hundred flyers, so not a great return for your investment.

But if you take one flyer & take it to one of your ideal target market & present it to the proprietor / owner? for example lets take a mobile valeting service & you take the first approach not much return from delivering to your local housing estates, but if you took the second option & take one flyer to say a supermarket with say 30 -40 staff working shifts & speak to the manager with a special offer plus perhaps a guaranteed day that you can be at the supermarket, you are likely to get a minimum return which will be much higher anything from 1 – 40 from one flyer. Far better odds don’t recon?

Plans & aims.

Always think about what type of networking is best for you, & how much time to invest in networking, there are lots of various groups, clubs etc out there, so be selective & plan your time to maximise the benefits available to you. Networking is a vital part of getting  your business the correct amount of exposure.

Follow up.

Make sure you follow up any meetings or referrals you have obtained, because delay, gives the impression that you either don’t care or are not interested, so make sure you act quickly to avoid losing any potential business. You might actually be very busy & just find it difficult to find time in your diary, but trust me find the time, otherwise you with very quickly have an empty diary.

Be positive.

This should go without saying, but I will mention it for those who think they can get by because they have a product or service that is vital to your client so don’t  have to be that positive. Well I have news for you, you are not the only supplier & people buy of people, a non positive attitude funny enough has a negative effect on those who have lost there positivity!

Sustained focused effort.

You need to always be focused & up for any challenge, this is vital for sustained growth, your efforts & commitment will be reward from remaining focused every day.

Life balance.

If you are grounded in your approach & find the right balance to suit you, your family, then your business & your clients will also benefit, because they will feel assurance in your abilities etc.

Follow the above principles & you will not go far wrong with your business marketing / networking.

 

The GROW coaching model is recognised as one of most popular coaching models to use when setting yourself goals.

It consists of six parts in the process, which are:-

1) State your goal in the positive.

2) Have and evidence procedure.

3) Can you start and maintain the goal yourself.

4) Contextualise.

5) Maintain the positive by products.

6) Ecology.

Lets take each stage in turn, so do we mean by stating with state the goal in the positive?

The goal you want to achieve must be something you actually want and not something you want to avoid. By positive thoughts and actions enables the mind to focus on what you want in life. The mind is unable to focus on negative goals.

i.e. I don’t want to put any weight on? or I want to loose ten pounds over the next four weeks via exercise and reducing fatty foods.

Have an evidence procedure – This is trying imagine what it would be like, when you have achieve your goal, .i.e. what will it look like, feel like or what will you hear going on around you once you have achieved your goal.

Metaphor

When Linford Christie (the athlete) won his gold medal, when he was then interviewed. He stated that he had no doubts that he was going to win a gold medal, because he had run that race a thousand times in his mind and had experienced in his mind what it would be like to win. The only way he was not going to win was if he had an accident on the day!  He said he had heard the national anthem being played, he heard the crowds cheering, he saw the flags waving, he said the jubilant crowd jumping up and down in the stadium.

This stage is very powerful and aids the experience and motivation in working towards your goal.

Can you start and maintain the goal yourself ? This stage is important to work out what support you may need and whether you can do on your own merit.

Contextualise - This stage is only required when you are talking about behaviours etc .i.e. I want to be more assertive ? Be sure where and when in your life you want to be more assertive. If you are in charge of a sales team at work and feel you need to be more assertive with the team, make sure it is only work that want to be assertive and not to include be assertive when you get home and are with the family. As your partner and children will not appreciate the change.

Maintain the positive by products – This stage is about knowing your existing strengths and making sure you don’t diminish them whilst working towards your goal. Otherwise you gain one thing and lose another.

And finally the Ecology ? This stage is about whether the goal is worthwhile, what’s involved, how much time is needed, what effort do you have to commit to to achieve the goal. What are the benefits of achieving this goal.

This model gives you a process to follow when setting goals, it is even better if you get a life or business coach to help you. Because they have the skills to make sure you maximise your goal setting techniques.

 

Feel stressed, tired and miserable? Then take time out, you need to relax. Your body is telling you it needs loving tender care, so take heed and listen to what your body is telling you!
If we continue to ignore what our bodies are telling us, then we are asking for trouble at some stage or time in the future?
Here is a relaxation exercise taken from businessballs.com
Sit or lie down comfortably. Properly comfortably. Straighten your back, put your shoulders back to open your rib-cage.
Relax your shoulder muscles particularly. Relax your whole body, and empty your mind.
Close your eyes (obviously open them when you need to read the next stage).
Take ten deep, slow breaths. Breathe from the pit of your stomach and feel your lungs filling.
Focus on your breathing. Feel it getting deeper and slower. Feel yourself relaxing and any tension drifting away.
Relax your shoulders and neck again.
Visualise yourself being happy, succeeding, winning, being loved, laughing, feeling good.
Relax your forehead, your mouth and your eyes.
Allow a gentle smile to appear on your face as you feel a calmness enter your mind.
Then say (out load ideally) the words below (a script for personal change) to yourself:
Here are some beginning statements to build on to help get you started,
I deserve to be,……………
I want to be,………………
I can be,…………………..
I will be,………………….
I am……………………….
Once you have recharged the batteries so to speak, you will be up and running like new, feeling refreshed and able to cope with life, family and work.
Other ways to reduce stress and relax the body can be undertaken in various ways:-
1. Humour – Is probably the best way to relieve stress, they say that laughter is the best cure and it is also infectious.
2. Brisk Walk – Walking allows you to take time on your own in the fresh air and the exercise help to get rid of stress.
3. Rehydrate – Sometimes the lack of fluid intake will cause stress, so to rehydrate replenishes the soul.
4. Catnap or Powernap – A short rest bite and taking a Catnap or Powernap, which ever you want to call it, recharges the batteries on a temporary basis.
5. Make a Cuppa – Well the good old British Cuppa, tends to solve most things in life! its a combination of the Tea, a short rest and rehydration.
6. Crying – Crying is a way of relieving stress via another emotional state, personally I would rather laugh than cry.
7. Sex !!!!! – Well it speaks for itself, it could be humorous, it beats a brisk walk and afterwards you can have your Catnap / Powernap followed by a nice Cuppa to Rehydrate you. And if that does’nt work then have a good Cry!
But which ever method you take or use, you will feel less stressed.
Alternatively avoid stress by listening to your body and remember you are fundimentally made of three parts your body (the machine) your mind
(is your Sat Nav) and your soul (is the energy and personality that make – You the person) and they all need to be in-sink to be effective. If the machine breaks down or the mind loses its way or is confused, it can’t function normally and your soul is left to carry on and deliver the goods all on its own!
So a healthy body, mind and soul is what to aim for?

Goal setting.
Open questions.
Overall Aim(goal).
What do you want?
What do you want to work towards?
What is your aim?
What do you want to achieve?
What do you want to gain?
What is your goal for the future?
Where do you see yourself in five years?
When do you want to achieve your goal?
What do you want to be?
Remember: Overall goal needs to be specific. Need to get coachee to focus on what they want to achieve rather than what they want to avoid.
Goal session
What do want to walk away with by the end of this session?
By the end of the session what do want to achieve?
Evidence Procedure
How will you know when you have achieved your goal?
What will … look like?
What will it be like when you have achieved your goal?
What will this give you?
What do you want to hear?
What will others see when you achieve your goal?
How will achieving that feel?
How can you measure your success?
What tools can you use to measure this?
How will you feel when you achieve your goal?
What will people be saying when you achieve your goal?
How will people see you when you achieve your goal?
How will you see yourself?
Imagine you achieve your goal! What’s happening around you?
Paint a picture, what will you see?
What will you be saying when you achieve your goal?
How will you celebrate success?
What do you feel like when you achieve your goal?
What do you think it will be like to achieve your goal?
Can you imagine what it will look like to achieve your goal?
What emotions will you feel when you achieve your goal?
Remember: Evidence procedure lets the coachee know what it will be like when they achieve their goal. You need to get all three predicates in at this stage (i.e. visual, kinesthetic and auditory). To find out your coachee’s preferred predicate ask a neutral question like “ What will it be like when you achieve your goal?”
Maintain positive by products of current situation
What are you doing well at the moment?
Is all about ensuring that the coachee knows what their strengths are. How can they keep their current performance where it is and focus on goal. What is the coachee willing to give up to achieve their goal.
What can they bring with them to help to work towards their goal.
What is currently working?
How can you ensure you maintain these strengths?
What good things would you like to bring with you?
What will you lose by doing ………
What can you bring forward to support your goal?
How will you maintain your current performance whilst you are developing?
What sacrifices are you willing to make to achieve your goal?
What measurements can you put in place to ensure that your strengths stay strong and still focus on your goal?
What are your key strengths?
What are your strengths?
What do you like about your job?
What impacts will achieving your goal have on your current strengths?
How will you ensure this doesn’t happen?
What key skills do you have?
How will you maintain the positives?
What can you put in place to measure that your current performance stays in place whilst gaining your goal?
What will it feel like if working towards your goal you lose…?
Ecology.
Is the big picture. What will be going on around the coachee when they are working towards their goal. What’s in it for them?
What resources will you need?
How much will this cost?
How important is this to you? What reasons is this important to you?
How much time do you need?
How is achieving … in keeping with your sense of self?
How much of an impact will this have on your values and beliefs?
By achieving … what benefits will this be to you personally and the business?
Who will it effect?
How much time are you willing to put in?
What are you getting from achieving this?
What reasons are you committed to this?
Is this goal worth time and effort?
What reasons are you committed to achieving this?
What’s in this for you?
What benefits will you get from achieving …..?
How will achieving this effect your home life/social life?
Remember you only need to do the four steps on the overall aim( big goal). From here on in you work on the goal for the session.You will only need to perform the four stages of goal setting if in your second session that the overall goal changes or if it is your first coaching session with the individual.

What are you seeking out of life?

If your young it is how to live the life of fun, enjoyment, fulfilment, excitement, travel, music, dating, cars, fashion, image etc. all of these cost money and need commitment. So you want to earn good money to enable you to use the money to do the things you want out of life! But if you don’t plan, don’t set goals to aid you getting your dreams and desires to become a reality, what then?

If you are now ready to settle down, then you have different needs and requirements, you may be looking for a partner to settle down, you may also be looking to develop your career to enable you to buy or rent your first property together. You may have a five or ten year plan to get married, buy / rent a home, have a family, buy a car etc.etc. This also requires careful planning and effective setting of goals if you are ever going to be able to achieve these without being in debt that is possibly causing you problems etc.

Lets say you are now been married, have a home, have children, all the usual family commitments, mortgage, loans, holidays abroad, children’s education, keeping up with the Jones’s etc.etc. Have you planned effective goals to enable you to enjoy your life? Are you on course to achieve what else you may require in life?

I could go on and on about different age groups and different circumstances we all face in life as we progress in life, the one thing we don’t know in life is what is going to happen to us next. But we can certainly take control and head in the direction we want to go and have as much influence as we are able to.

As the old saying goes you only have one life, so lets make the most of it!

If you link goal setting and start to think you want out of life then you are on your way and all you then need is to focus on those goals until you have achieved them and then set new goals to keep you moving in the direction you want.
I have started by adding some data from NLP that I think you will find interesting and ended with how you can use these methods.

NLP techniques help particularly by making it possible for people to………

Set clear goals and define realistic strategies
Coach new and existing staff to help them gain greater satisfaction from their contribution
Understand and reduce stress and conflict
Improve new customer relationship-building and sales performance
Enhance the skills of customer care staff and reduce customer loss
Improve people’s effectiveness, productivity and thereby profitability

Read the rest of this entry »

I thought that for today’s post I would lighten the mood a bit with some humour. Us life coaches do have a sense of humour you know, and contrary to belief we’re also human too!
For those of you that know me, you will realise that although the stuff below is funny, there is a serious message within it too.
Is The Glass Half Full Or Half Empty?
The optimist says the glass is half full.
The pessimist says the glass is half empty.
The project manager/engineer says the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
The realist says the glass contains half the required amount of liquid for it to overflow.
And the cynic… wonders who drank the other half.
The school teacher says it’s not about whether the glass is half empty or half full, it’s whether there is something in the glass at all.
Anyway… Attitude is not about whether the glass is half full or half empty, it’s about who is paying for the next round.
The professional trainer does not care if the glass is half full or half empty, he just knows that starting the discussion will give him ten minutes to figure out why his powerpoint presentation is not working!
The ground-down mother of a persistently demanding five-year-old says sweetheart it’s whatever you want it to be, just please let mummy have five minutes peace and quiet.
The consultant says let’s examine the question, prepare a strategy for an answer, and all for a daily rate of…
The inquisitive troublemaker wants to know what’s in the glass anyhow… and wants the rest of it.
The homebuilder sees the dirty glass, washes and dries it, then puts it away in a custom oak and etched glass cabinet that he built himself using only hand tools.
The worrier frets that the remaining half will evaporate by next morning.
The fanatic thinks the glass is completely full, even though it isn’t.
The entrepreneur sees the glass as undervalued by half its potential.
The computer specialist says that next year the glass capacity will double, be half the price, but cost you 50% more for me to give you the answer.
So, which category do you fall in to?

Ever experienced feedback?

What was it like and how did you feel afterwards?

My experiences of feedback over the years is based on, I only seemed to get feedback when I had done something wrong!

Yet when I exceeded expectations, nothing was forthcoming, apart from the odd well done, but that is what we pay you for away.?

There is no such thing as failure, only feedback and renewed opportunities?

Feedback is about helping you to know and be aware of what you are doing well and identify any areas you may need to work on. And this should be from direct observation and feedback asap, whilst it is still fresh in the persons mind. There is no point in giving feedback more than 24 hours old, as the person in question would have generalised, distorted or deleted most of the information.

So the key is to give feedback asap after the event took place, this way you will gain maximum benefits for everyone involved.

Also the feedback must be given by the person who actually witnessed the event and not by a third party, the reason is obvious because if a person does challenge any aspect of the feedback, a third party can’t oppose or confirm, because they never actually witnessed the original event.

When you give feedback to anyone, it must based on pure facts, actually what you witnessed, that went on at the time.

It must be objective and not subjective, and the difference between the two is fact versus personal views (avoid what you already know about the person) base the feedback purely on what you have seen and witnessed yourself.

You need to make your feedback as specific as possible to enable the individual to know what they actually need to work on. Also what worked well and what didn’t work so well?

Specifics – mean to give an example of what someone said or did, i.e. it may be a question someone used, tell them what the question was that they used, to allow them to formulate this into future similar situations.

The key to feedback is to not over whelm a person with to many development areas, a because you will demotivate them and secondly we can only work on two / three development areas at any one time.

You need to reload the good points to make sure the person is aware and can continue doing them and turn them into normal habits.

Finally you need to identify the areas that require any improvement or development from this feedback session. The key is to enable a person to achieve success in bite size pieces. If there are more the two / three development areas to consider, choose the most important to deal with first, because the other areas will still be there and once the key areas have been dealt with you can then work on the other areas at a later date.

Feedback is all about development and if delivered in the correct manor, will enhance the performance and development of a person and increase their motivation at the same time.

We should all seek feedback on a regular basis, otherwise we will pick up bad habits without even knowing we have! If you don’t have feedback you will not know and this can hinder your own development.

The simple way to remember this process is via an acronym known as B.O.O.S.T.

1. Balanced  -  (ratio in favour of positive & limit development areas to 2/3),

2. Observed  - You have actually witnessed,

3. Objective  - Facts that you have actually witnessed,

4. Specific  - Provide details and examples,

5. Timely – Give feedback asap after the event took place.

Feedback should be an enjoyable experience that people want and actually seek. Because it helps to develop and motivate them as well.

 

Another video which demonstrates  how powerful NLP is and how I use it to benefit my clients,

Let me know your thoughts and feelings.