Dr. Maria Nemeth will be our next guest in the Ask an Expert series!

Join Alicia Marie as she interviews Dr. Maria Nemeth on “The Energy of Money”

Maria Nemeth, Ph.D., MCC, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Master Certified Coach, is an internationally recognized speaker, author and seminar leader. She is the founder and Creative Director of the Academy for Coaching Excellence. For more than 20 years, Dr. Nemeth has trained professional coaches, ministers, clinicians, executives, teachers, and private individuals using the coaching methods and skills that she has designed. Her courses and workshops have been taken by thousands of people who report significant, even miraculous, changes in their lives as a result of her teachings.

Maria is the author of The Energy of Money: A Spiritual Guide to Financial and Personal Fulfillment, which is available in five languages. Her nine-hour audio cassette series, The Energy of Money, won the 1999 Audie Award for Best Personal Development Series.

In addition to her overseeing the Academy, Dr. Nemeth presents at conferences and organizations worldwide. Her work emphasizes clear communication and empowers people to take authentic action to produce extraordinary outcomes.

Check out Maria’s interview on YouTube.

Tuesday, October 27th @ 3-4pm CST
No cost to attend. Reserve your space today!

Call (512)989-2230 or email rsvp@profitconsultingco.com.
To join the session, dial (724)444-7444
Call ID: 64981 / Pin: 1#

What You Pay Attention To Grows

We have all taken a beaten from the media this last year. All the negative news about the economy and the recession can be overwhelming. I even had one anxious client say, “It feels like the world is coming to an end.”

Take a moment to think of something that happened in your past that seemed very bad at the time, but now in retrospect you see what a blessing it was.

I absolutely know that the challenges we are facing economically now will look like a blessing in retrospect. Businesses will get stronger and leaner. Families will come together. Governments will change. People will remember what faith is. Programs and non-profits will emerge as well as all the positive change we cannot yet see.

I invite all of you to step into hope and give up the worry and concern. How effective can you be when you are worried? How productive are you when you are anxious? How creative are you when you are upset?

Of course, I believe that positive thinking is important for many reasons. If only for your peace of mind, I invite you to stay focused on what is right, what is working and what is good in your business and in your life. What you pay attention to grows and thrives!

Leadership Institute

WHAT: M3 Race Leadership Institute
Nurture and Enhance the power of community to successfully grow your business and yourself.

WHEN: Thursday, September 24th thru Saturday, September 26th, 2009

WHERE: Office Depot headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida.

We at Count Me In believe that entrepreneurship equals leadership, and so do our partners at Office Depot. Leadership takes vision and discipline, creativity and tenacity, risk-taking, earth-shaking, courage, confidence and commitment. It also takes a strong community– this one. Our Leadership Institute will help you successfully grow your business and yourself.

Featured Workshop: Select, Hire & Retain Top Talent – Alicia Marie Fruin

Want To Create Your Dream Team? Now you can! In this workshop you will:
• Craft a strategic plan to build your team
• Learn how to profile roles and write accurate job descriptions
• Design targeted job ads that attract the right people
• Develop the skills to recognize and retain top talent
• Get great interviewing tips and a FREE CD of materials you can use in your business.

Here’s what you’ll experience:

* Two tracks of powerful workshops taught by experts in their fields
* Elevator Business Pitch Updates
* Vendor Matching by WBENC connecting your product or service with corporations, universities, hospitals or government agencies interested in doing business with you. (Separate registration required– Click here to register)
* Panels, speakers and some creative surprises
* Plus lots of time to share with and learn from each other, one of the hallmarks of the Count Me In community
* Shuttle service between hotel and Office Depot available
* Valet Parking at Office Depot

Click here to register!

Even CEO Eric Schmidt Has a Coach

Letting Go…

One of our Leading Change Participants generously agreed to let me post her article on Letting Go .The focus of the Leading Change program is developing our emotional intelligence so we can be better leaders.    

Letting Go by Karina Miller  

I like to think I’m good at letting go, but what I’ve realized lately is that letting go of friends, moving homes and changing jobs frequently, and being what I thought was highly resilient through any change thrown at me isn’t the same thing as letting go. I’m good at change that doesn’t result in real change — changing the surface things and letting go of small annoyances. I’m good at surviving. I have come to understand lately that being “good at change” and survival is not the same thing as creating big, meaningful breakthroughs. I had simply become very good at creating the illusion of letting go and dealing with change. 

A ropes course I took last year helped me begin to understand the true meaning of letting go. It was a powerful analogy for the physical sensation of letting go of something my core physiology and psychology truly thought was required for sheer survival. I was harnessed to a very solid line, standing on a log, about 40 feet up in the trees. I had practiced sitting in my harness and knew that there was no way to fall. My conscious intellect “knew” that letting go of the ropes that connected my harness to the main line wouldn’t hurt a thing. Letting go of my death grip on those ropes would actually free up energy to help with my balance and focus, which would in turn improve my performance dramatically. Yet it was literally one of the the hardest physical, mental, and emotional things I’ve ever done. I was terrified and on the verge of breaking down into a puddle of tears.

It felt similar to many past experiences of clearly irrational fear, panic, and depression. With the help of an excellent coach, I finally, and very slowly, eased my grip and let go entirely. I also learned to request the support I needed from my coach – at the mechanical, strategic, and deep “feeling” levels of learning. 

Once I actually let go and felt the sensation of letting go throughout my body, I was able to work through the course to the limit of my true physical abilities and continue the process of letting go of fear. I felt much freer and was able to move forward, establish challenging goals, and do things I never thought were possible – including effectively coaching others who were more skilled than me. The same has been true of letting go of my suffering and resistance to the fear of shame. 

Several months later I saw the aftermath of harmful “letting go” when a man let go of the Aurora Bridge rail from the outside and fell hundreds of feet to his death, right next to me. Although letting go of the ropes felt similar to causing myself to plunge to certain death, the difference between letting go of my hardcore grip on habits, thoughts, emotions, fears, and hurts that limit me from living a fully engaged life, and making very poor choices that conflict with my values or go so far as to inflict harm or death on myself or anyone else were stark. My survival mechanism doesn’t always know the difference. Sometimes it feels like letting go of something I’ve held onto tightly my entire life will literally cause my death. But, my brain and heart can tell the difference if I really listen. By deepening my understanding of my fears, opinions, stories, and hypocrisies through coaching, feedback from others, and deep personal reflection, and then letting go of them, I have started understanding the possibilities for true freedom, deep love, authenticity, and true engagement in my life.

Healthy Solutions Program – Get Healthy From The Inside Out!

Healthy Solutions is a path to a powerful relationship with your body, food and exercise. Coaching is an opportunity that few have experienced and yet so many acknowledge the wisdom of it!

Everything we want to accomplish with our health first needs to happen internally. Do you sense the truth here, but prefer not look at it? This program is for people who are finally ready to look. If you have tried everything, if you are convinced there is not a quick fix, sign up for this program. This program is for courageous people. This program is for people who do not quit.

I have been teaching health principals for several years and know one thing for a fact:
“Your habits, thoughts, language, memories and your personality have everything to do with your health! All of which have the capacity and tendency to change and grow. You have the power to start choosing rather than being at the effect of this natural tendency to change and grow!”

In the Healthy Solutions Group Coaching Program, you will:

 Create your own meal and exercise program
 Establish specific measurable goals and a plan to achieve them
 Study, investigate and learn about nutrition and health
 Handle un-addressed health concerns
 Uncover un-investigated stories that are persisting your health issues
 Discover what is true and what is not in regards to your health
 Identify situations that are likely to get in the way of your plan and create strategies
 Learn to be sourced by the future rather than the past
 Tap into resources
 Forgiveness ; “heavy thoughts make you heavy” “un-easy thoughts create dis-ease”
 Improve Body image
 Having and being enough
 Keeping your word as well as giving it!
 Being Consistent
 Judging and assessing
 Being athletic
 Vision and action
 Play!
 Personal power versus manipulation
 Fear or love motivation
 Faith
 Gratitude

This program takes 25-assignments/ weeks to complete. The cost is $180 per month (4 sessions) for six to eight months. A physical prior to starting this program is a requirement. Permission from a doctor to participate must be received by 1st session of program.

During your first few sessions, you will develop a plan to aspire to, just drop the perfectionist attitude now! We will put in place actions that are systematic and repetitive. Exercise is a natural outcome and result of being healthy. You will do exercise purely for health reasons, not for a great looking body. We will work on being healthy together; you will create your exercise program.

This is really where your program begins, you see most of us know exactly why we have the results we have. So, why don’t we do something about it? The resignation runs so deep; we just cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel.

In this program, you will get to the root of what stops you. You will confront your entire relationship to food, your body and your overall well-being. You will see that your entire identity is going to have to transform for your body and health to change.

This is where one coaching call per week as well as one call with your program buddy for 25 weeks come in. As you might have guessed, this is going to take something beyond money and time. This will take perseverance. It is much easier to ignore our health rather than pay attention to it.

If as a group, we do not complete each week’s assignment, we may not advance to the following week.

If you choose to do this program, expect to be challenged in every way. You will love and hate your coach. You will win and fail! You will experience every imaginable emotion. You might miss the calls and/or avoid your buddy. You will forget why you are doing this and your group will remind you. Your coach and group will be your commitment when you have forgotten yours. Sometimes you will feel like quitting. Your coach and your group will demand that you keep your word and that you see yourself as the healthy, successful person that you already are!

Please visit http://www.healthysolutionsprogram.com to learn more.

Healthy Solutions Program

The current program is complete and a new program will be starting in October. I am thrilled that the group approach was so successful and so much more affordable. I am humbled to facilitate this program. Seeing people be healthy and experience well being is a gift to me!

I am only putting 6 people in the next program . You can read about the program here.

	Do the Healthy Solutions Program! It’s not about weight and exercise, it’s far more than that. I’ve grown so much in ways that I never expected to and it’s truly one of the best programs I’ve ever done. At 62 years old, I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.
	Leona Mendenhall – Elverson, Pennsylvania

Happiness Is Positive Cash Flow!

“Cash flow, not profits, is the lifeblood of your business. Project it, monitor it, and manage it well before serious trouble starts to brew.”

In today’s uncertain economy with ever rising interest rates, many small businesses with limited financial training are having problems staying alive, let alone prospering. In fact, 63% of new businesses don’t survive six years– and most work-at-home people fail within 6 months!

The primary reason is bad cash management. Too many self-employed people neglect their cash flow until it is too late to recover. So the big question is: How will you manage your cash flow effectively? If you are not sure, then you are on shaky ground.

Let’s break down these tips one at a time.

Fast Collection

In your business, you should collect money as fast as you can. To do so, try these four things:

• Try to speed up customer orders by having them e-mail their orders to you straight from your website.
• Send out your invoices the same day goods are shipped, not a week or two later.
• Indicate on your invoice when payment is due, and specify the penalty interest for late payment. Enforce late fees.

Deposit Money Fast!

This seems only obvious, but it’s extremely important.

Always deposit checks the same day they are received. Don’t hold checks until the next day because you lose one day’s float. Key point: you can lose three days of float by not depositing Friday’s checks until Monday.

• Compare pricing for merchant credit card services; run credit cards as soon as payment due.
• Obtain availability of 0 to 2 days on deposited checks. Don’t let your bank give you the customer availability of 1 to 5 days. Be persistent. Ask the bank for its “availability schedule” and scan it to be sure you’re receiving fast availability of two days or less.
• Each bank has its own availability schedule. This is used to assign check availability to consumers, business (commercial accounts), and large corporate accounts. Availability is the number of days until you can use the money deposited by check as cash. For example, a $1,000 check deposited today and assigned a one-day availability can be withdrawn as cash tomorrow.
• Don’t deposit checks in a bank’s Automated Teller Machine or use the Night Depository since you have no evidence that you actually deposited the checks you said you did. Remember, you only receive a receipt that shows the time and dollar amount on the deposit at the ATM, and you get no receipt at the Night Depositor.
• Ask your bank about its deadline for receiving availability on deposited checks. Some banks may require a deposit of an encoded check by 2 p.m., even though the bank is open to 5 p.m. Make sure you make this deadline, otherwise you lose one day’s float.
• Before using a bank’s ATM for check deposits, find out the bank’s availability deadline. Some banks have a 12 noon cut-off time which means that any checks deposited later are considered to be deposited the next day! In that case, you lose an entire day’s float, even though you did your bit to get the checks cashed.

Have a Super Tight Accounts Receivable Policy

Many people think it is no big deal to neglect accounts receivable until bills are collectible. This is bad cash flow policy. Here are seven excellent tips for handling accounts receivable:

• Check the financial health of a new customer before offering them credit. One way of doing this is by using a rating service, such as Dun & Bradstreet (1-800-234-3867).
• Ask a new customer for five business references and don’t neglect to call them.
• Don’t offer too generous discounts, such as 3% for payment in 10 days. A better rate is 1.5% cash discount. It costs you less.
• Charge a “late fee” of 2% per month to customers who pay late and charge back customers who take discounts after the discount periods.
• Follow up on late payers with phone calls and letters. These may seem a bit extreme, but the first letter should go out the very day the amount is one day late! After 30 days late, start this sequence:
     o send out a letter from your attorney
     o turn over the account to a collection agency
     o use a collection attorney
• Don’t send out new merchandise if bills remain unpaid. Remember that bad debts hurt your bottom line! Be vigilant and try to get at least periodic payments from slow payers.
• Instruct your bank to automatically deposit “returned checks.” Ask your bank if they offer Return Item box service. If they do, then use it to redeposit your check and charge back the bank return item free to your customer.

These seven steps are tough and unrelenting, but they may make the difference between a positive cash flow month and a sluggish month for your business.

Disburse Your Money Slowly

Just the opposite of collecting at the earliest possible moment, you should never pay a day sooner than you have to, unless you get a discount for doing so. A lot of people believe in staying ahead of bills and paying them as early as possible, but that’s just poor cash management. You want to keep your money in your hands as long as you can. Here are five suggestions to slow down your disbursements:

• Pay your invoices on the last day they’re due, not before.
• Try to mail your payment on Thursday or Friday to pick up a few extra days mail float over the weekend.
• Use business credit cards for travel, lodging, meals, and small expenses for yourself and your employees. With credit cards you typically don’t have to make payment until 25 days after receiving the statement. Use this float by investing the money. In total, you can typically keep your money invested for 45 days from date of purchase.
• Don’t issue advances to employees. Have them use their personal credit cards or business cards, if you provide them.
• Now, many small businesses neglect to reconcile their monthly bank statements or assume that the bank never makes a mistake. Banks do make mistakes, and you must stay on top of your disbursement to control your cash flow. If you are one of those people who simply can’t stand to balance you check book, you can use a bank’s standard account reconcilement services for a low monthly price — $50 to $100 base charge and 5 to 7 cents a check.

No Extra Money in Your Bank Account

Many businesses make the mistake of keeping too much money in their bank accounts to pay for bank services. This money could be used more effectively elsewhere — such as to pay off a loan or to invest at a more competitive rate. Many businesses have no idea how much money to leave in the bank or what alternatives they have to compensate the bank. Take some time to find out what your minimum balance needs to be.

Get an Account Analysis Statement

How do you know how much money (bankers refer to this as “balances”) to leave in your checking account to pay for bank’s services? That’s a question that more business owners should be asking themselves.

• First, get a price list which shows how much your bank charges for services like account maintenance, checks deposited, checks paid, stop payments and wire transfers.
• Ask the bank to send you a monthly “Account Analysis Statement.” The analysis statement contains the average balance levels for the month — both the ledger and the available balance — as well as a listing of services used, their transaction volumes and cost. This statement should be obtained in addition to the regular monthly bank statement.
• Look at the account analysis to see whether you are overcompensating the bank. Then pull out any excess funds and invest them in a high-yielding money market mutual fund, for example.

A word of advice: Smaller banks may not know what you are talking about when you ask for an account analysis. Larger banks often offer such a statement, but you have to ask for it. And don’t let them charge you for this kind of statement since it is only an invoice.

Inventory is Not Cash

Every item you have sitting on your shelf should eventually be transformed into cash in your bank account, and the sooner the better. As long as it’s inventory, it’s basically dead weight. If it is not moving, you’re not having cash flow.

Here are six recommendations to minimize the cost of your inventory:

• Attempt to forecast as accurately as you can the day, week and month what you expect to sell. There is software for this.
• If you are dealing in more than one item, determine which item accounts for 80% of your sales. Then minimize ordering other items that are selling poorly or infrequently.
• Determine how fast you can get inventory, once you order it. Try to order as late as you can. Some firms can use “just-in-time” inventory which enables them to receive their order the day they need it.
• Determine your economic order quantity and don’t order too much inventory just to save a few pennies.
• Shop around and make sure you are getting competitive prices.
• Develop a policy for determining obsolete inventory, and how you can get rid of it. The best way to get rid of dead inventory is to sell it whatever you can get for it, even if that’s only 10 percent of what you paid for it. At least it will generate cash flow.

Don’t Forget Continuity Sales

Once of the most exceptional ways of controlling and improving cash flow well into the future is by employing something called continuity of sales or services.

Continuity sales are simply a contract to purchase products or services on an installment basis for a fixed period of time.

The best example of a continuity sale is a magazine subscription. 12, 24, or 36 issues delivered each month for X amount of dollars. The bigger the subscription, they better deal you get. The publisher gets more money up front, and the customer gets a better deal in the long run. Continuity can apply to anything.

Let’s say you own a dry cleaning business. How about an annual deal to clean 5 shirts or blouses per week for set amount of money? Get people to pay your for the entire week up front for a lot of fast cash flow. You’ll trade a discount for getting business, but you’ll ensure a steady cash flow for months to come. Continuity works with just about any kind of product or service you are offering, from dry cleaning to our personal consulting service.

You can structure payments for continuity sales on almost any basis, but it’s best by far to go for complete payment up front. After all, the discount is based on a customer’s commitment, and they’ll be a lot more committed with their money on the line.

Halfway through the Leading Change program… Hear what participants have to say!

“The Leading Change series has helped me to better understand the importance of self care, self expression, and clear intentions in being an effective leader to others. Through a progressive series of coaching conversations, theoretical models, and development exercises, I have created breakthroughs in leadership that have re-energized me and moved me closer to fulfilling my purpose in life.”

Karina Miller – Human Resources Specialist

“I highly recommend the Leading Change program for anyone ready to take that next step of personal growth as a leader. The synergy of working with a group of highly-talented, committed individuals in a safe environment has been life-changing. Leading Change should be on every leader’s calendar for this year.”

Pam O’Bryant, Manager

 

“I have so much energy now that I have identified and freed myself up emotionally!”

Lois Pearson, Business Owner

 

“The Leading Change program has changed my life in a profound way. It is an intense program asking students to be courageous and to dig deep to look at their fear and then transform that fear into power. I thought since I had been through years of intense counseling and many other coaching programs that I knew my motivators. It turns out I was close but then with Alicia’s probing and kind of proding, she brought me to be very clear on the specific fear that was holding me back so I could come to the other side of fear: standing in your power; standing in leadership.

Coming into focus with my fear and being very specific about how it feels and how it has affected my life has allowed me to step back and notice others fear and to have compassion and love toward them as they too identify and notice behaviors that stem from fear. This has allowed me to choose to remain in my own center, notice their fear and how it shows up for them and not be affected by their fear. I can notice and choose my own behaviors that now are generated from a place of love and power versus being generated by fear.

Alicia is a talented, fun, spiritually and practically grounded coach and mentor. While guiding me in the deepest way with honor and respect she also teaches me to laugh at my human-ness and play with new experiences. She is one of the most gifted coaches I have ever had the honor to work with.”

Ann Marie Archer, Business Owner

 

New Leading Change program starts July 24th. Click here for more information or call us at (512) 989-2230.

Leading Change Program Continues

Yesterday we had Leading Change session 6 of 15 sessions. The emotional intelligence work that the participants have been doing is starting to show results. Participants are reporting more energy and less fear. They are seeing changes in others around them as they let go and embrace their real power.
• Real power is about being able to transform results into a sustainable reality.
• The capacity to translate your intention into reality.
• Webster’s definition which I like; the ability to act or produce an effect. Real power is revealed by its absence of fear

Next Program starts July 24th. Applications due July 10th.

Leading Change Continues

Last session I could feel the sigh of relief as the participants in the program realized that all of us, especially leaders miss the mark. There is who we are and who we want to be.  

As we stop being so externally directed and become internally directed we start to notice a gap between who we are and who we want to be. On one level or another all of us are pretending as if that gap doesn’t exist (we ignore it) and deep down we then worry that we could be or think we are a fraud.  

Now, realizing this is great news. When we are willing to be aware of and monitor the gap, we gain access to the leadership state.  Accepting the truth about our hypocrisy helps us transform it. Integrity is the continuous process of alignment between calling and conduct.

How to be “Coachable”

So, you finally decided to give coaching a shot. Good for you! I have noticed that the issue with choosing to get a coach or not has more to do with trusting yourself to really leverage coaching, than the issues of time or money.

Here are some ways to make sure you get what you came for.

• Work with your coach to articulate exactly what you want- be specific. If this is difficult, on an ongoing basis hone your coaching goals with your coach until they are very sharp, distinct and measurable. Do not move to strategy or plans until this is clear.

• The conversation should be 80% you talking and 20% coach talking. However, let your coach guide the conversation. In other words stop on occasion and let the coach ask some probing questions. Let go of control.

• Do not tell stories; we do not need the whole story to coach you. This can really drain the time away from a session. We need to know what you want, why you want that and what are the barriers.

• Practice making your point in the coaching conversation.

• Suspend and let go of judging yourself, your results and your coach. Curiosity, creativity and unprecedented results occur in an environment of “no judgment”.

• Be willing to be uncomfortable and think outside the box.

• Coaching is a process, not a one time deal. The momentous process of engaging in a provocative conversation over and over is what creates the break through result. Stay committed to the process, it works.

• In coaching focus on “who you are being” as well as “what you are doing”.

• Maintain the integrity of the relationship. In other words:

1. Keep your word and acknowledge breaking your word when you do.

2. Let your coach know if conversation or process is not working for you.

3. Turn in your promised deliverables; they record and maintain the structure of your program.

4. Stick to your coaching schedule as much as possible.

5. Clear the deck; remove all distractions.

6. You are 100% responsible for 100% of your goals, action plans & results. Your coach is not there to blame or give credit to.

Listen to some actual coaching calls here!

ICF Global Coaching Client Study

The main purpose of the ICF Global Coaching Client Study is to generate a broad scope of reliable data on those individuals who have experienced professional coaching and the results they achieved from it. More specifically, the key questions this study is designed to answer are:

􀂅 What is the demographic profile of coaching clients?

􀂅 What are the characteristics of the coaching experience?

􀂅 Why do clients seek coaching services?

􀂅 What does the decision making process for choosing a specific coach look like?

􀂅 What are clients’ perceptions of the industry and the service it provides?

􀂅 How do clients evaluate their experience?

􀂅 How are clients benefiting from the coaching experience?

􀂅 What is the return on investment (ROI) from coaching?

June Coaching Tip for Managers

Assumptions can be the downfall of an otherwise great manager-coach. It’s easy to think we know what someone needs or we know what someone will say. I have discovered that when I ask a few more questions I am much less likely to make this mistake. If this is you, here are several questions to add to your tool kit.

Questions for clarity- Eliminate assumptions

1. What do you mean by that?

 2. It seems as if you are saying ________? Did I get that right?

3. Say more about that?

4. How is this different?

5. Anything else about that?

6. What do you think it could be?

7. Tell me more.

8. What else?

Leading change -Session 3

We played with the value of understanding our emotions today. If emotional intelligence is a determining factor in leadership, where am I with that? How do I improve my emotional intelligence? What about the idea that emotions have no place at work? What if we have been ignoring a very big part of what makes an organization, community or business healthy and functional?

We explored being in a leadership state and what gives us access to that. An ongoing discovery through out the program.   

We jumped into a conversation about integrity:

Integrity- from the Latin root word integer – to be whole and complete.  The leaders on the call were reflective and compelling in their ability to dig and look at themselves. I am continually inspired!

ICF Global Coaching Client Study

Enjoy reading  this insightful and well done survey. The main purpose of the ICF Global Coaching Client Study is to generate a broad scope of reliable data on those individuals who have experienced professional coaching and the results they achieved from it. More specifically, the key questions this study is designed to answer are: 

􀂅 What is the demographic profile of coaching clients?

􀂅 What are the characteristics of the coaching experience?

􀂅 Why do clients seek coaching services?

􀂅 What does the decision making process for choosing a specific coach look like?

􀂅 What are clients’ perceptions of the industry and the service it provides?

􀂅 How do clients evaluate their experience?

􀂅 How are clients benefiting from the coaching experience?

􀂅 What is the return on investment (ROI) from coaching?

Click here for report link

May Coaching Tip

Powerful Questioning is at the core of effective coaching. With one caveat– understand that asking a question that is appropriate to the emotional state, learning style, timing and situation is as important as the actual question. This takes effective listening, skill and practice.

Elements of a great question:

• They are clear and direct.
• They are non-judgmental.
• They are transparent– no motive.
• They are real and have the best interest of the employee in mind.
• They are inquisitive and keep the employee thinking and in curiosity.
• They are based in the present and keep the employee in the ‘here and now’ versus the ‘why’.

Why ask questions instead of give directions?

• Your answers are old answers and they work for you, not the person you are coaching.
• If you ask questions, people will self-discover and take responsibility for their results. People really do like their own ideas better!

Leading Change -Second Session

Another great session yesterday. I introduced the concept that leadership is a mental and emotional state versus practices or behaviors. We explored how to identify when we are in a leadership state or in a normal state.  I am blown away by how much I am learning from the participants.

Our normal state is to be self-focused, comfort centered, externally motivated and distracted by outside influence.

The issue with this is that the world is always changing, we are always changing. Each moment, each day we are actually in some type of change and growth. Something is being born and something is dying.  We are always receiving signals that something has changed in our external world and that we should adjust to the change. In the normal state, we will all ignore or deny these signals. Typically, we start adjusting when something significant has happened and often, it is a crisis. When you are in the “state of leadership” you see and adjust to signals faster and with more clarity because you are present and on purpose.  

A leadership state is internally directed, people focused, purpose centered, present and supremely creative.

Someone in class saud it best “oh, when I am afraid of failure I am in my normal state” . brilliant!

Leading Change Program Started

Wow, we had our 1st of 15 sessions today. We have 8 participants in the program; they are all already successful and talented leaders. I am inspired by how enthusiastic each of them their willingness to transform their leadership ability for the benefit of others.

 

I want this program to ultimately give back to the people we lead, like our employees, family and community. It is a very high level dialogue with assignments each session.  The program will make participants stretch, cause them to be uncomfortable, and have them look at how they operate in the world. The program is 5 months -15 phone sessions. 

 

Not everybody could be accepted in this program. This was an application process. The application reflected the importance that participants already have some leadership experience and ability. I asked myself four questions.   

1. What will this person bring to the conversation about leadership, change and personal growth?

2. What will this person likely do with what they get?

3. Who will they likely impact?

4. Can this person fully commit to the program? 

 

Why I launched the program; 

 

Starting last November, I was struggling with some big losses business and personal. I was experiencing alot of emotions of fear and grief and yet still having to walk into my office each day. I thought “how do I stand for what’s possible and lead others through their own stuff?” In addition, with my clients, the emotions were so raw and the business issues so much more dramatic than usual. I knew that if I didn’t dig deep and get myself handled that I would get too entrenched in the “stuff” of my clients which would render me powerless and ineffective as a coach.

 

I was doing all the usual self care stuff exercise, diet, friends but I knew it was not enough.

 

So I played with what worked, I experimented with how to stay powerful and present, how to stay real. I watched myself transcend emotion and be conquered by it. I paid deep attention to my emotions in a way I think I never had before. I let myself be human and I wrote this program leading change.

 

We are going to have conversations about what’s authentic, leadership, integrity, power, managing change, emotional intelligence which includes understanding yourself and others, vision and effective communication.

 

We will often be talking about ourselves yet this program isn’t about them , it’s about those that they lead. Who’s watching?   

 

We started first session with stating who we are and what we want from the program for ourselves and others.

 

Their homework is an anonymous leadership assessment tool that they are sending to their sphere to get feedback on their strengths and weaknesses. 

 

Next session we discuss leadership and what it is. 

Stay tuned …I will update you on their progress and what I am learning from leading this leadership program.

 

Alicia Marie Fruin

 

April Coaching Tip: Why All This Talk of Coaching?

For years, there have been managers. Why now the change to a coach? The two main reasons are:

 * Global Competition

* Technology

Issues cannot continue to be passed up the ladder, sometimes taking days for a decision. Decisions need to be made quickly because the consumer today is more demanding. Thanks to technology, information is now easily available to us, and there is lots of it. With all the information available today, the manager can no longer be expected to have all the answers.

On the other hand, in a coaching role, you are not expected to have all the answers. In a coaching role, you ask the questions and rely on your staff, who become the experts, to provide the information. The result of global competition and the increased information is that managers now must become coaches. A job description of a manager… “Controls, directs and supervises the day to day operations.”

A job description of a coach would be… “To lead, motivate, create a vision, and teach staff the skills needed to empower them to help make us a successful and profitable company.”

A real difference in the two job descriptions!

“You cannot manage men into battle. You manage things; you lead people.” — Grace Murray Hopper

What happens if managers and companies do not change? They will not survive. They will not attract the talent they need as employees no longer will conform to complying with the orders issued by managers. Today’s employees are more educated and need to see the whole picture and more importantly feel as if they have an impact on the whole.

Coaching Skills For Manager Management Seminar – click here

Alicia Marie Fruin

Certfied Business Coach

Leading Change Program: How to cope with our own fear and lead others through change

The natural cycle of life’s ups and downs creates growth or personal fears and blockages. Which of these dominates depends a lot on how we view change. Is it exciting or is it frightening?

 

Who is watching? Your employees, your family, your community? If you are a leader then you are modeling how to navigate our current economic crisis. Will you step up and face your fear so we can all grow and thrive? We call fear by a lot of names: overwhelm, anxiety, frustration, pride, anger. We rarely say, “I am afraid.” The leading change program is for leaders who are grappling with their own fears while also leading others.

 

I wrote this intro below so you would understand that this program is confronting, rigorous and deeply powerful. It requires courage and self awareness. I believe it has the power to completely alter who you are as a leader and a human being.

We will work on:

 

• Understanding fear and how to be facile with it
• Real power
• Integrity
• Language
• Communication
• Being a visionary
• Understanding your core values and honoring the values of others

 

We know change is part of life yet we go to great lengths to make our world predictable, safe, comfortable, controllable and definable. In general, we don’t understand our fear and how we as human beings operate with it. When we have a lot of fear, we go about setting up a world that does not stimulate our particular fear(s). We use our mind to devise ways to avoid having our fear stimulated. Fear is afraid of itself and does not want to be felt. You can do one of two things with fear. You can recognize it for what it is and stop acting on it. Or you can try to keep the world from stimulating your fear.

 

We all do it. Yet we don’t talk about it. You know, try to figure out how things are supposed to be and then go about trying to make it that way. How did we come up with the idea that life is not okay as it is? If change is natural maybe life is too.

 

As a coach, I have noticed that our attempts to protect ourselves from our problems create more problems. If you keep attempting to arrange people, places, and events so that they do not disturb your fear, life will feel heavy because you are controlling and fighting with everything. Most of us try to get to peace this way. Most of us try to get to joy this way. What if there is another way?

 

This program starts in April, is 5 months – 15 sessions and is a “Pay what you can program”.  Please respond to coaching@profitconsultingco.com if you are interested and I will send an application. Only 8 leaders will be accepted and I will accept applications through March 27.

Business Coaching Facts

In every industry there are common myths, misunderstandings, fictional stories and personal opinions. Business coaching is no different. The more popular this industry becomes the more susceptible it become to false allegations.

This article helps to shed some light on this industry and provide you with some business coaching facts. Many of the business coaching facts found in this article are courtesy of survey results provided by the International Coach Federation. Others are the finding of separate studies.

Fact: There are over 25, 000 business coaches in the U.S. alone. Many of them coach both online and offline businesses. While business coaching may seem like the new kid on the block, the truth is the foundation is well established.

Fact: Over 40% of Fortune 500 companies use business coaching. Business coaching is not just for inexperienced entrepreneurs. Even large corporations and people with MBA’s utilize business coaching. Fact: Coaching is about learning not teaching. Coaches are not teachers. They can teach you a lot but they are not there to teach you how to run your business. They may not know how to do things better than the client. A coach can observe patterns and set the stage for new actions and then work with the individual to put these new, more successful actions into place. They are not there to do the work for you.

Fact: Most clients do not turn to coaches simply for monetary advice. They turn to their coach for help on time management as well as career guidance and business advice. To a lesser but still significant extent, they seek coaching on relationships, family, wellness and spirituality. Fact: 98.5% of coaching clients said their investment in a coach was well worth the money Fact: Coaching is a process not an event. The true process of coaching requires getting at the ‘root cause’ of deficiency. If your company is lagging there is a reason. Business coaching is need to help get to the root cause. You have to be willing to accept the cause, overcome it and then begin changing the effect it has on you and your business. All of this is a process.

Fact: Coaching is not the same as consulting or counseling. Coaching is about creating a mutual beneficial alliance. Coaching looks at businesses holistically.

Fact: 61% of clients report having greater job satisfaction due to coaching. Fact: Coaching can produce a 529% return on investment and significant subtle benefits to the business.

Fact: Not all business coaching firms are genuine. They will try to set up cult-like organizations. These organizations try to control businesses, push products on them, and do not have the business owner’s best interest at heart. This is why it is important to research an organization thoroughly, and ask your coach for qualifications and references before continuing to work with them.

Fact: The number one role of a coach, according to most clients, is to be a sounding board. They want a coach who will really listen to them and provide honest feedback. They also use them as motivators, friends, mentors and spiritual guides.

Fact: More than two thirds of clients attributed to their coaching a higher level of self awareness, smarter goal setting and a more balanced life. These Business Coaching facts should help you see what you can get out of coaching but also what you may have been wrong about. A business coach helps your business performance by giving you an outside perspective. They don’t build your business for you, complete tasks for you nor should they compare clients or coworkers within an organization. They help you reach your business goal by deciphering what is limiting your progress.

Lyn Troyer and his Niche Power Group teach beginners how to make money online in niche markets with affiliate marketing. Please visit their online business mentoring website http://nichepowergroup.com Source: http://www.submityourarticle.com Permalink: http://www.submityourarticle.com/a.php?a=53059

Coaching Tips for Managers: Coaching is a Repeating Relationship Cycle

Step 1: Valuing

Valuing the employee assigns worth and importance to that person and must be present to begin the relating process.

 

Step 2: Hearing
Hearing the employee goes beyond the obvious auditory hearing and even beyond the use of listening skills. It is translating what is said into what is meant. It is hearing with compassion.

 

Step 3: Understanding
Understanding the employee is a choice made by you to place importance on and know the significance of what has been heard by you and ultimately meant by the coach-ee.

 

Step 4: Reacting
Reacting is an inevitable, natural and unfiltered internal response to what is understood by you about the client. Your reactions must however, into appropriate and accepting responses. As Stephen Covey would say, “There is a gap between reacting and responding.”  That gap is accepting.

 

Step 5: Accepting
Accepting is the choice to receive a person gladly, without disapproval, blinding judgment or compromise of our own personal integrity. It does not mean to endorse, buy into or agree with whatever is being received.

 

Step 6: Responding
Responding is the external relating step. All the others are internal, but filter the actual responses made to the client. 

 

Step 7: Honoring
Honoring the employee by showing that person respect through every step of the relating cycle and the entire coaching process is the filter through which all relating activities and phases must be screened. Honoring confers distinction on a client, and shows your desire to give credit to them.

Relationship Building is a continuous cycle.

“Being Positively Practical in Your Business”

With the current economy and market changes I certainly feel it is important to keep a positive attitude, be positive and focus on what’s working versus what isn’t working. I know without a doubt that this helps me stay productive, peaceful and creative which makes me better at what I do daily. I have started exercising more, praying more, meditating and reading more uplifting books just to stay in a happy centered place.

 

As a business coach I am recently seeing a trend with several of my small business clients who always, always maintain an admirably positive attitude. Uncharacteristically, I am seeing avoidance, procrastination and a kind of refusal to look at their business situation; however I must remark that they are maintaining a positive attitude.

 

One client voiced, “If I just don’t look at it, I am not afraid.” Who wants to be afraid?  I understand this all too well. After Christmas vacation I took a hard look at revenue projections and realized I had to cut employee hours. Honestly, I should have looked three weeks earlier but instead of looking at my numbers I looked at my vision board and hoped for more business instead of looking at my financials or my new strategies for earning revenue.

 

It reminds me of the three monkeys; see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil. A positive attitude may be easier when we are not looking, listening or talking about the economy or loss of revenue but is it practical and is it empowering? Is it really the healthiest way to deal with the business challenges we face and what about our own well being?

 

Its human nature I guess to avoid looking at what’s changing, an understandable phase for any and all of us to move through but not a good place to hangout and get stuck. As business owners, if we don’t look at the reality of what is happening we can’t powerfully make our next move. We can’t anticipate and head off potential crisis and we can’t make the adjustments needed to stay in business and even potentially thrive.

 

Here are some questions to ask yourself and your team:

 

What are your financials telling you? How will we strategically cut operating costs? Will we reduce your ability to compete effectively if we do?

Will we reduce the quality of our product with these cuts?

Will we reduce the clients’ experience with our company?

Will we reduce the goodwill we have worked so hard to build?

How are our employees feeling? What layoffs are coming, if any? How will we prepare them? How can we all pull together? How will we have to change our business development plan? Has our market dried up? Do we need new markets, services or products? What habits will I have to change or adjust? What business practices will change? How will our marketing messages change?

 

Of course, none of us want to be in “fear,” maybe that’s a phase as well, just another emotion to move through? I find I have much more energy, peace and power when I am practically looking at what is happening in the world and in my business. After all when you are awake and paying attention you don’t miss any of the miracles either!

Does your staff cooperate or collaborate with you?

As small business owners we move fast, change course and shift gears daily. Operating a small business demands that we have the ability to be flexible and change as needed. What about our employees? How flexible do they need to be? How informed? How engaged in the success of the business? How do we know they are aligned with us and the business vision?

Sometimes we overlook informing, including, asking or collaborating with our employees. We are often satisfied with cooperation from our employees, unaware of what is possible if we instead were in collaboration with our employees.

“A leader is someone who steps back from the entire system and tries to build a more collaborative, more innovative system that will work over the long term.” –Robert Reich

Here are some great ways to start collaborating with your staff:

Know the vision for the business, share the vision often.
Include them often in the planning for the business referencing the vision
Work on not just in the business with them.
Tie in daily tasks or monthly projects with the overall business vision.
Create and measure goals against the vision with your staff.
Report in on goals with your staff and/or have them report in on their goals.
Start asking great questions of staff instead of telling staff what to do.
Start asking your staff for solutions that you are really trying to solve, take their advice sometimes. Let them know you did.
Let them set the agenda and run the meeting.
Create and post a visual organization chart that shows future roles (do not include names).
Have very clear roles and responsibilities for each staff member.
Change your language to “we”. Speak about business in terms of we, not I or my. For example instead of saying “I need this on my desk by tonight” say “ We need this one and have a deadline of 5pm today can you get it done?”
Do evaluations of job performance in a timely way.
Have raises, bonuses and incentives based on company performance as well as the individual.
Become a great manager. Read books and go to seminars as well as get feedback from your employees on how you could do better.

What are the potential costs of no collaboration?

If the employee is not in tune with the business goals they will have difficulty prioritizing and focusing on what is important.
If the employee does not know what is going on, they will make up stories, causing unnecessary miscommunication and hard feelings.
If they only have half the information they may feel insecure thinking that the company is failing or their job is in jeopardy.
When we don’t allow and ask for their opinions and suggestions, we miss the perspective our staff may be able to contribute. We also inadvertently send the message that what they think doesn’t matter. Poor performance is directly linked to employees feeling powerless to affect change in the business or in their current role.
Employees will not stay in step with the vision for the business, they will be “I” focused instead of “we” focused .They will not be able to see where their job role fits into the business vision.
We will likely lose touch with what is important to our employees, will not know how to incentivize and morale will deteriorate.

Being Positively Practical in your Business

It reminds me of the three monkeys; see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil. 

 

With the current economy and market changes I certainly feel it is important to keep a positive attitude, be positive and focus on what’s working versus what isn’t working. I know without a doubt that this helps me stay productive, peaceful and creative which makes me better at what I do daily. I have started exercising more, praying more, meditating and reading more uplifting books just to stay in a happy centered place.

 

As a business coach I am recently seeing a trend with several of my small business clients who always, always maintain an admirably positive attitude. Uncharacteristically, I am seeing avoidance, procrastination and a kind of refusal to look at their business situation; however I must remark that they are maintaining a positive attitude.

 

One client voiced, “If I just don’t look at it, I am not afraid.” Who wants to be afraid?  I understand this all too well. After Christmas vacation I took a hard look at revenue projections and realized I had to cut employee hours. Honestly, I should have looked three weeks earlier but instead of looking at my numbers I looked at my vision board and hoped for more business instead of looking at my financials or my new strategies for earning revenue.

 

A positive attitude may be easier when we are not looking, listening or talking about the economy or loss of revenue but is it practical and is it empowering? Is it really the healthiest way to deal with the business challenges we face and what about our own well being?

 

It’s human nature I guess to avoid looking at what’s changing, an understandable phase for any and all of us to move through but not a good place to hangout and get stuck. As business owners, if we don’t look at the reality of what is happening we can’t powerfully make our next move. We can’t anticipate and head off potential crisis and we can’t make the adjustments needed to stay in business and even potentially thrive.

 

Here are some questions to ask yourself and your team: What are your financials telling you? How will we strategically cut operating costs? Will we reduce your ability to compete effectively if we do?

Will we reduce the quality of our product with these cuts?

Will we reduce the clients’ experience with our company?

Will we reduce the goodwill we have worked so hard to build?

How are our employees feeling? What layoffs are coming, if any? How will we prepare them? How can we all pull together? How will we have to change our business development plan? Has our market dried up? Do we need new markets, services or products? What habits will I have to change or adjust? What business practices will change? How will our marketing messages change?

 

Of course, none of us want to be in “fear,” maybe that’s a phase as well, just another emotion to move through? I find I have much more energy, peace and power when I am practically looking at what is happening in the world and in my business. After all when you are awake and paying attention you don’t miss any of the miracles either! 

 

 

About the author  

 

Alicia Marie Fruin is the owner of Profit Consulting Co. a business education company that provides coaching, training and tools for business owners and career employees. She is grateful and excited to work daily with extraordinarily talented professionals in all types of industries around the country. Her company mission is to teach people how to express themselves fully while modeling timeless business principles.

She lives in the Austin TX area and is happily married with five adult children.

Coaching Tip – Getting the full picture

There is an old saying that a picture paints 1,000 words. When clients, colleagues, partners or staff paint you a picture it pays to listen very carefully as they are presenting you the opportunity to understand, predict and influence their behavior. The picture they paint will often come in the form of a metaphor.

 

Metaphors are stimulated by the imagination and reflect a lot about the person’s thoughts, beliefs and feelings in just a few words. The exciting thing about recognizing and responding to metaphors is that you can understand then motivate change with similarly few words. You first listen for the metaphor and you respond to what is being said using this same metaphor.

 

Let’s look at an example of how this may be applied. You are talking to someone who is facing a challenge when they say to you; ‘It’s a tough situation, I feel like I have been dealt a pretty ordinary hand’. You recognize the metaphor and respond by saying; “Good card players can win, even with an ordinary hand”.  

 

In a few words, you have made a huge difference for this person. You have opened up the canvas, to use another metaphor, and they will most likely see a range of possibilities where before they saw none.

 

Thoughts, feelings and beliefs are powerful in terms of their effect on our behavior. Language is the exciting medium through which you get to influence these thoughts, feelings and beliefs, and therefore the resulting behavior.

Top seven reasons smart business owners have an organizational chart

As a small business coach, I have most certainly heard every conceivable argument against having an organizational chart, from “we are a team here” to “organizational charts are all about power and control” and everything in between.  What about why you should have one? As a small business, it is a good idea to have a future organizational chart as well as current one. Yes, even if you only have a few employees. Here is why:

 

1.      Creating an organizational chart usually leads to better role descriptions and ease of accountability. An organizational chart diminishes ambiguity around who is accountable for what.

2.      You will have a hiring strategy versus waiting till you have to have someone.

3.      When people know what they are accountable for and to whom, they are empowered to be responsible for their part. 

4.      When people can see what future roles will be available they can see a future in the business and will less likely feel like they are in a dead end job.

5.      Employees will have a gap between their current skill set and the one needed to fill future roles.

6.      Clear job roles and lines of accountability increase the chance of appropriate communication to someone who can make a difference with issues.

7.      You can strategically design an organization that allows you some freedom and even better, your employees can see your vision.

 

 

Sound good? So, where do you start? Begin with the end in mind or at least a few years down the road.

 

Close your eyes and imagine that its _____ (fill in the year). You and your team have built a great business. This business allows you to take time away and provides you with a fabulous income.  You are no longer the bottleneck of the business; day-to-day activities are done without you. You only hold a few key roles accountable.

 

 Now, ask yourself what revenue are you on track for?  

 

What roles will be full time in 20_ _ (three years from now)?

What roles will you have let go of by then?

What roles will have to be split up?

Who are your key reports?

What roles would be better off outsourced?

How will you measure the success of each role?

What is each role accountable for?

 

Using a blank sheet of paper (or go to Microsoft Word) and the title cheat sheet at end of these instructions, start with your projected revenue in 3 years. Based on that level of production, utilizing what you know about operating costs and salaries currently, what roles are needed and wanted? Draw them on the paper or add boxes in the word document. You are obviously guessing a bit and that is okay. This can be tweaked as you think things through and grow your business. 

 

Avoid the following:

·        Names of people (just put the role down).

·        Having more than three key reports.

·        Having one person in charge of everyone.

·        Overstating the job title, the job title should be appropriate to the job level and scope of work.

·        Adding more people than the business can afford.  

 

Now that you have a three-year chart …back into two years and then create the 2- year chart and the one year chart.

 

This is not a one-time exercise, it should be revisited at a minimum annually to tweak and revise as you grow your business.

 

See sample org charts and job titles provided. For more on organizational strategy visit our podcast to listen to our strategic planning course.

 

Alicia Marie Fruin

Business Owner, Coach, Trainer 

 

www.profitconsultingco.podbean.com

 

Entrepreneur Group Coaching Starts March 2nd

Who should participate?

 

Entrepreneurs who are committed to growing a healthy business and would benefit from the momentum of ongoing group support. Intention of program:

 

To offer an affordable, high-value development program for business owners who want support in achieving their goals and developing foundational business practices.

To embrace strategies that result in greater revenues.

To share ideas and provide feedback with business owners who have similar challenges.

To offer an alternative to one-on-one coaching

 

 Benefits include: · Brainstorming with like-minded professionals. · Momentum, accountability, and support with your goals.

 

Coaching from Professional Coach Alicia Marie. Format: · Coaching sessions are 1-hour, 3x a month for 4 months. · Each participant gets a 2-3 minute check-in each meeting along with 1 minute of feedback.

 

Enrollment:  Minimum of 4 participants, maximum of 8 per group

Four month commitment – Cost is $149 per cycle (3 sessions) Email agreement to coaching@profitconsultingco.com

 

All calls are on Mondays at 2pm Central standard time Dates: January 26th February 2nd February 9th February 16th February 23rd March 9th March 16th March 23rd April 6th April 13th April 20th