Business Coaching

Do you want to make this year your year? Tired of waiting for next year? If that’s how you feel, it’s time to start working with ActionCOACH. In this testimonial from Aaron Ruddick from Reliable Comfort, Ruddick talks about all the ways ActionCOACH Mark McNulty has helped his business. Now Aaron makes decision based on facts, not his gut. Cashflow is better for the business and, thanks to his coach, this is the year for Reliable Comfort.

Coaching is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity and Bob Grace, the CEO of Grace Tax Advisory Group, knows it. In this video Bob talks about how ActionCOACH and specifically Heather Christie’s team has helped his business. By delivering what is important through increased focus and efficient time management thanks to the implementation of systems and strategies, Bob has seen first-hand just how important coaching is for any business these days and you can see how in the above testimonial.

Happy New Year!

Now that we’re in year 2011, maybe you’ve made some New Year’s resolutions. Hopefully you’ve made some for your business so your business can be the best it can be this year.

If you’re a small business, consider making a resolution to start thinking like a big business.

Crazy? Not so much.

People often separate small business from big business. As they should — there are legitimate differences between big corporations and small Mom-and-Pop, homegrown shops.

But what people don’t realize is small businesses are really just big businesses in training. Think about it — they each have common goals, and the biggest one is the goal of succeeding.

Big businesses tend to have an easier time targeting markets and generating leads because they have a more well-known brand presence. Sometimes small businesses need to think like big businesses…and other times, they need to think smaller to really focus on their target markets and generate the most leads from the most possible places.

What are ways small businesses can think like big businesses? A free coaching session can help you discover some ways that might have been overlooked.

This could make a difference for your business this year!

Who would’ve thought 20 years ago that we would one day be able to download movies? Or choose which ones we want online and a company would send us those DVDs in the mail? Or that we’d be able to download books for less expensive than the cost of a hardcover or paperback book?

Well, today, more and more people are choosing Netflix over Blockbuster, and books for Amazon’s Kindle over Borders or Barnes and Noble. A place where people can rent all different kinds of movies, from the latest releases to classics to foreign films was a great idea – but it seems Netflix has come up with a better idea. Blockbuster tried to keep their brick and mortar stores and offer a mail option…but it doesn’t seem to be working as well.

Same with Amazon’s Kindle – Borders hasn’t made an attempt to fight back against the digital book formats because they’re confident people want a place to sit and read, “meet others who share their passion for books and engage in the sheer joy and indulgence of spending hours exploring.” But it seems that the Kindle is gaining even more popularity, and there’s a much less expensive, better functioning version (for just $139! Heaps less than its original $200-plus price tag), so to make another version obviously means it’s a money-maker.

Look at the other businesses that may not make it to 2020, and make sure your business isn’t modeled similarly…

Brad Sugars at last year's KLUC toy drive.

ActionCOACH’s founder and chairman Brad Sugars helped Las Vegas radio station KLUC surpass its toy drive goal of 2,000 bikes by 248; Sugars brought 250 bikes at the very end of the drive, when they only needed two or so to make the goal. Way to go, Brad!

Shama Kabani started her own company.

College grads or young people with jobs have been the first let go in this economy in most cases, and those who are on the hunt for a job are out of luck even with service industry jobs.

But the positive spin – some young people did something about their rejection and tough job markets.

They simply started their own business.

Shama Kabani is just one person who, when she wasn’t hired at big consulting firms like McKinsey and Bain & Co., decided to venture out on her own.

While completing her master’s degree in organizational communication at the University of Texas at Austin, Kabani wrote her thesis on Twitter and other social networking sites and their benefit.

She became convinced businesses could use the tools to market their products and services. But when she applied for jobs and gave interviewers that pitch, she was rejected.

Nobody really cared for social media at that point in time.

But Kabani believed she was on to something, and founded her own full-service online marketing firm in March 2008, called Click To Client.

It provided several Web and social media services to clients, like building Web sites, managing SEO, and creating and managing social media campaigns.

The six-employee business now takes on about 25 one-off projects a month and acts as an online marketing department for six regular clients on a retainer basis.

Kabani said Click To Client had about $120,000 in revenue in 2008, and she expects $280,000 for 2009, and is shooting for $1 million in 2010.

If she can do it, why can’t you? Why can’t anyone? Especially with the help of an ActionCOACH Business Coach.

ActionCOACH Business Coach David Drewelow knows what he’s talking about when it comes to the recession. He’s managed to coach Marion Mixers’ president, Doug Grunder, through the recession, and instead of downsizing the company, Grunder managed to stay afloat without having to lay off any employees. Instead, Drewelow managed to help Grunder turn the recession into an advantage for his company.

Marion Mixers manufactures horizontal mixing and blending equipment, supplying equipment in the food, plastic, chemicals, minerals and recycling industries.

Grunder bought into Marion Mixers in 1995 with several other investors. About a year ago, those investor agreed the best long-term strategy in the down economy was to reinvest any revenue back into the company. But after attending Drewelow’s ProfitCLUB, Grunder decided to work one-on-one with a business coach to get the information he needed specific to his business.

Drewelow broke that one-year plan into 90-day increments for Grunder, and in addition to dealing with day-to-day issues, together they work out what needs to be done on the plan over the next two weeks and what tools Grunder may need to assist him.

Curious as to how Marion Mixers made it through the recession with Drewelow’s help? Read the full article in Edge Business Magazine here.

Is your business healthy enough to survive, recession or no recession? Take our Business Health Check to find out. Or, if you want to give coaching businesses a try, see if you qualify here.

Facebook marketing can bring great results.

If Facebook marketing has you lost, keep these two facts in mind: the fastest-growing demographic on Facebook is 35- to 54-year-olds, and the next fastest-growing demographic is the over-55 crowd.

This is great news for people who are trying to market themselves to potential clients – business owners are in these two age groups, and they’re actively using Facebook.

Now that you know that there are potential clients out there on Facebook, here is an easy way to market yourself and your business:

1) Create a Facebook page for your business
2) Share an interesting article on your page to engage your fans, comment on posts on your page to communicate with your fans, update your page to generate a story about it in your fans’ news feeds, create a discussion section on your page to interact directly with fans, create or join a group related to your industry to find more fans and/or create an event related to your business to meet fans.

As long as you maintain and continually update your page, slowly but surely, you’ll gain fans, interact with people who comment on your events you post on your page, and work up to interacting in person.

That’s the end result…but it takes work to get there.

That seems to be where people fall off the Facebook marketing train. They think it will be easier marketing themselves on social media sites. But in reality, it takes just as much work to maintain and update a Facebook page and interact with fans and friends. As long as you keep this in mind, you should be successful in Facebook marketing.

For other marketing strategies for your business, consider a free business coaching session. It’s a great way to figure out what issues in your business might deserve the most focus.

There are lots of correlations that usually don’t mean anything, but several economists swear they really can correlate trends with the financial market just by following trends of one thing: women’s skirt hemlines.

Yes…by checking out the type of skirts that are the big trends – minis, ankle-length or knee – apparently, this is a predictor of how the economy is at the moment and where it’s headed.

And most people in business and finance think fashion isn’t useful! Tsk, tsk.

Think about it: the stock market’s crash of 1929 was a defining moment for the economy and skirt heights; both  plummeted, with hemlines below mid-calf.

A decade later, on the eve of the World War II, the U.S. economy entered an 80-month expansion which lasted through February 1945, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. During this time, knee-length skirts became ubiquitous, though the trend had more to do with conserving fabric for the war effort than with the economy. But by the ’60s, miniskirts were in full swing…and so was the economy.

Remember what women were wearing right before the housing market crash from fall 2007 to about 2009? Floor-length maxi dresses were the huge trend in dresses. Seriously…this market-predicting trend is uncanny.

Do you have any “superstitious” correlations you use when it comes to business or the economy? Even ActionCOACH founder and chairman Brad Sugars has one: when Warren Buffet starts selling, watch out! The economy is on its way down. When Buffet starts buying, “spring” is around the corner.

Get small business tips at actioncoach.com.

Looking for some quick business tips? I read this interesting article on ActionCOACH’s website. Check it out — and check out the company’s full Business Library here.