What do you do?

What do you do? I get asked this all the time. I say, “I am a coach”. The response is usually, 'what type of coach'? I reply, “an executive coach”. They say, ‘Like a life coach’. I say, “a business coach but because many of my clients are entrepreneurs that are leveling up, or what to, it has many aspects of what people consider a life coach. Improving their business is always the initial purpose and focus.”

A few of my clients consider me a ‘business therapist'. This is because for many entrepreneurs with fast growing businesses, their businesses are so integrated with all aspects of their lives. In many ways, I am like a therapist in some ways because it is the person who is in their own way, usually because of their beliefs, and lessons learned along the way. I have experienced the roller coaster of emotions and decisions required to grow a business, and know many of these beliefs and lessons learned are no longer valid in the present day. Moreover, it is always 'the man in the mirror' that is responsible for all the good and the bad. It is imperative to make present day decisions with a present day perspective, and insure the decision is helping company move towards its present day goals. You can not drive looking in the rear view mirror. What got you here will not get you where you are going. If you are a boat moving forward in the water, you leave a wake, but the wake can not push the boat forward. I make sure my clients are focused on moving forward, not expecting wake to push the boat forward.

Here are the nuts and bolts of my executive coaching work:

1. I have one goal, to make people successful in their terms; in other words, they define what good looks like for their businesses and themselves.
2. I put 100% of my focus on them. I ask questions and listen closely with a goal to get to the underlying beliefs they are holding on to, and why they believe what they believe.
3. I take notes and close each meeting with a summary of actions they are committing to doing and how those actions will impact their prioritized goals, and ask if they want me to hold them accountable; and how they will hold themselves accountable. 
4. I review and update their stop doing list, and ensure they articulate why something is on their stop doing list and why it is important for them to stop doing. More often than not they have not stopped doing most of the activities on their stop doing list, and I ask them why. The fact is, habits either good or bad, are hard to break; even when you know breaking them will help you achieve your goals.

I help my clients simplify and focus on what they think matters the most, ensuring they actually have control or directly impact the outcome, because where the ‘what matters’ circle, overlaps the ‘what you control’ circle is what they should be doing with 80% of their time.