Business Coach and Business Coaching Articles

Accountability is a buzzword in the business world right now. Unfortunately, most of us have negative understanding of the word. We often use the word as if it means blame and punishment. Therefore, we attempt to avoid it. The truth is that accountability is unavoidable. In the workplace, intrinsically everyone is accountable to someone. We are accountable to our peers, managers, customers and ownership. We are also accountable to our industry.

Imagine this... You're feeling very relaxed and refreshed. You've had a marvelous vacation filled with family and fun. Your business has been in a holding pattern, just as you had planned. You're ready to get back to work now that vacation has ended. Are the kids back in school (or out of the house)? Check. Are you home for a bit? Check. Are you ready to get back to your business-building coaching projects? Check. Now you're ready to dive back in and get down to business.

I'm sure that you have either heard of somebody or experienced personally, travelling down the road in your motorcar and a warning light has come on, letting you know that you are low on oil, or perhaps the engine is running too hot. Noticing the light, you immediately pull the car over and switch it off. You can then examine the situation yourself if you mechanically minded, or make a phone call for roadside assistance.

Visual storytelling, visual communication is a hot topic in presentation skills training. With more and more professionals looking for tips and tricks. Use this 6-point cheat sheet to get ahead. Anyone can become immediately better at visual storytelling, when armed with a short checklist. Knowing what to do as well as common pitfalls to avoid helps new presenters tell visual stories in style.

In a world of get-it-done, stay-connected, and do-it-now, it’s easy to get on a treadmill of life. Regardless of your plan, you may find unexpected demands pulling you in many directions. For whatever reason, you may feel like you need to put in more hours. At some point, you begin to feel overwhelmed. I’ve not only been there, I’ve gotten what I believe to be messages along the way that serve as reminders to slow down, such as the computers going down and even health challenges. Can you relate?r

Successful business owners make time to attend conferences, tradeshows and retreats. New business owners will often hesitate to spend money on these events saying they cannot afford to attend. As a business coach, I will ask “How can you afford not to?” These events are key to your success.

Remember the last time you were angry. How would your life be different if you could access that energy to inform your actions? Many of us were trained to believe that anger is a negative emotion. It was something to be denied, suppressed, or ignored. We were taught to hide it from others and ...

1. Be Nice - I know it sounds pretty elementary but if you think about this for a minute it will make sense. How many people do you run across in a day that are crabby and in a sour mood? You don't want to interact with them nor be around them and certainly you don't want to do business with ...

In the winter, if your car can't get traction on an icy patch, your tires will spin and spin when you accelerate. If you get really freaked out about being stuck on the icy road and keep stomping on the accelerator, do you get more traction? Does your car move forward? Not usually. How about when you're feeling stuck on a project? How about when you feel like YOUR tires are spinning? Do you find yourself pushing harder and harder in an attempt to get unstuck? Hmmm, is that working for you?

Last year I made one of the most important decisions in my life. The promise to leave ncorporate America and give my entrepreneurial calling a shot. I declared New Years Eve of 2006 that I would not enter the comfort of my workplace of 14 years, one day beyond December 31st of the new ...

Are you holding your breath, hoping I'll reveal something that you don't already know? Or maybe you're pretty sure that whatever I have to say won't be new, but you're curious to know just what "secret" I'm going to reveal? Well, no matter. Here's the scoop on the secret to happiness. Recently I attended a presentation at my local library and that was the title – The Secret of Happiness. The presenter was a young woman named Kelsang Kunshe. She’s a Kadampa Buddhist nun with a melodic voice, calming presence, and beautiful smile. Did she reveal some new secret to happiness?

If you are a health-conscious employer, then you know that your fit employees are more productive, that fitness lowers healthcare costs, and that if you could put all of your employees on wellness programs then you would boost your bottom line. As you begin shopping for an on-site or online program, you should first understand why corporate fitness works and what corporate wellness programs should provide.

Sometimes it is just plain hard to figure out at what price you are going to sell your item or service. You might need to do a comparison with your main competitors and find out at what price they are selling their items. In doing a comparison, you will want to fully compare the products or ...

A few months ago, I met a woman who left a lucrative (though unrewarding) job in another city and moved to Oklahoma City to pursue her dream of opening her own business. She told me that after a particularly bad day at the office, and one more frustrating episode with a miserable boss, she took ...

Finding affiliates is not an easy task, by any means. There are many different things that go into trying to find the best affiliates for your products, and it will be up to you to create a plan that will be effective. Of course, you have to have everything in place and put yourself in their shoes in order to figure out where to start. If you can figure out what you would expect from someone as an affiliate, you will be better able to serve your audience and get them interest

Edmund Hillary said, “It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” It’s true. We think it is the mountain that must be conquered but it is what’s happening on the inside that paves the way. Many people doubt that they can create something really significant in this world. Self-limiting thoughts creep in and they wonder if they have what it takes or question if they are worthy of it. When you’re stepping into your greater greatness, a lot of emotions surface, like worry, doubt, blame, impatience, pessimism. The list goes on.

1. First, practice extreme self-care. This may mean taking time out to get a haircut, pedicure, or massage. It may mean taking some alone time to read a good book, and get out of your head. Exercise and eat right. (This is number one for a reason.)

Whether tongue-in-cheek or not, Mark Twain knew a thing or two about how many of us think when he said, “I’ve lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.” The truth is we all too often expect, anticipate or down right insist on living in worst case scenarios. There are, of course, myriad rationales for this. Some people are flat out addicted to scaring themselves.

One of the things that can kill a business is extra cash. This is not just any type of extra cash, but purposeless cash. Many businesses miss a huge opportunity to protect themselves, to invest for the future, or to celebrate by having specific fun expenses in the business.

It’s one thing to talk about leadership theory, about the need to have high expectations and hold people accountable. It’s another thing altogether to actually do it, to find the right frame of mind, the right process, and the right tone. Not long ago, a few EWF members had a conversation ...

Healing is simply coming into right relationship with everything in and around us – to be made whole. We have the ability to transform or heal anything within our own energy field as creation is always re-creating itself in each moment. It’s just a matter of changing the distortion of energy or information in our body.

This article is based on a radio interview with Romanus Wolter on Entrepreneur Radio, www.wsradio.com. How to Create Your Business Vision with a Capital V 1. Why is it that some business owners persevere after several disappointments while others, maybe even the listeners, give up? A: It is through the power of vision. Your vision can be an inspiring, energizing idea that you can use to excite others. You need a vision to be more effective, more desirable and more attractive to your clients and customers. 2. What is the value of a business vision?

Etsy is known primarily as a website for the artfully-inclined to peddle their wares. It is a great place to get customer jewelry, check out beautiful prints, or even order handmade furniture. But, Etsy is more than just a hodgepodge site filled with every handmade item you can imagine. It is also the place that you can throw together a five or six figure salary doing what you love. In fact, some of the top stores are run by individuals who are making in the range of $70,000

A Business Challenge You Can't Avoid I don't mean to start this off as a Debbie Downer, but a challenge you WILL face when starting your own business is finding ways to manage your emotions when experiencing both victory and defeat, positive and not-so-positive situations. It is so easy to doubt your long-term business vision when clients don't seem to be coming in as you had hoped or the clients you do have cancel on you at the last minute.

Whiteboard sales conversations are hot. If you’re seeing your peers and competitors jumping onto this trend, there’s a reason why. It works. Find out the 5 truths for effective whiteboard selling skills. Recently, many small business owners, entrepreneurs, Internet marketers and sales professionals have switched to whiteboard presentations. Why? It is the fastest way to customize messages and simplify complex stuff. If you want to make the most out of this powerful medium, here are 5 core truths you must know. 1. Simplifyr

All too often, at different types of companies, we hear from our clients that the promotional process is a big mystery. People don’t know why they received their recent promotion, nor do they know what is required to achieve the next career level up.

There is no doubt we've been amazed and inspired by the abilities of Olympic athletes of all nations. I was most inspired by Dara Torres, the 41-year-old mom and the oldest female swimmer in Olympic history, who left her fifth Olympics with three silver medals. Staff writers for woWow.com ...

As a business owner you know you must be seen to attract clients or customers. This does not mean you must have a billboard, balloons hanging on your store front or a person out front of your business holding a sign. There are many no cost and low cost things you can do to increase your visibility. My seven avenues below will help you increase your visibility and drive traffic to your website or squeeze page. Seven Ways to Increase Your Visibility

There are times when I stop what I am doing in my business and ask myself the reasons why I am doing this. I am sure that it seemed like a good idea at the time! Working late at night, no guaranteed monthly income, conce s about cash flow, BAS Statements, my wife asking when I will finish in the office and spend time with her – Why am I doing this again?

People talk a lot about action. What should I do? How should I act? What's the next step in this uncharted entrepreneurial adventure? Action is important. I talk a lot about it, too. And yet ... I believe there is far too much talk of action, and not nearly enough talk about mindset. What is mindset?

Need to catch attention of busy, frazzled buyers? If your clients are short on attention…you need to speak a visual language. Find out how. More and more professionals are turning to visual communication to connect with busy global buyers. Decision makers look for visuals to simplify complex concepts. They rate every single interaction on visual impact. Sellers who understand this, gain a significant advantage. What can you do to gain a competitive edge? First, avoid these 4 common and dangerous pitfalls. • Drowning in Datar

1. If you are giving a sales presentation, make sure to only give that presentation after you thoroughly understand your prospect's specific problem and motivation to solve that problem. 2. Ask the Magic Question: “After our conversation (discussion/you see our presentation…) if you see that our product/service is a perfect fit for you, what would happen next?" Any answer other than the prospect would be ready to move forward means that you have more work to do to close the sale. 3. Be relevant.

Keeping New Year Resolutions – Consider Family Business Advisory Board Strategy Many family business owners and their families get together to celebrate the Holidays. Not “talking shop” at these family get-togethers is a real challenge. During these family times, many families in business ...

It is the end of April and tax season is over. That is a big sigh of relief, except that roughly every four years it marks another huge milestone - the US President issues a “100-Day Report”. Why? The people voted and the new president is in office with a new agenda. Do we really expect a major accomplishment in just one hundred days? Maybe not, but this is the time for the agenda and ideas to become a mandate: for it to take root with all the key stakeholders who need to be accountable for important elements of the plan’s success.

Why are executive careers derailed*? Intelligent people with highly developed technical or managerial skills don't always have the know-how when it comes to dealing with people or teams on a personal level. To be successful it is important to know what mistakes to avoid. n Here are the most ...

Stress is defined as a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances. Science has proved that stress damage to DNA is the culprit behind wrinkles, gray hair, and diseases that can shorten our lifespan. Think about it like this; Have you ...

The US dollar is undoubtedly the prime mover of the world's financial systems. It still remains to be the main currency reserve despite claims of an emerging euro domination. Because of its pivotal role in the global economy, the dollar's value is a matter of concern the world over. Most countries rein in the value of their currencies through their dollar reserves; foreign central banks hold US Treasury bonds; and a majority of the oil cartel's holdings are still in dollars.n

How can you get the most out of presentation skills training? Take a total immersion approach. Discover the 10 most important ways to get all the benefits of targeted training without leaving your home. For years, professionals have relied on their organizations to provide presentation skills training. Unfortunately, with education costs cut, training budgets slashed, and corporations on the look out for doing more with less, all that’s changed. What is the best way to get exceptional results, without waiting for your company to put presentation skills training back on the calendar?

One of the best resources to use to quickly establish credibility, add additional streams of income, and attract new clients, is hosting teleseminars. Teleseminars are conducted over the telephone. Just like a live seminar, teleseminars have a speaker and attendees. What you don’t have is the expense of travel, hotel, food, beverage, and room rental. There are many benefits to hosting a teleseminar. These include:

What do Valentine’s Day, Christmas, dating, dinner and a movie, marriage and couples have in common? Rituals. A ritual is defined as ‘any method of doing something in which the details are always faithfully repeated.’ To relate this to your life, rituals include: the time you wake up, how your ...

Did you know that satisfaction is the number one emotion people want to experience about their life and business? Yes, fame and fortune are up there, but satisfaction is the key. Satisfaction is about contentment, gratitude and pure joy. Are you satisfied with your business and your life? If not, read on and see how you can transform your life in the simplest method possible. To be satisfied is to enjoy each step along the way, to be able to integrate the practical with the fanciful, to continually refine your dream or vision.

The summer vacation season is beginning to really start up. Perhaps some of you have already been on vacation, while many of you anticipate taking some time away from home over the next several weeks. It’s a natural part of human nature to focus on the end point of our activities. Think back to childhood, or now if you have children, how their mind works when you go some place with the family. The common refrain, particularly if the trip is quite a distance is “Are we there,

Becoming a professional full time speaker isn’t easy…everyone knows that, it takes a lot of dedication, determination and most important you have to have the passion, if the passion isn’t there then my suggestion would be, don’t even attempt it! I could spend days teaching you how to package ...

I have seen many speakers, read many articles and heard many ideas on how best to motivate team members. There are so many opinions and ideas with different steps and methodologies that it is easy to lose focus on what is important, the team member! Unfortunately, there is no “one way fits all” approach to motivating team members. But there are the six key factors you need to take into account if you want your efforts to have an impact. 1. Make It Personal

It is clear that to build an acupuncture practice we have to be both the health practitioner and the business person, everyday we go to work. Therefore, we are always wearing 2 hats when dealing with our patients. One hat is the person taking care of the patient and administering the acupuncture. The second hat is the sales person, the one who deals with all financial and business interactions with the patient. This includes selling the acupuncture treatments and making sure the patient reschedules as suggested.

At some point in our lives most of us will be working for someone else, so it is important to fully understand what makes our boss tick and how best to interact and influence him or her. How much attention have you given to your boss's personality style? How does she function? What seems to agitate or please her? If we have a difficult boss we focus on what drives us crazy. If we have a great boss we tend to take things for granted. Recognizing the factors which contribute to

From Jim: Creative Intentionality (CI) a major element in the construct that is your success in any area of your life and yet so few people know about it let alone understand how to best use it. To say it directly, CI is about how you frame things. But that’s not a sufficient explanation. So to make the fact of Creative Intention really clear I’m asking you to join in an imagination exercise. You’ll be able to understand and even feel the power of CI.

It is true. These are challenging times we live in. More companies will lose market share and sink into oblivion than at any other time in history. While this is truly a sobering reflection, it should be a source of optimism too. After all, for each failure there will be a story of amazing ...

Do you like to create your own ideas and have lots of autonomy to execute them or do you prefer to be a member of a team and toss ideas around? Are you a venturesome doer and interested in the achievement of tangible results? Or, do you prefer a work environment where you handle familiar work in which you have experience and training? How you answer these questions will give you great insight on how much autonomy you need to stay motivated and, most importantly, how to structure your business model so you execute it with ease.

Internet cafe business plan is like regular plans. From structure to execution, nothing is different. The only difference lies in the factors, that you would consider, to make it a successful business idea. The chances of focusing on the wrong factors are very high. You may want to go through a list of important sections of an Internet cafe plan and how to develop them to ensure that the strategies do exactly how you want them to perform. The Budget Budget is the most difficu