Coach Express

Do you know how much it costs to set up a coaching business?

Should you keep your day job or make a clean break?

Where will you find your clients?

Last week Robyn Logan interviewed three successful coaches and got the answers to these questions and more.

We had a great turn out for the ‘Spotlight on Coaching’ Teleseminar and for those that were unable to make it - we audioed it!

You can download the MP3 for listening in the car, or experience the streaming option through your computer.

Listen here

by Bronwyn Bowery-Ireland

I have recently been thinking about the notion of being a leader and I feel as though the role is more about providing a service to all employees and customers at the company than anything else. Many books I have read over the years often talk about the leader as being the visionary, the person who holds the light high above so all can see when at times it may seem dark, and the path forward uncertain. Although this holds meaning for me, it is the stuff between the lines that I could never relate to. There are examples of leaders being great figures who were to be admired,  and for some, even worshipped. I think this perception has also been supported by the media, as we see leaders being heroes, with great wealth and status.

The short answer for me is that Leadership is all about being a provider of a service. Just as everyone at International Coach Academy has a role to provide a service, my role differs only in that I am here to provide a service to employees and customers. My role is to support people in what they do. Certainly, leaders are also the holders of the vision and many other skills. (more…)

By Robyn Logan

Have you ever paid for a booth at a conference? If so then what I am about to describe will be very familiar to you. Firstly, you wrangle to get the position you want, at the price you can afford, then you spend the next couple of months brainstorming a way to attract people to your booth. Will you hold a raffle, invest in an iPod or collect a range of bonus products together as one big giveaway? Collect business cards in a fish bowl and then spend hours (or get someone else to spend hours) entering names into a database.

Either way , it’s all a big investment in both time and money - and I haven’t even talked about banners, brochures and display costs. But as I said, if you’ve been there, then you know what I am talking about.

We had an opportunity to secure a booth at the ICF conference in Long Beach, California, last month. After much deliberation we decided against it. We just couldn’t justify the cost. Of course that didn’t mean that we didn’t have the odd moment of self doubt upon arriving and noticing 90% of our competitors were there with fantastic booths and great giveaways.

But then something strange happened. It was utterly unplanned, totally unique - and the response took us completely by surprise.

>>> 2 weeks earlier… (more…)

By Bronwyn Bowery-Ireland

This article first appeared in the WABC, Business Coaching Worldwide ezine, Volume 2, Issue 1, 2006.

I am sometimes surprised to learn that coaches are failing to gather a range of information from their clients prior to the commencement of the coaching process. In the absence of such information, how is it possible to calculate ROI?

In the early 70’s, Donald Kirkpatrick introduced a model for evaluating the benefits of training. This same model is used today by training and human resources departments to evaluate the ROI of coaching. The model has four levels:

1. Reaction: How well did the client like the coaching?
2. Learning: What principles, facts and techniques did the client learn?
3. Behaviour: What changes in job behaviour resulted from the coaching?
4. Results: What were the quantitative results of the coaching in terms of reduced costs, improved performance, improved efficiency, etc?

Each level in the model requires information form both the client and the organization. In order to be of value, the information must be gathered before, during and after the coaching process. (more…)

With Alex Mandossian and Lou D’Alo

Those of you who are familiar with ICA trainer Lou D’Alo will not be surprised to see that he has hooked up with undisputed teleseminar heavyweight champ Alex Mandossian.

Inspired by what he learned in Alex’s Teleseminar Secrets course, Lou rapidly built a bustling coaching business using teleseminars and joint ventures as virtually his only marketing strategies and now teaches his clients and subscribers to do the same.

Now, Alex has agreed to do a one-time private and exclusive call with Lou especially for coaches. Because you’re part of the ICA community, you’re invited as a VIP guest.

This will be a content-rich 90 minutes especially for coaches, including a Q&A session where Alex will answer as many of your most important questions as possible.

You’ll learn the time-tested teleseminar secrets that will fill your client roster, build an endless stream of potential new clients, establish yourself as an authority, and create multiple passive streams of revenue - all from the comfort of your home.

For details of the event register here

In our weekly management meetings at International Coach Academy we spend the first 15 minutes of our meeting participating in an activity to develop greater trust in our team. We recognise that to achieve our goals we need to work effectively as a team and trust is one of our values. We also take it in turns to chair the meetings. This week it was my turn and part of being the chair is that you also facilitate the trust activity. I wanted to share this activity with you. (more…)

Blue Ocean Strategy, by W. Chan Kim and RenŽe Mauborgne

I just love this book. (http://www.blueoceanstrategy.com) It is one of those business books I keep coming back to - and not because I am necessarily looking for help with my business - but because I find it pleasurable to read the various case studies of marketing creativity contained in its covers.

“Blue Ocean Strategy” is not new to the bookshelves, in fact it is a couple of years old now, but the message remains current. The authors, INSEAD professors Kim and Mauborgne advocate an approach to marketing that takes you outside traditional thinking. They draw a distinction between traditional strategic thinking - which they call “red ocean” strategy and a new, more creative approach, which they call “blue ocean” strategy.

A ‘red ocean’ is based on traditional strategic thinking (e.g. Harvard’s strategy guru Michael Porter). It is about creating a vision and some targets and then working out a way to make those “Five P’s” work to your advantage. Much of the language has a history in military combat and much of the energy is devoted to ÒbeatingÓ the competition.

What then is a BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY?

(more…)

* Learn how to create a unique environment where people feel safe and supported
* Develop another stream of revenue
* Use teleclasses as a marketing tool for your coaching practice

–> Click here to Register

Check out graduate Learning Blogs:
–> http://melbrennantrainercse.wordpress.com/
–> http://empoweringspace.wordpress.com/
–> http://joanncrouch.wordpress.com/
–> http://jamee1.wordpress.com/
–> http://dsimon.wordpress.com/

By Robyn Logan, Strategy Director, ICA

I stumbled across a phenomenon called “Second Life” this week, some of you may have heard of it already.

Second life is a virtual community, a place you can go online and create your own character. You choose a name, a physical appearance and a personality. In short you create a “second life” and unlike your first life, which is governed by real world contraints (ie: your existing life, existing family, existing job), your second life is a life of choice. You are only limited by your imagination. (more…)

For 12 days in December ICA brought you Business Basecamp - a series of teleseminars designed to build your business. For this series we scoured the web, our networks and lists of well known entrepreneurs to select the 12 most essential steps to getting any business off the ground and soaring. You can see the list of speakers here:

Its a very intense experience to sit through 1 - 3 hours of fast paced quality content each day for 12 days. I found it both exhilarating and exhausting. And an interesting thing occurred…after about day 3 I started to notice some repitition from the speakers. As the days went on this happened again and again. So although each speaker was presenting on substantially different topics, elements of their message was the same.

Here then is a list of the Top 5 Tips for Successful Entreprenuers in 2007, incorporating the most common themes and threads from http://www.businessbeacamp.com (more…)