What’s stopping you? Could it be fear of success??

‘What a ridiculous question!’ I can imagine some of you saying. Why would I fear success? Surely, that is what everyone strives for? But if we take a step back and truly reflect, fear of success may well be holding you back.

A client of mine is considering changing jobs. He arrived at the session, fired up and wanting to resign immediately. He was fed up of his boss, the work, everything and had had enough! OK, I thought, let’s explore CVs and job hunting. He’s obviously desperate to move on and wants to get straight on it.

I couldn’t have been more wrong! Several weeks later, his CV still hadn’t been revised and his Linkedin profile still hadn’t been updated. What was holding him back? When we explored this further he said, ‘What if all this works and I get a new job?’ I must confess to being slightly baffled – wasn’t that what he wanted? 

‘I’m scared that if succeed, I won’t like the new job and will think I would have been better off staying where I was. It’s almost better the devil you know. How do I know if the time is right?’ Fear of succeeding was holding him back.

Another client of mine couldn’t understand why she wasn’t getting customers for her consulting business. Further probing showed that she had, in fact, been given some really good leads but had failed to follow them up. Why not?

‘I’m worried that when I get their business, I won’t live up to the hype and they’ll think I’m no good. Subconsciously, if I don’t try, then I can’t win business and I don’t have to worry whether customers will think I’m any good.’ The client had no problem with the idea that she could win business if she tried, it was what might happen if she did succeed that scared her.

This is just two examples of how fear of success became an obstacle to moving forward. If this is the case for you, have an honest and frank conversation. Is it just lack of confidence holding back or have you set goals you don’t really want to achieve? 

Working with a coach or mentor is the ideal way to discover what’s holding you back and work out a way to move past it.

 

Give your business a makeover!

How much would you pay a top hair stylist to make you feel fabulous? To come out with a cut and blow dry that makes you walk that little bit taller, gives you that little bit more confidence and ready to take on the world? £100? £150? How about £50?

£50 would probably feel like you’ve got a great deal, a real bargain! This offer could improve the way you see the day and could even change your life!

What about if someone could offer the same bargain for your business? If someone could guarantee that you will come out of that meeting feeling confident, passionate about your business and ready to take on the world of commerce? That would seem like a bargain too, right? It could even change your life!

For as little as £50 per hour for a small business, coaching can provide all of these things. It can help you relight the passion you have for your business and work with you on making your business dreams a reality. A coach can help you visualise your future and make a concrete plan to help you achieve your goals. Sometimes all it takes is for a coach to help you see how well you are doing and give you the confidence to  take it to the next level.

So, next time you book a hair appointment, take a moment to think about whether it would be wise to give your business the same makeover!

krccoaching.moonfruit.com

Christmas coaching Part 2

Christmas is fast approaching and I thought I’d give you just a few final thoughts before the holidays are upon us and we relax with turkey and chocolates!

Santa Claus

Santa is the ultimate icon for customer service. You write him a list, pop it in the postbox (you don’t even need to know his proper address!!) and you know he will deliver what you asked for sometime during the night of Christmas Eve! He will not be late, there will be no damaged goods or substitutes. All he asks in payment in a mince pie, a nip of brandy and maybe a carrot for his reindeer!

We could all learn a valuable lesson about customer service from Santa. Deliver what you promise. Make sure deliveries are made on time and with good cheer. Payment in carrots and mince pies optional!!

Stocking

Is your stocking overflowing with unwanted gifts or is it woefully short on goodies? I’m talking about stock management! Do you have a surplus of items which aren’t shifting and have been gathering dust? Or have you run out of supplies and are unable to fulfil orders. Stock management is crucial for businesses and is a good thing to put in your review plan in the new year.

Over-indulgence

We’ve all been there – stocking up on food and drink for Christmas as if there is soon to be a food shortage in the Western world! We overindulge in too much chocolate, turkey and mince pies and then wish we hadn’t. We buy far too many presents in case it looks a bit bare under the tree and put it on credit card trying not to think about the January bill.

Christmas is often a time of bad cash-flow management and getting into debt. Make sure your business keeps a healthy cash flow as it is often lack of cash which can break a business (particularly a fledgling one). Don’t spend on things your business doesn’t need or won’t improve profits. Keep a close eye on your accounts, keep receipts and regularly review your spending habits. Just like the cupboards bursting with Christmas goodies – you don’t need it all! Buy what you need, when you need it!

School nativity play

Finally, the school nativity play. This is the time of year when your beloved little ones dress up in a tinsel halo or tea towel shepherd’s headdress whilst you look on proudly. They don’t get all the words right or they pick their nose at an inappropriate moment – but it doesn’t make you feel any less proud! Your business is like your child. You should be very proud of it! It doesn’t matter if it isn’t perfect or if you sometimes make mistakes. You are brave just for trying, for getting on stage and giving it a go. Use mistakes as a learning experience and next year you will be even better. Just as you child will next year be an even better camel – you can be an even better business owner!

Christmas coaching!

Want to add sparkle to 2013?

Was the year 2012 fat or lean?

Is your stocking full of clients,

Are you making progression?

Or do you feel gripped by

Icy fingers of recession?

 

Well, Santa has sent me

His favourite elf

To give all my clients

Some business coach help!

 

I’ll help you set goals,

And make action plans.

We can improve your profits,

Oh! Yes we CAN!!

 

We can draw up pies charts

To help work/life balance.

So, I’m asking you please

Give KRC Coaching a chance!!

 

Happy Christmas everyone!!!

Onwards and upwards! #business #coaching

Onwards and Upwards!!

So, it’s nearly Christmas and nearly the end of the calendar year. Well, before you start all that Christmas partying spare a thought to strategy planning for 2013.

Before you can plan for next year, however, it is really useful to review 2012. Ask yourself difficult questions such as ‘Did I get where I wanted to be? Am I on track for my 5 year plan? If not, why not?’

Look at what worked well in 2012 – were there particular marketing streams that brought results or did that IT upgrade bring dividends? Look at your budgets – where did you overspend/underspend?

Just as importantly though, is being honest about areas where perhaps the company didn’t fare so well. Explore what happened and use it as a ‘lessons learned’ opportunity! Only by trying things out can we judge whether they work or not!

Analyse your customer demographic. What type of people used your product/services? Who were the repeat customers? Why do you think that was?

All these questions work towards defining your strategy for next year. It will help you identify who are your target customers (preferably those who will come back time and time again!) and what you can do in the next 12 months to attract them. You will also have identified by now what marketing strategy to adopt along with areas for development for the business. With last year’s figures, it will be easy to see where you could save money or budgets that need expanding as well as helping you to get on top of projections for next year’s spending.

Review your 5 year plan again. Is it still a realistic possibility and, perhaps more importantly, is it still where you want to be? Remember, you can be flexible and change your plan as your company grows as long as you don’t do it so often it becomes impractical to achieve.

By the time those parties come along, you’ll know what sort of shape your company is in and how you are going to make it even better in 2013!

Spinning plates or juggling balls?

It seems to me that this is a time of year when many people get overwhelmed by the sheer number of tasks on their ‘to do’ list. It can feel like the number of plates you are spinning or balls you are juggling are increasing in number and something is going to drop. I have been working with a number of my clients recently on how to prioritise their work to help eliminate that out-of-control feeling. 

The first thing (and possibly the most important!) is to remember to BREATHE. Stop, take a deep breath and  get yourself a large piece of paper. Rather than writing a very long ‘to do’ list which can seem overwhelming every time you look at it, I suggest splitting the paper up into boxes with individual headings. Each project/key piece of work gets their own heading with smaller tasks connected with the project written underneath. Don’t worry too much about priorities right now – just get everything you can possibly think of down on this paper under the appropriate heading. 

As you are working through this there will be some tasks which immediately jump out as key tasks which need to be done urgently. There will also be some that you realise can wait until you have more time to focus on them. They may be ‘nice to do’ rather than ‘need to do’.

Work on each heading one by one and prioritise the tasks within them. Try and give them realistic deadlines. When does this need to be completed by? Also look at DELEGATION. Is there anything on your list that can be delegated out? 

Do this for each heading. Now you are ready to draw up an action plan!!

Looking at all the tasks under all the headings split your ‘to do’ list into long-term, short-term and medium-term actions. You decide what short-term, medium-term and long-term look like to you. 

At the end of this exercise, you should feel more in control and have and action plan of how you can manage all the work on your list. Review your list every day and see if you need to add or drop anything.

You will still be spinning plates but it will be more controlled and less likely to fall!  

Goal Setting

Whether you are a new start-up company, small business owner or large multi-national organisation it is important to regularly take some time to stand back and set goals for the future. Goal setting gives long-term vision and short-term motivation. But where to start?

STEP 1

First create the big picture of what you want to do and achieve over the next five/ten years. Identify large-scale goals but be prepared to be flexible. Goals can evolve and change over time – maybe you meet some goals and think it didn’t work for your business so no need to progress them or maybe external forces mean you have to adapt to a different economic climate.

Once you have the big picture, it is time to start breaking them down into more manageable and achievable steps. The goal setting process can take as long or as little as you like but I suggest you take at least a couple of hours to set the ball rolling.

A good place to start is by brainstorming. This can either be in list form or a picture of random words written in speech bubbles on paper. Anything really – it is how it works best for you.

THEN WALK AWAY!!!! Seriously, leave the list for at least 24 hours and try not to think about it. As with everything else, a fresh perspective after a night’s sleep can make you see things in a completely different light.

STEP 2

So, you come back the next day and look at your list again – maybe add a few things or take a couple off. Now it’s time to prioritise. Pick the one which seems most important to you. Continue with your list until all the words are in priority order. You will probably be left with about 4 or 5 important goals.

It’s at this stage I usually go stationary mad and buy 5 in-trays and label each with one of the goals. This helps me get organised and keep all my work in order.

Now I have my headline goals, I need to start breaking them down and making them SMART!

In order to make goal setting as effective as possible, it is useful to think of them in terms of the acronym SMART:

S – Specific (what exactly do I want to achieve?)

M – Measurable (how will I know when I have achieved it?)

A – Achievable (how can my goal be attained? What skills/ support do I need, can I get them?)

R – Realistic (is it realistically possible to achieve this goal?)

T – Timely (when do I plan to start and finish this goal?)

Take your top priority goal and explore it in SMART terms.

Here is an example for a small floristry business:

S – Increase local market share in wedding flowers by 1%

M – I will know when I have increased revenue from weddings by 20%

A – Increase knowledge of sector and increase profile of florists

R – Realistically possible over 2 years

T – By year end 2014

STEP 3

Sounds good but now what? Go back to how you will achieve it. In this example, market research into current wedding flower trends might be useful, attending local wedding fairs to increase profile, look at advertising possibilities or approaching bridal boutiques for a collaboration. Whatever ideas you come up with become goals in themselves and need to go through the SMART process.

Another useful tool to use here is the impact/effort graph. This enables you to identify which goals will bring the best results.

 Effort

Low impact                     |                   High impact

High effort                      |                     High effort

_____________________________          Impact

|

Low impact                    |                        High impact

Low effort                      |                         Low effort

Now I have determined which smaller goals to work on SET A DEADLINE!!

But make it REALISTIC!! Don’t get carried away with enthusiasm or think I should do it by this time. When is a realistic time frame for you, taking into account everything else that is going on in your life?

STEP 4

Get one large piece of paper or spreadsheet or wall calendar (again, whichever works best for you) and put all your deadlines onto it. Put it in a prominent place in your office, kitchen (wherever you will see it regularly) and tick off when you meet a deadline. Enjoy the feeling of satisfaction you get from doing this then add another deadline to your chart!

By the end of this process you should have a clear idea of where you want to go, how you want to get there and when you want to get there by. By meeting all the smaller targets you are working your way towards your larger goals of achieving increased profits or whatever your goals might be.

GOLDEN RULES

The key things to remember about setting goals are:

* state each goal as a positive

* be precise

* prioritise

* write them down

* keep operational goals small – by setting small targets they become achievable steps towards larger goals

* set performance goals not outcome goals – base them on things you have control over

* make sure they are realistic

 

As a business coach, this is an exercise I often work through with clients at the start of our relationship. I hope it helps you to improve your business too.