Top questions - picture courtesy of www.tvftdo.com

As a coach I ask a lot of questions, coaching is all about asking people questions that helps them think things through to enable them to progress, grow and reach their goals.  Sometimes the less I know about a client or their lives is better because then I ask the questions, that probably sound dumb, but makes a client fully think through what is going on in their life or business.

Funnily enough there are a great deal of questions I get asked too.  Here are the top 3 most popular questions right now:

How do I effectively manage my time?
This is a great question, because I have phases of being a bad manager of time.  I really enjoy having flexibility around my time, I like the feeling that I can choose to do what I want to do when I want to do it.  That’s great of course, up to a point.  There are many occasions where time has to be managed correctly, it helps with all sorts of things, getting things done for example .  Another  extremely vital reason is maintaining a good work/life balance.  Effective time management is something you can give to yourself.  Start by making some small changes, if you like flexibility give yourself some managed time and some unmanaged time.  Break tasks down into small steps, give yourself some deadlines.  Notice what works best for you and keep doing it.

How can I make sure I change my life?
Many people considering coaching are nervous about whether they can change or not.  They disbelieve that they’ve got what it takes to make the changes they want in their life to reach their goals.  My advice is to get started, we all learned to do things and to create patterns in our lives, the knowledge that we did learn is the proof that we can un-learn it too.  Human beings are creatures of habit, start gradually changing those habits and beliefs and you’ll get there.

My partner needs coaching how can I convince them?
This question comes up a great deal.  First thing to consider is how would you feel if the boot was on the other foot and your partner was suggesting you did something.  What would it be and how would you react?  Lose weight, give up smoking, take more exercise, get a new job.  It’s easy to find reasons why others should do something and not always easy to do something for yourself.  I believe the need for coaching has to come from within.  If it doesn’t then any reluctance will cause the coaching to not be as effective.  Step one is to see what changes you could make for yourself, maybe you could change your reaction to your partner, maybe just stopping the nagging could help.   By starting to do something for yourself could be the catalyst to help your partner get started themselves.

I hope you’ve found these questions useful, if you have any comments please use the comments section on this page, I’d love to hear from you.

Does networking come naturally to you, if not, this workshop is for you.

It is a well-known fact that 80% of business is passed through referrals. Networking, be it offline or online is a hot topic these days and the opportunity to network is everywhere.

Networking is a low-cost option to get out there, connect, find new business and grow your business. However it has to be done properly.  We’ve all been in the uncomfortable situation listening to someone droning on about how good they are, what they can do for you and the benefits of using their product.  This is not the way to go.

Even though it’s low-cost, networking can be a big investment in time.  So it’s important to do it correctly and efficiently ensuring you get the most of each networking opportunity you encounter.  Having the correct networking skills is of utmost importance.

On Thursday 13th October 2011, Laura Hart, Voice Coach and are taking part in an event in conjunction with the Surrey Chambers of Commerce.  Starting at 1700, this two hour information filled practical event entitled ‘The Art Of Natural Networking’ will help you to network in the most efficient and productive way.

Book your place now

Who should attend?

It is aimed is aimed at business people who have a need or requirement to network within their business sector, to build business relationships or who are keen to raise their corporate profile more broadly.  Also, small business owners who wish to get out into the networking scene and make the best of every networking opportunity for their business.

Book your place now

Why should you attend?

• 80% of business is passed through referrals
• Networking if not done properly can be a big draw on time.
• You will learn practical tips and gain information of making the best of every networking opportunity.

What you will learn

• What is networking and what it is not.
• Establish meaningful business relationships that lead to the acquisition of new clients and more business.
• Understand why it is crucial to network in today’s marketplace.
• Gain knowledge of how to prepare for networking events including devising and refining the business message for any networking audience

About Us

While we’re on the subject what is intuition?  The definition in the Free Online Dictionary is:

Intuition
1. a. The act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; immediate cognition.

b. Knowledge gained by the use of this faculty; a perceptive insight.

2. A sense of something not evident or deducible; an impression.

We all have intuition, the problem is that not everyone believes it, trusts it or knows how to notice it.

So how do you trust your intuition?  Think back to times in your life when you’ve made exactly the right decision.  How did you do it?   Did you feel it, see it, smell it, hear it, taste it or just know it.  You may have had a ‘gut feeling’ or an ‘inner knowing’ or something that you know in your heart or your head.  We all experience our intuition in different ways.  Start to recognise how you made these right decisions and get familiar with your thought processes and feelings.  Soon you will notice how to make the best decisions for you.

I read this heartfelt letter written by Cindy Eve to her ex-son in law on the day of the decree absolute of her daughter Cemanthe Harris’ divorce.  In the letter she writes “I will never forgive myself for not speaking up”.  Clearly, Cindy felt at the time of the marriage something wasn’t right and she chose not to say anything.  She noticed her intuition yet didn’t take action, I am sure she did this at the time with the positive intention of it being in her daughter’s interest.  For that reason I hope she does forgive herself.  Cemanthe will emerge from this time in her life with renewed strength and confidence, she already is doing that by growing a fantastic online social media company.  I wish them both well.

Have a read of Cindy’s remarkable letter.

I would love to hear about times when you’ve trusted your intuition, please feel free to comment below.

Previous blogs
Where it all began – good decisions
Would you buy more time?
Sarah Martin – aiming high and far
A Day in the Life
How do I indentify my target market?
How changing your view can reinvent your life

Kate Middleton shopping in Kings Road

With less than a week to go before the Royal Wedding and what must be the biggest day in her life, I started to wonder if Kate Middleton needs a life coach? 

Why, because I expect she’s just like any other women I know who doubt themselves.  I expect men do it too, but don’t own up to it so readily. Recently I’ve heard a number of women including professional women  say they wondered when they’d be tapped on the shoulder and asked ‘Who do you think you are to do that job?’ or ‘Who do you think you are to be so successful’.  What they’re referring to of course is that inner voice that inwardly comments good and bad on whatever is going on.  Some call it their inner voice, inner critic, or Chatterbox as Susan Jeffers (Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway) refers to it.  It’s that voice in our head that drives us crazy, commenting usually negative stuff that is not at all useful.

I wonder what Kate is saying to herself right now.  I expect there‘s a great deal going on inside her head because deep down she’s probably thinking this is me, just me.  How did I get here?  I’m getting married on Friday to my Prince and I’m going to have the eyes of the world on me.   I expect Kate has a team of supporters, I should say, I hope Kate has a team of supporters and confidantes to help her as she enters this new phase of her life.  I wish her every happiness for the future, it’s going to take a great deal of adapting to, and history tells us the pressure of this role is huge for a 29 year old or indeed anyone.

I thought I’d share five ways you can choose to deal with that voice in your head:

1. Change it into a Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck voice.
2. Practice an inward  positive answer to use every time you hear that negative voice.
3. Sing an uplifting song (best do that inwardly too!)
4. Tell your inner voice to shut up or go away, or worse if needs be!
5. Hire a life coach to help keep you focused and positive.

Of course, if our future Queen should be requiring a life coach right now, I can be available at a moment’s notice.

Sue Bown

Where it all began – good decisions
Would you buy more time?
Sarah Martin – aiming high and far
A Day in the Life
How do I indentify my target market?
How changing your view can reinvent your life

Misty morning - pic courtesy of www.tvftdo.com

It’s week three of my 30 Day Blog Challenge, I have to say it’s turned into a bit more of a challenge than I expected.  Problem is the daily inspirational emails to prod my blogging mind and help me create this electronic tome, have stopped arriving.  Nikki Pilkington, who has been supplying the emails has been having some technical problems with her website and I suspect the problem lies there.  At first it was good because it gave me chance to catch up with a backlog, but now I’m missing them.

So time to go solo, no safety net, here I am!

My blog this week, saw huge amounts of traffic, all created by the interest in my blog.  It’s great but I did have a bit of a shock when I recieved an email to say I’d reached my bandwidth on my website.  So a quick email to my hosting company Anagio soon got that rectified.  Good learning though if you are considering doing something to raise online interest, make sure you can support it!

Weekly Round Up

Keep on running – The Martin sisters complete their challenge
After visiting the London Marathon last Sunday I couldn’t help but blog about the intrepid Martin sisters on the last ‘leg’ of their 3 marathons in 3 weekends challenge.  I spent a very enjoyable day in London inspired by the determination of all the participants and inspired by our beautiful capital city and its people.

Is it possible to make goals too scary?
Inspired by client’s experience this was my first guest blogging gig!  Wow, it felt good to have a blog published on www.BirdsOnTheBlog.com I even got some comments too, have a look and add some comments of your own.  This applies to all blogs by the way, bloggers love to receive comments.

A day in the life – Zoe Brown, B Websites 
Time for my first ever guest blog.  Zoe Brown, business woman and Mum of five children gave an exhausting account of her daily life.  I hope this is the first of many guests to write about how they balance work and life.  If you’d like to write ‘A day in the life’ please contact me.

Where it all began
I’d been asked to write about how I left corporate life and got started. I didn’t think it would interest many but it was surprising the amount of attention this blog post received.  I wanted to highlight that if I can do it anyone can, so stop thinking too much about doing something and just do it.?

Coming up next week, a personal journey, another song, some marketing and hopefully another ‘Day in the life’ guest.

Have a happy week,

Sue Bown

Our wedding - a good decision

Once upon a time there was a very frustrated, unhappy, unfulfilled person working in a very good job in sales and marketing for a large international airline.  My life was not as I’d have liked it to have been.  I had only been married for two years and during that time my Golf Pro husband, David took Mondays and Tuesdays off, I was off Saturdays and Sundays.  I was working long hours and it wasn’t working for me and my life.  Then the company I worked for offered voluntary redundancy packages and I applied.  Part of me wanted them to turn down my application and the other ‘brave’ part was desperate for them to say ‘yes’.  When they did say ‘yes’, the brave part of me suddenly turned into the ‘not so brave’ and it took a good number of  sleepless nights to begin to get used to the idea.

Did I have a plan of what I was going to do – No

Did I realise what it all entailed – No

Did I give much thought to what I was going to live on – No

A couple of months later, I left my cosseted corporate life.  Gulp!   I say cosseted, I didn’t realise that at the time.  I took my monthly paycheck, my company car, my company phone, my private health insurance for granted.  I didn’t realise what it was like to be out there on your own without the big company name behind you.

The day after I left I remember going to my golf club, texting all my friends, basically bragging about where I was and what I was doing.  This was the life!   I was going to play golf every day, spend time lunching with friends and have a good time.  Which to begin with I did.  As time passed I realised there was more to life than golfing and lunching, also I needed to start earning some money.

By chance, I met a lady who was training to be a life coach, she was looking for practice clients.  Her offer couldn’t have come at a better time.  Her advert said ‘Are you at a crossroads?’   I felt I was at a crossroads, the lights had broken and were stuck on STOP.  Working with her was one of the best decisions I have made, finding out about coaching and what it could do opened my eyes to me and to my life.  In fact, I enjoyed working with her so much that I decided to do the Life Coaching course too.  The decision was that unscientific.

I immersed myself into the course, I loved every minute of it.  I learnt so much about me, my personality, others personalities, communicating, achieving, having a choice, goal-setting and so much more.  I appreciate you shouldn’t look back with regret, but I should have done it years before.  However, on further reflection I probably wouldn’t have taken it seriously.  Being that bit older gave me the wisdom to see coaching for what it is – brilliant and life changing!

In the time since I trained, I have set up my own coaching business, The Coaching Zone.  I work with clients on work/life balance issues, on setting goals and targets in their businesses,  I work with corporate clients on improving communication, getting better jobs and lots more.

My clients have achieved improved business revenue by 300%, redundancy avoidance, redundancy survival, saved marriages, weight loss, promotion, the list goes on.

And me, well I’ve discovered talents I didn’t know I had, I’ve amazed myself with my achievements,  I have days off with my husband, I enjoy my golf and I’m happy!

So that’s how it all began, four years ago.  Leaving my job, studying to be a coach are some of the best decisions I have ever made in my life, oh and marrying my husband!  Funny how the best decisions I make are taken with not too much thought.

A Day in the Life – Zoe Brown
Keep on running – The Martin sisters complete their challenge
Would you buy more time?
Sarah Martin – aiming high and far
A Day in the Life
How do I indentify my target market?
How changing your view can reinvent your life

Fed up with your avoidance tactics

Do you find you have days when procrastination is the order of the day.  You wake up in the morning filled with focus and determination.  You have a to-do list as long as your arm.  Then something happens to stop you in your tracks.  What is it, fear, perfectionism, control, indecision, bad time mangement, whatever it is it doesn’t feel good.  The brakes go on and the breaks go on.

Procrastination. The definition of this syllable-rich word is, to put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness or to postpone or delay needlessly (source: www.thefreedictionary.com).

Now, I’m not going to go on about it, because it’s possible you’ve arrived here looking for a swift solution.

So let’s cut to the chase:

My Top Tip To Stop Procrastinating

Choose one non-negotiable hour every day when you will get on and do the tasks that regularly cause procrastination. The real tough tasks.

Set the countdown time on your mobile phone or your PC for one hour.  Make sure an alarm is going to sound at the end of an hour.

And get on with it!  See how much you can achieve in an hour.  It’s amazing.

Let me know how you get on.

About the Author: Sue Bown: Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

Twitter @thecoachingzone
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheCoachingZone

Other blog posts:
Would you buy more time?
Sarah Martin – aiming high and far
A Day in the Life
How do I indentify my target market?
How changing your view can reinvent your life

A double rainbow over Dartmouth www.tvftdo.com

Day eight of my 30 Day Blog Challenge and today’s project is to maximise the use of photos in my blog. That got me thinking, where can I find some good ones? With a blinding flash (no pun intended) I realised I should tell you about my friend Andy Kyle and his fascinating website called The View From The Dartmouth Office, also known as www.tvftdo.com 

Can imagine having this beautiful view every day? www.tvftdo.com

Andy and his lovely wife Helen live in the beautiful riverside Devon town of Dartmouth. They work from home and their office overlooks the River Dart one of the most spectacular sights in the UK.

Andy is a photographer and takes pictures daily of the everyday life and events of the view from their office garden. He’s a busy man and he does this as well as running another business.  Remarkably Andy’s The View From The Dartmouth Office pictures have been featured on seven different occasions in national newspapers. And this month the website was featured in a four page spread in Devon Life magazine.

A stunning sunrise, those clouds make it look eerie. www.tvftdo.com

Leaving their careers was a big leap for Andy and Helen. Andy had previously worked as a picture editor for national newspapers. Helen had also worked in the news industry. After leaving corporate life they set up their own company doing genealogy research from their home office in London. The view from this office was a depression-making wooden fence.
Their next big leap was to move to Dartmouth. In doing this they certainly have changed their view in many ways. They have made new friends, started new hobbies, escaped from corporate life, rediscovered themselves (they even got married!) and in Andy’s words it’s ‘given him a life’. Best of all Andy has rediscovered his love of photography, have a look at the site and I’m sure you’ll agree he has quite a talent for it.  He also has a talent for writing great captions which adds to the character of this fascinating website.

Even the Red Arrows pay a visit www.tvftdo.com

Andy and Helen have changed their view and they haven’t looked back!

Could you change your view and change your life?

About the Author: Sue Bown: Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

Twitter @thecoachingzone
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheCoachingZone

Other blog posts:
Would you buy more time?
Sarah Martin – aiming high and far
A Day in the Life
How do I indentify my target market?

Sarah Martin, Ladies at 11

Sometimes you meet someone in life who you know has that special quality to make a difference.  For me that person is Sarah Martin.   I have known Sarah for three years now.  During that time not only has she blossomed as a business woman herself, she has helped countless other business women grow in the process.  Three years ago Sarah set up Ladies at 11, a women only networking group.    Ladies at 11 currently operates in the South of England and offers the opportunity for business women to attend monthly meetings to grow their businesses.  The number of groups have grown steadily and now stands at 14.  At first the meetings were held in Surrey, but now they extend to Kent, Sussex and London.  I am sure Ladies at 11 will soon be nationwide.

For women in business Ladies at 11 offers a community of like-minded women who genuinely support each other.  Visitors to the groups frequently comment on the warmth, empathy and camaraderie that is apparent in the meetings.  Members can join a home group and then attend other meetings subject to availability.

The special ethos that is Ladies at 11, is soley down to Sarah, she is a very focused and determined business woman.  She is supportive, has a good business attitude and is firm but fair in dealing with the day to day issues of the groups.  As the number of groups has grown she has handed over the running of monthly meetings to Group Leaders.  That said, Sarah is firmly at the helm.  She is not scared to make changes to ensure the business operates effectively.   She is swift to innovate and to enhance meetings with new features.  I am certain this lady and this company will go far.

Sarah is a very inspirational lady and as if she hasn’t got enough going on is currently in the middle of an ambitious challenge to run three marathons in three weekends with her sister Rebecca.  They are raising funds for Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People.  Their fundraising page is http://www.justgiving.com/themartinsisters/

I am privileged to be the leader of the Cobham and Westminster groups.  Ladies at 11 has been a major catalyst for me in helping me to grow my business, I have been a member since the beginning so I have seen it grow.  This is a networking group that goes beyond the basic networking concept and I recommend it to any woman who is serious about growing her business.

Visitors are welcome to come to Ladies at 11 meetings, you will find details of locations and dates on the website.

About the Author: Sue Bown: Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

Twitter @thecoachingzone
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheCoachingZone
Email: sue@thecoachingzone.co.uk

Other blog posts:

Would you buy more time?

You’re a small business owner, maybe you’re just starting up.  Knowing how to identify your target market is vital to help you be most efficient in selling and marketing your product.

I’m going to tell you a tale, a crusty old tale:

“Simple Simon
Met a pie man going to a fair
Simple Simon said to the pie man
Let me see your wares”

How often does that happen?  Potential clients walk up to you in the street and ask about your business and buy from you on the spot, maybe if you’re selling Mars Bars or Coca Cola or umbrellas on a rainy day.

Just imagine in a perfect world, in a perfect economy people would come to you and ask to buy from you, take moment to decide and then buy.  How great and easy does that sound?  As a small business owner, is that what you’d want and aspire to? 

It is possible that if everyone did come to you to buy, you would find it tricky to provide a service to all these people.  Could you work with everyone?  Do you have the time to work with everyone?   I imagine, the answer to the question is probably ‘no’?

Reality is that whilst there’s lots of people out there – you only need a few – a small group of people who really want your product.  So you must narrow down your focus, really pinpoint exactly who will buy from you. 

Our pie man in the story is selling apple pies, so he is looking for people who like apple pies, he doesn’t want people who like meat pies.  Simple Simon wants to buy an apple pie so that’s good, people who like Apple Pies are the perfect customers.  That’s his niche market.  What about customers who want to buy meat pies?
 
That’s why you need to find out who, and when I say who I mean ‘exactly’ who.  You must be very precise.

Steps to identify your target market
1. Ask yourself ‘Who’ are my target market?.  Write a list of who they are.

2. What are their needs.  How can I help them?

3 What are their concerns.  What can I improve for them?

4. What are their desires.  What can I give them?

5. What are their barriers. What’s stopping them buying from you?

6. What are their worries?  Why might they not buy from you?

The results of these questions will lead you to the beginnings of a marketing plan.

“Says the pie man to Simple Simon,
Show me first your penny;
Says Simple Simon to the pie man,
Indeed I have not any.”

That’s another link in the chain….sales……find out if they can afford you. 

About the Author: Sue Bown: Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

Twitter @thecoachingzone
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheCoachingZone

Other blog posts:

Would you buy more time?