Hi Brad, I was wondering how much business coaching costs?

December 13th, 2011

It depends on the program, but having a Business Coach is less expensive than you might think and if you consider the return on investment you get from coaching, it can actually pay for itself.

For the cost of a part-time team member, a Business Coach can work with you to boost your revenues and profits and give you the kind of balance between your business and your life that you need to enjoy the rewards of your hard work.

For the certified practicing business coaches of ActionCOACH, you can rest assured you will see a return on your investment as we have a 17 Week/ 7 Point Guarantee which means that the goal of every ActionCOACH Business Coach is to “find their fee” in the work they do with you that will pay for the cost of their services within 17 weeks.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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Hi Brad, I’ve been considering working with a coach but before I do, I was wondering what format does business coaching usually takes?

December 12th, 2011

Business coaching differs from conventional business consulting in that the process involves using a series of continuing and on-going questions to arrive at conclusions and answers that work for your business.

In other words, a consultant tells you what is wrong and tries to fix it, while a Business Coach works with you to find out the issues plaguing your business, then works with you to help you figure out what you need to change to become more successful.

At ActionCOACH, we offer many different types of coaching programs, from one –on- one business coaching, to group workshops and everything in between.

Depending on the program, an ActionCOACH Business Coach can work with you in a group setting or in specialized one-on-one coaching or business mentoring sessions.

In the end, the format of your coaching is something you can choose, depending on which will best fit your needs.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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Hi Brad, I think I need a Business Coach, but how do I choose the right one?

December 9th, 2011

Choosing to work with a Business Coach is a very personal decision. This is someone you will have a long relationship with, so you have to be sure you are comfortable with them working so closely with you, your team and your business.

First of all, do your due diligence. Research the coaches you are considering, talk to their clients and see how these coaches have helped these businesses grow.

Once you’ve done your research, spend some time getting to know the coaches you are considering to make sure you both have the same goals in mind, namely making your business the profit-making machine you want it to be.

Basically, you need to have a good rapport with your mentor or coach, and be sure that your business mentor or coach has the best interests of your company (and you!) in mind.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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Hi Brad, With the new year coming up I was wondering what I should do to make 2012 a better year for me personally and professionally?

December 7th, 2011

If you could reach just one goal in 2012, which one would it be?

How much of a difference in your life would it make if you reached it?

You’ve got to understand what is vital to the growth of your business and yourself, and what isn’t. When you understand the difference, you can focus on the things that will make a real difference.

Ask yourself, how will 2012 shape up for you? Will it be just another ho-hum year that started with great intentions (that maybe have faded away) or will this be YOUR Year?

Go back to the goals that you set earlier this year, most likely with great enthusiasm: Losing weight, spending more time with your family, getting out of debt, improving the cashflow and profit in your business, changing careers or starting a new business (that you’ve been talking about for years). Maybe there are more that you’ve forgotten about?

Now which ones would have made a real impact if you’d followed through on them? Planning is only the first step. To achieve anything, you’ve got to do it. Remember my formula, Be X Do= Have and decide to make the effort to achieve what is really important to you, and your business.

So if you are tired of being stuck in the same gear, then it is time for you to get un-stuck by planning to achieve your goals and then following through until they are complete.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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Hi Brad, Why should I hire a coach to help my business?

December 6th, 2011

Challenges are hard to anticipate in any business, but they’re easier to overcome with business coaching.

Business coaching is just like sports coaching.

A sports coach trains an athlete to get better, while business coaching not only helps businesses establish organized plans for every challenge they come across, it helps set those plans in motion. In other words they train the business to make it better.

Companies that have used business coaching tackle challenges with a plan and business strategy from the business owner’s view and an outside view: the business coach. This way, the company achieves its desired outcome.

Business coaching is a very quickly expanding industry, and it’s expanding because it’s a successful industry. Just like sports athletes have to keep ahead of their competitors with a coach, business industries, especially in this recession, are getting extremely competitive and need a coach to stay ahead of the competition.

Think about if a sports athlete didn’t have a coach. He might keep doing the same things that have worked for him many times before, and he might be fine for a while. But eventually, since he’s doing the same things and not necessarily getting better at his sport or his skills, the competition will surpass him.

It’s the same thing with business. With all the industry changes, innovations and management strategies, business owners can’t keep doing the same thing they’ve been doing. Eventually the competition will surpass them.

With competition and other factors in the mix, business coaching is a sound investment in your company’s future.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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Hi Brad, I’m doing well in my career and have already achieved a pretty high level at my company. I hear a lot about coaching for executives, but why would I consider hiring a coach if I’m already successful and delivering high performance results? Why would I hire a coach if I’m already making lots of money and moving upward in my career?

December 2nd, 2011

You probably don’t think you need any help if you’re asking those question and, in fact, nine out of ten executives say “No, thank you” to executive coaching, and the tenth will generally say they don’t need executive coaching… but many of their direct reports do.

But once they’ve gone through coaching, many executives report that the experience was extremely valuable, even one of the most valuable experiences of their career.

It is important to understand your own perspective and situation and why it would benefit you to hire a coach to improve and accelerate your own level of performance.

There are two bottom line reasons why executives seek out and are willing to have a coach:

1. The coach helps you get significant results, solve a pressing challenge, and/or take advantage of a major opportunity.

2. The coach is credible, engaging, and has the depth of knowledge and experience to become a trusted advisor.

In other words, executives hire a coach because they can help you solve the challenges you face every day.

Because you are already a highly-effective leader in a position with significant responsibility, being able to leverage areas of constraint or need in a short and measurable period of time is critical for success.

That’s why coaching has become a trusted process for leveraging performance: processes and standards are set and benchmarks and agreed upon metrics must be met, or else you and the coach see the process as a failure.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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Hi Brad, I was wondering what the keys to your success are?

December 1st, 2011

There are many keys to success. For business owners, I believe these can be summarized as being Leadership, Knowledge, Confidence and Activity.

Growth in all four of these areas is critical to support the growth of a business owner, and the business. Given the right combination of all four key areas, the business will undoubtedly prosper. If any one or more of these areas is lacking, other areas will likely suffer and certainly the business will.

Here’s why each of them are so important:

1. Leadership: Leadership is a characteristic that manifests itself as one’s ability to lead others towards a common goal. It’s not about getting others to follow through coercion, rules, fear of reprisals, various incentives or lucrative compensation plans.

A leader gets others to share in a clear vision and commit themselves to a task. A leader also gains the respect of others and is looked upon for guidance and wisdom.

2. Knowledge: Knowledge is the sum total of what we learn academically and experientially throughout our lives. The value of knowledge manifests itself when it is applied towards the achievement of a positive result. Being knowledgeable about a particular subject, in and of itself, is not necessarily valuable.

The practical application of knowledge is what counts. Knowledge growth is never ending. Also, once something is known and put into practice, it inevitably results in more knowledge. We must learn from both our successes and our mistakes.

3. Confidence: Our ability to reason and question our surroundings helps us to develop confidence. We tend to move away from pain and move towards pleasure. To truly develop confidence in something, especially something feared (pain), you must break through the fear, experience the reality of the accomplishment (pleasure) and “learn” to be confident.

4. Activity: To a large degree, the activity levels we engage in define the results we achieve. It is said that, “Massive activity produces massive results; mediocre or cautious activity produces no results”. Companies that engage in massive activities in short or tight timeframes usually create massive results. Whether its marketing, brainstorming, sales, product refinement or even recruitment activities, if not done on a massive scale with high levels of applied energy, the results will be poor, wrong or non-existent.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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Hi Brad, I’m having a lot of trouble getting new customers for my business. I’ve tried flyers, radio ads, billboards and ads in my local newspapers but nothing seems to draw new people in. What can I do?

November 30th, 2011

If you’re like many business owners, you’re either doing the wrong marketing activities well, or doing the right marketing activities wrong. Now, how could that ever happen? It’s quite simple really, let me explain:

Firstly, in my business experience, I’ve noticed that most entrepreneurs and business owners have one thing in common. They spend most of their time working “in” their business, and very little time working “on” it. That is, they spend too much of their precious time performing operational tasks and far too little (if any) time planning how they want their business to perform.

As a result, they cannot see the forest for the trees. They just keep on doing what may have worked well once. Quite often, because they deal with so many day-to-day hassles, they just keep doing what does not create another hassle. They rarely stop to question whether what they’re doing its working well now, let alone whether they could do any better.

Secondly, the brutal reality is that most business owners have never had any marketing training!!

If you want to do your marketing “right”, you have to start with a plan. That way you’ll avoid the 1st mistake – no marketing plan. Let me be clear, I’m not talking about some 200-page monster. That’s usually too much and a waste of time. I’m talking about something that you can do in one day.

Ask yourself, who is your market and competition? Do you understand your customer and why they buy from you? Who is your ideal customer?

Once you answer these questions you can look to develop your niche and figure out which mediums (television, radio, print, billboards etc) can best connect to them. And remember to always test and measure what you do so you can see what works… and what doesn’t.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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Hi Brad, My business has seemed to plateau and can’t move to the next level. We are making some profit, but our rate of growth has slowed considerably over the last year or so. I’ve tried different marketing techniques, sales and even hired some new people with different skills sets but none of it seems to push us over that hump. Can you help me?

November 29th, 2011

So, here are the questions: When will you take the first steps? When are you going to make a change? When are you going to hire a Business Coach so you are not stuck at the same level?

To help you analyze your real need for change and hopefully push you to the next step, take a look at this Change Formula: D x V + F > R = C

Let me explain this formula a bit.

In order for things to CHANGE your Dissatisfaction (D) times your Vision (V), plus your First Steps (F), have to be greater than your Resistance (R) in order to equal Change (C).

Think about that for a second.

What component is missing for you that you haven’t made the changes you need yet? Is your resistance greater than your dissatisfaction or vision?

When you can answer these questions honestly, you’ll better understand the level of change you need to make to go to the next level.

Remember, now is the time of year to start the change process as you prepare and plan for the next year. Now is the time to decide to no longer be stuck! Now is the time to work ON your business and ON yourself.

It’s time for you to make some decisions.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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Hi Brad, I’ve owned my own business for some time but as I get older, I’d love to find a way to work less while still making the income I need. I know I have to give up some control in the day to day activities, but I’ve always been very hands-on. How do I change?

November 28th, 2011

When a person is a business owner, more often than not, they have a job that never ends.

This is because a business owner is often too involved in designing, planning and implementing systems to actually run the business.

In this situation, it becomes very difficult for the business owner to get free from the business and hand over duties to others.

To break away, it takes a courageous business owner to make an enormous change in the way he or she approaches business in order to make the much-desired transition from having a job to becoming semi-retired.

This is because all change is difficult due to fear – mainly fear of the unknown.

There is also fear of change, as a move to semi-retirement means an owners needs to change the way the he or she works with the company and team-members, and also in the way he or she views money.

Instead of taking a wage from the business, an owner will now be making money by maximizing profit. This will completely change the mindset of the business owner.

As a result, the owner’s whole relationship with the business will undergo a change of mammoth proportions.

To ensure the entire process of change is handled carefully, there are some ways to ensure a smooth transition – making sure the business can operate successfully and profitably without the business owner, including developing systems and building a strong team who can run the business so you don’t have to be there.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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