Normally I’d start at the beginning of a journey and talk about my experience with the client and what brought about that relationship. Today, I want to flip that around and talk about results first.
A business that I worked with some time ago, grew over 20% within 8 months of working with me. Steve transitioned into becoming a Business Leader and facilitated many goals through his team, put in a new operating system into the factory, upgraded his payroll, rebranded his business. It was all done. The greatest achievement for Steve was that he successfully created a business that ran without him. How was that possible? Well, it’s possible for any small to medium sized business. That’s what I help people do everyday.
In Steve’s line of business, he was providing plumbing, heating/cooling and other services so his business was based on services, maintenance and equipment. There were many conflicting activities occurring in Steve’s business before we worked on it together to get the great results he experienced. It boiled down to focussing on just two things - increasing profits in every area of the business and freeing up Steve’s time. Within a year Steve was able to book a holiday (and go on it!), his family expanded with the arrival of their first child, and his team was able to keep the business growing.
Although I no longer work with Steve I do continue to catch up with him from time to time to get a bit of an update on his ever growing family and business. It was at our last meeting where Steve told me that his business was now travelling at a year-on-year profit increase, he and his family are travelling a lot more, his staff were getting regular bonuses and he had finally kicked off his investment plan by purchasing a couple of properties over the last two years.
When he came to my office, that very first time we met, he was looking for another way, another strategy to use that could turn his team around. That’s why when we sat down for the first time I decided to talk to him about football. Apart from enjoying the game, it’s the easiest way to explain coaching.
The world of football and the world of business are the same. Without a person standing in the sidelines watching your play it’s hard to anticipate where your team should be positioned in the next quarter. Both worlds are competitive and everyone’s trying to get the ball and kick a goal. The difficulty is that the game (or market) keeps changing. It gets faster, has quicker rotations and the ball is constantly in motion. I help many businesses kick more balls through the big sticks and get on the field with confidence knowing their next play.
Businesses come in all different shapes and sizes, they produce &/or service different things for different markets. The owners come from humble beginnings (some starting their business straight out of high school). But results like Steve’s happen all the time, and to anyone who’s willing to put the effort in. It’s got nothing to do with any secret handshake or society. I work with normal, ordinary people trying to make a living who have real business challenges. Steve, like so many after and before him, wanted to stop ‘making a living’ and want to start making a life. And, as they say the proof is the pudding. That’s why it’s worth it.
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