One of my favorite activities over the last few years has been to create a summer project list of small, and larger tasks, to complete in what some find to be a quieter time. There always are lots of project possibilities in the summer months. Have you considered:

• Updating your website
• Incorporating a new system
• Catching up on the reading you have piled around your office (or bed)
• Taking time to plan for a new program
• Writing some blog posts (and getting ahead of the curve)
• Creating a content calendar for your business
• Writing your newsletters for the next few months
• Starting a new series on Instagram

Some useful questions to consider as you go to decide what projects you want to put attention around:

• What have your clients been asking for?
• What are your key goals this year?
• What new activities would support your action and achievement of these?
• What projects would you like to move off of your “TO DO” List?
• What milestones would you create for yourself so that this is completed before the end of the month, or the end of the summer?
• What resources do you need in order to be successful with this?

For some more inspiration around this topic, listen into this 20 minute video I did last year on 2018 project ideas – check it out on my YouTube channel.

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

Building in regular pause points is invaluable in supporting focus, action and reflection. Kolb’s cycle of learning is commonly referred to as a four-step process known as ERGA – Experience, Reflection, Generalization and Application.
​
Key to learning, according to this model, is that we take a “pause” to build in reflection after having an experience. It is this pause that allows us to cull learning and insights which we can then apply to other areas of our life and work.
There are many different ways to reflect including:

• Retreat programs
• Short writing activities – 2-5 minutes where people MindMap or note their learning
• Mid-point evaluations with clients
• Quarterly Reviews (see the article below)

 
Last month at the Learning Lab and Design Studio I was reminded of a great book called the Women’s Retreat Book by Jennifer Louden which is chock-full of great resources for creating and leading your own retreats. You’ll want to check it out.

Other resources you might want to explore:
Create a Pause Via Quarterly Retreats Using these questions (Coaching Tools Company Article)

Undertake a quarterly review process with me (30 minutes - VIDEO). Be sure to grab your pen and journal for this one!

Wishing you all the best,
​Jennifer

PS - For those of you who want to bring some of this into your work, consider joining me on July 9th for the Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack Facilitator Training. I'll be leading a group of professionals through 6 x 3 hour facilitator virtual training sessions in July so you can lead this work with your own clients. More here.

​Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author multiple books including the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010)
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Check out the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series of daily prompts for your work and business over on  Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder.

The tagline at the PlanDoTrack and Coaching Business Builder is that Consistent Action + Daily Steps = Momentum. In other words, action creates action. This is key for business success today. What does momentum mean in your business? Like the metaphor of a rolling stone, more energy is required to get the stone rolling, and then it takes a life of its own.

Practically:
Make a list. Do things consistently. Figure out what the best rhythm for the project or task is going to be.

In many creative projects it is easy to think that we don’t know where to go, when often it is more important to just get started and see where the creative process ensues.

While starting new tasks may take a lot of effort, over time these actions become habits and “how we do things”.

Resources:
Momentum: How to Build It, Keep It or Get it Back – Michael McQueen

Best,
Jennifer

Welcome to June! What are your TOP 5 Goals this month? What do you want to be able to say you have CHECKED Off the list later this month?
This month we're focusing on the topic of NICHE here at the Coaching Business Builder. As businesses, knowing who we serve, whether it's one population or several, is key to success in marketing and also design. It's hard to design a "one-size fits all" for most products or services, and with this in mind, knowing who we serve will help us shape experiences, products and services which match the needs of those we support, and also are deemed meaningful or valuable.
In the Coaching Business BuilderWorkbook and Planner there are several sections which explores this topic of niche - including Section 1 (Business Foundations), Section 2 (Solopreneur Primer) and of course, Section 3 (Marketing Essentials). You are also encouraged to reconnect with your own strengths in Section 4 (the Ecosystem) as you think about what you naturally bring to your work with clients.
This month's focus on NICHE will be valuable whether you are thinking about this the first time or the thousandth time. Like other months, each day you are invited to spend 10 - 15 minutes reflecting on the daily prompts. For a topic like niche which can feel BIG and overwhelming, chunking it down into daily questions can create new insight and keep us moving.
As we step into the month, consider those people you really want to serve with your skills. Maybe it's a group you already support or maybe it's a new one.  Grab a pen and journal and take notes as you go.
Download a copy of this month's prompts here, which also includes a worksheet for the Sweetspot Exercise.
It's the first of the month which means that it's time to share this month's installment for the 1BizStepADay. This monthly series provides you with daily prompts to get you into short bursts of action around your work or business, 15 minutes at a time. Since the start of the  year the monthly focus has covered topics related to relationships in business (February), getting things done, and CONTENT Creation (May).
I hope that you will follow along with these daily action steps. See just how much progress you can make with 15 minutes of consistent action, every day! 

Be sure to share this with others. Please pass on!

If you have a copy of either the Coaching Business Builder or PlanDoTrack Workbook planner, to add a tracing line to your Monthly Daily Tracker around the 1 Biz Step a Day.

Share with us your progress this month through a comment! 

Join us over at the Facebook PlanDoTrack page for regular check-ins, and my Wednesday Facebook Live Weekly Planning Hack.

If niche is a topic of interest to you, we explore this topic at the Coaching Biz Growth Lab, an annual group for coaches which meets the 1st and 3rd Fridays of each month for an hour or coaching, learning and connection around key business topics. Join us for the remainder of 2019.

Enjoy the start to your month and your work around your niche!

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019),  Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Pick up a copy of any of her books at Amazon
Book Jennifer for a coaching session to explore productivity, teamwork and business issues.
Contact her by phone at (416)996-8326
Follow the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series on Instagram

In today’s VUCA world, disruption is more the norm that the exception.  This often means that what worked last time, will not work this time. Experimentation can therefore become a useful philosophy and habit. With the rapid pace of change, new industries, new jobs and new approaches are springing up on a regular basis. What have you tried lately? Are all your old approaches working as they used to?

How to practice it:
On a regular basis (i.e. each quarter), consider what would be useful to learn and/or experiment with (tools, processes, practices, skills etc).

An experiment could involve trying something new out, tweaking an approach you have been using for a while (i.e. instead of doing a Facebook Live in the morning, what about trying it in the evening?).

Why it can be valuable:
There are many applications for experimentation in business. It can help us get into a pattern of trial and error, helping with diversification. Given that things are changing so quickly it may mean that we are better positioned for new, and unseen, options.
​
A and B testing, where you pilot two approaches at once, has become a popular approach for many marketing initiatives, to see which one gets more engagement and traction.

Questions to consider:

• What do you want to experiment with?
• What is needed?
• Where could experimentation benefit your work?

Resources:
Carol Dweck: Growth Mindset (check out her concept of Not Yet)

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

In both the Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack, I include four business philosophies which are critical to all types of virtual and remote professionals, and business owners today – Focus, Experimentation, Momentum and Reflective Pause.

In my work with teams, and individuals, over the last fifteen years in my business I’ve seen that these make the difference between good and exceptional.

With this in mind, over the next few weeks I’ll be taking a deeper dive into the realm of these four areas looking at:

• What it means in today’s business context
• Why it’s important
• Ideas for putting it into practice
• And resources you may want to follow up around

​A reminder that if you like these topics you may want to check out my weekly Facebook Live, where I put into voice quick planning ideas and activities. You will find it over at the PlanDoTrack Facebook page.

Let’s turn our attention to the first topic of FOCUS.

We live and operate today in what is often considered an era of distraction. Our ability to focus and keep our eye on what is important to us, and to our work, is key.
Did you know that:

• The average worker receives 90 emails in the span of a day?
• It takes 22 minutes to get back on track after an interruption?

It’s not uncommon for workers (not just managers) to be spending 5-10 hours a week in meetings? I’ve met managers who wear the badge of
Focused work and attention are critical, and essential in order to create foundations, and grow a business.

How To- Creating Focus:

• Consider building in focused blocks of work – turn off email, move into a conference room, or take your work mobile. What will give you the space and time to do the focused work you need in your job/business?
• Leverage the circadian rhythm. Science continues to show that we have different times of day when we are at our best. What are those times for you? What can you do to ensure you have focused work times within those blocks.
• Create your to-do list of Top 5. With change being the norm for many workplaces, having a top five list each day is important. It’s interesting as the writing of James Clear has pointed to the early 1900s productivity hack from Ivy who asserted that a focus on a top 6 list every day would lead to productivity advances. Whether it’s five or six, being able to check core items off the list can help with efficiency and also motivation.
• Know your priorities – and your teams. Priorities also keep us grounded. They will help us shape our top five as well as discern where our time needs to go. What are your priorities for the week? The month? The quarter?

 
Refer To - Focus
When: The Science of Perfect Timing – Daniel Pink
Atomic Habits – James Clear
Outer Order and Inner Calm – Gretchen Rubin
Deep Work and Digital Minimalism – Cal Newport

Check out my April 3, 2019 Facebook Live 

Wishing you all the best,
Jennifer

This week it’s launch time! You’ve done it!

Over the last four weeks (or more) you have been working on your free offer or giveaway. This is key in terms of letting others know what you do and offering them something of value.
​
Doing this regularly can help further develop your reputation and let people know what you have to offer.

This week as you go to launch, consider the varying ways you are going to continually let people know about this offering. Some possible ways might include:

• In your signature line
• On your blog
• In your newsletter
• Via your network
• Instagram post
• LinkedIn Status update

What are the ways you are going to let everyone know about this?

Have a great day!
​Jennifer

Over the last few weeks you have been busy working on your free giveaway. It’s now been drafted, and you have figured out where it’s going to go. It’s not quite ready yet!

Take some time this week to-do a last review and perhaps get some feedback. Maybe you have a routine of passing materials off to your loved ones for a quick second set of eyes. Maybe you have a community that supports you on this. Who can give the project a review?
​
This week you will also want to focus in on how and where you are going to promote this. Don’t forget the 7 to 11 times rule. The landscape of free offerings is super-saturated at times.  You will want to make sure you are regularly talking about this and letting people know that it exists. If you haven’t done so, make a list of WHERE, WHEN and HOW you are going to let people know about it (Here’s a challenge - make sure you have at least 11 different touchpoints!).

Share with us what you have been working on – you can share it here in the comments, or over on the Effective Group Coaching Facebook page.

Best,
​Jennifer

It's the first of the month which means that it's time to share this month's installment for the 1BizStepADay. This monthly series provides you with daily prompts to get you into short bursts of action around your work or business, 15 minutes at a time. Since the start of the  year the monthly focus has covered topics related to relationships in business, getting things done.
This month's focus shifts our attention to CONTENT CREATION. If you are a business owner, coach or creative, this month's prompts will be of interest to you. From program design, to article writing, podcast creation to blogging, content creation is at the core!
I hope that you will follow along with these daily action steps. See just how much progress you can make with 15 minutes of consistent action, every day! 

Download the May 1 BizStep a Day here.

Be sure to share this with others, and if you have a copy of either the Coaching Business Builder or PlanDoTrack Workbook planner, to add a tracing line to your Monthly Daily Tracker around the 1 Biz Step a Day.

Share with us your progress this month through a comment! 
Join us over at the Facebook PlanDoTrack page for regular check-ins, and my Wednesday Facebook Live Weekly Planning Hack.

If content creation is a topic of interest to you, we'll be exploring it further this summer at the Learning Lab and Design Studio.

Enjoy the start to your month and your content creation!

Best wishes,
Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019),  Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Pick up a copy of any of her books at Amazon
Book Jennifer for a coaching session to explore productivity, teamwork and business issues.
Contact her by phone at (416)996-8326
Check out the new 19 Productivity Tips on-demand program. Explore this video based program at  your own pace, and join Jennifer for bi-weekly calls as part of your course.
Follow the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series on Instagram

​For the last few weeks we have been working on your giveaway or “free item”. In a coaching business these might include an audio or video, a checklist, an article or podcast. The item is designed to provide you with an opportunity to get the word out about what you have to offer as well as build relationships with prospective clients.

During week 1 of this series you were encouraged to consider what it was that you wanted to offer. You did some research and looked around.

Last week you drafted things out a bit more.

This week, take a look at what you have created and:

• Polish it – edit the document.
• Consider what graphics or resources would support this project.
• Draft a sales copy – what are the ways you are going to let others know about what you have to offer?

Consider things like:

• The brand – what elements do you want to incorporate.
• Consider where and when you are going to let people know about it’s availability.
• How, and when, it will need to be updated. (Ideally it will be an evergreen item that will stand the test of time.)

What else is going to move this project forward?

Best,
Jennifer