I’ve enjoyed exploring a number of solopreneur myths over the last half a dozen weeks here at the Coaching Business Builder blog. This week I’m sharing the last in this current series, as we'll start looking at year-end activities next week. This week's solopreneur myth is that TIME SPENT = EFFICIENCY. Not all of the time spent on projects and tasks is the most efficient use of our time. Think about your own scheduling — when are you at your prime? When can you complete tasks quickly and with focus, minus interruptions? It may be useful to track your own efficiency for the course of a few days or weeks to notice what patterns emerge. While the notion of circadian rhythms has been around for decades, the field of chronobiology is expanding it's data set to help us understand our natural rhythms. Some of us are early birds, others night owls. I know in my own work that much easier to get writing projects completed first thing in the morning, before I open email or get distracted with other projects. The writing I also undertake on a weekly basis from one of my local libraries, usually is more focused and plentiful than writing done from my office later in the day. Activity: Think about some of the recent tasks you have completed. What do you notice about speed? Quality? Efficiency? Consider tracking your work output for several days in several locations and/or at different times of the day. This will work if your tasks are similar but may be harder if they are not. As you look at your work output, and time spent, what do you notice? Enjoy the exploration! Jennifer 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.
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The landscape of business and communication has changed so significantly in the last ten to fifteen years, due to the change in our technology, devices and also communication channels. Think about your work and what is possible now that you couldn't do a decade ago. One of the areas that I continue to see many solopreneurs and business professionals struggle with is the amount of time and focus on social media. Consider your time spent in the last week or two. How much time was dedicated to social media? What did you do? Did you surf? Have connections? Follow a trail that maybe took you into a rabbit's hole? While social media can be a great ecosystem to spend time in and has leveled the playing field for many of us that are "one person businesses" it does not always mean that social media may be your most important channel. Relationships are important to cultivate in all their varieties. While social media may be a great connector, it may not be the best place to have detailed conversations or make deeper connections. I love social media as an enhancement to face-to-face events — people who I have met at conferences, or when I have been speaking. As much as my own business is virtual, after all these years I've found that the face-to-face connection still yields an important return I can't find in the social media space. Questions to consider as you think about this myth for yourself:
Enjoy your exploration, Jennifer 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. It's October 1st and the start of a new month which also means we turn the page to focus on a new month in the 1BizStepADay series. This month's focus is on client outreach. Clients are at the heart of a coaching business. Our coaching conversations require deep levels of trust, which means that deep relationships are at the heart of it. What are you doing to build new relationships with your clients (current and prospective)? The 1BizStepADay series includes a daily prompt to get you taking action on a different aspect of your business. Each month has a different theme. We've explored systems check (August), developing your signature program (June), major projects (September) and this month we turn our attention to client outreach. What is your focus on client outreach in this last quarter of the year? I hope that you will join us for some daily steps this month with the daily prompts. You can download this month's 1BizStepaDay list here at 1_biz_step_a_day_october_2019_client_outreach.pdf Enjoy the focus this month! What else is on your daily focus list for the last quarter of the month (and decade)? Still 3 months to go to achieve the goals you set out earlier this year! Best wishes, Jennifer Jennifer Britton Coaching Business Builder | Group Coaching Essentials Supporting coaches to grow their business and skills in the areas of group coaching Recipient of the Prism Award for Excellence in Coaching (2016), and i4pL Award of Excellence - Curriculum Design (2017) Contact Jennifer to set up a call to see how her 1-1 coaching or group coaching support can help you move towards your Q 4 and 2020 goals. Phone: (416)996-8326 One of the biggest fallacies I see in the world of coaches, and other solopreneurs, is over-learning rather than executing. Many solopreneurs believe that they don't have enough skills and need to learn more. While there is a compelling case for ongoing learning, in the world of the solopreneur, execution and getting into action is key. We may never know enough by learning alone. It's through the actions we take that we either have our learning reinforced or find out exactly what we need to learn. In a solopreneurial business, lack of execution may lead to business failure. The quest for learning may appear that we are doing when we are simply learning. Today's post gets you to consider these questions:
Enjoy your reflection and ACTION! Jennifer 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. Our next Solopreneur Myth is “Build it, they will come”. For the last few months, I focused on marketing strategies, bringing to life the nine different vehicles I explore with you in Section 3 of Coaching Business Builder. With “build it, they will come” we can fall into the trap of thinking that once something exists it will be in high demand. In fact, the design and creation parts are usually only one part of the process. Much of the heavy lifting then begins with marketing and sales, and also program or product delivery! Proactive marketing at all stages of your business, along with regular and consistent actions, can help ensure that you do build a thriving set of fans for your next offering. Some key things to be doing to ensure that when you build, they will come:
What are the things you want to focus on? Enjoy your conversations, Jennifer 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. I opened my doors here at Potentials Realized on April 7, 2004. Having celebrated 15 years in business earlier this year, I continue to be thankful that the fruits of my labor continue to pay off. While it is possible to build, and grow things quickly, building a sustainable business that will weather economic ups and downs (think 2008 economics, current flux, and…) usually needs more than the initial meteoric rise. This is where things like VISION, Systems and Business Foundations come in. If you have a copy of the Coaching Business Builder OR PlanDoTrack, check out the different activities and reflections in Section #1. It’s our work around creating clarity and alignment around our values and behaviors, clarifying our vision, and creating exceptional offerings which create a sustainable business. Questions to consider:
Creating a sustainable business is also about you as the business owner. In the medium term, our own leadership and endurance may be what helps the business move to another inflection point. Questions for you to consider:
Sustainable business is also about doing things for the long haul. What is the work you really love to do? How does it capitalize on your strengths? What taps into what you uniquely do well? I hope that you will enjoy this week’s questions and exploration, Jennifer 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. For the last few months I’ve been focusing on a series around marketing. If you didn’t catch the July and August 2019 posts, be sure to check them out here. For the next couple of months, I am going to be rolling out a new series on Solopreneur Myths. You’ll be able to view them each Monday. They will focus on some of the more common things we hear in the landscape of building a coaching or virtual business at the moment. I’m framing them as myths given that they don’t necessarily hold true. Having worked with thousands of professionals in the last 15 years via my own business and also as a former business studies faculty member I am looking forward to debunking the myths and commonly voiced messages for solopreneurs. We’re starting with the myth of Once is Enough. This holds true on so many different levels for us - from communicating something once, to sharing a link to a blog post only on one channel once, to running a program only once. Only doing something once may lead to us short-changing ourselves! Part of the power of social media, and part of cutting through the noise, requires that we share our content more than once. Take a look back at what you have created in the last few months and consider how you can share it more OR repurpose it. Sharing it might mean that you look to post it on other channels (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram). Repurposing may mean retooling content in a new way – so taking blog content and making it into a video (Think Lumen5) OR bundling blog posts to create a new article or white paper series. If you are a program designer, you will know how important it is to consider recouping the design investment in running a program more than once. Many of my own public offerings have become quarterly or monthly favorites. Some have been around for a few years. One of my longest standing programs is the Group Coaching Essentials program which I’ve been offering on almost a monthly basis since it’s launch back in January of 2006. Consistency is key in making inroads into today’s VUCA worlds, and Word of Mouth and referrals can be a powerful business booster. Where is it going to be useful to explore the myth of Once is Enough in your business? Best wishes, Jennifer 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. This week marks what is often known as the Second New Year. It’s back to work and back to school for many of us. With a new year mindset, it’s a great time to pause and take stock of where you are at, what’s working, and what’s not. Here are a few ideas of things you might want to do this week (or today if you are enjoying the holiday): 1. Set or review your goals for the next 4 months to the end of the year. 2. Make your goals visible – where can you view or review these? 3. Spend a few minutes going through a guided session -you can use the quarterly prompts I included in the Q1 reflection session. Grab a pen and your journal and earmark 30 minutes to go thorough this 30 minute quarterly planning session. 4. If you do consider September to be the start of your new year, check out the post on Creating an Annual To Do List . 5. Review your schedule for the fall. Have you included:
6. Consider what habits are going to help you do the things you want. Habits allow us to do things consistently and efficiently, often without as much thought. 7. Consider what you want to say YES to this fall AND consider what you want to let go of and NOT do. What are your goals this fall? What do you want to focus on? Enjoy your first Monday of September AND some Labor Day magic! Best wishes, Jennifer 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. As we step into September, it's time to share this month's 1BizStep a Day, a monthly series I've been hosting here at the Coaching Business Builder blog, and our Conversation Sparker Zone. The 1BizStepADay series includes a daily prompt to get you taking action on a different aspect of your business. Each month has a different theme. We've explored systems check (August), developing your signature program (June), relationships, and this month we turn our attention to major projects. Is there a major project you want to complete by the end of the year? This may be the focus you want to take as you follow-along with this month's daily prompts. Part of the Coaching Business Builder and Plan Do Track workbook and planners include a 31 Day Challenge Template (check out the Content Creation Tools in the planner section towards the end of the books). You might want to use the Monthly Daily Trackers to capture your notes around the steps you undertake each day this month around your major project OR use the 31 Day Challenge template to capture your notes. Tracking your results on a regular basis is valuable and can serve as a resource or process roadmap. It can also help you isolate what exactly you did in sequence It can also help capture lessons learned for next time. Enjoy this month's Major Projects 1BizStepADay. You can download it here. A reminder that the tagline for Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack planners is: Daily Steps + Consistent Action = Momentum What are the daily steps you want to earmark time for this month? When are you going to get it done(first thing in the morning? Lunchtime? In the evening? (Think about what it might be like to get this crossed off your list every morning). Enjoy your daily focus! 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 Join Jennifer for one of her ICF CCE approved coach training programs starting in September - Group Coaching Essentials (starts 9/6), Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum (starts 9/6) and the Virtual Facilitation Essentials (starts 9/16) Follow the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series on Instagram Over the last two months I’ve been spotlighting nine different marketing vehicles you might want to consider incorporating into your marketing strategy as a coach, solopreneur or virtual entrepreneur. They all are valuable in terms of enhancing your visibility and building connections with prospective clients. If you haven’t seen the past posts, be sure to check out those in podcasting, speaking and also product development. Today’s post takes us into the marketing landscape of conferences and trade shows. Depending on who you work with you might consider this one strategy or two. Trade shows are still very common in larger urban centers and can provide a valuable way to “get out” in front of prospective clients and most importantly have conversations with those who could benefit from your skills. Trade shows can be an expensive investment for larger events so you might want to consider partnering with others to show case your skills or thinking about another way to provide support. For example, could you sponsor a meal, insert something into tote bags, sponsor a lanyard. Like other strategies, being clear on your intended purpose – to build brand awareness vs. have conversations with those who you serve - is key for choosing the right vehicle and strategy. Related to trade shows is one of my favorite approaches – conferences. Conferences are an amazing way to connect with your clients and showcase what you have to offer if you enjoy speaking. Building in time to attend other sessions while you are there can also provide invaluable insights into what is truly important, topical and emerging for your client group. If you are considering speaking at conferences, consider:
Conferences can also provide the value of supporting your ongoing professional development. Consider how you might cover both off at the same time by attending, and speaking at, a couple of conferences in the next year. As we round out this series, what are your next steps around marketing? What time have you earmarked for this? Best, Jennifer 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. |
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