Systems are the heart of any coaching business. One of the more popular articles I wrote this year for the Coaching Tools Company is entitled “Five Systems at the Heart of Your Coaching Business”. It can be found here.

In the article, I explore five of the areas I’ve consistently seen coaches benefit from putting attention around:

1. Financial systems
2. Client Systems
3. Marketing
4. Content
5. Sales

Let’s look at each one of these right now, and consider which of these could use more attention:

1. Financial systems – How are you doing with things including invoicing, accounts payable, receivable? What makes it easy for people to do business with you? What do you find challenging? Is it time to get some advice in this area, or renegotiate your terms?
2. Client systems – What are the things clients receive as they become a client of yours? What message does it send? Is there anything you’ve been wanting to create for your clients which doesn’t yet exist? Consider welcome letters, questionnaires, agreements etc.
3. Marketing – Marketing is at the heart of a coaching business. Whether we are marketing via relationship building, content marketing, in-person or via social media, what are you doing to let people know about what you have to offer, what coaching is and how you provide support? What could use an update? A refresh? Look at your metrics? What’s working? What’s not?
4. Content – Content marketing may be a tangential part of a coaching business, however, over time, it’s likely that you may find yourself blogging, podcasting or creating content for reading lists and TED talks you recommend around the topics you coach around. For those that are going offer more than coaching services, this may be a significant part of your work. If you have a copy of the Coaching Business Builder, check out the Content Development Tools, including the Content Daily Trackers. Note what content you have created this year, OR spend time thinking about the top 3 areas you would like to develop content around for the new year.
5. Sales – What do you have in place around sales? Is it time for a web update? How clear is your call to action? What do you want people to do on each of your webpages?

Reach out and set up a one-off coaching conversation with Jennifer to review your coaching systems or where you want to take your business in 2020. Check out upcoming 45-minute call options here.

If you are looking for more extended support, consider joining us at the Coaching Biz Growth Lab during 2020 for ongoing conversations. Join now and benefit from being part of the group through to the end of 2020!

Have a great week!
​Jennifer

Over the last few weeks here at the blog we’ve been exploring different elements for year end. This week I wanted to draw your focus to a big of a laundry list of common year end items coaches may find themselves working around.

Last year, as part of the Coaching Biz Growth Lab, (a group I host throughout the year) I pulled together a handy, year-end checklist which you can download here.

You’ll note that this list includes a list of a variety of different tasks and activities including a focus on financials, clients, goals and other areas.

Taking some time BEFORE the end of the year is critical for getting the year wrapped up and setting focus for the year ahead. What are the areas you want to put attention around?

Before you move onto your next task, be sure to download a copy of the year-end checklist!

Enjoy and in the comments let us know what you found most useful OR things you also added.

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 year-end and 2020 goals.
Phone: (416)996-8326

Did you see the BLACK FRIDAY Special on for the 2020 Coaching BizGrowth Lab? This is an annual coaching group I host throughout the year on the 1st and 3rd Fridays of each month. Join us for planning, community and focus on your business! Save $550 on an annual membership until December 4th. Click here to register.

​There is another solopreneur myth that many solopreneurs may find themselves falling into which is that “I need to be available all of the time”. Boundaries in business are a key part of efficiency and productivity. Being able to switch on and off throughout the day is key in keeping things focused and being able to get the work done.

There has been much written about business owners figuring out when they are working ON the business, or when they are working IN the business.

As a coach, activities around working IN the business might include:

• Coaching time
• Servicing clients
• Prepping for coaching time
• Leading programs

 
Working ON the business:

• Creating a Vision for your business
• Strategic planning
• Developing relationships with other
• Developing thought leadership and building reputational status – how are you being seen as a “go to” person in your industry?
• Program design

 
What is the balance of time you want to spend on working IN the business vs working ON the business?

In business, it can be important to leave enough time to continue working on the next inflection point. If we get too wrapped up on working in the business, even when we are established, we may find ourselves short of time and focus for sustainable growth.

Check out this past CBB Blog post from earlier this year – Boundaries in Business – read it here. What boundaries are important for you to put into place?

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author of the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010) and others
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Join us during 2020 and the rest of this year to work ON your business with the Coaching Biz Growth Lab. WE meet bi-weekly for group calls on Friday from 3-4 pm ET. Group coaching, learning and lots of ACTION! Visit CoachingBizGrowthLAb.com to sign up.

This week's Solopreneur Myth gets you thinking about your boundaries around time and availability. The challenge for the solopreneur is to find the balance between being available, and also having time to do the work, and keep at your prime in terms of renewal and energy.

Many newer coaches feel that it's important to always be available. Discernment in this area can help you protect time for strategic thinking and action needed in your business, networking, and keeping yourself at peak performance.
​
Questions to consider:

• What times of day are you "at your best" for doing different types of work - think coaching calls, setting up new business, marketing, relationship building etc.
• What items are not getting done? What time do they need for completion? Ideally, when could they be completed?
• What are you doing to renew and/or keep at your prime? This might involve building in time for physical activity, renewal etc.
• What are you doing to not only "do the work" with your business, but move the business forward? This is one of the greatest challenges for business owners at all stages of their business. Business inflection points occur regularly throughout the entire life cycle of a business.
• What space are you leaving for other important parts of your life - i.e. family, relationships, etc?

While saying YES can be important, so can saying NO.

What are the boundaries you want to create to enhance your focus, traction and results?

Enjoy the reflection,
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

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

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:

• Ensure you are focusing on the things that people want.

• Ensure that you are focusing on the things that they value.
• Ensure that they are in the right format they want.
• Lean into your strengths and experience.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate – right to the end!
• Solicit feedback about your products and services.
• Get your customers/clients to share their story about what they like about your work and products.
• Demonstrate what you offer – show the world. This might be via a video, or at a speaking engagement. By hosting an evening demonstration or a webinar.

​What are the things you want to focus on?

Enjoy your conversations,
Jennifer

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

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