Working with a Coach

As you may remember, I recently partnered up with Making Work at Home Work as a blogger.

Working with a Coach

By Mary M. Byers

I took the plunge and hired a coach late last year. She’s been a fabulous addition to my team and is worth every penny. Here’s how I’m benefiting:

Accountability: At the end of each session, we identify 3-5 activities for me to complete by our next session. I don’t want to disappointment my coach or embarrass myself so I find I’m highly motivated to get my “homework” done each month.

Advice: I’m able to outline my thoughts and then ask for her advice. Though she doesn’t always say, “This is what I think you should do…” she is always able to ask pertinent questions to help me come to a decision I’m comfortable with.

Expertise: My coach has small business acumen and more importantly to me, is an expert in online marketing, something that intimidates me. I have a lot of questions about how to implement my online marketing ideas and she’s a great resource for getting the answers I need. When I’m stuck, she reminds me that I don’t have to know how to do everything and that between us, we can find the resources to implement even the craziest ideas.

Companionship: Let’s face it, being a solo-preneur can be a lonely endeavor. My coach gives me someone to bounce ideas off of as well as the comfort of having someone along on the journey with me. Knowing someone else is rooting for me encourages me to continue to strive for excellence.

If you’re looking to help your business reach new heights in 2010, consider hiring a coach. Doing so is a great way to stretch yourself and grow your business.

Mary Byers is the author of Making Work at Home Work: Successfully Growing a Business and a Family Under One Roof. You can learn more about making work at home work by subscribing to Mary’s free blog at www.makingworkathomework.com. Interested in more articles like this? Join the blog ring here.

Dare To Be Different

The girls have a Girl Scout diversity exercise day. They were asked to wear a different shoe on each foot to school. And the catch is- it’s not a school wide function so they most likely be the only one in their class wearing different shoes.

Which will make them different.

Which will lead to all kinds of questions about why they’re “different”.

Which is going to make them feel well different today.

And some kids may think it’s cool and some may think it’s weird.

It’ll be interesting how they feel when I pick them up after school.

My second grader had no problem with it.  But then again she is use to being different. All her friends are linear logical gals – she on the other hand is not. All her friends play sports (soccer and t-ball) – she dances. She is a blingy, all about fashion and making a statement -Versace kinda girl. Everyone else in the house is suburban Gap. She’s different.

My 3rd grader on the other hand is very logical and linear. She doesn’t like to be “different”. She is very much concerned with what the outside world thinks.

At first she wore a matching pair of shoes and then put a different shoe in her backpack. She told me if her friend in Girl Scouts was wearing different shoes then she would too.

Being the wicked step-mother – I stepped in and said no.

That’s not the point of this exercise.

You can’t play it safe.

You’re either in or out. Badge or no badge.

She didn’t like it.

But the whole point was to teach the girls that being different is OK and to not judge other people who are different from us.

Overly Simplistic? Probably.

Life changing? Probably not.

It doesn’t hurt to start somewhere.

Maybe my 3rd grader will end of liking the exercise. Especially if she ends up having fun with it today.

Which brings me to a great blog post about diversity and business. How many businesses fail because they didn’t diversify or dare to be different? Would we have the iPod or iPhone if it weren’t for Apple – specifically Steve Jobs’ dare to be different attitude?

I’m not saying failure or success is based on wearing two different shoes to school.

That’s not my point.

My point is how we handle diversity (going ahead even though it’s super uncomfortable or against what other people think) may be the difference between living the life we dream about or wishing for the life that we dream about.

The Coolest Feeling….

I keep my business license in a frame on a wall in my office. For no other reason than to remind me that I am the owner of a real business.

Even though I work in sweats and from what is normally the formal dinning room in most homes it’s easy to forget that I’m a “real” business. I mean after all I don’t have a commute, a dress code, an HR department or a boss that I need to answer too. So my business license hangs from the wall reminding me while I may not always think of myself as a “bonafide” business – my city does!

So it was very cool when I inserted this year’s business license in the frame and out fell 4 years worth of business licenses. I felt like I did as kid when I started riding a bike. One minute my dad was holding on the back running along side me and then the next thing I know I’m riding the bike on my own.

It’s the coolest feeling….

It’s the best feeling in the world and one that

Goodbye Corporate World….finally!

I’ve been preaching the wonders of self employment – in particular being a mompreneur. I’ve been out of the corporate world for oh about 10 years (wow that long????) and do not have a desire to go back.

But somewhere in the deep recesses of my walk-in closet lurks remnants of my old corporate life. It didn’t even dawn on me that I was hanging onto them  “just in case” until I read this post about 31 Days of Clearning. My closet was a mess and with the 31 Days of Clearning in mind I tided up.

I came across some skirts, pumps and blazers. I held onto them because well they were expensive and I do love the burgundy pumps….but really? I work in sweats – my “dress up” clothes are skinny jeans and a cute top. When I do go to a conference it’s filled with other solopreneurs and there’s not a “suit” in sight.

With a deep breath I grabbed everything that was “officey” and put it in the donation bag.

That’s the problem with hanging onto stuff…for those “just in case” scenarios…the one item becomes a mountain of stuff and “just in case” never happens. Kinda like all those fears that never seem to materialize.

It’s All ME!

I spent a good deal of my vacation last week cleaning. Actually my husband and I were in a cleaning frenzy. It wasn’t intentional we just started organizing a part of the house and it carried on through. I don’t think there is a space in the house, garage or yard that didn’t get some attention.

In cleaning out my office and filing cabinets I came across some old marketing materials and business planning papers from when I first started my business. In looking at all this old stuff…I do believe that my first year’s theme was FEARFUL!

I was afraid to make mistakes

I was afraid that I wouldn’t have any clients

I was afraid that I couldn’t do a good enough job

I was afraid to say too much

I was afraid to shine

I was afraid to open myself up to the possibilities

I was afraid to run my business the Lisa way

I didn’t know I was afraid of all those things – but when I look at all of my original materials – they have FEAR written all over them! It’s a wonder that I even was able to get my fledgling business off the ground!

I named my business “O’Dell Business Services” – yuck! My site was BORING. It had a pretty graphic but it was sooooo safe. The verbiage I used was “business like”.

The site I have today is 100 times more me than my first site. If I could go back in time I would tell myself to open up and shine.

My practice today is a truer reflection of who I am. Originally all my marketing materials and business plans were based on my old corporate days and watching what my dad did in his business. When I think of my business today – I think of the line from an old car commercial  “It’s not your father’s Oldsmobile”.  My business today is all me and it’s the best feeling!