The Skills And Qualities You Need To Look For In a Business Coach

The Skills And Qualities You Need To Look For In A Business Coach

Are you an entrepreneur? Are you looking for a little advice and guidance on your path to success?

If so, you should ask your local council or university about masterclasses and mentor sessions. These sessions are both interesting and informative and will generally turn out to be quite insightful.

To ensure you get the best out of these sessions, its best to do a little research first, because the speakers may either a) talk about something you’re not interested in, or b) be a complete waste of your time.

So, once you’ve got a list of names (upcoming events in your area), you should do a little background research.

These are the kinds of things you should be looking for:

Experience

The number one thing to look for is their resume. What is it they have accomplished? What is it you want to accomplish and does their experience reflect that? If he or she hasn’t ‘walked the walk’, then there’s not much point in attending.

You want them to have paid their dues so they can speak to you about real-life experiences. Ideally they will have failed and succeeded during their career.

This is important because their insight will help you avoid making costly mistakes and increase your chance of success.

Attitude

Having a great attitude comes with time and experience. The right coach will have been through it all, and they will have come out the other side knowing a sense of humor goes a long way in business.

They can see the bigger picture and the finer details, they understand it’s all a numbers game and they don’t get too upset. The ideal coach is also patient, persistent and determined.

Willing To Share

A great coach will be willing to share all their experiences with you – both good and bad. If you get the feeling that they are holding back, that’s not a good sign. You will learn more from someone who is being transparent.

Expertise

Does the coach give lectures about a variety of subjects? If that’s the case, then you should exercise a little caution, because it’s impossible to be everything to everyone, and nor is it desirable.

If they’re out there just to earn a quick buck, then they are getting more out of it than you are, and that shouldn’t be the case.

Accessibility

You must be able to have access to your coach – via email or other means. A good coach will be willing to customize a program especially for you, because they know once size doesn’t fit all.

Test how much they care about your problems and concerns by specifically asking them how much time they can offer you, and what their schedule and availability is like.

Note: This isn’t about hounding them, it’s about being able to liaise on an infrequent basis when you may need them.

Connections

Who do they know and how can those other people help you?

A great entrepreneur is a great networker, so they know that if they’re going to get to where they want to be, they will need a list of contacts as long as their arm!

We all know the saying; ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’.

Expectations

Ask your coach what they expect from you. (because this works both ways remember) 😉

A good coach will keep you accountable and set you tasks to achieve by the next time they see you. If you keep up your side of the bargain, they are more likely to keep in touch and guide you through some of the tougher stages – up to the point they think you’re ready to fly solo!

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5 Tips For A Sucessful Christmas Marketing Campaign

5 Tips For A Successful Christmas Marketing Campaign

With the festive season very much upon us, it’s important to target your customers successfully, in order to make the most of this time of year. Whether you’re looking for some last minute inspiration or you want to be prepared for next year, here are our top five tips on how to run a successful Christmas marketing campaign.

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Using Social Media To Promote Your Business This Christmas

Using Social Media To Promote Your Business This Christmas

Social media platforms are great tools for engaging directly with customers and expanding your reach. This is applicable all year round, but if your business is not successfully utilising the power of social media during high-spending times of the year, such as the weeks leading up to Christmas, you will be missing out on reaching new customers and seeing an increase in sales and revenue.

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8 Simple Secret Santa Gifts

8 Simple Secret Santa Gifts

We all experience that momentary panic when we pick out a name of a colleague in the annual Secret Santa draw, as you can guarantee it’s going to be the one who is the most awkward / straight laced / uptight. Well this year, you don’t need to think ‘what on earth am I going to get Martin / Annabelle / Stacey or Dave’, as we are going to give you the top eight Secret Santa gifts to buy for under £15.

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Christmas Office Decorating Ideas

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If youre looking for a way to boost team morale over the festive period, then why not get your colleagues to decorate the office?

Christmas time without a festive feel may mean your colleagues feel a little downbeat and lethargic, so theres no better way to brighten spirits and boost team morale.

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13 Christmas Promotion Ideas For Your Business

13 Christmas Promotion Ideas For Your Business

When it comes to competing for custom in the holiday season, things can become a little tricky.

Rival businesses will be chomping at the bit to get more exposure, money and accreditation than you, so it’s vitally important you have a good strategy in place to earn at least your fair share.

No matter what kind of business you have, there’s profit to be made!

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Everything You Need To Know About The New Nintendo Switch

Lunch times in the workplace tend to be a little boring don’t they!  Well what if you could remedy that with a little fun?

Did you know that Nintendo’s newest console, The Switch, is about to come out? What’s more, it’s both portable and dock-able, so whether you’re in the canteen or meeting room you can pretty much play it anywhere.

That’s right, the device can connect to a TV and it also comes with a screen of its own!

Watch: The Nintendo Switch

The main console controller, which is known as the Joy-Con, has a left and right controllers which slot on and off both sides of a main controller –  allowing for both single and multiple player functions.

Known before its announcement as the NX, it’s one of the weirdest and most interesting pieces of major gaming hardware we’ve seen for a while.

Nintendo’s goal with the Switch was to fill all gaming niches, i.e. single player sessions, mobile sessions, party gaming, playing with a friend and e-sports, and its ticked every box!

Here’s some additional highlights;

  • In some situations, you can prop it up with a kickstand and use one half of the controller in each hand.
  • If you like, you can put the Switch back into its living room console box, but use a more traditional controller instead.
  • With friends, you can prop up the Switch with its kickstand and turn each half of the controller into a simple gamepad. In this case there would be four players in total, playing against each other on two separate Switches.
  • Nintendo promises that you can play the same games whether the Switch is mobile or docked, and the device looks beefier than your average Nintendo handheld
  • The Joy Con’s is an analog stick which has four face buttons on each. They can either be used separately, slotted onto the side of the main Switch body, or secured to a Joy-Con Grip accessory.
  • The Switch uses DS-like GameCards They’ve been described as “cartridges” before, but they’re essentially the kind of little cards that players of portable Nintendo games will be familiar with. They pop right into the side of the tablet.
  • 48 software companies have pledged support for the Nintendo Switch. They include game development companies like EA, Bethesda, Capcom, Activision, and Ubisoft, as well as middleware and game engine companies like Unity and Havok.
  • So far, we’ve seen 6 compatible games via the trailer. These are; The Legend of Zelda, Mario Kart, a new Super Mario game, the paint-based team shooter Splatoon, open-world fantasy game The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, and an unspecified NBA game.
  • It will be available in March.
  • There’s no price as of yet, but keep your eyes peeled because more news is expected shortly!

So get rid of that Wii, it’s time to prepare yourself for a whole new generation of gaming! The opportunities with this new console are endless, meaning the office parties are going to be absolutely in sane.

You could even create a month on month league table and award the winners for finishing first. Its sure to keep them all happy, on their toes and as de-stressed as they can possibly be.  

Check out this fantastic article on the history of Nintendo 

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The Best App For Small Business Owners

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For a small business owner, it can sometimes be difficult to juggle time, work out finances, remember to communicate with all those necessary and generally organise yourself as best you can.

Thank god for the digital age!

Why? …. Because of mobile apps, that’s why!

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