Dr. Maria Nemeth will be our next guest in the Ask an Expert series!

Join Alicia Marie as she interviews Dr. Maria Nemeth on “The Energy of Money”

Maria Nemeth, Ph.D., MCC, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Master Certified Coach, is an internationally recognized speaker, author and seminar leader. She is the founder and Creative Director of the Academy for Coaching Excellence. For more than 20 years, Dr. Nemeth has trained professional coaches, ministers, clinicians, executives, teachers, and private individuals using the coaching methods and skills that she has designed. Her courses and workshops have been taken by thousands of people who report significant, even miraculous, changes in their lives as a result of her teachings.

Maria is the author of The Energy of Money: A Spiritual Guide to Financial and Personal Fulfillment, which is available in five languages. Her nine-hour audio cassette series, The Energy of Money, won the 1999 Audie Award for Best Personal Development Series.

In addition to her overseeing the Academy, Dr. Nemeth presents at conferences and organizations worldwide. Her work emphasizes clear communication and empowers people to take authentic action to produce extraordinary outcomes.

Check out Maria’s interview on YouTube.

Tuesday, October 27th @ 3-4pm CST
No cost to attend. Reserve your space today!

Call (512)989-2230 or email rsvp@profitconsultingco.com.
To join the session, dial (724)444-7444
Call ID: 64981 / Pin: 1#

May Coaching Tip

Powerful Questioning is at the core of effective coaching. With one caveat– understand that asking a question that is appropriate to the emotional state, learning style, timing and situation is as important as the actual question. This takes effective listening, skill and practice.

 

Elements of a great question:

• They are clear and direct.
• They are non-judgmental.
• They are transparent– no motive.
• They are real and have the best interest of the employee in mind.
• They are inquisitive and keep the employee thinking and in curiosity.
• They are based in the present and keep the employee in the ‘here and now’ versus the ‘why’.

Why ask questions instead of give directions?

• Your answers are old answers and they work for you, not the person you are coaching.
• If you ask questions, people will self-discover and take responsibility for their results. People really do like their own ideas better!

Leading Change Program: How to cope with our own fear and lead others through change

The natural cycle of life’s ups and downs creates growth or personal fears and blockages. Which of these dominates depends a lot on how we view change. Is it exciting or is it frightening?

 

Who is watching? Your employees, your family, your community? If you are a leader then you are modeling how to navigate our current economic crisis. Will you step up and face your fear so we can all grow and thrive? We call fear by a lot of names: overwhelm, anxiety, frustration, pride, anger. We rarely say, “I am afraid.” The leading change program is for leaders who are grappling with their own fears while also leading others.

 

I wrote this intro below so you would understand that this program is confronting, rigorous and deeply powerful. It requires courage and self awareness. I believe it has the power to completely alter who you are as a leader and a human being.

We will work on:

 

• Understanding fear and how to be facile with it
• Real power
• Integrity
• Language
• Communication
• Being a visionary
• Understanding your core values and honoring the values of others

 

We know change is part of life yet we go to great lengths to make our world predictable, safe, comfortable, controllable and definable. In general, we don’t understand our fear and how we as human beings operate with it. When we have a lot of fear, we go about setting up a world that does not stimulate our particular fear(s). We use our mind to devise ways to avoid having our fear stimulated. Fear is afraid of itself and does not want to be felt. You can do one of two things with fear. You can recognize it for what it is and stop acting on it. Or you can try to keep the world from stimulating your fear.

 

We all do it. Yet we don’t talk about it. You know, try to figure out how things are supposed to be and then go about trying to make it that way. How did we come up with the idea that life is not okay as it is? If change is natural maybe life is too.

 

As a coach, I have noticed that our attempts to protect ourselves from our problems create more problems. If you keep attempting to arrange people, places, and events so that they do not disturb your fear, life will feel heavy because you are controlling and fighting with everything. Most of us try to get to peace this way. Most of us try to get to joy this way. What if there is another way?

 

This program starts in April, is 5 months – 15 sessions and is a “Pay what you can program”.  Please respond to coaching@profitconsultingco.com if you are interested and I will send an application. Only 8 leaders will be accepted and I will accept applications through March 27.

“Being Positively Practical in Your Business”

With the current economy and market changes I certainly feel it is important to keep a positive attitude, be positive and focus on what’s working versus what isn’t working. I know without a doubt that this helps me stay productive, peaceful and creative which makes me better at what I do daily. I have started exercising more, praying more, meditating and reading more uplifting books just to stay in a happy centered place.

 

As a business coach I am recently seeing a trend with several of my small business clients who always, always maintain an admirably positive attitude. Uncharacteristically, I am seeing avoidance, procrastination and a kind of refusal to look at their business situation; however I must remark that they are maintaining a positive attitude.

 

One client voiced, “If I just don’t look at it, I am not afraid.” Who wants to be afraid?  I understand this all too well. After Christmas vacation I took a hard look at revenue projections and realized I had to cut employee hours. Honestly, I should have looked three weeks earlier but instead of looking at my numbers I looked at my vision board and hoped for more business instead of looking at my financials or my new strategies for earning revenue.

 

It reminds me of the three monkeys; see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil. A positive attitude may be easier when we are not looking, listening or talking about the economy or loss of revenue but is it practical and is it empowering? Is it really the healthiest way to deal with the business challenges we face and what about our own well being?

 

Its human nature I guess to avoid looking at what’s changing, an understandable phase for any and all of us to move through but not a good place to hangout and get stuck. As business owners, if we don’t look at the reality of what is happening we can’t powerfully make our next move. We can’t anticipate and head off potential crisis and we can’t make the adjustments needed to stay in business and even potentially thrive.

 

Here are some questions to ask yourself and your team:

 

What are your financials telling you? How will we strategically cut operating costs? Will we reduce your ability to compete effectively if we do?

Will we reduce the quality of our product with these cuts?

Will we reduce the clients’ experience with our company?

Will we reduce the goodwill we have worked so hard to build?

How are our employees feeling? What layoffs are coming, if any? How will we prepare them? How can we all pull together? How will we have to change our business development plan? Has our market dried up? Do we need new markets, services or products? What habits will I have to change or adjust? What business practices will change? How will our marketing messages change?

 

Of course, none of us want to be in “fear,” maybe that’s a phase as well, just another emotion to move through? I find I have much more energy, peace and power when I am practically looking at what is happening in the world and in my business. After all when you are awake and paying attention you don’t miss any of the miracles either!

Being Positively Practical in Your Business

With the current economy and market changes, I certainly feel it is important to keep a positive attitude, be positive and focus on what’s working versus what isn’t working. I know without a doubt that this helps me stay productive, peaceful and creative, which makes me better at what I do daily. I have started exercising more, praying more, meditating and reading more uplifting books just to stay in a happy centered place.

As a business coach I am recently seeing a trend with several of my small business clients who always, always maintain an admirably positive attitude.

Uncharacteristically, I am seeing avoidance, procrastination and a kind of refusal to look at their business situation; however I must remark that they are maintaining a positive attitude.

One client voiced, “If I just don’t look at it, I am not afraid.” Who wants to be afraid?  I understand this all too well. After Christmas vacation I took a hard look at revenue projections and realized I had to cut employee hours. Honestly, I should have looked three weeks earlier but instead of looking at my numbers I looked at my vision board and hoped for more business instead of looking at my financials or my new strategies for earning revenue.

It reminds me of the three monkeys; see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil. 

A positive attitude may be easier when we are not looking, listening or talking about the economy or loss of revenue, but is it practical and is it empowering? Is it really the healthiest way to deal with the business challenges we face? And what about our own well being?

 

It’s human nature I guess to avoid looking at what’s changing, an understandable phase for any and all of us to move through but not a good place to hangout and get stuck. As business owners, if we don’t look at the reality of what is happening we can’t powerfully make our next move. We can’t anticipate and head off potential crisis and we can’t make the adjustments needed to stay in business and even potentially thrive.

 

Here are some questions to ask yourself and your team:

 

What are your financials telling you? How will we strategically cut operating costs? Will we reduce your ability to compete effectively if we do?

Will we reduce the quality of our product with these cuts?

Will we reduce the clients’ experience with our company?

Will we reduce the goodwill we have worked so hard to build?

How are our employees feeling? What layoffs are coming, if any? How will we prepare them? How can we all pull together? How will we have to change our business development plan? Has our market dried up? Do we need new markets, services or products? What habits will I have to change or adjust? What business practices will change? How will our marketing messages change?

 

Of course, none of us want to be in “fear,” maybe that’s a phase as well, just another emotion to move through? I find I have much more energy, peace and power when I am practically looking at what is happening in the world and in my business. After all, when you are awake and paying attention you don’t miss any of the miracles either!

 

 

About the author

 

Alicia Marie Fruin is the owner of Profit Consutling Co. a business education company that provides coaching, training and tools for business owners and career employees. She is grateful and excited to work daily with extraordinarily talented professionals in all types of industries around the country. Her company mission is to teach people how to express themselves fully while modeling timeless business principles. She lives in the Austin TX area and is happily married with five adult children.

 

Top seven reasons smart business owners have an organizational chart

As a small business coach, I have most certainly heard every conceivable argument against having an organizational chart, from “we are a team here” to “organizational charts are all about power and control” and everything in between.  What about why you should have one? As a small business, it is a good idea to have a future organizational chart as well as current one. Yes, even if you only have a few employees. Here is why:

 

1.      Creating an organizational chart usually leads to better role descriptions and ease of accountability. An organizational chart diminishes ambiguity around who is accountable for what.

2.      You will have a hiring strategy versus waiting till you have to have someone.

3.      When people know what they are accountable for and to whom, they are empowered to be responsible for their part. 

4.      When people can see what future roles will be available they can see a future in the business and will less likely feel like they are in a dead end job.

5.      Employees will have a gap between their current skill set and the one needed to fill future roles.

6.      Clear job roles and lines of accountability increase the chance of appropriate communication to someone who can make a difference with issues.

7.      You can strategically design an organization that allows you some freedom and even better, your employees can see your vision.

 

 

Sound good? So, where do you start? Begin with the end in mind or at least a few years down the road.

 

Close your eyes and imagine that its _____ (fill in the year). You and your team have built a great business. This business allows you to take time away and provides you with a fabulous income.  You are no longer the bottleneck of the business; day-to-day activities are done without you. You only hold a few key roles accountable.

 

 Now, ask yourself what revenue are you on track for?  

 

What roles will be full time in 20_ _ (three years from now)?

What roles will you have let go of by then?

What roles will have to be split up?

Who are your key reports?

What roles would be better off outsourced?

How will you measure the success of each role?

What is each role accountable for?

 

Using a blank sheet of paper (or go to Microsoft Word) and the title cheat sheet at end of these instructions, start with your projected revenue in 3 years. Based on that level of production, utilizing what you know about operating costs and salaries currently, what roles are needed and wanted? Draw them on the paper or add boxes in the word document. You are obviously guessing a bit and that is okay. This can be tweaked as you think things through and grow your business. 

 

Avoid the following:

·        Names of people (just put the role down).

·        Having more than three key reports.

·        Having one person in charge of everyone.

·        Overstating the job title, the job title should be appropriate to the job level and scope of work.

·        Adding more people than the business can afford.  

 

Now that you have a three-year chart …back into two years and then create the 2- year chart and the one year chart.

 

This is not a one-time exercise, it should be revisited at a minimum annually to tweak and revise as you grow your business.

 

See sample org charts and job titles provided. For more on organizational strategy visit our podcast to listen to our strategic planning course.

 

Alicia Marie Fruin

Business Owner, Coach, Trainer 

 

www.profitconsultingco.podbean.com

Another great seminar we highly recommend!

New Year’s Resolution 2009: Find the Work You Love!

 

Are you simply going through the motions of getting up and going to work every day?

 

What if you discovered… a way to make work feel less like work and more like fun?

 

What if you found a way… to take who you are and what you love to do, and turn that into your profession?

 

What if, instead of dreading Monday… you were excited to start your week?

 

Now is the perfect time to transform your career and start looking forward to Mondays!

 

Find the Work You Love Workshop

 

DATE:

Saturday, January 17th, 2009

 

TIME:

9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

 

LOCATION:

One Highland Center

314 E. Highland Mall Blvd., Suite 403

Austin, TX 78752

 

COST:

$149.00

 

Who Should Attend? Anyone who has been contemplating a career change, but doesn’t know how or where to get started.

 

What to Expect? A day of learning and discovery in a fun, casual and supportive atmosphere.

 

LEARN HOW TO:

• Get clear on what you want
• Address and remove common obstacles that hold people back
• Create an action plan that gets you moving in the right direction
• Get support through the career-changing process

What else do I get? A free 30-minute pre-workshop assessment with Ken. This is Ken’s opportunity to get to know you and your professional goals prior to being introduced into the group setting.

To Register:

This workshop is unlike any other career -oriented event you’ve ever attended… seats will fill up fast!

If you have additional questions or would like more information, please call Ken at (512)373-8891 or email Ken@DigYourWork.com.

Are You Learning Based?

Does the economic climate have you feeling threatened? With all of the changes brought on by the arrival of the information age, do you feel left behind? Most of us do feel uneasy and a little behind the eight ball. Sometimes it seems we have to run as hard as we can just to stay in one place! Everything is changing so fast that what we learned yesterday could very well be outdated tomorrow.

So how do we keep our competitive edge in our business?

 

The fundamental strategy of a high achiever is their focus on being learning-based. Being a learning-based person means that you have education, training, and self-development as the foundational piece of your plan to achieve your goals.

 

Maybe learning is key?  

 

No matter what we do, no matter where we go, owner or employee, now more than ever before, we must stay sharp…continue to study, learn and remain curious. Everyone in our business, everyone, every day will stay engaged when we emphasize and encourage learning. Learning is the key to innovative, creative, out of the box solutions. It is not enough for us as leaders to stay abreast of our industry, attend training programs or read books. We need all of our employees playing at their very best to stay in the game of business.

 

The irony is that the issues that are creating so much potential for anxiety like the economy, global business, changing cultures and technology are the learning opportunities that can likely propel you forward.

 

Consider the unprecedented wealth of information available on the Internet, in seminars, webinars and books. When I feel threatened by the economic uncertainty and by all of the new knowledge and capability that’s emerging, I just make a point to learn something new: e-commerce, business principles, or how my industry is adapting to the marketplace. Learning anything that will keep me thinking ahead and tweaking my existing business is so very gratifying.  

 

How do you maximize what you are learning? Focus on the top 5 areas:

 

People – training, coaching, developing, and managing effectively.

Money – how to project, manage, budget and leverage.

Business Development – web 2.0, promotions, retaining and recapturing customers etc.

Operations – process, systems, functionality of the business.

Personal growth – learning about yourself will make you better at all of the above.

 

When I have that insight or acquire that new understanding or capability I feel stronger, I feel resourceful, like I gained a little ground in the marketplace. Maybe today I put the heat on somebody else? My competitive advantage…me.

 

Give it a go, and then share what you learned with your employees. The only thing better than knowing that you just got a little smarter is knowing that your business did too. Learning is everything.

Alicia Fruin

 

As owner of Profit Consulting Co., Alicia has become a leader in the field of coaching, consulting and training for small business. She has designed more than 100 custom training programs for hundreds of business owners in a

variety of industries across the country. In addition, Alicia has coached managers, presidents and sales professionals on how to build a business truly worth having!

 

www.profitconsultingco.com

Embracing Business Crisis

“Without the strength to endure the crisis, one will not see the opportunity within. It is within the process of endurance that opportunity reveals itself.”

Chin-Ning Chu

Crisis is often an entry point; an opportunity to get real, tell the truth about our selves and our business. Definition of Crisis -The moment in which we know without a doubt that if we don’t make changes with ourselves and in our business we will lose. Unfortunately, at this point we usually have already lost quite a bit, which is what makes it a crisis! 

 

Understandably no one hopes for a crisis. Certainly this applies to our business or organization. Most of us as leaders would probably say one of our primary responsibilities is to prevent a crisis from ever occurring.However, I have found that powerful lessons for all of us can be found in the middle of a business crisis. It isn’t uncommon for a leader to say, “Our staff has never pulled together more than when we were facing a crisis.” Possibly it’s the very real prospect of going out of business, facing a public relations catastrophe or even a natural disaster that causes people to unite.

And although this may not seem surprising, it does beg the question, “why?” Why do people set aside their usual disagreements and petty politics in the midst of a crisis?

I found one possible answer while contemplating teams and organizations that live in a perpetual state of daily crisis. Consider firefighters or soldiers in the midst of war.

 

 

 

 

 

At those moments, these are certainly some of the least political and divisive teams that you’ll find. For them, disagreement about budgets and lines of responsibility are ludicrous, or even worse, deadly. And that’s the point. When the stakes are clear and high, you know …life or death. Well-intentioned people can’t help but focus on the prevailing task at hand. Which is exactly what happens to businesses in crisis: they get focused around a compelling, over-arching goal. They put aside their egos and differences for the common good of the team or business.

 

We innately know this about ourselves and people which is why I personally believe some businesses create an ongoing atmosphere of chaos or crisis. Consider that there is another way, another option for focusing on the important and the common good. A way to stop avoiding the issue(s) and address what is not being said.

 

It starts with clear purposeful reasons to be in business, to do the job and to get the result. As the leader, it is your job to make sure your people have these:

 

• A Vision
• A Business purpose
• Goals
• Key measures for success in their own roles
• Individual plans for growth and development 

 

“The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis’. One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger-but recognize the opportunity.”  John F. Kennedy

 

About the Author Alicia Fruin

 

Owner of Profit Consulting Co., Alicia Marie Fruin has become a leader in the field of coaching, consulting and training for small business. She has designed more than 80 custom training programs for hundreds of business owners in a variety of industries across the country. In addition, Alicia has coached managers, presidents and sales professionals on how to build a business truly worth having! www.profitconsultingco.com

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Work-Life Balance- Maybe you can’t do balance?

Every one wants balance. Is there such a thing? Clients hire me as a coach for this reason just as often as the clients who want more time and money.

 

In order to get some power with this concept lets shift how we think about balance. We tend to think of balance in terms of equal time to equal areas in our lives. In our minds, we relate to balance this way even though we know it isn’t possible to spend equal time to equal areas in our lives. Especially, when our work, for most of us, takes up more than half of our waking hours each day.  

 

Let’s use a metaphor; Imagine that achieving balance is like being a great juggler. The balls you juggle represent areas of your life.  What makes a great juggler is not that they are great at keeping the balls in the air at all times. What makes a great juggler is that they are great at getting the ball that has fallen, back in the air with relative ease and speed.

 

See if you recognize what type of juggler you are with these examples:

 

• Do you ignore the balls, eventually tripping over them?
• Do you spend a great deal of time and energy analyzing the balls on the ground as if understanding their state will help pick them up?
• Do you stay upset because balls keep dropping, making the balls harder to keep up or pick up?
• Do you create formulas and go to training for keeping the balls in the air, until confronted with the fact that balls drop, that’s what they do?  

 

I have learned from my “wise” clients that balance is about noticing what is out and gracefully putting it back in. Balance is a dance with life. It has nothing to do with time or time management; rather it has everything to do with choosing what is important to you, choosing what is valuable to you and your level of attention to it.

 

Let’s address each juggling tendency and how to remedy it (You could have more than one).

 

·        If you ignore areas until a crisis of sorts occurs:  Do an assessment of what actions, projects or practices would help. Start with easy items to check off your list first. For example if you ignore your financial well being in general. Your list may look like: see a financial planner, finish tax return, and turn in rebate on computer just purchased. Then start with what you perceive is easiest. As we free up the energy used to procrastinate we gain energy for the more difficult issues to address.

·        If you tend to assess and analyze rather than be in action: Get an accountability partner (coach, partner, or mentor) who will help develop a plan and assist you to stay in action.

·        If you feel overwhelmed and stressed from all there is to do: Focus on extreme self care to reduce anxiety and gain focus. For example: exercise, meditation, quiet time, and reading. You know what you need. Also focus on creating space in your life and business.  Throw unneeded items out. Give away things, projects and tasks. Hire someone to do it. Let go of extracurricular activities unless it adds to your extreme self care.

• If you tend to be scattered trying to do it all and end up doing none of it well. Have a sit down with someone who knows you well and start committing to what matters most and eliminating what doesn’t. Mastery is a function of choosing what is important to you and going deep into that area. Not everything deserves your attention, choose and eliminate.

 

Once again, what makes a great juggler is not that they are great at keeping the balls in the air at all times. What makes a great juggler is that they are great at getting the ball that has fallen, back in the air with relative ease and speed.

 

Is it time to pick up that ball?

 

“Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.” Brian Tracy

 

 

About the Author Alicia Fruin 

 

Owner of Profit Consulting Co., Alicia has become a leader in the field of coaching, consulting and training for small business. She has designed more than 80 custom training programs for hundreds of business owners in a variety of industries across the country. In addition, Alicia has coached managers, presidents and sales professionals on how to build a business truly worth having! www.profitconsultingco.com

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