FreelanceCoach Blog

One followed his instincts and took spontaneous decision, while other planned and panned out his way to success. Where both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have respectively created and reached new echelons of professional lives, there’s a stark difference between the two.

The major similarity being that they are both college dropouts, and perhaps also that they are hailed as modern day Isaac Newton, but both Jobs and Gates are truly different when it comes to business acumen and strategies.

To start with, Gates brilliance in the technical know-how has steadily kept Microsoft’s scale going upwards, so much so that according to Wikipedia; at one point of time the company was sued for becoming a monopoly in the world of operating system.

The late Jobs on the other hand, co-founded Apple and were later fired from the company. He, then stating that Pixar had ‘interesting’ computers bought that over. Later, when Apple neared bankruptcy, Jobs got back on board and spearheaded the company that was soon to be a corporate giant in the field of software.

What most people don’t know is at the time when Job re-acquired Apple; Bill Gates had invested close to $150 million to haul the company out of bankruptcy.

When Gates was once asked what his interest would have been, if not computers. He replied in a heartbeat stating it would be economics. On the other hand, when Jobs was asked what he would concentrate on 20 years hence, his instant reply was, women.

That was their strength, while Gates worked with numbers, equations and paid clear attention to the economics, Job’s focus was human resources. He knew the potential of people and was a people-driven person. His aim, as would be reflected by his contribution to the world in general and technology in particular, along with his modus operandi that highlighted the fact that his focus was on improving and creating a direct impact on the quality of the life of people.

If we were to simplify both the contributions of Gates and Jobs, it is not mutually exclusive. Job improvised and spearheaded technological development, which in a way was based on Gates pioneered innovation.

Bill Gates is currently ranked as the richest man according to Forbes 400 and Lauren Powell Jobs (on behalf of late Steve Jobs) is at number 28.

Both Gates and Jobs have touched the world in a way no one would forget, but who of the two, would you be? Simple, the one you identify with best.

Wishing you all the best,

FreelanceCoach.com Team

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If your business is going to be successful, you must have a team that works together, but sometimes that is much easier said than done.  Teams that work together are happier, more efficient, and more effective.  You just can’t buy a good team, but you can work on building one through team coaching. 

Team coaching involves working with the team as a whole rather than with individual members of the team.  There is an important distinction between team coaching and other types of coaching because the goal is a unified team rather than a group of individuals with peaceful autonomy.  Does your team need some coaching to get back on track?  Here are four reasons it might:

1. Teamwork – The most basic reason your team may need some coaching is simply because your team members may have a difficult time understanding the fact that there is no “I” in team.  When you got up this morning, the parts of your body all fulfilled their purpose without much work from you.  Each part filled a role easily and efficiently without you having to think too much about it.  This is the ultimate aim of team coaching.
2. Group goals – Sometimes team members have difficulties thinking in terms of the team.  They may set individual goals for what they want to have done when, but these individual goals often go against the grain of the team as a whole.  The only way all parts of the team are going to work together in unison is if all of the goals of the individual team members are in alignment with the overall goal of the group as a whole.
3. Culture – Another issue many teams face is cultural differences.  This is about much more than simply race or religion.  The culture of the team deals with the basic daily habits of each individual.  One team member may be a morning person while another is a night owl.  They have different cultures in terms of the time of day when they are most productive.  However, a team that’s truly working together will play into these strengths, leaning more on the morning person early in the day and more on the night owl in the afternoon and / or evening hours.
4. Communication – Team members must also be able to communicate well in order to work together.  The form communications take depends largely on the task at hand.  No two teams are the same, so it’s up to the team leader to decide which form of communication works the best for what they are tasked with doing.

Through team coaching, all of these elements of running a team come together smoothly.  It’s important that you think about the team as a whole rather than as a group of individuals because in its essence, a team is one unit.  In order to operate cohesively, they must be treated as one body with many parts.  A successful team coach understands this and is able to train the team to operate as one.

Wishing all the Best,

FreelanceCoach Team

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Despite the tremendous importance of money and finance in all aspects of our lives, very few people benefit from any kind of formal guidance in how to deal with either.  For most of us, it is simply a case of learning our lessons by watching how those around us deal with financial matters and then muddling through accordingly.  Although help is available through formal training for anyone who wishes to improve their sense of financial awareness in the home or business setting, such courses are typically only able to provide generic information which students then have to interpret to fit their own sets of circumstances.  With the help of online coaching, however, anyone can receive personalized guidance which is tailor-made to address their own unique situations and needs and geared towards helping them meet their own specific financial aims or those of the companies that they work for.

Especially in today’s tough economic times, it is imperative that managers, executives, leaders and business owners possess high levels of financial astuteness if their companies are going to thrive rather than merely survive and if they are to avoid the unfortunate scenario where employees have to be laid off or they themselves risk losing their jobs or watching their businesses go under.  With greater financial awareness and a better understanding of how specific decisions will ultimately impact on the business, companies can better secure their financial futures and the jobs of those that they employ.

The business world, of course, isn’t the only place where a lack of financial awareness can potentially lead to disaster, or at the very least financial difficulties or the failure to make maximum use of the resources available.  In the home too, the ability to understand finance and to be able to budget is vital if families are going to be able to deal with their financial commitments and to prepare for future events such as their children’s educations and weddings or to realize their own personal ambitions such as setting up a small home business.  With so much uncertainty in the job market, making sure that they have sufficient put by to protect them should the specter of unemployment make its presence felt or just having enough put by to deal with the unexpected can mean that families can live contentedly and without endless stress and worry.

When you work alongside a coach in the online coaching environment, one of the enormous benefits that you receive is that the help and guidance is related specifically to your own unique situation.  Online coaching which is provided to private individuals, for example, takes into account their own incomings and outgoings and what they themselves hope to achieve at the end of the day.  Online coaching in relation to businesses, on the other hand, helps managers, executives, leaders and business owners to manage the resources for which they are responsible in such a way as to achieve the best possible results.  In some cases, financial awareness coaching is provided as a standalone, whereas in others it forms just one element of a wider executive, leadership or sales coaching program.

Anda Tudor, Life Coach                                                                                         September 14, 2011

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For many people, setting up their own business is a lifelong dream which is never realized.  For those who do make the giant leap from being an employee into self-employment, however, not only is the experience an extremely exciting one, but also one of the most daunting.  It is for this reason that many new entrepreneurs seek support and guidance via business coaching.

Even before a new business gets off the ground, there are a million and one different things to do and to consider, from setting up the business entity to arranging finance, identifying target markets, writing business and marketing plans and a whole lot more.  Both at this stage and once business activities are underway, entrepreneurs are called upon to use the widest range of skills imaginable, some of which may never even have been tested while they were in paid employment and which may not represent areas in which the individual is particularly strong or gifted.  Even knowing which of these to tackle personally and which to farm out to someone more experienced can be an enormous challenge for many new business owners, and this is one of the many important areas where the more seasoned entrepreneurs who provide business coaching services can offer invaluable advice, guidance and support.

Of course, it’s not just the sheer range of activities and responsibilities which can present concerns and issues for new entrepreneurs.  Switching from paid employment in an organization where other people ultimately carried the can to being in a situation where the buck stops with you can not only feel foreign and stressful, but extremely lonely.  In addition, knowing that your business lives or dies according to the time and effort that you put into it can mean that every semblance of a work/life balance is lost, even to the extent where health and personal relationships begin to suffer or fall apart completely.

Setting up and running a business involves embarking on an extremely steep learning curve which encompasses a multitude of different factors.  Sadly, the harsh reality is that many new entrepreneurs don’t survive the ride, and even if their businesses manage to keep going throughout the first year, the majority is destined to fail before they hit their 10-year anniversaries.  In fact, estimates put the failure rate at 25% before the end of Year 1, and 50% by the close of Year 5, with 70% of new ventures having crashed and burned after 10 years.  Although these figures might seem exceptionally high, especially bearing in mind the wealth of information which is available to new business owners today, both information overload and the generic nature of the advice which is provided in books, training courses and so on can often add to confusion and cause entrepreneurs to make fatal business errors.

For those who choose to take up business coaching, one of the key benefits is the ability to receive advice, guidance and support which is directly relevant to their own business ventures and their own unique sets of circumstances.  In addition, however, because the coaches themselves have set up and run successful businesses of their own, new entrepreneurs who avail themselves of business coaching services effectively have the opportunity to learn by somebody else’s mistakes and experience rather than through their own trial and error, which can shorten the learning curve tremendously.

Whether you are about to kick off your own new business or are looking to fine-tune your entrepreneurial skills in an established venture, business coaching could be your key to reaching your objectives more quickly and painlessly. 

Julia Ann                                             August 16, 2011                                                      

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  Starting your own business can be an overwhelming process. There are many things to consider before doing that, to make sure you are on the good path and that your business is going to be successful. You want to invest money and time in something that will bring you financial success and personal satisfaction, right?

For this reason, is better to ask yourself a set of questions, to do a “survey” before starting, in order to see if you are ready for the new adventure. Make sure you are answering realistic to the questions, so you can objectively decide if having your own business if suitable for you.

To make your life easier, I built the questionnaire for you.

1. What service/product you want to provide? What are the vision and purpose of your business?

Tip: Be specific in defining the service/product you want to sell to your customers. Focus on the things you are best at. Create a vision for your business, how is going to serve you and your customers? How is your business going to look like in 5 years?

2. Who is your client?

Tip: Determine who your target client is. To whom do you want to sell your services/product? Describe on paper what the characteristics are for your typical client: age, income, why are they interested in your services/products, what need are they going to satisfy using your products.

3. What makes you unique?

Tip: There might be out there other businesses similar with yours and maybe you would like to take as much as possible from other business models. At the same time you have to think that you have to be different, unique. People will always search for better deals and they will compare similar products/services. If you are not offering them something they didn’t see somewhere else, unique, they will buy from somebody else.

4. How much money do you need to start, to operate each week? Are you able to sustain yourself until the clients are going to use constantly your service/product?

Tip: Get familiar with the financial part of a business. Analyze how much money you need to start the business, to operate weekly until the first client arrives, and what do you need to maintain the cash flow at a level that permits your business to grow.

5. Do you want to work by yourself or do you need to have employees?

Tip:  Consider all the operational aspects of your business. Are you going to have enough time to do all the paper works by yourself? See if it is something that you can outsource to other company or person, like accounting, answering the phone, etc. You will want to focus on the activities that bring the most money for your company.

6. How are you going to manage the relationship with your customers?

Tip: Create a strategy to keep your existing customers satisfied, loyal to your business. Show them that you value their opinion and choice. A happy client is likely to bring other clients to you.

At the same time you have to create a successful plan to bring new clients on board.

If, after taking this questionnaire you still want to build your own business, great! You are on the good track.

To Your Success!

Anda Tudor, Life Coach                                                                                  June 18^th, 2011

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