As a career and leadership coach, Melanie had been running her business for three years. She had been very successful, although the business was showing signs of impact from the difficult economic conditions.
When Melanie chose to work with Lorna as her coach, she was looking to refine her business and ensure a more regular income flow, and have regular accountability to keep her focused. Explaining her decision, Melanie says...
“I was thinking about the year ahead and this was a great time to consolidate where I was in my business. It had been a little while since I’d invested in coaching for myself and the Microloan charity Coachathon was a great way to test out Lorna as a potential business coach for me. We had a great rapport and I approached Lorna about further coaching.
I wanted to have someone on my side, but it was important to me that Lorna didn’t know me or my business too well. I wanted to be challenged in a different way and open to new perspective, without bias.
I also wanted accountability every month so it was helpful for me to send Lorna my specific actions for each month, knowing I always had appointments in the diary with Lorna at the start of the following month when I would report back on what I’d achieved.”
Melanie's journey with Lorna involved sometimes facing uncomfortable questions about her business, prompting her to think critically and strategically about what aspects could be improved or let go...
“Lorna brought that different perspective as well as knowledge from her other client work, and she challenged me – I didn’t necessarily enjoy this – but it is useful to think differently. For example, when analysing my business, Lorna asked “what could you drop?” I was uncomfortable but it reminded me that I am in control of my business; I don’t have to accept what comes my way.
Lorna asked me things I was not expecting to be asked. These were surprising and useful questions that put me on the spot. For example, she might ask about metrics or processes or KPIs – typically things I shy away from, but I know are useful.”
Thinking in detail about her vision for the business was, Melanie says, a very significant cornerstone for her in refining and growing her coaching business...
“The greatest impact of Lorna’s coaching has to be around the vision planning. I still have my vision board here. Much of it is still relevant and I’ve achieved a lot of it this year, although interestingly not necessarily in a linear way; this has kept me on track.”
So after almost a year of coaching on a monthly basis, what’s Melanie’s assessment of her investment?
“My investment in coaching has been worth it. My attitude was ‘I’m invested now and want to make it worth the time and money’, making sure it was valuable through me doing the work. It meant I got to have monthly meetings and it helped me to evaluate myself and my business.
We can’t always measure the impact – it might be the reflection on something or looking at a new product - but every action I decide to take is valuable and enhances the value of the coaching.
Over the last year the coaching has stopped me spiralling out of control.”
Melanie’s advice for anyone considering working with Lorna is...
“You don’t necessarily need to know what you want - Lorna can help guide you – but you’ve got to go into it with an openness to work towards change and be open to where you need to grow and what you need to do to grow your business.
I see, looking back now, my resistance, but I know it was good for me. Sometimes it’s what you need but not the thing you want to joyously do – but it’s really important and it can certainly help you evolve your business to another level.”
Finally, Melanie sums up her year by saying...
“This is what my business needed – I have made a bigger transformation as a result of coaching. My business has evolved – I’ve got clarity about what I want and don’t want. I’ve been refining the habits and processes I’ve put in place; my focus is back and it’s motivating!”
To find out more about how Lorna Thomas / Be The Best You In Business coaching and mentoring could support you to increase your confidence and grow your business with clarity, focus and control, book a call...