It is easy to forget that you are in charge. Remember to update your business plans regularly. This does not mean that you have to re-do the complete business plan. It means that when you know you have completed a project or a major task you then put aside 10 minutes to re-assess where you are with your overall business goals. If you find that you are on target and still have many more projects to do, simply tick the box and continue. If you notice that there are gaps in the overall plan you can decide how much time will be needed to consider the projects or goals needed to keep you on track and then schedule the time to do this. This action will keep you in the driving seat rather than finding out at the end of the year you have taken a wrong turn and wasted time, energy and money going down the wrong way.
Business
curly
October 11, 2017
Insurance Is Important
It is very easy when working as a #life-coach or #business-coach to underestimate the level of insurance cover you need. There are many reasons for this under estimation which might include that you do not understand your legal liabilities or that you do not have an up-to-date valuation of your assets.
During our life coach training diploma we discuss the main types of insurance that life coaches and business #coaches should consider. We recommend that you take out a policy which includes professional indemnity and public liability even if you do not meet your clients face to face. Let me explain, public liability covers you in the event that you have claims made by members of the public for incidents which happen in relation to your business activities by covering the cost of compensation for: personal injuries, losses of or damage to property. You may feel that you are never going to have a client to your premises but there may be a time in the future when a wealthy or prestigious person wants to meet you before hiring your services and you decided to meet in a hotel. Anything can happen which may or may not be under your control.
Professional indemnity insurance (PI) covers your legal costs and any expenses incurred in your defence, including any costs or damages awarded, if you are alleged to have provided inadequate advice or services that caused your client to lose money. I realise that as life coaches we do not give advice but you cannot control the way the client interprets your questioning guidance. As business coaches there may be times where advice is asked for.
We recommend that you take out a policy which includes professional indemnity and public liability and if you go to our website https://www.achievementspecialists.co.uk/Life_Coaching/Insurance
where you can get a quote for a wide selection of activities and you will also get the Achievement Specialists discount even if you have not trained with us!
curly
October 2, 2017
National Work Life Week 2nd to 6th October 2017 is great news for life coaches and business coaches as we concentrate on achievement with work-life balance. The week is all about employers and employees focussing on well-being at work and work-life balance. Employers are being urged to provide activities for staff, and to showcase their flexible working policies and practices this week. Employers who promote well-being and work-life balance will be augmenting their recruitment drives and speed up employing healthy, happy staff.
You can tweet @workingfamuk and join the conversation using #WorkLifeWeek
The week start with a National Work Life Week Conference this is on the first day of the week on Monday 2nd October and comprises the 2017 Top Employers award. The conference says that it will contain best practice examples and tools to take back to your workplace, be the first to find out the results of the annual best practice benchmarking survey. They will be announcing the Top 30 Employers for Working Families. If you are interested in finding the best companies to work for, ones which value you and your contribution join the chat.
curly
August 7, 2017
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been headlining the news. It was announced that it is being adopted by the UK ahead of Europe.
Since 16th February 2017, I have been posting some interesting and important details about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which is expected to come into force around the middle of 2018 because I wanted my coaches to be prepared well in advance.
In my blogs on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) I have looked at what was being proposed from a coach point of view. In the initial entry I explained the importance of coaches in knowing about the rules which will be coming in with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and although all of my coaches will have a full understanding of the need to register and abide by the current rules I am sadly aware that many life coaching and business coaching courses are lacking in detail and especially within the business set up area. This a a critical area for coaches and it is my belief that they should be fully aware of their legal responsibilities before they leave the workshop part of the course.
My General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) post on the 22nd February covers the information you, as a coach, hold on your clients and suppliers.
Following up on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) the posting on the 3rd March deals with privacy notices which will need to be changed in time for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) implementation.
On 4th April I covered the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) again with an article on Rights of the Individual. Procedures coaches need to ensure all the rights of individuals include how you delete personal data or provide data electronically in a commonly used format.
The main rights for individuals under the GDPR will be:
• subject access,
• inaccuracies corrected,
• information erased,
• direct marketing,
• prevent automated decision-making and profiling, and
• data portability (updated one)
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has references to both ‘consent’ and ‘explicit consent’. Do you know the difference? I looked at this aspect in my post on the 8th June 2017.
I am concerned about the lack of information for the micro business which most coaches fall into. Please be aware of your responsibilities, as I know the coaches who have been on my workshops will be fully aware of.
Make sure you have registered and if not, here is the link www.ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-reform/
curly
June 12, 2017
Have just completed the workshop part of the June #Life #Coaching Diploma Course which is the second part of the course and we had a very busy and fun filled time. Life Coach course reviews from fully qualified coaches:
‘I found The Life Coaching Handbook really comprehensive, deeply insightful, easy to understand and very practical – it really does cut through the coaching jargon present in many other coaching books. That combined with my decision to train with Curly Martin was a real winner. Curly offers the personal touch that so many training organisations lack. After just the weekend which was packed with motivational, inspirational material, expert guidance and hard core business set up advice and tips, I felt confident enough to start coaching straight away and I did!. It was the right decision to train with Achievement Specialists.’ T Groth-Andersen
We work at a fast pace by starting with a demonstration of non-directional coaching which is followed by the students coaching in real time. What I mean by this is, I do not use role-play during the coaching demonstration nor do the students pretend to coach in an imaginary situation. They actually coach for real; they review the goal setting exercise with the client, followed by using the #ICANDO coaching model. They investigate the topic the client has selected as important to work on today, explore the current situation and aims of the client. During this the fledgling coach will tease out as many different ways the client can take to achieve the aim/goal and discuss the outcome indicators, then,
THIS IS THE IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ROLE-PLAY AND REAL TIME, Read More
curly
June 8, 2017
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago I would be posting some interesting and important details about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which is expected to come into force around the middle of 2018 so that all coaches, not just Achievement Specialists trained coaches, are prepared well in advance. As you will be aware, I strongly recommend that as a large part of growing your coaching business you generate referrals from your clients and your contacts.
The GDPR has references to both ‘consent’ and ‘explicit consent’. Do you know the difference? Do not be alarmed if you do not at this stage. The difference between the two is not clear given that both forms of consent have to be freely given, unambiguous, informed and specific. You will need to show that your consent trail demonstrates agreement to personal data being processed. Important Tip: Consent cannot be inferred from Read More
curly
April 24, 2017
Rights of the Individual
Your procedures need to ensure all the rights of individuals include how you delete personal data or provide data electronically in a commonly used format.
The main rights for individuals under the GDPR will be:
• subject access,
• inaccuracies corrected,
• information erased,
• direct marketing,
• prevent automated decision-making and profiling, and
• data portability (updated one)
The rights individuals under the GDPR are mostly the same as those under the DPA. Does your current procedures cover how you would react if someone asks to have their personal data deleted, how do you locate and delete the data? Who makes the decisions about deletion?
The right to data portability is new. This is an enhanced form of subject access where you have to provide the data electronically and in a commonly used format. You probably have all of these covered and it is also good to check before GDPR is introduced
curly
March 29, 2017
Are you procrastinating and using ‘I have no money’ to stop you from becoming the best life coach ever! In fact, are you also using ‘I must be perfect and fully ready before I launch my coaching business’?
Listen up! I bagged my first business coaching contract with no marketing, no business cards and almost no idea! The contract was with a large insurance company to coach 20 managers in improving performance for both the managers and their individual teams.
Life coaching and business coaching had not become the multi-million pound/euro business at that time, it was only just emerging. My book, The Life Coaching Handbook. Everything You Need To Be An Effective Life Coach http://www.achievementspecialists.co.uk/life_coaching/books had only just been launched and was still steaming from the printing press. I did not know at publication that it was the first book worldwide on how to become a life coach. There were other life coach books but they all concentrated on how to life coach yourself not on how to become a life or business coach and run a successful coaching practice.
How did I get this contract? Read More
curly
March 20, 2017
When setting your marketing goals remember to research your target market first. Think along the lines of, where they shop, what they read and how they interact with the world.
When putting your life coach or business coach marketing together think about what you can do for the reader (avoid what you cannot do), such as, save or make them money, save or make them more time, make them more efficient,etc. Extra coach marketing tip – do not put too much into it, keep your message simple and clear.
Remember to always include how they can get in touch with you, contact details, logo, groups you belong to and other important information.
curly
March 3, 2017
You already have a Privacy Notice, don’t you?
The current privacy notices will need to be changed in time for GDPR implementation. Currently the process when you collect personal data is that you must give people certain information, such as your identity and how you intend to use their information, which is done through a privacy notice. Under the GDPR the extra things you will have to do is to explain your legal reason for processing the data, along with how long you will be storing or keeping the data and you also have to tell individuals they have a right to complain to the ICO if they think there is a problem with the way you are handling their data.