I am the product of yin and yang parents. From as far back as I can remember, my dad has always been the entrepreneurial one. He loved the independence, creativity, and freedom of working for himself. He is a big-picture, visionary, designer-builder-type entrepreneur. My mother was the nuts and bolts. Her first language is spreadsheets and in college she minored in color-coding. Her business know-how was in the details. She kept the schedule, taxes, invoices, and legal all under control. When I say that my skill is in creating order out of chaos for my clients, know that it is from a lifetime of watching her get his chaos under control.
My strength as a business coach comes from combining both of their expertise. I am as organized and on top of things as my mother and as big-picture excited as my father. Together those competencies allow me to “make up for” the weaknesses of my clients. If they are organized and task oriented but lack direction and vision for their business, I guide them in creating their big picture, at whatever level they can interact with “big.” On the other hand, for those with the big picture I can bring them back down to earth with everyday tasks and systems to keep them moving forward.
Sometimes I run into a client who truly needs help with both. They have the passion but no vision. They have the elbow grease but no idea what needs to be done. For those clients, I channel both sides of myself and funnel that passion and perspiration into the context where the client can begin to grow their business.
And a lot of the time, I work with people who have both, just like me, who (just like me) need to be told what they already know, need to be asked questions to form their own thoughts, and who need to dedicate time to focus on building their business, not just doing work.
When I tell people that I create order out of the chaos of running a business, they often immediately think of the people who need a lot, the people who need direction and organization. The reality, however, is that 90% of my clients are high-functioning, intelligent people just as smart as me and way more knowledgeable than me in their area. They have the knowledge, the big vision, and the organization. And yet they still have chaos. Even when all the competencies are within your grasp, it is nearly impossible to hold them all at once. Let me lend you a hand.