Diary of a Business Accelerator 2 of 6
This is the second installment of my experience of participating in a business accelerator programme.
At the end of session #2 (of TH 01) I felt very conflicted. Andrew (our Trainer) asked if anyone was struggling to find their niche. I raised my hand and Andrew had me squirming in the ‘hot seat’ when he asked me why I continued to work with start-ups, particularly self-employed coaches. My answer was, ‘because they show up.’ He then asked me, ‘What are you here to do?’ My answer was, ‘That’s such an uncomfortable question that I know it’s the right question.’ When he asked me how much would I be willing to pay to clarify that, I answered quick as a flash, ‘£3,000 – I’ve already paid you,’ which drew a warm round of applause and a good-natured laugh. People came up to me afterwards and told me how much they admired me for putting myself through the hot seat process – it took courage but I knew I needed to be really challenged to think differently about my business and be willing to be uncomfortable if I was ever going to grow my business. I let my discomfort soak for a couple of weeks as I was fully committed to events for International Coaching Week in Salisbury the following week. When I had some quiet time, I asked myself, ‘what exercises would I give my clients to do if they were in my situation?’ So I did the ‘Wheel of Life’ goal setting exercise to come up with some personal goals and then I used a worksheet I designed for my clients on how to set a naturally compelling goal. That threw up some useful insights and I felt good about it so I typed it up and that became the start of an intuitive business plan rather than a template business plan. I let that soak for a while then decided to take it further and really ask myself that uncomfortable question around my niche. I did some research around this and realised I’d been resisting business consulting. I leaped into creating a brochure and packages with great energy and enthusiasm. I developed my intuitive business plan and it started to take on an energy and life of its own. New ideas were coming up all the time, for marketing, joint ventures and so on. I refreshed my website www.businessmentoringservices.co.uk to list all my services and I felt excited about my business for the first time in a long time – things were really beginning to shift for me!
I also felt it was time to re-visit the fundamental questions I ask my clients: who am I, where am I going and how do I get there? It felt like the right time for me to take the Wealth Dynamics on-line assessment and to my astonishment I discovered I had a Creator profile – I’d previously thought I was a Supporter. The more I thought about it, the more this made sense. I realised my value is in innovation, creation, strategy, ‘head in the clouds’ thinking, and my leverage is through inter-personal connections. As I walked towards the Bloomsbury Hotel ready for session #3, I felt I’d had a wake-up call, I’d made a bit of a breakthrough and I was feeling excited about my business. Things felt easier: I felt good and I felt I was on the right path. I’d been resisting the thing that was in front of my nose - business consulting – and I now knew that my natural wealth profile was Creator. I wanted to tap into that energy and see where session #3 took me – I was ready to get going!
I’ll post the third instalment of this Diary of a Thresholder after the third session of TH02.
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