Leaders With Drive & Ambition — Day 11 0f 365 Leadership Blogging
What happens when leaders have drive and ambition? The first answer is a highly successful and creative business plan.
We love working with all of our clients to help them navigate the direction for their dream. In this case, today, we were invited to be a guest at the launch of one of our client’s successful commercial kitchen business. City Kitchen Pod approached Vanessa to coach them in writing a business plan which was a great pleasure to be a part of and will explain why.
For us, to see the happiness of our client’s hard work pay off and how it will secure a future for his family and children, is enough in itself. We have a great passion for families and for us working with City Kitchen Pod was more than a bigger dream of ours to help another leader be more than a champion!
So when I first met my client the biggest questions was could we prove to an investor there was a need and could we maximise returns on investment?
In this very special blog we share five insights of taking a highly ambitious, driven client through the steps that secured investment and scale into a six-seven figure business.
In the end, we accomplished an investment-ready plan within 12 weeks and secured investment shortly after. The energy that went into connecting the dots was intense. The reward witnessing the dream of an entrepreneur come alive was more than getting paid for a job.
Here are some tips on how I struck up a winning mindset with my client:
- We read a book together
At the onset of our meeting, we read Myles Munroe’s book week by week. This acted as a central theme of our coaching amongst the questions and written homework my client had to provide. The benefit of reading books include centring our minds on motivational mindsets to move mountains. You can (as a coach) read a book. But reading with someone else in the context of their plans really adds benefit to discussions, experiences and altering the pace of the way we work and trust each other. You must do this.
2. We were consistent
There was not one week we missed our coaching sessions. We went through every element of the coaching system in place. I always tend to add in more ideas and ask lots and lots and lots of questions. We come from a place where consistency is the key to all we do. Not every part of our lives are like this but in areas like business coaching, a system is needed to get through the steps required to secure a goal.
3. Add value
We are different and the combination of two people masterminding to make one highly investable business plan is value in itself. We do come with some more goodies. Our specialist online digital marketing skills have us understanding what exactly businesses need to optimise their business offline to online. We believe building a brand is not all about numbers. Its all about precision and timing to connect to the right people and build links to make an impact on the sector we serve. Value is about sharing for mutual gains.
4. Having the right tools
We’ve had to project manage teams for the most part of our careers. A handy skill when we work with individuals. We use Trello as our go-to management tool to manage the flow of data, actions and planning which works well with clients in today’s technological environment. Having the right tools, makes life easier. We also fast track some of the coaching and review sessions with video training. Again, we are all for efficiency and getting the job done with excellence.
5. Numbers game
Every client we work with sees this as the non-glamorous side of things. However, it needs to be the clincher and our clients always understand that both their demonstration of research and knowledge when presenting their numbers is the make or break. For the most part of our work together this aspect of coaching is the best part and in some cases the worst if your research cannot match your numbers. At top level as a business coach, we have no actual insight into the market we will be entering into. However, we are skilled enough to ensure we grasp the issues and run through the top priorities ensuring that the profit is worth the endurance.
6. Attitude
This is everything. An openness and humility to take on the advice given. As well as the honesty to reflect and evaluate what works well for your business, is a two-way street. We don’t just talk. We listen as we want to become your best cheerleader.
In it all, we believe there is a leader in us all. There is a system waiting for you to burst into a song and we see that in all the people we meet. The question is do you see it Mr/Mrs Leader?
