The proverbial rat race is the one paradoxical location that most people have just as hard a time getting into as they do getting out. While this statement may seem contradictory, it is true. The rat race, according to Robert Kiyosaki, is the “churn and burn pursuit of a paycheck.” While the Rich Dad organization helps people find their way out of the rat race, this article pauses a moment to reiterate how important it is to first find a way to get into that rat race. Being successful at business is basically a proposition of learning how to create your own little flywheel of commerce. Once you create a system for financial gain, business becomes a game of duplication. However, finding your own money stream can be difficult. This topic is of great concern to me since the workforce I generally support is the Free Agent, the small business owner, or the individual who is a self-proclaimed “Me Inc.” entity. I work with people who want to live their lives and earn their livings by doing those things that inspire them.

Therefore, finding a way into the “rat race” is more than a proposition of being able to eat. It is a necessary step on the path to owning your professional satisfaction. The good news is that neither magic nor voodoo is required for success. Here are a few ideas for those who want to learn how to make money.

1. Interview someone who is doing exactly what you want to be doing, earning what you want to be earning. Find out the key behaviors that they consistently perform and attribute their success to. How many presentations, sales calls, follow-up e-mails and new business networking meetings must they complete in order to get a new account or client? Take notes. Experiment. Discover which components work for you. Create your own system of monthly, weekly, daily tasks that contribute to your bottom-line. Create a system for charting your progress. Keep track of your statistics.
2. If you are looking to get hired for a particular job, read C.J. Hayden’s book Get Hired Now! Another handy reference book is the most recent version of What Color is Your Parachute? Both offer you ideas and lists of key activities and behaviors that typically land folks jobs.
3. If you are looking to build new business for yourself or your own small company, invest in C.J. Hayden’s book Get Clients Now! You could take a course on this same material. Learn the basics of client acquisition. There is a science to the process.
4. Sit with your own intuitive nature and generate your own creative ideas. Then be brave enough to experiment on these ideas. Use a coach or a sounding board to debrief after each experiment. Note what worked, what didn’t, what you learned and what new action can now be generated by what you’ve experienced.
5. Read the book Now, Discover Your Sales Strengths or Strengths Finder 2.0. Take the test that comes with the book and learn what talents are waiting for you to develop so you can better sell yourself and your offerings.
6. Regardless of the industry, seek out the people you admire. Shadow, observe, as well as interview them. Then adapt their formulas and apply to your own situation.

This is a simple and short list of how to get started in creating your own system to show yourself the money. Everyone has the capacity to build a system for creating an income. Find yours. Learn to duplicate it, and therein lies one basic secret to your own business success.

Lyn Christian is the founder of SoulSalt, Inc., a coaching and coach training company. She is passionate about the “free-agent” worker who wants to earn their living and live their lives by doing what inspires them. Get more information by visiting www.soulsalt.com or contact Lyn directly through lyn@thecoachtoolkit.com.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Think about a particular situation in your business (or life) that you’d like to resolve and hold that in your mind.

Ask:

Am I looking for an answer or am I looking for a solution?

To clarify ask: “Do I first need to know what is causing this “why,” or do I need to just deal with the “how”?

Do I need both?

In what order would this be most beneficial?

When will I do it?

Who am I going to commit to, so that I’m following through with my plan?

Now, go follow your plan.  And, if you’d like to share, let us know how it goes.

About the Author:  Lyn Christian is the founder of SoulSalt, Inc., a coaching and coach training company.  She is passionate about the “free-agent” worker who wants to earn their living and live their lives by doing what inspires them.  Get more information by visiting www.soulsalt.com or contact Lyn directly through lyn@thecoachtoolkit.com.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Many of us love to talk more than we like to listen. Most entrepreneurs (except Neil and a few others) move so quickly we don’t take time to communicate clearly or to listen well. In fact, sometimes when we think we are being brief and to the point, we are actually either anti-brief – a.k.a. we tell everything we know (which is way beyond what needs to be known) or we are too brief – a.k.a. “I don’t have enough details and facts to make sense of what you just said.”

Here is a simple list of some of the salient points to make when being brief:

• Tell the facts–What are the primary facts, or details that must be heard? Keep it to three or fewer.
• Tell the desired outcome – What is your objective? What are you going for?
• Tell the main benefit of the outcome – Once we have this outcome we can now do…
• Tell the other person what you want them to do.

Ask: “What else do you need to know from me in order to be successful?”

There is power in being brief. Try it. You’ll like it.

About the Author:  Lyn Christian is the founder of SoulSalt, Inc., a coaching and coach training company.  She is passionate about the “free-agent” worker who wants to earn their living and live their lives by doing what inspires them.  Get more information by visiting www.soulsalt.com or contact Lyn directly through lyn@thecoachtoolkit.com.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Neil and I both coach for a living. The book we authored together, The Entrepreneur’s Toolkit,  is a manual for self-coaching the entrepreneurial mind. However, I find many people confused by what coaching is and what it is not. Let me help clarify what we mean when we use the word “coach.”

The roots of coaching are probably most directly followed back to the 1980′s, when business consulting arrived on the scene in the form of management and financial consulting.

However, coaching is not consulting. Consulting gives answers and leaves you to do the work.

Coaching draws out answers and stays by your side to hold you responsible to:
· take new action
· continue along a path over time
· learn what’s working
· learn what’s not working
· hold you accountable to what you know
· hold you accountable to grow

The following distinctions may further clarify what we do and do not do as coaches. Can you see why coaching fits within the realms of “self help” and adult learning?

TRAINING – deals with a fixed agenda and instructional design.
Coaching – deals with designing the process and working around the client’s agenda.

MANAGEMENT CONSULTING – deals with providing answers.
Coaching – deals with asking questions and evoking answers from the client’s own wisdom bank.

THERAPY – deals with healing or repairing something from the past.
Coaching – deals with pro-active, motion for now and forward into the future.

COUNSELING – deals with remedial approaches to ameliorating deficits,
Coaching – places emphasis on strengths and achievements and what we can now do moving forward.

MENTORING – is usually career or skills focused, creates future behaviors based on integrating with the wisdom and expertise of someone else.
Coaching – deals with supporting the experiences, expertise and wisdom of the client in all aspects (personal and professional) while making relevant changes.

As coaches, we promise to see your greatness, to hold onto it until you see it.  At that point we’ll help you strategize/plan so you can do something with your genius.  Either Neil or I would love to explore the possibility of being your coach.  Contact us at: neil@thecoachtoolkit.com or lyn@thecoachtoolkit.com and if you are one of the first 25 who reach out, we’ll give you a short consulting session to help you determine if you need and want a good coach.

About the Author:  Lyn Christian is the founder of SoulSalt, Inc., a coaching and coach training company.  She is passionate about the “free-agent” worker who wants to earn their living and live their lives by doing what inspires them.  Get more information by visiting www.soulsalt.com or contact Lyn directly through lyn@thecoachtoolkit.com.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Lyn and I have been working on a project designed to expand the SoulSalt Coach Training Program.  The school is being designed with a core curriculum and several emphasis areas such as business management coaching, creativity coaching, etc.

Our difficulty is deciding what is at the very center of the core courses.  We are trying to establish what exactly are the premises for “all” types of coaching.  Here are some examples of what we’ve come up with: 

• Coaching is a language driven process requiring at least two distinct voices.
• Coaching changes the life of both the client and the coach in a positive manner.
• Coaching is transformational.

 What do you think?  We’d love to have your opinion about the core process.  As an incentive, Lyn has agreed to give away a FREE video on Story Telling and Your Brand to everyone who comments on this post by Monday, November 23, 2009.

Are you up for the challenge?  Be sure to leave your email address so we can send you the video.

 Have any friends?  Tweet them so they can get the video as well.

About the Author: Neil Phillips is a founding partner of Team Connections and Director of the DSWA Coach Excellence program.  Get more from Neil on his Direct Selling Notebook , the DSWA Coaching Center and Twitter.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

 The teacher, or this case—coach—will appear.  I’ve always seen coaching as an effort to draw the best out of my client.  Since I work with people who are fully employed, their time is valuable and we focus on their goals and needs.  

What would the situation be if client was a “blank slate” with no other commitments than to become a fully fledged entrepreneur?  Imagine a twenty-something college graduate seeking a coach to help them become a successful business owner.  The mind fairly reels at the questions:

• Is this coaching or mentoring or both?
• What is not included in this type of coaching?
• How will you ever determine an ROI or success?
• Why not just get an MBA?

Interestingly, I read a recent article in the Coaching Commons that was a report from the South African Times (read the full article here).  A father has engaged a coach for his two college seniors to help them prepare to become entrepreneurs.

I would love to be able to follow this story from the future.  When Lyn and I wrote our book, The Entrepreneur’s Toolkit, we had a difficult time identifying the core attributes of an entrepreneur and our research showed that we were not alone in this difficult quest.  I hope the money is being well spent.

What do you think?  As you look backwards on your business, could you predict what you should have done to be a successful entrepreneur?

About the Author: Neil Phillips is a founding partner of Team Connections and Director of the DSWA Coach Excellence program.  Get more from Neil on his Direct Selling Notebook , the DSWA Coaching Center and Twitter.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites