Structure Your ADD Coaching Business for Success

The Structure Problem

Structure is an issue that most self-employed service providers struggle with. ADD coaches, in particular, often suffer from self-imposed pressure to always "be there" for the client. ADDers frequently need accountability and follow-ups, and many coaches fall into the trap of thinking that in order to be a good coach, they have to be available all the time.

This is simply not true. The first rule of being a 'good' coach is to be a 'good' person!

In order to be a 'good' coach, you must feel good about yourself and your life. You must be a happy, fulfilled person who has a surplus of positive energy. You cannot serve your clients well if you are overwhelmed and over-scheduled. You have to have a life outside of work. And in order to do this, you must have boundaries in the business.
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Business boundaries come in the form of schedules. The business is OPEN certain days of the week, and CLOSED other days of the week. On those OPEN days, the business has certain operating hours.

No matter how great a coach you are, no matter how many people you are helping, and no matter how much good you are doing in the world, you cannot forget that your ADD coaching practice is a business, and businesses need boundaries.
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If you forget this fact, you will struggle both emotionally and financially.

What To Do

First, decide what your working days are. What days of the week will your business be OPEN? What holidays will you have off? How much vacation time will you allow yourself?

Then, decide what your working hours will be. Establish your operating hours for each working day.
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Next, figure out which days you will actually be coaching in your work week. Don't forget that you need time every week for administrative, marketing, and planning tasks.
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Finally, stick to it! If a (potential) client calls on Sunday, and Sunday is not a working day for you, wait until the next business day to return the call. Clients won't respect your boundaries if you don't respect them.
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A Living Example

Many self-employed service providers fear that limiting their availability means that they will lose clients. I have found the opposite to be true.

Here's my favorite example: A former client of mine is a massage therapist. When we began working together, he was working 7 days a week, taking clients any time of day or night. If a client called and wanted a massage at 6:00 AM, he'd do it. If another client wanted a massage at 10:00 PM that same day, he'd do it! He was so scared of losing a client that he burnt himself out being on call all day, every day. To make matters worse, he could barely make ends meet. He simply wasn't getting the number of clients he needed to sustain himself and the business.

We both knew that he needed to decrease his working days and his operating hours, but it was hard for him to get over his fear of losing clients. Eventually, he did. He cut back to 6 days a week, started attending exercise classes in the mornings, and decreased his evening hours.

To his surprise (but not to mine), business picked up. Most clients were happy to book an appointment within his new operating hours, and he let go of clients that weren't. His stress level decreased, and he found himself giving better massages, which led to more referrals.

This former client checked in with me about a week ago, and he was happy to report that business is booming! He has been booked and making great money.

While this client is not a coach, I have seen this scenario happen over and over again with myself, my colleagues, and my clients who are coaches.

When you let the boundaries blur between yourself and your business, you will struggle with stress, overwhelm, and anxiety. When you take care of yourself, your business will take care of you.

Jennifer Koretsky is an ADD Management Coach who helps adults manage their ADD and move forward in life. She publishes The ADD Coaching Business Report, an eNewsletter that helps other coaches succeed in their business and marketing efforts and create viable coaching businesses. Subscribe to The ADD Coaching Business Report at http://www.addmanagement.com/ACBR.htm

Effective Coaching Releases Employee Discretionary Energy

Discretionary Energy

What is discretionary energy? Discretionary energy is the energy an employee uses when going above and beyond the call of duty to complete a task or get the job done. Every employee has discretionary energy. The amount of energy released and employed at work depends on their attitude, how well they enjoy being at work, how they are treated and how they feel about the company.

Discretionary energy can be the difference between doing what is expected and performing in an outstanding manner.

Therefore, telling a person what he is doing wrong is not specific enough.

Eliminating undesirable behavior without providing a new substitute pattern leaves the worker open to learn another undesirable set of responses and will encourage him to withhold his discretionary energy.
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It is better to comment on improvement in performance than to comment on the employee's failure to meet goals.

This can be accomplished by:

• Frequent feedback

• Reinforcing small approximations to the desired goal, gradually increasing the number of steps necessary to obtain the positive reinforcement

• Evaluations should be given for good performance and without too much time delay
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• Employees deserve to know how they are doing no less than on a monthly basis

To see how this principle is applied to coaching, assume you were on a ride-a-long with a salesman and you just concluded a sales call. You observed the salesman neglected to ask for the order when making a closing statement. If in this critique you mention to the salesman that he did not use the skill correctly you would, in fact, be punishing the salesman.
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A much better approach would be to use the concept of self-feedback. In other words, allow the salesman to self-critique the use of his skills. In the above example, assume the salesman used the supporting skill correctly. You would apply the positive reinforcement technique as previously discussed. Next, ask the salesman to repeat his closing statement as best he can recall.
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You might say, "Can you remember the closing statement you made? I wonder if you could repeat it."

Several things may happen here. First, the salesman may repeat the statement and realize on his own he neglected to ask for the order - a self-realization. At this point ask him to ask for the order and positively reinforce his response. On the other hand, the salesman may not realize he used the skill incorrectly, even after repeating it. In this case ask the salesman what he thinks he could do to improve on the closing.
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Confirm understanding and ask the salesman to make another closing statement. Once again positively reinforce after correct skill usage. By utilizing this method you avoid falling in the trap of the "Psychological Sandwich." That is, after the salesman received praise he is now waiting for the axe to fall, the praise becoming the antecedent to negative consequence.

Dr. Rick Johnson (rick@ceostrategist.com) is the founder of CEO Strategist LLC. an experienced based firm specializing in leadership for wholesale distribution. CEO Strategist LLC. works in an advisory capacity with company executives in board representation, executive coaching, team coaching and education and training to make the changes necessary to create or maintain competitive advantage. You can contact them by calling 352-750-0868, or visit http://www.ceostrategist.com for more information.

Rick received an MBA from Keller Graduate School in Chicago, Illinois and a Bachelor's degree in Operations Management from Capital University, Columbus Ohio. Rick recently completed his dissertation on Strategic Leadership and received his Ph.D. He's also a published book author with four titles to his credit: "The Toolkit for Improved Business Performance in Distribution," the NWFA & NAFCD "Roadmap", Lone Wolf-Lead Wolf—The Evolution of Sales" and a fiction novel "Shattered Innocence." Rick's next book due in November is titled; Lone Wolf - LEad Wolf The Evolution of Leadership