Happy Halloween!

Teddy’s Takes for Movies’ Sake | A brief commercial break

Believe it or not, I subscribe to a few newsletters that aren’t coaching, business, marketing or personal development related.

One of them is Teddy’s Takes, a bi-weekly movie-relatd publication delivered via email. The Teddy in question is Teddy Durgin, shown suspended at left, a trained journalist whose passion for film is evident in every line he writes – and he’s been writing in the entertainment field (among others) since 1989.

Here’s the thing. Teddy’s Takes is a for-pay newsletter. Yep. For a whopping $10 a year I get movie reviews that make me laugh out loud and once in a while force me to clean food droppings off my keypad. I’m sure I save a ton of money on movies I’ve been on the verge of going to see, that would have been horrible. And I get to feed my hubby’s dream that one day, he might review movies for living too. Okay, a partial living then!

If you love movies, I highly recommend it, not least because I find Teddy’s judgement of movies to be spot on. Besides, for subscribers in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., area, you get invited to preview movies WAY ahead of the official release dates! How cool is that?

Interested in a place you can put $10? Go to www.TeddysTakes.com to see a sample newsletter and get instructions on how to subscribe. Tell Teddy I said hi!

P.S. As hubby Mike likes to remind me, Hollywood and the movies are our modern-day Gods and Heroes – just read a little Joseph Campbell! So yes, we take smug satisfaction in knowing we’re in it for more than sheer entertainment value, every time we watch. So there.

ICF Wine & Cheese Reception

Please Join Us

Wine and Cheese Reception
Hosted by
The Foundation of Coaching
Friday, November 2, 2007
The Hyatt Regency Long Beach
Regency Ballroom B
5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Please R.S.V.P. by October 25, 2007
Linda@thefoundationofcoaching.org

The mission of The Foundation of Coaching
is to forward the development of coaching, both as a profession
and a valuable set of skills to evolve humanity.
http://www.thefoundationofcoaching.org/

You Just Never Know | Money & Meaning in Iraq

Kind Words from Capt. Karen Anderson in an email earlier this year:

“A fellow Marine took this photo of me reading your book while waiting to shoot on a range in Fallujah, Iraq.

I’m a reservist finishing up a year of being here and just finished my second book (The Art & Soul of Dancing Barefoot) that I want to market on the internet – I love both of your books.”

Moral of the story: When you create something tangible that contains your message – coaching, training, inspiration, how-to or other – you really NEVER know where it might end up, who it might reach or how it might end up looking.

Also, for whatever reason, this photo got big points with hubby. It’s always cool when you’re hubby thinks you did something hip, especially after this many years of marriage.

What project will YOU complete before the end of the year?

Share your comments below.

Business Coaching Question for the Day

There’s more to this question here than you think

If there were two businesses as follows:

• One that had a gross income of a million dollars, and a profit of $100,000
• And another that has a gross income of a quarter million dollars with a profit of $150,000

Which one would you want? (No this is not a trick question!)

For some of you this may feel like a no-brainer question. However you might be surprised how often this kind of situation comes up in individual coaching. 

As a business owner yourself, post your comments below. 

Also post your comments as a business coach. Is this a useful question? Why or why not? How would you coach a person in this situation?

Live Coaching Demo | What Does a Giraffe Have to Do With Coaching?

With Guest Contributor and The Sound of Coaching Collaborator Barbra Sundquist

Did you know the giraffe has the biggest heart in relation to its body size of any mammal?

That’s why I choose it to be our symbol for learning the IAC’s Coaching Mastery #1™: Establishing and maintaining a relationship of trust.

From the IAC website, Coaching Mastery #1is defined as:

Ensuring a safe space and supportive relationship for the client’s personal growth, discovery and transformation..)

(For members of the IAC, see their learning guide for more information

The keywords to remember for Mastery #1 are TRUST and RAPPORT (remember the giraffe with the extra-big heart).

Some of the ways that you build trust and rapport are by:

• using active listening skills such as paraphrasing and listening for feeling as well as content
• having a warm and supportive tone of voice
• validating the client’s feelings
• asking for the client’s suggestions and input

Action Item:
 
Listen to the 6 minute coaching excerpt below and then answer the questions. Then scroll down to read my suggested answers. (My answers are not all-inclusive. If you heard something that I didn’t mention, well done!)

And now, continue reading for a set of questions (and their answers!) vis-a-vis this live coaching clip.

Read more

The Dark Side of Fictional(?) Niche Marketing

Every once in a while, I run across something like this in a novel that makes me laugh right out loud. Which is odd, especially when the book is a thriller/mystery, isn’t it?

This example is actually really quite dark, but I think you’ll get at least a chuckle. We live in such very strange membership-site, online-password times don’t you think? Final note: For anyone currently living in the twilight gray murkiness of ‘uhhh….what’s my niche?’ this may just be of help.

From page 2 of David Baldacci’s The Collectors which sits tempting me in the afternoon sun:

“Seagraves could actually buy all that he needed on an Internet site that required a carefully guarded password. It was akin to a Macy’s department store for criminals, sometimes dubbed by its felonious clientele as “EvilBay.”

There, one could purchase everything from first-rate ID packs and stolen credit card numbers to the services of professional hit men, or sterilized weapons if you were inclined to commit the murder yourself.

He usually obtained the necessary materials from a dealer who had a 99 percent approval rating from his customers and a money-back guarantee. Even killers liked to go with quality.”

Post your comments below…

Shall We Get Up Close and Personal in Long Beach – sometime between Oct. 27 to Nov. 5, 2007?

Today’s Featured Service | Face-to-Face Coaching and Consulting

Some of you know by now how much I dislike to travel on business. Oh I like being wherever it is, just not getting there, functioning (eating, exercising, creating) there, and then schlepping back. Lots of terrific things happen face to face, though, so I make the effort a couple times a year and ultimately enjoy it.

Suffice to say I’m quite fussy about maximizing productivity during any business trips. Which is the origin of my tradition to meet face-to-face with a limited number of business owners to deliver half and full-day, full-bore, consulting/coaching sessions. I delivered six of these earlier this year on the East Coast and all have been money makers for the clients involved. Congrats, guys!

Long Beach with its attendant excitement around the ICF Conference is next. Would you (and any team members, virtually or in person) like to sit down and hammer out your business strategy, water-tight your tactics? Identify big-ticket opportunities you may have sensed but not yet seized? How about be introduced to resources or key players to accelerate the path? Or maybe you’d just like it if someone would lovingly take the blinders off so you can see what you’ve been missing.

The details are yours to dictate, however the theme for fall meetings will center around “How to Stop Stepping on the Gas With One Foot and The Brakes with the Other” as most of us are, in some way or another.

If the timing seems right to you – click here to send an email and be placed in priority queue for face-to-face work, first come first served. In the body of your email indicate 2 preferences for date from the header above. Fee information and logistical details will be forwarded to you so you can confirm your initial interest. Should you wish it, more info on me is available here.

Note: As of this writing, 10/27, 10/30, 10/31 AM only are available, 11/01 and 11/02 are now booked.

Does Your Business Success Ever Feel Like It Comes From Luck? So what’s the plan if that ever runs out?

I’m delighted to host the following TeleClass for high-level coaches interested in a sincere business-building discussion from a new perspective:

Title: Identify Your Business Attraction Factor – The Shortest Distance to Your Client’s Heart

From: Wednesday October 10th. (Recording Now At End of Post)

Presented by Graham White, former head coach of SuccessTracks, employer of hundreds of coaches under the umbrella company called Peak Potentials founded by T. Harv Eker.

Note: Graham is currently our strategic business coach and the recommended coach/consultant to many of our closest friends and colleagues. A true ’secret weapon’ as it were, he’s coached over 3000 individuals and is now also a good friend. Graham’s brain works in just a slightly different way, and it’s been enlightening to watch as he’s become a self-made multi-millionaire through business and real estate.

Complete the form below to register for the class and see for yourself. I consider time spent with Graham to be valuable in the highest order – please adjust your schedules accordingly. If you absolutely cannot attend, register below in order to receive the recording right away.

Among other things, we will cover:

• What is a business attraction factor and how do I find mine?
• What do I stand to lose if I don’t identify my attraction factor?
• How do I use this information to make more money in my business?
• Are there any strategies or resources you can recommend to help put all of this together?
• What results can I expect one I begin leveraging my high value attraction factor?
• Do you have any examples of what this process looks like? (Hint: Answer is a millionaire success story in the coaching market.)
• What is my next actionable step to make this happen?