Business Life Coaching - Coach's Corner
Session 1- JR
Does this sound familiar? “I have a great idea and one of these days I’m goin to make some money with it.” “One of these days” turns out to be “none of these days” for many of my new clients. They say that they have this great product or service to sell. Their great idea, however, never seems to develop into anything. Starting-up a small-business needs organization and a good plan. To keep it running requires a variety of business and lifestyle skills. This can be so overwhelming that first-time entrepreneurs often don’t know where to begin. So they don’t.
 
Client Background
JR was a 30 year old male paraplegic. 3 years ago he became a wheelchair user when he drove his motorcycle into the back of a garbage truck. Prior to his accident, JR had worked in the tradeshow industry. He helped organize and physically set up events that showcased the latest developments in electronics, sports equipment, etc. After his rehab JR started taking classes at his local junior college. Since he wasn't able to return to his old job he figured that he should "learn how to do something different." Six months ago he started missing a lot of classes due to some medical problems. He was becoming increasingly concerned about his employability.

JR had been "toying with the idea" of opening his own business for years. Now, because of his current health concerns, he was giving it a lot more thought. Especially a home-based one because it would allow him a lot of flexibility as to where and when to work. He had even started working on a business plan but had made little progress. "I just seem to run out of time. Something unexpected happens, I get overwhelmed and I give up.”
 
Getting Started
JR told me that his great idea for a new business had come to him while he was at his last job. "I saw how they marketed their trade shows to prospective attendees. I knew that I could do the same thing -- but I could do it better and cheaper."When we discussed some of the skills that he would need, he said that he had completed only a few marketing classes. We talked about the need for taking some more business classes like accounting, etc.As for his computer skills, JR said he had a computer but that he only knew the basics of how to e-mail and surf the Internet. Since he did not know anything about business software we discussed what was available and what they could do. Before we ended our first session we made up To Do list -- things that JR would work on before our next phone meeting. He agreed to:
  Show his commitment by disclosing his business plans to his family and friends.
  Set up a quite work area and put his To-Do list in a highly visible place. He was to check off completed tasks
  Take a short ENTREPRENEURIAL self-assessment quiz to learn about his personal strengths and weaknesses.
  Research for information on Computer Training and Business Startup web sites and in his local area as well.
  Look over our Business Basics handout that I had sent him. We would discuss it at our next session.

He was sure that he could spend at least one hour per day on his list. He was not to get discourage, though, if he didn't. People often underestimate how much time something will take. The important thing to remember was to be persistent -- we could always arrange a more reasonable work schedule. During the next few weeks we communicated frequently by e-mails. I wanted to follow his progress and he sometimes had a question or concern that he needed to discuss with me.Procrastination is not a good entrepreneurial trait. If you don’t give your customers or business associates good, prompt service, your competition will.