Dear Dan,

On April 1, 2010, I started my 7th year with The Growth Coach! Time sure flies when you are having fun with your own business. I just wanted to take the time to thank you again for this business opportunity which has proven to be one of the wisest decisions I’ve ever made.

I can’t say enough positives about you, Greg, and your corporate staff. I’m especially appreciative of the prompt response I get from you and the others whenever I have an issue or project I’m working on. Your response time and willingness to help your franchisees succeed is second to none.

As you well remember, coming into the system at such an early stage was not easy for me and obviously had an element of risk for us early adopters and pioneers. As I told you then and will say again, I put my trust and faith in you, Gary Green, and the power of the group coaching process. You have not let me down and have kept your word on everything we have ever talked about. I thank God that I had the courage and faith to make the leap to The Growth Coach. I have been truly blessed. Thank you.

When I decided to join The Growth Coach, I knew the coaching process was proven, guaranteed, and made intuitive sense. I also knew that business owners clearly needed such a structured and disciplined way to think about and go about improving themselves and their businesses. What I did not know was how well the market would openly and warmly respond to my new coaching business and the process. Quite candidly, the marketplace need and opportunity is even much greater than I dreamed.

I have now worked with several hundred clients and organizations and continue to see them achieve significant business and life changes. Virtually everyone needs our coaching process…the only question is how badly do they need it. It continues to be financially rewarding and personally fulfilling to be a part of something that is truly making a substantial difference in my community and in other people’s lives.

I am also extremely excited and pumped about Strategic Mastery. In my opinion, this is the best of all the services we have to offer since it is perpetual and is the most enjoyable to facilitate. Being in my 7th year, I have done quite a few Strategic Mastery sessions and have clients in their third year of Strategic Mastery…which means I’ve been serving them as clients for over five years straight! This is huge and proves The Growth Coach process helps us to develop a long-term and profitable client base.

I continue to see many people achieve their objectives of working less, earning more, enjoying richer lives (freedom, flexibility and fulfillment), and creating substantial value (equity) in their businesses by following our coaching process and guidance. They become truly hopeful they can rediscover the joy of owning a business, build substantial wealth, and achieve their dreams. By helping and serving others, I too am achieving my financial, lifestyle, flexibility, and fulfillment goals.

Several clients have even told me that The Growth Coach has saved their marriages and brought them closer to their kids and other family members. This process is awesome and rewarding on many levels.

Congratulations to you Dan for the successful franchise you have created. I’m really excited to see our brand grow as we become the dominant coaching franchise in the world.

I look forward to the limitless opportunities that are ahead for us all. I also remain committed to continuing our development of the many National Account opportunities out there and know that partnering with other national organizations is a total win-win arrangement.

Thanks again for all you do and for your friendship and integrity. I consider you more than a business colleague. You have become a true and genuine friend, and I don’t take that for granted. Please express my gratitude to Gary, Greg, and the rest of the team.

Sincerely,
Mark S. Eldridge, CEO
The Growth Coach, Omaha, Nebraska
2007 Coach of the Year

Dear Dan,

I am writing you to let you know how delighted I am that Jim and I decided to purchase a Growth Coach franchise. We’ve been running the business for almost two years and it’s been everything we hoped for and more. We are achieving our financial, fulfillment and lifestyle goals!

There were a number of reasons why we chose The Growth Coach. The first was that I had a real passion for the business of coaching. During my 30 years in publishing, and during the time that I was at the executive level, my interests were always around helping my team to succeed in whatever way would help the business AND each person individually.

With The Growth Coach I am able to help people reach their potential on a daily basis and on a broader scale with many different types of businesses. I love marketing (especially networking) and business coaching and I am able to do these activities every day. And while I had a great publishing career, I am extremely happy to be out of corporate life.

Like all worthwhile things in life, it has taken drive, hard work and an investment of time to build my Growth Coach business to significant heights. At the same time, it has given us so much freedom, flexibility and fulfillment. We now control our destiny… our goals and how we spend our time are all our choice rather than being determined by someone else.

Another reason we decided to purchase a Growth Coach franchise was because of our positive impressions of the people working at the Corporate Office. We were impressed with the enthusiasm, passion and integrity of the people we met and we were excited that we would have our own coach. I can honestly say that even with many years of really strong business experience, having a coach has helped me build the business more quickly and effectively. Working with a coach has helped me to gain the self awareness, plan of action and accountability that we discuss with our clients.

A final reason for our decision to purchase was the excellent content that we knew we would be using for the actual coaching. It was clear from reading your book that you really understand the small business owner. The turnkey approach to developing the coaching business was very appealing and has proved to be invaluable. The quarterly coaching process and the material we use for that process really works!

I thank you for developing a franchise around business coaching. I find the business to be so energizing and what’s been most rewarding is the significant impact that we have on people’s lives. I recently received a call from an excited client telling me that working together has changed her life and that she intends to have the best 2010 ever. I met this person during a speaking engagement for a group of women realtors and she was someone who had not been having much success in 2009. By working with me and working through the process, she’s gained self awareness about how her limiting beliefs were holding her back, she’s created an action plan and within several weeks she had new results - six new housing listings! She’s “on fire” and her 2010 goal is to be the number one realtor in the office. That story (and many other stories like it) is the reason why I love the business – because we have the opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives.

Zig Zigler says that gratitude is one of the most powerful emotions and I am grateful everyday that we decided to purchase a Growth Coach franchise AND that I get to do what I love on a daily basis.

Thanks for all that you’ve done and all you continue to do for The Growth Coach franchise community.

Best regards,

Susan Katz
Franchise Owner
The Growth Coach
Baltimore, Maryland

Dear Dan,

Since I’m celebrating my fourth anniversary with The Growth Coach®, I thought it appropriate to share with you as well as others my thoughts and experiences over the past four years as a franchise owner and business coach. Put simply, The Growth Coach has exceeded my expectations in every category and I’m thrilled to be part of a caring and professional organization. I’m having fun and making a real difference in my community.

Purchasing a Growth Coach franchise has been a financially and emotionally rewarding decision for me. Once I visited Corporate Office in 2006, I knew that your coaching process would benefit business owners. As expected, the clients’ results I have witnessed the past four years have been truly amazing to them and gratifying to me.

The marketing and coaching systems you have developed are very powerful and effective. Our group workshops, in particular, provide a tremendous win-win opportunity for all involved – affordable, guaranteed and life-changing coaching for all the clients as well as excellent financial leverage for the franchise owners. With the workshops, I get to serve groups of clients at the same time instead of merely serving them on a one-to-one basis. Such leverage enables me to work part-time, enjoy a flexible lifestyle, and still earn a wonderful income.

Also, my business is over 90 percent referral based because of the relationships I’ve formed with clients, prospects, referral sources and strategic alliance partners. This is the same marketing system provided to every franchise owner and the exact processes and strategies we share with our clients in our quarterly workshops. Even the slow economy in my part of the world has not hurt my business; in fact, I would say it has actually helped it. Small business clients, more than ever, are searching for better ways to run their businesses and lives. In the last couple of months, I’ve had more and more people (all strangers to me and simply through word-of-mouth marketing) call me wanting to get into our group coaching workshops -- it doesn’t get much better than that!

Growth Coach has been a great investment. The franchise fee and monthly expenses are insignificant compared to the financial results I have earned. Everything I needed to run a successful coaching business has been provided…I just needed to bring my passion, drive and desire to help others. I didn’t need to change a thing!

While achieving my financial and lifestyle goals has been very satisfying, it’s the feeling of deep personal satisfaction you get from helping others achieve THEIR business and personal goals that is truly fulfilling and rewarding. Additionally, this coaching business and our tools have helped to make me an even better person, better owner, and more accountable to myself, my family and my true dreams and goals. The same coaching process I use with clients has helped me to become a more balanced and happier person than I was 4 years ago.

You and your team have always kept your promises and treat your franchise owners as true partners. Growth Coach is a life-changing business, for clients and franchise owners alike, and I appreciate all you and your support team have done for me. My business has continued to grow each and every year…and so have I. Thank you all.

David A. Miller, CEO
The Growth Coach, Southeastern Iowa

Dear Dan,

I hope all is well with you and your family this 2008. Things are going great in Dallas. We are busy and we have a number of things in the works.

I wanted to take a minute and drop you a note and let you know that I am extremely honored to be a part of the Growth Coach franchise system. I have been involved a little over a year, and this business has exceeded my expectations in almost every way.

I am truly experiencing the freedom that we talk about in our quarterlies. I have been able to apply almost every aspect of the system to my business and it has worked. What I have discovered is that the system works as long as I follow it. The only times I have had any struggles has been when I have tried my own thing or failed to follow the process. Thanks to the operations staff, who have always been there for me, I have been able to get back on track and see this business do what I believe it is capable of doing.

I have aligned all my resources around this business and expect to grow the business even more in 2008. Thanks also for all the support materials and resources you make available. I use the intranet every day to get the information and stuff that I need to do my business. It has become an invaluable resource to me.

I have also benefited greatly from other franchise owners who have willingly shared ideas and feedback. I appreciate the conferences where we have a chance to meet and talk about our businesses. I probably have learned more about how to be successful in this business from the veterans out there, than just about anything else. I have good neighboring franchise owners and we all work together to grow the brand in the Metroplex.

Thank you again for your vision and diligence and creating a system that allows someone like me to help so many people and make some serious money doing it. As we talked about at the national meeting, I am truly grateful for this business. Please let me know how I can help you or any other franchise owners in the future.

Best Regards,
Mike Mirau
Owner, The Growth Coach
Dallas, Texas

Dear Dan,

As I complete five years as a Growth Coach® franchise owner, I thought it would be helpful to you, your organization, and other prospective business coaches for me to share my thoughts and experiences on paper. As the very first franchise owner in the system and the owner of four Growth Coach territories, my insights may be useful to prospective franchisees.

To begin with, let me express my heartfelt thanks to you and Gary Green for being great business partners. Everything you guys promised you delivered, and vice versa. Together, we created a wonderful partnership and as a result, hundreds of small business owners in the Greater Cincinnati area have achieved greater success and personal balance from my coaching and our powerful coaching process. Also, we now have a robust franchise system with business coaches in over 140 markets helping clients throughout North America. I am happy to have contributed to our system’s growing success.

Some prospective franchisees ask me about the risk of being the first franchisee. After viewing the intellectual property that you had developed, my perception of risk dissipated. I knew that I could make the material applicable for our clients and thereby make a difference in their businesses and lives.

Likewise, I am sometimes asked if the risk was worth it and would I do it again? Absolutely! If I were to use one word to describe the overall benefits and experience of owning this business coaching franchise, it would be “richness”. This business, coupled with my hard work and passion, has enriched my life in financial terms as well as in new relationships, greater fulfillment, personal growth, additional freedom and personal time with my family and friends, and is a perfect platform for my creative expression. Overall, this business has exceeded my professional and personal goals and provided additional richness to my family, my clients, and me.

A person who hadn’t seen me in awhile asked me how I liked coaching. My response was that I feel more energized at the end of the day than I do at the beginning. It made me think back to my corporate days and how seldom I would have been able to say that truthfully. Clearly, there is something about contributing to other people’s lives that is energizing and rewarding. I can cite story after story of real people who have made significant, meaningful changes to themselves, their businesses, and their lives as a result of being catalyzed by our coaching & accountability process and my passionate guidance. That richness is gratifying. I have also come to know with certainty that there is not a small business owner alive who could not benefit dramatically from our coaching process – the marketplace need is immense.

Personally, I can see clearly that I am a different, better person than I was five years ago and this profession will continue to enable my growth and development. It is even more exciting to realize that there is really no limit to the types of people that I can meet and the experiences that I can have in this profession. As a curious person who loves learning and a diversity of experiences – it doesn’t get any better.

Let me also acknowledge and thank The Growth Coach operations team. Their, and your support, have been remarkable and unwavering. I never hesitate to ask for help when needed and they never hesitate to help. I truly value being in business for myself but not by myself, including the ability to seek input from other franchisees.

Finally, Dan, let me take this opportunity to recognize the value and transformative power of the unique intellectual property you developed over fifteen years ago – there is nothing else like it in the marketplace. While it is my responsibility as a coach to bring the material alive and help our clients to apply it, the material itself is very powerful in helping our clients to change their mindsets and behavior. Our coaching process puts the client front and center in developing their own solutions – helping them to discover the strategic changes they need to make and then being held accountable to themselves so they achieve those outcomes.

With a committed client, the strategic focusing process works time and time again no matter the owner, business or industry. While results are not “instant pudding”, clients are invariably thrilled with the outcomes if they stick with the process. Best of all, I get to witness the transformation and elation of my clients, much like I have experienced as a basketball coach when a kid who nobody thought would develop into much of a player steals the ball and makes their first lay-up -- again, a wonderful feeling of richness.

The other day, I was talking to a fellow entrepreneurial client who was struggling. His perspective says it all…he said, “A bad day owning my own business is better than a good day working for someone else in the corporate world.” Amen to that.

Thanks for all the richness, Dan.

Tim Shepelak
Owner, The Growth Coach
Greater Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky