I was recently in a hardware store and an effective display for a gutter-guard system caught my eye.  The marketing talked about all the clutter that can clog up your gutters and cause large amounts of water to pour into, flood and damage your house.  That marketing got this business coach thinking about clutter and business.  What clutter is clogging up the gutters (daily operations) of...

As a business owner, do you ever feel like a prisoner to your business?  A prisoner to your employees and customers?  Do you sometimes feel like you work a demanding job instead of owning a thriving business?  If so, you are not alone. As your virtual Growth Coach, allow me to ask you some additional tough but revealing coaching questions: As a business owner, could you leave your bus...

What is one of the most over-rated abilities of a business owner?  Technical expertise.  That's right, the ability to do the technical work of the business ... paint a bedroom, repair a toilet, move a household, care for the elderly, write an insurance policy, clean a home or office, remodel a room, etc. Why is having the talent to do such technical tasks not that special?  Because mill...

Why do we business owners torture ourselves?  Very often we measure our current results only against perfection (our ideal goals).  With that measuring stick, there will be lots of disappointment.  More times than not, we will come up short and feel frustrated. Are we really that crazy?  YES!  We seldom take time to enjoy the journey, gauge and celebrate our incredible progress.  We ten...

Given the lethargic economic recovery, now is not the time for business owners to be super heroes or lone rangers. Now is not the time to be isolated, alone, stubborn, and pretend to have all the answers. It's OK, end the superman or superwoman charade. Remember, this is your friendly Growth Coach here that has pretty well seen it ALL over the past 19 years as a business coach. So please...

As a business owner, what is the one BIG THING you have been avoiding or putting off?  That one BIG DECISION or ACTION you are unwilling to make?  The BIG MESS you are dodging?  Just acknowledge one … the big, hairy, ugly, scary MONSTER (thing, issue, problem, confrontation, decision or mess) in your professional or personal life you are trying to deny, delay, or ignore.  Got it? Come o...

As Mark Twain stated, "It's not what you don't know that holds you back, it's what you know for sure that just ain't so."  As your virtual Growth Coach, please read that again.  Surprisingly, it's your certainty around some of your long-held business beliefs that could be holding you back.  After all, when was the last time you really questioned and challenged some of your beliefs, pract...

Unfortunately, after 2-5 years of launching and running a business, the reality is that we entrepreneurs tend to lose the emotional and motivational connection to our initial dreams and visions.  We hit a wall and get tired.  We get so busy working "in" the business and dealing with the "daily grind" that we lose sight of the big picture and our compelling vision.  In a real sense, we lo...

Business Owner, as your virtual Growth Coach, let me ask you a direct question.  What's holding your company back from greater levels of success?  Come on, be brutally honest and courageous enough to focus on at least 3 circumstances, conditions, things or people preventing your company from achieving greater results.  Go ahead, think of your top 3 barriers, challenges and obstacles.  Go...

Whether people are trying to lose weight and keep it off or improve their businesses and personal lives, it takes a system and time.  Knowing what to do is never enough.  You need to consistently do what you know you should do.  There are no quick fixes or short-cuts.  No matter the desired change, people perform best when they set their own goals and are provided with a proven process, ...