Business Coaching

Increase of Women looking to Run Businesses from Home

Posted on 05.30.14 | Leave a Comment

442841-Royalty-Free-RF-Clip-Art-Illustration-Of-A-Cartoon-Woman-Working-On-Her-Computer-As-Her-Kids-PlayIncrease of Women looking to Run Businesses from home

Despite the economy that we are currently experiencing at the moment there is an Increase of Women looking to Run Businesses from Home – this is on the increase and many running many more than just one business as well.

As a Business Coach & Mentor as well as a Personal Dev Coach etc I hear so many women talking more and more about considering opening or running their own businesses, working for themselves or becoming self employed.

There has been a huge increase in the numbers of women running their businesses from home – looking towards a better work life balance and also with the rise in the cost of child care finding its a great incentive as well.

But also there are more women running a business from home in the evenings and at weekends – I for one have ran a 2nd and even a 3rd `job` as such for years when I worked full time in the Public Sector and today as a Business owner and Sole Trader I run a 2nd business – a Craft Business and a Micro Business but one that is doing well and thriving.

Its not always because of the drive to earn or have more income – although lets be honest this is often the main driving force of necessity for many – but its about bringing about a positive change to the family home of a work life balance and a greater connection for the family – we probably end up working harder and longer hours but in a way that suits us more.

I can compare how I work now to when my children were small and in full time employment – due to the nature of my work and the distance for travelling I felt I was on a treadmill, juggling all the balls in the air and beating myself up if I was not doing all the right things at all the right times.
Over the past few years I have found that being about to work with and around my family makes it all feel so much more worth while – I am fortunate and lucky to be able to do that and I know that – but it is a reason many many more women are looking to work from home and run their own businesses from home.

http://www.smallbusiness.co.uk/news/opportunities/2460587/two-thirds-of-mums-consider-starting-a-business-from-home.thtml

 

Guided Meditation In Coaching

Posted on 04.5.14 | Leave a Comment

SONY DSCGuided Meditation In Coaching

Guided Meditation in Coaching can bring about deeper and longer lasting positive change for the future – I can hear the deep breathes  already even before I have started – REALLY – I hear you ask.

Well yes – I am finding that the more work I am doing with people keeps taking me back to an interest and passion I have always had around me to do with this side of my work.  Meditation, relaxation, therapies that can sit with people to help them – getting to know yourself from the inside out – touching base with your inner person, inner self, inner goddess – who ever it might be – but touching base there and HEALING many of the deep rooted issues there, before moving on to becoming more successful personally and in career or business.

Using it to work on my self is so beneficial – the clouds or fog of confusion and lack of clarity are lifting and I believe I am in a better frame of mind, knowing and understanding of what it is I want, what my goals and ambitions are and also being more calm, more in control and greater enabled to become focused on HOW I am going to go about getting them.

Guided Meditation In Coaching don`t necessarily sit together in the purest of senses according to many – but for me I really think they do – not everyone is business savvy in how they approach things, many of my clients need space and time to work out what to focus on first and how to get the space to be able to do that.

Using Guided Meditation techniques in my Coaching sessions – where it is requested and agreed to – does just that – we spend a bit of the session focusing on the guided meditation and then discuss what the meditation brought about for them and decide on action plans for the future – goals can become clearer and focus is more defined and clarity is there as the client is less stressed, more relaxed and able to get to what they really want to focus on rather than it often getting jumbled up in the chaos and jabber that often surround many of us when trying to make changes in our lives. The inner self talk can be a powerful tool for good but it can also cause self doubt and sabotage on being able to get to where we want to go far too easily.

 

Hence why Guided Meditation & Coaching works for me with some of my clients – not all want to use it but its one that I use with increasing frequency.

Often primarily in the early days of the coaching relationship and then many clients go on to want just meditation sessions as it allows them space and time to focus on what they want for themselves and to learn to get better at it and hone the skill of meditation more.

 

relax-body-soulWhat is Guided Meditation?

Guided meditation is when you are guided, by a narrator, to elicit a specific change in your life. You are first guided to relax your body and mind, to help you reach a deep meditative state before going on a journey, in your mind, to reach a specific goal.

As the brain does not distinguish between an imagined event and a real one, the experience you have with a guided meditation is just like having a real experience. This has an amazing effect on your life due to the way the brain works.

There are many studies that show that practicing something in your mind is almost as good as practicing it in real life.

The beauty of a guided meditation is that you can bring about change in your body by using your mind, and that means activating muscles, changing your biological state, and even changing the way the cells in your body work.

Pay attention! Here comes the science bit

I am often asked why guided meditation is so effective, so I would  like to give you a little science behind guided meditation, and why it benefits you so much.

If you think of your mind as being an MP3 player, with hundreds of songs uploaded. All the songs on this MP3 player represent a program that dictates the way you think, act and behave in certain situations. These programs have been installed since your childhood and more added as you’ve aged.

So, for example if you were told, as a child that you were no good at maths, a program has been installed in your subconscious mind telling you that you’re no good at maths. Years later as an adult, someone asks you how to do a calculation for something, you quickly tell them ‘Oh, I don’t know I’m no good at maths.’ Your brain doesn’t even try the calculation as it takes it for granted that you’ll never be able to do it as you’re no good at maths.

The fascinating part about all of this is that the programs have not only been written and stored in the brain, but stored in the very cells of your body. The brain has literally created a path, a neural network, to coordinate your actions based on environmental factors, which speaks to the cells in your body.

If you stop to think about the implications of this for a second, you’ll realize that our genes do not determine who we are; it’s the images we create in our minds of ourselves that determine who we are.

We have thousands of programs written into our subconscious mind, and each program will determine how we think, act and behave in any given situation. The trouble is, it’s extremely difficult to change these programs without some type of way to access the subconscious mind to rewrite the programs, and make a new neural pathway that will communicate effectively with the cells and genes in our body.

Guided meditation has the power to reach your subconscious mind, by feeding it images, sounds, and directing your imagination to experience all your senses, thereby giving your brain an experience of what feels like a real experience. When you have a real experience new neural pathways are made that affect your whole body, so when you listen to a guided meditation from GuidedMind your are literally rewiring your brain to form new neural pathways for your future success.

Meditation-BenefitsSo now looking at Guided Meditation and Coaching you can see how sort of `hot wiring` your brain to think differently will support you in your journey to make changes, working on your goals, action planning for the future and how in coaching, mentoring it is a great way and another tool in supporting you in that journey and ultimately getting your goals, desires, dreams, ambitions and all that you want to work towards success either personally, in business or career or performance in a job.

 

Contact me for more details – I will be running Guided Meditation workshops and sessions locally but sign up to my newsletter by contacting me on

 

sharonjardine@sljassociates.co.uk or sign up via contact on the website.

https://www.facebook.com/sharonjardinecoachingandtrainingassociates

 

Be Your Own Life Coach

Posted on 03.4.14 | 1 Comment

you are worth it

Be your own Life Coach

Making and taking tough decisions is not always easy but starting with being your own Life Coach is vital.

Being focused on yourself is the most important point and the very beginning of any one persons journey – let me support you being your own Life Coach in this vital starting point for yourself and learn what I know will make long lasting changes, transformational changes, to you,  both personally and professionally in your business or career for the future.

 

I will share with you over the coming weeks – case studies of where I have worked with real people such as you on making those changes and how working with me can do the same or similar for you.

 

But start with you – do some of the ground work yourself – get an interest in being your own Life Coach as well – start the changes now and realise that you matter and that you are that important.

 

 

Be your own Life Coach – I started doing exactly just that – hey who coaches coaches.

Fiona Harrold – be your own life coach.

http://Be Your Own Life Coach: How to Take Control of Your Life and Achieve Your Wildest Dreams

This little book started such a huge change in my life – I had already been making and taking tough decisions on making long term changes in my career, setting up in business and also some in my personal life.  But what this book did was open a window a fraction of space for me to see how much more work I needed to do ….. on ME – nothing else just ME.

I now follow Fiona`s work and coaching and I admire her approach as a Coach that I would like to emulate and role model.  I have had the privilege of being on a coaching programme she ran in 2013 and this further galvanised me to refocus and get to know with greater depth and clarity what I really wanted for me and my future.

This small book started a domino effect of getting for myself my own coach – both looking at my business and myself on a personal basis and realising the impact this investment could have on all areas of my life – not just where I thought it would be in.

Thats why I highly recommend not just this book, but also starting with yourself – be your own life coach – if you do not see the benefit of it all, then it does not matter how many, or who or what you get coaching in and around either your business or personal – you will just be given tools but have no motivation, no interest or see no value or worth in those tools.  Then they are just a waste of time, energy, finances and effort.  Basically you will only go so far and will very quickly slip back into bad habits and unsuccessful ways of being, working and running your life or your business.

 

Mine in the early days was all about believing in myself, getting rid of self doubt and having self worth.

Recently I have gone back and re read Fiona Harrolds book as I have been following her on Facebook and also doing some webinars and coaching sessions with her as well – following on from all of this I actually took up an investment of a coaching programme with her and the benefits catapulted me forward in both my personal and also my business life.

I realised I needed to invest in me and to do that I needed not just  a good coach but  a great coach – one who I could connect with and that is what I got on that coaching programme.  She has from this little book and me focusing on myself as being my own coach, me to realise that I could use all my skills, expertise and years of experience and be an excellent coach in turn to others who work alongside me.  That is now what I offer from me just being my own Life Coach.

 

Now while coaching other people is not what everyone else is going to do – having a good coach is what everyone needs and that is now what I offer and I know that my clients receive.  I will share with you over the coming blogs some of those case studies of clients and organisations I have worked with –  how  and where coaching has worked for them and why they see the worth and value to them of a Coach on both a personal and business level.

Coaching is about making and taking tough decisions – we often do not realise how much we sabotage ourselves  and our businesses or potential for successful futures.  So read this little gem and start the journey by being your own coach and enjoy.

 

www.facebook.com/sharonjardinecoachingandtrainingassociates

Twitter : @sharonjardine

Sharon Jardine – email  : sharonjardine@sljassociates.co.uk

 

New Year New You New Start – Financial Literacy

Posted on 01.26.14 | Leave a Comment

financial-literacy-news-800x450

New Year New You New Start – Financial Literacy

Financial Literacy – for me has become the greates learning curve both on a personal and a professional / business level.  When I was in paid work as an employee all I wanted to do was earn more, get higher up the career ladder , get recognition for all that hard work that I was doing and get rewarded with something to show for it all.

When redundancy came around I found out how quickly 20 + years was actually worth in £ cash – and it was not that good – and despite all the years of working so hard and not being finanically rewarded for those extra hours, stress and dedication – my redundancy pay came down to purely length of service and payments made only on ratio of how  Redundancy payment calculations are constructed – so this taught me a great and very powerful lesson I am determined never to repeat again – Know your worth and know what you are working for and why.

But this is not just about money as such – this New Year New You New Start part is around understanding Financial Literacy – in that I want to introduce you to the term and for you to ask the question – because believe me it will run across your personal and definitely into your business life – are you Financially Literate – do you understand money, your attitude to it and how you relate to money.  If you do great x if you do not – then this is the final area but a vastly important area to get to grips with in this new year new you new start for 2014.

How hard do you work ? – do you work for money or do you make your money work for you?

Ok – so why should I want to be more financially literate – doh why not?  I am not doing it for the money I hear you say – ok then here is a fact.

a. You will never be able to afford me as your coach – fact – I am a business and you pay me by the hour – I am not free.  

b. You will never run a successful business and probably work exceptionally hard to earn money that you never hold on to and end up ultimately working too hard for too little money and never have the work / life balance you ever wanted in your life, owe out money all over the place and end up stressing over money all the time and ultimately always chasing money as you will never have enough. Your business will never be financially in a position for you to be able to leave it ie take holiday or take a break and you will always be in debt moving from crisis to crisis and financial worry to financial worry.

Phew that was alot …………… but do you get a picture forming here.

I am not going to talk to you in this blog about making money – NO – I want you to look at your understanding of your Attitude you have to money, about money, how it relates to you, how you see money and how you relate to money – that is about understanding what Financial Literacy is all about – for me and its here that I learnt huge valuable lessons over the past few years.

So lets start by asking the questions…..

What is your attitude to Money ?  What were you told about money growing up?  How was money referred to in your home by your parents, family and so forth – even your community?

Do you have patterns of money in your family, with you now ?  ie are you in debt?  how often do you get into debt?  what is your attitude to debt?

financial-literacy-knowing-what-you-know-L-XldFKg

When I use the word RICH – what image jumps out to you – these are the areas that I start to work on with you when we do our coaching sessions – working through this area allows you to understand how you manage money, see money, feel money, images of money, and your attitude to money – as they all relate to success – and not always around wealth and financial success.

Money is only one area we work on – success is not money alone but it may well be one area that you work on to ensure you have greater opportunity to get to the successful outcome or goal that you want.  It has a part to play whether we like it or not it is part of the overall equation.

I will relate this to me and give you an example –

Took redundancy 2011 – at that time was in debt, mortgage, credit cards and loans – decided Redundancy would last about 2 years and I could take time out to get well after heart operation and might decide to get back into part time work later on.  All my life I have been told – work hard get educated and get more money – well did all that and we still had a good wage but not vast wealth that I would have liked.  I often said then – my job is my vocation money is not necessarily the main reason I work – well how right I was about that especially when it came to my company looking after me after all those years of extended loyality.  When it came to it,  all my worth was calculated in complete years that had worked for the company and nothing more – not the success that I had brought to that company, not the time putting in when did not get paid or get time back, nothing but years calculated to the least amount of money that they could pay me as possible – I was only ever referred to as a number – faceless and emotionless and purely fiancially driven. I totally understand it – but it taught me a valuable lesson in worth, value and my interpretation of where I put my value of me higher than the company put their value of me – plus despite being vocational / educational and working for development community etc it was still a business and businesses look at The Bottom Line – cost.

Less that 12 months later – still had credit cards, still had loans and needed to get into work asap – nothing financially had changed including how we spent as a couple with 2 people working on 2 good salaries.  Reality check arrived and it was big – then decided after a crap attempt working for `friends` and being screwed over and going for a job in a large major supermarket chain for minimum wage and at last minute turning it down – to take leap of faith and started up SLJ Training – realised very quickly not the right environment for Training etc – so went back and retrained and learnt all I could around Coaching and Business Development. Took previous skills as a Senior Manager in Council and turned all those skills into business directed skills for Coaching and Business Coaching – plus add on qualified counsellor, managed staff and teams and budgets for 20 + years into skills I could harness in SLJ Coaching & Training Associates.  But the biggest part of all the learning (and this was someone who has been in the education and educational / learning world for all my adult life ) was to learn about my attitude to money, what it meant to me, how I related to it and how it managed me in so many cases and not often in a positive way.

And rightly so you are saying – AND SO WHAT………..

What I did in the meantime was – read and learn, listen and talk to people who understood the business world and success – what I needed to do was also change – change  me and change my attitude to money, how I earnt it, what I did with it and what I needed it for.

My ultimate goal (I have a few but start with this one) is to own a Villa in Turkey to be able to retire there or have a retirement home outside of UK in the sun – I want to do this by around 55 but as Mike retires from his salary job 58 will go for then – that gives me 10 years (11 actually) to do it in. Plus Retire from `working` life (not sure I ever will but ultimate goal.

This does not happen on fresh air – but I also have 2 teenage kids to school, head off to college, university and clothe, feed and sort as well in the meantime – basically without an income this will not happen.

In changing my mind set around Money and getting better and better at it – I am now making changes – I am no longer spending and I am looking at my spending patterns and how and what we need , we have little or no personal debt, credit cards are paid off, mortgage for house has been dealt with, we save at a higher level than ever before – I am more savvy with money and what I do for money and what includes how to go about making money. This in little over 2 years and even more so over the past 12 – 18 months.

UK coins

My learning around money is improving and improved vastly  – I know more and more about what I want money to do for me rather than previously working my ass off for money and still having nothing at end of month – rather than me just working for money – NOW money works for me.

I now know that for my Business to get better – for me to improve their and in my personal life I need to have assets not liabilities, I need to make money work for me not me killing myself working for money and I also need to be astute in what I do with my money – ultimately I can do more and give more and have a greater impact in my goals for my business and for me in starting up my business.

Thats the start of Financial Literacy – there are loads more but this is just a glimpse into what you do with me – not just dealing with light nice things but really delving in deep (not into your accounts – thats for you and your accountant) but about what you value money to be for your success or your journey towards success.  What it means to you?

So if you are ready for the New Year New You New Start and learning about Financial Literacy – then contact me further and lets journey together  – the more you understand yourself, your attitudes and what you want from life via personal goals and beyond the more you will be come successful in your business goals and life – goes without saying really as one is not separate from the other.

Money and Financial Literacy are not dirty words, but an area which is vast and getting a greater and better understanding of it and how you relate to it and work with it – can only make anything you do better – becoming Financially Literate is the ultimate part of the changes of New Year New You New Start for 2014.

Thank you for reading my musings over the past few weeks and I hope as we end January 2014 to hear from you, that you have enjoyed or gotten something from what I have been saying and might be interested in talking to me about being your coach for the future.

Best wishes and Keep in Touch

Sharon –

New Year New You New Start – Goal Setting

Posted on 01.19.14 | Leave a Comment

New Year New You New Start – Goal Setting

quotes-Les-Brown-goalsQuestion I am going to start off with on our 3rd blog session in January 2014 – Do you set goals ?  Do you write them down ?  Today you are – WHY? because people who write down their goals are more likely to actually ACHIEVE their goals, targets, dreams, ambitions, desires – what ever you want to call them – writing them down is the starting point.

 

Over the last few blogs I focused on YOU – getting you ready and in the right frame of mind to – CHANGE  – to make CHANGES – and be READY TO CHANGE.

Now we are focusing on GOAL SETTING – New Year, New You, New Start – is about making daily changes, putting in place good positive habits and SETTING GOALS.

Coaching or Mentoring for me is about this picture – I am your guide, your map reader to assist you in reading the road map that you need to set out,  to guide you and show you what is possible for you – in your personal life, career, employability, weight, personal development and of course your business.

Motivational-quotes dtermine goal

I will work with you to assist YOU to Determine WHAT you want and WHY you want it. I assist you to understand what is important, and what you need to do to achieve YOUR GOALS  by GOAL SETTING.

 

BUT

this is where it gets exciting, interesting and challenging at times as well.

 

 

 

dream goals plans

Now we begin to break down your Goals into steps, we design a plan , a plan of action and that is what I work with you on – this is where as your coach and mentor I do my job – working with you on transforming and making the transitions from having a dream into a reality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the value of goal setting – making them Specific, Measurable, Attainable/Achievable, Relevant & Realistic but most important of all as well Time Bound.

smart-web-goals

This is now were YOU start to become SMART – and start taking the path or road map to achieving all your dreams and ambitions – in any or all avenues of your life.

 

Working with people – not clients or customers – but people – this is the most exciting part of my work – being with you and watching and working with you on your transformation and transition into achieving your goals.

 

Taking steps to make your goals happen is invaluable.

 

Make it happen today – take a pen or pencil, paper and start writing down what goals you want  or what you want in your life, personal or business – why do you want them.  What difference will it make to your life having them – write that down  also,   then write down  what difference to you or your life is there in not having them – once you start thinking in this way you start to see changes – New Year New You New Start.

 

Now you need to start looking at it from this point of view and telling yourself  – “I am going to achieve my goals, dreams and ambitions” and start with imagining or thinking that you have them already – what do you see, hear, feel – what does it look like for you – personal or business – if you had those goals already achieved, what difference would it make to your life.

Hold on to that image, hold onto those thoughts and now write down what you need to do to break the goal down further into steps – what steps do you need to take to get to that goal.

What blocks or barriers are there as obstacles that might stop you getting there – and then how are you going to over come them – what are you going to put in place to remove those blocks, barriers or obstacles.

See what you are doing!  – slowly but surely you are setting out your ACTION PLAN in how to achieve your goals.

Most importantly of all – put dates to those actions, when are you going to start it and when are you going to do it – and of course when you need it finished or completed by – setting dates and even times to it – make it real – make them SMART.

Don`t use ambiguous words – give it all full details – the more details the better – an example = I want to lose weight – by end of year, well losing a kilo is still losing weight but you want to lost 10 kilos – so define it.  I want to lose 10 kilos in weight and I want to lose 2 kilos each month, 1/2 kilo each week for the next 5 months or 20 weeks.

Another example: I want to  make money – ok so you make £10 this week or this month – you still made money – or you can give it details :-

I want to change from having a 4 figure or 5 figure yearly salary  and want to have a 6 figure yearly salary – ok so how you going to do that? My question would be next – what do you need to change or do to make that happen – do you need to learn new skills, better use of your money, your time, do you need to change jobs, do another job –  what additional knowlege, skills, and abilities do you need to acquire to achieve your goal and how will you acquire them.

See whats happening here ! You are defining and refining your action plan – being specific – follow this and you will soon find that goals you have had become achievable.

Thats the coaching / mentor role to work with you on Goal Setting – Making an Action Plan to achieving those Goals – getting you to keep to the action points and ultimately working with you to get to where you want to go and achieving your goals.

smart-goals

 

So start now – get Goal Setting and enjoy your New Year, New You and New Start to 2014.  Make it count.

 

 

 

New Year New You New Start

Posted on 01.12.14 | Leave a Comment

1521533_10152129763487863_222028509_nNew Year New You New Start

Keeping Motivated after the first flush of the New Year is often a difficult one – and by this time normally many people are already getting disheartened, discouraged or have fallen off the wagon on their New Year Resolutions.

But – we are not on about New Year Resolutions – I do not work with people on resolutions but on Goals – setting them, keeping to them and making them a stepping stone in your life plan for success in what ever are that might be.  These are not sheer ideas or fantasy that you might have of `one day` achieving – these are goals and a series or set of goals that you are and you will over the course of this year achieve and once achieve set further ones to move towards your ultimate long term life goals for the future.

New Year New You New Start – so what are you going to do to keep motivated – what goals have you set already – as I stated in last blog – keep them SMART – keep it all simple – have big dreams for what you want – no problem there – dream as big as you want.

But what are your stepping stones to achieve that Dream – these are where, I believe, your goal setting comes in – and this is where it often goes wrong or pear shaped for people – they set goals that are unachievable, get disheartened, feeds into a negative mind set they already have of themselves and they fail – so give up and do nothing more about it – how many gyms are full of people sweating and groaning on the first week of January, sales of gym clothes, exercise dvds go up and you see people running and so forth every where – BUT by this date and mid January onwards = the memberships notice a decline in people attending, sales go down or return to normal and by end of January 80% of those signed up 1st January are no longer attending.  WHY ????? Because people throw themselves in, expecting MIRACLES to occur – weight to drop off them and because their is not INSTANT results – give up WHY? Because instead of doing it sensibly and steady and doing it at a pace that is achieveable LONG TERM  to change their lifestyles and their goal is too big too soon and ultimately set themselves up to fail.

AND HOW OFTEN HAVE WE ALL DONE THAT – hands up from me – But not any more – thats why Goal setting is important and HOW  you see what goal setting is about as well – thats the most important step – and thats what will keep you motivated even when you want to stop and give up.

But in this New Year New You New Start – what keeps you motivated – be realistic and be honest – if its money then make your goals money orientated ones – break them down, write them out and put them on your wall, on the fridge, on your bathroom mirror – prioritise what is the most important thing or goal you want to achieve and work on that one.

Again too often I hear and have worked with people who set goals or talk about goals that are huge in size – and then get very quickly overwhelmed – where to start, what to do first and then go – this is too much and stop . You might have heard the saying – you can only eat an elephant 1 bit at a time – what it means (rightly so ha hahaha ) is that any problem or issue that is that big,  needs to be broken down into smaller achievable chunks and devoured in that way instead – after all attempting to consume anything or achieve anything that big is definitely too much at any one sitting – but break it down and you will be surprised how much you can do paced correctly and done in priority order.

Thats the key – setting goals to keep you motivated – setting goals on a monthly basis – break your year down into goals for each month – decide what you want from 2014 and then month by month, week by week or even day by day how you can do it – now that way you can achieve it and you will even surprise yourself how QUICKLY you will achieve it as you will have the motivation to complete the whole year and complete and achieve your bigger year goal as well.  WIN WIN and we like win win scenarios.

Put this to any objective, goal, dream, ambition – the results are the same – BUT you have to want it to be able to achieve it as well – get yourself sorted as well – following on from last blog re being honest with yourself – if not honest then you are already on rocky ground for succeeding or achieving your goals short, medium or long term are irrelevant.

An example – if you say to me – I want to be wealthy – ok put a figure on it – you say £50,000 a year I want to earn – ok I say how do you think you are going to earn this – you reply do not know but thats what I want to earn.

Ok – so here is the honesty – I have no problem in saying to anyone if you want big wage package or business turn over in that bracket – what skills have you got to be able to do that – if you do not have those skills then go out and get them, go back to college, go back and learn them, work every hour you need to to be able to have those skills to either get a job that pays you that wage OR get a business that you make successful to give you that as a return for yourself each year – so have goals but also know how you are going to set about achieving those goals as well and set realistic timelines for them as well.

Another example – wanting to lose weight – to be healthy – so you want to lose 2 stone – having a goal that by end of February that you will lose 2 stone might be a bit unrealistic – tonnes reasons why not good for you or sustainable as a lifestyle change for good.  So set goals for each month target weight loss – so that within the year you will have lost the 2 stone, changed your eating and lifestyle and exercise habits so that you do not put the weight right back on again.  Makes sense – marathon instead of sprint.

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  I have decided in this New Year New You New Start – to make some quite big life changes both personally and in business and they are scary – but as this motivational slide and quote states – one thing I do not want to have in my life is REGRET.

I do not want to live my life, with `but if` or ` I should have done that` or `well it was not the right time` etc and the list goes on – when is the right time? is there ever one? NO you have to want to do it and I want to do it and I am going to do it and I know I will.

 What have you got to lose ? and how much have you got to GAIN – thats the question that I often ask – stop focusing on what happened in the past, your present and your future is all that is important – the past can only give you ideas of what not to do again or what mistakes to not keep repeating.  Taking these steps to focusing on yourself, making changes daily and sustaining those changes are what will influence your future – how you act NOW at this present moment is all important and vital on how successful you want to be – in either personal or professional or business life – its your choice to make.

Be honest with yourself – if you want to be successful – you will because your want, desire and your need for it will over ride your excuses for not being successful – because YOU WANT it – you work with coaches and others because you need the skills of others to assist you getting there – but over all you have to WANT it.

My advice to anyone working with me when I am coaching them is often this in the very start – if you do not know how you`tick` how you operate, what motivates you, what drives you, and you are not ok with feedback on this all (not counselling or therapy ) but feedback on patterns of behaviour, patterns of thinking, patterns of negative ways of being – or working on those to correct them – then coaching with me is not for you – if you are not honestly ready to be honest with yourself to make changes in your life to become successful in what ever area you want, if you are not ready to make changes – then you are not ready for me, for success and ultimately achieving your ultimate goal.

What keeps me motivated? Knowing that I am making changes in my life that will ultimately make me, my family and my business more successful keeps me motivated.  Knowing that any sacrifices I make now are ones that will give me long term goals that my kids will benefit – but also keeping me motivated is how much I want and love to work with people and making enough money to give me more and more financial freedom to be able to do this.  That keeps me motivated.

Find out what motivates you – keep it always in mind when setting goals and make sure that you recognise that and then take action and Do it. No excuses No Regrets.

New year new you new start – get the foundations right and get into action.

Follow me on    https://www.facebook.com/sharonjardinecoachingandtrainingassociates

Stay motivated stay on track 🙂

What do I need a Coach for?

Posted on 11.4.13 | Leave a Comment

What do I need a Coach for?

success starts with self belief

Indeed you might well ask that question!  How many people actually know or understand what a coach is or even what they do and why they would even want to have one?

So…. Let me try to explain in plain terms – just what I am saying a coach does and what coaching can do for you – either personally in your own life, career or business – at what ever level you operate at.

 

Do you need a coach?

No – not everyone NEEDS a coach, BUT successful people choose to have a coach often in their personal, career or business lives.

Why?

Because it has worked for them as it helps them to work towards and increasingly meet their goals to find more fulfillment in their lives – personally and professionally.

Ask people what it does for them having a coach and all will probably come back with similar answers:

  • Keeps me focused and on track,
  • Finds the blind spots,
  • Makes me feel accountable to myself in what I am doing and direction I am working in.

Sometimes people just need a coach to help them gain knowledge and information that is very specific for their need i.e. a business coach, or performance career coach etc.

Sometimes it’s even to find new resources that they need – and even more so it is often to find out what is STOPPING you from accomplishing or becoming the successful person, getting a job opportunity or business that you want in your life.

Who needs a coach?

Coaching is used often by people who are time restrained – they do not have the time to:

  • sit and do courses,
  • read up on things,
  • research etc and the list goes on

But they are also up to being challenged on what they do and why they do it.

I know in my coaching experience, asking those simple but hard hitting questions are the ones that often just open the road up for development and drive for the client I am working with.

Often I hear people saying to me:

  •  no I do not need a coach or coaching at the minute
  • it’s not really for me
  • it’s a waste of money
  • I am my own coach.

Did you know that Richard Branson, like many major big business players and owners has on average 5 business coaches and mentors for himself.

Now why would he need them and you do not? What makes it different for him?  His coaches are not his every day staff – but hired for what do they do for him:

  •  Ask hard hitting, challenging and thought provoking questions – the why factor
  • Why you doing what you doing?  Why you do it like that? What is the pay off for you, your business, your employees, your profit margin, your outcomes, does it link to vision of company, or yourself or where you want to be.
  • Keeping you on target, on focus and in line with ultimate goal of where you want you or your business to go.
  • Prioritizing your work, looking for the blind spots and asking what changes you are going to make and how going to make them to keep you on target in focus of where you ultimately want to go or where or who you want to be.
  • Discuss changes that need to be made – I am a very honest coach in that I say it as it is – I do not give people flannel on what I think they want to hear.
  • When people tell me they do not need coaching or a coach and have few or any clients and business not doing well – my response is if you had a coach it would help you find out why you are NOT being a success – then once you on road to success you would only need a coach or coaching if and when need it for getting to next level of success.
  • Often the blocks to people becoming successful are themselves. Another blog another issue to cover.

But also what steps need to take place for them to get to end goal or vision or dream – what changes need to happen to them and to their business if it involves their career or business.  Sometimes it has nothing to do with their career or business that stops them from being successful but they themselves and their own internal issues.

Coaching is NOT is counselling

Some people do have an illusion coaching is about counselling a person.

It is most definitely not!

I often refer my clients onto counsellors that they can contact outside of my sessions.  Coaching is about dealing with here and now, future plans and how to go about doing them and getting the goals, dreams and ambitions that you want.

But sometimes things from the past that shape how we view our lives, think and behave may need to be resolved – but not in a coaching session.

So now you have a bit of an insight into what do you need a coach for?

My last question would be – do you need a coach?

Contact me: sharonjardine@sljassociates.co.uk – head over to my FB page for more information and updates on how coaching can work for you.

www.facebook.com/sharonjardinecoachingandtrainingassociates

success is the sum of small efforts

Coaching is about lifting you, your career and/or your business up to the next level – doing it as others that are successful entrepreneurs and business people do.

Top athletes, top teams, top anyone has a coach and uses coaching to get them to their goals, ambitions and dreams faster, more direct and with more defined clarity than those that do not.

Making the change to having a coach will have an impact on all areas of your life.  You are in control and you lead on the change.  All a coach does is help you `see` how and where the opportunity for change can take place.

Are you ready to start seriously striving for success?

That is what you need a coach for!  Get in touch!

Coaching Myth or Fact – Faking it until you Make it?

Posted on 10.26.13 | Leave a Comment

in a world people are fakeCoaching Myth or Fact – Faking it until you Make it – Really?

I have heard this mantra bandied about quite a bit and have felt the need or desire to dispell a few myths about it all.

Faking it until you Make it – this is nonsense and a total urban myth in the coaching circles I have been working in, studying in and involved in.

Visualising where you want to be and working towards that end goal always in your mind yes – but Faking it is not what is being stated or intended.

If you want to be a business person – even if not there yet – put on a business suit or what is best for you and portray yourself as successful and business like – YES but do not FAKE it or be FAKE – as sadly this will very quickly be found out and customers and potential clients and fellow business colleagues all dislike fake people and liars – because if you fake there what else are you fake about.

FACT

Portray the type of business or business person, or person you want to be or aspire to be – coaching supports people setting themselves goals to make changes on how they conduct themselves, their business and what your portray out there to clients, potential customers and colleagues.

 

MYTH

You need to fake it.

This is a huge NO NO NO.  Maybe its me – but if I thought anything about a business was not true – even a small part of what being said is false or a lie – then I begin to become mistrustful of that business person and what they are delivering, product selling and business in general and want nothing more to do with them.  Its the greatest mistake I see out there as a coach – business, performance or personal development.

 

Be yourself, be your own authentic self – you do not need to be someone else or pretend to be someone else – I know I am a good coach, I know I am an honest person, I know I know my business and I know I can back it up with evidence of where what I say I do I actually have done and still continue to do.  Honesty and integrity is important not just in my work and my field – but in anyones work, business, niche, service, or with themselves as a person.

 

I felt I wanted to state this today , as I see and sadly hear so many – `claiming` they are so successful, so busy, so this and so that – when reality is the total opposite – state things about their work that is so obviously not factual or correct but continuing to do it as it makes them look like they are experts, or successful etc etc etc but unfortunately have NO evidence to back their claims up to show that they are or will be in the future – and in fact, their claims will come back to `bite them in the ass` when found out to be untrue and incorrect.

 

Coaching is not about manifesting your goals by hiding behind lies, deceit or fakery – its about making changes, expanding your language and goal orientation and ambitions and desires – visualising where you want to be, how you want to look, feel, work and what you want to have, but putting in steps to obtain and achieve those goals and beginning to live as if you had those goals already – if you want to be successful, learn from people who are successful, and emulate that in how you go about obtaining your success.  But not faking it – making it by doing it, making it by changing it and making it by knowing you can and will do it – you do not need to fake that – do you?

You can start right now…

Sit down and visualise where do you want to be in 5 years time, 2 years time, 1 years time, 6 months time, 1 month from now.  Write it down – what does it look like, feel like, does it have a colour, is there an image, does it have a smell, – draw it, create it, dream it – then keep that in your minds eye and start right now looking to live by it – decide what steps you need to take to get there – is that the 1 month, 6 month, 1 year, 2 year plan to get to where you want to be in 5 years.  Make those changes now, stop talking – you do not need to fake it – be you just make those changes you need to make to get you where you want to be, where your business needs to be – being a fake is not part of that picture and never will be.

 

JUST BE YOU – JUST BE YOUR OWN AUTHENTIC SELF  – that has value that is real and that is how I can work with you to do just that – no faking, no pretending – just being real but doing it.

So over next few weeks I am going to blog my realities of setting up my own business, how it was not successful in the early days, how hard I have had to work and continue to work, what I am having to do to work on ME now so I can get to being a better coach and business person – thats my honesty to you because it is not easy.

And FAKING it or PRETENDING that I am successful or working with people or clients would not be any use to me and in fact would LOSE me potential customers, clients and colleagues and business – I am who I am – if I am the coach for you – great, but if not fine there are others who do things differently and they might be a BETTER match to what your needs are.   That is REALITY and I do not want to FAKE it until I make it – I WANT IT REAL AND REAL FOR ME and I am sure you want it REAL FOR YOU also.

www.facebook.com/sharonjardinecoachingandtrainingassociates

 

 

 

 

 

So you want to create a successful Business?

Posted on 10.25.13 | Leave a Comment

How to create a successful Business?

successful business - bigger than excusesSo you want to create a successful Business?

If only the answer was so simple and straight forward.  I have found this the most difficult and thought provoking aspect to the whole process of setting up my own business and running it.

The early days of any business is difficult but crucial:

  • business plans,
  • funding,
  • insurance,
  • tax,
  • registration as self employed or setting up as Ltd company, CIC or Ltd by Guarantee

Its a nightmare, scary, necessary and there are so many out there offering `free` advice and guidance, courses and set up support.  It all becomes a whirl wind and a bit mind blowing!

But the first year passes in a haze – to network or not to network that is the question – what to read first, sign up for this course, sign up for that help and support, call myself small business, entrepreneur or director.  The list goes on – and time flys by.

But still the question I will ask is this:

Have you really created a successful business?

  • Is it working for you?
  • Are you happy about the direction you are going?
  • Are you ready for that success?
  • Does it look anything like what you thought it would be like?
  • What next?

Creating a successful business – what next?`

See now comes more and more questions – but not necessarily the answers to go along side those questions.  This is now the phase of no return.  Set up and operating is all well and good – but what happens next?

I see all these networking events, business advisors and organisations – let us help you in your set up and get you going…

But 12 months down the line, 18 months later – what happens next?

Have you created a successful business?

Is it earning you a living?

What is success even?

Big questions and not necessarily lots of answers.

SO… my next step is now to work on this with you for the next 12 – 18 months, filling in the gap of where others are not.  Using my coaching skills and expertise, knowledge of running my previous work and projects successfully from a business style approach and running my own companies successfully as they are today.

Taking the next step

create a successful business - the door is opening

Open the door to a successful business! Coaching will help you succeed

Taking a small start up business to the next step – a potential growth and growing business – to the size and scale you want it to be.

If you are happy to be a small very localised but profitable business in your local community then that is not an issue or a problem.

But if you have designs and desires to grow regionally, nationally or even internationally, that is where the taking your dreams to a new level comes in.

This for me is the next step for my business www.sljassociates.co.uk

The SLJ Facebook page now comes into its own.  Over the coming weeks and months I will be working on bringing online and offline courses, seminars and workshops to assist people to do just that – take the next step to a successful business.

Why not come and join me and find out how you can reach for the stars and fulfil your dream in creating your business into the success you dreamt it to be!