Coaching Business Builder: Getting Clear on Where You Want to Focus

This week's post is a Coaching Business Builder post, geared for coaches who are growing their own business, or are considering starting their own business down the road. Later this week my business turns ten. Over the last month, as I have been approaching this milestone I have been very reflective on the past ten years, what's worked, what hasn't and what's next.

Research continues to show that some of the most successful entrepreneurs are those that take risks and aren't afraid to try things out, even in the face of failure or things that don't work so well. On a practical note, I think one of the biggest benefits to trying things out is getting clear on where you want to focus.

Here's a quick activity to try out:
On a plain piece of paper draw a large circle. Over the span of one to two minutes, write down everything that comes to mind about what you want to focus on. Your words might include:

• clients, 
• types of work, 
• themes or topic areas you want to work around
• what else?

 At the two minute mark, shift your attention to what's outside of the circle. Here, write down what you DO NOT want to focus on. Again, consider items like type of work you would say no to, themes/topics you do not want to work around. Give yourself two minutes to do this.

At the end of two minutes, keeping in mind what you have said no to, return back to the inner circle and add any other focus areas you do want to put attention around. Once you have captured all of these, grab a pen/pencil of another color and circle those you want to put immediate attention around. You may also want to get a second color and circle those in the medium term (whatever your medium term is), and a third color for those in the long term.

Returning back to your immediate attention areas, prioritize them. What do you want to focus on first? What are the next steps take? AND most importantly, WHY is this important/exciting/energizing for you?

I would invite you to also adapt this activity in the work that you do with clients. It's also a great activity to do with groups of business owners.

Enjoy!

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
Group Coaching Essentials | Potentials Realized

Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)
(416)996-8326