I have recently been reading a book about successful coaching by Mick Cope, and one of the sections in it, is about separating those who will from those who won’t. In essence it is all about identifying those who can and want to make changes from those who can’t and won’t. Whilst this is both valid and very useful in what I do, the categories into which he divides people are applicable to most people in most situations.

The range he identifies goes from Players at the most positive and open to change end, through to Protesters at the most negative and unaccepting end. In between we have in descending order, Participants, Passengers and Prisoners. I think that the categorisations are pretty self explanatory, but nevertheless very helpful in deciding whether someone is likely to make changes or not.

The Players are absolutely passionate about what they do, about being successful, and about making meaningful and permanent change. Participants are willing to make change, but tend to enthuse once or twice a week, rather than the whole time. Passengers lack the passion of the previous two, and tend to treat change as a new toy – a nice idea for a while, but as soon as something more interesting comes along, they move on. Prisoners tend to be pushed by someone else to make change – they are there in body, but not in mind or heart. Finally, Protesters, which are like Prisoners, but actively resist and challenge change.

Understanding the different types of people can help you mange your team, and indeed work out who is realistically going to help instigate change, and who may actively sabotage it. You may also find it interesting to analyse yourself. Do you really want things to change for the better, or do you just talk a good game?

I wrote a blog a few weeks ago about beliefs, and how they can have both a negative and a positive effect on your business.

I recently came across a business owner who has a very negative belief about salespeople, and the sales process in general. Without actually saying so, he clearly believes that selling to people is rather degrading, and he would rather that everyone simply bought what they want, because they need it, and because the service that any one company provides means they deserve to get the business – a sort of survival of the fittest.

However in reality things are not like that and the company with the best sales and marketing team are far more likely to be the “winners”. In fact that is very true of the company belonging to this business owner. He has an excellent business, with a great product, knowledgeable and bright staff, and a complete service to outshine all his competitors. Except he is not the market leader as you might expect, because they do very little pro-active marketing, and their sales process is almost non-existent.

So how do you change if your beliefs are strongly against change? In this case it is difficult, but rather like alcoholics, the first step is to acknowledge that you have an issue. Once you accept that your belief may well be holding you back and therefore may not be the best thing for you or your business, then you can start to improve things.

This particular business owner has now accepted that his sales techniques must grow and improve, and is starting to implement training and processes, to allow him to do this.

Wouldn’t it be nice if everything always went according to plan? All your meetings go ahead as arranged, the sales hit target, the money comes in when you expect it to, and your staff are always healthy and working as you expect them to. Sadly, however, life generally is not like that, and from time to time problems occur, staff step out of line, cash flow issues arise, all your I.T. crashes or possibly an even more serious crisis occurs, like a fire. Furthermore what often seems to happen is that once one thing goes wrong, others quickly follow, and before long you can find yourself in a self-pitying state, wondering why the world is always against you. So it is not necessarily the issue itself which defines how you go forward from there, but how you deal with it.

Think of your own situation. If a series of things go against you, do you wallow in your bad luck, or do you put it behind you and look for the best way to recover the situation and forge ahead? Part of your ability to turn things around should come from good planning (ultimately from good time management).

If you keep an eye on cash flow, and have back up plans, if you have systems in place which allow others to cover for staff absences, if you have your I.T. backed up off site, etc etc, you can quickly get things sorted out, and back on track. However, the key to bouncing back must come from within, because without your own will to win and desire to reach your goals, if your heart isn’t in it, ultimately the business will never prosper.

Have you ever noticed how people with “bad luck”, always seem to get more “bad luck”, and those who are “lucky” always seem to get more “good luck”. Of course it is never really like this, everyone gets their equal share of whatever “luck” is available. However, with the right attitude and a determination to succeed, the “lucky” ones will overcome setbacks quickly, and soon find themselves back on course.

Why do people put things off all the time? Why are the biggest tasks always left till last? In fact why more often than not, do things never even get started, despite the knowledge that getting them done will make a change for the better?

The reason, I believe, is that invariably when people come to face up to what needs to be done, they see such an enormous task in front of them, that it simply seems insurmountable, and therefore easier and safer perhaps, not to start.

So this is why we talk about eating the elephant one slice at a time. It is simply not possible to put the whole thing in in one mouthful, and of course the thought of even trying to do that would be ludicrous. The “elephant” can be anything in your life, shifting a huge pile of bricks, digging an enormous hole, or in the cases that I deal with, getting control back into your business.

Very often when I start working with business owners, once we have sat down and analysed what the issues are, and what needs to change, it can seem rather daunting, and indeed almost too much to know where to start. But the key is to at least make a start with little things here and there. Put one or two simple systems in place, bring in one or two monetary controls, and start monitoring things like where leads are coming from, and how many on a daily basis. Keep chipping away, bit by bit, and you will start to see changes happen, not only in the success of the business, but also in the way your team start to re-act to the changes and start to become more focused and professional. So as you start to eat the elephant slice by slice, suddenly you will find that a whole leg has gone, and you can start to work on more fundamental issues, such as an organisational structure and cash flow.

The little changes add up to make big differences, and the big changes, even bigger differences. Suddenly the “elephant” is not so intimidating after all, and you will find that all things are possible.

So next time you are thinking this is all too much, I’ll never get it done, make a start with a small change, and you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve.

One of the things I ask all my clients when I first meet with them is what the business will look like when it is finished, and when that is likely to be? Of course the point of this is to give us a clear target in terms of business size and the timescale in which we wish to do this. However, the response, more often than not, is a rather bewildered look, and then a vague generalisation, which when really pushed, turns out to be that they have never really thought about it clearly. Now I realise that many people love what they do, and can never envisage a time in which they wont be doing it, but even for those people, Father Time eventually catches up, and they find that it would be nice at least to be in a position where they can choose whether they want to work or not. So at least setting a target for when the business can work without you, should be something to determine.

Equally well there are lots of people who specifically set up their business so they can make more money and retire at an early age. But whichever category you put yourself into, planning ahead and setting targets for your business is essential, so you can ensure that your income (either from sale of business, pension etc etc) will support the life style you envisage on your retirement.

So how do you know when you will be financially secure to let you retire? Well at least you can start by doing a rough and ready estimation, including all the goals you have set for yourself, and the money this will cost, plus the basic costs of living the life style you want to pursue after retirement. You can then work out roughly how much you need from your business, and therefore when that should be possible. There are also computer programs which allow you to do this, and I now have someone whom I have set up an alliance with, who can help you with this process.

As a coach I believe it is my role, not only to help business owners to build their businesses and create a better life for them and their families, but also to ensure that they plan even further ahead to make sure their retirement is also a very long and happy one.