The Global Conference for Business Coaches is being held in Miami and there will be plenty opportunties to learn.  Business Coaches from around the country will gather to share ideas and grow in their business.  This pletha of knowledge will then be shared with their clients.  These business consultants will be not only better themselves but also better their clients.  ActionCOACH Pinellas is here to serve you!

Posted on February 4, 2011, 8:00 pm, by stevezog, under Brad Sugars' Blogs.

We are going to Miami for the 2011 Global Conference and couldn’t be more excited. While the prospect of the heat in Miami during the month of August may be daunting to some, the atmosphere promises to be even hotter in the Fontainebleau Hotel from August 21 through the 26 as some of the top speakers in the world of business deliver their message to the top Business Coaches from around the world.

On Monday August 22, Stedman Graham will be the featured speaker. Graham is a best-selling author who is well known for his two New York Times bestsellers, “You Can Make It Happen: A Nine-Step Plan for Success” and “Teens Can Make It Happen: Nine Steps to Success. Build Your Own Life Brand!”

Graham is also an educator, having taught a leadership course based on his Nine-Step Process at the University of Illinois-Chicago and at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, where he taught a management strategy course entitled “The Dynamics of Leadership.”

Dr. Ivan Misner will be the featured speaker on Tuesday August 23. Dr. Misner has been called the "Father of Modern Networking" by CNN and the “Networking Guru” by Entrepreneur magazine.

He is the Founder & Chairman of BNI, the world's largest business networking organization, which has over 5,800 chapters on every populated continent in the world. Last year alone, BNI generated 6.5 million referrals resulting in $2.8 billion dollars worth of business for its members.

Dr. Misner is considered one of the world's leading experts on business networking. He has been featured in the L.A. Times, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times, as well as numerous TV and radio shows including CNN, CNBC, and the BBC in London.

Finally, on Wednesday August 24, motivator Les Brown will be the featured speaker.

Brown has become one of the top motivational speakers in the world through diligence, determination and focus. From humble beginnings he rose from a morning DJ to broadcast manager, then from community activist to community leader. From there he became a political commentator to 3-term legislator in Ohio.

Brown is the author of "Live Your Dreams" and "It's Not Over Until You Win." Few speakers have the power to motivate audiences the way Brown can and his speech promises to be one of the “can’t miss” events at the 2011 Global Conference.

Each of the featured speakers brings a skill set and knowledge- base that will only help the Business Coaches who attend Conference achieve their goals. The entire week in Miami will be a great time with lots to learn.

Are you ready to take your business to the next level?  Click here to take ActionCOACH's Busines Health Check to assess the strength of your business.  Call us today 727-786-2900.

Brad Sugars, business advice expert and CEO of ActionCOACH, interviews author of Guerrilla Marketing, Jay Conrad Levinson. 

Brad Sugar, founder of ActionCOACH sits down with Jay Conrad Levinson to talk about marketing during tough economic times.  Responding to market conditions is a matter of finding the right answers and not necessarily luck. 

Jay gives several great ideas on how to build up your business in this recession. 

Find out how local businesses are getting 39 to 640% bottom line increases. 

Download your FREE white paper today

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It's time for "Year End List" and Twitter has jumped on their list-making early and compiled a Top 10 list.  In 2010, there were over 25 billion Tweets!  That's a lot of Tweets, so I'm glad they were able to put together some sort of list. 

They anaylzed the Tweets to come up with leading trends for the year in 8 catagories:  News Events, People, Movies, Television, Technology, World Cup, Sports and Hashtags.

Jodi Olson from Twitter says, "Each Trend in the Top 10 list includes multiple related terms, to give the most accurate view of the topics that people cared about most in 2010". 

Top 10 Twitter Trends of 2010
1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. FIFA World Cup
3. Inception
4. Haiti Earthquake
5. Vuvuzela
6. Apple iPad
7. Google Android
8. Justin Bieber
9. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows
10. Pulpo Paul

"These Trends indicate the things that are most meaningful in our lives. Each day on Twitter, people tweet about news, sports, entertainment and cool new technology--and everything else in between", says Olsen. 

It's nice to know that social media does seem to have a social conscience. 

What do you think, do you agree with these this top ten list? 

Even though this list does not relate to business coaching, I thought it was a fun list.  You can make your own "Top Ten List of 2010" for your small business or company.  If you sell products, put together a list of your top sellers.  This would be a great time to promote the list too!  If you offer a service, what are your top services?  The lists could also be used as gauges to see if you met company goals. 

If you set goals for 2010, which I highly recommend to do as as executive coach, compare it to your lists and see if they match up.  This can help you create a plan for 2011! 

To find out how your business can improve with the help of an executive business coach, contact ActionCOACH at www.actioncoachpinellas.com.  

Mark Carn is an ActionCOACH in Australia and he shares some insight into what he has been reading.  Below is his article, The Magic is You. 

"When he realizes that he is a creative power, and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow; he then becomes the rightful master of himself." —As a Man Thinketh

While reading an old classic, The Message of a Master by John McDonald, I was rocked by an incredibly insightful passage: “The cause of the confusion prevailing in your mind that weakens your thoughts is the false belief that there is a power or powers outside you greater than the power within you.”

Stop and think about that. What keeps us from attempting greater things—from reaching for the brass ring in our life? What makes us take that great idea that could make our family financially free and bury it underneath a lot of reasons why it’d never work?

What stops us from that career change that would result in working in a profession we could really enjoy, and could get passionate about?

There’s only one thing that EVER stops us from forward momentum and McDonald nailed it: “The false belief that there is a power or powers outside you greater than the power within you.”

As I once heard a speaker say, “The magic is in YOU!” As James Allen tells us, once we realize that we can create our circumstances, then, and only then, are we truly the master of our life and our destiny.

Regardless of your particular spiritual beliefs, you may find these words from the Gospel of John very enlightening, “He that believeth in me, the works that I do, shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do.”

That would indicate to me that we are already “endowed” with the power to do amazing things—far more amazing than most of us will ever attempt—if we’d only understand and BELIEVE that the power is within, not without.

And that’s worth thinking about.

Thanks to Mark and his valuable insight.  These are all really great thoughts that could be useful when preforming an executive coach assessment. 

To find out how your business can improve with the help of an executive business coach, contact ActionCOACH at www.actioncoachpinellas.com. 

As an executive coach, I try to help the small business owner with their budget and find ways to cut costs but still maintain the services they need.  It is imperative that entrepreneurs have legal representation but finding one that won't break the bank can be a challenge.  Recently, The Wall Street Journal ran an article that may just help some small business owners and entrepreneurs.      

As a business coach, I'm very interested in how some law firms are now trying to win new business.  Below is an excerpt from The Wall Street Journal, written by Rob Johnson.    

The impetus for these deals is simple: Lawyers need to drum up more business, but many entrepreneurs can't afford traditional payment plans these days. "The economy has melted down, and a lot of work we're doing is for people on a tight financial budget who can't commit to an hourly fee schedule," says Mr. Gross, managing partner at Thav, Gross, Steinway & Bennett PC in suburban Detroit.

Mr. Gross, whose firm started offering flat rates to small businesses in 2005, says his small-business clientele in the first half of 2010 was quadruple that in the same period of 2005. "You have situations where people got buyouts and had little nest eggs of money," he explains. "They're trying to replace income from the jobs they lost."

Sadly, he says, there's another reason demand is booming: Many small-business clients, like Mr. Case, need help with debt resolution and bankruptcy-related matters, rather than with starting up. 

This is a trend that hopefully will continue and will be able to help out many small businesses and entrepreneurs.  Since ActionCOACH specializes in small business coaching and business consulting, this is something that we will keep our eye on.  

To find out how your business can improve with the help of an executive business coach, contact ActionCOACH at www.actioncoachpinellas.com.  

Question: What Is IMPORTANT That Will Never Remind You By Text, Email, IM Chat, Or RING…

...Answer: EVERYTHING that will GROW YOUR BUSINESS.

THE TOP TIP OF Crucially IMPORTANT and Never URGENT…PLANNING!

When I say planning I do not mean the plan you write to get a loan from the bank, I am referring to the critical time that allows you to think about priorities & best strategic next moves. This includes budget, plans for marketing, operations, sales, time management and personal goals.

When you do not have to THINK and just take ACTION - you have a great PLAN.

Having a business coach on your side will not only help you plan but take action.  ActionCOACH can help you navigate through business plans and marketing goals.  If you want to succeed at your business, having an executive coach can only help you. 

Juliet Kyes is the Director of Sales and Marketing for ActionCOACH Pinellas.  She also serves as a management consultant.  She has several good tips that will help any executive or entrepreneur succeed at business. 

Find out how you can change the way you do business to achieve the results your deserve!  Contact ActionCOACH today. 

The Tampa Association of Health Underwriters is meeting in November.  There will be a panel of prestigious hospital and physician leadership that will focus on Healthcare Reform.  Ford Kyes will be the moderator for the event.  Ford is the CEO of ActionCOACH Pinellas and former CEO of St. Anthony's Hospital.  

Below is the press release the details the event.   

TAMPA, Fla. – (Nov. 2010) – Several of the Tampa Bay region’s top hospital and physician leaders will take part in a panel discussion focused on the impact healthcare legislation will have on the local healthcare industry during the November meeting of the Tampa Bay Association of Health Underwriters (TBAHU).

“It is with continued support of the local healthcare industry that TBAHU has been able to again bring together a panel such prestigious industry leaders,” Kelly Davis, TBAHU president and senior benefits consultant for Lakeland, Fla.-based OMS Group. “The caliber of participants and the enthusiasm of attendees at past panels is testament to the focus both TBAHU and the medical community have placed on advancing improvements in the delivery of healthcare in these changing times.”

Moderating the Nov. 11 panel, sponsored by First Service Administrators, Inc. (FSAI) and Allstate Worksite Division, is Ford Kyes, CEO of ActionCOACH Pinellas and former CEO of St. Anthony’s Hospital. Panel participants are:
• Carl Tremonti, CFO, Morton Plant Mease Health Care
• Madelyn Butler, M.D., president, Florida Medical Association
• Brad Bjornstad, M.D., vice president and chief medical officer (CMO), University Community Hospital
• Braulio Vicente, Jr., senior vice president, Hospital and Physician Group Operations, Moffitt Cancer Center
• Revonda L. Cornell, RN, BSN, MS, Ed. D., FACHE, president, Executive & Clinical Consulting (former CEO/COO, Lakewood Hospital and St. Anthony’s Hospital)

“TBAHU is dedicated to bridging the information gap between providers and the insurance industry during these days of volatile healthcare legislation to promote a unified industry working toward a positive outcome,” said Kathleen Sullivan R.D., immediate past president of TBAHU and executive vice president of Lakeland, Fla.-based FSAI. “By facilitating open discussions of the impact of reform on physicians, hospitals and the Tampa Bay community as a whole, TBAHU fosters continued education of industry leaders and promotes unified industries working together to take proactive and positive steps towards the delivery of better healthcare.”

The panel takes place Thursday, Nov. 11 at the Tampa Marriott Westshore, 1001 N. Westshore Blvd., Tampa. Meeting registration and networking begins at 10:45 a.m. with the panel convening promptly at 11:30 a.m. Lunch will be served. The cost for the lunch meeting is $15 for members and $30 for non-members.

Immediately preceding the general meeting will be a one-hour Continued Education (CE) class on the importance of an employee assistance program, presented by Mary Liz Schwartz of The Holman Group. CE registration begins at 9:30 a.m. and the course begins at 10 a.m. The CE course is free to TBAHU members and $10 for non-members.

Space is limited, and advanced registration is required. For more information or to register, email info@tampabayhealthunderwriters.org.

About TBAHU
Established in 1985 and chartered by the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU), TBAHU (www.tampabayhealthunderwriters.org) is a professional association whose membership is comprised primarily of employee benefits professionals, including insurance agents and brokers, insurance company representatives and third party administrative representatives. Members are located throughout Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties. As a local chapter of NAHU (www.nahu.org), TBAHU members participate in local, state, and federal legislative and public policy development that is of mutual interest to clients, the consuming public, membership and industry. The association also offers programs conducive to the professional and educational development of its membership.

Find out how you can change the way you do business to achieve the results you deserve! Contact us now.

1. Business Coaches and Executive Coaches Can Show You How to Get More Returns with Less Work.

You're working too many hours and pretty sure that if you left for a vacation or holiday, things wouldn't operate anywhere near as effectively as they do now ... put another way, you're ready to work a whole lot less ... Whatever you call it, small business coaching, executive coaching or just plain old business mentoring, ActionCOACH is the world's #1 business coaching firm and executive coaching firm. In fact, in 1993 Brad Sugars and ActionCOACH started the business coaching industry and now with more than 1,000 offices in 32 countries, ActionCOACH has literally turned the old business consulting model into business coaching and executive coaching, a far more powerful, profitable and more affordable way for you as a business owner or as an executive to get the help and mentoring to grow your company ...
 

2.  Business Coaching and Executive Coaching Creates More Profits.

You're ready to make a whole lot more profit ... if you're not making anywhere near enough money to justify the effort, risk and investment you're making in the business ...it's time to turn that around ...With literally 282 profit and money making strategies your nearest ActionCOACH will be able to help coach you in sales, marketing, advertising, profit growth, business systems, time management and team building strategies to literally jump your revenues in a matter of months ... and unlike a business consultant who does the work for you, a business coach will teach you how, while an executive coach will work with your company to get the results your executives need.

3.  A Business Coach or Executive Coach Will Help You Develop Your Team.

You're ready to build or develop a team of people that can grow the business whether you're there or not ... recruiting, training and keeping the best people makes your life so much easier ... From our team training programs to our ever so powerful recruitment systems, building a team of motivated, passionate performers is all part of the program that our business coaches and executive coaches will help you implement ...

4.  A Business Coach or Executive Coach Will Help You Rediscover Your Passion.

You need to fall in love with your business again, it's gotten boring and at times you even feel sick of it all ... time for a re-injection of that vision and passion you had when you first started ... Motivation is at the core of everything your Business Coach will take you through. Building either a simple business plan or marketing plan will give you the clarity on not only what needs doing, but how to do it. Whether you work from home, are just starting, or run a multi-million dollar organization a Business Coach or Executive Coach is one of the fastest ways to a better business and a better lifestyle ...

5.  A Business Coach Will Help You Navigate Changes in the Economy and Your Market.

You know that to grow you need to be learning more, but you don't even have time to keep up with your industry changes let alone the changes in global business and how to improve it all ... Business education has moved into a new realm, with business mentoring and business coaching taking over from traditional consulting, books and seminars so you get the right information at the right time. Think of it as an entrepreneurial degree using your company as a case study ...
 

6.  Executive Coaches and Business Coaches Create Accountability.

You need a Business Coach, a business mentor to hold you accountable, to demand a profit, to demand results, someone to push you, cajole you and hopefully more often than the rest ... congratulate you on a job well done ... Being an owner can be a lonely job, having a sounding board, a business mentor and coach, a friend to talk with you and provide expert coaching, helping you to solve your problems and turn them into opportunities. Creating opportunities is just a small part of what our business coaches do, but often it can be the most valuable ...
  

7.  Executive Coaching and Business Coaching Provides a Second Expert Opinion.

You need a Business Coach, a business mentor to hold you accountable, to demand a profit, to demand results, someone to push you, cajole you and hopefully more often than the rest ... You need a Business Coach who can see the forest for the trees, an expert who isn't blinded by the industry and by too many years in your industry ... Running your own company like any part of life, often you need a business mentor to see the simplest of things to help you in areas such as sales coaching. . Often business mentors will ask the tough questions so that you're on track ... Join the thousands of other owners and executives around the world, who have implemented business coaching. Take the step before your competition does ... see one of our ActionCOACH business coaches today ...

Find out how you can change the way you do business to achieve the results you deserve! Contact us now. 

ActionCOACH is in the business of helping companies with marketing, training, and other management strategies.  A company in St. Petersburg began working with ActionCOACH to help get through the tough market of home building.  Here is their story from the Tampa Bay Business Journal - by Mark Holan. 

The housing meltdown forced Joe Houlton to turn his business inside out. But even in challenging times, he has still been able to expand AlliKristé.

Eighty-five percent of sales were related to house and condominium construction when Houlton took over as CEO and partner in 2002. Now 85 percent of sales are remodeling contracts.

“We had to completely tear down and remake our company in all facets of operation between 2007 and 2009,” Houlton said. “Because I put financial controls and forecasting models in place we started cutting expenses and staff early. Thank God I was watching the numbers to see the downturn early and had the discipline to make the adjustments.”

Houlton cut his work force to 19 employees from a high of 65 as net revenue plunged 55 percent over a three-year period. By comparison, sales had increased six fold, up to $1 million a month, at the height of the building boom.

“It’s been a real ride,” Houlton said.

High-End Designs:

The business was founded in 1996 by designer Bob Ostrowski and is named after his two daughters. Brothers Joe Houlton and John Houlton became majority owners in 2002 with Ostrowski remaining as partner and senior designer.

“I didn’t feel right changing the name,” Joe Houlton said. “It was in the community. I wanted to continue the brand.”

The Houlton brothers are former owners of Application Profiles, an employee-screening and drug-testing firm. Joe Houlton invested $1.2 million in AlliKristé his first 18 months as co-owner. The money was primarily self-funded from the sale of the previous business.

AlliKristé’s goal is to become the largest high-end kitchen and bath design firm in Florida. The company works with 15 manufacturers in the United States and Europe in addition to what it builds in the 27,000-square-foot headquarters and showroom in north St. Petersburg.

Most of the firm’s kitchen and bath projects cost $10,000 to $30,000. A smaller share of the business falls in the $50,000 to $90,000 range. “We occasionally get jobs that are over $100,000,” Houlton said.
Houlton streamlined the business by breaking down the work into “functional specialties,” such as design, pricing, ordering and project management. “We’ve taken advantage of the personalities of our staff that work well with each of those jobs,” he said.

During the boom years Houlton expanded the company by adding showrooms in Naples and Sarasota. Then the housing bubble forced him to take another hard look at the company.
He renegotiated showroom leases and developed exclusive relationships with manufacturers. He had the company’s Web site redone to improve search engine optimization and began reaching out to interior decorators, architects and real estate professions for leads on potential customers.

“We are always looking to develop other networks,” he said.

Outside Help:

About a year ago Houlton also began working with John Lankford at ActionCoach Pinellas, which develops marketing, training and other management strategies. A key in the master plan they developed is improving the sales system, including nearly 200 hours of staff training over 10 months.

Houlton estimated that up to 30 percent of smaller cabinetry companies in Florida have gone out of business during the recession.

“We focus on the job we do well,” he said. “Our sweet spot is middle to high-end kitchen design. I am not competing with Home Depot or Lowe’s.”

Houlton has avoided mission creep, such as selling ancillary products and services.

AlliKristé does not offer customer financing. Most of its clients write checks against their credit lines.

The company is not carrying any significant debt, Houlton said.

So even as the economy sputters, AlliKristé recently opened a showroom in Jacksonville and plans expand into Orlando early next year.

“There are plenty of opportunities to increase market penetration,” he said. “We can grow our business even if the economy stays flat. There’s a certain flight to quality even in tough times.”

Find out how you can change the way you do business to achieve the results you deserve! Contact us now.

ActionCOACH, a business coaching firm serving clients throughout greater Tampa, Fla., continues to help companies attain record-setting results, even in the down markets of 2008, 2009 and into 2010.

Here are some of the results ActionCOACH clients are eagerly sharing:

Susan and Barbara McCarthy, Owners of Sun Country Dry Cleaners, said, "Our October 2009, revenue was up +7% over October 2008, while the dry cleaning industry was down 23% in Florida." These results indicated a 30% improvement over their competition.

Mike Haulsee, President of The Compounding Shop, said, "Once I learned how to build the important systems I needed for my first location, it became quickly evident that I could open more locations and even consider franchising my operation. WOW, did my dreams begin to change. It also helped significantly to have my 2008 net profit increase 319% over 2007."

Laurie Arth, CEO of The Arth Consulting Group LLC, said, "After my coach and I spent a significant amount of time working on my sales skills and improving my sales follow-up system, my second quarter profits increased 49.38% over 2008. My second quarter revenue jumped 214.42%."

Find out how you can change the way you do business to achieve the results you deserve! Contact us now.