The Business of Coaching and Living Your Passion: A Heart to Heart Talk about Making it Work

Join us for the business of coaching, entrepreneurial approaches and explore possibilities associated with the growth and development of the coaching industry. Discover how you can build your business through creative marketing initiatives, cost effective promotion, and maximizing client value. A veteran coach, Maria will overview highlights of the coaching business she founded in 2000, and how it has grown and evolved.

Developing a coaching business is a challenge for even the most experienced business professionals. Join Maria as she examines sales, marketing, and public relation initiatives. This information packed coaching presentation will help you to:

• Clear your thinking and your goals as a coach
• Set achievable priorities to build your business
• Understand the promotional opportunities for coaching
• Discover tools you can use for a more effective practice
• Examine the revenue streams that successful coaches utilize

In addition to coaching and speaking, members of the Pittsburgh Coaches Association conduct workshops and seminars and for several years have also conducted teleclasses on a regular basis. These teleclasses are now held monthly, and are an opportunity for Pittsburgh coaches to share some of their coaching knowledge and experience with participants, as well as their passion for helping others to move forward and reach new levels.

Teleclass topics range from sales and marketing to creating space, leadership, and finding your dreams, and can help people to make important changes and take steps to reach their potential.

This month we are featuring Leslie McKee, CPO and Jodi Eisner's teleclass: Powerful Parenting: Six Strategies for Creating a Family Environment of Teamwork and Respect on Mar. 18 at 10:00 a.m. This course is designed around helping families work together as a team. Learn how to be effective communicators. Take yourself out of the power struggle role and focus on getting and giving respect. By putting simple systems in place, such as, creating rules, making time for family meetings and chore delegation, daily tasks and life in general will seem much easier. This course will provide you with the tools you need begin transforming your family. Leslie McKee, CPO-FM, is a Certified Professional Organizer and Family Management Coach. She helps busy people simplify their lives, save time and enjoy life more! Stop feeling overwhelmed and start living with order and intention. Clarify and meet goals and responsibilities with non traditional organizing techniques that offer hope, resources and accountability. Leslie's website is www.mckeeos.com. She can be reached at 412-341-8754 and leslie@mckeeos.com.

Join us for a great learning experience with Pittsburgh coaches. Teleclasses take place throughout the day and are free to anyone who registers. Click here to register for up to three teleclasses. Registration takes just a few seconds and is FREE. A conference call number will be immediately sent to you via e-mail.

Do you have days when you wished your kids came with an instruction manual? Well, even if they did, the manual wouldn't be just right for your child, or just right for your parenting style. As a parent coach, Sue helps you identify what's important to you, learn what your children's issues are, and then help you tailor parenting strategies designed just for your family.

Sue has been a Clinical Psychologist in private practice since 1993, specializing in working with children, teenagers and parents. She has conducted workshops on parenting younger children, what to expect from teenagers and how to parent in divorce.

Sue began proparent Coaching because every parent deserves to feel supported and strengthened in the the hardest job in the world: the job of raising good kids into great adults. That's just what a coach is there to do.

Only one or two generations ago parents could rely much more on extended family for support, encouragement, a fair amount of advice, and maybe a little meddling. Communities were smaller, people stayed for a lifetime, and the biggest outside influence was a black and white TV with three channels. Kids learned social skills by playing in each other's yards or out on the street. They learned to stick up for each other, how to be a good winner and not be a sore loser, and how to pick themselves up and try again if something goes badly. Kids had their freedom, but clearly knew who was in charge of the family.

But today's society is more mobile, faster-paced, and has so many more outside influences. It still takes a village to raise a child, but now that village might not be made up of your and your spouse's extended families. Parents may need to rely on the staff of an after-school program or some other caregiver. Sports are less about backyards and more often about organized activities where parents or paid coaches are there to mediate all disagreements. Even when kids come home after school, we are a lot more jittery about how far they go in the neighborhood and how they're going to stay safe.

There's a strange mix now in society; we spend less time with our children and ask them to be independent much earlier, while at the same time their activities and interactions are supervised much more closely and they are often protected from really experiencing any kind of failure or problems.

Sue's job as your coach is to help you navigate all of this. She can help you make sure that your children learn those backyard lessons they might have learned on their own a generation or two ago. She can work with you to figure out how much freedom is the right amount for your child at a certain age. She can help you figure out when it's appropriate to let your child fail and learn from this failure-versus when you should step in to protect your child from taking too hard a fall.

Check out www.proparent.com, or contact Sue directly at sue@proparent.com or 412-682-6224.

So, You Want to Be an Entrepreneur?

By Barbara Schwarck

So, you wanted to be an entrepreneur! Be your own boss, set you own hours, perhaps tell others what to do and be completely independent. Well, are you happy? Is it working for you? Perhaps you are still thinking about starting a business. Really, if you were honest with yourself you'd say, "I have thought about it for years," because you are fed up with your company, your co-workers and working for someone else. Well, before you go any further, you might want to take a look at what entrepreneurship is all about and what is required of you to be a successful entrepreneur.

For many entrepreneurs, the initial dream of wealth and independence turns out to be a mixed bag. From romance to comedy, and from drama to thriller, every day there are several different viewings available. Most of entrepreneurship can probably be categorized as a thriller with a strong love story; but when things get tough, it can get scary.

Each year, more and more Americans decide to become entrepreneurs. In 2005 according to the SBA , there were 10.3 million (+1.3%) unincorporated small businesses, and approximately 0.5 million new incorporated small businesses - a 4 percent increase. At the same time, there were 0.5 million new small businesses; unfortunately, 500.000 bankruptcies were recorded as well.

While small businesses make a big chunk of the US economy, it is also important to note that many small businesses do not survive. A full one-third of new employer establishments do not survive more than two years .

Numbers can be deceiving, and sometimes depressing, but they are important. We can learn from them when we allow ourselves to be curious. What determines success and what mistakes do small business owners make that lead them to be unsuccessful? And vice a versa, what are some of the mistakes that can be avoided? Why do one third of new businesses fail within two years? It is easy to assume that the failure is related to the inability to sell products or services, but that answer may be too simple. There are many reasons why businesses fail; one that gets a lot of play in my office is lack of self confidence and belief in one's abilities.

I started Clear Intentions (a breakthrough coaching and training company) in 1999 on a part-time basis while working full-time as a fundraiser for a local foundation. My job at the foundation did not bring me great joy, and it was no great detriment when I was laid off. Early retirement from fundraising was a shock to my system because it was totally unexpected. In my mind, I had told myself that I was not ready to be a full-time entrepreneur. The thought of having no health insurance, having to pay for social security, and essentially being on my own seemed scary.

It is now five years later and I have learned much about entrepreneurship. I am still in love and enjoying the ride, and I am grateful to have taken the step to go out on my own. I made a lot of mistakes, and part of being a successful business coach is telling people how to avoid the pitfalls. In my seven year tenure as a business coach, I have come to learn that success is determined by the qualities a leader possesses. Whether you are flying solo or leading a 500 million dollar company, here are eight qualities every entrepreneur needs to develop to be successful.

Eight Actions Every Entrepreneur Needs to Succeed

1. Clarify your intention.
   Most businesses fail because they lack clarity. You need to know what you want, and why you want it. Ask yourself about what kind of experience you are looking for. How do you want to feel in the morning and how do you want to feel in the evening?
2. Be a servant leader.
   Be a leader who serves others. We live in a cycle of abundance. When we give, we will receive. You may not know where the giving is coming from, but be open to surprises. This is just a good business principle; when you practice it, the bottom line results may surprise you.
3. Communicate effectively.
   Learn how to effectively communicate your idea to a variety of audiences. People do not want to be bored; they want to be inspired and moved. When you communicate effectively, your audience will implement a piece of your message into their lives. Do not assume how people might react to your ideas. Be open to be well received.
4. Be tenacious.
   You will need to work hard and go the extra mile, especially in the early years. Hard and smart work will pay off in the end.
5. Have thorough knowledge.
   Know your product, know your market and find the matches. Be honest with yourself and admit your mistakes. It never pays to sell an unfinished or flawed product. In today's competitive market, customers will switch suppliers in a heartbeat.
6. Create balance.
   Every entrepreneur needs to have rest and play. After all, we are here to have some fun. Life is not all about work, but about enjoying the simple things. Work alcoholics burn out and miss the point.
7. Be enthusiastic.
   People respond to enthusiasm and positivity. You will attract what and whom you need when your outlook is rooted in authentic enthusiasm.
8. Be bold.
   Most entrepreneurs don't have the resources to be overly careful. Take calculated risks. If something does not work, you'll live to talk about it and learn from it. Great entrepreneurs experience bankruptcy or failure at least once.

We invite experienced coaches, as well as those new to the profession, to join the Pittsburgh Coaches Association (PCA). This is an exciting time to be a member! We are a 501(c)6 professional organization, and an International Coach Federation (ICF) chapter.

Additional benefits for member coaches include networking opportunities with other professional coaches, a profile on PCA's 'Find a Coach' website directory, discounts for monthly luncheon meetings featuring interesting and relevant speakers, a forum to offer teleclasses on coaching-related topics of your choice, and special events to raise the profile of coaching within the community. There are many more benefits; please don't hesitate to become a part of one of Pittsburgh's best professional associations.

You can now register to become a member online at www.pittsburghcoaches.org. Join today.

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