“Tell me and I forget, 
teach me and I remember, 
involve me and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin

The Problem

According to the ACT & Region Chamber of Commerce & Industry, many people, when thinking about starting a business, have ‘stars in their eyes’ and fairly unrealistic expectations about business ownership. They frequently spend a considerable percentage of their start-up funds in all the wrong places. This ultimately leads to business failure.

Life7 was approached by the ACT Chamber to see if we could help.

The Challenge

Clearly this is an educational challenge, but one that isn’t easily solved. The problem is that when a person has their mind made up, they have ‘stars in their eyes’, they think that they know what is best and they are driven by heightened emotions, it means that they have great difficulty taking any advice, particularly if it is contrary to their vision.

Many of these new business entrepreneurs have had countless years of experience working as an employee in a large organisation and they now see themselves as their own boss; running a small consultancy, a guest house, a bicycle repair shop or a cafe etc and enjoying a pretty good income.  (Because isn’t that what all small business owners enjoy!)

What they often fail to realise is that, whilst they may have had a lot of experience in the corporate sector, running a small business is ‘a very different kettle of fish’. No longer are they a cog in a big machine, now they must be all the cogs in the machine – and that takes no easy task!

The Solution

After considerable deliberation, we came to the conclusion that a three part workshop series based on each of the three segments in the Life7 Communication Cycle would provide the ideal eye-opener for newbies, whilst providing some very good coaching material to help seasoned business owners. We call this new series; ‘3 Steps in the Right Direction”.

Our coaching bag of tricks

One Great Feature

One of the great things about this series is that the content in all three sessions will be pulled directly from our existing coaching material, and we know from experience that there is something in each session that will appeal to leaders and managers at any level of business, from a corporate CEO to solo entrepreneur just starting out. This is the same work that has led our clients to make massive changes in their business and personal fortunes.

And a Bonus Feature

Another great feature of this series is that candidates can start in any session. They don’t need to do the sessions in order 1,2,3, (although we’d prefer that). They could do sessions 2,3,1 or 3,1,2 and achieve the same fundamental understanding.

The three sessions are:

1. What every business owner needs to know about people: and how to float your boat!
2. Run your business like a space mission: and discover the Mad Hatter in the cockpit?
3. Advertising campaign secrets you won’t have time to do and what to do instead.

Time and Place

These workshops will be held at the ACT Region Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Deakin on the fourth Friday of the month, commencing with Workshop One on September 23rd 2011.

To book your place, please visit the booking page at ACT & Region Chamber of Commerce & Industry or contact the Chamber here.

Let’s not beat around the bush; employers generally want their staff to undertake professional development in order to increase the performance, productivity and efficiency of the organisation. And there is nothing wrong with that.

But what do employees want out of their professional development?

Most employees want to do and be the best they can be. And ultimately they would also like to be rewarded for their efforts with a pay rise or a promotion.

So we thought about this and decided to develop a 6 month professional development program that is specifically designed to help participants with the skills that will get them their next promotion.

We call this new program ‘The Career Catapult’ and we’re really excited about it.

This is a truly great program that offers an unbeatable combination of leadership skills, team-building skills and practical workplace presentation and behavioural skills to help participants win a promotion. And we’ve added a very detailed personal evaluation of candidates strengths and weaknesses as well as a personal one-on-one coaching sessions to help participants reach a higher pay grade.

We are so confident about this program, that we are offering a 7 Year Satisfaction Guarantee to every person who enrolls in our first Career Catapult commencing in June.

Anyone can apply

It costs you nothing to apply for a position on the Career Catapult Program. Read all the details at ‘Step Up to the Career Catapult’ and no matter where you are in Australia, you can apply using the Career Catapult Application Form.

Some of the Life7 City2Surf team on the Beach at Bondi

Our original reason for entering a team was to give each of us a physical goal to work toward. Often the journey required to achieve a physical goal helps to incrementally raise one’s self awareness and self esteem, allowing other aspects of our lives to be improved in line with our health and fitness challenge.

A meeting with legendary Australian Cricket Captain, Steve Waugh, led to Life7 committing ongoing support to the Steve Waugh Foundation and their efforts to help improve the quality of life for children and their families affected by rare illnesses.

Our first Life7 City2surf Team had 12 members made up of two Life7 coaches, clients, family and friends. Along the way we managed to raise a few thousand dollars in sponsorship for the Foundation.  This fundraising aspect added further reason for completing the challenge and gave some of us the extra push they needed in order to focus on their training and to get over the line on the day.

Life7 coach Chris Edwards discussing our support with Steve Waugh

All 12 of us reached our individual goals for the day and we had a wonderful time relaxing together on Bondi Beach after the event.

If you’d like to help us support the Steve Waugh Foundation’s efforts to help Australian children affected by a rare illnesses, we have decided to continue to offer a special bonus coaching offer for individuals or small business owners that make a donation of over $200 to the Steve Waugh Foundation.

(We are currently ranked no.8 on the Steve Waugh Foundation’s ‘Top Ten Fundraiser’ rankings for the 2010 SWF City2Surf initiative.)

Please ask your Life7 coach for more information on this offer.

For more information on the Steve Waugh Foundation http://www.stevewaughfoundation.com.au/