Georgina Walsh Business Coaching

Want to Think Big? – Get Off Grid

Posted by admin May 24th, 2018

I have just come back from a wonderful, wonderful time in Morocco where I managed to clamber up Jebel Toubkal the highest peak in the Atlas Mountains.

Beautiful scenery and a physical challenge where two of my main motivators, but there was the added bonus of disappearing ‘Off Grid’ for two days.  I realised it was ages since I was truly away from the modern world AKA the internet and email.

With a big sense of freedom and wonderful open blue skies, my brain felt free and open and that led to some great big new thoughts and ideas.

So maybe you can’t head up a mountain anytime soon – but how could you get yourself Off Grid and get that sense of freedom and tranquillity to do some big and different thinking?

Where’s the place?  I would suggest it isn’t at your desk, identify somewhere you find peaceful and relaxing.  Maybe you want to be walking or doing some other physical activity, or maybe it is about being truly still and calm?

What do you need to do to truly get Off Grid? Your can’t often think big or blue at the flick of a switch, you need time to relax and you need to limit distractions, so build in a good dollop more time that you think you need.   Go ‘Off Grid’ by switching devices off – no cheating by switching to vibrate – turn them OFF…..and then KEEP them off.

What’s your brief? A free and relaxed mind still needs a bit of direction, so make sure you have some areas you want to think through or explore.  You will probably find that once the thoughts start flowing you have additional ideas in other areas too.

Need some questions to free and push your thoughts?  Here are some to get you started:

• Where do you want to be in 3, 5 or 10 years’ time?
• What is the one thing that could make the biggest difference for you / your business?
• What would you / your team do if could not fail?  If money was no object? If you weren’t scared or had nothing to prove?
• What would your most admired competitor or leader do?
• What could make something twice as effective?
• How can you do less and achieve more?
• What ‘shoulds’ can you let go of?
• What important but not urgent things are you neglecting that could really push you forward?
• And finally keep asking yourself…..What else?

I hope that produces some good thoughts for you.  Let me know how you get on and in the meantime I’m off to plan my next mountain climb.

One word, BIG difference – what is it?

Posted by Georgina Walsh January 8th, 2018

Happy, Happy New Year!!
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year?

Mine was good….a bit too good, with a real treat of two weeks in the Alps over both Christmas and New Year.

So whilst feeling a bit jaded from a few too many late nights, followed by early mornings to catch as much skiing as possible, I am also feeling really energised. Engergised by seeing so many friends and family, connecting and sharing and also taking time to count blessings.

I bounded into my office on Monday with oodles of energy to an greeted by an inbox full of emails about goal setting.  Too much pressure to set goals and get on top of things can have the opposite effect and bring you to an overwhelmed standstill.

To avoid overwhelm this year, I’m going to focus on ONE word. Setting and achieving goals and indeed anything else is so much easier when you are brimming with positive energy. So that’s my focus for 2018. Energy. And lots of it.

There will, of course, be times when all the wheels seem to be falling off, and energy levels plummet. But I know that by focusing on this ONE word, so much will flow from it – motivating goals, inspired action, self-care and fun with family and friends.

What one word will make all the difference to YOUR year?

If you want to join me in focusing on energy for 2018 look at the questions below.  If there is another word that you think will make a big difference change the questions accordingly.  Is it freedom, achievement, passion, growth, fun?

• What gives you energy and how can you do more of those things this year?
• What saps your energy and how can you decrease these….starting from this week, starting from now?
• What re-occurring thoughts do you have that hold you back and therefore sap your energy?
• What phrase can you replace these thoughts with that will give you energy?
• What reward can you give yourself for your achievements and to help you keep your focus – I’m going all out on this for 2018 and already have something super great and exciting lined up for each of the next few months.

Good luck, and let me know how you get on!
Wishing you lots of health, happiness and success in 2018,

The Stress of being an Information Magpie

Posted by admin September 22nd, 2017

Are You a Magpie? Do you pick up every nugget or bit of shiny information that will help you and your business go further?

Like me, do you find that you can go over the top and gather up too much information, too many interesting articles and subscribe to too many sites?

This leads me to never manage to work through or implement everything I have collected.  The pile on my desk, and the pile sitting in my computer weigh on mind, clamouring for my attention, and often not receiving it.

So I have developed a simple way of gathering and using information; my On Off strategy.  I have a four month period when I magpie away to my heart’s content. Subscribing, downloading, collecting lots of ideas and inspiration to help my business along.  I then enter the ‘Off’ period of my strategy. I send the magpie on holiday and have four months when I don’t collect, download or subscribe.  (At times it can take some constraint to resist temptation!)

I then use the time to ingest, reflect and put to use everything I collected in the previous few months. Much better than collecting and never implementing.

Give it a go and let me know how you get on!

Explore the Joy of Missing Out

Posted by Georgina Walsh July 27th, 2016

Have you heard the term Joy of Missing Out (JOMO) as opposed to the better known term, Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)?

When running your own business you can feel the need to jump at every opportunity or new marketing theory, and can suffer from Fear of Missing Out if you let things pass you by. This can mean you are never able to stop, reflect and regroup, as you are always chasing, chasing.  Whereas Joy Of Missing Out can be extremely liberating.

In this ever busy world, with technology and media throwing so much at you, how can you embrace JOMO? How can you learn to let some things go?

• What in your business would you be joyous not to be doing – can you outsource it or do things in a different way to avoid it altogether?
• Are there markets or part of your offering that you would be delighted to move away from – watch others keep plugging away at them while you joyously take a step back and set your efforts and commitment in areas you know you will excel in and are truly motivated by.
• Or, can you just give yourself joyous permission to stop, take your foot off the pedal for a time and do some reflecting and regrouping.

In the spirit of Joy of Missing Out, I took my foot of the pedal, had a reflect and regroup, and subsequently tweaked the direction of my business.  It was a very rewarding (and joyous!) exercise, so do give it a try.

Good luck and let me know how you get on!

Dubai – Love it or hate it?

Posted by Georgina Walsh January 25th, 2016

Having a husband who works in high-end travel has its benefits, as shown in this  photo from my lovely birthday treat of a few days in Dubai last week.

Whilst Dubai would not be my first choice of holiday destination, as my husband had meetings there, there were good flight connections for friends who were joining us, and we have friends who live out there, it was a really fun few days, for a not-first-choice holiday destination.

And I have to take my hat off to Dubai, whether you love it or hate it, it has set its vision and gone all out to achieve it.

It’s a brilliant example of a Marmite brand – it divides opinion, you either love it or hate it. Whether it’s urging you to dine at the top of the world’s tallest building, to attend the world’s richest horse race, not to mention audacious creations of the world’s largest man made islands, it’s all about being the biggest, the best and standing out from the crowd.  Whether you have been to Dubai or not, you very probably have an opinion on it.

A brand can’t appeal to everyone, it would have to say too many things and offer too much to resonate with so many. In  doing so it would become watered down; bland and uninteresting.  A Marmite brand doesn’t do watered down.  It isn’t worried about people not liking it. It concentrates on talking directly and plainly to only those who are going to love it, and doesn’t mind if it alienates others.

Is your brand Marmite enough? 

• How can you talk (or shout!) more clearly to the people you want to attract?
• Where are you trying to trying to talk to too many different groups and sending out watered down messages?
• How can you stop yourself from trying to talk to too many? Old habits die hard!
• What do you need to change; your marketing plan, your website, your offering?
• When are you going to make these changes?

Happy You, Happy Business

Posted by Georgina Walsh September 16th, 2015

How happy do you feel at the moment?
What impact in turn does this have on your business?

I don’t need to highlight to you the increased success of a business with someone positive and happy at the helm.

It’s been shown that paying attention to your happiness and trying to feel happier doesn’t actually produce the desired results.

The new words on the block are ‘Prioritising Positivity’. What’s that then?  Building into your day things that bring you pleasure and positivity.

It’s not about thinking forwards in terms of weeks, months or years to that Big Thing you feel will finally make you complete and happy.

It’s about starting with today and tomorrow and using what you know from past experiences will bring you happiness, i.e. less about what you think will make you happy and more about what you know will make you so.  These may be some very simple every day pleasures.

Start building these into your days, and enjoy feeling the results……

I’m about to head off for a great big dollop of prioritising positivity with a long weekend away in the sun. I’ve planned into next week some things I know I’ll enjoy so that my return to work after a few sun soaked days is a happy one rather than a bit of a struggle!

Enjoy prioritising your positivity and let me know how you get on.

Stories Sell, Are You Making the Most of Yours?

Posted by Georgina Walsh June 9th, 2015

Our doorbell rang unexpectedly this week.
There stood 4 smartly dressed strangers. One said in a thick French accent, “We are from Belgium.” I immediately knew why they were here.

In the Second World War soldiers from Belgium and Canada were stationed here for training and convalescence. A sort of before and after station. My unexpected visitors were two brothers, and their wives, whose father had spent time here.

I took them down to show them where the camp had been, explaining that the two fields used were still called the Front Camp and Back Camp. I showed them the ruins of the last remaining Nissen hut, still with the no smoking sign in French visible. I showed them the woods where the soldiers had carved their initials into the tree trunks, including some carvings with love hearts where local romance had blossomed.

I had connected them with a part of their father’s life and time fighting for his country. Their eyes welled up and mine began to as well. They gave me a huge Gallic kiss.

As well as helping my new friends find what they had been looking for, it got me thinking about heritage and stories that we can sometimes take for granted. I walk or drive past the ruins of the Nissen hut just about every day, it is simply part of the landscape here, crumbling slowly back into nature.

Think about the heritage and stories around your business and your life. How can you bring these more to the fore to explain or illustrate:

• What you do
• Why you started your business
• How you do things
• ….and importantly why you are different from the rest?

Woof!

Posted by Georgina Walsh March 27th, 2015

We have two Czech Woofers working here at the moment. A Woofer being someone who works on an organic farm, as a working holiday, in return for board and lodgings.

My children pointed out that ours is not technically an organic farm, I countered with the fact that it is all so natural (i.e. fairly wild!) that you couldn’t argue it was NOT organic.

Getting the Woofers up to speed here coincided with a few client sessions I had last week about taking on new staff, freelancers or hiring additional help by the hour. The three crucial points being, deciding what you need, finding the right person and bringing them up to speed.

Here are a few of the things I have done with our Woofers / discussed with my clients:

How do know you’re ready for help? Any of these sound familiar?

• You’re working at maximum capacity
• You’re making mistakes
• You’re feeling totally overwhelmed
• You’re not enjoying some of the tasks that you know someone else could do

Can you afford someone?

• Increase your targets to cover your additional costs – what you focus on happens
• Hire someone part-time or freelance to keep costs more manageable
• Use the rule of thumb if you can afford to pay 50% of what someone will cost, their addition to your business will cover the other 50% (and hopefully more on top!)

What exactly do you want them to do? You know you need help, but to do what exactly?

• Sit down right now and make a list of everything you need help with
• Make a grid with 4 squares: I love doing, I’m good at, I hate doing, I’m not good at. Shape the role from there
• Or over a two week period, as you’re working away, write down every job or task that you come across that you think someone else can do for you (this is often a great way to shape a role)

Who exactly do you want?

• As well as the what, think about the who, the type of person you want
• Think about their outlook, their values, their disposition

Getting up to speed:

• Working arrangements often fail if time isn’t taken to bring someone up to speed
• It’s going to take time to get someone doing everything you want in the way that you want, but it’s time incredibly well spent so don’t scrimp on it
• Be extremely clear about what you want done; show and show again if necessary (don’t be tempted to take tasks back and re-do them yourself, you are only making a rod for your own back)
• Be very clear on what you expect from them and what they expect from you – these expectations are not always verbalised which is where frustrations and misunderstandings begin

So, we had a few ups and downs settling in our very lovely Woofers, including language barriers, losing them in our local town, and the ponies being fed twice in one morning (the ponies were thrilled), but we are now on a great even keel, and they are helping us here no end.

From Cows to Camels

Posted by Georgina Walsh March 4th, 2015

Do you make sure you break away from your routine?

I’ve just taken a few days to swap the Irish countryside and a view of cows for a view of camels. I worked from Dubai. My husband was working out there and I took my laptop, myself and a very open mind to join him.

I did some work for clients, but also took a couple of business related books and did some big planning for my business.

• I stretched out by the pool, and really stretched my thinking
• I enjoyed lunch at the top of the Burg Khalifa, the world’s tallest building and thought big and tall (…and thankfully avoided vertigo)

New avenues, bigger thinking and bigger results.  The biggest difference in my planning was that it was not a half day out of routine, but four days.  I could have used Dubai as a holiday but I used if for both holiday and work. The joy of running a lifestyle business.

I suspect it will be a while before I have such a glamorous planning session again, but it was a great reminder of the importance of breaking from routine and planning and thinking big regularly.

• How often do you currently break from your routine? 
• How can you make this more often?
• How can you make it longer – it might be not be in a four day stretch, but could it be two mornings in one week and two in the next?  I guarantee that time will be time well spent.
• What books / creative thinking could you use?

Make sure you set yourself some big, hairy (and exciting) goals.
Think big, act big and it will help to ensure the next 12 months are your best year yet.
One of the areas I read up on was the Law of Attraction and positive thinking.

The Law of Attraction

I determined to think positively about getting an upgrade on my flight home.  My husband, who works in travel, declared it impossible due to the ticket I was on. Guess where I’m writing this from, seat 8A with a nice glass of Veuve Cliquot in front of me. Next time I’ll set my mind to First Class….
Think positive and set big goals!

Happy With No?

Posted by Georgina Walsh February 18th, 2015

I made the switch to being Happy With No and my sales went up.

I adopted a mindset where I was fine if a potential client said no thanks, you’re not for me.  I was fine for them to walk away.  If I wasn’t for them, then they weren’t the right client for me.

Since then the number of people who said No dropped, in fact, I can’t remember the last time a potential client who was having a discovery call with me actually said No.

As well as more clients, it has brought less stress. ‘It’s OK if they say No’ is quite a liberating feeling.

How happy are you with No?  What could you do to be more happy with No?

In fact, push it further, how can you make it easy for someone to say No?
Use a bit of reverse psychology; when people don’t feel the pressure and feel you’re happy to walk away it can actually turn a prospective No into to a Yes. It changes all the dynamics.

Collect Your No’s
If one of my clients is downhearted about not getting enough sales, I challenge them to see how many No’s they can collect, for example, by collecting 10 No’s they might get at least 3 Yes’s.  I may then challenge them to get 20 No’s and they’ll probably get at least 6 Yes’s (and the happier they get about collecting the No’s the more Yes’s they’ll actually receive).

Avoid Maybe’s
I am obviously happy with Yes’s, I’ve talked to you about my happiness with No’s – what I ALWAYS try to avoid is a Maybe. If someone is going to say No, get the No out of them sooner rather than later.

‘Maybe’s’ drain your time and energy.  You can spend hours, weeks or even months chasing a Maybe as they lead you a merry dance of indecision, eeking from you as much as they can get, without agreeing to say Yes.

If you can’t get a Yes or No immediately, give a deadline (very politely, of course!) for a Yes or No by a certain date.  But don’t tolerate any more Maybe’s.

Let me know how you get on with your Yes’s, No’s and Maybe’s!

Running for my flight

Posted by Georgina Walsh January 20th, 2015

It’s a quick one today as I’m literally about to head off to the airport to catch a flight to London. I’ve got three days there, running a number of Fast Track Sessions, helping my clients plan a bumper year. I can’t wait.  Working with great clients and also catching up with friends…….and maybe just a wee bit of checking out the January sales too.

Do you concentrate on building a business that delivers the WAY of living that you want, not just the financial living you want?

4 years ago I hated my work trips to England, they were far too frequent, sometimes twice in one week, working for corporate clients on big projects which drained me. So I screeched on the brakes and made some big changes.  I wanted to work with smaller businesses or individuals, and I wanted to use more of my advertising and marketing background, not just my business psychology.

I took a deep breath, a dip in earnings and went for it.  I now have increased earnings, but more importantly I’m doing work, and living life, in a way that energies rather than drains. My clients are small business owners or executive coaching clients, and I’ve kept just one corporate client that I’ve always enjoyed working with, Oxford University.

It’s as important to work out what you don’t want as much as what you do want. Here are some questions to help you ensure your business and life work together and energise you:

• What do you want more of in your life and in your business? And what do you want less of?
• What is the main group of customers you want to be working with?
• What product or service do you want to be providing them with? And what are the things you don’t want to be doing for them?
• What do you need to do to get more of the right types of customers?
• What is the one BIG change you would love to make, so you have a great life and business?
• Now create a change ladder – rather than trying to make lots of changes immediately, plan them over time:
  • What do you want to have achieved by Easter?
  • And then by the summer? (Or winter for my readers in the Southern Hemisphere)
  • And by the end of the year?

Oh, cripes, look at the time, gotta fly….!
Until next time!

Super Boost Your Business in A Day

Posted by Georgina Walsh January 8th, 2015

Two  pictures taken from my office. What a difference. One day green fields, the next after lots (and lots) of rain, a serene lake complete with our very own swans – where do the swans come from? They turn up every time!

Such is the difference a day in the Irish countryside can make.  This got me thinking about the big difference you can make to your business in a day.  Not every day, but in a super-boosted super-focused day.

I often do Fast Track Days with my clients; rather than working over 3 or 6 months, we put our heads together virtually or face-to-face for a concentrated morning or day.  Big steps are taken, big ideas born. Taking time out to think about things in a different way makes a huge difference, thoughts build on each other giving amazing leaps and bounds.

Why don’t you plan your own Fast Track Day?  If you haven’t read it already, you might like use a Fast Track Session to work through my E-book 7 Simple Steps to Move Your Business Up a Gear. Download your free copy here.

Whatever you decide to do, here are some guidelines:

• Start by shaping or updating your vision; not just for your business but for the life you want to lead around it.
• Focus your planning around your target customer, the type you like to work with the most, put everyone else out of your mind.
• Keep your brand in mind at all times; what are the three key things you want to be known for?
• Create simple exercises or highlight areas you want to think through. Think outside the box, nothing is sacred. What would you do if you knew you could not fail, if money was no object, if you approached it all in a completely different way?
• Be disciplined and make sure you work through all your proposed areas – including areas you have been avoiding due to fear, lack of confidence or of time.
• Give yourself quite a few breaks; it can be during these breaks that a big thought suddenly appears.
• Finish off by setting goals; big goals that excite you, but not so unrealistic you know that you won’t work to achieve them.

So whilst I and my temporary swans enjoy the lake until the flood waters recede, have a think about when you could schedule your Fast Track Day, and how you’ll power pack it to make a real difference.

Are You Feeling Warm and Fuzzy?

Posted by Georgina Walsh November 21st, 2014

Riding my horse through the woods on Sunday, followed by my eight year old son on his beloved pony, Rusty Bucket, I had a bit of a warm and fuzzy moment.

The woods were in a last blaze of Autumn colour, both the leaves still on the trees and those forming the carpet of colour on the ground. The sun was shining and riders and horses alike were in fine spirits.

6 years ago we moved back to N.Ireland to enjoy more space, more fun and of course, more horses and ponies.

However, living in rural Ireland did pose the problem of how to ensure career fulfillment and earning potential were realised.  I practiced what I preach, set my vision for what I wanted and created a business that would deliver interesting, fulfilling work that hit my financial targets.

Whilst of course there have been ups and downs, and I still fly to England to work with clients face-to-face and run workshops, I do more and more of my work from here, connecting with clients via phone, skype and webinar.

How warm and fuzzy are you feeling? Here are two questions for you:

• Have you stopped to think about your progress lately and given yourself a pat on the back for what you have achieved?
• Have you stopped to think about what you further need to do to realise your vision?

Part of realising your vision is getting your marketing right. It gives you business success, and in turn the work life balance you want.

I have created a Cork Popping Marketing Plan with a step by step guide, template and example to help you create your own Cork Popping Marketing Plan in just 30 minutes. Click here to access it and if you want a copy in word, just send me an email and I’ll whizz one to you.

If you don’t have a Marketing Plan, here are Five Good Reasons Why You Need One By The End of This Week!

• Focus, Focus, Focus – under-focussed and overwhelmed is the curse of entrepreneurs and small business owners. A clear plan will help you work out where you’re going and how to get there, step-by-step.
• Less is More –  there are so many options to choose from in marketing, trying to do too much gets you nowhere.  Concentrate on just three things at first and do them well, then once those are up and running you can add to them.
• Results – A plan will get you results faster – fact.  A scattergun approach won’t achieve nearly so much. The other result is more time, as you can save time and effort by duplicating different things across different marketing channels.
• Measure – From a plan you can measure your success and earnings, so you can repeat what works and leave aside what doesn’t.
• Polish and Professionalism – A marketing plan will automatically make you much more professional and consistent in your marketing.  You will start to see results sooner and you will be less stressed – which in turn makes you look and feel even more polished and professional!

Click here to access your plan and if you want a copy in word, just send me an email and I’ll whizz one to you.

Maximum Achievement

Posted by Georgina Walsh September 9th, 2014

I hope you had a good summer? After a lovely bit of down-time I’m now ramping up for the final part of the year, and some maximum achievement!

This time last year I asked you to maximise your achievement by taking yourself forward and imagining you had achieved the BIG thing you wanted to by New Year.

I asked you to imagine how chuffed you would be feeling with your success, as the New Year champagne corks popped. Clients said doing this New Year visualisation really helped them put things into action, so…

This year I want you to take it a step further, and also dig a bit deeper into yourself.

Here are some questions to help you do that:

What do you want to have achieved by New Year? What BIG thing (or two!) would you have liked to have achieved that would really make you feel proud, delighted and generally rather chuffed with yourself?
Now, be super brave, and think about pushing that BIG thing even further – what would that look like by New Year – something that leaves you saying “I couldn’t do that, could I? How wonderful if I could!”
When you think of this super-brave-super-big achievement, what do you feel? Excitement, fear, blind-panic?
What is the biggest / most persistent negative thought that comes to you? What are those voices in your head saying – you’ll never do it!? Don’t try, you’ll only fail!?
Now park those thoughts, imagine you didn’t have them at all – free of those negative thoughts, write down the big goal or task you would undertake each month until the end of the year to get to that super-big achievement. Now break those into smaller weekly goals or tasks.
What do you need to tell yourself, or do, to keep those destructive negative thoughts at bay, or, even better, to eliminate them altogether – so that you can really sail forward and achieve BIG before New Year?

Keep super positive and action orientated this Autumn and let me know how you get on!

Are you Attracting the Right Customers….or the Wrong Ones?

Posted by Georgina Walsh November 10th, 2013

Do you offer your product or service to anyone who will listen, and even if they are not listening, do you offer it anyway?

 How can you stop offering to everyone, so that you are just saying yes to the right types of customers? This can sometimes be quite daunting and involve a leap of faith, but it can also be very liberating…..as well as financially rewarding!

 So how do you work out which customers are right for you and which are wrong?

 Do a Bit of Sorting

As a small business coach I often help my clients to segment their customers into groups – sorted by their attitude and behaviours rather than more traditional demographic means, such as age or where they live.   Having done this it is easy for them to create different messages for different groups (as well as decide on the groups they don’t want as customers). This is a strategic marketing tool that all the big brands use very successfully.

Let me show you what I mean from my own business. To begin with my doors were open to all small business owners – Come on in! I can help you! Let’s get started!

However, pretty quickly I created my first ‘segmentation’ and split potential customers into ‘Doers’ and ‘Dreamers or Twiddlers’. As their name implies Doers do. They get on with things and subsequently achieve results. They are fun and rewarding to work with and it is great helping a Doer achieve even more than they could on their own. 

The Dreamers or Twiddlers are another kettle of fish – I have nothing against dreaming, in fact it is one of the first things I encourage new clients to do when creating their vision. But once you have dreamt, you have to do.

Dreamers or Twiddlers don’t get on with things, and there is always going to be something that is getting in their way, or something that they are twiddling with rather than making bigger steps. Some coaches work brilliantly with this kind of group – so now when I come across a Dreamer or Twiddler I politely say no, but always have another coach I can recommend they could work with. These other coaches refer back to me in return – so by saying no to the customer I don’t want I get back the sort of customers I do want. (more…)