The final leg of my journey from Toronto involves a long stop over at Heathrow before a short hop 200 miles North to Manchester and my UK apartment (thankfully, a 10-minute cab ride).
Toronto was part vacation, part work and some space away from the UK workshop and routine (if there could be anything about my life that could be thus described!).
The workshop last Wednesday was full of fun and involved re-connecting with 6 existing clients in The Coaching Business School and welcoming 7 new friends from diverse backgrounds such as fitness training, corporate consulting and local government work.
It was interesting to see how the “funnels, pies and schools” philosophy of practice-building could be applied to all of the professions represented.
I really do want to make the time and collaborate on a book for coaches based on this material – which I would happily sell “at cost” as part of this “not for profit” idea I want to pursue. What I do need is a writer who can take my ideas/experiences and create the necessary finished product. I have already corresponded with a couple of people on this but we just haven’t started yet.
My major “insight” from the live event was that the “Chris Barrow method” (call it what you will) is a way to leverage your time as a coach IF you decide to become a sole-practitioner as opposed to a business-owner or entrepreneur (as defined by Michael Gerber). I don’t know how to build a business and frankly I don’t want to build one.
But I have figured out a way to leverage myself to up to 200 business-owner clients and create a 7-figure gross revenue in the process (plus, of course, those magical 12 weeks of vacation every year).
So maybe the book title could be:
“Funnels, Pies and Schools” – how to create a single-handed coaching practice that gives you the life that you have always wanted. Any other ideas?
My major “ping” of the live event came through a brief conversation with coach Anita Pizycki who suggested that I introduce myself as a “professional guest speaker” as opposed to “professional speaker”. This highlights the fact that I seldom organise my own gigs in UK dentistry, preferring to show up where somebody else has attracted the audience and organised the event – that was a good reminder.