13 snapshots from coaching = 13 ideas for you

Journalist or personal brand?
A journalist is working with me to define her long term goal.  Super-busy and writing for major titles now, but where is this going, she wants to know.  Is it about books or appearances or a content specialty?  We have moved towards defining the aspirational goal and are embarking on tactics that will bring us closer to it while still maintaining and enriching the base of work.

 But it’s not self-promotion!
A client who was never comfortable promoting herself has developed an effective way to reach out.  She now says  “I’ve proved the theory: if you ask you get it.  I feel good about myself.  I am more comfortable calling people: its not pushy, it’s doing  something for them.”

 Transition to a management role
A client who was a very good craftsman had been promoted to running his whole creative office.  This transition is not as easy as it looks for most creative types. He was helped to develop more effective time management practices, prioritization and delegation techniques and to figure out how to motivate creative staff and to keep them happy.

 Meeting Prep
Research as much as you can about the person you are going to be meeting.  Don't assume anything.  The more you know the smarter you will be.   A client followed this advice this week and what she discovered “gave me a different sense of the company.”

Strength in your stories
Another client fed back to me in her own words one of the core ideas we had been working on: “I have to have my stories back in my mind and draw on them and bring them out at the appropriate time. The fact that I have been working on them and focusing them makes them that much stronger.”

Sweat your resume
A client working on a resume discovered that its communication can be powerfully affected by the choice of layout, type face and emphasis.  He created several versions, varying the summary and the layout.  Together we evaluated them making choices to get the best possible result.

 But what do you really want to do?
I am working with clients to focus their long term dreams and goals, so that we know whether short to medium term decisions are heading us in the right direction.

 How to think about your website
Planning a website with a client we thought through what a potential buyer is looking for when they come to the site and then decided what we want him to do when he gets there.

 Interview prep rocks results
During interview prep with a senior executive who was meeting with a corporate CEO I made up some likely questions and we practiced her responses.  After the interview she emailed me that many of his questions were “straight from our rehearsal.”  So she was ready for them.

 How to thrive in a corporate restructure
I have a client in a leading TV firm who is facing corporate restructuring.  She will thrive and advance in the evolution, not least because we have put thought and time into defining her turf and job scope and strategizing, on a weekly basis, how to manage up and across effectively.

 Plan B and Plan A
Working with a couple of clients on two fronts: a "corporate job" front and a "start my own business" front.  In the short term when there are bills to be paid and investment to be made it is the practical solution.

 Startup marketing
With a client who is starting a new business we have developed the main message and begun on the website – now we are moving to targeted outreach.  We have defined our tactics and are now providing the motivation to make progress on sales calls and affordable marketing programs.

 KickStart your marketing
A design firm for whom I led a Marketing Intensive KickStart Workshop has launched its new website – on schedule.  They emailed:  “Thanks for all your input in helping us pull this together."