Case Studies
Case Study 1
The Person: Female MD
The Business: Consultancy in London doubles turnover
The Challenge: Work life balance
Before coaching
When I started coaching with Jo I was working hard on my small consultancy and had just discovered a fabulous new product, which was going to revolutionise the business. I was happy with my health, love life and family, but I wasn't putting enough energy into my own personal development, social life or relaxation (and the serious lack of a holiday) and really felt powerless to take action because I was so busy.
However I really wanted to address and review all areas of my life - I felt like a shopping trolley with three wheels going in the same direction and the fourth trying to wobble off somewhere else, taking the whole thing off balance.
I wanted help with managing my work time to be as efficient as possible, to make space for other things in my life.
These were problems that I had been ignoring and could perhaps have carried on papering over indefinitely, but you can't brush your worries under the carpet forever. For me it was time to tackle the demons and move ahead with my life.
What did the coaching do for you
One of the first things Jo and I did together was decide which areas of my life to look at. Reflecting on the business and concentrating on efficiency and time management seemed to be top of the list.
We addressed all the things that were annoying me - things I hadn't done, things I wanted to do and Jo helped me to commit to completing all my tasks within a timescale over the next few weeks. Although nothing bad would have happened if I hadn't done them, it helped enormously to know that someone was on my case and wanting me to succeed, and all the tasks miraculously got done with no fuss at all.
Strangely, however, during our first session I realised that, while I am a gregarious and positive person, I have a team of internal anti-cheerleaders who shout negativities in my brain all day long; counteracting all the good work I put in and making life infinitely more difficult.
It's a good thing when you realise you have anti-cheerleaders because then you can start to rationalise them out of existence. We used positive re-enforcement and a variety of methods to put me back in control of my internal messages: I set my e-mail up to send me my daily affirmations at 9.30am. I said them whenever my anti-cheerleaders said something bad.
Another great method Jo introduced me to was to have an elastic band on my wrist at all times and, when the anti-cheerleaders piped up, I would ping the elastic band and it would break the negative train of thought and banish them immediately. It worked like an absolute charm!
Banishing the anti-cheerleaders helped in all areas of my life. I was able to stop overworking because I realised I actually was doing a really good job already; that allowed me to step back and review other priorities such as Personal Development and Social Life.
When we looked again at Personal Development and Relaxation it emerged that what I really wanted was me-time. This was dealt with by simply scheduling in a list of treats and outings in the diary and making sure I did them. One treat per month (like a massage, manicure or interesting outing) may not sound like much, but it's amazing how great it makes you feel just to have that to look forward to. We also decided on a reading list of juicy and exciting books - something I had been waiting to get around to but just never found myself near a bookshop with 10 minutes to spare browsing.
We then tackled holiday issue - which was unfortunately out of my hands because my partner was in a new job and couldn't take paid leave for six months. Rather than constantly fretting and whinging about not being able to take a holiday, I made a decision to be firm and not moan about it, but to book a holiday for the moment my partner could take leave. I had become so sick of the sound of my own voice moaning about the holiday that it was a positive relief just to have come to a decision.
As I could see my other priorities working out, the topic of Work eventually came back into play and Jo and I were able to look objectively at the business and I could make solid plans to move it onto a new and really exciting level. I finally felt that I was good at my work, an expert in my field and a fabulous resource for my clients.
Results
Since then my turnover has amazingly doubled! Quite literally I am earning twice what I earned last year. I believe that my coaching sessions with Jo are greatly to thank for this increase.
My life has improved in a myriad of small and permanent ways. I now have simple methods of coping with stressful internal dialogue; plus ways to make myself feel like a valued human being; and the ability to relax and say 'I have done a good job today'.
Now that you know more about the kind of clients we work with, the issues we help them resolve and what our clients need to do to ensure their success, see what 'Free Stuff' we are offering on the site.