Success Stories
The following are client success stories from the last 20 years. The names and various details have been changed for client confidentiality.
Background: Diane had never started a business before and she decided to leave her government job to pursue her passion for health education. Diane became certified as a wellness coach and was very excited to begin offering her service.
Issues: Diane feared marketing her wellness coaching business so much that she would have mild anxiety just thinking about talking about her business. She didn’t want to attend networking events or even speak one-on-one with people when they asked her what she did for a living.
Solution: As Stephanie worked with Diane, it became apparent that Diane associated talking about her service with being an annoying salesperson. During several business coaching sessions, Diane realized that promoting her business was about connecting with others, sharing her knowledge and deeply wanting to help people regain their health.
Results: Diane still feels some anxiety when marketing her business; however, she speaks from her heart and her authenticity has helped her build a large client base. Diane said the process of starting a business was very humbling and has helped her become a much better wellness coach.
Background: Kent loved working with clay and wanted to open up his own pottery shop specializing in unique gifts instead of being an employee making $16 per hour. He craved more freedom in making his own work hours.
Issues: Kent and his family relied on his income and it was very scary to leave his present job for the unknown. Also, Kent had never started a business before and had challenges with time management and the confidence to run his own business.
Solution: Together we created an action plan where Kent would take baby steps that would eventually have him leave his job and start his pottery business. We discussed his required permits and licenses, cash flow projection, marketing, as well as converting his garage into a studio. Once Kent was solid with his plan, it took another three months before he left his current job.
Results: Kent has been much happier since opening up his pottery shop, though he still has challenges with time management. He is very pleased that his business revenue recently surpassed his former employee income.
Background: Cassie had been in the food industry for 20 years; including waitressing, hosting, managing, and presently owning a catering business. She wanted to do the Deep Dive Plus™ because her business has been growing and she felt like she didn’t have adequate staff, she was working very long hours, and she didn’t know why she had less money in her pocket, even though her revenue was increasing each month.
Issues: The Deep Dive Plus™ showed us that Cassie was not delegating enough to her staff or focusing on their professional development. Cassie was relying too heavily on her bookkeeper and not reading and understanding her financial reports. Lastly, she was not making the best use of technology for tracking inventory and sales.
Solution: During the Deep Dive Plus™, we created a Plan of Attack that would help her delegate to her staff to free up her time, we mapped out what Cassie needed to do to better understand her financial reports, how to better use technology in her business, and streamline her operations.
Results: Six months later, Cassie reviews her financial reports with her bookkeeper and identifies where they could cut costs, there has been no staff turnover and Cassie hired another server, and Cassie upgraded her inventory and sales software. Her revenue has increased by 20% from the previous year.
Background: Rico provided marketing services for high-tech companies and specialized in social media. After 10 years, he realized that his passion was dwindling and he wasn’t enjoying his work like he used to when he first began. It was hard to think about leaving because he made a good living and yet he wanted more fulfillment.
Issues: Rico had a stellar reputation and was feeling burnt-out from spending 60+ hours a week on screen time. He was craving more variety and personal contact with his clients.
Solution: Through our business coaching, we created a strategic plan that included Rico teaching other tech-savvy social media consultants how to establish high-paying clients and how to provide an excellent customer experience. He hired two marketing sub-contractors to work with Rico’s clients.
Results: Rico has been able to cut his screen time down to 20 hours per week and has been teaching workshops throughout the west coast. The two marketing sub-contractors are bringing in on average $15,000 per month and Rico collects over $5,000 per month on their work-
Background: Dale and Nancy both had very secure jobs that paid well; however, they were looking at their future and realized that they wanted to leave a legacy for their children. Opening up a small grocery store in their community was their dream.
Issues: They had around $25,000 to open up a grocery store and still needed $275,000 to get started. Fortunately, their credit scores were good and their tax returns for the last three years showed decent income. Dale and Nancy did not have wealthy family members or friends and decided to apply for a business loan.
Solution: Stephanie guided Dale and Nancy on how to write a business plan and specifically what a loan officer will be looking for when reviewing their plan and application. After reviewing their documents and making many suggestions, Stephanie told them they were ready to meet with a loan officer.
Results: Dale, Nancy, and Stephanie met with a loan officer, secured the loan, and within four months they opened up their small grocery store in their community. Nancy quit her job to work full time in the business, and several months later Dale joined her. The grocery store has done so well that a few years later they opened up another one about 20 miles away.
Background: Marco is the executive director of a large nonprofit that continues to expand its reach by about 10% each year. The staff is growing each year along with pressure from his Board to offer more services to the community.
Issues: Marco was spending about 60 hours per week at the organization and he felt pressure from his wife to be more at home with her and their five children. Marco wanted to keep expanding services and he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Solutions: Marco and Stephanie evaluated his staff and rated them as “A” “B” “C” players and discovered that his staff could take on more responsibility and that would help Marco’s crazy schedule. The nonprofit would grow more sustainably once the operations were streamlined. Stephanie made suggestions on how to better delegate to the staff and to teach Marco how to trust his staff more.
Results: It took about six months for Marco and his staff to fully take on new responsibilities and once they did, it freed up about ten more hours per week for Marco to be at home with his family. The staff is very happy with the new responsibilities and they feel more valued.
