Would A Business Coach Have Helped BCW?

Would A Business Coach Have Helped BCW?

Tackling business including how to achieve goals, set priorities and improve skills is often helped by a great cup of coffee (or tea or juice). As a business/career coach, I sometimes treat clients and colleagues, as I advise them on many career and management issues. And one place I used to go was a local coffee-deli-restaurant-bakery I’ll call BCW (now closed and replaced by a new business). What happened to BCW – and could a business coach have helped? Keep reading to find out.

Redundancy

Though it was a social venue, it often was, like many cafes, a meeting place for business meetings. Its very location was a kind of ‘how to succeed’ geographically. BCW was located on a main street, near a busy intersection with a streetcar and bus stop. It was spacious, yet intimate, with a summer patio. Yet, sites like Reddit and Yelp had no shortage of opinions as to why it’s good riddance.

Amidst the raves for certain menu items, there were dozens of comments and complaints about the service, the food, the size of the place and dealing with difficult people including the owner. Maybe she was overwhelmed at work. Many ‘posters’ recommended the nearby Starbucks as the better place to go. As I read the complaints, I began to get a picture of what *might* have caused this angst. ‘What not to do’ morphed into ‘how to manage well, reduce stress at work, meet and exceed goals with great service’, and overall ‘how to succeed’ in a business.

New Perspective from a Business Coach

Good decisions, bad decisions – sometimes it helps to have an outside-inside professional, like a Career Management and Business Coach to help you manage the myriad of issues in your working day. I generally work with corporate executives, but doing business day-to-day involves people from all disciplines. There are some things big corporations can learn from small business and vice versa.

As for what you can do when you’re at the mercy of review sites, and people dumping on you just because they can? Not much, because the web is all about democracy. The owner of BCW is still seeing these reviews, even though her business has shut down.

Exposure?

When (and if) you should defend your reputation online is something I’ll address in another post. For now, try envisioning your business as a main-street café. Where everything you do/don’t do contributes towards success or failure of that business. Where the world has a front row on how you prep and implement throughout the day. Your workplace ambiance has to be pretty darn good for people. That it’s the kind of meeting-place that succeeds with customers and clients.

Would you like to talk about your business issues over coffee? Consider the initial meetings as the appetizer before the ‘entree’ into complete career and business coaching! Book an appointment today.

Brian Epstein: Genuine Interest in Others

Brian Epstein: Genuine Interest in Others

I come from a small town. When I reflect on my upbringing, I often ask myself what is one thing that I learned from living in a small community? That thing that seems to help me in business and working with others? I believe, strongly, that it comes down to the fact that I have a genuine interest in others

Without question, I believe that the genuine interest that people have for others in a small town is transferrable to working in a small business. Generally, in a small town, people want to support other citizens and the community at large. People find a way to be collaborative with their neighbours and all the people that live and work in the community. Everyone realizes that if they support one another, the entire community benefits. People are happier and enjoy living in that community.

In the same manner, if you create a warm, friendly work environment, and people feel comfortable and welcome, colleagues will feel that support and have less stress. Therefore, when people have a genuine interest in other people, management and employees will feel more motivation at work. A good working environment is one where all personnel show interest in one another. Ultimately, I believe that when people are genuinely interested in one another, it will lead to success in business.

Find out more about how you can create a successful working environment with my help. Contact me today to learn more.