Business Coach : Take Note
-Fourth is the ability to network. There’s no question that your opportunities expand, the more people that you know. A business coach will say, it’s not only important how many people know you, it’s how many people respect you.
Some people know a lot of people, but they all know them to be fairly worthless in nature. So, that’s not going to engender a great deal of opportunities. But assuming that you work hard, do what you say you’re going to do, you’re sharp, broadening your network, I think, is critical.
And finally, the most important skill is trust. As a business coach, The people around you have to be able to believe in you. They have to know that when you say you’re going to do something, you will do it. You don’t overpromise. You don’t say things just to make them go away. You don’t tell them that you’re going to follow up and do something, and never follow up.
So in my experience, these five skills– if you want to run the show someday,be a business coach or be the CEO and the owner someday, I think you’ve got to master these five skills.
-And I think if you’re if you’re watching this, and maybe you’re kind of going, gosh, this is a big list, where do I even start? I would just give you an example, from my life. Time management as an individual business owner.
When I started my first business called DJ Connection, I had to manage basically, appointments with clients, and manage time on the phone, and then it became how do I manage that and maintenance and accounting, and then how do I manage– and over time I just had to get better and better.
And right now, my thing now is I’m trying to actually block out chunks of time just to think. And I’m trying to learn, now, a new level of executive time management where I now am trying to pattern my time management more off of the role that I aspire to have.
And so, I don’t think, like you said, you’re ever done with that. I also think in terms of communication, I look at my career, and I say– you know, I used to stutter as a kid– so learning to speak and articulate has required work over the years to be able to speak proficiently. But you’re never done.
And I know of myself, if I were to rate myself on a scale of 1 to 10– that might be a healthy thing for you to do, if you’re watching this. Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10. If 10 is the highest and 1 is the lowest, and you say, well, time management, maybe you’re a wizard, maybe you’re a saint. Wow. That’s great.
But communication. Maybe you write in some sort of English, Spanish, Greek hybrid that no one else understands. Maybe you’re a 2 there. Maybe your emotional intelligence or your communication skills need to be improved. As a business coach, communication is key.
But it’s very unlikely that anybody watching this is a perfect 10 across the board. And I can tell you personally, there’s many of these areas that I need to improve upon. And I just think it’s important that we realize that it’s a process. And we all need to continually work to improve on these.
Do you, even now, at your a status, or your stature, in where you’ve gotten to– where you now own several companies, you invest in companies, you’re now the head of a bank– do you still put the work into improving in these areas?
-Yes, no question. I get asked a lot, you know, how does it feel to have “made it” quote unquote. You don’t make it. I don’t feel like I’ve made it. I feel like we all just continue to grow day after day after day. And I think that’s what life is, is just this continuous growth and development, and I don’t think that will ever change.
CLAY CLARK: And one thing that’s great, too. I’m married and I have five kids. And I know you’re married. And you have a wonderful wife as well. My wife tends to point out whatever my weakest skill is. And she’s like your emotional intelligence is pretty low, right now.
SEAN KOUPLEN: If you need to find where in these areas that you need work, just ask your spouse.
CLAY CLARK: There you go.
-That’s what I would recommend. Just ask– or your girlfriend, they will, or boyfriend, they’ll tell you.
-And now we’re moving on to life lesson number two. And And it says preparation tops talent, every time. When you say that preparation , tops talent every time, how does that happen in business? I mean, what do you mean by that?
-There are times in our life when talent will top preparation. For example, I can practice as hard as I want to practice, I’m not going to beat David Robinson in basketball. It’s not going to happen. He has a talent, and height, that I do not have, and will never have.
In business, it’s all equal. It’s all equal. There are– it doesn’t matter whether you’re short, tall, rich, poor, what color you are– it doesn’t matter. Those things don’t matter. In business, preparation wins.
If you and I are going on a sales call against each other, you are admittedly very handsome, extremely witty. If I know more about that client, I’ve researched them top to bottom. I know what solutions will fit for them. I’m going to get that deal.
If you and I are going for the same job interview– and that’s really where we focus in this book, is how to get that job that you want– you can be the most suave, debonair, human being on the face of the planet, if I know the company inside and out, and I am prepared and ready, I’m going to get that job.