As a former career coach, author on career clarity and life planning expert under the name Rob Clinton at 180 Career Coaching, Robert de Brus story is a story of redemption. Having gone through many challenging transitions and life upsets, from business crashes, failed relationships, financial hardships, and circumstance after circumstance that he doesn’t wish on anyone he is re-claiming a future for himself that’s not in anyway dictated by his past. It’s all about the re-claiming of a new future.
The story from Rob Clinton to Robert de Brus is the core emphasis behind his transition from a life of being trapped by circumstances, to a life of freedom as a Lifestyle Entrepreneur. You can read more about him here. If you’d like to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.
I can remember sitting reluctantly as well as enthusiastically on the fence before I hired my first coach. This was right at the beginning of 2009 and I knew I wanted to get somewhere, but I was a little hesitant to make a decision because the fears sparked by previous failures made me question my true abilities.
If I feared my abilities, then surely anyone who would work with me would see what I was lacking and that would be a little embarrassing, not too mention I was a little short on cash anyway.
After all, priorities are priorities, and it’s better to focus on the fires you have to put out now before pursuing any dreams, right?
My heart was trying to live out of my dreams
That was the looming concern. My mind was trying to live out of my circumstances, but my heart was trying to live out of my dreams.
Well, I finally got the nerve up and stepped into my next season in life by hiring Kevin Miller of Free Agent Academy to help me brand myself and develop what was formerly known as 180 Career Coaching. It was an amazing experience getting off the ground, and I enjoyed every bit of helping other people succeed as a coach myself.
Since then I’ve hired numerous coaches for certain areas that I needed help in, and I haven’t stopped hiring them. They and many of my favorite mentors like Dan Miller himself have been absolutely vital to any progress that I’ve made in my own personal and professional development.
Now I was really brand new at this, and I didn’t know how to properly seek out a coach to work with as I kind of went with my gut, but fortunately I lucked out and hired a fantastic coach right off the bat.
Not everyone who skips this part of the homework process is going to be so lucky.
However, when I look back on the things I did, I found that there were obvious reasons of why my gut was in check and made me feel really good from the get-go about working with Kevin.
Jump into the water – Find the people who are succeeding
In the very beginning I looked at everyone who was succeeding in business, but specifically honed in on who was succeeding at building personal brands. I wanted to find my personal brand and build a business platform. Then I started surrounding myself with many other greats and others who had similar dreams as well.
If you want to do anything worthy, it’s always best to seek out the people who have made it and go learn from them. You’re going to find that many of them become mentors and perhaps new networks build in the process, but you should do everything you can to start surrounding yourself with people who are succeeding and performing where you hope to be soon.
Identify your area of need
While I was getting involved, the first thing I did was identify my area of need. I didn’t know exactly what that would be yet, except that I wanted to be awesome at something and find personal fulfillment doing it. So what I realized was that self discovery had to be a heavy part of creating my brand.
People come from all different areas of the spectrum; from marketing to platform development, to building audiences, but mine had to be self discovery and personal branding. Luckily 48 Days to the Work You Love had done a lot of the preliminary work me and I had some great insight about myself to take with me into my coaching sessions.
Focus on mastery
One big thing that I wish I would have done better was focusing on a specific plan of attack before moving to the next. I would have several areas of focus going on at once, and as a result this made my runway for succeeding longer than it should have been.
I have a shiny object syndrome mentality, and I would go from one idea to the next trying to implement everything at once. That’s great and all, but I was endangering myself of becoming what some say is a jack of all trades but a master of none.
Pick your focus and be disciplined about going after it with your undivided attention.
Invest in a coach
Finally, write that check and send it off! You’re not just paying for services here, you are investing in yourself. It’s interesting the more money I’ve paid people in the past the more locked-in I was to the process. The same goes with clients I’ve worked with as well.
It’s human nature. This is where you really own it; your hard-earned dollars are in the game and nobody wants to see their money go to waste.
The money you invest should be a seed that you plant to reap you 10 times the amount of value you put in. If that happened; if you invested even a thousand dollars into a coaching process, and was able to generate ten thousand extra dollars that year I’d say everyone wins. That’s what you call ROI, and that’s what happens when you hire the right coach and you take action.
Have you hired any coaches lately? What has been your success with coaches and how do you ensure that you’re moving in the right direction with the right coach?
This post was just for me!! WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO HIRE A COACH? I have been contemplating on hiring a coach for the last 3 weeks and cannot seem to make a decision. I have JUST received a business idea after meditation and lots of 48 days reading… I am NOT YET in business but only have a glimpse of an idea to start an afterschool/learning center for children overseas, looking to start next summer.
I have gone back and forth on the idea of investing in a coach, but since I am not yet in business, I wondered if it would be a waste of money. Would it be better to wait when I am actually IN business so that I could implement right away what is being taught? Or perhaps when I am close enough to opening my doors?? I believe in training and spending money on education (hence my education business) but my husband thinks this is a waste of money since there is a lot of free information online and in books (he’s cheap!).
Would you advise moving into my parents house with my kids for 6-12 months to save on rent money so that I could begin to save some money for coaching and my new business? I would not be able to afford it otherwise….
Hi there and thanks commenting on my guest-post. I’ll give you my perspective and then ask you a question.
It’s all about what you choose to prioritize over the other. There’s free information everywhere, absolutely. I’m constantly fueling up with information online through books, podcasts, and blogs like this site. But for me, coaching is something I value enormously, whether I’m not in business, or I’ve started a business, or I’ve closed a business, I prefer to make my choices with a coach walking along side me. It gives everything you do and learn more structure, speed, empowerment, motivation, and accountability.
Hiring a coach is like putting gas in my car, and a map on my dashboard. There is something powerful about having another set of eyes moving with you though the process, and not only that, but you’re investment in the coaching process makes it more real and stronger for your own accountability.
When I’ve hired coaches, the more I invested in them, the more I was locked into the process and the likelier I was going to succeed. It’s just a matter of personal priority. I just choose to keep investing in them, no matter if I’m at a low, or a high, their value in my life has been immeasurable.
So I know you asked about making big changes like moving into your parent’s house. I can’t advise on any big decisions like that. However, I can ask you “in your own world of striving to win, what’s most important to you right now?” Would love to hear from you on that.
This is great! What is most important to me right now is taking action. I have been stagnant for too long. I have a wealth of information (perhaps equivalent to a PhD) but don’t do much about it. Too much information without action always leads to frustration – analysis paralysis! I feel like having a coach is great for the accountability factor and also it shows that I am serious about my intentions on starting this business. I just wasn’t sure if it made sense to get a coach in the education (childcare) industry right now or if I should wait until I am actually in the business….
Moving with parents is never my first choice, but I guess there are times you have to give up to go up and having my own space may just be one of the things I need to give up in order to fund this dream of mine. Just not sure if it’s the best thing for my kids since I am very careful with our home atmosphere. I don’t allow TV, video games or such in our home, and have my kids watch motivational or spiritual teachings daily as part of their homeschool curriculum. That would probably be hard to do if I move into someone else’s home so I am trying to weigh my values to see which is more important to me…I just don’t know for sure.
Would love to hear your perspective on the timing for a business coach – before or during business?
Oh yes, I get the whole environment thing and especially for your kids. Those are definitely important decisions to weigh in.
Perhaps another solution will surface before hand, but if you actually end up getting to that point of moving in with your parents, then just see it as an opportunity to start fresh. Knowing that the less expenses and obligations you have looming over you, the more room you have to build, but be
careful about letting it become a place to lean on for too long. Especially if you know you are someone who is prone to inaction. Just see it as bridge along with a specific strategy in place to leverage that opportunity for where you want to go.
As far as when to hire a coach, from my perspective and experience there is no reason to wait, unless you’re just not ready to take action. Whether you hire one before, during, or after a business there’s enormous value on all ends. Again, especially if you already know that you’re someone that needs help taking action, a coach is going to help you get from point A to point B, no matter where you are in the process. We’re always striving to get somewhere, and your coach can strategically help empower, motivate, and push you all the way through.
Just be ready to take action. Your coach will be one of your biggest fans as you progress.
Let me know if I can help.
When I was training to be a drivers education teacher, I read in our manual to teach kids to have vision control BEFORE motion control. A coach can help you with vision control, and (at least for me) motion is not far behind. 🙂 And after that, you’re always scanning the traffic scene for obstacles anyway.
Great point!
Very insightful Robert, and some really good advice on hiring a coach. After many months of contemplation, I hired my first coach back in April. It’s been by far the smartest decision and investment I’ve made, and my only regret is that I waited so long to write the check!
Identifying my biggest area of need was the key for me. I knew I wanted to build my subscriber list and my authority by being a contributing writer for large media sites. I had seen how successful Kimanzi Constable was in that area so I hired him as my coach. Similar to what the other commenter said below, I could have just tried to do it myself, as there is lots of free information available from Kimanzi and others on how be a contributing writer. It’s certainly possible but it would have likely taken me much longer if I’d done it alone.
Working with a coach is a “smartcut”. It’s helped me accelerate the process and avoid many of the pitfalls and confusion. And most importantly, its help me push myself harder and he’s held me accountable for setting deadlines and getting stuff done. I’ve accomplished 5X more in the past 8 weeks than I had in the past 8 months.
Tyler, love it! Thanks for the comment and insights… I like how you used the word “smartcut”. That is an excellent depiction of the importance of hiring a coach.
People who have gone before us and worked with other people in similar scenarios, have taken a lot of the hardknox of trial and error off the plate for us. We can learn from them, and they can help us get there much faster.
Oh and yes, Kimanzi is great. I actually wrote about him and others in one of my recent blogs here –> http://www.robertdebrus.com/coaches-are-the-reason-i-excel-by-leaps-and-bounds/
Just hired my first one within the last month (through the 48 Days Coaching Link). The questionare Ashley uses is thorough, and it will help you to know what type of person you can work with more easily. For example, for me, because of the way I’m wired, my coach HAD to be a woman, and HAD to be at least as old as me, (among other things). Seek, and ye shall find, and I did. Had an introductory call, and a first full session, and I am progressing! So if you’re debating about getting to it, think about this: you can only rev your engine so many times before the race starts and for many of us, including yours truly (yours truly in particular), the race started years ago. (This is a terrible metaphor for me, because I hate racing in my life, but perhaps it will help someone else. 🙂 I told my coach on Tuesday June 16 that if I don’t accomplish what I n-e-e-d to accomplish in three years, I will be a bitter old man someday. (And dang, wouldn’t you know it. I sort of received some overtures from her through the phone that she will hunt me down and dispatch me if I don’t. LOL) Do it though, people. Put a little self-work into who you’ll probably click with, go to the COACHING link (GET a coach) above, fill out a questionare and let Ashley search for you and make a recommendation, decide on the best fit (which should be pretty close if you’ve done your best), and make it work. MAKE it work. As in decide to make it work. That’s what I’m doing. Now go out there and kick some assets into gear. And those of you who feel as if you can do it yourself: maybe you can. And you’re probably better equipped to do it than I. But there is a reason you’ll never see a dentist pull his own tooth. (Well…maybe not ever, but rarely).
Dan, how exciting! Congrats on taking that step. Your enthusiasm rings clear and I trust this will be an amazing journey for you. And yes, the 48 Days Coaching Link there is a perfect place to get started. The questionnaire is very thorough and is really going to help set anyone up for great coaching and lined up with the right coach as well. Many kudos to you… Keep that fire burning!
You’re so right Rob – hiring a coach is an investment in yourself and you have to believe you are worth it! Your coaching has been very valuable to me in the past.
As was your coaching with me my friend! Isn’t cool how this works? Thanks so much!
It certainly is!