Alicia Forest was on maternity leave at the time of this interview and was gracious enough to answer my questions during this precious time in her life. NCC has been my introduction to the coaching community and I chose to interview Alicia because of her positive presence on New Coach Connection. There is a previous interview on this blog by Megan Potter. Please refer to that entry for more of Alicia Forest here.
What sustains you personally?
Great question… before I had my children, I’d say it was running 3-5 miles a day. Now if I get a decent night’s sleep followed by a good cup of coffee, I’m good to go J
More seriously, though, it’s always having something to look forward to that keeps my momentum going. I have such a huge vision for my business, and it’s already come so far so fast that I have no doubts about reaching the levels I imagine in my mind. Those thoughts keep me excited and help me push through those times when I feel stuck.
Who are your supports?
I couldn’t do any of this without the support of my husband James (and the patience of my children from time to time as well). When I first wanted to go out on my own and talked to him about it, he was 100% supportive, even though it meant my giving up a pretty decent salary that paid the mortgage and more. These days he wants to know when he can quit working so he can work for me.
We all have down days, how do you self-motivate?
Overwhelm immobilizes me, so if that’s where I find myself, I do one of two things: either physically re-organize (like clean my desk) or mentally re-organize (like walk away for the day and clear my head). One or the other will usually get me back into productive mode.
But because I only work on my business about 15 hours a week, I try not to get to that place too often. I always have at least one goal for the day, one task that if it gets done, then I feel like I’ve accomplished something. That’s my bare minimum. One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned to keep the momentum going in my business is to do at least one thing every day to move things forward. It doesn’t have to be a major thing; it can be something small like emailing a potential joint venture partner. But to do one thing every day keeps you in ‘action’ and the Universe responds in kind. I’m writing more about this right now in my next book, “The 15-Hour Workweek: The Business Mom’s Guide to Getting It All Done†(working title).
Can you share a client’s “Ah-ha†moment that impacted you personally? There have been more than a few, but I think the one that sticks out the most is the client who finally shifted from feeling like building her business was so hard to recognizing that it was just a series of steps to follow, that if she kept putting one foot in front of the other, she would get where she wanted to go. At that time, although I knew that and espoused it (and even wrote my 21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online Success System about it), I didn’t truly internalize it until that moment. I was still working too hard for the income I wanted to bring in. I turned to my own coach to work through that, and implementing the concept of “to double my income, I have to do less than half of what I’m currently doing†made everything about growing my business and my bottom line so much easier. I talk about this a lot with my Coaching Café members and my private clients.
In the same vein, can you share a story that tickled both you and your client?
This is not about the content of our coaching session, but about the context. I was on a coaching call with a client while I was visiting my parents’ summer home. It was a gorgeous day so I was sitting on the porch while on the call – until the neighbor’s roosters (yes, roosters) started crowing their head’s off. I couldn’t hear my client over the roosters so I moved inside, except that my dad had fallen asleep reading in the main room and my daughter (who is a very light sleeper) was sleeping in the other part of the cottage) and I didn’t want to wake either of them. So I moved to my car. We had just barely picked up our session when the meter guy came to read the meter and knocked on the window of my car to say so… scaring me half to death, mind you. Thankfully, my client was very understanding and patient through my mayhem and we had a good laugh about it.., and a very good session.
You’ve said that a coach’s two most import tasks are marketing and coaching. I personally know many coaches-in-training that absolutely FEAR the marketing aspect of the job description. How would you address this issue? I address it quite in depth in my 21 Steps program, right at the beginning, because I know that many coaches do fear it. But marketing is not to be feared, if you want to truly be successful by helping people and doing what you love at the same time as a coach. Marketing is to be embraced, because there are people who can only hear your message from you – they are waiting for it, from you – and I believe it’s part of your purpose to put it out there without fear or humbleness or shyness – or apologies, for that matter.
And marketing can really be easy and fun. There are many ways to market yourself and your business with authenticity and integrity that I teach that takes all the negative feelings away from this absolutely critical business building task.
As you’ve been interviewed before, did you have any favorite questions? If so, what are the answers? Here are two of my favorites:
First: What are some pitfalls that other solo-preneurs should be on the lookout for, and how can they be avoided?
Three of the main ones are:
1. Getting so caught up in the details that it makes it hard to actually move forward. This can lead to being really frustrated at how long it can seem to take to build a business. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve been given and can share in return is to focus each day on this: “What’s the ONE thing I can do today to move my business forward?†The to-do list is never-ending, and it will never be all done – so if you can choose just one thing to focus on accomplishing each day, you will move your business forward. Focus on that one thing first, before all the admin details eat up all your time.
2. Not having a mentor, coach or someone to follow. I’m a big believer in not reinventing the wheel, so much so that I’ve done a class on it called the 9 R’s to Modeling Your Mentors, which is included as a bonus track to my Business Concepts for Coaches program, so I always recommend finding someone who is already successful in doing what it is that you want to do and modeling them to get to success that much easier and more quickly.
3. Letting the naysayers get you down… People have good intentions, but when you’re doing something that either makes them uncomfortable or it’s something they wish they could do, sometimes they aren’t always the most supportive. Find a group of like-minded business owners to find that support you’ll need to keep on track to your goal – be it a coaching group like the NCC, a mastermind group, an online network, an in-person support group, whatever – just be sure to surround yourself with people who not only believe in your dream but believe it for themselves, too.
Second: What would you say is the one most important thing you’ve learned being an entrepreneur?
Something that’s become a mantra for me and many of my clients:
“Done is better than perfect – and it’s never going to be all done.â€The first part takes the pressure off it being perfect and just getting it out there, and the second part takes the overwhelm feeling away when the to-do list is long and time is short.
Who would you like to see interviewed on this blog? I’d love to see some interviews with coaches who have been in business for more than a year, are starting to enjoy some success, and HOW they stuck with it until they got to that point. I think those kinds of interviews would be helpful to those coaches who feel frustrated and stuck that their business is not moving forward as quickly as they’d like.
I’m curious to know what success you’ve seen from your book, 6 Steps to 6 Figures for the Solo Professional?
At the moment, it’s being copyedited while I work with the designers on the front and back cover designs. It’s still several months away from being available, but I’m really excited about it, and we’ve been working on developing a complementary website and workbook to go along with it. If anyone would like to receive advanced notice of when it will be available, just send a blank email to 6stepsbook@aweber.com and we’ll add you to the priority list.
Alicia is taking over the reigns of the Coaching Zone from Ellen. Here is Ellen’s welcome statement from http://coachzone-network.ryze.com/:
Welcome! The Coaching Zone is for personal, business and executive coaches…as well as for anyone who is interested in coaching. Whether you are a seasoned professional with a full practice, a new coach trying to break into the business or you are someone who has a sense you could benefit from coaching…then The Coaching Zone is the resource for you.
And what is you vision for the new Coaching Zone? Ellen has created a vibrant community of coaches and others who support the coaching industry that I most definitely want to see continue. As of this writing, there are 1301 members so there are A LOT of opportunities to learn and grow from each other, especially for those newer in business who may not have the education budget to join a more formal coaching group, mastermind group or have a coach of their own (although I always recommend that if you are a coach, you should have a coach or a mentor).
My vision, then, is to create the space for members to not only continue to learn from each other in general, but to also be able to create strategic alliances and joint ventures, to share their vast array of experiences both in a nuts-and-bolts way as well as in a more strategic sense, and to contribute to developing the positive role coaching has in our world today and into the future.
So, really, not much different from Ellen’s vision, if at all.
What inspired you to take on this challenge?
When I saw Ellen’s email about taking over the group, I really didn’t think too much about it, except that it would be a great way for me to help more coaches and get some more exposure at the same time. So I sent off the email to her and to Ryze expressing my interest, and I remained completely unattached to the outcome. I was pleasantly surprised that things worked out in my favor.
Where do you see the Coaching Zone in five years? I see it as an even more vibrant community, likely integrated with some new technology to the interface, making connections and collaborations even easier and more fun. And I see turning it over to someone else to take it to the next level!
If you’re not a member of the Coaching Zone yet, here’s the direct link:
http://coachzone-network.ryze.com/
And if you want to know more about me, just visit http://www.AliciaForest.
Kim Woodworth, M.A., is a coach specializing in helping parents who are struggling with child-rearing issues. To feel fulfillment in your role as a parent, contact Kim at www.ourcasa.com
