Fortis Therapy
Once we started working with Alexis, she realised very quickly that in order to get to where she knew Fortis could get to, she had to start 'letting go' and working 'ON' her business, rather than 'IN' it.
Working with John has surpassed my expectations. John totally transforms the way you think about business and helps to find a starting point to tackle key improvements.
I first got to know John through our BNI group and could see he really knew what he was talking about. I have been working with him now for 5 years via small group coaching sessions, initially attending monthly sessions, then fortnightly (which became weekly during the Global Pandemic).
What did coaching involve?
During my time working with John we have looked at all areas of running the business including finance, time management and marketing but what you work on will be different for each individual business. When we started, we looked at systems and making sure structures were in place. Once we unpicked what we were doing, we ended up restructuring the business significantly. This involved implementing structured programmes for our dancers and musicians to keep them with us for a longer time. Each client now works through a categorised age programme. They can see what others are doing and it inspires them to progress on their own journey.
Challenges faced
The challenges faced this year due to the Global pandemic have been difficult to say the least. From the period of March to December 2020, our business was only open for teaching for 9 weeks. Very quickly, after looking at 3/6/9 month cash flow forecasts with zero income John helped us get through it, not just with a positive mindset, but with practical support and encouragement to think out of the box and find a way.
He rightly pointed out that our target market had not disappeared and we needed to find new ways of teaching. We quickly set up a Zoom account and took all our lessons on line to keep the children and adults dancing through Lockdown. For some adults, this was the only contact they had with the outside world.
During that time, we produced over 1500 videos to send out to our clients, especially those not able to access lessons via the new technology. We also started to use them in a different way and developed our own dancing and music online learning courses.
We increased our marketing and developed a new website and put the additional time to good use with additional CPD courses.
Coaching with John
Everything we have focussed on has been done one step at a time and so, has been very achievable. John is great at questioning and knows how to dig deep to ask the questions that need asking. He helps us to challenge ourselves and this challenge makes you grow as an individual and not just in business, but in life in general. Although there is tough love at times, he is incredibly supportive and really did everything he could to support us all through this year. He always has the most positive mental attitude and this rubs off so that we do too.
Benefits of coaching
Working with a range of other diverse businesses during group coaching is advantageous. It enables you to see how other businesses work, opens your mind to new ways of doing things and helps step out of your comfort zone. 90 day planning has also been a real boost and helps break tasks in to small steps. It brings clarity but also accountability to drive the business forward.
Highly recommended
Coaching is for everyone. If you are in doubt, talk to a coach to understand how it could work for you. Every business has the potential to grow and improve further. Finding the right person to work with, helps to take you to the level your business is capable of.
Debbie Mitchell
Music and Dance Journey
EMEA Business Excellence Forum 2021
Most Innovative Company – Finalist
EMEA Business Excellence Forum 2019
Best Community Impact – Winner
