Destination Success Newsletter - January 2005
Welcome to the first HTML ("fancy-looking") issue of the ProCoach monthly newsletter. As you can see, we have a new name, a new look, and we've added some new sections. Enjoy!
The words of my mentor and former partner T. Harv Eker are currently ringing in my ears. "The more you grow your business and play a bigger game, the more problems you will have." We had have that experience at ProCoach this week.
As you know, I am going on the road next week, presenting a series of evening seminars called Secrets Of Success. Organizing the logistics and marketing of this kind of event is new to ProCoach, and we encountered all sorts of problems booking the rooms we wanted, learning about printing tickets, dealing with the registration process, etc. Of course this kind of self-promotion also runs counter to my nature, so I was feeling stressed out and, I suspect, a bit grumpy to deal with as well.
We were handling our seemingly big list of problems quite well and seemed to be on track. Then on Friday afternoon, we were in the middle of sending out a huge email broadcast promoting the events when Valerie came to me and said "Andrew, our email is down."
Suddenly all our other problems seemed insignificant. My evening seminars are being promoted exclusively through emails sent to our members and prospect database. No email means no promotion, which means no guests and ultimately no new ProCoach members. Not a problem - a catastrophe!
After hours of trouble-shooting, during which my mind was imagining the worst, it turned out that our internet provider, Telus, had shut us down because we were sending so many emails they thought we were spamming. Our account was frozen and thawing it was not something they were in a hurry to do.
Today is Sunday, and the fact that you are receiving this newsletter obviously means that we have solved the problem. And as always occurs with problems, we have grown through the process. We have upgraded our email capacity to a higher level and increased our understanding of the whole email marketing game.
But the lesson remains. You see, problems are a matter of perspective. What seems like a huge problem at one moment can be dwarfed by a "bigger" problem in mere seconds. For example, you have a problem because you are late for a meeting, and then you rear-end the car in front of you. Suddenly the meeting loses its significance. Then you get home and learn that someone close to you has a life-threatening illness. Another instant change of perspective.
It is difficult to manage your mind in these moments. But perhaps you don't have to. All that really matters is that you keep moving forward, dealing with the situation in the best way you know how, regardless of what your mind is saying. The only way you will get beaten - in the external world and in your own mind - is if you allow the problem to distract you from taking the next step. If you keep moving, "this too shall pass."
Which brings us to my newly articulated ProCoach Law Of Problems. "The size, volume and urgency of problems you experience is in direct proportion to how far you go out of your comfort zone." Since stretching beyond your comfort zone is crucial to your growth and success, I encourage you to increase the number of problems you have!
Please give us your feedback on our new newsletter format. We love receiving your acknowledgement when we do something right, and we value your suggestions when you see room for improvement.
Have a great month. I hope to see you and your guests at the Secrets Of Success seminar.
Andrew Barber-Starkey
Newsletter Contents
Calendar of Events
Free Secrets Of Success Evening Seminars
Andrew Barber-Starkey is taking ProCoach on the road! He will be presenting a series of free evening seminars called Secrets Of Success, with stops in Vancouver, Seattle, Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton.
The purpose of these evenings is to give ProCoach members a way to introduce their friends and associates to Andrew and some of the core concepts of the ProCoach Success System. This promises to be an exciting evening so please encourage people you know and believe would benefit from the program to attend. And don't forget to come yourself - much of the material Andrew will be covering will be brand-new. Click here to register yourself or your guests.
Here is the schedule:
Vancouver - Wednesday, February 2 at Executive Hotel in Burnaby
Seattle - Thursday, February 3 at Kirkland Holistic Center in Kirkland
Calgary - Monday, February 7 at the Greenwood Inn
Red Deer - Tuesday, February 8 at the Red Deer Lodge
Edmonton - Wednesday, February 9 at the Holiday Inn The Palace
Vancouver - Monday, March 7 at the Holiday Inn at Broadway and Heather
Next Quarterly Seminars Dates
Please mark these in your calendar now.
Vancouver - Thursday, March 31 at Executive Hotel in Burnaby
Seattle - Tuesday, April 5 at Kirkland Holistic Center in Kirkland
Red Deer - Thursday, April 7 at the Red Deer Lodge
Registration begins at 9:00 am. Seminars start at 9:30 and end at 5:30.
Success Booster Teleclass - February 2005
Thursday, February 17 from 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. Pacific Time
Success Tips by Andrew Barber-Starkey
Maximizing your Success Partnership
This quarter we had very few requests to match members with a Success Partner. Over and over people told us. "My partnership is working. I am going to stay with the same person."
There is a certain magic to having a Success Partnership that is working for both parties. My Success Partner and I have been working together for almost a year now and it is easy to see how our accountability to each other helps to keep us on track. However there are also some risks in having a long-standing Success Partnership:
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After you get to know each other it is possible that things will become rather informal. Your partnership is very important! Don't get complacent about it. Remember that your job it to hold each other to a higher standard. Stick to the recommended structure. Start your calls by going over the past week and your intentions for the week ahead. Do the business first, and then socialize. |
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The better you know each other, the more permission you have. Don't let your partner slide. Challenge your partner in areas where you notice or suspect he or she may be letting themselves off the hook. |
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I have noticed that when my partner and I start missing our calls, it usually means that one or both of us is not using the system fully. If your calls start to fall by the wayside, consider it a warning signal and recommit yourself to using the system. |
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If you find your partner is letting you get away with things that are not in your best interest, tell on yourself. For example, instead of breathing a sigh of relief that they did not catch you when you avoided a certain topic, come clean and confess to the truth. This will dramatically increase the effectiveness of your partnership and will give you more value from the time you spend on the calls. |
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At the end of each call, always set a time for your next appointment. Otherwise it is too easy to get distracted or busy and miss your calls for a week or so. |
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If your partnership is not working for any reason, do your best to discuss the issue directly with your partner and agree on a course of action that serves both parties. Do not continue your calls if it feels like an obligation. Instead have the courage to end your partnership - even mid-quarter - and contact the ProCoach office to see if we have someone else we can line you up with. |
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If your partner does not respond when you send emails and leave phone messages, take your success into your own hands. Contact them and let them know you are terminating the relationship rather than leaving it hanging. Then move forward from there. |
Housekeeping Items
Mental Fitness Presentation by Olympian Karyn Garossino
We had a special guest speaker at the Vancouver ProCoach Quarterly on January 6! Karyn Garossino, Olympian, former Canadian Figure Skating Champion and member of the ProCoach Advisory Board gave us a fabulous 30 minute presentation on "Mental Fitness." Her talk stressed that being mentally prepared is fundamental to excellence in any endeavour - whether you are a world class athlete, a leading business executive or an entrepreneur. This is the same presentation Karyn makes to senior executives in the boardrooms of some of Canada's largest companies and it was the highlight of a great day. The audio of her entire presentation is included in the recordings of the Quarterly Seminar and also posted on the ProCoach website click here to listen now.
Her presentation was also professionally videoed and you can see some great clips of the presentation on-line. Click here to view.
(Special thanks to ProCoach member Mark Benda for letting us know about the online video. Check it out!)
Recordings posted to website
We have recently uploaded a number of audio files to the ProCoach website including the recordings of the recent Live Quarterly Seminars and the Success Factor Teleclass. Keep in mind that you can listen to these on line and the website also contains instructions on how to download them and burn them to a CD for listening.
Update your Financial Tracker
Now is the right time to update your Financial Tracker. We recommend that you do your calculations effective December 31 so you can measure your progress and results for the year. It is generally easier to collect accurate data at this time as many investments, employers etc send out year-end statements. ProCoach has created an Excel spreadsheet of the Financial Tracker. If you use a PC and have not downloaded this, do it now! It will make your tracking much easier. Click here to download it now.
Member Success Stories
Spotlight on Tom Codington
ProCoach: Tell us about your business.
Tom: I am a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) and have had my own practice in Asheville, North Carolina for over 25 years. I employ a staff of 8 people full-time and part-time.
ProCoach: When did you start using the ProCoach Success System?
Tom: I joined SuccessTracs in June 2003. When Andrew left the program I went looking for him. I finally found him and joined ProCoach in June 2004.
ProCoach: What were you looking for when you originally joined the program?
Tom: I have always felt I have more potential than I am reaching. I believe in self-development as the key to business and personal success and I felt the program would help me in that area.
ProCoach: What changes did you want to see in your business?
Tom: Well, my business had been at a plateau for several years. I was looking for something that would help me get it unstuck and take it to the next level. Although my income was good, I was lacking a clear vision of what I wanted to create - being reactive rather than proactive in my business. And I was somewhat disorganized and feeling overwhelmed by the business at times.
ProCoach: What tangible results have you seen during the time you've been using the system?
Tom: I can't say that I've doubled my income yet, but then I've only been using the system for 18 months. I have certainly seen significant increases in my income, my net worth and my time off. Now I have greater clarity and feel a sense of being in control of my business rather than the other way around. My quality of life is also better than it was before.
ProCoach is helping me accelerate my progress and I believe I am on my way to taking my business to a higher level. It is very exciting!
ProCoach: What about results in other areas of your life?
Tom: Amazing. I met the woman of my dreams and we got married in Hawaii last September. There is no doubt that ProCoach has helped me in my relationship. I think that without a system like ProCoach it is very easy for men to get caught up in their work and lose their sense of priorities and that can hurt their family life, health etc. The ProCoach system helps me remember what my true priorities are and take actions in alignment with them.
ProCoach: What do you like about the program itself?
Tom: The Success Factors are number one for me. I find them inspiring, challenging and motivational. I love to learn and each quarter I work diligently on implementing the lesson. The current Success Factor on Leadership is huge for me, and I made some major breakthroughs managing my time with the last one on optimizing your resources.
In terms of the system itself, the Weekly Planner is a powerful tool. It helps me identify my priorities and stay on track with them and I use it every week. I find the Success Express Game beneficial and the coaching with Andrew is very valuable.
ProCoach: How have you grown since joining the program?
Tom: A couple of things come to mind right away. The first is that in the past I had a tendency to avoid making specific commitments. I always left a way out. Andrew challenged me on that during a coaching session and now I take my personal commitments more seriously. It has made a big difference in my results and how I feel about myself. I also feel I have increased my capacity to handle the volume of work that comes my way every day.
ProCoach: What advice would you give to other members?
Tom: I believe that one reason I am getting such great results with the program is that I take it seriously and really work every part of the system. So I'd tell them to follow the system to the maximum and remember that success is not an overnight trip but a step-by-step journey. The program will do magic if you use it and are patient in waiting for results.
ProCoach: Anything else?
Tom: I would say that ProCoach is the best tool I have ever come across for personal growth and development. You can read books or attend seminars, but once you are done with them you slip back into your old ways. The real value of the ProCoach Success System is that it helps you stay on track daily, weekly and monthly so you keep moving forward.
We Get Mail!
Selected Items from the ProCoach Mailbox
Received from Jun Akutsu - Seattle
"There is so much great material I can use for the rest of my life. Andrew's facilitation style is what I like - supportive, enlightening, clear and sincere."
Received from Winnielee Chuus - Vancouver
"I can see clearly why I wasn't getting the results before - I was doing too many things all at once, trying to master everything but nothing! Within a short period of time after joining ProCoach, I was able to close on my first two Real Estate deals."
Received from Gordon Wusyk - Edmonton
"This is a simple effective and user friendly system that puts all aspects of a successful and authentic life in perspective. Simply follow the instructions and the results will take care of themselves."
Received from Bonnie Benoit - Calgary
In this last quarter, I had 27 Freedom Days. Until I started your program, I didn't have 27days in 12 years. Your coaching has been instrumental in balancing my life."
Received from Roy Blackwell - Vancouver
"My membership in the ProCoach Success System is the most important investment premium I pay! I have learned that it is persistence, not luck, that brings success."
Received from Lloyd Sieden - Seattle
I thought this leadership quote might be of interest to you since the Success Factor focuses on leadership.
"A leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to project on other people his or her shadow or his or her light. A leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to create the conditions under which other people must live and move and have their being-conditions that can either be as illuminating as heaven or as shadowy as hell. A leader is a person who must take special responsibility for what's going on inside him or her self, inside his or her consciousness, lest the act of leadership create more harm than good.
The problem is that people rise to leadership in our society by a tendency towards extroversion, which means a tendency to ignore what is going on inside themselves. Leaders rise to power in our society by operating very competently and effectively in the external world, sometimes at the cost of internal awareness.
I've looked at some training programs for leaders. I'm discouraged by how often they focus on the development of skills to manipulate the external world rather than the skills necessary to go inward and make the inner journey."
--Parker Palmer
SOURCE: Thought for the Day... from http://WisdomAtWork.com
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