Help Best

"I've already tried that."

This avatar's catalysts and roadblocks are listed in the TBB Coach Certification here:

https://members.twobrainbusiness.com/courses/certified-two-brain-business-coach/lessons/part-three-getting-clients-results/topic/client-avatars/

And you can download the printable PDF of all avatars here:

https://members.twobrainbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/_pda/2023/12/Client_Avatars_Chart.pdf

"I'm buried!"

This avatar's catalysts and roadblocks are listed in the TBB Coach Certification here:

https://members.twobrainbusiness.com/courses/certified-two-brain-business-coach/lessons/part-three-getting-clients-results/topic/client-avatars/

And you can download the printable PDF of all avatars here:

https://members.twobrainbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/_pda/2023/12/Client_Avatars_Chart.pdf

"I just want to be a coach."

This avatar's catalysts and roadblocks are listed in the TBB Coach Certification here:

https://members.twobrainbusiness.com/courses/certified-two-brain-business-coach/lessons/part-three-getting-clients-results/topic/client-avatars/

And you can download the printable PDF of all avatars here:

https://members.twobrainbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/_pda/2023/12/Client_Avatars_Chart.pdf

"I'm just not feeling it"

This avatar's catalysts and roadblocks are listed in the TBB Coach Certification here:

https://members.twobrainbusiness.com/courses/certified-two-brain-business-coach/lessons/part-three-getting-clients-results/topic/client-avatars/

And you can download the printable PDF of all avatars here:

https://members.twobrainbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/_pda/2023/12/Client_Avatars_Chart.pdf

"How's your family doing?"

This avatar's catalysts and roadblocks are listed in the TBB Coach Certification here:

https://members.twobrainbusiness.com/courses/certified-two-brain-business-coach/lessons/part-three-getting-clients-results/topic/client-avatars/

And you can download the printable PDF of all avatars here:

https://members.twobrainbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/_pda/2023/12/Client_Avatars_Chart.pdf

"What's the next thing?"

This avatar's catalysts and roadblocks are listed in the TBB Coach Certification here:

https://members.twobrainbusiness.com/courses/certified-two-brain-business-coach/lessons/part-three-getting-clients-results/topic/client-avatars/

And you can download the printable PDF of all avatars here:

https://members.twobrainbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/_pda/2023/12/Client_Avatars_Chart.pdf

"Just tell me what to do, and I'll do it".

This avatar's catalysts and roadblocks are listed in the TBB Coach Certification here:

https://members.twobrainbusiness.com/courses/certified-two-brain-business-coach/lessons/part-three-getting-clients-results/topic/client-avatars/

And you can download the printable PDF of all avatars here:

https://members.twobrainbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/_pda/2023/12/Client_Avatars_Chart.pdf

this is meta

Today we're talking about prioritization. One of the biggest lessons I got from my business coach, Carrie, this year was: "If it's important, it gets an appointment."

Oon our team calls this week, Andrea brought up the situation where a client comes on a call and they have so many fires to put out, they're absolutely overwhelmed, and 40 minutes into the call you're trying to get them thinking about the future.

Their state of mind makes doing annual planning almost impossible. So we're going to start with a time audit.

We're going to do this on the call with them. Download the time audit worksheet.

The next thing you're going to do is have them block time to work on their business. The best time is morning. We often say "every day, do 1 thing to grow your business before you do anything else." But even that can be tough for someone in crisis.

Start with blocking 3 one-hour 'appointment' with them per week, like MWF. If they can't do that, book 1 hour on Sunday morning. they should open their calendars and block it right in there. Block 15 minutes beforehand for them to get into a quiet place and get focused.

This is really building hte habit of building the business. Playing offense instead of defense. Running their business instead of their business running them.

Every month, try to add a little more time - one more appointment per week to work on their business. This is a skill that some just haven't developed yet.

Now, back to the call. How do you pivot them?

Think of solving their current crises as playing defense. Fixing those things will keep them alive, but won't move them forward. If you're always playing defense, you never win the game. Doing the work you assign is playing offense. We all have to play some defense, but we want to go from spending 100% of our time playing defense to spending 30% of our time playing defense and 70% playing offense.

Following the momentum model, we want to get them out of past-focused state, into a current-focus and identify their greatest need, then future-focused and identify how they grow their business. We don't want to let a whole month go by just playing defense, so we DO need to try to score a few goals. Try this:

Let them vent. Find one actionable solution to one of their problems, knowing that you can't fix everything at once. List their problems and then use a decision-making bracket to decide which to tackle.

Have them focus JUST on that, all the way through to completion. Give them the work to do. Have them check in as soon as that's done.

Then you give them one thing that will grow their business. That's the next step, to be done before your next call.

So they're playing defense, and then they make a tiny little strike at offense. They move forward a little bit and do their future selves a favor. 90% defense and 10% offense for now.

The next call, you try to identify the next largest challenge and fix it for good. Then they get to the real work a bit sooner - 80% defense, 20% offense.

Now obviously this is not a great pattern in Stage 1 or Stage 2, when we need them to do the work really fast. But we start Stage 1 with the time audit. If you get on a call and they're buried and not doing the work, this is your 'triage' plan: find time in their schedule, watch them make an appointment to do the work, and use your time on the call to do the work with them. If that call is the only time they play offense...then score as many goals as possible while still on the call.

This is META, thank you for your service.

Second-order thinking is one of the greatest skills an entrepreneur can develop

it's the skill of asking "and then what?" and imagining the outcome instead of just hoping for the best or considering the immediate consequence.

Unfortunately it's not taught in schools. It doens't occur to most poeple to ask 'and then what?"

this is a function a mentor can serve really well, because we're objective. We can ask, 'and then what'? without trying to unconsciously project what we WANT to happen.

This means we're often pouring a bit of cold water on a mentee's fire...but that's why they hired us, to temper their unbridled enthusiasm. They don't have the context or experience or maybe the maturity to see the future - but we can teach them the skill.

For example, a gym nearby is closing. What if I give their members a discount to join?

Well, more of them will sign up! If you don't think past that point, this seems like a great move.

But second order thikning means you ask, "and then what?"

what if a bunch of members from a failed gym join at a discount?

how will that affect my current members?

how will that affect my current coaches?

how will that affect my bottom line?

What will happen to the new members when the discount is up?

how will THAT affect my current members, coaches, and bottom line?

The gym owner might really want us to confirm their idea: "yeah, go ahead and offer a discount!" but deep down they know there's a potential problem...but they just don't have the context or discipline to imagine different outcomes than what they want to happen.

A great book on this is The Most Important Thing, by Howards Marks

Shane Parrish has an excellent blog on it and talks about it in his book, Clear Thinking. Parrish's advice is:

Here are some ways to put second-order thinking into practice today.

Always ask yourself, “And then what?”

Think across time — What do the consequences look like in 10 minutes? 10 months? 10 Years?

If you’re using this to think about business decisions, ask yourself how important parts of the ecosystem are likely to respond. How will employees deal with this? What will my competitors likely do? What about my suppliers? What about the regulators? Often, the answer will be little to no impact, but you want to understand the immediate and second-order consequences before you make the decision.

Second-order thinking takes a lot of work. It’s not easy to think in terms of systems, interactions, and time. However, doing so is a smart way to separate yourself from the masses.

Many people use the term “Business Coach” and “Business Mentor” interchangeably. However, there are distinct differences. 

Business coaches help entrepreneurs overcome short-term obstacles in their business. They apply models from their coaching toolkit to the situation to help the entrepreneur work past it. They draw on their own experience in similar situations to offer examples and support.

Business coaches are never know-it-all gurus on the mountaintop. The best business coaches are usually subject matter experts: their expertise is narrow but deep. 

That means a business coach is a specialist in one topic, and they take that deep expertise from one client to the next. Business coaches differentiate themselves by knowledge, not niche.

Conversely, business mentors take a higher-level view. Their relationship with a client is longer (usually years instead of months). They are a model of long-term success in the client’s niche. They plan strategically, and guide the entrepreneur from one level to the next. Business mentors are experienced and successful in their niche, though they may not have deep specific knowledge in any one area.

For example, a business coach who specializes in hiring staff can apply their hiring knowledge to a wide variety of businesses. A business mentor might help the entrepreneur identify where they need help; budget for hiring; define the roles to be hired; and measure the effect of the hires.

Another example: a business coach might be an expert in Instagram marketing. They stay up-to-date on the new shifts in the product algorithm, and help businesses in different industries succeed at Instagram advertising. A business mentor in the fitness niche might say, “We should do Instagram advertising–my other clients are having success with it!” The mentor will include Instagram advertising in the fitness entrepreneur’s overall plan–but they usually won’t have deep knowledge of the ever-changing Instagram algorithm.

Mentors are strategic. Coaches are tactical.

For this reason, many entrepreneurs work with both coaches and mentors.

I have a mentor for building my mentorship practice. He has built a 40M practice, and can show me the entire journey to get there. I have coaches to help me with the specifics, like how to boost my podcast audience by 10%, or how to improve our sales team’s close rate.

The larger the business, the more valuable it is to have both a mentor for the CEO, and coaches for specific tactics. 

Some mentors are also coaches. For example, in my mentorship practice, Two-Brain Business, we have over 50 mentors. But some are also subject matter experts in different areas. Colm O’Reilly is a subject matter expert in Facebook ads, so he does some deep coaching in those areas. Clients purchase extra calls to work with Colm for short periods, and he does some group coaching in our live streamed Office Hours. Taryn Dubreuil is a subject matter expert in selling high-ticket programs, so she does some coaching on that topic. Clients purchase extra calls with Taryn, or attend her live Office Hours segments.

Finally, mentorship is usually done 1:1 or in a small group, while coaching can be done 1:1, in a small group, or to a very large group.

Though everyone on Two-Brain staff is a certified mentor, our job is really a balance of “mentor” and “coach”.

As mentors, we help clients set goals, and build plans to reach those goals. But holding clients to the plan requires us to switch into a coaching role.

It’s tempting to keep conversations at a high level; introduce new ideas and talk about principles and theories on every call. But most of our clients don’t get their work done unless we coach them through it. That means doing the work with them on calls; breaking homework down into tiny steps; and checking to make sure they’ve done it.