Interview with:Ranchelle Alexander [ranchelle]
BUSINESS
 | What business are you in and what is your position? Are you an owner or an executive? Short answer: I am a problem solver.
I have a business background; I am a former multi-franchise owner who recently sold my 'brick and mortar' business' to share my experience and passion with others. |
| Can you provide a link to a site where we can get to know more about you or your business. Sure.
www.redefineyourbusiness.com
www.yourcoachaccelerator.com |
| What is your story? How did you come to run a business? My story:
I will try to give you the abridged version.
My parents have almost always owned their own business so growing up I thought it was natural that someone worked for themselves and not someone else.
I have always been in Sales and Marketing in some form or another.
For 11 years I owned several Fitness Franchises.
I have always looked for ways to diversify my income. (for example, had more than one franchise, looked for other ways to create another income at the same time as owning Franchises).
My passion really lies in the start up of business. The building phase is fun for me. The sales and marketing behind it is energizing. |
| What are the most recent changes being carried out in your business, and why? Over the last 3 years, downsized and sold my business'. I realized that I wasn't having fun anymore and that it became a 'job'. Started a couple of different companies in order to share what I am passionate about. |
| A business is based on creating relations of trust with clients, suppliers, employees... How do you create and maintain yours? For me, it is knowing my 'why'. Why I am doing what I am doing, what I want to create and what problems do I want to help all of those relationships solve.
As in any relationship, it's work. Sometimes I do well, sometimes I don't. For me, the key is to make sure that there are more that 'work' then that don't. |
| How do you attract and retain the best talent? Right now, that is not an issue. |
| What is “selling” for you? What is your technique? What is the greatest lesson you have learned about selling? Selling for me is solving someone's problem; with a product or a service. My technique is to listen to what their problem REALLY is.
Greatest lesson? No doesn't necessarily mean no for the rest of someone's life. It just means no, not at this moment. |
| What techniques do you use to obtain customer loyalty? The techniques I have used are simple. Continue to try and be that problem solver, be honest when I cannot resolve the issue. Look for the answer if I don't have it. Refer them to someone else who can resolve the issue if I can. |
| How do you generate ideas for your business? Are you used to brainstorming with someone? I have always been fortunate enough that generating ideas is not usually the issue for me. The issue has been, to not generate too many ideas at once!! |
| Do you see in your business a margin to optimize processes and reduce costs? How would you do that? Not applicable right now. |
| How does one develop the instinct to detect business opportunities? I don't know if it is 'instinct' or not.......
Some people are very good at seeing the problems that are currently out there, or what problems may be coming in the near future and then they are able to create or find the answer.
The key is to look for the an audience of more than just one that has that problem...... |
| Clients do not always know what they want. How do you correctly interpret their comments and requests? I think that clients often know the surface of what they want, the key is to keep on asking questions. |
| Do you have a well defined future plan, or is it in your head rather than on paper? It's on paper, well defined; perhaps. Flexible, most definitely. |
| What types of promotion or advertising have you tried? Which have worked best? Tried most everything.
I think the world of advertising is changing. What used to work, doesn't. What works best, take a look at On-Line Marketers that are successful. How they do things works really well and can be used very successfully in all business models. |
| Are the words "New" and "Free" magic in your sector? My opinion, in ANY and EVERY sector. |
| What role does technology play in your business? Do you believe that you are where you need to be technologically speaking? Technology is always huge. Right now, because Coach Accelerator is so new, it is playing a small role. As we expand, it will be more and more important. |
| How do you make use of the Internet? Have you already tried all the possibilities that the Net can offer you? There is a myth out there; which is that the Internet is the way to promote your business. I do believe that it is an important part and depending on where you are going to find your clients will play a major factor in it.
Because our goal is to help newly certified coaches the internet will play a huge part in what we do. And, lastly, it is not possible to have tried everything that the Net can offer. There are so many amazing things that are available. |
| What opinion do you have of the tax system your business operates under? It is what it is! |
| What is the competition like? Have you have learned things from them? Competition is always great. |
| What are your criteria for buying insurance? What has been your experience with this? Right now I can't answer this question because of the business I have had in the past. |
| What do you expect of your bank? Does it respond to your needs? I think that small entrepreneurs face certain challenges in the bank. |
| At times it is necessary to take on debt to get ahead. How do you distinguish between good and bad debt? Good debt would be a mortgage (on a building), bad debt: having credit debt that you are not able to pay off because your cash flow is to low. |
| How indispensable are you? Would your business survive if took you a year’s sabbatical? Unfortunately my business depends on me. Although that is one of the plans / goals discussed earlier. |
| Which decisions turn out better: the immediate, visceral ones, or the ones reached after mulling the matter over for a few days? All three...... it really depends on the situation. |
| If you wrote a book about everything you have learned doing business, what would the title be? What NOT to do! |
| What is your advice for surviving the economic crisis? If you have bad debt, find a way to consolidate it; even if it is not affecting your cash flow.
This is the time that you are really going to have to offer your customer something more OR different than your competition.
Let people know (authentically) that you appreciate their business. Find out how you can be of more service to them. |
COACH
| What types of coaching do you do? Who are your clients? I am a Small Business Coach. I focus on helping new business start up with their marketing and sales strategy as well as when a small business (or solopreneur) wants to take their business to the 'next level'.
I also help newly certified coaches with their business. I am about to launch a new business with my partner, Maureen Peters. We are not only providing a Marketing Strategy for newly certified coaches but the materials / content to support the Marketing Plan. |
| Can you provide a link to a site where we can get to know more about you, the type of work you do and/or the place where you do it? Yes. My personal Coaching Business: www.redefineyourbusiness.com
With my partner: www.yourcoachaccelerator.com |
| How did you get into coaching? I came from owning several Fitness Franchises and I found myself always getting caught up in the day to day 'stuff'. I found myself working 'in' my business rather than working 'on' my business.
In the end, a solo-preneur must do both.
I decided to become a Coach in order to share my passion for marketing and business with others who have the same goal. To own a business, not have the business own them. |
| Do you have innate qualities, or is it something that you learned? In business I have the ability to see the 'big picture' and often a new trend will be 'on my radar'.
I love to read, I try to read a book a week, so that opens up a lot of different things for me. |
| Can you describe briefly the technique or methodology you use? I am not tied to one particular methodology. I think a good coach spends lots of time listening, and watching. Sometimes it is what is not being said that speaks the loudest. |
| When the coach is confused or lost, where does he/she find a guide? Great question!! I have two of my own Coaches! One for Business and one for Health and Wellness. |
| What must the person you are helping contribute? The desire to move forward, complete honesty, the willingness to explore uncomfortable situations, the ability to 'step away from the norm' and open their minds to the possibility that they have the answer...... it's just a little hidden. |
| What motivates someone to work more efficiently? A deep understanding of their 'why'. And a deep desire to change. The 'pain' they are in so cutting, so deep that the only way to find relief is through change. |
| How do you work on the emotional plane? I am not sure I understand the question, so I won't pretend and make something up. LOL |
| Can positive thinking can be developed into a habit? Only if someone wants it to. |
| How does one learn to listen? I am not sure how "one" learns to listen. For me, I learned how to take some deep breaths. In breathing deeply it gives me time to listen, it slows down my mind and I do not feel rushed to offer my opinion or a solution. |
| How do you define the concept commitment? What importance does it have in the development of a person? Do you mean the concept OF commitment?
I think change is hard. If it was easy, everyone would embrace it without delay. Commitment, in my opinion, is understanding that there will be slips but the desire to create something different outweighs everything. So each day, a commitment is made to do the best that one can, to understand the psychology of change, and to embrace techniques that allow one to acquire a new habit more easily. |
| Both of the following are necessary, but how are dreaming and realism balanced? A dream is nothing more than a dream if one is not willing to take action. I think the 'realism' comes in the commitment of taking the action that moves self towards the dream. |
| Is it necessary at times to reorient a person’s desires and expectations? Reorient? Whose decision is it that ones desire and expectations need to be different than they are? If the client is experiencing difficulty because they see that their expectations are out of alignment. It is the client that takes that direction. Not the Coach. The Coach, in my opinion, just asks the questions around the situation. Allowing their client to see things with a different lens perhaps but not in order to reorient anything. Just opening up another way to look at things. I think it is Wayne Dyer who says, "if you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change". I love that!! |
| Discipline and creativity: are they two forces in opposition, or are they complementary? Visually when you think of the two words, they seem in opposition; don't they. However, I can be as 'creative' as I want...... but I need the ability to take action to allow those creations to synthesize. So, I believe the two energetic forces works together. |
| What are your personal relationships like with the people you work with? Like all other relationships. Some are easy, some are more difficult. The lessons come from the difficult ones. The sensation of joy come from the easy relationships. |
| What is usually the main obstacle your clients face? Most people often think it is FEAR that stops them. In the end, Fear is often an excuse to stay static. An unconscious excuse. But still, an excuse. |
| How do you know if a challenge is the right one for a person? In my opinion, if it makes that person uncomfortable. And I don't mean, it's against their values and morals uncomfortable. I mean if it is 'hard to look at it - dead on). |
| When the coach is confused or lost, where does he/she find a guide? Who is the coach of the coach? In my opinion, a Coach should have a Coach. |
| Can an excess of self-esteem be the worst obstacle? I don't know. That is not usually the issue with my clients. |
| How do you recommend selecting a coach? Should it be someone who has followed the path that he/she wants to? Should it be someone they admire? I think it is different for everyone, the selection process I mean. And some clients feel they want someone who has been in business to be their business coach.
The concept of Coaching is that we understand that the Client is the one who has all of the answers (in a true Coaching situation). The Coach just asks some question in order to allow ideas and concepts to move 'forward' or 'out of' their consciousness. A good Coach will listen, and when not sure if they understand, continue to ask open ended questions. So, for example, if I was coaching someone as a relationship coach, do I need to have experienced what they are going through? I don't think so. I think that a client looks for someone with 'that' experience for fear of being judged. Perhaps feeling that someone who has experienced the same will not only offer less judgement but more options.
For example, I find that most people looking for a business coach want someone who has been in business (not realizing that their potential coach has a business - it's called a Coaching Practice (LOL)).
Should a Client admire the Coach. In my opinion, No. Admiration is often short lived. Respect, yes. |
| If someone wants to initiate a self-transformation, what general advice would you give him/her? Remember that it is a journey and not a destination. There are bumps along the way. And along with the bumps there is some beautiful scenery. |
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Ranchelle Alexander
Camrose, AB. Canada
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99701 interviews created
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