NOTE: As of 2022 the Center for Executive Coaching is now accredited with the ICF as a Level 2 Coach Training Organization. The ICF has changed their language and replaced ACTP with Level 2. We were among the first group of coach training programs to receive this accreditation, after a rigorous review by the ICF.

Stop coaching tiny mom and pop businesses!

Every week I get at least one call from current business coaches as well as what I call "franchise refugees," people who lost much of their life savings to a coaching franchise. Once they figured out that they were locked into years of royalties, territory restrictions, and other constraints — including what many refer to as lightweight content — they try to get out of their contract, or wait patiently until it, along with their non-compete, expires.

This week, here is what one such refugee told me: "I was so sick and tired of coaching tiny mom and pop businesses. They never have any money for coaching."

His aspiration is to coach larger businesses, and — now that he is free of the franchise — he is doing the right things to do just that. In fact, he has already signed up an $80 million engineering company as a client. He is working with the CEO and executive team on meaty issues like strategy, developing up and coming leaders, and continuing to grow the business into the $100 million mark.

Similarly, I worked this week with two coaches who are moving up the food chain, too. Now they are coaching a major regional accounting firm, helping the top 40-45 partners reduce turnover and show associates how to get better at developing business.

There is a huge opening in the marketing for business coaches and advisers who can handle businesses in the $5 million to $150 million range. These businesses and their executives are just waking up to the benefits of coaching, and there are lots of them! I also like working with emerging growth companies that might not have any revenues, but that are well-funded and poised to break out.

You can do the same, if you have the tools and execuitve presence. I can't give you the executive presence, but I can give you the tools, processes, methodologies, and training to get into this market.

You don't have to coach tiny mom and pops! Why would you? Leave that to the franchise refugees and the coaches without the proper training or aspirations.

Aflac

Amazon

Ancestry

Army Corp of Engineers

Ascension Health

AT&T

Bank of America

Bechtel

Best Buy

Booz Allen

Bose

Bristol-Myers Squibb

Brown University

Capital One

Caterpillar

Charles Schwab & Co.

Children’s Hospital Colorado

Cisco

Citrix

Coca-Cola

Deloitte

Dropbox

Duke Energy

Galveston Independent School District

General Atomics

General Electric

Google

Harvard Business School

Home Depot

Inland Steel

International Red Cross

Johnson and Johnson

Kaiser-Permanente

KPMG

Laser Spine Institute

Lexis Nexis

Liberty Mututal

L’Oreal

Macy’s

Mckinsey Consulting

Merck

Microsoft

MIT

NASA

National Basketball Association (NBA)

Nike

Nissan

Nvidia

Partners Healthcare

Philips

Procter & Gamble

Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC)

Ralph Lauren

Regeneron

Rice University

Ross Stores

Russell Reynolds Associates

Schneider Electric

Shell Oil

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Stryker

The Ohio State University

Tom’s Shoes

United Nations

University of Florida

Unum

UPS

US Air Force

US Army

US Army Medical Corps

US Marines

US Navy

USAID

Valassis

VMWare

Xerox

Zappos

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