Getting a business coach was the best thing we did for our business

Clare Garrod, Director at Stonewall Security has been working with Matt Ewer and ActionCOACH for two years, and things have changed dramatically in that time.

“In the first year of coaching, it was all about learning how to run the business as effectively as possible.  Now, having a coach gives us someone to be accountable to, keeping us firmly focussed on the goals we’ve set for ourselves rather than going off on different tangents.

Our business is an asset

When we first bought into the business, it was a job.  Now it’s a nest egg.  We view it as an asset and love watching it grow.  We care passionately about the business and its success because it’s our future and our retirement fund.

We now think more commercially than we ever did before.  We gone from avoiding numbers because we didn’t like them or understand them, to being on top of the numbers at all times.  That’s how we make decisions now.  We’ve got a different attitude to the business. We are able to be completely objective, choosing to do things that make good business sense, rather than making emotional decisions based on gut feel.

We think differently about the business now

It’s not about business at any cost.  Our guiding light is “Do it right, not cheap”. Business has to be profitable, viable and focussed on quality, rather than quantity, so we can reinvest and keep growing.

Because we have the right information behind us, we set prices that will allow us to make profits to invest in real business growth, and allow us to deliver the high standards we demand of ourselves, rather than make just enough to pay the bills.

We’re achieving more than we ever allowed ourselves to think we could

We used to think “Let’s see how far we can take this”.  Now we know exactly where we want to get it to.   Because our goals are bigger, we achieve more. The business would always have grown, because it’s a good business, but we wouldn’t have achieved what we have.  And we’ve got more planned growth ahead of us yet.

Working with Matt is what brought this change about.  I used to feel like we were doing OK if we were paying the bills and we had enough left over to do go on a couple of nice holidays or whatever.  Now we’ve always got an eye on the future.  We need to make sure that we have security well into our retirement, and we know exactly how much we need to make from the business to make that happen, and we’re on track to achieve it.  It’s a completely different mindset, and it’s positive.

Business coaching really works

When you have outsider looking at it, especially one whose focus is on growing your business, it makes a difference.  It’s a proven formula.  Brad Sugars, who set up ActionCOACH, has been following his own principles for over 20 years.  And look at what he’s achieved.  Before I got an ActionCOACH I would have asked “Why?”.  Now I ask “Why not?”.  “Why wouldn’t you?”.

Getting a coach is the best decision we ever made for the business.

Visit Stonewall’s website to find out more