Why do small businesses stay small?  It's usually in the mindset of the owner.  Here are the top 5 reasons I've identified through my work:   1.  The owners think small.

Would you like more success in...   - Your Business...? - Your Career...? - Your Relationships...? - Your Personal Goals (e.g. weight loss, stopping smoking)? - Your Finances...?   Well you can have it, because the level of success you have is affected by you!   The simple answer to why you are not successful enough yet is that you are not letting yourself be.  In some way or another you are holding yourself back, tripping yourself up, or self-sabotaging.  Some of you will be reading this and nodding, instantly able to recognise that while you have lots of thoughts about what you want to do, you aren't finding the will or the energy to do it, or somehow always manage to 'mess up' your good efforts.  Others will be reading this and shaking your heads, thinking "that's not true, my business isn't successful because of the recession" or "I've not lost all the weight I want to because I've been stressed", or whatever the reasons may be.  Let's be clear here.  These reasons are obstacles, and yes in some cases the obstacles will make it more difficult for you to achieve your goals.  Every single goal comes with potential obstacles.  The trick is to retain responsibility for the outcome.  If you blame the obstacle, then you will not achieve success.  If you acknowledge the obstacle and seek a way round it, then success can be yours.  Either way, you can see that YOU affect your results...   Even if you are reading this thinking "I'm doing all the right things, but still nothing has changed", somewhere deep within you, you have another type of obstacle.  Some kind of limiting belief.  Not many things in life are truly 'turn key' (i.e. you take this specific action, you get this specific result), the results that we get are to do with a lot more than just the actions that we are taking.  In many cases it's our expectation of the outcome of those actions too.  More often than not this expectation is subconscious.  You may not be aware that deep down you expect your business to fail, or to always be a struggle, because that is what your story is; "I always have to work really hard just to stay afloat" for instance.  What we believe is possible for ourselves not only affects our actions, it also affects those with whom we are interacting.  E.g. If you don't truly believe yourself to be worth of a loving relationship, those that you attempt relationships with will subconsciously pick up on the signals that you are subconsciously giving out, and will not pursue you...   Whatever the goal you are trying to achieve, you can achieve it, if you get out of your own way!  Let me help you.  It's difficult to acknowledge on your own what your true beliefs about yourself are, and to know what to do to change them.  As an impartial coach I can help you to identify what is stopping you, and we will work together to change your beliefs and your behaviours, so that you can change your results, and change your life!  When would now be a good time to start...?  Coaching makes real tangible changes to your life if you really want it to, and as such coaches charge serious amounts of money, because we only want to work with people who are serious about making real change.  A 1 hour coaching session costs £80, which includes a set of follow up notes.  If you wish to benefit from building momentum and making serious, permanent changes, I offer a discounted package of 5 sessions for the price of 4.  If you wish to take advantage of this offer, branch out and change your life for one you deserve, then book your sessions today.  Call 07908 192656 or visit www.butterflyeffectcoaching.co.uk today!

Are 87% of Small Business Owners holding themselves back?  I'll be honest, I made that figure up, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is in the right ball park.  Many business owners work incredibly hard, are extremely passionate about what they do and really want their business to be a huge success.  But there is a 'but'!  If you are a business owner can you honestly say that your business is exactly where you want it to be at this point in time?  Can you honestly say that you are doing all of the right things that are going to get your business to where you want it to be?  If you answered no to either of those questions then you are holding yourself back in one way or another.  Either due to an underlying barrier to success (possibly not one you are even conscious of at this moment), or due to a lack of clarity regarding the actions you are taking within your business and how to get yourself working smarter rather than harder.  Often it's a combination of the two. 

What I love about life is how everybody wants something different from it.  Of course we'd all happily accept the lottery win if it came our way; a more interesting thought though is what wealth is to you?  I've just returned from a short break to Devon where our B&B host described himself as living the millionaire lifestyle.  Working hard for only a few months of the year, and being surrounded by the natural beauty that he loves all the time.  Being able to walk his dog on sand dunes, take her to the rivers to swim, throw some surf boards in the back of his van and take off along the coast at moments notice when conditions are right.  He isn't an actual millionaire and probably never will be.  He is happy with this because he doesn't need to be.  His lifestyle is the lifestyle he would choose if he had the millions.   So what would you be doing now if you were living the millionaire lifestyle?  Perhaps your taste is more expensive than my hosts.  I am sure that there are things that you would be doing, that you never do now.  Stop and think for a moment.  What would you be doing differently?  How can you make room for some of that in your life now?  It's amazing how when we are regularly doing the things that we love, we realised that we don't actually need huge amounts of money to be happy.   Vicky Kelly BSc. dip. MCMA
Life Coach
www.butterflyeffectcoaching.co.uk
07908 192656

If you are a small business owner, who wants to be a bigger business owner ask yourself this...   How are you holding yourself back...? 

There are certain groups of people who can be identified as being more 'at risk' of experiencing stress, as well as life events.  These are the external factors which can lead to stress.  There are also a number of internal factors.  The good news is Butterfly Effect Coaching can help with both!  The 'at risk' groups are considered to be:

• Working Mums (for which the impact can spread to the children)
• City Dwellers
• Divorced/Widowed or Single people
• Carers
• Business Owners
• Farmers
• Students

The external factors which can be the causes of stress include:

• Financial Worries
• Unhappy Relationships
• High Pressured Jobs
• Serious Illnesses (for yourself or within your family)
• Traumatic Experiences
• Retirement (surprising to those yet to retire no doubt!)
• Upbringing
• Lack Of Social Network
• Phobias
• Low Self-Esteem

It is really important to pay attention to your stress signals and start doing something about it.  In the long run, if you frequently ignore the signs that you are experiencing stress it will start to have a major negative impact on your life and your health.  In the long run, stress can leave you more vulnerable to anxiety and depression, having rewired your brain to the stress response.  In the short term, chronic stress affects your immune system, nervous system; it can increase your chances of heart attack and infertility, stroke and cancer.  It can also speed up the ageing process.  So with all of that in mind, for your sake, and for the sake of your family and loved ones, when would now be a good time to do something about it...?

What Can You Do About Stress?

The first thing you need to do is look at the areas of your life which are causing you stress and see what you can do to limit those.  This can be easier said than done, as sometimes it is difficult to see the wood for the trees when you are so entrenched in a situation that you cannot see a way out, or a way of improving that situation.  This is where having the services of an impartial Life Coach will help you.  I will empower you to find the ways in which you can manage your situation, remove unnecessary stresses and improve your circumstances, as we work together to achieve mutually agreed improvements.

 

The second thing is look internally and consider whether you have wired yourself to feel unnecessarily stressed in certain situations.  To illustrate what I mean I often use the following example of the difference between a lucky person and an unlucky person:

 

The unlucky person falls down a flight of stairs and breaks his leg and thinks to himself "I can't believe this, I've broken my leg.  This is the sort of terrible thing that always happens to me.  What have I done to deserve this?!  I'm so unlucky"

 

The lucky person falls down a flight of stairs and breaks his leg and thinks to himself "I can't believe it, I've fallen down a flight of stairs and I ONLY broke my leg.  That could have been so much worse, I'm so lucky"

 

In the exact same situation one person feels very upset and depressed, and another chooses to see the good in the situation and feel happy about it.  Many people suffer from negative self-talk where we constantly look for (and find) the negatives in situations.  There will always be some circumstances in life which cannot be changed, and when the circumstance cannot be changed, the remaining option is to change the way you feel about the circumstance.  Again, this can be easier said than done, and this is another area that I can help.  There are a few ways in which I can help, with some practical exercises I will encourage you to do in your own time, and I am a qualified Hypnotherapy Practitioner.  My face-to-face clients can have a 20 minute hypnotherapy intervention within their hour coaching session each time should they choose to.  My telephone and E-Coaching clients can purchase MP3 recordings to use in their own time.  They can choose between a general hypnotherapy recording for a specific subject, or one tailored to their own personal needs.

What is Hypnotherapy?

Hypnosis is very safe, it cannot be done against your will and you will be aware of what is happening.  You will have experienced states of trance regularly throughout your life; when driving without thinking about it, watching films, sitting in meetings etc...

As your Hypnotherapy Practitioner I would help to guide you into a relaxed state, and then make positive suggestions directly to your subconscious mind for new behaviour or feelings in a given situation.  The subconscious mind is very obedient, but sometimes repetition can be required to reach the desired state.  Ad hoc top up sessions may also be required.  As the causes and effects of your stress and anxiety can be very wide reaching, you may benefit from specific hypnotherapy sessions for any of the below goals:

• Giving Up Smoking.
• Weight Loss
• Public Speaking
• General Reduced Stress, Anger Or Anxiety
• Overcoming Phobias
• Improve Confidence
• Self Healing
• Panic Attacks
• Finding Lost Things
• Thinking More Positively
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Overcoming Blushing
• Examination Nerves
• Financial Success
• Obsessive Compulsive Behaviour
• Nail Biting

Hypnotherapy is also available on a stand-alone basis.   To enquire or book please email

vicky@butterflyeffectcoaching.co.uk or call me on 07908 192656.

 

" When the session was completed and I went home, I felt a wave of joy and pleasure sweep over me and for several days afterwards I was on a 'high'" Jeff, Rayleigh

 

To benefit from a unique combination of Coaching, Hypnotherapy, Yoga and Nutritional Advice, visit

www.blossomdays.co.uk

 

Vicky Kelly, BSc, L.C. dip. 07908 192656 -

www.butterflyeffectcoaching.co.uk

Further to my blog about Executive Coaching, 15th April 2011 (see link for the blog itself) http://butterflyeffectcoaching.posterous.com/executive-coaching-what-it-is-and-what-the-be more and more of the benefits of coaching are coming to light.  On bumping into a previous client at a leaving drinks recently my client insisted on buying me a drink because, he said, he had me to thank for the promotion he'd recently secured.  With this particular client, whilst open minded, he was very happy with his level within the company before we met.  After some coaching sessions with me he realised that not only was he much more capable than he'd previously assumed, also that he really wanted to progress and excel with this new found self confidence.