FocalPoint Business Coaching comments on the US PResidential Election

This is Democracy!

What a great voter turnout for the Presidential Election yesterday. 79% is outstanding.

At the next football game you go to , look around. 8 out of 10 people there stood up for what they believed in.

This news was reported widely, but it hit me while watching the live coverage and then reading this article....

By Craig Gustafson

UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

November 6, 2008

County voters may have a set a new benchmark for casting ballots.

About 1.19 million voters took part in Tuesday's election, the most in at least the past two decades. It's likely the most ever, but county officials couldn't confirm that.

The turnout of registered voters was 79 percent, topping the 2004 general election but falling just shy of the percentage record. The modern turnout record is 81 percent, set in 1976 when Democrat Jimmy Carter defeated Republican Gerald Ford for president.

That fantastic, and a great show of how we value our strong democracy.

Regardless of who won, we stood up and voted, and that's great. The Election was followed by 2 strong candidate speeches.

John McCains speech is here, and is a wonderful example of classy statemanship.
President-Elect Barack Obama's is here. It is also a great example of leadership.

Onwards, America!

Steve Thompson,
President
FocalPoint Business Coaching, powered by Brian Tracy

Conference is Coming

Hi, Just checking in to let you know some exciting news.

At this years annual conference we have no less than 4 major announcements.
1 has to do with "SYSTEMS". We're adding a new , deeper aspect of coaching to our offering. This new application and managment tool give us another huge advantage point.

Another announcement has to do with "CONTENT". We've just added another point of content to our already well known and robust "stack". This new and exciting series of coaching themes will give our coaches and our clients another structured tool to dig deeper into business improvement.

Next is a powerful and unique "STRATEGIC ALLIANCE". This one is exciting becuase it will deliver a truly passive income stream to our coaches.

Our 4th announcement is an "ANALYTICAL TOOL". This is a coaches tool that they can use in the field with their clients. It gives the coach a broad perspective and a laser focussed set of data that really helps our clients make the best decisions.

4 major announcements in one conference is a lot! We're excited, this year is gong to be jam packed, and we'll probably feel that 4 days just isnt enough!

Thanks for reading our blog! Email me if you have any questions.
Steve

Steve Thompson, President
FocalPoint Coaching, powered by Brian Tracy

www.focalpointcoaching.com
www.stevethompsonfocalpointcoaching.blogspot.com
http://www.fbr50.com/profile/FocalPoint-Coaching
http://www.briantracy.com/coaching/coachingprograms.aspx

Business Coach Training Update June 25

Hi, I just checked in with some of the coaches who went through the last training ( it was this week).



Both of them already had solid leads by the time they got off the flight home! One coach had a lead come in from us while he was in training. He called her right away and had a meeting set for the Wednesdays of his return.

Another one of the coaches was standing in line as we were getting lunch on day 4 of training. He was chatting with another lady who was on her break too. It turned out she owned the clothing store next door, but was selling it so she could move back to Hawaii to concentrate on running her 2 restaurants there!

Well, this FocalPoint coach now has a lead for coaching this business owner in Hawaii! That's how it works! Of course, having a client in Hawaii never hurts either...

We're already planning for our next training in July, and our conference in August. I wonder what stories will come from that?

Blog to you soon!
Steve Thompson,
President
FocalPoint Coaching
www.focalpointcoaching.com
http://www.fbr50.com/profile/FocalPoint-Coaching
http://www.briantracy.com/coaching/
http://askabusinesscoach.blogspot.com/

Business Coach Training is done for June

Hi again,
It's Tuesday, June 4, and we've just waved goodbye to our latest group of Business Coaches.

Training was held in Las Vegas, Nevada, at an absolutely beautiful resort. Over 6 intense days, our coaches were introduced to the start of training.

"The start" you ask? Yes, live-in training is only one of three discrete parts of training. After a rigorous selection and qualification process, the coaches who we invite to join our team immediately begin Induction Training. This is part 1, and we've designed it so that a Business Coach is able to get their business up and running as soon as possible when they return home.

Part 2 , is , of course, the live - in part. Our next training is scheduled for July 21st to 26. We already have a number of Incoming Coaches and Area Developers waiting to attend.

Part 3 of training is very interesting. It's forever. Business Coaching is a very interesting and profitable business - especially for those coaches who can leverage solid brand recognition and a proven, repeatable system for business growth. It takes forever because that's how long our support and training lasts - forever. As a matter of fact, some of you may recognise "forever" as one of our culture statements.

Business Coaching is our passion - it's what we do. Brian Tracy has been in the business of business improvement for over 30 years. We think that's a pretty good start!

Training is a lot of fun and the amount of knowledge transfer is unbelievable. Our coaches learned not only how to "be a coach", but also what kind of marketing it takes to get clients, how to keep clients, how to get results and how to grow a profitable business they'll love.

Thanks for checking in, I'll post another update soon.

Steve Thompson
President,
FocalPoint Business Coaching
www.focalpointcoaching.com
http://www.fbr50.com/profile/FocalPoint-Coaching
http://www.briantracy.com/coaching/
http://askabusinesscoach.blogspot.com/

Business Coach Training update June 19 2008

Hi, Just checking in quickly to let you know that our Business Coach training is going very well.
We've got a full and engaged class. Today we covered off some of the interesting elements of selling a business and how FocalPoint Business Coaches help with that.

It's a growing trend and we're certainly proud to lead the way.

How could I forget? We also have a major win, company wide! Our first National Account deal has come to fruition. One of our Texas coaches has brought on a new client as a direct result of this deal. Many more will soon follow!

We'll continue to develop National Accounts for the benefit of our coaches.

Thanks for checking in!
Steve Thompson,
President,
FocalPoint Coaching, powered by Brian Tracy

www.focalpointcoaching.com
www.stevethompsonfocalpointcoaching.blogspot.com
http://www.fbr50.com/profile/FocalPoint-Coaching
http://www.briantracy.com/coaching/coachingprograms.aspx

Business Coaching and FocalPoint's Passionate Commitment

Hello curious reader!,

Let’s keep on looking in more detail at what it means to be a Business Coach at FocalPoint Coaching.

We’re a group of elite Business Coaches who draw on the deep, proven experience and brand recognition of Brian Tracy. That’s why our full name is FocalPoint Coaching, powered by Brian Tracy.

We have a unique and manicured Culture here at FocalPoint, and over the past few weeks and months, I’ve been sharing the defining points of our Culture with you.

If you’re here, reading this blog you have some sort of interest in us. Thanks for visiting. I hope this gives you a better sense of who we are, what we do, and how we do it.

Passionate Commitment is our 5^th point of Culture.

Whatever we do, we do with full passionate commitment.

We thought long and hard about this one. Would you believe it started out as “a Passion for Fitness.” ?

During one of our retreats, we began to think differently about this. What if the perfect business coach was not into fitness, but rather, into Gardening, or Bird Watching? What if the perfect coach for our team was more fit than any of us? Perhaps a Triathelete ( we have a few already), or an Expedition Mountaineer? Was our definition too constrictive?

We felt it was. So we changed our perspective. ( welcome to thinking like a Business Coach!) What we really wanted to attract to ourselves, model ourselves towards and hold as our standard became “Passionate Commitment”

With that refocused viewpoint, even more possibilities came to light.

A FocalPoint Coach is a person who is Passionately Committed to:

• Their own success
• The success of others
• Finding a way around, through, over or under “resistance”
• Excellence
• Their families
• Their communities
• Fitness
• Hobbies
• An Industry
• Volunteering to help others ( one of our Coaches has 40 years of service to the Boy Scouts of America)
• Being an excellent parent, spouse, son or daughter.

In short, our culture lasered in even more by changing our perspective. We embody excellence because that’s what we think about and move towards every day. Being "Passionately Committed" is the fuel that keeps us on that track.

Thanks for taking the time to read our blog,

Steve Thompson, President,

FocalPoint Coaching

www.focalpointcoaching.com

http://www.fbr50.com/profile/FocalPoint-Coaching

http://askabusinesscoach.blogspot.com/

Steve Thompson, President
FocalPoint Business Coaching

FocalPoint Business Coaching and Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day!

As you might imagine, a lot of us at FocalPoint are Fathers - so happy Fathers Day to us!

But all of us also need to take some time today to thank our Dad's.

Our Dad's took us to football games, lent us their cars, and showed us how to go fishing. Maybe they gave your prom date a hard time, or walked you down the aisle. Whatever picture flashes through your mind when you think of your Dad, today is the day to reach back out to him and say thanks.

Some of our Fathers fought in World War 2. You may have missed it, but June 6 was the anniversary of D-Day. That was the day the Allied forces took the beach at Normandy in France. Here's a quote I pulled from the US Army web page dedicated to D-day....

"...June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.”

More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end on June 6, the Allies gained a foot- hold in Normandy.

The D-Day cost was high -more than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded -- but more than 100,000 Soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler...."

Source: http://www.army.mil/d-day/

Do you remember how you felt as a kid before the big game? Did you get nervous? How about speaking in public - does that make your stomach churn and lurch? I wonder how those 17, 18, ad 19 year old kids felt before they went into a battle as intense as that.

Those are our Dad's. Or, maybe their Dad's...

Whether our Dad's fought for us in the war, or showed us , by example, how to be who we need to be, we thank you.

Happy Fathers Day, Dad.

Steve Thompson,
President
FocalPoint Coaching.
http://www.focalpointcoaching.om/
http://www.fbr50.com/profile/FocalPoint-Coaching

FocalPoint Business Coaching Culture Update - Excellence

A few weeks ago, I started defining our corporate culture. Business Coach Training and a number of other tantalizing topics always loom, but let me pick up where we left off.......

When defining the FocalPoint Culture, I can't leave out Excellence.

We expect Excellence and we create Excellence.

Example:

§ If there is an opportunity to improve a process or system, we share it with the team.

§ We are all striving for constant improvement. We view excellence of an object or subject or body of work as part of a whole.

I'll be the first to admit; this is a tough one. To us it means that we can never be satisfied with ourselves. My partner, Dominic Rubino, likes to say that everything is written in sand (as opposed to stone) and it would be ignorant of us to think that every system was complete, and perfect. I agree. He's a pretty wise guy.

Excellence to us means "We expect Excellence and we create Excellence". At the end of the day, being a successful business coach is about getting client results. We have tons of formal testimonials, and far more internal stories and even legends about client results.

I heard one today from one of our top coaches, Brad Ness (go Columbus!). One of his clients is a Civil Engineer (he makes subdivisions have the proper elevations of land and use of space). When Brad started with him, things were tight. Annual profits were hovering around 30k. Since December (5 months) by working with Brad he now has the company posed to do a deal that will net him 300k in profit annually – yes, 10 times more than he used to do.

Excellence! For the client, from Brad, for his industry. The hard part I referred to is that we can't really rest on our laurels much. Whatever we just did has to be topped next time.

I love this stuff! And so do our clients.....

Steve Thompson, FocalPoint Coaching

http://www.focalpointcoaching.com/

Proud of our Ranking in the Franchise50 Awards.

http://www.fbr50.com/profile/FocalPoint-Coaching

Business Coach Training at FocalPoint, powered by Brian Tracy

FocalPoint Business Coach Training for June is fast approaching.

We're very excited, the whole training team is buzzing as we prepare for one of our most exciting internal events - the addition of Business Coaches to our growing team.

It's not easy to become a FocalPoint Business Coach, powered by Brian Tracy. The whole process is one of two way qualification through a series of increasingly difficult steps. Add to that the fact that just to start the process a candidate has to be a top notch business person in their own right.

We must be doing something right, because we've built an elite team of high performers, and this seems to attract even more high performers to begin the process.

This training features coaches from Canada! Business Coaching in Canada will never be the same. We have coaches joining us from Abbotsford, Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. We also have coaches joining us from Saskatchewan, Saskatoon and Regina.

Columbus and Cincinnati Ohio has an very exciting and interesting addition coming on board. Texas , of course, can't be left out, we'll have coaches in training who will be in Houston and Dallas. I'll post more on that later.

Not only is the process for joining us very detailed , but the training process is as well. We like to say that Business Coach training is actually only the START of training. Those who've been through it know what we mean.

Welcome to the team Coaches!
Steve Thompson,
FocalPoint Coaching, powered by Brian Tracy.

Brian Tracy answers !

Hi Again,

Brian was kind enough to send us a copy of the info with the proper credit to the author.

Here is his email.....
* * * *

The five parts of political power were first explained by Adolf Berle in 1935 in his book "Power." They are:

1. Power arises to fill a vacuum; there must be an unsatisfied need or demand.

2. Power is based on a philosophy or set of beliefs; it must be clear what that is, and people must support it.

3. Power is invariably personal; it is given to specific individuals who touch people emotionally.

4. Power arises only with the support of established institutions in society; this is an essential part of building credibility.

5. Power arises to confront a field of action; it is always "power to do." It must therefore be clear to those from whom you request support what you will do with their support (votes).

All of these aspects of political power can be applied to economic power and the ability to sell a product or service.

Brian
* * * *

Thank-you Brian!

Great lessons in business come from so many places. This is what can make it difficult to know where to start when "improving a business". That's the vacuum that FocalPoint Coaching fills...

Thanks for reading our Blog, we're proud to share this with you.

Steve Thompson, President,
FocalPoint Coaching, powered by Brian Tracy

The 5 Principles of Power - with a Business twist

Last week, I met with Brian Tracy at a meeting we call the San Diego Summit. This is a meeting that happens every 6 weeks and it is focused on 1 thing. How can FocalPoint coaches continue to be recognized as the elite Business Coaches we are?

Given the optics on the current political process, with Obama beating Hillary, and the next Election looming, our discussion took an interesting turn.

What is Power, how is it achieved and how can we apply that to Coaching? Ultimately, from what we know of "Power" how can we help business owners?

Brian outlined the 5 points of Political Power. I was writing fast and I missed the author he quoted. If you know who it was/ is, please let me know – we have to give him credit!

From my furious notes, the points were as follows:
1.Power rises to fill a vacuum. In Coaching, we look for he vacuum that’s been created by missing business systems, low profits or owner frustration

2.Power is personal. And so is Business. If you’re in business, its’ not for Business sake – it’s so that you can have something else in your life. As coaches, we hear that owners want freedom, time, and choice.What is your "WHY" for being in Business?

3.Power arises on the basis of a philosophy. That’s a big statement. Is your business philosophy to be excellent? To be the low cost provider? To dominate your market? We only work with high performers – is that a philosophy? We believe in the right of everyone to make a profit – that’s a good philosophy. What is yours?

4.Power arises with Institutional Support. It needs big, ingrained organizations to support it. In the case of the Democrats, they draw on the unions. As Business Coaches, we’re capitalists, so Unions don’t really line up with us. But Banks and Lenders do, Trade Associations do, Accountants and Lawyers do. Does the field of Business Coaching have institutional support? Judging from the amount of referrals we get from the industries mentioned above, I’d say we definitely have that support!

5.Power is always the power to do something – to enable someone to DO something. Business Coaching gives a new level of power to the Decision Maker. The Owner or Chief Executive gets the power that comes with a smooth running operation.

This conversation was an interesting part of our Summit, and a great warm up exercise to keep all 4 of us thinking like Entrepreneurs. Focused on the future – that’s’ where we’re going!

Thanks for checking in. If you have any thoughts or questions, or know the author of the 5 principles of power, let me know!

Thanks,
Steve Thompson, President,
FocalPoint Coaching, powered by Brian Tracy.

an email regarding Business Coaching and the Economy from Dominic Rubino to a reporter/ researcher

This is a copy of an email that Dominic Rubino, Our Executive Vice President sent off to a well known reporter who is looking for story ideas....In red is the original question...

Questions About Pricing and Wage Pressures -- please share your quick feedback. I'm getting called almost daily by the media asking what I'm hearing from the mid-market segment of the economy. With increased food and fuel costs they are asking two specific questions: 1) are you feeling the pressure to raise your own prices and by how much; and 2) are your employees asking for increased wages to offset their own increased costs of putting food on the table and commuting to work? I'll keep your responses anonymous unless I get your permission to share with the media that contact me.

Hi Vic,
Just saw your call for input. As you know, Business Coaches are in a bit of a different spot in this conversation, as we actively work to show business owners the roses in the thorns. In this case, opportunities among the threats.

Over the various cycles we've seen, we've noticed that companies who are aggressive in a downturn, really launch rapidly ( we call it boomeranging) at the first sign of an upturn.

A case in point is the Bosa Construction Group in Canada. At the start of the 80's downturn, they were just another construction company specialising in residential homes. Early to mid 80's - They went into acquisition mode, buying up "odd" parcels of land. Things like Blueberry Farms, Mountainside Farm land, and low- low-low rent apartment buildings etc.

Fast forward to now and they ( along with their numerous spin off company's) spent all of the 90's and the first part of the 00's building huge mega -high rises and town home complexes. The Vancouver boom is done , and Bosa has already leapt into other markets. Let me reiterate, in 1980, they built 2 story homes! ( their Sandbox changed)

Here's what our business coaches are seeing North America wide. Fear and Uncertainty

Business Owners are afraid to raise prices, or make the changes they know they need to make.
So compensating for fuel and wages is something they typically look internally for as opposed to being critical of their operations and making changes there.

One of our Coaches ( Dulcee Loehn, Florida) has a client who makes this point well. One of her clients is a Commercial Electrical Contractor. When she began the FocalPoint Coaching Process , the owners had a dim view of the future, but knew something had to change. In 9 weeks she's found them savings in how they run their business. One operational change will net them around 8k per year, and another of about 11k annually. Those savings will now continue annually.

She's only 2 1/2 months into coaching with them. A 7 million dollar company today and that's already a significant uptick in profitability. Coaching will really take them into a new level of business.

Brad Ness is another FocalPoint Business Coach in Columbus, Ohio. Brad is an excellent coach who delvers results. He works with a client who is a Civil Engineer. Aside from making a living from his company, profits were approximately 30 k annually.

With coaching, and quite a bit of strategic planning, this client is now looking at providing a contract that will net him 300k in profit annually. He simply started the coaching relationship hoping to "get a better handle on his business". The FocalPoint System is based on the work of Brian Tracy who has been the leader of Business Growth and Sales Growth of over 3o years.

I think the business public would be surprised to learn how few main street businesses ( 1 to 40 mill/yr) do job costing or profitability analysis. Or how many of them proactively approach hiring , training, or "topgrading" their people.

It seems that the last thing on a business owners mind is making a change in their business,. We all know these are all brilliant people. They just don't know where to start. Fair enough.

What do do first, what to ignore, and what to do last can be a significant challenge.

Vic, I know telling this to you is singing with the choir, but Coaching really works!
I hope these stories helped you out. If your magazine need a hand with a story, let me know, we have lots of them, and we're glad to help.
Talk to you soon,
Dom

*****
I've shared this with you as I think it gives a pretty good perspective on the Business of Business Coaching.

Your comments?
Thanks,
Steve Thompson, FocalPoint Coaching

FocalPoint Business Coach Anniversaries

Hello World,

I was looking back over some files and I noticed that we have some FocalPoint Business Coaching Anniversaries out there!

• Ron McNutt in Charleston
• Ray Mead in New Jersey,
• Charles Holland in Colorado,
• Jim Masters in Nebraska,
• Susan Spitz in St. Louis
• Brad Ness in Columbus Ohio
• Paul Gillman in Cincinnati
• Tom Breitenbach in Cincinnati
• John Peluso in Charlotte

All of these Business Coaches work hard at doing good things in their communities. That's what Business Coaches do. We work with Business Owners and Senior Corporate Executives who are high performers. In every case, improvements are made.

Congratulations to our coaches! Congratulations to their clients!

Steve Thompson, FocalPoint Coaching

Great People on FocalPoint Discovery Day

What a day!

I just finished something called "Discovery Day." It's a part of the process someone goes through before they join us as a Business Coach.

We have a 2 party decision making process. The potential Business Coach has to decide to do this, and we want to make sure the right people join our team.

Today's call was great. The group was representative of the kind of people that look at FocalPoint Coaching. - Senior VP's, Serial Entrepreneurs, and High Performing Managers. I love it when we do our intro's and it becomes clear its a meeting of peers.

One of our guests said something I jotted down that really captures what many others have said. His reason for looking at joining us and becoming a coach was based on his question..." What can I do with the skills I've developed, and use them in my own business?..."

He's right. Business Coaching is the logical conclusion for someone who wants to get paid from the neck up. It only make sense to build on your existing skills.

You might be interested in an overview of the varied backgrounds of the people who were on our call. By way of summary...

• A Business Professor, turned corporate, rising to very senior levels in Banking
• A high performing Mortgage Broker
• A CPA who also has an MBA
• A Corporate Finance and Accounting Exec
• A Real Estate Exec
• A Senior Manager from Major Accounts in Telecom
• A serial Entrepreneur in the Consumer goods industry
• A Seasoned Professional Presenter with an very interesting entertainment angle !

I also want to give kudos to one of our top coaches, Brad Ness from Columbus, Ohio who joined us to share his perspective on being a FocalPoint Coach .

As I said, what a great day. Our team is growing at a perfect pace, with the perfect people!

Thanks for tuning in!
Steve Thompson, FocalPoint Coaching

Respect and FocalPoint Business Coaching

Hmm, where are we? We’ve talked about the Culture and Values that we uphold as part of being on the FocalPoint Coaching Team. As you might imagine, being part of an organization with Brian Tracy in it is bound to be a group that is laser focused on Excellence.

Above you’ll see my thoughts on Forever , and Integrity.
Now let’s discuss Respect.

Respect is something I almost touched on in my last post, in Integrity. We Respect the Intellectual Property of others and give credit where due. This is important in an industry where we draw on so many authors, writers, Biographies, and learning tools. Be very cautious if one person holds themselves up to the guru of everything.

We respect the people on our team and work hard to be respected by others. Respect isn’t to be confused with agreement on all fronts, but rather, the willingness to take a stand and defend it.

What about Respect for self? This could be a blog all unto itself. As a matter of fact, it is the root cause of a number of social ills we are surrounded by every day.

We also respect everyone's right to make a profit,- you, me ,and the guy over there. It ties in with Forever, it ties in with Profitability - another core value I’ll outline later. (Remember? I'm a Capitalist)

And as another example, we respect the right and the responsibility of being part of a high performing team. Everyone on our team is different. I love that, and I think they do too. Being part of FocalPoint is being a strong individual, who contributes to an even stronger team.

Thanks All! Have a great day!
Keep tuning in!
Steve Thompson, FocalPoint Coaching

More on what it means to be a FocalPoint Coach

A few posts ago, I started outlining our FocalPoint Culture Statements - what it takes to be on our team as a Coach , Area Developer, or Head Office Team.

In a previous post you'll see that I discussed what we mean by "Forever." Our actions, reactions and thoughts, strategy and planning reflect a long term view, with a Business timeline of “forever”.

Let me tell you about our next Cultural Value..."Integrity"

Integrity is an interesting one, because it encompasses a number of other values. Did you know that when we first set out to write down our Values, we came up with 23! Clearly too many, but also just enough. If you sat down to ponder your values with a professional, certified Business Coach, how would you feel if that Coach limited you to an arbitrary number?

Far better to start with too many, and then , like a nice box of chocolate, savor the list over time and select the ones that best represent your tastes. There is no need to rush - this list is an expression of us and what we strive to become ( see Forever, above!).

OK, I digress. Integrity. We act with Integrity at all times. I have a favorite saying. "If you ask me a question, I'll give you the answer - you may not always like the answer, but you'll get it straight. "

Integrity also shows itself in respect for I.P. - I'll discuss that in Respect, another Cultural Value - I'll save that for another Blog post.

Now, I feel that Integrity is something that is best measured by consistent action. Your integrity may be different than mine. That's OK...it makes the world go 'round.

If your Integrity is based on you being a Vegan, that's OK. Just because I enjoy a nice steak ( medium well, please) with some blue cheese on it doesn't mean I don't have integrity. We're just different. Thank God for that! ( and mouthwash)

For us Integrity means being the kind of person who lives by the values of Win-Win -Win. A FocalPoint coach is always looking for the 3-win. It means being honest and direct yet respectful of, with and for the people we deal with. Imagine the Executive or Business Owner who had just another Yes-Man ( or yes- woman???) across the table from them.

From years of coaching, I've found that our Integrity in dealing directly with high performing individuals, business owners, and executives comes as a breath of fresh air.

Perhaps you've see this yourself. Who will give YOU the straight goods? If you're the boss, will your team tell it to you like it is? You sign the check. Will your suppliers or salespeople come in and tell you , with Integrity whats best for you, or, as a coach would, lead you down a path based solely on your benefit. No - they want you to sign a check too.

As Professional, Certified Business Coaches, it's our Right and Responsibility to act with Integrity. It may make us unpopular some of the time, but I think that's OK, in light of Forever.

Thanks for tuning in!
Steve Thompson, President, Focalpoint Coaching, powered By Brian Tracy

Memorial Day - hey Stop for a second!

Hi,
Thanks for checking in.
Today is Memorial Day . This is a day for all of us to remember why we have the freedoms that we do.
I am a capitalist. And that moniker comes at a price. Freedom will always require sacrifice. Whether it's the freedom to be your own boss, or the freedom to live in a free and democratic society, it comes at a price.

Memorial day isn't just another day off. Its a day to reflect and give thanks for all that we have, and to consider those who have given of themselves so that we may have it.

I found this neat link on the history of Memorial Day http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html take a few minutes and read it. Consider all of those who are fighting for us right now.

We coach Veteran Owned businesses and have a number of Veterans as our Business Coaches.
Today is our day to say Thank-you.

Slow Down! We have this day for a reason.

Steve Thompson

Business Coach Training is over. And it's really just begun

Well, we've just completed another intensive training session for some Business Coaches who have just joined FocalPoint.

It's been an exciting 6 days. I'm always amazed at the amount of learning that gets packed into such a short time frame. What comes next for these coaches is just as exciting - because this is just the "start" of training.

Now things really get interesting. My partner, Dominic Rubino and I are committed to 2 things as we lead this elite group of Business Coaches. Coach Success and Client Success.

To that end, we'll continue to pour support and resources into these coaches so that when they get home they have all the tools they need to be hugely successful.

From myself, Dominic, Brian Tracy and Cam Fraser - welcome!

More on Focalpoint Business Coachign Culture- What does it mean to be an Elite Business Coach?

In my last posting, I talked a bit about our Culture. What does it mean to be part of FocalPoint Business Coaching, powered by Brian Tracy?

We think our Culture Statement is pretty interesting, and we take it seriously. My job is to make sure we, at head office, walk the talk and lead by example. I also overlay our culture and values against any potential coaches who join our team.

I'd love to hear your comments.

Over the next few Blog posts, I’ll share our Culture points with you here. These form the foundation of who we are …

FocalPoint Culture Statements
· Forever. Our actions, reactions and thoughts, strategy and planning reflect a long term view, with a Business timeline of “forever”.

Well, that summary seems pretty straightforward, but I ask you to consider for a moment what we did during one of our retreats.

Why would we even consider the concept of "forever"? Because it colors our view of the kind of questions we ask when we make critical decisions. There is an interesting Asian quote I like tat says "... To plan for a year, plant wheat. To plan for a decade, plant trees. To Plan for a lifetime, educate people..." Its all perspective. We act and react based on the timeline we view for our business.

Forever + Business Coaching + Education= Success.

Thanks for reading,
Steve Thompson
FocalPoint Business Coaching, powered by Brian Tracy

By the way, if you know who actually coined that Chinese proverb, please let me know!

Looking forward to Business Coach Training

I’m excited about our training class coming up. We’ll be adding some great coaches to our roster.

This training also sees us the addition of Abby Vega to our team. Abby will be the Area Developer for FocalPoint Business Coaching in Northern Florida.

We’re very lucky to attract strong people to our team and Abby is no exception. I look forward to great things from this territory.

We’ve also added FocalPoint Certified Business Coaches in Atlanta Georgia, Phoenix and Scottsdale Arizona ,Seattle and Tacoma Washington, Houston and Dallas Texas.

It takes a special kind of person to qualify for our team. Not only do they have to have strong business background but they have to fit our culture as well. Did you know that less than 1.5 % of people who we talk to ever qualify to join our team?

We've only just started with the training and these coaches already show what it takes to succeed!
Thanks for reading, have a great day!
Steve Thompson

Welcome to my Blog!

Welcome to Steve Thompson FocalPoint Blog.

Welcome to my blog. I’d like to use this tool to tell you more about myself, Steve Thompson, and FocalPoint Business Coaching, powered by Brian Tracy.

I’m the President of FocalPoint Business Coaching. Myself and my partner Dominic Rubino operate globally as the Franchisor, seeking the elite few who qualify to join our team of Business Coaches.

If you’ve heard of Brian Tracy, you know that he’s invested 30 years as a top speaker , author , business coach and mentor. He’s published over 50 books, is a best selling audio guru and it’s all becase he deals in reality – not theory.

In this Blog you’ll find out more about me, and more about FocalPoint, so please bookmark us and check back often!