Another interview this week. This time a Q&A on a more personal note with Social School’s Amy Miller here in Sydney, NSW Australia.
Included here for you below…
Q: What inspired you to start your business?
A: I currently work as a High Performance Coach, Trainer and Author. Previously, I spent 15 years running a Booking Agency for Performing Artists. The most fulfilling part of that job was nurturing their careers and helping them make their ideas commercially viable. Being a Booking service, my income came from Corporates, Event Managers and Festivals booking my Performers – a fairly ordinary service – so I decided to get full qualifications and go Coaching / Training full time. The training I did allows me to help all types of Business Owners, Entrepreneurs and Executives advance their career.
Q: What’s your background in business or your field?
A: I was a professional Performing Artist for 9 years myself, ran a Dance Company for 6 years and the Agency in Oz and NZ for 15 years. Self development is something I’ve always been curious about, studying Law of Attraction, Neuroscience and Quantum Physics over the years. Adding all that supposedly intangible theory into practical Coaching makes for very powerful results. Sometimes it’s so amazing it blows me away. I’ve had clients quadruple their income in 6 months, multiply their staff, buy up commercial property, become the highest Performers in their team.
As I take an holistic approach to Coaching, it has the added benefit of helping clients through personal stuff too. Issues such as divorce, Cancer, court cases, mending long term relationship rifts and even getting pregnant. I can’t guarantee any of it, of course. Much is to do with how willingly the client opens up to new ideas. I just love working with a motivated client where we build great trust and they get to stretch way beyond what they thought was possible.
Q: How do you balance your day to day working, balancing life and kids?
A: I’m a solo mother of two lads. I aim to be highly productive within school hours, completing as much as anyone in a full time job, then be available for the boys once they get home. The only challenges to that are when I’m dealing with clients or colleagues in the USA (early mornings) or the UK (in the evening). If there are no appointments in the evening, my computer is off after dinner. I find it helps slow my brain waves so I can sleep better. I also like to dance in the evenings or take a stroll through the local park at sunrise. I might be brave enough to hug a tree but don’t fancy taking a Huntsman with me for the rest of the walk. (For non-Australians these are big furry tarantula look-alikes up to 8 inches from tip toe to tip toe that frequent my park.)
Q: What do you love about running your own business?
A: I’ve been self employed for more than 20 years now. Wow, where did the time go? I love following my intuition rather than a heavily planned schedule for the day and like making gut instinct decisions rather than having long committee discussions. So the autonomy is ideal for me. I can work from home on phone / Skype video or visit the client in their own office which helps me understand the context of what they want help with. Flexibility, full creative license, a snooze after lunch if I need and doing what I feel I was put here on Earth to do. It ticks all the boxes on my own Career wish list.
Q: Do you have any plans for your business in the future?
A: Yes! Much is in my vision. I would like to do a talk show either on TV, radio or internet mixing coaching sessions viewers can watch and learn from, along with interviews of people making a difference in the world – whether that’s Al Gore high level or neighbourhood level like growing communal veges. I want it to be inspiring, educational and entertaining.
I would also like to expand the tools and online Training courses I offer so people can learn in their own time at low cost.
Third intention is to Coach high profile Celebrities so their insights flow on to their own followers. That way I get to help as many people in the world as I can, albeit sometimes indirectly.
Q: Who is your typical customer – what are they looking for?
A: Currently my typical Coaching customer is an Executive or Business Owner – they tend to be in Creative work like Media, Advertising, Events, Hospitality, Design etc. They may be stuck, trying to figure how to get their business/ career up to the next level or across to something more suited to what they want. Other times they come to me because they are overworked, stressed out, burnt out and want to find how to keep a premium performance standard while getting their life back.
What inevitably happens is the problems they come to me for coaching on is just the tip of the iceberg and all areas of life get a makeover during the process. I love to over-deliver. That makes a great day’s work in my eyes.