Small Business - Are You Still Chasing Unicorns?

Do you recall that phrase, ‘if the cap fits then wear it’?

When I was about 11 years old, my father entered into a crazy business scheme with someone he met on holiday. Now my dad was ordinarily a very astute and intelligent businessman;  However, one year for some reason he forgot all reason when he became distracted and set up a joint venture in Southend and opened a bricks and mortar business - A Fishmongers!   

My father’s principle business was commercial land and property, and he was really good at this. He was an ace negotiator and had an uncanny ability to get people to people to like him and therefore to do business with him. He was magic at it. He would get the most stubborn landowners to hand over their parcel of land to him, where everyone else had failed.

But one thing he wasn’t very good at or didn’t particularly enjoy was working with the general public. He hated it.  He was one of the friendliest people I know, and loved meeting new people and had tons of friends.  But paradoxically he didn’t have the patience for people who weren’t on his wavelength. 

So why he moved in another direction is a mystery.

Not only that but he decided to introduce his 5 daughters into the fish trade as well! Ugh - I can still remember the smell of all that fish and how freezing cold it was! It was a bit of a novelty at first, but that soon wore off when I decided that I’d got frost bite from the bitterly cold wind blowing in from the North Sea.

Eventually the business failed and he lost a lot of money (and a good friendship); and he went back to doing what he did best - negotiate commercial property deals out of nowhere.

Sometimes we meet people along our pathway who mysteriously turn up when we’ve temporarily lost faith in our own ability. Then we leave our path and follow them in search of the Unicorn that they’ve promised us is just over the hill. They may appear to hold the key that will lead us to Nirvana - when in reality if we’d searched within the answer was with us all along. Several hills (and no Unicorn) later -we wake up to the reality that WE are the best judge of everything we do.

Even Alan Sugar had to admit in a recent profile about his life and work, that he took leave of his senses when he decided to buy Tottenham Hotspurs Football Club several years ago. His wife went berzerk when he told her. With hindsight he accepted that he’d made better decisions in his career. So we’ve all been there.

But sometimes - you need someone there to help you to get back on the path. Someone who doesn’t have their own agenda, someone who will let you work it all out and gain clarity, focus and complete understanding. Which is one of the reasons why I went into Coaching.

Think about this for a minute.  What would that be like for you to shut the door pick up the phone, switch off your mobile, tell everyone to go away and spend the next hour talking to your own coach about what’s REALLY on your mind?  And knowing that the person on the other end of the phone isn’t a nagging wife, a self indulgent girlfriend, an anxious mother, your mocking best friend, or your stressed out business partner who’s children have just gone down with measles. 

The most successful people eventually start working with a coach or a mentor.  I’d be lost without mine! 

But what would working with your own coach get for you? 
Click here to find out…

Warmest Regards

Wendy Dashwood-Quick