Online Financial and Business Coaching

OBJECTIVES

THE AIM
The aim of is to provide an on-line MENTORING facility to existing small-to-medium sized businesses and their owners, to enable them to generate a sustainable income for themselves and others, by means of running and growing a profitable business of any kind whatsoever.

THE COST
There is no cost of entry to this process.
There are no course fees.
Applicants, once they have been accepted by our team, will be required to sign an agreement, whereby they will only be liable for coaching fees, which will be separately negotiated, each on its own merits.

QUALIFICATION ON COMPLETION
There are no certificates of achievement, or degrees and diplomas awarded by the process to its applicants. 
Qualification on the course will be ownership of a sustainable, income-producing and growing business.

MISSION

The provision of an online mentorship facility which will further the mission and purpose of FINSERV.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

  • Applicants wishing to join the process must be in possession of an existing business,
  • Applicants must be willing to follow the process, and will be responsible for keeping in touch with the team.

COMPANY SUMMARY

The process is essentially an internet-based entrepreneurial COACHING service, aimed at helping people to manage and sustain income-generating businesses. 

THE PROCESS

The Team coaches its students within a process, based on that used by a farmer to plant, establish and harvest a crop.

The farmer, first of all, ensures that the land he wants to plant crops in has been adequately prepared. This preparation may take the form of ploughing the ground, fertilizing it, removing stones and trees etc. He then ensures that he has a good quantity of quality seed and sows it in the field. He will always sow more than what he needs because he knows that not all of it will grow. In some cases, the seed will end up too deep; in others it will fall on hard ground; and with still others, the wind may catch it before it settles and blow it away.

Once the planting has been done, the farmer (if he doesn’t have modern-day irrigation) waits and hopes for the rain to come, to water the seed.

From that day on, the farmer watches the field, removes the weeds, and keeps it watered (if he can). During this time, he is fully expectant of a crop of whatever seed he was planting. If he sowed maize seed, he would expect a crop of maize, if he sowed wheat seed; he would expect a crop of wheat.

When the harvest is ready, the farmer will reap it, sell most of the crop to provide himself with an income, but will also keep seed for planting next year. And so the cycle goes on each year. If the farmer is to be successful, he has to ensure that he doesn’t take more out of the soil than what he puts in. If he follows good farming practice – good husbandry – his land will be cared for, will be allowed to rest from time-to-time, and well-fed.

Starting up and running a business can be very similar.

Let’s have a closer look at these steps taken by the farmer, and then equate them with some of the steps a prospective new business owner should also take. There are seven main steps to the process:

  • Prepare the field.
  • Sow the seed.
  • Watch over it.
  • Bring in the harvest.
  • Use what you need.
  • Keep some back for next year.
  • Your Business Idea; Plan
  • First steps; startup; marketing
  • Management of resources
  • Sales
  • Personal drawings
  • Reinvesting profits for growth.

1. PREPARE THE FIELD.

The Farmer
Before the farmer starts to prepare his field, he must know what crop he’s going to plant. The crops are all different – some need planting in winter, others in summer; some need to be planted just before the rains come, others need to be in full sun; some need deep furrows, and others shallow. It’s important to know all these things, otherwise the preparation of the field could be all wrong, and the crop will be a failure.

The Business
If you’re thinking of starting up a new business, you need to give a lot of thought to what you’re going to be doing, or selling. It’s like preparing the field. Some of the questions that you need to be able to answer very easily are:

  • What products am I going to make (or what services am I going to provide)?
  • Who am I going to sell them to?
  • What are they going to pay for them?
  • Where is my business going to be located?
  • Do I have enough money to set the business up?

It requires very careful planning, and this takes the form of what is commonly known as THE BUSINESS PLAN.

Business Plans, unfortunately, have tended to become a little meaningless in recent years. Financial institutions want them before they will lend money, and so these plans have tended to be full of financial projections, most of which mean very little to the average emerging business owner. Your business plan should be a carefully thought out, written version, of what your business is going to be like – as you see it in your head. Use your creative gifts. Begin with the end in mind.

You may need some help with this, but that’s what BUSINESS BUDDIES is here to do. We will guide you through the important, necessary steps, so that your plan is like a working set of drawings to a builder of a new house.

2. SOW THE SEED.

The Farmer

Before the industrial revolution, farmers used a very simple process to sow their seed – it was usually scattered by hand, or planted by hand. Nowadays, large scale commercial farmers use sophisticated planters to do the job. Regardless of the method, the farmer always gives careful thought before planting. He makes sure that he has good seed; he makes sure that the time is right to sow the seed; he makes sure that the seed he’s going to plant will take root and grow in a particular field. He will take into account soil type, weather and the amount of water needed. Otherwise, he could just be wasting the seed, and his time.

The Business
The business owner needs to be sure that his idea has been carefully thought through, and that he has a well-thought out strategic plan. The questions raised in 1 above will have been answered. Don’t just work hard – work smart! Don’t plant the wrong seed – Don’t work aimlessly – focus! Stick to your knitting – do what you do well!

Don’t take short cuts when setting up the business. Spend some time making sure that all the basic necessities are in place – like having a bank account, and invoice book, and the basic means of recording transactions.

Be clear about a marketing plan. This doesn’t have to some sophisticated document – it just means you have researched who you’re going to selling your products/services to, and that you’re well-placed to do so.

3. WATCH OVER IT.

The Farmer

This is a process referred to as Stewardship. Once the seed has been planted, it needs to be watered. If there is no means of irrigation, then the farmer has to wait (and pray) on the rains. After the first rains, the farmer will watch to see what happens, and from that moment on, will work each and every day to keep his crop weed and pest free. At some stage he may even need to thin out his crop to improve its quality.

The Business
This is the one area where a lot of small businesses fall down. Stewardship of one’s business resources means that one needs to pay attention to “the numbers”. There has to be a basic understanding of simple business management principles. This is a vast subject, and will part of much of the coaching process, but suffice it to say that involves good customer relations, getting the best out of staff and materials, and keeping a tight rein on costs.

4. BRING IN THE HARVEST.

The Farmer
When the time right – the crop is ripe and ready for the harvest – the farmer will move quickly to bring in as much as he can, and store it prior to moving it the markets.

The Business

The Business owner must focus on the sales of his products and/or services. Don’t make promises you can’t keep – it will be like the farmer bringing in the harvest too early, and the crop will be ruined; make sure the quality of the product/service is top-drawer. People don’t mind paying extra for quality.

5. SELL WHAT YOU NEED.

The Farmer
Farmers in the old days followed a few basic and very sound principles. Whatever seed they planted would be multiplied more than ten-fold. After the harvest, they would set aside the best products for delivery to the market, and they would deliver to the right markets – where they would be likely to sell all they produced and would obtain the best prices.

The Business
The business owner must establish his business near to the market that will work for him. There is no point in trying to sell grandfather clocks in an informal settlement – the market there will more than likely just want access to basic foods and clothing. Grandfather clocks would be sold in an up market shopping mall.

The business owner mustn’t carry more than what he needs to sell in a month – it will just tie up his cash. He must also try and not use too much of his products himself – a bottle store owner could soon find himself an alcoholic if he does this!

6. KEEP SOME BACK FOR NEXT YEAR.

The Farmer
The farmers would also ensure that they would keep some of the best seed for use in the next season. They would set aside some of the food for their own consumption. If they were wise, they would also keep a store of their crop for difficult times.

The Business
The profits made by a business are not all to be ‘consumed’ by the business owner. If he’s wise, he will set aside some ‘savings’ – to build up what we like to call a ‘war-chest’ – some rainy-day money – to help him weather some of the storms business life will throw at him. In this way, his business will be able to grow – out of profits that have been retained in the business – and he can avoid getting into debt for this purpose.

7. SHARE THE BALANCE WITH OTHERS.

The Farmer
Good old Judeo-Christian principles used by the early farmers ensured that whole communities were able to be sustained by the farmers. Once the harvest had been reaped, and the good crop sold, the balance was kept for own consumption – and for sharing with others less fortunate. Jewish law, in fact, provided for the ‘right’ of the poor people, to help themselves from the crop left on the ground after the harvest. The farmer would also ensure that his workers were well paid and well-fed.

The Business
It is our belief at FINSERV that the principle of tithing – of giving – is vital to the well-being of any business. This may take the form of charitable giving to non-profit organisations set up to help others less fortunate; or even of assisting associated business that may be in trouble. Whatever form it takes, we believe that a general ethos of generosity should prevail.

STEPS TO TAKE

STEP 1 – SIGN UP
Before we commit to any further work in the process with you, we want to be sure that you fully understand what we will be doing for you, and from our point of view, that you fully understand what you will be committing to. If we decide to work on this new business idea with you, it will be because we believe it has a chance of success.

We will then commit a number of resources to the process, all of which cost us quite a lot of money. We are prepared to take that risk until such time as the business is running smoothly, and then we have an expectation of reward. (Like the farmer, we will have planted seed – helping you in your business; – and like the farmer we will expect a harvest – a share of your profits in the future.)

We will then ask you to complete and sign a simple agreement, which will be a record of our working arrangement. We have purposefully kept it simple and easy to understand. Once completed, please return it to us. As soon as we have it, we will begin the process – and what we hope will be a long and mutually rewarding relationship.

STEP 2– THE COACHING PROCESS.
The following process is adopted by our coaches in their relationships with students

  • Coaching is driven by process not by content. There is instant quick-fix.
  • Coaching is transparent. It is vital that the relationship is one of trust and honesty.
  • Coaching engages the student in self-exploration, self-discovery and self-determination. We want you to be able to say, “I did it!”
  • Coaching works by asking not telling.
  • Coaching isn’t limited by a problem-solving focus. We don’t just want to be reactive to your current situation, but prepare for you for others that will come along.
  • Coaching is more about making to-do lists.
  • Coaching assumes discovery and surprise. We want students to experience lots of ‘aha’ moments.
  • Coaching harnesses unconscious knowledge, resourcefulness and creativity.
  • The success of coaching is evidenced by the student’s actions, not just by what they say.

Practically, this will happen by means of the internet. It is not the best way to coach, but it is certainly practical in these days. Coaches will be available to discuss certain aspects telephonically, and in certain cases, will also make themselves physically available to clients.