The Lost Intern Blog #2 - Week #3

5/29/09

Last Thursday night, Coach Reggie took me out to one of his free seminars at the library in downtown Wilmington. It's one of the many events he hosts where he shares great ideas for strengthening small businesses. He enjoys knowing that he has helped them.

Business owners develop great ideas by listening to him preach (I refer to Coach Reggie talking as "preaching" because it is more than simply lecturing) on hundreds of different methods on to enhance their businesses. One thing I have learned since working with Coach Reggie is that it doesn't matter what business you are running or working for, their are always abundant opportunities to improve it. At the library on Thursday, I had the pleasure of meeting with some of Wilmington's downtown businesses. After listening to Coach Reggie preach for an hour and a half, I could tell he made a difference to many, and most likely, all of them . A major networking method I have learned from Coach Reggie goes by the name "Twitter". I had never heard of it before I came to ActionCOACH, but since he has introduced it to me I now see it everywhere. Talk shows are referring it, Sports Center has it at the bottom of their screen frequently, as well as many celebrities are sending "tweets" to different television stations. Twitter allows people to let others know what they have going on in their lives, whether personal or in their business life. By sending "tweets", businesses can develop networks/ relationships with other common organizations, whether they can help each other augment their businesses or share an interest in each others organizations.

One important concept I took from Thursday is that "the obvious is not always so obvious to the customer". This is a concept most people know but usually forget. When I heard this concept in the seminar I said to myself "You know, that's really true." But I didn't write it down because it was so obvious and there was no way I could forget it, but of course what happened? I forgot it. Fortunately, it randomly popped up in my head. I had to write it down right away before I forgot again. Businesses need to bring attention to the obvious from the customers perspective because you never know, unless you test and measure, if the customers are noticing the obvious.

Some businesses are hesitant in acquiring an ActionCOACH. They may be skeptic in the idea of having a coach for their business. They may ask themselves "Why do I need a coach? What can he do for me I can't do for myself?" My response to those questions is another question "Why do athletes need coaches?" Even Olympic athletes have coaches to help them improve and develop their skills to the best of their ability. It is the same with ActionCOACH. They help business owners set and meet goals by motivating them and giving deadlines. I look forward to learning a great deal while working this summer with Coach Reggie.

REMEMBER: "Action springs not from thought. But from a readiness for responsibility." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

PJ Fox

ActionCOACH Intern