Starting a Business?

Feeling lonely? Overwhelmed? Lacking clear strategy? We will turn your vision into a plan of action.

Why hire a business coach?


Business coaches want to work with people who are serious about getting ahead in their business and careers. Are you willing to try the suggestions and ideas that arise in the coaching session? By hiring a coach, both you and your business will share the benefit for greater fulfillment and success.

Through the tools, experience, and knowledge, a Business Coach will help business owners and other individuals assess their strengths, develop their mindset and potential further, understand their limits, break down walls, and expose the gaps.

What else will a Business Coach do?

  1. Bring a fresh, objective, credible perspective as an outsider looking in
  2. Be a keen Listener to give constructive feedback
  3. Bring order to your chaos by smoothing out your processes
  4. Focus on scaling your priorities to keep you on track and accountable
  5. Increase profitability
  6. Clarify and align personal and business goals
  7. Assist in creating and refining the strategy to implement the action plan
  8. Show you how to better manage time and stress to increase productivity
  9. Build a better team by communicating a Vision, Mission, and Culture
  10. Build confidence as a Great Boss with a future for a life outside of work

Hiring a business coach may be one of the greatest investments a small-business owner or career driven individual can make. Go for it. Trust that you and your business are worth the fee and that your R.O.I. (Return on Investment) will be several times over.

Starting a Business


Wow, you have stepped out of your J.O.B. into the world of self -employment. Congratulations! The company name, legal logistics, and the idea are firmly in place but the doors are only partially open. There is so much to do and learn (or re-learn if this is not your first go round).

What are you thinking now? Could these be some of the other conversations you are having with yourself? Who can help me stay the course to help me realize this dream turned reality? How do I manage my time to juggle my work load and down time? How do I increase my business and then handle it well?

I am now The Boss (of Yourself or many). How do I become the best one I can? I have a flood of ideas for my business, who can I bounce them off of and get constructive criticism? I feel alone, stuck and not sure which way to turn. Who can I talk to for help? How do I plan to get these new (even bigger) goals accomplished? What really is my Mission with this business and what how do I want it to reflect my own values? With whom can I build strategic partnerships?

Improve Your Business


Time and money are precious resources. Focus on your today’s challenges while building for the future. A dynamic business never stands still. Continuous improvements are a way of life to succeed in getting more clients, generating more profits, while having more fun at work and during time off. Five tips that you and your Business Coach can work on together.

  1. Know your numbers, daily, weekly, or monthly. Is that networking group producing quality leads? Is a new website needed? What is my largest expense? Biggest revenue source? Do I need to adjust my fees?
  2. Planning a business goal strategy. Avoid the Crisis in The Moment Syndrome of reaction. What is the perfect day? How do I make that into a daily efficient and productive occurrence? What actions do I need to take now to create or improve it? A simple business plan and strategy can take your business to the next level and help you reap the benefits for years to come.
  3. Monitor Trends. What is happening in my industry, locally, nationally, and globally? What effect will they have on the financial health of my business? Will it warrant new products and services or a change in my business model?
  4. Marketing and Selling Skills. How do I create a powerful presentation to a bigger prospect? How can I have high impact marketing on a shoestring budget? How do I design and promote my brand? Who really is my target audience?
  5. Inspiration and Motivation. I am spearheading all these processes and systems. How can I keep my own engines at full steam to energetically plow through it?

Business coaches can be hired by any small business to serve in various areas of the business such as staffing, morale, relationship and team building, marketing, to work better across difference communications styles or generations, and day-to-day business operations.

Professional Development


Are you ready to lead your business to success? How well do you lead? We all lead by choice or default. At a minimum, we are each a Leader of One, Self-Leadership. The real question is not whether we are or are not leaders, but rather how well we lead, by empowering not just managing, ourselves and others.

What is the height of professional development?

Becoming High Quality Leader (HQL): A powerful, well skilled, versatile person who has a high level of awareness and a crystal clear understanding of themselves to influence, positively impact, and deeply connect with those around them into action. The result? Knowingly empower others to live powerful, productive, purposeful lives while being solidly engaged to the company’s bottom line.

How can this be attained? A Business Coach will inspire you to remain accountable and be held to a higher standard of growth and performance.

All our lives are fast paced and constantly changing. Rapidly developing technology and discoveries bring new opportunities but also new stressors. If you want to change the results and get where and what you want in Life, you need to change your perspective of thinking and beliefs that could be stopping you. Reaching your highest potential, being the best you can be, has been a recurring theme throughout history; it is not a new concept.

Are you being the best version of you? What is popular is common. To get extraordinary results, you will need to take the path less traveled and do what most people don’t or won’t do. Do you want to develop the self-confidence, vision, communication skills, inspirational and motivational impact that effective leaders have? Do you want to be that person others naturally turn to for direction?

Interested in HQL? Act now and contact us!

Communication Skills for Leadership


According to WikiHow, Communication is the process of transferring signals and/or messages between a sender and a receiver through various methods (written words, nonverbal cues, spoken words). It is also the mechanism we use to establish and modify relationships.

Good communication fosters relationships. Poor skills disintegrates them. Establishing and maintaining good relations are critical for business and personal success.

It takes courage and confidence to say what you think. Your attitude, mindset, and sensitivity to others thoughts and feelings, have a huge impact on what you say and how you say it. A good speaker is also a good listener.

Mastering new skills takes time. Once you do, more opportunities will present themselves.

What tools can help you understand yourself first in order to be a more aware communicator with others? Two well respected online assessments: DISC and Energy Leadership Index (ELI).

People who understand DISC understand people, including themselves. They more clearly see their own natural behavioral style, strengths and weaknesses, and how they can use them to be more effective communicators with those styles they are not. Once accomplished, they will begin to better understand those around them. In addition, they will stop judging others, based on their own personal standards, and learn to appreciate and value different people and what they bring to the team.

There is a different DISC assessment for almost any business situation: Classic, Sales, Management, Teams, Workplace, Leadership, Time Mastery, Personal Listening, Coping with Stress and more.

DISC is more than just an assessment. There are a variety of DISC workshops that lay the ground work for greater personal and professional development and build productivity within organizations. Some of the topics include:

  1. Improving Communication
  2. Adapting to Different Styles
  3. Managing Conflict and Resistance
  4. Using Your Strengths to Your Advantage
  5. Building Greater Self Awareness
  6. Building a Sales Relationship
  7. Being Responsive to Customer Differences
  8. Improving Team Effectiveness Series

The Energy Leadership Index (ELI) is based on Seven Levels of Leadership. This assessment, especially when combined with its associated development program, is the process that develops a personally effective style of leadership that influences and changes yourself and those whom you work and interact. The Leadership Formula is not one size fits all. This assessment is a key to unlock a door of potential that you, regardless of where you might be in the job hierarchy, might never realized existed.

Probably the most transformational key is that it lets you understand WHY you see yourself, your family, your clients, and the world as you do. Once understood, you create the ability to consciously choose from these seven perspectives, HOW to see yourself, anyone else, and any situation or challenge in your world.

This assessment also shows your reaction when under STRESS so that you can recognize and, if desired, modify that response.

The way I explain this Seven Levels of Leadership Assessment, ELI system, is by using the symbolism of an elevator moving up and down the floors of a hotel. The least desirable leadership floor is the basement where the Professional Victim lives. The most sought after and highest level is The Creator who resides in the indescribably delicious Penthouse suite.

We are all familiar with the buttons that form a panel inside the elevator. Right?

How would it feel to be in control of the buttons inside your elevator (those trigger points inside yourself) to determine where, when, why, and for how long you intentionally and purposefully arrive at any given floor rather than “hover” helplessly between one or two? It is not manipulation, it is about conscious choice.

Career Transitions


Imagine you are in a networking event. What is the customary first question people will ask? “So, what do you do?” Is your identity directly tied to your job title? Yes, it usually is. What happens when you make a significant career change or decide to become entrepreneurial? You guessed it! Suddenly you do not know WHO you are anymore!

The desire to take a different path and pursue a passion, strikes people of all ages, many of which are Baby Boomers. Business with a Side of Personal Growth Coaching will identify the new leader in you! Learning new skills and making a career transition can be stressful and difficult even for the most adventurous adults. Your priorities, needs, and thought processes are different.

Big rewards come from taking calculated risks. Many high achievers have allowed FEAR to keep them inside their comfort zone. Pushing out those walls puts steel in your spine and tosses REGRET out the window. Embrace this Change, accept assistance, and make this investment in your future. If not, you may never know your true potential.

My Story


Like many, I was raised conventionally following the plan: study hard in school, get exceptional grades, go to a well-recognized college, then find a good job to financially underwrite and sustain my life. A fork in the road presented the choice to take the road less traveled and become self-employed. During 12 speed of light years, I started several companies which became quickly successful. Being initially unprepared for such an undertaking, it was baptism by fire and an extremely stressful learning experience. That major milestone life event has shaped me into the highly authentic person I am proud to be today. I am passionate about helping other small business owners achieve sustainable, controlled success while leading fulfilling personal lives.

Donna J. Spina PCC, CPC, ELI-MP

Phone: 610.212.9823