This week's Coach in the Spotlight is Joe Morrison. Joe is a Coaching Academy graduate who now runs his own coaching business called Craft & Scale. Joe specialises in helping business owners grow their business, enabling entrepreneurs to revitalise their passion and drive for their business. Read on to hear about the experiences and insights that have shaped his coaching journey and business.
I’ve always been driven to help people create positive change. Overtime, I learned that directing and leading change can only get you so far. Real, meaningful change requires enabling and empowering others. The more I worked in the field of change – in strategy, innovation and organisational change – the more I realised coaching unlocks potential and solutions like nothing else.
A friend of mine recommended The Coaching Academy to me. They talked about the quality of the training. I looked it up and ended up signing up for the free Introduction to Life Coaching webinar.
Fantastically well. At the time I was juggling working for myself with a growing family. I loved how you could progress the Life Coaching Diploma at your own pace. The range of face-to-face and remote training opportunities provided all the options I needed. That was a key part in my decision to train with The Coaching Academy. There were a lot of practical exercises. Building that hands-on experience, with opportunities to make mistakes and learn was super valuable. I also liked how the programme covered the commercial side of coaching, such as promotion, pricing and marketing. It’s no good being the best coach in the world if you can’t generate the business.
I had coaching support in the two most critical points in my career. Firstly, when I was considering my next career move 7-8 years ago, and ultimately set-up own business. I don’t think I would have taken that step without coaching. Exploring my strengths and ambitions gave me the focus and confidence to make the leap. More recently, I have made changes to my business and built a signature product called Founder’s Reboot. I’d been considering this for a while, and coaching support was again critical in making the change happen.
The most rewarding part was working with real-life clients and seeing the growing impact of my coaching. The practical nature of the course and the excellent feedback from tutors enabled me to progress quickly. It’s rewarding to work with clients, knowing that you’re ironing out the mistakes and progressing from student to fully competent coach.
I use coaching very flexibly, led by the needs of my clients. One of the most important things The Coaching Academy teaches you is what coaching actually means, and how it differs to mentoring and consulting. Too often these terms are used interchangeably, without proper definition. For some clients, I provide a pure coaching experience. For others, such as those on my Founder’s Reboot programme, I carefully deploy coaching and mentoring at different stages. It’s designed for owners of micro to medium businesses frustrated they’re not getting the benefits they originally wanted from their business. My Coaching Academy training complements my experience in strategy, business ownership and marketing.
I always ask my clients why they started in business. Most people start with a combination of financial and personal goals. As their business develops and becomes complex, the focus narrows to keeping the sales coming in. Initial dreams of freedom and flexibility fall by the wayside. Revisiting these original goals is key to building a better business and more satisfying outcomes.
Clients love the speed of progress they make on my Founder’s Reboot programme. It’s delivered in weeks, not months. Training from The Coaching Academy enabled me to really refine my process. Business owners are typically in a hurry to improve. Not only are they ambitious, but they’ve also typically lived with frustration for a long time. They work hard but aren’t getting the results they want. As we’re tackling the key issues of their business, clients can experience quite an emotional journey as they progress, but the most rewarding feedback is seeing clients become visibly more energised and motivated towards the end.
I love working with clients with a wide range of backgrounds, personalities and strengths. I choose to work with ambitious people who want to get things done. I’ve found there is no template for an entrepreneur or business owner; anyone can create a great business when they maximise their strengths and are open to addressing their blind spots. People who start a business are doing something that the majority of people cannot or will not do. Progress depends on them creating new products and services we can all use, so I want to help as many as I can. That’s what spurs me on. If I can make someone’s business feel as exciting as it was when they started, that’s a measure of success for me.
Thank you Joe for sharing your inspirational coaching journey with us!
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