Hello, and welcome to The Business of Executive Coaching podcast. I'm your host, Ellie Scarf, and I am so excited to be here today with Tim Collins because I think we're gonna have a fun and also insightful conversation. Now, if I think about Tim and Tim's strengths, I think of this triad of strategic and practical and human-centered, and Tim's natural humor and style is a big part of that.
So Tim is a leadership team and executive coach. He's a facilitator and also a strategic project advisor. I think I'm getting that right. Advisor and facilitator. Yes. He has an abundance of experience in the field, if you like, with over 25 years working in professional services, infrastructure, government, financial services.
And Tim is definitely the coach that you want on your team when your organization has leaders stepping up into bigger challenges, when teams are under pressure, and when there is a big organizational challenge or imperative that needs support. He also says on his LinkedIn profile, and I can see Tim going, "What do I write on my LinkedIn profile?"
No. That he is an enthusiastic amateur jazz saxophonist, an occasional sourdough baker, and a mediocre local footballer, and that only one of those things is improving. So firstly, welcome, Tim, but please tell us which of those three things is actually improving. Thanks, Ellie. That's very kind. I'd have to say it's probably the music that's improving currently- because I am finding the time to do some practice.
Oh, amazing. Yeah. What do you know? The others, not so much. Yeah. Yeah. Was sourdough a COVID thing? Sourdough, well, I was doing it before it was cool. Oh. I want that noted. Yes.it was pre-COVID, but then it, yes, it certainly got a boost during the COVID pandemic.
Amazing and, yeah, it was good fun. Yeah still dabble every now and then in that. I love the videos you see, and where someone, they crack open the sourdough, and I'm like- Yeah "Why didn't you cut it with a knife?" 'Cause now it's gonna be really hard to eat it, but it looks so good.
That's true. It looks so beautiful. Maybe- And you can hear it, you can hear it popping if it, if you've got, you know- It's very close enough to it ... yes, ASMR. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So Tim, I'd love it if we could kick off with just a little bit about your corporate to coach story, because everyone has one.
What is it about you and your past that brings you to this work now? Yeah, sure. Happy to do that. So I came to coaching a few years ago now, after a career, as you sort of outlined, in professional services, and before that originally in financial services and banking.
And I've found that over that time, I really enjoyed working in teams of people, leading teams being responsible for people's development and helping them grow. And I came across coaching, and I really enjoyed it, and I thought, this would actually be quite a lot of fun to do for a living."
And yeah, it went from there. I had originally started my career having done a psychology degree, but not wanting to practice as a psychologist at that time. I started my career in human resources with one of the big banks, and that was fantastic. Gave me a great grounding in a theory of leadership and management that was really formative and useful.
And then after a while, I found myself wanting to have a new challenge but stayed with that organization and moved into their corporate affairs team, 'cause I also discovered that I had an interest in some of the big issues around banking and financial services and politics and sustainability and communities.
And so I found myself in the team that looked after corporate affairs-and had responsibility for engagement with community groups and helped write the first sustainability policy for that organization. And was really passionate about- The impact that I could have through work and the impact that the organizations I worked for had and realized that I wanted my work to make a positive difference in the world.
So, fast-forward a little while, I decided to travel, went overseas and worked some part-time jobs in London that were not particularly career-focused but ended up being in and around the property industry. And then when I chose to come back to Australia I realized I quite liked consulting and I was quite interested in property and communications and engagement.
I'd done some further studies by this stage in communication. And I came across an organization that was a consulting firm in the built environment and property, had a lot of government clients. And I didn't have much of a clue about what they did 'cause I didn't really understand it, but they seemed like really nice people, so I thought I'd give it a go.
And then spent quite a lot of time there, loved the place as a place to work and loved the sort of alignment of interests and values and purpose with the work I was doing. And so I worked on really big projects for government clients, some private clients, but generally on things that were making a positive difference in the world.
And I branched out into new areas of learning around big infrastructure and how it's planned and delivered and justified, how to get decisions made, how governments make decisions and allocate resources. And then how to work in big multidisciplinary teams that have really complicated things to do in a short period of time.
And after a while there I realized I wanted to again branch out and do something else, and I thought, "This is the time to experiment with coaching," because it was bringing together a sort of a, passion for improvement and making things better and leaning back on some of the things I'd learnt way back at uni around people and what makes them tick.
So yeah ... had you been, like, coaching formally or informally in your roles, like, leading up to making the leap? 'Cause I'm imagining you probably were doing it in a few different roles. Yeah I'd say I was. So formally I'd been involved in some mentoring programs. The organization that I was working for and with as a contractor was Sydney Metro, which is a New South Wales government organization delivering Australia's largest public transport project.
And they had a tremendous culture of bringing people together from government staff, external advisors, and contractors and so on, into one integrated team. And a lot of the positive stuff they put into the culture was, would involve people regardless of where, how they joined the organization- which was a big plus. And one of the programs they had was a mentoring program, and I was fortunate to have the opportunity to mentor some other team members.
And I really enjoyed that process. And we'd also benefited from some coaching training. And it's a skill set that I had been using when I was in the consulting firm, Yeah as well.
So, you know, that sort of helping to, helping other people to grow and helping them to develop was something I had some experience of and enjoyed, yeah. So tell us a little bit about how your business has unfolded. Like, do you have an elevator pitch that you'd be happy to share with us?
Sure. Absolutely. So I've been in business for about 13 years now. And for the first sort of large part of that, it was the project management consulting largely on infrastructure projects. And it was solving client problems around usually the front end development phase of projects and, how to work out what it is you wanna do and then get it approved by decision-makers.
And that was really focused on business case development and strategic planning and so on. And then the shift that I made a few years ago to where I am now is I still do a little bit of that and I love that element of the work. But now I'm really focused also on supporting professionals and leaders and teams improving anything to do with the way they work.
And so that includes one-on-one coaching. It includes team coaching and group coaching and quite a lot of facilitation as well. So workshops on all topics from strategic planning to team engagement to other issues. And a bit of training development as well. So I put together customized training programs, usually for clients in the sort of industries I've got experience in and the settings I'm familiar with.
And yeah, that's pretty much the size of it. And so are you quite, industry infrastructure-focused or are you now a bit broader than that? It's a bit broader than that now, yeah. I have to say that's probably where a significant amount of my activity happens. But it's drawing on other areas as well.
So I've worked for the last few decades at the sort of boundary of the public and private sectors. And I think I bring an understanding of both environments. I've never actually been employed as a public servant, but I've supported many of them, and I've worked on big government projects and with other government organizations.
But I've worked in private organizations that usually have something to do with the government sector and so I've had clients from, the big infrastructure projects or the firms that support them and work on them, but also in other sectors too, in financial services in tech, a little bit of emerging industries through the creative industries and the arts and quite a lot of public servants- from all range of different departments, from, health to education, social services.
And a few really interesting engagements with, in government as well, and with elected officials. So- Oh, how interesting. people that are in parliaments of all things. Yeah. Oh. Are there... Oh, my God, I just feel like that would be very interesting and very challenging.
It's both of those things. I think , there's a lot of information, well, there's a lot of artic- stuff that's been in the media in the last few years around, you know, parliaments as a workplace- Yes ... and some of the challenges that come from essentially ultimately being accountable to the voters, but not necessarily anyone else about how you manage your staff.
Yeah. And so, you know, there's a lot of really good work that's been done by organizations like the Commonwealth Department of Parliamentary and Workplace Services and- at the state levels, others as well to kind of improve the capability of members of parliament and their teams in how they work with one another.
And that's absolutely made big improvements. But as someone with an interest in that world, I'd say there's still a lot of opportunity there. Yeah. Very nice- With people- ... refrain, Tim. Lots of opportunities. Well, people go into politics to improve the world, right? Yeah.
There's a very small minority, I think, who might have other motivations, but for the most part, people genuinely believe in what they're doing, and they think they're on the side of good. Yeah. 'Cause otherwise, why would you? Yeah. But there's always that dynamic of, you gotta get elected in order to make change.
And so there's always that duality at play for people in those environments from needing to win votes and secure support in order to make the changes they wanna make to make the world a better place. So I find that really interesting and- Yeah had some really interesting engagements in that area.
Fascinating. So tell me a little bit about how people work with you. So I think I caught one-on-one coaching, facilitation, training, but I imagine there's a bit of nuance in there. Sure. Absolutely. Yeah, those are the sort of big categories. And the nuance comes from really whatever the need is within the organization or the individual that I'm working with.
But yeah, to, I guess just to pick out some examples, there's everything from leadership development programs that a business might be putting a few of their people through which, involves sometimes some one-on-one coaching or group coaching or a bit of training on specific topics that are relevant to them with some follow-up coaching involved as well.
So for the work that I develop, I like to make it really targeted and specific to their needs and to follow up like a training session with some follow-up, some coaching afterwards so that it really sticks and so that it's particularly useful for the challenges of that particular professional or team or business.
It's not generic stuff. But yeah, and then facilitation and running of workshops could be for strategic planning or in-increasingly for team alignment. I do a fair bit still in the infrastructure world and those projects are big and complicated and always under time pressure.
And there's a lot of benefit from bringing the team together for some time- ... to just take stock of where they're at and make sure everyone's still kind of, pulling in the right direction. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A-amazing. I wasn't gonna ask this, but I am. It's one of... It occurs to me that in those sectors, there's probably a real pressure around measurement of impact because of- Sure
the investment and the justification. Is that... What do you think about that in this space? Yeah, good question. I think that some of those organizations, many of them increasingly, will have some measure of internal engagement and cohesion. So they might run Yeah ... if it's a public sector organization, they'll have a mandated annual survey of some sort.
Yeah. Staff survey or climate survey. But even if it isn't or if it's on that public-private boundary, they might collect some data on engagement and- Yeah ... be able, you might be able to show some sort of impact pre and post there. Yeah. But I think my experience has been that participants certainly know when there's been value in- Yeah
what they've experienced and clients as well. Part of my approach on things is always to start with some collection of data, which could, which sometimes is a 360-degree- ... survey. But at other times might just be a bit of a chat and a structured interview with the, person and their stakeholders, or if it's a team, with each team member and the stakeholders of that team to get a sense of what's important to them and how they're currently tracking and- what could be better. And then if you have the time and interest, you can do a follow-up at the end.
But I find that even just the taking the time to collect some of that data at the start, it doesn't have to be quantifiable, even if it's qualitative- Yeah ... helps people to realize- What you're there for or what they're there for and what the issues are they're gonna look at.
Yeah. So I haven't really had much of that conversation around, needing to demonstrate ROI or on those things. I think for organizations and teams that are paying attention to how their people engage and how they work with one another I haven't experienced that, the case really needs to be made that much for it.
I don't know. And I think that's increasingly the case now as AI is being used to take on so much more of the research or the knowledge gathering or the remembering of things or, the mechanical parts of knowledge work- ... that it's the stuff that AI can't do that is the differentiator, and that's where people like coaches can help.
Yeah. Are you seeing that, the, reasons clients are coming to you are starting to include things like adoption of AI and you know, managing this new sort of world we have where AI is becoming increasingly important? Is that- Coming up yeah, there's a bit of that. There's a bit of that.
I think it's more sort of being revealed as a symptom of where there might be a shortcoming. And maybe this is still because of it's early days in some people's adoption or in the sophistication of these tools, but I think a lot of us will have had that experience of receiving a brief or something and being able to tell quite clearly that there's a fair bit of AI in what's put this together.
And so on the face of it, you think, "Oh, wow, this client's thought really deeply about what they need and the potential approaches." And you think maybe also they've leaned quite heavily on their AI friend to generate the brief and- Yeah ... and how much genuine understanding is there underneath it- Yeah
if that makes sense. So yeah I think that AI adoption and so on sometimes is a theme, but it's maybe also just a manifestation of the usual, wanting to do more with less or wanting to Yeah. to be more effective and improve the way things are done. Yeah. And in some ways it's just an example of another adopt- change adoption or tool adoption that can- Yeah
something derailing in an organization. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So you've obviously been in business for quite a long time now. I think you said 13 years with sort of 18 months with this particular hat, and so I imagine that over time there's been a lot of learning, there's been a lot of pivots.
What are the biggest things you've learned, whether it's about yourself or about business along that journey? Yeah, that's a big question. I know. It's huge, sorry. No, it's fine. It's a good question.
Feel free to interpret , as you'd like thinking about what goes on in the accelerator and- the work that I've done with your support and other members is, I think, learning the difference between core professional work and the things that you do as a professional, and in my case as a coach and facilitator and consultant, and the other work that's also as important in this context of marketing and selling and all the other things you do when you're a small business owner.
And that you need to be aware of the differences of those two or multiple elements of work, and the fact that they're all important, but they need different skills and different strengths. Yeah. So it's almost like if you lean on your professional skills to try to do some of those other bits of work, it's might not be the least effort, a pathway to an outcome.
Yeah. What was it like for you? I see you as, pretty good at that work of sales and business development. What was it like when you started? Is was it something that always came naturally, or is it something you've had to work on?
Yeah. It's a good question. I've been thinking about this, and I think because I came to my current incarnation as a coach and... incarnation sounds a bit grand, I don't think I've actually lived through multiple lives, but the current state- I think it's entirely appropriate in business.
Okay. I feel like we have new incarnations every few months. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.
No, the current sort of phase of I guess a more diverse portfolio of work, right- beyond the original consulting to, also include coaching and facilitation. I think because I had already been a consultant for a large number of years, I was comfortable with business development and understood that it's a kind of essential part of the role.
But, and now I've forgotten the question. Oh, I was wondering whether, has it always been easy for you? Or was this- Yeah, gotcha ... like a journey that you had to go on at some point- yeah ... to get to grips with? Sure. Yeah, so no, it hasn't always been easy. If I reflect back a long time to when I, decades ago, when I finished uni and I was entering the workforce, and I knew one thing for sure, I think in the way that you some- think you know things for sure in your 20s, but you don't really.
That I didn't wanna have anything to do with sales, right? I finished- Yeah ... my psychology degree, and I wanted to work in business and in organizations, but I definitely didn't wanna work in sales. Which I laugh at now. Yep.
But I think then having shifted from being in a corporate role to being in consulting, and being exposed to and then working in and getting some training years ago in, building relationships and in selling of professional services that I like connecting with people, I like talking to people, I like the sort of talking about the work we do and so on.
So, that approach to business development and sales I enjoy and comes relatively naturally. Which is not to say it doesn't take work and effort and discipline. But yeah, I think the building of relationships and the connection with people is something I enjoy doing.
But there's particular ways of leveraging that for the benefit of your business and the value that other people can get from you that is a bit counterintuitive to someone like me.
Yeah. Absolutely. So what have the biggest challenges for you been when it comes to growing a business? The biggest challenges would be around, I think , I was gonna say any small, really small business, but even bunch of other businesses that in professional services and businesses that sell time, is to, is having the discipline around growth activities and delivery at the same time.
Maintaining that discipline and focus on business development and network management while you're still delivering work. Yeah. And to try to avoid that yo-yoing kind of experience of being really busy doing work and then not having time to build the next phase of work, and then-
not busy enough- yes.because you don't have enough work. Love that rollercoaster. Absolutely, yeah. And that's- Yeah ... that's definitely a challenge. I think as a, as someone who deliberately chose to be in a very small business rather than build something with other people the isolation and- Yeah
potential loneliness that comes with that- is definitely a challenge. But there's, and there's ways of addressing that which I use. I use a physical office in the city, which I use- about half the time, where I'm around other people. Or at least around people I'm not related to.
And, making the effort to catch up with people and connect with people, and reconnect, and have coffees, which serves both purposes of, maintaining networks and hearing what's going on, and being available for opportunities, while also kinda maintaining connection. Yeah.
They're Probably the two, two of the big challenges, and I think that the other one that's related is around managing your own mindset particularly in those times when it is difficult and challenging and, you're either not as busy as you'd like to be or you're too busy and don't have anyone to offload to, is being aware of what's going on between the ears.
And, trying to manage that or, and getting support from a whole bunch of useful people with that. Yeah. It's interesting, isn't it? 'Cause as coaches, I think there is a tendency to think that we don't have, we won't have any mindset issues because we're so well-educated in this space.
Surely it doesn't come up for us but it really- That's right ... sadly, we are just as deeply human and we bring ourselves into all of this stuff, and that means, all of our baggage comes along with us into business so- Yeah. Absolutely How do you how do you...
This is a question without notice. What do you think about pricing? Is pricing something that you've obviously come from a consulting background. How's that- Yep ... informed how you think about pricing as a coach? Yeah. A good question, and one I remember you talking about at one of your master classes which-
Some time ago now. But, I think that's both a benefit and a disbenefit of having come to it as a consultant. Because as a consultant, you know what your hourly rate is. And if you are starting out doing what is a good thing to do, which is, if you're transitioning into coaching from something else, and that something else is consulting, you've already got a measure in your head of what a client is willing to pay for you.
And you've already got a measure of what if you can sell coaching services to your existing network from consulting, and that's something that I was lucky enough to be able to do when I started out.
You've got a benchmark for what you think that some of your contacts will be willing to pay for you because they, people don't normally know exactly what each other's hourly rates are, but you kinda have an idea.
And so you can think I reckon I could charge at least this much- ... to this client," because that's what they would expect me to be charged out to a client for consulting work. But it's different. And I think it's, it can be a real limiting approach if you're not, aware of what other con- coaching-type engagements- Yeah
are paid for someone with your experience in all facets. Or yeah, you could be short-changing yourself, if you just do, try to do a direct translation from your consulting rate to your coaching rate because it's different types of work. Yeah. And, and- Yeah ... consulting you tend to get in sort of multiple days, right?
That it comes in, Yeah ... chunky pieces. That's right. It's a bigger engagement. Yeah. Yeah. It's not as- as directly analogous. And I think I remember that master class, and I also said, "Don't bench your- benchmark yourself against things like a therapist's rate, or a- Yeah
A psychologist's rate, or even a lawyer's rate," right? Because- Yeah ... because of that shift and I think that's a really good, Or how did you get over that hurdle? Like, how did present coaching pricing to people who already had you with this sort of consultant hat on?
Without wanting to delve too far into trade secrets, I think that's- Yes. Of course ... probably something I'm still working on. And but it's moving away from hourly rates and more into packages. Yeah. And talking about, an engagement could include a certain number of sessions plus, support between sessions plus-
Stakeholder interviews before and check-ins- Yeah ... before, during, and after, and that's all wrapped up into a particular figure. So yeah, it's pricing in terms of packages rather than hourly rates. Yeah. But I think it's a bit different, and I don't know, there's different views on this, and you might have a different one, but for individual clients who are paying out of their own pocket, and I have quite a few of those as well-
I still think there's room there for a different sort of approach in certain circumstances. But I don't know. In what way? More a retainer model or even whether it's depending on the individual kind of client and your relationship with them.
They might... It's a big investment and I know that we spend most of our time, and most of my work is with corporate clients- not with individuals. So it's more of a minor point. But with individuals for whom, they're people that I already know or have worked with, and they're not really sure what they're gonna get out of this- Yeah
I feel like I don't feel comfortable asking them to sign up to a massive investment. Sure. 'Cause it's different- Got it ... it's a very different undertaking if you're paying out of your own pocket than if it's from your company's training and development budget. But yeah. Yeah. That's not the m- main game.
No. But I think that's right. I think . i'm also not a person who recommends you just have one flat rate for anybody who wants your time. Yeah. I'm very pragmatic, and I think my, my benchmarks are always I would probably charge individuals about half of my corporate rate.
Yeah. Yeah ... but what I'm hearing from you is that you can also be more flexible about the model, so it's not such a- Yeah ... a lock-in. There might be options to do month by month- Yeah ... versus, Yeah ... yeah. Interesting. Yeah, exactly. And like really where have most of your clients come from?
If you were to think back to sources, are they mostly people from your warm network that turned into clients or existing clients that became coaching clients? Yeah, good question. So I'm gonna put to one side here the clients that I do for associate work. Sure.
Sure, yes .because that's- Yeah that's a different- Yep engagement, and, some are associated. I think that's a good thing to note is that I think- Yeah ... associate work is a, is part of a,
well-rounded practice. Yep yeah. And so I've got relationships with a few companies that have me as associate, and I love and treasure those relationships and the work that comes from them. But in terms of my, , the clients that my business engages directly predominantly they have come from my warm network which was originally from the other work that I'd done as a consultant or as a colleague or as a- Yeah
In some cases as a client or as a provider to. Yeah. And then it expanded from there, yeah. Yeah. No. Yep. And what do you find the most challenging part of a sales process? Is it getting to the sales calls? Is it navigating the sales conversation? I think for me, it's probably getting to the sales call.
I think I'm pretty comfortable with that now, Yeah thanks to your excellent support and others. I think I'm pretty comfortable now with the sales conversations and navigating through that process, and I think also having had the experience of consulting, that- Yeah definitely helps. I mean, I think coming from consulting- It is very different-into coaching is sales skillset. It is, 100%. Yeah.
Yeah. And that's probably much, a much easier transition than people transitioning from corporate or other roles- ... into coaching. But for me, I think it's probably the, from where I'm at the moment, it's... a- and ongoing, it's that maintaining the systems and efforts into generating the pipeline of sales prospects-
And calls. And yeah, that's probably the bit of the process where my natural skills and talents need to be bolstered by other things well- Which is code for saying I'm less interested in doing it. Yeah. I think you are certainly not on your own. But what I'm hearing is that we just get you in the room with clients and that's where all your skills and your strengths can come out.
And for people who might feel that as well, that it's really the systems you put in place to get to that- Yeah place are- Yeah where the energy needs to be invested so that you can- Yes have more of these great conversations. Yeah, definitely. The systems- and routines and processes that can support you to then play to your strengths.
And I think the other part too is putting effort and time into challenging the mindsets, the limiting mindsets around the work you need to do to generate those opportunities. So, like, you know, recognizing that if, why is it that you might not want to identify as a salesperson, what's behind that, and
what's really the issue or, I think one of the-- You asked me earlier what I'd- What are the things that I've learned? And I think one of the things I've learned, and this might shock you, but I'm not the main character apparently in everyone else's story. I can't believe it. I know. I know.
It is shocking. But that, we ... starting out or growing a business you spend, I think, you can spend a lot of time agonizing over, getting a LinkedIn post exactly right, or getting your website perfect, or getting your bio exactly 100%. And maybe everyone else isn't gonna put quite the same amount of time into that as you did.
What a shock. Yeah. But that's quite freeing actually, once you come to that realization that as I've heard you say, getting it out in the world at a really good enough state is significantly better than never publishing it- ... because it's not perfect. I'm also thinking of different applications of that concept, which is also, people don't reply to a proposal.
Yep. And it is- Yeah ... not that they are sitting there thinking, "Jesus," you know, "Ellie, you're a bit shit. I'm not gonna reply to you." Right? It's really not about me at all. It may be that they're busy, it may be that maybe truly they don't wanna work with me, but, Yeah ... yeah, it's not as personal as we make it.
And I think that- No ... that reframe of, I'm not the main character in everyone else's story is actually a really interesting way to think about that. I like it. Yeah, I think that's a good summary. And the other one is also, I mean, this comes up, I think, for LinkedIn as well, and I love LinkedIn, and I'm active on it, and I really like the way that it connects and reconnects me with people- that I might not have seen for ages.
And I remind myself frequently that what comes through my LinkedIn feed is not reality. It's not. You know, it's the man- it's a deliberate choice by what people choose to put on there, and then it's what the algorithm does that feeds you a thing.
And I think if you, especially starting out or if you're in business by yourself, if you forget that and you think that what you're seeing on your screen is what's really going on in totality around the world- that can give you a bit of a, an unhelpful mindset around-
That's your own efforts so true. And also, what I see a lot for coaches starting out is that they end up in this overwhelming feed of coaches, right? Yeah. And so they assume that everyone in the world is a coach, right? Yeah. And so there is no chance that they're gonna get work because every single person in their feed is selling coaching services.
And- Exactly. Yeah yeah, so I really get that. And it can feel like- And yeah, all- ... there's no clients out there. It's like, exactly. All I'm seeing is people selling coaching services. Yeah. And that's right. All you're seeing is that, but that feed is unique to you. Exactly. That is not what anyone else is seeing.
It's kind of like, I talk to clients about this where, the negative self-perceptions and at its extreme, if you believe the label, imposter syndrome comes from labeling your internal monologue considering your internal monologue and evaluating that with what other people are putting out externally.
What other people are saying compared to what you're saying to yourself internally. Yeah. And we can't hear other people's internal monologues, but we know that everyone is self-critical and everyone thinks those things. Yeah. But it's that unhelpful comparison which happens on social media as well.
Well, I was gonna say We see it a lot more clearly on, like, Instagram and Facebook, right? Yeah. And people are just posting the highlight reels of their life. We don't, Exactly ... we can assume that's not their real life. But LinkedIn, for some reason, we don't apply that level of scrutiny.
Yeah ... we assume, oh, well, so posted this, so therefore they must have a billion-dollar business. Exactly ... and here am I struggling- Yeah ... to get my next client. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. No, it's the same principle. Same principle applies. Yeah. It sure does. What are you most proud of in terms of what you've built in your business?
Yeah. I'm proud of a couple of things. I'm proud of having built the business, I think- Yeah ... just to start with. Like, I'm proud of the fact that this business didn't exist before I started it, and now it does. And that might sound a bit boastful, but- No ...
I love that it feels good. I think that's cool. I feel the same. Yeah. I'm like, "Here's something actually that we've built from nothing." Yeah. That's amazing. And they think about the people that we've helped and I think that's really cool. Yeah. I get a kick out of hearing clients tell me they've done their homework.
Yeah. That they've done the actions they said they were scared about- Yeah ... and they've put them into practice. I really get a lot of... And this is why I coach. I get a lot of satisfaction out of knowing that I've helped somebody make a positive change in their working life.
And that has cascading effects into other parts of their lives as well. We spend a lot of time at work, and- if we're happier and more effective there, then that means we're easier to live with. We're happier. We're better contributors to our families and communities. And- Yeah
If I reflect back on I said earlier that I realized I wanted my work to make a positive difference in the world, and I'm excited about the fact that I've been able to do that at a number of levels, by being involved in big projects that deliver positive change to communities, but also by working with people one-on-one to help them work on stuff that matters for them.
And- people that were stuck and didn't know where they wanted to go next in their careers, and then I see that they've made a move and turns out the grass was a whole lot greener on the other side and much better besides. Or they've realized that they do have the capacity and skills to do the difficult assignment they were not sure about.
And yeah, I find that really rewarding. Yeah. The ripple effect is tremendous, right? It's not just the person or the organization we work with, it's even down to the families of the team of tho- Yeah ... that person who is now having a better experience at work. It's, yeah.
I love that. So obviously you work with us inside the Accelerator. How has the Accelerator helped you along the way? Oh, lots of ways. Thank you. Like we talked a bit already about structure and discipline, and processes. So I think what's been really helpful is some of the frameworks and the content around how to distill your offer and put it out into the world in a way that resonates with buyers.
I think that the, a large part of it though is the community and the sort of, to- 'cause we're all coaches, we're all generous, wonderful people, Exactly ... and that's really great to be a part of and the support that we give each other. I think the discipline and the accountability that comes from making commitments to each other publicly about what we're gonna do and when we're gonna do it.
And yeah, I think it's all of those things. I think for me, I came into it knowing that I wanted more structure, and systems and practical supports- ... for some of my marketing and business development efforts, and that's absolutely what I get out of it as well. And l- being able to learn from other people's experiences- Yeah
for sure. Yeah. And I noticed in any given week, someone is having a massive win, someone's having a really hard time. Yeah. Someone's doing something really meaningful personally, and I think that, that community, and the sharing- Yeah ... around that, and the learning is amazing.
But I've actually also really liked being, I don't know, a spectator or witness to seeing other members have success as well. If I reflect back on when I joined and, hearing people talking about the difficulties and the challenges they were having, and that was all a bit shit.
And - Yeah ... and then a few months later, through their own hard work and discipline efforts, things are humming and they're going really well. And that's really nice to see. Isn't it? It's amazing. Thank you. So you know, if you could give a tip to someone starting a coaching business, what would you say to them?
Good question. I would say, make maximum use of your existing networks- Yeah ... to the point that you feel a bit uncomfortable about it. Yeah. Or, and then further. Yeah. Because that is where I knew this as a consultant already for the sort of work I was doing, but business development is all about relationship management and networks, and that's actually the nice thing about it.
That's what makes it not slimy selling. Yep. So that's probably it. Make... and there's opportunities in your networks that you might not be aware of, so talking that over with someone else- Yeah to help you explore that in a way that challenges your thinking.
A lot of people say yes to everything at the start. And 'cause I haven't said yes to everything, I'm gonna say yes to almost everything, but- Yeah ... if there's some things that you really genuinely know you don't wanna do don't do them. Because- Yeah yeah, that is, you started your business for a reason.
We say this a lot, but get out, get out of your own way. Don't- Yeah ... yeah, get stuff out there in the world before you think it's perfect. And that's I think as I said, that, been a change in mindset for me. As, as a consultant who prided himself on really good, high-quality work- Yeah
That's probably a change. And I think if I'd had that different mindset back in the day, I still would've done really good, high-quality work, probably more of it. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good... and what comes to mind based on those first few tips is a saying that I really am, I'm thinking about a lot lately, which is that everything you want lies on the other side of cringe mountain.
Yeah, I like that. You just gotta- Yeah ... just cringe- Yeah ... and get over it. So yeah. Yeah. I love that. Thank you. Can I ask you a few rapid-fire questions to wrap up with? Yes, go for it. Okay. If you could coach anyone in the world, who would it be? Oh, this was quite hard for me to... So spoiler alert- Yeah ... she gave me this question before.
I did. And I've heard it in previous episodes. Yes. I actually took a while to think about this, and I came up with the Prime Minister. I would love to coach the Prime Minister. He's my local member, so- Oh, okay Albo, if you're listening. Wow. Yeah. You could also- And my dog has met his dog.
That's the other claim to fame I've got. Oh that's like- anyway ... that's famous. But no, I'd love to coach him- Yeah ... or anyone else really at that sort of level of politics. Like I said, I've done some coaching for in the parliamentary context. And I think it's just super interesting people because of that combination of public service and passion.
And- politics is a really tough business. Oh, yeah. But it's really important. Yeah. And the reality of what politics is versus the ideals must be very- Yeah ... difficult to grapple with. For sure. And I think really prime fertile ground for coaching- Yeah ... for the reasons I was talking about earlier.
Yeah. Oh, interesting. Okay. If you could recommend a podcast or a book, what would it be? Ah, yes, so my book recommendation is not a coaching book. But it's a book about, on negotiation. Ooh. And it's called Never Split the Difference. Oh, yes. I've heard of this. Yeah. I read it. How to Negotiate As if Your Life Depended On It,
something like that. And it's a really interesting book because it's got some quite counterintuitive advice about negotiation. Chris Voss is the author. Yes. And the reason I picked that is that the advice is all around coaching-like skills, so being, asking curious questions and being open to and really attuned to the emotional state of your counterpart, and your own.
And so it's, there's quite a lot of overlap between coaching and between this particular approach to negotiation. Oh, I love it. So yeah. Okay, I've got to read the book- Check that one out myself.
Thank you. And what is one tool or piece of software that makes your business life better? So at the moment I'm gonna say Claude, the AI model. I think what I'm finding useful is that yeah, treating it as a tool to help with sorting through ideas I've already had or content that I'm putting together, and really with that human first, then AI, then human at the end kind of approach to it.
Yeah. And always checking anything it tells you might be a fact. Yeah. But, yeah, for me it's been helpful a lot, in some of the drudgery around administration and- yeah and accounts and whatnot. But also in development and, yeah and other kinds of areas.
Yeah. I feel like I'm just touching, scraping the surface of what it can do, particularly with- Yeah current work, although now it's not. It's just called work. But, Yeah I got it to analyze my last 12 months of LinkedIn posts- nice. Yeah and, come up with themes. It was very interesting.
I did use it for something similar, and then I wrote a thing and someone gave me some feedback on it and said, "Oh, that sounds a bit like AI." Oh. The awkward thing was, bit I'd written was the bit that they said sounded like AI, not the other. But anyway, yeah. Yeah. Maybe it's- Isn't that interesting? I think we all are worried now that we just assume everything's AI unless it's disproven a lot of the time.
So the human- Yeah stuff is even more important. Look, thank you so much, Tim. It has been an absolute privilege to have you today. I really appreciate it. And if people wanna get in touch with you, what is the best way for them to do that? No, thank you, Ellie. It's been great to be here.
The best way is probably through my LinkedIn, so yeah. Yeah. Perfect. That's easy and- we'll put the link in the show notes.yep, Tim Collins. Let's do that. Yep, perfect. And they can find me. Brilliant. All right. Thank you so much. Perfect. Thank you. See ya.
