"I hate calling and asking for more information. I don't know if I will even get a real person on the phone - and if I do I don't want to hear a sales spiel!"

We know exactly how you feel! We would love for you to just give us a call and speak to us in person, and we understand some people do not feel comfortable doing that. In fact we don't expect you to just trust us — we are willing to work to earn your trust! Remember we have been where you are — we do understand how you feel. So we have put together a list of questions that you might have, and answered them.

But please, if you would like to call and ask a few questions, please feel free to do so. We promise not to try to "sell" you anything. We are here to help.

• How do I know I need a coach?
• What is the difference between consulting and coaching?
• How are we different from other coaches?
• How does coaching actually work?
• How much time will this take?
• Is group Coaching less effective than one-on-one coaching?
• What's the difference between coaching and therapy?
• My other advisors and consultants provide all the advice I need. What can you add that would be of value?

How do I know I need a coach?

Only you can decide if you need a coach. We knew when we needed a coach because we felt frustrated with growth, progress, lack of time and we knew we could be earning more. In otter words we had the vehicle and the gas - we just had trouble getting out of second gear! That's when we made the decision to get a coach.We have put together a checklist below for you to look over. If you find you are answering yes to too many of these questions for your comfort, maybe it is time to look at finding new strategies to help you earn more and work less.

• Am I working longer hours than I think I should?
• Has my income remained the same over the past year even thought I have added more hours to my schedule?
• Do I sometimes feel like a prisoner to my business or my career?
• Do I find that there's just not enough time to do the things that matter the most to me?
• Do I spend more time "doing" in my business than planning for growth?
• Is it time I analyzed or reviewed what's working and what's not in my business or career?
• Do I need to set and achieve more of my goals?
• Am I caught up and consumed by day-to-day details?
• Has my productivity and effectiveness declined over the years?
• Am I letting my loved ones down?
• Am I feeling frustrated by my lack of progress?

If you answered “yes” to any number of these questions, you are not alone. Most business owners and executives struggle at times to effectively manage their professional and personal life.

It is not uncommon for entrepreneurs and professionals to lose focus, miss opportunities, adopt bad habits and underutilize their talents and skills. As a result their frustration level goes up and their personal freedom goes down. It’s normal to become consumed by non-essential “stuff” and become overwhelmed and distracted by low-value details and low-priority activities. But that's no excuse to continue to be bogged down by inefficiency and low-effectiveness. It’s time to take control of your life and make decisions that will allow you to drive your success and balance your life.

At Pet Pros Business Coaching, we help owners, professionals and managers focus on effective thinking and action. With clarity of their priorities and desires, we help these clients work less and achieve more. Your potential is there – our goal is to help you seize that potential and enjoy a richer life.

We know your time is valuable to you. We offer flexible services that will allow you to become more focused and make more money in a way that fits your needs and schedule. Check out our services and find out how they can help you find the success you want and fulfillment you deserve.

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What is the difference between consulting and coaching?

In a consulting relationship, the primary concentration is on your company's operations and functioning as a corporate concern. Input is based on expertise as entrepreneurs, business persons, managers, and consultants. Consulting might involve thinking through a business problem, reviewing a business plan, or exploring ideas for an organizational restructuring.

Coaching concentrates on you as a person. A coach helps guide you in making business and personal improvements and achieving your personal, professional, and business goals. They may work one-on-one with an individual or work with a group.While working with a coach, you make the decisions and own the results. Coaching is not about telling someone what to do. It's about asking the right questions, listening, guiding self-assessment, helping with options and goal-setting, providing candid feedback, and measuring results.If this sounds a little ambiguous to you — we understand that too. A good coach will assess where you are at in your business and tailor their coaching to fit your need.

Sometimes, a coach may need to constructively confront behaviors that are unproductive. Coaching involves a number of steps, starting with an assessment and ending with measured results. So in a nutshell, it is not easy to explain every step of coaching in detail until we assess where you are and together discuss your needs.

As coaches we are here to challenge you and bring your best traits to the surface. And if you are blocking your own success (because sometimes we are all afraid to succeed), we will help you get out of your own way! Just like an athletic coach, we want you to run your very best race!

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How are we different from other coaches?

We are franchisee owners, and are well trained. Not everyone can be a coach; they must receive, understand and learn to practice what we preach.

But what impressed us most about our franchise was the great system and back up materials that we have to offer all our clients. Anyone can call themselves a coach, but not everyone has the training, resources or the expertise that we have developed.

Here are some other great things that we can offer you:

• Money-back guarantee on all our coaching services.
• We help improve the effectiveness of both the owner/manager and their business - a powerful combination.
• We know who we are. We are coaches, facilitators, optimizers and liberators. We are experts at helping owners, professionals and executives become more focused, effective and productive - to unlock the potential in themselves and their businesses.
• We help hold clients accountable to themselves and their goals.
• We are not simply trainers or just consultants. We are experts in bringing out the best in people: you.
• We are not experts in our clients' businesses or industries. We never pretend to be.
• We are affordable, both in terms of time and money.

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How does coaching actually work?

Think of some famous athletes ... more than likely, they have a coach that is now (or has been) critical to their success! It can be beneficial to have an objective person guide an individual (or team) in achieving a goal.The concept of coaching is not something new. For several years, however, business and career coaching has rapidly expanded as a profession and is used by people who want to improve personally and/or professionally.

Coaching can take many forms and Pet Pros Business Coaching offers a variety of coaching services to meet the needs of our clients.We can provide group coaching in a professional setting and individual coaching either by phone or in person.

Group Coaching:
Group meetings are held once per quarter and can be supported by individual in person or over the phone sessions in between quarters. In a group setting, coaching begins with an in-depth examination of your goals and needs, how your current work and home life fulfills those, and what you can do to close any gaps where they exist. Each quarterly meeting covers a new business strategy, but we return regularly to prior topics to monitor how your habits change as the coaching progresses, and to adjust strategies in anticipation of where you'll be in your next phase.

Individual Coaching:
Individually we prepare in advance, and then meet typically for a specified time each month. Typically, individual coaching involves developing a personal plan, then reviewing any changes you're implementing, addressing new issues that have come up, and making progress on at least one or two longer-term goals you've chosen. We finish the individual coaching session with a debriefing to insure we are both happy with how things have gone. You will leave each meeting with actionable to do's to help you chart your progress.

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How much time will this take?

The question of how much time we need to spend together to get results is a common one. After all, many of us find ourselves in the position of having no time, and then no time to do anything about it!

However we all know that it we don't take the time to stop, nothing will change. So we developed programs that make it easier for you to choose a program to fit your schedule and your business.

Groups meet once per quarter for a full year, with two additional optional years of subject content. Individual coaching plans vary in length from three months to a couple of years. Sessions are prepared beforehand, and end with specific action plans and assignments. Actual results may vary and will largely depend on how each person's situation and how prepared they are to make the changes that are needed.

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Is Group Coaching less effective than One-on-One coaching?

Pet Pros Business Coaching clients tell us that there is no noticeable difference. In fact, group coaching is often more effective. People can talk about issues more easily when they realize that others in the group have reached the same impasse. The lack of individual exclusiveness is generally more than made up for by the increased openness of the conversation.

On the other hand, one-on-one coaching allows you to focus more on specific business strategies today rather than wait until it appears in the curriculum several quarters later.

What is the difference between quarterly coaching and monthly coaching? Quarterly coaching takes place in a group setting. You and other business owners, and professionals, or an entire corporate team can be coached on interpersonal issues, goal-setting, or general group effectiveness. Group coaching settings can be ideal if there are several managers all grappling with similar issues, or several managers who must work together to produce results.

Monthly coaching is all about you. It's about helping you as an individual design the life you've always wanted; and helping you as a business person cope with business challenges and devise action plans together with your coach. Accountability in coaching is shared between the coach and the client. Pet Pros Business Coaching helps plan a direction, and the client commits to taking action to succeed.

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What's the difference between coaching and therapy?

Pet Pros Business Coaching does not provide therapy. Coaching is about setting a future goal and acting to make the goal real. It is about creating and implementing a plan, once your decision has been made to commit to the process. If a client has conflicts or emotional blocks that get in their way, it may make sense to have them work through those issues with a therapist concurrently with coaching. The coach can then provide specific, detailed facilitation in creating a satisfying life.

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My other advisors and consultants provide all the advice I need. What can you add that would be of value?

Pet Pros Business Coaching works with business owners who are often supported by advisory boards, peer groups, etc. These groups offer in-depth brainstorming and problem solving support. Sometimes, however, these groups can become “gripe” sessions dominated by the same few people. Our program does not allow this to happen as sharing time is focused and appropriately limited. Additionally, our strategic coaching program can be a great complement to these other programs. Pet Pros Business Coaching program provides you with a structured and recurring time-out from your business to create your 90-day goals and intentions.

There is a legal difference, also. Legally, you and Pet Pros Business Coaching have no obligation to each other, except by mutual agreement. You can tell us anything, and we will listen non-judgmentally, and do whatever it takes to help you with the situation. You can have strictly confidential conversations with Pet Pros Business Coaching, without privacy concerns that may exist in other situations.