I started out on my Businessloans.ie journey in October 2018 with the desire to make it easy for Irish business owners to get approved for alternative finance. There have been so many different challenges that have come up in getting the business going but as time goes on I’ve been working on a more solid plan of action.
I did some psychometric testing and it gave me great insights in to myself. One thing I’ve had to accept is that I’m not suited to every role and task in the business. On the flip side, it’s helped me play to my strengths. I got support with a pain point (administration) leaving me free up more time to focus on what I enjoy: working on finding new business. Another interesting thing about this activity was how it helped me adapt how I communicate with people with different personality types than me. I’m quite sure a finance deal I recently closed wouldn’t have happened it it weren’t for this.
I’ve been getting private coaching sessions from The Alternative Board (TAB). Business leaders such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Richard Branson have all had mentors. In fact, Branson said “If you ask any successful businessperson, they will always say they have had a great mentor at some point along the road.” Closer to home, Irish business people like Brody Sweeney of Camile Thai uses TAB. This coaching is helping me formulate my goals and most importantly keep myself accountable and on track.
Yesterday I sampled my first TAB Board Meeting. Business owners get together and use their collective minds and experience to overcome their individual challenges. In short, it worked like this. The business owner described the biggest challenge they were having in their business. Then other business owners were encouraged to ask open ended questions to get more clarity on the issue. There was a facilitator to keep everyone on track. After everyone’s questions were answered it was time to make suggested solutions. The business owner could choose to take some on board and give feedback on results in the next session. Taking this action results in TAB members profitability being 2.5 times that of non-TAB members.
If you’re a business owner potentially interested in learning more about this, feel free to get in touch with me. I’m happy to answer any questions.