From Mastery to Results: ActionCOACH's 6 Steps to a Better Business
by: ActionCoach Guyana
These six steps are designed to help you achieve success by developing a mindset for success, identifying your ideal target market, maximizing your resources, building a strong team, creating synergy, and achieving your desired outcomes. Let's dive into each step to see how it can benefit your business.
Step 1 - Mastery: To achieve success in business, you need to develop a mindset for success. This involves mastering key areas of your business, including sales, marketing, finance, and operations. According to a study by the Small Business Administration, 30% of businesses fail because of a lack of expertise. By mastering these areas, you can avoid common mistakes and set yourself up for success.
Step 2 - Niche: One of the most important aspects of any successful business is identifying your ideal target market. According to a study by HubSpot, businesses that focus on a specific niche are 13 times more likely to be successful. By creating a clear and compelling message to attract your target market, you can increase your chances of success.
Step 3 - Leverage: In order to grow your business efficiently, you need to maximize your resources. This involves creating systems and processes that streamline your operations and allow you to scale your business. According to a study by McKinsey & Company, businesses that prioritize operational efficiency are 10 times more likely to succeed.
Step 4 - Team: Building a strong team is essential to the success of any business. As a leader, it's your job to develop your team and create a high-performance culture. According to a study by Gallup, businesses with engaged employees are 21% more profitable than those with disengaged employees.
Step 5 - Synergy: Creating synergy between your team members is essential to achieving success. By aligning everyone around a shared vision and purpose, you can create a culture of collaboration and teamwork. According to a study by Deloitte, businesses that promote collaboration are five times more likely to be high-performing.
Step 6 - Results: The final step is all about measuring your progress and achieving your desired outcomes. By setting clear goals and tracking your progress, you can ensure that you're on track to achieve your desired financial results and personal fulfilment. According to a study by the Harvard Business Review, businesses that set clear goals are four times more likely to achieve success.
By following these six steps, you can take your business to the next level.
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Make Time for Gratitude
by ActionCoach PJ Weiland
“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.” — Zig Ziglar
Why Is Gratitude Important?
Studies show there are many benefits to acknowledging our blessings and expressing gratitude to others. Here are just a few:
Ways to Cultivate Gratitude
You can practice gratitude in your daily life in so many ways. Test one or more of these techniques and stick with the ones that work best for you. Once you’ve made gratitude a habit, you’ll find this mindset and way of life comes effortlessly.
I’m Grateful for YOU!
Among the many blessings I’m grateful for this year is the opportunity to connect with you and participate with your business. I’m inspired daily by your dedication and willingness to challenge yourself to succeed.
Systems make everything Better
by ActionCOACH Shaun Shoenmaker
I was volunteering at St. Philips Community Center and School when I noticed something they were doing that is beneficial in many ways for small business. There were a bunch of us there giving our time towards packing up about 50,000 meals for hungry children around Dallas. We did this by forming an assembly line that separated and assigned different tasks to different people. We had some folks putting ingredients into packages, some would weigh the packages, some would seal the packages, and finally others would box the packages. There were some adjustments that had to make along the process to get the food packages correct and ready for delivery. For example, when the people weighing the packages had a package that was too heavy, they had to correct the amount of food and pour some of it out. And when the package was too light, they had to add some additional food. Well, this took additional time for the weighing team and became a bit annoying and frustrating to continue seeing inconsistent results from the ingredients team that they had to correct each time.
As the process started taking place over several packages, I noticed an interesting development. The weighing team started to notice whether there was a tendency for the ingredients team to make packages that were either too heavy or too light. Since the ingredients team was just one step in front of them in the process—in other words they were physically right next to them in the assembly line—they started to provide feedback to them as to whether they needed to make the packages heavier or lighter. Guess what happened after the ingredients team got some feedback. We started getting much better results! In fact, we had about ten packages in a row that were not only within the allotted weight range but had the exact same weight!
What were some of the benefits of this feedback? It gave us a shorter cycle time because the weighing team didn’t have to correct as many packages that were over or under weight. The feedback also boosted morale because the people at the front of the assembly line weren’t anxious about their performance since they knew if they were performing better or worse. And the people at the end of the assembly line had the consistent results they wanted and were therefore less frustrated. Who would have thought there would be so many benefits from just a little bit of feedback? And it’s so easy to provide!
Might this be happening in your business? What are your different processes and what are the different points of feedback you may not be giving to your team members? Who are the people that at the beginning of your “assembly line” that could benefit from some feedback that would then allow you to be happier with some better results? If you can’t seem to figure it out contact us and we will definitely help you out.
How a Little FUN Pays Big Dividends
GUEST BLOGGER: Karen Callahan, Program Coordinator, ActionCOACH Foundation
Have you ever noticed how you always look forward to being with certain people? It’s usually because you feel comfortable with them, and they are just fun to be around. In life, that translates into more friends and better relationships. In business, it means more clients and greater access to key figures.
A good sense of humor and the ability to have fun may be an intangible, but it’s an extremely valuable one. In fact, every time women are polled on what they want most in a man, the #1 answer is a good sense of humor. And it doesn’t stop there.
In this blogpost in Forbes, play was shown to improve workforce productivity by 20%. According to the article, play helps foster creativity and innovation. Humor typically lends an element of surprise, getting us to think out of the box, “combining ideas in new ways and embracing the unexpected to build something that hasn’t been done before.” Game playing can help unite teams toward a common goal with established rules and boundaries in an environment where everyone is equal.
The element of fun in the workplace helps break down the walls between people so they feel more comfortable expressing themselves honestly; this can often be the difference between solving a problem and never hearing that one exists. It also allows employees to bring their full selves to the office. As Forbes concludes, “Through play, we have a new lens on those around us—what entertains them, what motivates them and what we have in common with them.”
Tackling Work Life Balance
Coach PJ Weiland, Greater Chicago
As a business owner or entrepreneur, you may have the freedom to control your work schedule, but that doesn’t make it easier to achieve work-life balance. In fact, a study conducted by Melissa Milkie and her colleagues at the University of Toronto found that people who set their own working hours and work over 50 hours a week tend to have more, not fewer, work-life conflicts.
If it seems the work will never end, making changes in how you work can reduce your workload, free up time for your non-work life, and prevent burnout. Here are three ways to better manage your work hours.
Delegate
If you’re just starting out, you may not be in a position yet to delegate a lot of what you’re doing to get your business off the ground. But experts say that three years in, you shouldn’t still be putting in 70 hours a week. Hiring right, and training well, will keep you from doing the job of two people.
What We Can Learn About Teamwork From The Animal Kingdom
Teamwork is an essential part of the workplace. From small to large businesses, it is the backbone of successful operation and productive environments. Most would say that mankind is more evolved because human cognitive abilities are much higher than that present in the animal kingdom. However, animals that work together have amazing organizational structures, behaviors, and traits to help them thrive in their habitats. This is crucial to help us learn what it means to work together as a team.
A Pride of Lions
Prides of lions are one of the leading examples of teamwork. They exhibit discipline, strategy and authority. Hunting and feeding time is one of the top priorities for a pride. Hunting zebras, buffalos and wildebeests is no easy feat; which requires a lot of the pride’s cooperation. Working together to take down their prey, lions give us key lessons we can implement into our workspaces. Often times, large projects and deadlines require dedicated teamwork from other members. These team members need each other’s contributions to handle challenging tasks. When each individual collaborates at 100%, it becomes easier to achieve big objectives.
A Pack of Wolves
Wolves are some of the best communicators in the animal kingdom. They have a highly evolved social structure with roles defined for each member of the pack. The utilize every channel of communication – from their fearsome how to miniscule eye movements. Researchers say that wolves are extremely observational and pay close attention to all types of subtle communication, within their pack and with the world around them. Communication modeled by wolves works wonders in teams as well – taking the time to understand each other well and communicating effectively. Asking clarifying questions, showing by example, etc is a great way to improve communication. If something feels “off” or a miscommunication occurs, it can be easily addressed and becomes less common in the future.
A Herd of Elephants
Elephants are one of the most intelligent species with incredible memory skills. Elephant groups are matriarchal, which means leadership is usually reserved for the oldest female elephant. When they are not being social, elephants can get into conflicts, especially when there is no leadership around. These matriarch elephants use memory and experience to guide and ensure the herd’s survival, including conflict resolution. They will use dominance and hierarchies to settle conflicts, for example, when fighting over scarce resources like food or elephants who are terrorizing villages. In the workplace, it is crucial to establish a scalar chain that can handle issues within the organization. For instance, if employees cannot reach an agreement, escalating issues to the next higher person on the chain helps resolve those problems. Additionally, having the right leadership in our organizations helps employees gain trust that they have an ally.
Shifts That Are Transforming Education
Technology has revolutionized our world and daily lives, and education is no exception. Living in a post pandemic world, learning is no longer restricted to the physical classroom, nor is it solely teacher-driven. Students of all walks of life have more choices and more flexibility now more than ever. Let’s look at some of these shifts that are transforming this new way of education.
A More Individualized Take
In today’s changing world, learning is no longer one size fits all. Traditional schools and grading systems still rely on standardized tests that ignore the individual abilities of different students. With new programs emerging, students will be able to learn in ways that are best suited to their capabilities. Through interactive media, step by step modules and audio/video tools, students can learn and grow in ways that resonate with their personal learning styles.
Allowing more inclusive ways of learning also takes the fear out of pursuing higher education for a lot of students. Additionally, this shift has been extremely valuable for entrepreneurs and business owners. If you want to specialize in growing a niche business, or a particular area of your business, you can find a program or masterclass specifically for that goal.
More Resources
It’s become common for most developed schools to have access to a wider and deeper range of learning sources. In the past, students and learners would only have access to a library, and whatever is available in the classroom. Now, almost virtually everyone, has the entire internet available to them. This also allows us to view real-time information with all of the resources on the internet to help answer questions or think of new questions to ask. More resources also give more room for creativity in education. Instead of traditional written reports, learners can collaborate on a Google document or create content through design programs.
Furthermore, as we reach 2023 and beyond, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is beginning to pop up in learning institutions. AI can potentially make learning more accessible as AI-enabled learning software can seamlessly adapt to a student’s individual abilities. Along with AI, technology such as virtual reality will help enhance participation rates and the overall quality of education.
There’s no denying that these shifts in education have come to be a powerful tool that can truly transform the way we learn in a myriad of ways. With the global reach of the internet and smart phones, the age of modern education has arrived and will continue to surprise us moving forward.
Principles That Guarantee Success
Have you ever found yourself scrolling through LinkedIn or Facebook, marveling at someone else’s success, wondering why your time hasn’t come yet? Maybe you’ve procrastinated on that passion project last quarter. Perhaps you lost interest in the new business you wanted to launch. Or, maybe the universe kept giving you secret signs to just cut your losses. With the smoke and mirrors of social media, it’s easy to question if success is even in the cards for us. I invite you to wade through those smoke and mirrors with me and evaluate what principles can guarantee success.
Strive for persistence, not perfection
It’s easy to get caught up in the perfectionist mindset. The reality is, it doesn’t exist. That’s why it’s so important to prioritize persisting day by day, instead of setting unrealistic goals and standards we can’t hold ourselves to. Persistence is the foundation and structure to your ultimate success. When faced with a roadblock or struggle, many people opt to retreat, it’s hard to blame them. Failure can be embarrassing and hitting roadblocks along the journey can feel like a punishment at times. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the rich didn’t get rich overnight. Their rewards came after painstaking behind-the-scenes work that most didn’t see happening. Persistence is the only thing will move you forward and join the other success stories. The alternative? Anxiety, dissatisfaction and regret. Don’t let the temporary pain of a slower process stop you from moving forward. Your future self will thank you.
Develop and maintain good habits for your lifestyle
If you want to succeed in business or any goals you’ve set, you first must develop good habits that rule your life. Here are a few habits that are essential in today’s day and age:
Take care of yourself, and your business will take care of itself.
Taking action now
We live in a world with an overflow of choices everywhere. It’s no surprise that analysis paralysis happens in our personal and professional lives as well. Analysis paralysis is a state that you can find yourself in when feeling extraordinarily overwhelmed because there are too many choices presented to you. Usually, to make a thoughtful decision, a person might weigh pros and cons, consider different viewpoints, detailed pieces of information and potential outcomes. This can create a sense of confusion and anxiety. As we become more confused, we can experience finding ourselves caught in a whirlwind of thoughts that might leave us feeling as if making a clear, confident decision is impossible. Analysis paralysis stops us from moving forward and keeps us swirling in the whirlwind of thoughts. It can lead to inaction or more dreaming rather than doing. Action is what breeds results and allows you to reach your goals faster.
Remember success is a journey, not a destination.
Communications Planning
- Magdalene Borowicz, September 2022
A marketing plan is a sub part of a business plan. The formalized process of writing these business artifacts has shortened to the one-page project scope. Below you will find links to Business Model Explained and Lean Canvas. These are two FREE resources you can use for strategic planning.
FACT: once your business adopts a system, good or bad, rarely does the inclination come to change it.
~Until the money stops, then everyone turns to marketing.
Let us make some changes. Your marketing plan is the premium fuel to the performance car of your business plan. Good marketing strategy goes into a performance business plan is the point.
Your marketing plan should be an active 3 months with 6 months outlook. A 3-month working calendar is tactical and detailed, the execution of the strategy. The 6 months view is forward thinking and gives you opportunity to queue talent, resources, or skills in advance.
TL;DR- 3 month tactical plan for a 6 month strategy. Keep it rolling.
Resources:
Business Model Canvas Explained -$Free
https://leanstack.com/lean-canvas
What is a Lean Canvas?
Lean Canvas is a 1-page business plan template created by Ash
Maurya that helps you deconstruct your idea into its key assumptions.
It is adapted from Alex Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas and
optimized for Lean Startups. It replaces elaborate business plans with a single page business model.
What is your content?
A campaign template will be your best tool for consistency. This grounding document acts like a floor plan for your marketing efforts. Before you “decorate” your plan with topics, you identify the “must have’s” in your home/campaign. Your template will include all of the elements you deem necessary including calendar, content, timing and measurement; our suggestion.
A strong strategy will utilize a BLOG or VLOG. These tools are frequently posted, use keywords, and is how the web bots will identify your content as new and relevant.
// What is up with bots?
Every night, just after the stroke of midnight, the search engines of the web send out “spiders” or “bots”, a program which crawls the internet for newly-added content. When it finds something new, it will scan the meta tags for relevancy. Your content will then be cataloged and displayed in searches. //
Easy Does It
Design a campaign template using tools your team can deliver on regularly. Editorial calendars can plan up to a year of messaging and plot it on a calendar. Each month’s calendar becomes a series of tasks of creating content. Google search “Editorial Calendar” for many free templates.
Focus on the type of media you are most comfortable creating. Video is helpful to convey a lot of information efficiently while giving you “facetime.” Small investments in light rings, green screens, lavalier microphones, and tripods can create very nice-looking videos. When you need the professional touch, hire it; generally, the public is highly accepting of self-produced video.
What Is My Target’s Main Concern
Have you had that moment of blank thoughts when it comes to the content you need to create? Your topics are the main concerns of your persona.
Target audiences are too broad for relationship building. Persona’s are a drilled down profile of your ideal customer.
Your target is not “everyone.” First, “everyone” cannot afford or needs your product/service. “Everyone” is not suffering from the problem you can solve. So, who is it? Get extremely specific and get to KNOW their problems. Research shows us a few customers who really want our product convert better than a lot of customers who are unsure. As you define personas you gain a deep knowledge of what issues face this individual. Where do you come in to resolve those issues? Focus on the few.
Can You Hear Me Now?
If your message is relevant and memorable, then it is time to consider your delivery. Where does your persona receive information? Podcast? Social Media? Magazines? Your newsletter? Now is the time to learn where your persona is spending time. You can be omnipresent and timely with the right strategy, meet them where they are.
Test and measure. It is unlikely you will discover the perfect recipe for marketing until you have tried, tested, and measured multiple approaches. You can be assured once you have a strategy that works, you can work the strategy. Elements will change but a good plan will quickly adjust.
Side notes on mind-mapping: a technique first known to be used and taught by Master Leonardo de Vinci. This process allows for ideation and expounding of concepts without restriction of format. Once your ideas are captured, they can be exported in outline format to complete as content. www.mindmeister.com offers 3 free maps forever for all users. Try it out!
The campaign template referenced here
TL;DR- Craft a message of value to the end user and put it out on time. Example: Blog: “How to reward your staff.” Post it October for the holiday campaign, tie it to ad for (insert relevant product) succession strategy sessions.
Resources: This campaign was designed in MindMeister an online mind mapping software. You can find the published map here.
Where are the best channels
At this point you have considered personas, their issues against your solution, and determined what you will say to them. Our attention now turns to where you deliver.
Digital marketing holds the allure of access to demographics. We believed we could use this as a map directly to our customer. And still lower than expected conversion. Modern techniques tell us to use digital channels as tools to deliver our content. If that didn’t sink in, let me explain. Your customer needs something, possibly education, entertainment, or insight to what you do. Refer to these categories as “content pillars”. As you synchronize with your persona’s, deliver the message they need at the point needed. Use social channels to do it. Suzanne Somers, the famous actress, hosts a Friday happy hour on Facebook where she showcases product while “chatting” talk show format with her audience. She is a master, catch her show.
These tools are useful in the context of a campaign. The campaign has a goal, you choose the platform to align with the goal.
Assume your client will attempt to self-serve and provide enough tools to satisfy yet create the need to contact for full scope/resolution.
Choose a channel and use it like a pro.
If you determine your “critical mass” audience is on LinkedIN, go there and BE there. The more time you build a social platform, the better you will know how it operates. At least one social channel needs to have complete profile build out. A sprinkling across all channels is a poor impression. Please only reference the channels where you are active. Man the inbox.
TL;DR- Show up one place well. Show up where your persona is, well enough.
Conclusion
You are just beginning. A communications plan, like the floor plan to a building/home, can be detailed down to the outlet. In this article we covered identifying your personas instead of a too general target audience. Know our personas lifestyle and habits so well you can determine how to show up in their world. And finally, we put the spotlight on your own social reputation to ensure you show up as intended when your persona seeks you out.
Timing is everything, to be omni-present means taking stock of your business, seasons, and events that impact your personas buying behavior. Scheduling these into a 6-month plan keeps ideas forward thinking as you execute a 3-month tactical plan.
TL;DR- No one said marketing was a short game, but it does systemize into normalcy when you find the win recipe. Smart inputs yield great outputs. It can be effective at all levels.
The Secret to Leading Empowered and Productive Teams
- Shari Simon, June 29th, 2021
Congratulations, you have been promoted to a senior capacity at a high-performing firm and have more responsibilities to complete and tasks to get done at the end of the day. In this moment, the cliché, “good things come to those who wait and are prepared” become so apparent, you have uncertainties about this new role and start questioning your leadership quality and style.
Fortunately, there is no ideal management style that yields a perfect result. Exceptional leaders are not made in a day but they do grow to develop distinct individual traits as well as to share several different qualities. As a leader, the hallmark for accelerating productivity and performance levels across teams involves recognizing your core strengths, identifying blind spots and learning to invest in maximizing your key qualities to achieve performance results.
For effect management of projects, teams and other value-adding activities, there is no ‘winging it.’ The first step is to communicate with your team what needs to get done and outline in detail how this will be done. Anyone who has encountered a leader in academia, the workplace or any interpersonal setting can attest that communication is a mastered skill, and a leader is often unafraid to have candid discussions or honest and frank interactions with others. Because managing teams, regardless of size, involves rigorous planning, delegating, strategizing and goal setting, it is critical to communicate clearly and understandably to achieve goals and meet set targets for real and sustained profit results.
It is also important to work on developing the competence and capacity to lead effectively. This includes recognizing the need to evolve alongside companywide competencies, and consistently seek to improve expertise for efficient performance and productivity. Doing this will support building motivated and high-performing teams because you are knowledgeable of understanding what tools and techniques are needed to nurture and build the performance and expertise levels of these teams. Getting the task completed is one aspect, having the competence to ensure the task is completed accurately and timely is another. Many leaders in senior capacities are perceived as specialists in their respective fields, and a certain quality of output is always expected. Despite having less in-depth knowledge about area specialties, competence is critical to driving overall success and it takes persistence and a determined mindset to see limitations as opportunities for solutions and growth.
Conversely, being the go-to person on a daily basis can be daunting. But it is rewarding to find resourceful ways to develop a resilient spirit that can withstand different behaviors and personalities. This helps balance emotions (how you feel) and objective reasoning (what is correct) in many situations, and allows for in-depth rationalizing of situations that impact the bottom-line of the business. The quality of leadership and level of judgment exhorted while leading high-performing teams especially in times of workplace conflict, requires leaders to exercise conscious thinking or thinking that foresees a benefit or constructive outcome for everyone involved, including the business.
As you grow, invest and continuously learn new ways to create value across different teams, effective and efficient leadership requires that you constantly reflect on your personal motive, what you envision to achieve and how your perspective of leadership drives the potential of your entire team.
Fixed Mindset vs Growth Mindset: How to Harness the Power of Your Thoughts for Better Performance, Decision-Making, and Results
- Shari Simon, June 21st, 2021
Our mind is instrumental in shaping our approach to life. The way we perceive our abilities, undertake certain activities and challenges or even interact with others stem from our mindset. We know our brain constantly evolves and adjusts to situations and changes, depending on our environment and how we socialize within different settings. These experiences create patterns of knowledge we use to develop our intelligence, which we act on to build a unique identity composed of personalities, behaviors, attitudes, talents and skills. Over time, we make choices based on our intelligence and decide whether to enhance it.
Thinking about “who am I?” and “what am I capable of doing?” indicates we each have a choice on how we ‘wire the brain’ with information and channel this information. Therefore, the way we act is based on our cognition. We can think about our talents and skills and how they affect us, approach work tasks to achieve results, erase old unhealthy habits to nurture and build new habits, and create accessible and comfortable spaces to share connections with others. It’s all about having a particular mindset, especially about life and seeking to use it for our advantage.
According to Carol Dweck, “you are in charge of your mind. You can help it grow by using it in the right way.” As humans, we are fickle creatures who constantly seek balance and significance for what we place high-regard and interest on. These are things we mentally prioritize that become how we view life. In her work, Dweck posited that people actually navigate life with either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.
By having a growth mindset, there is a belief that possibility for a state to change exists all around and intelligence can be developed and improved through trial and error. Someone with a growth mindset exudes an ‘I can’ attitude. They understand that failure is a part of life and in order to develop one’s abilities and intelligence, it is important to embrace setbacks, learn from past mistakes, put effort and perseverance into overcoming challenges and seek out opportunities that builds potential, develops character and increases effort to use mindset as a motivation to continue learning.
Someone with a fixed mindset, believes that their intelligence and abilities are static and unchangeable. They perceive intelligence as inherent to their individual capabilities and what they are fortunate to know and understand; and think that it cannot be altered or improved by failed situations or challenges, often perceived as life lessons.
For ultimate success within the workplace and interpersonal settings, it is important to cultivate a growth mindset which encourages learning from opportunities that test character and builds knowledge, and creative abilities for improved performance, thought-processes and results-oriented actions. Instead of asserting “I’m not good at something,” say “I’ll get better overtime.” Believe and Embrace the Power of Growth!
‘Floor It’ takes flooring to a new level… - Andre Cummings, C.E.O, FloorIT
“If you want to reach your potential and become the person you were created to be, you must do much more than just experience life and hope that you learn what you need along the way. You must go out of your way to seize growth opportunities as if your future depended on it.”
John Maxwell made this statement in his book, ‘The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential,’ and this quote is closely aligned with the path that Mr. Andre Cummings, the Chief Executive Officer of ‘Floor It Guyana’ and ‘ Hardware Solutions Depot’ has taken as a businessman.
Mr. Cummings describes his Georgetown, Guyana businesses as ‘Lifestyle Businesses’ which go above the ordinary, setting the bar of quality at peak point.
“Floor It Guyana is mainly in the lifestyle business in the sense that we provide exotic hardwood flooring to our clients. Apart from hardwood floorings, we provide kitchen cabinets and closets and hardwood doors. And these really are for clients who are very discerning and want something to be different from everyone else,” he proudly shared.
‘Floor It Guyana’ falls under the umbrella of its parent company, ‘Cummings Wood Products’. While ‘Floor It’ began operations in 2007, the parent company was established in 2008. “We started in 2008, actually, exporting hardwood lumber to Trinidad only at that time and then we started to increase our market reach over the years into most Caribbean Islands, also into the U.S and New Zealand,” the CEO explained. However, seeing the demand for quality flooring locally, the businessman seized the business opportunity and made the investment, reflecting, “...because of the local demand for a proper Flooring--we are talking about Kiln-Dried flooring--and also to offer installation services, that’s when in 2007 the idea came and Floor It came into being.”
After eight years as a businessman, Mr. Cummings saw another opportunity--growth. Growth, not only for his business, but for himself--his leadership and management skills. In 2016, he got connected with ActionCOACH Guyana, a business coaching firm consisting of Certified Business Coaching Teams who help business owners from all industries to push their businesses to meet their full potential.
He reminisced, “What drew me to ActionCOACH is...they speak about getting better at business, they speak about creating a profitable enterprise that works without you. And if you look at the testimonials that Action Coach has, many, many businesses--Small, Medium and Large --will talk about the development and how working with ActionCOACH changed their business from the ordinary to the extraordinary.” The results were rewarding. “Over the years, my business has grown tremendously. Not only my business but my personal life as well,” he said.
“Having an ActionCOACH, they really ask you the right questions to bring out the ideas in you and of course I see myself and the business growing exponentially and as the years roll on, increasing our product line, increasing our market reach and really standing above all others in the industry. And with the help of ActionCOACH, that is very, very possible because you are being held accountable, you are being taught new strategies,” he continued.
True to his vision of “growing exponentially,” two months ago, ‘Hardware Solutions Depot’ began operations. “This company was mainly started to introduce our products to our valued clients, and there again we look for brands that are aligned with our philosophy in terms of customer satisfaction and product differentiation,” he disclosed. The business is the distributor of Domus products-- uPVC windows and doors. “We’ve been branching into other products like granite, countertops, high-end door locks,” he also shared, adding, “So, we have really positioned ourselves to serve a particular market that really, as I mentioned, want to be different from the average.”
Because of the nature of his business, Mr. Cummings is giving back to his country--not just with investment, directly--but he is creating employment for Guyanese. He goes a step further, taking every opportunity to give back to vulnerable groups, his most recent initiative being donations to a back-to-school drive for a hinterland community. This is not just aimed at giving back, but to also motivate his employees.
He said, “Corporate Social Responsibility is something that’s very, very important, not just that it serves the community but it also serves the team members in that you don’t just have stable jobs and are well paid, but you also get a sense of purpose and reason for being successful at what you’re doing.”
Mr. Andre Cummings continues to expand his horizon, learning as much as he can through business coaching and training opportunities with the aim of continued growth.
Local Tech Company Aims To Revolutionize Guyana’s Digital and Software Landscape - Joshua Kissoon, C.E.O, Techlify Inc.
As humans, we are living in a remarkable and innovative era, where the influence of technology pervades every space imaginable across the world. Known as the Age of Information or Digital Age, this fast-growing technological sphere brings together a formidable combination of distinct characteristics, strategic design, ingenious ICT [Information and Communications Technology] devices and people’s demand to access them for essentially every daily activity.
For this reason, Guyanese company, Techlify Inc. is determined to take advantage of this ever-changing industry by providing a wide-range of services to benefit local businesses, especially aspiring tech entrepreneurs.
“Techlify is focused on everything technology-based and finding ways to better serve the local industry. We specialize in custom software applications, software development and have now introduced a few more support services,” shared Joshua Kissoon, Founder and Software Developer at Techlify Inc. “We also provide mobile app development, IT automations, enterprise and cloud solutions, and network and IT support to several local businesses,” he said.
Kissoon shared that, while striving to make efficiency and service value paramount throughout the business, ActionCOACH Guyana, played a critical role in helping him to shape decisions regarding management of Techlify Inc.
He highlighted that, Dr Vishnu Doerga, ActionCOACH Guyana franchise holder and Executive Chairman of ActionINVEST Caribbean Inc., together with the ActionCOACH Guyana team, provided multiple professional coaching and training services for him to grow his personal attributes and business. This fundamental experience helped to nurture his leadership, communication, management and decision-making qualities, while extensive training aided in improving effective rapport building.
These organizational growth solutions provided by ActionCOACH Guyana allowed him to realize his true potential and use the coaching advice to benefit balancing responsibilities, employee engagement and team-building, and financial management. This led to increased business profitability and assisted Techlify Inc. to use its resources to do capacity building for local tech experts.
By aiming to build capacity for extensive skill development, Techlify Inc. created an internship programme. Through the programme, persons can study, engage in different activities and develop hands-on experience in several areas. These areas support their learning interests and help them focus on achieving educational and career goals.
“We take on interns from the university, even persons from high-school. With our structured internship programme in place, they can come in to the company and learn. There are a host of learning materials available they can go through, real-life opportunities to make impactful products to serve local businesses every day and receive guidance from senior team members,” stated Kissoon.
There are also additional growth opportunities for persons who are highly technologically-focused and wish to harness expertise for economic development in Guyana, despite market limitations. According to Kissoon, the Techlify Inc. team is committed toward assisting young Guyanese tech entrepreneurs to work determinedly to achieve their aspirations.
Apart from developing technological expertise to bring about changes within local businesses, Techlify is on a mission to transform how these markets operate, their systems and past customer experiences.
“From a purely supportive developmental standpoint, we have been able to deliver to businesses impactful technological products that have improved the way they function,” said Kissoon. “These products helped them to do a whole lot more, brought efficiency to different areas, more accountability, better customer support and improved productivity,” he outlined.
With an aim to become the world’s leading digital solutions company, relevant to the drive for local business transformation is expertise convergence between local and foreign team members. “We have some remote team members in India, who are highly skilled at what they do. So, having them work with local team members lets us be able to have skill transfer remotely to local developers and even technologists. It develops local industry talent,” Kissoon noted.
The combining of versatile skill-sets and practical knowledge from diverse experts allows Techlify Inc. customers to benefit from ultra-modern and inimitable products, yet to appear locally.
Focused on growing and evolving alongside the global technological industry, Techlify Inc. continues finding creative, resourceful and impactful ways to bridge Guyana’s digital divide and transform local businesses.
The Journey that started in a garage - Camille Deokie, C.E.O, Camille's Academy
Ever so often something happens – a scientific breakthrough, an invention, a disaster – that can either create opportunities, test our ability to adapt or destroy us. The Covid-19 pandemic has decimated the tourism and entertainment industries for instance as there was hardly room for those businesses to adapt as the customer experience requires physical presence and social interactions which are prohibited.
One sector has managed to adapt fairly quickly to the new normal by leveraging technology, and that is the education sector. Leading the charge in this fast-paced innovation locally is Camille’s Academy, a private education institution that started humbly in October 1996 in a garage, with a few children from the neighborhood.
“I never planned to be a teacher but I was asked to tutor a few of the neighbour’s children after I did well at my exams. My students did well at their exams and I was encouraged to continue tutoring. My dad built a few desks and chairs and we operated from our garage,” Camille Deokie, Director of Camille’s Academy recounted.
The first school was opened at Soesdyke, a village near to Guyana’s Cheddi Jagan International Airport. Over the years, Camille’s Academy has expanded to three additional physical locations – Diamond, EBD; Crane, WCD; and Lusignan, ECD. They have also introduced online learning from nursery to high school, following the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced the closure of classroom learning. The challenge with online learning is that a significant number of students – about 40% - have no or poor internet connectivity. This hurdle was surmounted by offering a self-study option where parents uplift worksheets and return these to be marked.
How does Camille’s Academy benefit customers, the community and country? It’s not all about the books. The Director believes her passion for delivering quality education in an environment that promotes ethnic and religious diversity and family results in students becoming well-rounded, disciplined individuals with morals.
Undoubtedly the world needs more kind, empathetic, emotionally intelligent people and this institution makes a concerted effort to produce students who can contribute meaningfully to the country and community. For example, the school participated in the 2019 Fitness Expo to promote healthy living among students. During the Covid-19 pandemic student participation in culture online was encouraged for Amerindian Heritage Month, celebrated in September. The Nursery level students took social media by storm with their cute, intelligent presentations celebrating the Amerindian culture.
Camille’s Academy is obviously a standout, especially during the current pandemic, and the plan is to become a model school in Guyana and the Caribbean region. But the growth and achievements envisaged would not have been possible if it weren’t for the support of a business coach.
Often times when we build and nurture something, it’s hard to let it go. But sometimes we have to make tough decisions for the good of the business rather than our ego and emotions. Surrendering to the guidance of a Business Coach was the best decision Deokie took.
Why choose to have a business coach? The charismatic Educator noted that despite having an MBA, she wanted the practical business support from someone who would also hold her accountable. ActionCOACH has proven to be a blessing, she opined.
“The things we accomplished in a short period of time – growth, systemizing the business, time management, goal setting, working towards ISO certification – justify the partnership with ActionCOACH,” Deokie pointed out excitedly.
When the pandemic hit Guyana around March 2020, like many other business owners, Deokie was worried about how she will survive. But the intellectual capacity and networking ActionCOACH brought to the table, was the game-changer in these troubling times.
“With business support from ActionCOACH we were able to achieve in one year what we had planned for three years - in spite of the pandemic,” she said in amazement.
Deokie is confident that the budding Oil and Gas industry will create lots of opportunities for the economy as well as the education sector as institutions move towards providing training in Oil and Gas and meeting the general education needs of a growing and diverse population. Camille’s Academy is working tirelessly to become ISO certified in the near future, thereby creating history as the first school locally to be dubbed ISO compliant.
What a long way she has come from that garage!
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