Introduction and Best Practices

I’ve spent countless hours researching, reading, watching, listening and even meditating on the current Best Practices out there to add insight and valuable understanding for my own life and the life of my coaching clients.

When I chose to leave my secure and relatively high paying government job shortly after I reached the Vibrant Age of 60, I also set in motion the start of a new business.  My last day in the office was December 31, 2013, and BestYOU LLC was formed on January 1, 2014.  Though I had never been in business myself, I was determined and had done my homework - lots and lots of homework.  Completing coursework and certification to be a career and life coach the year before was just the beginning.

Researching ‘how to start and register a business’, filling out forms and completing paper work, online application process, more research, domain name selection and registration, more research, website host selection and then content writing, graphics selection, layout and navigation and page creations and more research on website analytics and placement and security.  There were a myriad of other steps and processes to learn and navigate in order to officially start and register a business with an official website.

And I was fortunate to have had experience in website development and understood the jargon and process - It's much easier with today's technology, yet it still required a substantial time commitment, energy and work.

I also was fortunate to have made many contacts in my prior business and public roles. 

When I thought about it, the number of people I have met and personally interacted with in my life, numbered in the tens of thousands.  Wow, how awesome is that!

One of the truisms I realized recently, in Landmark Forum is that all those people and all those names and connections were in the past.  

What really counts is Today and the Present.  

How many of those tens of thousands have I actually kept up with?  How many have changed jobs, email addresses, phone numbers and even last names?  How many were contacts only while I had a certain role or position that might benefit them?  And were all those contacts the right fit for now?

So, those tens of thousands diminished in number very quickly.  Not a worry, just 'Is'.

You may have noticed in what you just read, that I shared first the challenges, and the required process realities of starting a new business, being an entrepreneur and self employed coach/consultant. Research shows that challenges and complaints are icebreakers, and humans more easily relate to other humans' difficulties.  

I could just as easily have shared the freedom and the flexibility of my day and the joy of growth from learning that I now daily experience.  Controlling my own schedule and determining my own priorities are benefits that are not easily measured, but certainly are positive.  Whether presenting the challenges or the benefits, each are valid views of the same reality. The positive view would have been met with more skepticism and deemed less relatable. Interesting, isn't it?  (a topic I will return to in the future)

From current trends and best practices to life experiences and discoveries on my own life journey, I hope that my posts will be of value to you as you walk your own path.  
 

I’d love to hear what you think and welcome you to share comments and thoughts  you may have.  If you know someone who may like to sign up for my blog posts, please share this link with them.