In just five years as an ActionCOACH, Andrew Roberts has packed in more business knowledge than many people do in a lifetime. Previously working in account management sales, his real interest lay in business, so he thought working for ActionCOACH was the perfect way of getting paid to learn.
“Business coaching was my MBA,” he declared. “I have met a lot of people with an MBA. What you learn with ActionCOACH is more than an MBA, ten-fold in fact. It is a practical, hands-on way to teach you how to run a business. It gives you everything you need to know.”
Andrew achieved his ambition of becoming a business owner by investing in ActionCOACH. “I’m a firm owner now with a team of coaches and a broad range of clients, including a mortgage broker, a balloon shop and a promotional agency.”
A star client is Maxum Foods, with Andrew from startup. Recently, it gained the #1 slot in BRW’s Fast 100 (the 100 fastest-growing businesses in Australia) with an annual turnover of $50 million.
“Clients want three things from ActionCOACH,”
Andrew also thinks self-discipline is important. “People should be disciplined to do things they tend to neglect, like making calls, affirmation, writing goals and visualizing what they want. It’s the little things – and it comes back to discipline.”
In five years from now, Andrew sees himself as still doing what he loves – training and running workshops – but with a greater focus on big business. “I want to get involved with people who think big. At the upper echelon, people achieve their goals because they have an open mind and they search for the information to do it better.”
Andrew credits ActionCOACH with contributing significantly to his personal growth. He is now confident about his ability to run a business and identify problems, and he has overcome nervousness about speaking in public. “I have learnt coaching helps you deal with your own stuff. Work out what’s stopping you. Work on it and you’ll pop out a new person at the other end. You need to work hard on yourself to be a successful coach.”
As Andrew is currently in training for the Gold Coast Marathon in Queensland as a prelude to the New York Marathon, no doubt he’ll take some of his own advice on board.
