Great Coaching Questions from Eden Prairie, MN

Posted by scott on May 26, 2011 in Coaching, Fun, Videos | 0 comments

I recently  visited Eden Prairie, Minnesota – the #1 place to live in the United States according to Money Magazine.  While there, I stumbled upon some great natural areas, and inspiring questions on a bridge walkway.

Enjoy the video!

The Best Web Hosting Company EVER!

Posted by scott on May 24, 2011 in Productivity, WordPress | 3 comments

A Soloprenuer Coaching Retreat

Posted by scott on Apr 23, 2011 in Coaching, Fun, Marketing, Productivity | 0 comments

I just returned home from facilitating a wonderful day-and-a-half, one-on-one coaching “retreat” that I arranged with a good friend of mine who is wanting to start his own consulting business!  It’s incredible how a focused series of conversations can help a person zero in on aspects of a plan or “roadmap” to a future endeavor.  What’s more, I think our time together helped him move forward a bit, through his own insights, ambitions, and desires.

Within this mini retreat, we explored not only timelines, business focuses, and goals, but we uncovered a lot of surprises too.

“What do you really want, and why is that important?”
“What could move you forward faster to what you REALLY want?”
“What are you doing now that helps this process?”
“How do you separate what you feel you ‘should’ do from what you ‘want’ to do?”

Throughout this process we also took time to take breaks, prepare and eat meals, and my friend/client got to fix some plumbing issues while I composed a document of all of the notes, impressions, and insights we came up with throughout the retreat (I’m glad I didn’t have to do plumbing work!).

I really enjoy the coaching process.  As a coach, I don’t set agendas and I don’t “solve” problems for other people. Rather, through deep listening, positive inquiry, encouragement, and asking what I call “questions that matter” – a coach is a partner who engages another person to find their own solutions and “draw out” those aspects of thoughts or passions that really make a person “come alive.”

Even moreso, through a conversation, or a series of conversations built upon positive energy and insightful questions – coaching can move people (often very quickly) into those “a-ha!” moments of clarity and focus.

Many thanks to my friend Chris for allowing me to engage this process for him!  I’m very excited and privileged to assist in the process of what’s growing and coming to fruition with his consulting business!  All I can say is “Look out for him in the future!”

A Huge Idea: A Global Virtual Choir

Posted by scott on Apr 11, 2011 in Fun | 0 comments

A lot of times I like to post these kinds of things, because I believe they inspire ideas, both for me, and for all of my clients. I am so grateful to be privy to all sorts of wonderful ideas, dreams, goals, and ambitions from my clients, and then also to help them bring those about over the web. I always tell everyone, that NO IDEA IS TOO BIG.

In fact, it’s the BIG ideas that are worth the most – in business and in LIFE.

I will let the following videos speak however they wish to you all. But I have to say, Eric Whitacre’s virtual choir idea and how he saw it through to fruition, is just “jaw-dropping and weeping inspiration” to me. Below is a TED talk about his process, and then a link to the Virtual Choir selection.

Enjoy!

And here is the link to the Virtual Choir 2.0, and Eric Whitacre’s “Sleep”.

Put on the headphones for this one, and be inspired!

Sharing your heart is the best business practice!

Posted by scott on Mar 13, 2011 in Coaching, Marketing, Networking | 0 comments

I’ve been very active lately in the realms of Facebook and Twitter, even though I’ve not posted on my business blog since December. I took an experimental departure from the blog to think about a very controversial question:

In business, should you blog or tweet about your personal life, passions, politics, or deeper belief systems?

Throughout the last 3 months, I’ve been logging my workouts with MapMyRide.com. I shared a three-part blog series on one of my other sites on my 2-year anniversary of becoming Car-Free. Finally, more recently, I’ve been reading and posting a lot of information on Facebook and Twitter about the protests in Madison, WI at the capitol building (I even traveled to Madison in the early stages of the protest to stand with others in solidarity).

I Passed my coaching exam!

Posted by scott on Dec 22, 2010 in Coaching, Fun, Uncategorized | 0 comments

Just wanting to share the good news that I finished the course with the School of Coaching Mastery, and passed the exam! Many thanks to Julia Stewart for offering the course!

Because we all need a Sunday in the Park

Posted by scott on Dec 16, 2010 in Fun | 0 comments

Just for fun, I wanted to post a choir performing one of my favorite choral pieces. This is the song, “Sunday” – from the musical, Sunday in the Park with George, by Stephen Sondheim.

May all of our Sundays be this beautiful!