Diane Birch Business Coaching Solutions

An Interview With Diane Birch

Who Are You?

“As well as being a Business and Personal Performance Coach specialising in business growth and communication, I am a mother to Nicola and Liam and a Grandmother to Kara. I live and work around the Essex area.”

What Exactly Do You Do?

“I work with people who lack clarity and focus, and are struggling with their strategies. I help them to develop their personal and professional goals and I rekindle their passion for what they do. I help them create a clear vision and focused plan for their business. Getting it all down in a written plan is one thing, seeing it through, is a different matter altogether. I help them actually achieve it."

How Would People Describe You?

“I have been told that I am an excellent listener and I am able to draw conclusions very quickly about what the issues are in a business. I have a reputation for being exceptionally honest, direct and straight talking and I don’t hold back with my observations, ideas or praise for that matter. I try to see the humor in a situation and believe that if you are doing something for the majority of the time you have on this earth then at the very least it should be fun!"

What is your background?

“I have worked within the corporate world for over 25 years, have run 2 of my own businesses (both of which were successfully sold on) and I have worked in my fathers family business. I have a coaching qualification and have been practicing for over 10 years. This experience has given me an insight into the challenges that small business owners face, an empathy with their plight and the ability to bring to the table the skills and experience I have gained with Blue Chip companies in Communications, HR and Project Management.

What Does That All Mean To Me?

“I strongly believe that to enable my clients to get the most out of our relationship the chemistry between us has to be right. There has to be an element of mutual trust, a desire to succeed and the willingness to work hard, as well as an open and enquiring mind."

Why would I want a coach?

“I’m often told by my Small Business Clients that they feel frustrated because they know what they want to do, they have the ideas and enthusiasm, but they just don’t seem to be able to put it into practice. So the ideas are forgotten, the day to day business of ‘getting on with it’ takes over and their enthusiasm wanes.

They’ve likened their experience of being a Small Business Owner as lonely and dispiriting, they’ve forgotten the reasons why they thought this was a good idea and although they absolutely know they don’t want to go back to the corporate rat race or work in a big company again, they’re finding the job of being ‘the boss’ disheartening.

And when it comes to expressing views on expansion or creative ideas that may hold some risk, they can’t share them because their partners, colleagues or family, may come from a negative view point, as they have their own worries and concerns. So the ideas never get taken forward.

I will help you gain focus as you share ideas with me. I will understand you and be subjective enough to want a lot for you and your business, yet objective enough not to be biased or self serving. You’ll also find that just talking about your options with someone who really listens is often enough to clarify things.
I will be your confidential sounding board, I will push you, challenge you, ask you questions that will really make you think about the whys and the where fors and stretch you to limits you never thought possible.

Can You Help Me Make The Right Decisions?

“I believe that whatever decision you make it is the right decision at the time. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but we don’t have it at the time we make a decision! I will help you to make your mistakes on paper or in our conversations so that the decision you finally make is absolutely the right one for that situation. Procrastination is a businesses worst enemy! I will support and encourage you to take action to enable your business to grow and develop."

What Kind Of Challenges Have You Helped Businesses With?

“A large percentage of my clients complain about not having enough time to get everything done and say that they need help with time management. On investigation however it is almost always an issue with priorities, organisational structure and lack of processes that is the challenge and what is holding them back. I help to define adequate processes to support them, put an adequate structure in place and most of all establish an inspiring vision. We then ensure the right strategies are in place to achieve it. (See my Testimonials and Solutions page for actual case studies.)

Why Should I Hire You?

“I have a straightforward and honest approach based on mutual trust and respect. If I know of someone better suited to your requirements then I will help you to make that connection. But to enable us to have an incredibly successful coaching relationship the chemistry has to be right, so let’s meet to make sure that’s the case and we can take it from there. Hiring a coach should not be seen as a cost, however in saying that we will ensure that we have a clear objective to get a healthy return on your investment.

for more information, please call: 01268 680753