ActionCOACH emerged as an overnight success in 1993 when Brad Sugars began conducting seminars and workshops for the owners of small-to-medium sized businesses throughout Australia and New Zealand. For the first time ever, business owners had access to hundreds of amazingly powerful, yet relatively simple and affordable sales, marketing and team-building strategies to transform their businesses and their lives.

Since then, more than half a million people have attended ActionCOACH’s popular seminars, and more than 15,000 business owners across the globe every week discover that hiring an ActionCOACH Business Coach was one of the best decisions they've ever made.

ActionCOACH has been internationally franchised since 1997 and currently has more than 1,000 offices operating in 80 countries. It is also an active member of the International Franchise Association and is currently rated by the U.S.-based Entrepreneur Magazine as the #1 Business Coaching Franchise in the world, as well as one of the Top 100 Franchises overall, one of the Top 20 Home Based Franchises and one of the Top 25 Fastest-Growing Franchises.

ActionCOACH team members across the globe are dedicated to pursuing our Vision of “World Abundance through Business Re-education” and abide by our 14 Points of Culture, which underpins everything we do.

Since ActionCOACH pioneered Business Coaching since the early 1990’s, the term has become synonymous with performance and growth and it is as focused on the business, its team, its processes, and its sales and marketing as it is on the business owner.

You see, owners of small-to-medium-sized businesses find it difficult to keep pace with all the changes and innovations going on in today’s modern world to find the time to devote to improving sales, marketing, systems, planning, and team management.

You’ll take your business experience, add it to our proprietary and copyrighted systems, and together through weekly conversations, you’ll coach business owners to financial and personal success.

Your role as an ActionCOACH is to help the owners of small-to-medium-sized businesses with their sales, marketing, management, team building, direction, goal setting and so much more … Essentially you’ll be their sounding board, confidant, mentor and, coach. But you don’t have to be a marketing guru to succeed, the ActionCOACH system has been designed to get results in a way that’s both effective for the client and highly profitable for you.

As part of your arsenal of products and services, you’ll deliver everything from Business Coaching programs to seminars, and from books and CDs to video programs.

So as a Business Coach, what might your average week look like?

You would probably spend it meeting with prospective clients, coaching clients over the phone, preparing and delivering seminars, conducting in-house training programs, critiquing your clients’ marketing pieces, performing Alignment Consultations, and selling the ActionCOACH planning program.

So, if you’re passionate about business, life and, love, then ask yourself this: Does the very thought of finding better and more efficient ways of improving a company’s bottom line set your pulse racing? Are you the kind of person who is constantly striving to succeed? Do you always find yourself helping others? If this sounds like you, then read on.

You’ll want an opportunity that provides you with a solid system and platform for entrepreneurial freedom and success, one that’s based on years of experience, proven systems and, ongoing training. Statistics show that over 80% of people who go into business coaching on their own will fail within two years. Plus, independent coaches earn an average of only $50,000 per year. If you truly want a profitable and fulfilling business coaching business, one where you don’t have to “recreate the wheel,” we recommend you take a serious look at our franchise, which has a 27-year track record of global success.

For those interested, we do offer non-franchise positions as employee coaches and area managers, opportunities within several of our local franchise offices.

Your initial outlay will include everything you’ll need to kick-start and run your business. Your investment includes a powerful and highly educational library of videos and resources that will enable you to learn how to be successful in life, in business, and in your own ActionCOACH franchise.

It also includes a comprehensive 10-day certification training program, which will teach you how to use the ActionCOACH system and how to sell your services to clients.

Like all businesses however you will also need to have additional funds in reserve (which you’re prepared to use – if the need arises) as working capital for marketing, networking and, other general office set-up expenses.

When you invest in the ActionCOACH system, you purchase the franchise rights to operate an ActionCOACH Business Coaching business. This provides you with the complete ActionCOACH system that covers sales, marketing, and coaching. You’ll also get your own personal success coach who will keep you on track, a global support group, and a network of other coaches with whom to share ideas, successes, and experiences.

In short, you’ll be getting proven turn-key systems that have been developed and tested over the past 27+ years.

This depends largely on your own personal skills, expenses, needs and goals. Plus other factors, such as how big or quickly you’d like your business to grow. However, as a general rule, you should arrange to have access to working capital to fund the initial cash flow requirements of your business, to set up your office and communications requirements, and to fund any early travel expenses.

You’ll be provided with all the tools and the knowledge to have a dramatic impact on your clients’ businesses and change your life.

By the time you start business coaching, you’ll be a master of the most powerful business secrets available. And you’ll know the keys to multiplying business profits and generating wealth. You’ll be fully equipped to achieve sensational results that will amaze your clients.

Unlike a lot of other franchisee training programs, your initial 10-day training program is only the beginning of your journey. You see, you’ll be stepping onto a continual learning curve, with readings, seminars, workshops, conferences, and internet-based chat groups and forums that are all part of the process. It’s stimulating — and it works.

Your ActionCOACH Regional Office is responsible for the overall administration, direction, development, and marketing of the network, while your Master Licensee will provide initial and ongoing support and guidance. This ensures that help is never far away.

Your main income stream will be through coaching and mentoring your clients, each of which will provide you with monthly revenue.

Seminars are just one of the lead generators you’ll use to source clients, and considering you’ll be consistently aiming for at least two coaching clients from each seminar — plus those you’ll convert from many of our other proven prospecting techniques — you’ll find your earning potential will only be limited by your enthusiasm. One thing’s for sure: You’ll likely be pleasantly surprised at the end of each month.

No. However, a strong business background is a must. If you have owned or managed a business before or if you have a background in sales, then this is probably the business for you. You will need a sound understanding of business principles, a strong entrepreneurial spirit, the right attitude, and a healthy dose of motivation. Be prepared to show us how much passion you have for helping others, and show us too, the amount of drive you have to succeed in this business.

We have found that many start-up businesses are either not financially stable enough to afford our coaching services yet or are still in the development and establishment phase of their business cycle. They do not normally fit our ideal business profile.

Similarly, many big businesses will have their own in-house marketing departments working in conjunction with outside advertising and public relations houses and therefore may not see a need for our services.

As you’d imagine, being a Business Coach you’d have all the latest lead generation and sales techniques available. You’ll be using the full suite of the most powerful, tried-and-tested marketing tools available to develop your business. You’ll also have access to the very latest thinking on the subject, which will keep you well ahead of the pack.

Everyone knows and accepts, that top athletes need coaches. Without that support staff, they simply wouldn’t succeed.

So what is it about business people? Why don’t they all, as a matter of course, have Business Coaches?

Well, times have changed. More and more business owners realize that in today’s fast-paced business environment, there’s no way they can stay abreast of developments, let alone keep ahead of them. The case for a Business Coach has become unassailable. Well, to those owners serious about success, it has.

Furthermore, business owners find it all but impossible to receive objective answers from themselves. A Business Coach can see the forest through the trees. The Business Coach will make them focus harder on the job at hand, and will make them run more laps than they otherwise would.

You see, a Business Coach will tell them what is going on in their business without getting emotional about it. A Business Coach will, in effect, be the business owner’s marketing manager, sales director, training co-coordinator, partner, and friend all rolled into one.

Today's business owners are discovering that, while they might survive without a Business Coach, it’s all but impossible to thrive without one. So, who then is our competition?

We don’t have any really, except all the other Business Coaching firms that have recognized the potential of what we are doing and are attempting to follow our lead. None, however, have anything like the tradition, reputation, and resources that ActionCOACH has available.

Absolutely! You see, the key to change in any business is its owner themselves, not you. The owner is already an expert in their business. So, by applying the ActionCOACH systems, you can make almost any business run more smoothly.

Add to this the fact that, within the global ActionCOACH team, at least one of your fellow Business Coaches will have either worked with, worked in, or even owned a business that’s the same or very similar to that of your client, you’ll begin to understand the effectiveness and value of the ActionCOACH system and network at your fingertips.

Surveys show franchisees succeed because of an eagerness to learn and a desire to help others; a willingness to work long hours to get the momentum going; good people and relationship building skills; sales ability or a willingness to learn and apply sales systems; solid self-discipline and family support; an ability to take direction when needed and to read when necessary; having capital in reserve and being willing to invest it; a willingness to take risks and to ask for help; being well organized and being a good planner.

Common reasons for failure include not following the system; not working hard enough or not doing enough marketing; going ahead despite family opposition; spending money on the good things in life earning it; not enjoying selling to other business people; not having the self-discipline to cope with the responsibility of owning a small business; being under-funded and misleading the franchisor on their funds available.

The funny thing about business is that it doesn’t matter whether you sell paperclips or airplanes, one thing you can almost count on is that pretty much every business owner you talk to (wherever they live) will want more customers, more revenues, and more profit — and those are the three things that they can’t directly change.

And while every enterprise has a unique set of challenges, they all rely on customers, revenues, and profits. That’s where your services will be in hot demand.

So, yes, this system will work in your area. This is simply because most of the challenges business owners face are indeed universal.

Like all new entrepreneurial ventures, the first 12 months will be the hardest, not because of the amount of work you’ll do, but because the work will be different.

The learning curve that our franchisees go through is steep and we can guarantee that you will learn more as an ActionCOACH in the first 12-18 months than you will learn just about anywhere else.

As a trainee, you’ll become a sponge soaking up information from every source, whether it is other Business Coaches, books, seminars or personal experience. Plus, you’ll want to know more about everything, which means you will be VERY busy.

Being new at the business coaching game, you’ll be trying out all our different sales and marketing strategies, trying to find the strategies that will work for you in your business.

So even though, initially, you will be spending at least 25 hours per week marketing, selling, and gaining knowledge, you will find that as the business grows, you can divide your time more evenly between Marketing and Delivery. This should see you working between 40 to 60 hours a week in the first year or so.

We do recommend that when you have between 8 and 12 clients, you hire a Personal Assistant so you can leverage your time more effectively. At this point, you will start to choose the hours of work that suit you, your clients, and your prospects.

As you settle into your new business, you should be working around 2 hours per week per client with one hour spent coaching and the other doing behind the scenes preparation work.

Currently, there are two types of franchises available within ActionCOACH: Practice and Firm business coaching.

The first option, a Practice, gives you both a solid business and a great work-from-home lifestyle that offers a lower overhead and stress level.

The second option, a Firm, is a multi-coach model where you enjoy a protected market area and you can grow your business to add an unlimited number of business coaches to your firm. Your firm will generally deliver the full spectrum of programs and services.

It depends on what type of franchise you own. Firm owners have an exclusively-defined market area based on counties. Practice owners can operate anywhere in the master licensee territory, which for ActionCOACH Heartland is across Nebraska and Iowa. Keep in mind, however, that the vast majority of your client income will come from your own backyard.

The ActionCOACH Practices and Firms have a fixed royalty that reverts to a sliding percentage scale with a cap on the Marketing Fund fee. You are also responsible for fees and costs associated with attending annual conventions and training programs.

You will be required to sign a full legally-binding Franchise Agreement in line with local Franchise and Contract Laws. You can go through the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) with your advisors. The ActionCOACH obligations, as well as the obligations of the Heartland team, plus all of your obligations, will be clearly laid out therein.

It is dependent on what type of contract you retain. Our Franchise Agreements typically range from 10 to 15 years. You will be eligible to renew for additional terms provided that you have conducted your franchise in compliance with the terms of all agreements, that you comply with certain conditions, that you sign our updated form of Franchise Agreement, and pay a Renewal Fee.

Put bluntly: No. Your ActionCOACH franchise is a business, and it is ultimately up to you to make it work. We will never promise any specific results, nor will we guarantee that any of your goals will become a reality. You see, just like you’re the Business Coach to your clients, we’re your coach and you’re the player. It’s up to you to take the field. We will push you, cajole you, help you, be there for you and even do some things with you, but at the end of the day, you still need to do the work it takes to succeed.

Only YOU can ever be truly accountable for your own success and, at ActionCOACH Heartland, we know this to be a fact. We guarantee to give you the best service we can, and to answer your questions promptly and with the best available information. We also promise to keep you up-to-date with new improvements while constantly keep striving to make your ActionCOACH system better, more powerful, and more valuable than ever. Generally, we’re committed to making you successful — whether you like it or not.

We are just as diligent as you are in wanting to make sure the ActionCOACH opportunity is the right fit for you.

Showing your interest by learning more about us is the first step. The next is organizing a one-on-one interview with your Master Franchisee who will ask you to complete an application form before starting your Due Diligence. Several meetings with other Business Coaches follow this before an acceptance interview with an ActionCOACH territory team, such as the Heartland team, when your paperwork will be completed.

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