Marco Soares has been an ActionCOACH franchise partner since March 2010
1. Who has had the greatest influence on your business and why?
There isn’t one specific person really. Along my journey I have had support from a few key people. During my first 2 years, Tim Rylatt and Kent Rhodes were instrumental in helping me find my feet as a new coach. Like many, I didn’t really know what I was doing at first. It was helpful having their ear and leveraging their experience. Tim and Kent were also so generous in bringing me into their established GrowthCLUB and ActionCLUB straight out of the blocks. This stretched my comfort zone and helped me gain confidence and valuable presenting experience.
Vanda Flegg was the first Coach I invested in at the start of 2012, I was 18 months into my journey. Over 2 years Vanda helped me make sense of the system and how to apply and coach it properly. Before working with Vanda, I felt like I had a bunch of interesting tools that made sense theoretically, but I didn’t really know how to get clients to implement any of it. Vanda helped me become more structured and effective as a coach. One of the stand out lessons from Vanda was to ‘displace worry with activity’, I have totally embraced this and use this always! Such powerful advice.
In 2014 I hired Hayley Erner as my coach and have worked with her for almost four years. Hayley is an amazing and challenging coach. It’s through her work that I’ve truly understood what coaching really is. She has helped me transform my coaching style, find my coaching identity and structure my business.
All these people are and have been equally influential on my journey. I am so grateful for their help and support.
2. What is the most important characteristic an Action coach must have and why?
For me it’s Resilience, especially for the first 5 years or £250K P.A. (ex vat) The first few years are challenging. The learning curve is steep and the skills you need to master as a coach are broad and complex. You have to be able to get up and get on with it no matter what happens. The faster you bounce back and learn the lessons, the faster you get better.
3. What have you done/do you do to contribute to our shared vision of ‘World Abundance Through Business Re-Education?’
I don’t have a specific big goal around this area. I give 100% during every coaching session, business health check and workshop. I believe that I/we have a massive responsibility to show up as the coach and to give business owners what they need, when they need it regardless of what’s going on in our world. Doing this consistently and to a high standard contributes to achieving the ActionCOACH vision.
4. Of the 14 points of Culture which one most resonates with you and why?
Ownership. Life truly is a mirror. Don’t like where you are? Find a way to change it! I fundamentally believe that everyone has the power to achieve amazing results providing they are:
A: able to acknowledge they are responsible for where they are and;
B: willing to take ownership of their actions and focus on the controllables.
5. What’s been your toughest challenge in ActionCOACH and how did you break through?
3 months into my journey I had zero clients, rapidly depleting working capital and a serious ‘poor me’ attitude. I was annoyed with my telemarketers and was questioning why I had started my coaching practice. After a little cry at my desk I took a little break from my pity party and asked myself two questions. Firstly, how badly out of 10 did I want to achieve my banking goals? The answer was 10/10 of course. Then I asked myself, how much focus and energy was I putting into achieving my goals on a daily basis? The truth was 3/10 – interesting! That moment was a real turning point for me. It’s the moment I decided to take full ownership of where I was at and to start making the necessary changes to achieve my goals.
6. What’s been your proudest/most fulfilling moment in ActionCOACH?
In Feb 2015, ActionCOACH Global published the annualised banking figures for 2014. I remember looking through the list and being completely blown away when I saw my name in 9th position. I had become a top 10 global coach! It was such a proud moment.
7. What’s your next big goal?
I’m in the process of working out my 10-year goals. I’ve just transitioned my coaching practice onto a 2.5-day week to give me the bandwidth and time to plan my next journey thoughtfully and with purpose.
If you’d like like to find out more about the ActionCOACH franchise and you:
- Get a buzz from helping others succeed
- Love learning and developing yourself
- Have enjoyed success in your career or sport…
