On What I've Been Up To Of Late...

I've been lying low recently, keeping away from Twitter, Facebook and this Blog, and people have started to ask me what 's going on. Well, one of the reasons is that I've spent far too long hunched over my netbook and consequently given myself an enormous amount of back and shoulder trouble. I made a conscious decision about a month ago to keep away from it until I had a proper office set up with a seating position that would protect my posture and allow me to uncurl myself (my lovely husband said I was looking increasingly like a vulture hunched over my prey!).

I now have a glorious new office with a proper desk, PC and ergonomically designed chair so things aren't anything like as uncomfortable as they were. I am though still suffering from the long term effects of how I used to work so I'm rationing the time I spend at my computer and trying various therapies to rid myself of the pain.

At the same time, I've been working hard developing my new brand and refocussing what I'm doing. My excitement is mounting as the time comes to go live with everything and I'm going to share with you now some of what I've been up to and why.

First up, why the rebrand? To cut a long story short, it's because someone else has trademarked "Colourful Coaching" and it's easier and cheaper if I move away from that brand rather than trying to have a fight over it. So, although my company will still be called Colourful Coaching Ltd, from now on I shall be trading and branded as "Colour In Your Thinking" - because that's what I do, I help you to colour in your thinking and change the way you view yourself and your world from black and white into full, glorious colour. Here's a sneak preview of my new logo in action...

Colour In Your Thinking has 2 strands, Colour in Your Life and Colour In Your Business and I'm currently developing a range of products for my niche markets within those 2 strands. Identifying my niche markets has been something I've been working on for some time now, having realised that all those people telling me I needed to do so were right - no matter how much I want to go out there and help the whole wide world, I can't. So, I'm sticking to what I know and I've defined my niche markets as:

• working mums (been there, done that)
• students (currently supporting my kids and their friends who are going through uni)
• small business owners (being there, doing that!)

Supporting people in each of these niches is something I feel passionately about, because I have direct experience of what it's like and I have skills and knowledge that I can use to help people currently going through it.

So, what's on offer? Well, one of the things I'm most excited about is my online coaching packages which will be going live very soon. They're currently being pilot tested by some lovely volunteers, and the feedback I'm getting is great.

So what is online coaching? Basically it's a software package (I'm using one called JigsawBox, which was developed by an excellent lady called Nicola Bird) that allows me to deliver any number of different coaching programmes. Each programme consists of a number of different modules which are made up of some theory and background on the subject of that module, followed by a series of coaching questions for you to answer. When you sign up for a programme you get access to a new module every month and all you have to do is work through the questions as directed by me as your coach. I'll be able to monitor your progress and once a week I'll respond on-line to the work you've done that week, following up your input with questions, suggestions for action and information I think you might find helpful. My responses will be unique to you and will be based on what you've told me, so you'll be getting completely personal support.

Each programme contains a number of different packages, based on your needs and your budget. Whichever package you choose, you can be assured that you’ll get my personal attention and a truly personal coaching experience.

I'm delighted to be able to offer online coaching as part of the mix, and here's why:

• it's much more cost-effective for my clients - my basic packages will cost you less than one hour of my face-to-face time, and we'll be able to cover much more ground
• you get far more time to reflect and think in depth about the answer to a question. Several of my guinea pigs have already commented on how much they like this aspect as it makes them consider things so much more
• once you start answering the questions in your chosen package, it instantly becomes a personal, one-to-one coaching session, just as it would be if we were face to face.
  
• both you as the client and I as the coach can choose the time that's most appropriate for us to do this work. We don't have to be in the same place, time or even time zone to work together and we can fit it in around our other commitments
• our coaching conversations remain available for you to go over as often as you want. It's easy for you to go back and remind yourself what you said you would do, so you can't "forget" about your actions, and you can track your own progress and see how far you've come in your "colouring in"
• the software is really easy to use - if you're reading this blog you can cope with online coaching!

If this has whetted your appetite and you want to see how online coaching works, then sign up here to join in with my teleseminar on June 24th when I'll be showing you exactly what online coaching is all about, how easy it is to use and introducing you to my new packages.

I'll be back in a few days to tell you more about what I'm up to...