Some time ago, I wrote a blog about business coaching and virtual assistants, the two essential assets that every business should consider. This week I’m going to look at one coach in particular who is set to take the world by storm. This coach isn’t a business coach, but more a whole life coach, who quite literally transforms lives. This coach is focusing on one very niche market; the nursing world, and is set to become a household name.

Claire Westwood is founder & MD of Happy nurses; a business which is purely aimed at improving the mental wellbeing of nursing professionals, and enabling them to lead happier, healthier lives…. 

I first met Claire through 4Networking when she was in the process of putting all her thoughts and ideas surrounding Happy nurses together. I helped her with her business plan and for that I got an excellent testimonial, (see here). Since then, she has become not only a valued client, but also my coach, and a close friend.

As a coach, Claire is phenomenal. She doesn’t take any of my excuses, any of my flannel, and certainly no nonsense. She makes me accountable for my actions, and she tells me “like it is”. Since I have been working with Claire, I have got on and completed things that I have only talked about for a year. She doesn’t ever tell me what to do, but she does get me to think about what I actually want, why I want it and how I will achieve it. In essence, she helps me to believe in myself. The solid principles that she has devised as part of her Happy nurses venture can be applied to any business, and she is in serious demand. 

I was one of the few people lucky enough to be invited onto Claire’s pilot coaching course,  which is aimed at her Happy nurses coaches. The course itself lasted for three days, and I was quite literally blown away by it. I came out of it completely transformed and happy with who I am, where I’m going and how I’m going to get there. I now have more confidence in my vision for Bizpro, and more focus for reaching my goals. I recognised a few things about myself that came as a shock, but now I really know who I am. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough! Of course, Claire’s course is particularly aimed at nurses, but I’m now even more convinced of the power of coaching and exactly how it can help every business owner. 

The last few months have seen some serious activity in Claire’s world. Her business is thriving, her ezine is now up and running and possibly one of the best I’ve seen; her new website has launched and she has now published a book: – watch out for her virtual book tour coming to this blog very soon!

To check out the Happy nurses new website, visit www.happynurses.co.uk, it is aimed at nurses and health professionals but do take a look – Claire is going places with this business and I am certain she will be a household name very soon!

Yes, this post has been inspired my one of my own experiences. Over the last few months I have been extremely busy putting together the finishing touches for the franchise package, and this has involved contact with several other suppliers to enable me to accurately cost the model. Out of the many businesses I’ve spoken to, one in particular is standing out like a sore thumb, and for all the wrong reasons… 

I contacted this company, (who shall remain nameless), to inquire about data lists. I didn’t call them, I completed their online form to find out prices. Unfortunately there was no other option on their site but to complete your information. I don’t normally have any objection to this, and I’m happy to speak to anybody, but with this firm I received a call the very next day and almost every other day since. Some days they have even left messages for me three times in one day!Not to mention the countless emails I have received. Oh, and in case you are wondering, I did tick the ‘No’ box regarding marketing.

I have spoken to them and explained I am no longer interested, I have emailed and told them I am no longer interested. Sadly, I’ve now had to bar their email address and their number, as this continual harassment is driving me crazy!

So, as a business, where do we draw the line? The example above is an extreme case, I’ve never experienced it before, and hope not to experience it again, (and yes, I will be emailing the director to point him in the direction of this blog!).

As a general rule, we start to recognise brands / names after the third time of hearing / seeing them, but to really alight our subconscious and make us memorable, it’s seven times. So, the question is, when is too much? At what point do we stop the contact?

At what point does ‘No’ definitely mean ‘No’? Certainly every business wants to keep their name in front of prospective clients, especially those that have contacted them; the warm leads.

I guess we’re lucky at Bizpro; most of our business comes from networking, where we meet the clients face to face, so we’ve little need of constantly contacting prospects by telephone. That said, we do have a system for canvassing local businesses, and it does include some calling, however if a business is really not interested in us we won’t continue to canvass them, we don’t believe in wasting our time and theirs.

To our way of thinking, if someone changes their minds and then wants our services, they will already know where we are.

The most ironic thing about the firm that’s been bombarding me, is that out of all the businesses I researched for data, I quite liked their offering, and may have chosen them. As it stands now, I have had such a bad impression of their business I would rather pay more elsewhere than use them…