It has long been recognized that great athletes need great coaches to reach their full potential. The same is true for musicians and artists. Yet entrepreneurs often think they have to go it alone.
Business Coach Terri Fry Brukhartz helps entrepreneurs gain perspective on their businesses and overcome the roadblocks that prevent them from achieving their vision. “Too often entrepreneurs end up letting their businesses run them instead of the other way around,” Brukhartz says, “I help them create the business they dreamed of when they first decided to go out on their own.”
Brukhartz is professionally trained to work with people on a different level than most other coaches. She is both a trained psychotherapist (LCSW) and a certified coach (PCC). She also has an extensive business background that includes employment in the corporate world for Leo Burnett and CBS, and founded her own successful sales company, The Fry Group, Inc.
Although she has worked with businesses of all sizes, including Fortune 500 companies, Brukhartz especially loves working with entrepreneurs and other small business owners. She has a keen understanding of the dreams that motivate people to start their own businesses—the desire to make more money, to have more time with family and friends and to escape being a slave to the corporate system. Achieving those dreams, however, is never a given, and frequently the day-to-day stresses of running a business present the greatest obstacles. Eventually, a business owner wakes up one day and realizes that he or she is just not having fun anymore.
Brukhartz works with her clients to help them fully understand what they love and don’t love about what they do. “I am very committed to people creating a life that they love,” she says, “Your work should enhance your life not detract from it.” By building upon what they are passionate about and focusing on what they do best, Brukhartz is able to guide her clients along a path that is both profitable and fulfilling. The results, she asserts, have been born out by her experience.
According to Brukhartz, one of her greatest successes was the case of two partners who came to her because they were working all the time, but not having the kind of success that they wanted. “Like most entrepreneurs, they were really good at what they did,” she recalls, “but their business wasn’t making enough money for them to live comfortably. We worked together closely and within the first six months, they were able to increase their revenue by 50%. It doubled at the end of twelve months.”
One of the goals of the partners was to finally go on vacation. Brukhartz helped them eventually find a way to close their business for a week, go out of town, and return without missing a beat. “People don’t realize they can do that sort of thing,” she added, “They think the whole business will go under if they aren’t there to watch over it. But if you create a sound foundation of devoted clients or customers, then anything is possible.”
Increasingly, businesses are using coaching to produce exceptional results. CEO’s of large and medium sized companies have for years brought in coaches for both themselves and their employees. Now, as Brukhartz attests, entrepreneurs are beginning to see that they don’t have to go it alone, that a good coach can make an extraordinary difference and provide a great return-on-investment.
In addition to one-on-one coaching, Brukhartz is also active in group education for entrepreneurs. She is the founder of Oak Park’s own one-day business conference, Marketing Mania, as well as a monthly meet-up group, Successful Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses, that she formed with web designer Beth Bannor (the next gathering is Wednesday, November 5 at 9am – rsvp at meetup.com). You can even download a free white paper on marketing for entrepreneurs by going to www.coachterri.com.
Coming in January, Brukhartz will be offering a nine-week intensive marketing class for small business owners.
If you’d like to learn more about how Terri Fry Brukhartz can help you, or about her upcoming class, call 708-386-0500 or email her at terri@coachterri.com.
