Self-belief is the key to success

Aug 30 2010 The Journal

The challenges of being an entrepreneur can take their toll on your physical and mental health, and in this Head to Head interview two North East entrepreneurs chat about the benefits of personal training at the crack of dawn, healthy eating regimes and drinking super-drinks for energy.

RICHARD NUGENT is a highly recognised performance coach, whose book Football: Raise Your Mental Game has seen him become one of the UK's most sought after leadership and confidence coaches, working with premiership footballers and their managers to think like winners.

He is also a business coach to a number of large blue chip corporations across Europe, working with teams to improve their performance.

SHARON KELL’S coaching is utilised in the two companies she owns and runs. Coco Moon provides lifestyle preferences for single professionals including relationship coaching and introductions for busy professionals.

Her client list includes a wide array of busy single people who require support to find that special person to spend their lives with.

A bastion of confidentiality, she never talks about her clients; something that along with its successful outcomes, has led to the company trebling its own predicted performance in its first year.

Sharon also works in the boardroom with SK Tipping Point, a personalised business development and executive coaching service.

SHARON TO RICHARD:

1. Coaching is about ‘can do’ mental attitude. How do you personally maintain a healthy mind?

Answer: I have to practise what I preach, so I have a rule that I put 20% of my turnover back into my own personal development.

For me to have to sell it, I have to believe it’s going to add value and I need the right tools to be better and better.

I try to be disciplined to leave space in busy weeks and months to reflect.

Often people make the same mistakes time and time again. I need to understand what went well and what went wrong.

My can-do attitude comes from how I set my goals. Most of us have ‘should goals’ or ‘others goals’ instead of what we really want.

I set myself impossible projects; a huge target that gets me so excited I have to go after it.

2. As a sports leadership coach, you are surrounded by people who are at optimum fitness. Your job is to prepare them mentally for their game and sport. Has the insight into being a sportsman enticed you or made you consider being a sportsman?

Answer: It came around the other way. I played football at quite a high standard for years. I really had no talent; I got by on something else.

I realised I had something in my mental attitude that other more talented people didn’t have. I’ve never had the temptation to play again.

I help others get as mentally prepared as they are physically or managers to get the best from their team. I’m as obsessed by that as I would have been taking part in sport.

3. Sport and particularly football is very alpha-male-dominated. How do you get buy-in for your coaching, what tactics do you use?

Answer: Football is the most macho environment I’ve ever worked in and that’s been the biggest challenge in developing the psychological coaching business.

People were initially guarded, and they didn’t want someone working with their head. It’s all about outcomes for me, but getting to the players was a tough thing.

Agents have helped as they want their players to be the very best and often talk to each other about me.

I’m now working in other sports like cricket, tennis and golf. They are a little more open-minded.

4. Do you find the appeal of the sports world helps in your corporate coaching?

Answer: I purposely keep my websites separate but companies do find the sports coaching sexy.

Tennis star Rafael Nadal has a performance coach, so why should organisations or leaders not have a business performance coach? Richard Branson has them. In my corporate coaching I am judged by results.

I offer a money-back guarantee because you have to believe you can really make a difference.

I actually got into the football side of things from a corporate client who challenged me on my own happiness scale.

He asked how happy I was, and when I said a 9, he asked what would make it a 10? I knew it would be working with professional footballers and sports people so that is what I did.

5. What was your defining moment?

Answer: It’s what you hear back from clients six months later. They often say their performance on the pitch or in the boardroom is better, but then you also hear that they are generally happier in life as well which feels really good.

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