"The Creative Process of Writing
is a Liberating and Therapeutic Experience"
www.virtualwritingcoach.com
January, 2009
In This Issue:
1. Preview
2. Publisher's Note
3. Reflections From A Business Coach
4. Helpful Hints
1. Preview
The Writer's Connection explores the creative process
of writing and the interplay between thoughts, feelings,
and actions. We are an interactive community of authors
and readers who share ideas to enhance our knowledge,
skills, and experiences in writing fiction in any genre,
but our emphasis remains mystery and suspense thrillers.
Published monthly, the Newsletter offers writing tips
for authors, coaching suggestions, editing, and marketing
information.
Topics are presented from the perspective of Keith Barton
and represent only his ideas on producing your first manuscript,
and are provided to the general public. Because we are
an interactive community of writers, other viewpoints
are welcomed and may be printed in future monthly newsletters
with permission from Keith Barton.
2. Publisher's Note
January, 2009
Dear Writer's Connection Subscriber,
This month's newsletter features: Reflections From A Business Coach
3. Reflections From A Business Coach
Pardon the self-promotion, but I've got a new book coming
out through
iUniverse
on the logistics of coaching small business owners. The
following is an excerpt that I hope causes you to ponder
if you are cut out for running your own business. This
is not a book on Life Coaching which works with individuals
around life balance issues such as work, family, spiritual,
personal, and career. There are many excellent life coaches
that one can choose from on the
International
Coach Federation website who can ably work with folks
who want more balance in their life or who want to achieve
a particular goal such as weight loss, finding the right
partner, increasing work productivity, or a myriad of
other personal goals that would make them more productive
as
individuals.
This book will focus exclusively on career
change for those individuals who desire to start their
own businesses. For some of you, you are in your fifties
and can take an early severance package from your corporate
job and wish to "go it alone" in the business world. For
others you want to start that part-time job that will
allow you extra income such as video photography for weddings
and special events. For retirees, you may wish to continue
working as a consultant or offering small business your
knowledge, skills, and abilities. For therapists who wish
to change their practice to one of coaching, this book
can offer insight into the business skills necessary to
make this career move. If you are already in Corporate
America and wish to offer coaching to your senior and
middle managers, then this book is for you as well.
Section one will teach you how to coach
business people, guard against negative coaching outcomes,
becoming your own boss, working as a small business, setting
up your office, incorporating your business, branding,
due diligence, strategic planning, running your small
business, marketing new clients, tolerating instability
and uncertainty, working towards resolution vs. fragmentation,
practical ways of managing trust, accepting the pace of
change, managing middlescence, employee turnover, managing
your business in a downturn, and net promoter scores.
Section two relates to cognitive and
personality characteristics necessary to running a successful
business. Not everyone is cut out to run their own shop.
The lessons learned in section one only position oneself
for running their business; thus, section one relates
to the structuring of a small business. Without the emotional,
cognitive, and relational competence, your business will
fail because you neglected to incorporate the knowledge,
skills, and abilities learned in business school with
the psychological correlates of successfully leading and
managing your business.
Topics in section two speak to: the alpha male, the destructive
power of overachievers, coaching entrepreneurs, perceiving
the need for change, moving towards planning and commitment,
reintroducing entrepreneurialism, personality vs. cognitive
learning styles, Gregorc learning styles, emotional competence,
CMOs, and crazy bosses.
Section three deals with career
coaching for those individuals who want to change careers.
For some, they want to start their own business; for others,
they want off the corporate track realizing they have
hit the "glass ceiling" and they wish to spend their energies
following an earlier passion. Regardless of the reason,
career coaching is about rekindling the passion and excitement
of work and giving folks realistic expectations and hope
about how to execute their dream plan. The chapters to
follow deal with: where are headed, signature strengths,
putting your strengths to work, core values, emotional
competence, searching for your dream job, looking for
the next job, retirement issues, career coaching for job
change, and baby boomers starting a second career.
Section four addresses behavioral economics
and the interplay of human emotion and economics, which
has particular relevance in 2008 with the recent financial
markets debacle. Individual companies and books are singled
out that cut against the grain of greed and poor management.
These companies are run by savvy CEOs with both a strategic
and business plan to survive in an economic downturn.
Chapters include: behavioral economics, the current economic
state in 2008, the financial markets, industrial to cultural
revolution, the luxury generation, energy consumption,
100 fastest growing companies, giving in the 21st century,
wiring the medical world, Target's secret, Jack Welch's
book,
Winning, Malcolm Gladwell's book,
Blink,
and Peter Drucker.
Helpful Hints:
- Thinking about starting your own business in 2009? Think again. It takes planning and hard work.
Don't start unless you're passionate about what you want to do.
- If you decide to take the plunge remember that most small businesses fail in the first year due to
under-capitalization. If you cannot finance your business alone or angel investors, then try to
Trademark ™ your idea and capture royalties.
- Start reading Fortune Small Business magazine for ideas on how to finance and run your business efficiently.
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Contact Information
Keith Barton, Ph.D.
Voice: 281-583-5005
Fax:281-583-5008
Web: >
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E-Mail:
keith_barton@att.net
(c) Copyright 2009 A. Keith Barton, Ph.D.
All rights reserved.
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SMis copyrighted, but
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as long as not a single word is changed, added, or deleted,
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Republication of The Writer's Connection
SM
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With advance permission, we are happy to edit an issue
to fit your space requirements. Republication also is
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The Writer's Connection SM Mission:
The Writer's Connection
SM is dedicated to helping
first-time authors create their first manuscript for publication
and to offer an exchange of ideas and opinions from our
readers who might be interested in becoming authors.
The Writer's Connection is a publication of The Virtual
Writing Coach and Keith Barton, Ph.D. and a registered
trademark.
We would like The Writer's Connection
SM to
be as interactive as possible. If you have feedback, comments,
topics you would like addressed, or can suggest additional
resources to benefit us all, please email us at any time.
Send your e-mail to
keith_barton@att.net.
Please forward this issue to anyone you think would find
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Archives
You can read previous issues of The Writer's Connection
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archive section.
About Keith Barton, Ph.D.
Dr. Barton received his Ph.D. in 1972 from the University
of Texas at Austin and has been a practicing therapist
for over thirty years. He is currently enrolled in MentorCoach
and is accepting new clients.
He has been an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina,
consultant to Fortune 500 companies in executive development, founded
and managed Texas Community Living Ventures, Inc., in 1986 for providing
group home services to persons with mental retardation. Keith founded
and has been running a clinical practice in Northwest Houston since 1990.
He writes part-time with the goal of completing one novel
a year. His desire to coach others derives from his passionate
interest in helping others become attuned to their creative
powers of storytelling.
Dr. Barton has training in coaching, cognitive and family
therapy and health psychology. He has published articles,
made presentations and conducted workshops about:
Anxiety and achievement
Stress management
Self-esteem
Communication skills
Marital/relationship enrichment
Wellness issues
The relationship between psychology and spirituality
