Trellis Coaching - Trellis News Garden Design Newsletter & Attraction Marketing Coaching

Trellis News
The newsletter for Garden Designers

Welcome to this delayed edition of Trellis News - it got delayed because I was engrossed in turning part of my long term dream into reality! And guess what, it has turned out to be even better in reality than it was in my vision.....

So this month I'm going to be writing how having a clear vision of where you want to go in your life has a powerful effect on the outcome, even if you haven't a clue how you're going to achieve it. The second article is a case study of a young garden designer and how they overcame the difficulties associated with working on their own from home.

Letters Page -
Your opportunity to have your say, to ask questions, look for resources.

Imogen Castle writes:

I'm going to be leaving college soon and will be starting to look for clients - I've thought about putting an advert in Yellow Pages, but it seems very expensive. How worthwhile did other people find using advertising like this when they started out? Thanks for your help.

What was your experience of this type of advertising? Yellow Pages ads are normally fine if you're looking for, say, a plumber, as there's not a great deal of imagination or creativity involved in plumbing. But when each of us are offering something unique to the client, advertising falls far short in effectiveness compared with the success of word of mouth recommendation.

What's your advice on this to Imogen - please take a minute to help her and other new designers who read Trellis News by sending your reply to annie@trelliscoaching.com for publication in the June edition.

Case Study: Robert's story

Robert (not his real name, to preserve confidentiality) contacted me for some coaching. He had been working as a designer for a couple of years, having achieved early success through being part of a college display garden team at one of the famous shows. However he felt that the success he had achieved in his first year of trading was slipping away - he was waiting for the phone to ring, and it wasn't anymore. He was also finding it hard to cope with the isolation involved in working on his own, and the time he was spending with his friends at his local pub was creeping up - and so were his bills! Something had to change or he was going to have to find another type of job.

The first step was to clarify that he really wanted to be a designer - Robert's realisation that two of his core values were creativity and beauty reassured him that he was following the right path. However, his qualities of independence and sociability seemed initially to him to be at odds with one another. One possibility he had considered was to apply for employment with a larger practice, which would meet his needs for company and for a regular income, but he hated the thought of other people directing his work. After examining this further, Robert recognised that he did want to be his own boss, that he did have the talent to be successful, both as a designer and as a business owner, and that there were some challenges along the way that he, with assistance from his coach, would have to overcome. The vision that he drew for himself appealed to him very strongly and motivated him to make the changes I asked him to consider.

Robert had always had a tendency to procrastinate, to leave his college work to the last possible minute whilst he went down the pub. And of course it wasn't his fault if he didn't get the grades he was capable of, because he hadn't had enough time to do the work! This attitude was showing up in his working life, and would sabotage his future success, despite his obvious talent as a designer. Once he became aware of this, and realised that, to turn his dream into reality, he was going to have to take full responsibility for his own outcomes, he began to be able to build up routines for his working week. This was supported by having the accountability provided by a coach - he wanted to be able to report on his successful progress each week.

The sociability issue was tackled by Robert agreeing that he would go to the pub just on a Friday lunch time, to celebrate the end of the week, and that he would join the Society of Garden Designers so that he could attend the local cluster groups. He was also encouraged to maintain regular phone contact with some of his college friends and to set up a monthly meeting with them with the aim of developing his own master mind group, which would support him with the development of his business as it expanded. As he came to grips with his marketing, he found that he was meeting and talking to many more people during his working day, and was no longer troubled by a sense of isolation. Even as he became successful and was spending far more hours at his drawing board, he still planned in times in his week for contact with other people, and now has moved his celebratory pub visit to Friday evening!

Robert's coaching took place by phone, initially for half an hour per week. As he became successful, this changed to half an hour per fortnight, and now carries on as a once monthly call, so that he feels he's keeping on track and can bounce around new ideas with an objective listener.

Coaching can also support you and your business to grow - to find out more, please ring me for an informal chat on 0845 456 9382.

Dream the dream!

There are a few people who have a very clear view of where they want to go in life, often from an early age - I remember the friends at school who were committed to becoming a vet, or a ballet dancer, and worked with a clear focus to get there. And then there was me, who had no idea what I wanted to do and based my subject and career choices on what I liked doing, or what I seemed to find easy to do, or what ever happened to turn up along my path, without any clear aim in mind. I spent several decades trundling along, without really knowing what I wanted out of life - I didn't plan my life, it just happened around me.

Since training as a personal and business coach and working with a coach myself, I have discovered the huge difference that comes from firstly really getting to know what my 'values' are - those things that are most important in life to me - and secondly by creating a vivid vision for myself of how I want my life to be.

Values are qualities such as creativity, power, order, serenity, independence, variety, and they make up the core essence of each person. If we can find ways of living our lives that allow us to express our creativity, or to feel powerful etc, or whatever our particular 'value' is, then our lives feel fulfilled. If our way of living prevents us from doing this, we feel frustrated and stressed. Most people can narrow their list of values down to about 5 or 6 essential qualities.

My coach then encouraged me to create a vision of how I wanted my life to look at some point in the future - where would I be living, who with, what would my business be like, my leisure and family time. How would I feel when I was living this life, what would I see around me, what would I hear from those around me? So I painted my mental picture, even though at that stage I had no idea how I could possibly make it happen.

Having a clear vibrant vision of the future helps pull me towards it, as I feel really attracted by what I have dreamed of. This enables me to set goals and devise strategies en route, which otherwise I probably, based on my previous history, wouldn't bother to do - remember, I wasn't ever one of the dedicated "I'm going to be a vet" band! Just setting goals for yourself can be hard, you often have to push yourself to reach them, whilst having a clear vision almost magnetically pulls you towards it.

Part of my dream was, in about 10 years time, to spend the winters in Portugal, as I hate the cold and damp of England, but I couldn't see how to make this happen, as property prices on the Algarve have risen well beyond the point where I'm prepared to spend that sort of money - and also the area is developing fast and is, in my opinion, losing part of the simple rural charm that drew me to Portugal in the first place. Nonetheless, I kept daydreaming about how it would be at some future point.

Holding a vision of the future allows you to be aware of and open to opportunities - it's the same principle as when you buy a red Citroen car for example, you start noticing red Citroen's everywhere, whereas before you never saw them. And so it has come to pass that my family and I are in the process of buying a beautiful old house in 4 acres of gentle rolling hillside in Portugal, where all you can hear is the sound of cuckoos and nightingales. The reality far surpasses my vision!

Do you have a vision of your successful future that will pull you towards it?

Are you able to dream the dream, without letting any doubts obscure it?

Do you know yourself well enough to be aware of your core values?

If you have, congratulations - and if you haven't, and would like to find out how I can help you achieve this, please contact me on 0845 456 9382.

End piece

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Copyright © Annie Meachem 2003/4. Copyright in this document is owned by Annie Meachem. All rights are reserved. This document may not be copied or distributed without the prior written consent of the Copyright owner.