Business and Leadership Development with Counselor and Coach Judy Lair-EP041

Traditional leadership training is difficult to implement because it’s tough to access that seven-step conflict resolution process in the middle of a team meltdown! Today’s guest is a leadership coach with a different approach. She is on a mission to develop leaders who view management as a collaborative process, who share their vision and then walk alongside their team members on the way to realizing big picture goals.

 

Judy Lair started out on the ‘other side of the couch.’ As a client, she recognized that her counselor was employing the strategic thinking skills that she considered a personal strength. She applied to graduate school and earned her Master’s from Ashland Theological Seminary in 2002. For the past 15 years, Judy has operated a successful private practice, Counselorplace Christian Counseling, in Worthington, Ohio.

 

In June 2016, Judy expanded her business to include leadership coaching. She leverages her accreditations as both a Certified Business Coach and Certified Life Coach to help clients become insightful, inspiring leaders and effective problem-solvers. She offers 1:1 personal leadership coaching as well as Masterclass Leadership Development group coaching workshops. Judy is the author of four books, and today she shares advice about writing as well as business ownership. Listen to understand why Judy chose private practice, how she determined her ideal clients, and how her business grew to include leadership coaching.

 

Key Takeaways

How Judy made the decision to start her own business

• Avoid 60/40 or 70/30 split
• Background as paralegal, office manager

 

Judy’s strategies for landing the first few clients

• Networking
• Written material
• Seminars

 

How to approach networking

• Don’t view as ‘sales’
• Share your investment in what you love
• Showcase how you can be of service

 

How Judy determined her ideal clients

• Strength as strategic thinker
• Ability to understand thought process, barriers
• Counseling niche in anxiety disorder
• Coaching niche in examining how leaders think, sharing expanded view

 

How Judy got into coaching

• Counseling clients in leadership positions discussed work in sessions
• Asked Judy to branch out, talk to their teams

 

The difference in marketing strategy for counseling vs. coaching

• Counseling clients know they have a problem
• Must identify pain points of potential coaching clients and communicate benefits based on where they’re at now

 

Judy’s ground-breaking approach to leadership development

• Traditional framework teaches skills (i.e.: conflict resolution) that are difficult to access when needed
• Judy seeks to develop innovative thinking and apply organically

 

The secret to team management

• View as collaborative process
• See team members as people rather than skill sets
• Align team members’ individual goals with vision for group

 

Judy’s writing advice

• Give yourself a daily word count, time parameters (e.g.: 2,000 words in two hours/day)
• Push past limiting beliefs
• Do not hit backspace or delete

 

Resources

Judy’s Amazon Author Page

Free Viewpoint Leadership mp3s

Free Phone Consultation

Connect with Judy Lair

Website

LinkedIn

Twitter

Facebook