Derek O’Dwyer

Why did you become an ActionCOACH?

It allowed me to live and work in Co. Clare, running my own business, working in a field where I had studied and gained 10 years of experience in.

What do you love about being an ActionCOACH?

I love the fact that the work that we do positively impacts not only the lives of business owners, but their families and teams over a number of years. When clients achieve transformative change in their business and life and acknowledge your role int his change, it is very rewarding.

How has being an ActionCOACH impacted you most?

It has enabled me to live and work in a great part of the county, be around to see my children grow and develop. It has allowed me to positively impact the lives of many, both in the business and in my community based on the experience and knowledge that I can apply on a daily basis.

What has been you biggest impact on your clients?

The increase in profitability has allowed them to make transformative life choices for themselves and their families which would not have been possible had they not made the decision to change. While it is not all about the money, money is an enabler and when peoples relationship with money changes for the better, their lives change for the better.

What has been your greatest Highlight to date?

I have assisted clients to create over 250 jobs in the past 3 years.

Helen Burns

Why did you become an ActionCOACH?

I was looking for a challenge where I could use and build on my qualifications and experience. I wanted autonomy, flexibility and support, while being able to provide a good living for my family. Culture was and is very important to me and I wanted to feel I could live my values while being professionally successful.  The ActionCOACH franchise ticked all the boxes for me!

What do you love about being an ActionCOACH?

I love the opportunity to make a real difference in businesses and peoples lives, the inspiring community of clients, coaches and team. I love the culture of continuous and everlasting improvement and the focus on FUN and balance.

What has been you biggest impact on your clients?

As clients gain mastery in the main areas of their business, they being to love their business again and have FUN. Their team love being part of a progressive organisation and clients dreams and goals grow as they and their business does.

What has been your greatest Highlight to date?

A client whose net profit, the year before being coached, was -18% and a year later the net profit was 14% with an 80% increase in sales. The figures are the tangible, universal scorecard but the real reward is the lifting of stress and worry and seeing the smile on the face and the skip in a client’s step.

Tom O’Kelly

Why did you become an ActionCOACH?

Having been in business all my life I was looking for my next challenge. I had written out my wish list of what I wanted and came across business coaching and after further months of research decided on ActionCOACH which ticked all the boxes as my next venture. The real clincher was their definition of a business – “A Commercial Profitable Business That Works WITHOUT YOU”!

What do you love about being an ActionCOACH?

I get a real kick of working with business owners to avoid doing what I used to do myself – working long hours, no plan, no goals. It’s a real thrill to implement the tried and tested ActionCOACH programme into businesses and see the owner start to get more out of life with clearer focus and an actual plan as to where their destination lies.

How has being an ActionCOACH impacted you most?

Personally I have learned so much from the programme and continue to do so on a daily basis. I have applied my learnings to myself and am enjoying a far richer life. It is a pleasure to bring this change to our clients who can more fully enrich their lives.

What has been you biggest impact on your clients?

The biggest impact for my clients is they get clarity on WHY they are doing what they are doing, WHERE they are going – and ActionCOACH supplies the HOW to get there!

What has been your greatest Highlight to date?

Working with a client whose business increased by 83% in 12 months and still growing in second year.

Kevin O’Keefe

Why did you become an ActionCOACH?

I wanted to start my own business advisory business that I could operate from a home office. I was attracted to the extensive ActionCOACH system for small business and the openess of the ML and existing Action coaches. I was talking to another coaching business at the same time as I was talking to Action. What put me off the other coaching business is they started to discount their fee (which was already lower than Action's fees)

What do you love about being an ActionCOACH?

The results I am able to get for my clients using the Action systems and strategies ii) the high level of co-operation and support between the Action coaches in Ireland and from around the world iii) the sense of fun and community among Action coaches in Ireland and from around the world iv) being able to plan holidays around global conferences in fun locations. v) The constant learning/self-improvement from the ActionCOACH training and from guest  speakers/trainers. vi) Having a great work/life balance.

How has being an ActionCOACH impacted you most?

The level of self-improvement that has changed my general approach to life in many positive ways. My life is much richer from my exposure to ActionCOACH.

What has been you biggest impact on your clients?

Clients buy me for the money they will get from the ActionCOACH systems and strategies and thank me for the reduction in stress that they were having.

What has been your greatest Highlight to date?

Hard to say – there are so many! Best client results award in 2013.

Eddie Walsh

Why did you become an ActionCOACH?

I wanted to set my own Business Coaching operation up and found ActionCOACH’s systems to be the best. If you can start your own business off with a proven system and formula that working over and over – grab it.

What do you love about being an ActionCOACH?

The variety and scale of the clients that you can help. The people that you coach are amazing – really open and ready to achieve great things. There’s a saying about surrounding yourself with people that will make you better – that’s what you get with ActionCOACH.

How has being an ActionCOACH impacted you most?

Personally, it has made me incredibly proud of the results that my clients have achieved and I look forward every day to continue working with them. Do something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. The level of professionalism and achievement throughout ActionCOACH daily is inspirational.

What has been you biggest impact on your clients?

Generally, the biggest impact has been profitability. When the company’s profitability improves, it opens the door to giving back the business owner his/her time.

What has been your greatest Highlight to date?

One of my clients winning client of the quarter – back to back.

Des Ryan

Why did you become an ActionCOACH?

I loved business and business challenges and would often talk for hours with friends and people I came into contact with about their business and ideas that might help their businesses. I loved this aspect of business and felt I wanted to do more to support more businesses across the country.

What do you love about being an ActionCOACH?

Every day is different. Every call with every client is different. As an ActionCOACH I invest hours of my time on strategically growing businesses and supporting business owners to transform their businesses and their lives. Having started my working life under the tutelage of Feargal Quinn in Superquinn, The ethos, values and approach of ActionCOACH was an amazing fit and a great next step for me in my career.

How has being an ActionCOACH impacted you most?

My confidence and competence levels have changed dramatically since joining ActionCOACH. From spending a majority of my working time “In” the business as a retail manager, to investing time “On” the strategic growth of our client’s businesses as well as our own business has been life changing. The other huge impact has been on work / life balance. Retail can be relentless, long hours, weekends with very little time off around the busy retail seasonal times, especially
Christmas. Since joining ActionCOACH, I have spent the last 2 New Years Days on a beach in Spain with my wife and some really good friends.

What has been you biggest impact on your clients?

Generally, the biggest impact has been clarity. The realisation, not always suddenly, that they can work a little bit smarter and not have to work so hard. The change on people’s mindsets is also a huge impact, helping to shift from a Can’t to a Can do attitude. Of Course, increasing profitability is also really important, but this generally follows the clarity and focus generation.

What has been your greatest Highlight to date?

Helping to improve the position of a business year on year, from €25k to €142k and to see the effect this has on the business owner is incredible. Equally so is to see the change in a business owner, who was so overwhelmed by the business they could hardly breath at times, to see the same person in such control of their business now, WOW, so rewarding as a Coach.

John O’Sullivan

Why did you become an ActionCOACH?

I became an ActionCOACH for 2 reasons. The first is a very simple but compelling reason; I like to help people. I have always been this way. If I see a problem, I have an inherent need to fix it. If I see someone in need, I feel compelled to offer my help. The second reason is that I love business. I come from a family of business owners. I am the youngest of 7 siblings. Most of them are business owners and my father was also a business owner. I grew up listening to chatter about “customers” “contracts” “suppliers” “profits” and much more. As a teenager, I was always fascinated how a business owner could create money out of an idea in their head. I grew up respecting the people that put themselves out there and took the risks- sometimes in extremely difficult circumstances. The reasons that brought me to here have also kept me here. I will always help business owners reach their full potential and make it easier and less daunting for them to reach
“their” success.

What do you love about being an ActionCOACH?

I have been coaching over 10 years. In that time I have coached hundreds of business owners in every type of business imaginable. The most rewarding part of being a Business Coach is seeing people go through a transformation that enables them to create the results they have always wanted from their Business. I’ve seen parents being able to spend quality time with their children for the first time whilst also being able to grow their business and create profitability.
The most rewarding part of coaching for me is seeing someone create a business that can work without them and provide them with the two most important things they need to achieve all of their personal goals: Time and Money.

Rory Smith

Why did you become an ActionCOACH?

I was always looking to have my own consultancy business but I also knew that starting a business is not easy and that I would need help with developing the systems and processes required.  After much research, I decided that ActionCOACH was the brand that was the best fit for me.  The ActionCOACH 14 Points of Culture resonate very strongly with me and I believed that joining ActionCOACH was going to provide me with the best opportunity to create a successful coaching business.

What do you love about being an ActionCOACH?

I love meeting and working with committed and passionate business owners across so many diverse business sectors and how the ActionCOACH system works for all businesses, regardless of their industry.  I love sitting down with clients to review our results and when your client starts telling you about all the wins and how their business has changed for the better and how happy they are, that’s what I love about being an ActionCOACH.

How has being an ActionCOACH impacted you most?

ActionCOACH has changed my general approach to life and my mindset in so many positive ways.  There is a huge focus in ActionCOACH on learning and I feel since joining ActionCOACH, I know that my knowledge and skill levels have grown significantly and that has had a positive impact on me and my family as well as making me a better coach to my clients.

What has been you biggest impact on your clients?

Every client is different and is looking for something different from their coaching relationship-some are looking for more money and with one client we have grown the value of the balance sheet by over 1700%, some clients are looking for structure and more time for themselves and a client has reduced his working week from 78 hours to 24 hours while doubling his net profit. But my highlight from my 10 years coaching, is the phonecall I received from the wife of a client
in 2016 to thank me and ActionCOACH for what we have done for her husband and his business, because their family life had improved so much better than she could have possibly hoped for, since he started working with me.

What has been your greatest Highlight to date?

So many highlights in my career to date, a number of clients have won regional and national Awards for excellence and I have been fortunate to have won ActionCOACH EMEA Business Coach of the Year on 4 occasions.

Richard Cullen

Why be an ActionCOACH?

Exactly 14 years ago I stopped working in a major multinational, disillusioned with working my way up the corporate ladder. With nothing planned as a next step all I knew was I wanted to have my own business, be in control of my own destiny, use the skills and knowledge I had gained and to help others.
I had been learning about Coaching as a management tool in work and was also helping out at weekends in my local junior rugby club when my son started playing. The transformation in kids moving from not wanting to be there, to feeling part of a team, learning new skills and winning matches was so rewarding and so much fun. When ActionCOACH approached me first about Business Coaching as a business opportunity I ignored it. After the 3 rd contact I agreed to meet up and once I started to understand what it was all about, I knew that this was exactly what I was meant to do. Many times, since making the decision to become an ActionCOACH I have been asked “with your skills and experience why not just do it yourself instead of in a franchise?”. My answer has remained consistent ever since…. The Systems, the Flexibility, the Community and the Pressure… To go and reinvent the systems that ActionCOACH has put together would require a significant investment in time and money. I am part of a business model that gives me huge flexibility in how and when I work, I have built a great life for myself. The support available from a community of Coach’s across the World is hugely beneficial, especially when the challenges seem insurmountable (and the conferences are great fun too!). The pressure to work and play at a high level, to keep performing, to keep pushing forward and to getting results is always there and I need that pressure from the community to be the best I can be. Having said all that the biggest reason I love doing what I do is the Clients that I get to work with every week. It is such a pleasure and so fulfilling to help another person move from a place of chaos or confusion or denial to a place where they are becoming the business leader they need to be. When a client takes over a family business; trebles the sales; doubles the team giving them opportunities to grow; survives a recession and a pandemic; opens up new market opportunities and is looked to by many other businesses as a leader and an
inspiration; then my small part in that is reason enough to keep doing what I do and to love every minute of it.