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The Extra-Preneur program evolved out of my frustration learning how to run a business 25 years ago (I've since started and run half a dozen) and my frustration 15 years later trying to teach what I'd learned when I began coaching other entrepreneurs in 1994. I was frustrated because most of the material available to help entrepreneurs is either FLUFF designed to promote the consulting work of a celebrity or ORGANIZED BY TASK so it takes way TOO LONG TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO USE IT for what you need. To solve these problems I came up with THE COACHING GRID. The grid, shown below, organizes all the things a business needs into 4 categories based on OUTPUT - not task. Below each of them (which you won't see here) are as many as 30 systems that a business may use to produce the needed output. The key is that the systems stay the same, but the level of detail needed for each system varies with each individual business and changes as the business grows. This allows us come up with a way to improve your company that shows immediate progress and eliminates work you don't need. I start by looking at which systems are in crisis in your company, which ones are doing fine, which ones you don't need at all, and which ones need some improvement. Then we can determine what level of detail is required. It can range from a simple reclarification of goals to a detailed work-flow document that you can use for training, quality control, and monitoring productivity.
#1 Ownership Focus Giving the owners what they want.		#2 Outward Focus Providing value to customers.
What do you want from running your business at this time in your life? I've identified over 20 categories of things business owners want, and only 4 or 5 of them are about money. The systems in this area help determine what the business should look like to give you what you want. If your business were a ship, this focus would be about your destination. Where you want to go determines if you need a speed boat, a cruise ship, or a canoe to get you there. If you have partners, we need systems to make sure you're all on the same page, and have divided up roles, responsibilities and rewards in the most appropriate manner.		Customers give your company permission to survive. There are two parts to the outward focus: Producing something customers value - and connecting with people who value it so they can become customers. Traditionally, these have been handled by two groups that often don't talk to each other: Manufacturing (or production) and Marketing (advertising & sales). Why has it taken so long to figure out they both are concerned with the same goal: pleasing a customer? Systems in this area include designing producing and delivering your product, and finding and grooming your customer base. If your business were a ship, this is the engine.

#3 Inward Focus Making a profit.		#4 Forward Focus Doing it again and again.
There are actually three parts to this inward focus: People, Money, and Information. How well each of these is managed in your company tells a lot about its internal health. I call this the "breadmaker" focus because I put stuff into my breadmaker and set the clock. It performs its magic and out pops bread. I don't care about the timers and gears and heating elements. Only the bread. Likewise a customer doesn't care about your internal operations but you had better. These systems keep your ship afloat with no holes in the hull.		Change happens. Faster than any of us would like. To survive you have to be looking toward the future, but most entrepreneurs don't have time to be strategic. That's usually because they're doing everying else without the efficiency of systems. These systems make up the navigational system of your ship. How do you get from here to there without hitting the rocks? You'll develop systems for growth, succession, dealing with competition, economic changes, competition, new products and many others.
The coaching grid covers the four things a successful business needs to do. There are only four, and every successful company does them well. Once you understand them, you know the Heart & Soul of running your company, as well as the nuts & bolts. All successful companies must do all four but the KEY is doing them at the right level and degree for that company. It takes a combination of art AND science to get this right. Most places that teach you about business only teach the science so they miss a big piece of the action. This is a cyclical process. You'll go through each focus again at every stage of your company. Sort of like how you change your entire wardrobe as you grow from a teenager to young adult to mature member of society. As you cycle through the grid you can make sure each focus is receiving the appropriate amount of attention. All the traditional business concepts have a place on this grid. As well as concepts that have always affected business but are just recently being studied or recognized as such: Emotional Intelligence, Self Actualization, Passion, the Inner Game.