“Brainiact helped support my business’s growth in every way.”
– Shahem Salameh, Director, Golden Prairies
When Shahem Salameh first began working with his Brainiact business coach, he was in dire circumstances. His business was struggling financially, lacked structure, and Shahem had no clear goals for its future. However, after working with a Brainiact business coach for the past seven months, Shahem’s business is now thriving.
Shahem was introduced to Brainiact through his brother-in-law and a networking group called BNI. He realised that with a little help, he could turn his business around. “My business was struggling, and I was lost as to what to do,” says Shahem. “I decided I needed to either get help or get out of business.”
So, Shahem organised a phone call with one of our business coaches. After one conversation, Shahem was convinced a Brainiact business coach could help.
“After that quick chat I immediately knew Brainiact could help me,” shares Shahem. “With some extra encouragement from my father, I signed up with a Brainiact business coach and never looked back.”
Back to basics
A major issue Golden Prairies faced as a business was a lack of structure. Working on a day-to-day basis, Shahem lacked foresight and procedures to ensure the business was set up to succeed in the long term.
“There was no business structure, no method of attracting new clients, and our pricing was wrong,” explains Shahem. “Everything to help the growth of my business wasn’t set up.”
Immediately, Shahem’s Brainiact business coach stripped the business back to basics and implemented clear structures to ensure the business could succeed for a long time, not a short time. Implementing procedures such as an organisational chart made a large difference to help optimise business processes and create a clear direction.
“I know what I’m doing now and what my team’s roles are,” shares Shahem. “This clarity has meant I can focus on other areas of the business.”
The business was also being held back by Shahem’s lack of clear goals. “Prior to working with my Brainiact business coach, I had no goals for where I wanted the business to go or any financial goals,” adds Shahem.
As a business owner, it’s critical you have an overarching goal for your business that helps guide you and your decisions. This goal could be to expand the business, sell it in the future or franchise it. Having a future goal can also maintain forward momentum and motivation as you are always striving to reach an end point.
“Working with my coach, we set out clear objectives and larger overarching goals,” explains Shahem. “This helped me set weekly tasks as well as helped motivate me to continue working hard as I now have something to work towards.”
Weekly accountability
For Shahem, the weekly accountability is one of the best aspects of having a business coach. While he has always been driven to succeed and improve his business, he hasn’t always had the discipline to follow through on these ambitions.
“I lacked motivation,” shares Shahem. “Having someone follow up on the things I say I will do has been a massive help.”
At Brainiact, we pride ourselves on ensuring our business coaches regularly meet and check in with their clients. Without this, it can be easy for clients to forget what they need to do, lose motivation or not achieve their goals. Our business coaches understand the critical role they play in providing the accountability business owners require to succeed and make lasting change.
“Knowing I have my Brainiact business coach on my side constantly pushing me to always perform better and provide that accountability was critical,” says Shahem. “We meet once a week, but I also know that they are available whenever I need help or assistance. This has made the biggest difference.”
This is why having set goals is also important. While the accountability aspect is important, it’s also critical to consistently remind business owners of what they’re working towards.
“For me, I don’t want to work on the tools my whole life,” says Shahem. “So, working with my Brainiact business coach has been a massive help in making sure that transition occurs.”
Every week, Shahem’s Brainiact business coach sets him goals and objectives and checks in on his progress throughout the week. They then review his achievements together the following week and work together to identify how he can improve.
Having worked with Brainiact for the past seven months, Shahem plans on continuing with his Brainiact business coach long into the future as there is still more to achieve. “First of all, I haven’t reached my goals yet and that’s on me,” shares Shahem. “Secondly, the coaching is working. I have accomplished heaps of things I didn’t think were possible.”
Learning to delegate
Being on the tools and leading a business can be difficult to balance. For Shahem, the major challenges of being on the tools was not finding the time to advance the business and improve his leadership skills.
“My leadership skills are something I am still working on,” shares Shahem. “My Brainiact business coach has definitely been helping me in this area and making the transition off the tools that much easier.”
Often, being on the tools and so involved in the day-to-day aspects of each individual job can make it difficult to relinquish control and delegate tasks. However, in order for any business owner to truly advance their business, they must learn to delegate tasks to others. Having a business coach to encourage and help guide this process can be a big help, like it has been for Shahem.
Shahem notes that prior to working with Brainiact, he wanted to do everything in the business himself. “I wanted to do everything… the accounting, bookkeeping, emails – I wanted to do it all.”
Having an outside opinion can help business owners see when they are making mistakes or areas they can improve. Working with Shahem, it was obvious he was doing too much while not actually doing anything meaningful to improve the business overall.
“Working with my Brainiact business coach gave me confidence to get off the tools,” explains Shahem. “Before, I wasn’t confident to get someone else to do the work. I always wanted to be the one working.”
For many small business owners trusting your employees to do their jobs without your interference can be a challenge, especially for Shahem. Working alongside his Brainiact business coach helped him release his control and trust his team to perform.
“I have now learnt to trust other people to do the work and rely on others to help me,” says Shahem. “My Brainiact business coach explained to me that rather than working in the business, I needed to work on the business. The only way to do this was by getting off the tools and trusting my team.”
Would he recommend Brainiact?
When asked whether he would recommend Brainiact, Shahem exclaims, “Yes, I do recommend Brainiact to business managers and leaders. If you’re struggling, Brainiact can help. You can always learn something new.”
For Shahem, gaining a business coach was a big step to improving his business. If it wasn’t for some encouragement from his father and the recommendation from his brother-in-law, he might not have had the courage to join.
“Getting out of my comfort zone and having the courage to spend money on the business was a big step for me,” explains Shahem. “After the success of business coaching, I am no longer scared to spend money on the business, and I now realise if you don’t spend money, you simply won’t grow.”
Gaining a business coach can be a daunting process. Shahem shares this one piece of advice for business owners looking to start. “Listen to what your business coach says and trust the process. Just do it, they know what they’re talking about.”
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Our team at Brainiact are extremely proud of everything Shahem has achieved since working with a Brainiact business coach. We look forward to seeing what his future holds and providing our continual support.
If you’re looking to grow your business under the support and advice of one of our business coaches, get in touch today! Or, if you would like to own a Brainiact and help others achieve their goals, contact us for more information.
