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Sunday 17 April 2016

BECKON is Learning driven, not Coaching driven.

The competitive edge is not in the idea but in execution 
What is the Idea?

The aim is to change the future of training and answer that long pending question - on return on investment with a new definition.
Evaluate the pool of soft skill trainers, professional training companies, the motivational speakers, the Neuro Linguistic Program specialists, the technical trainers, the institutes who charge a fortune for PMP, Six Sigma and the hundreds of e-learning firms with over a thousand modules.

Nobody owns outcomes, just the function

That can be our business: To fill this gap! 

Training is not fashion, charity and entertainment and without measurable outcomes, training is just that.

Why do we need to do this?
We should not be in this because coaching is a trillion dollar industry, as it is recession less and the market is huge. Housekeeping staff and CEO, a spastic child or care giver of a Dementia patient – everyone needs to learn something new.
  • That is our first bet – Most of us don’t know how badly we need to learn and not just be trained.
  • We assess if training is required, and assess again if there was learning. 
  • If there is no change in outcome, there is no learning.
  • That is our new definition of training/ coaching: 

Achieve Personal and Business Outcomes and Quantify 

Have we conceptualized any Model/ Framework/ Methodology?

BECKON is an outcome driven learning model that is built on Demand – Design – Delivery – Deliverable concept. We validate the demand following a target based strategy before we sign off outcomes to deliver within a definite time frame. 

The framework is around:
  • Eligibility (Openness to learn)
  • Ability (Potential to learn) 
  • Stability (Apply learning to achieve outcomes).
Demand Discovery or Due Diligence is a 20 Hour paid assignment. This can vary subject to learning and project gaps. A large portion of the learning cycle is outcome based pricing.

Based on BECKON Framework, the evaluation and learning road map are first to support your outcomes (income stream) and then assist you to transfer that to others, if you want to scale and build an enterprise or brand as an independent BECKON coach

Uberization, Zuckerberg Syndrome?

In the past one year my typical work day (rather just a typical day as I am not working most of the days) has undergone huge transformation.

It was about working with startups and aspiring entrepreneurs initially, supporting coaching companies with modules, content strategy, website content development and articulating a business idea in a feasible plan for funding until the realization dawned - The age old 80/ 20 rule – 80% work to make 20% rich.

While the above is still constant, the new dimension now is – transferring this learning I acquired in the past year to that 80% to improve their earning potential that are stuck in a job they are too comfortable or not comfortable at all.


I can be glued to my laptop doing nothing, watching Ted Talks, listening to podcasts and reading about Uberization and how often people get hit by Zuckerberg syndrome to fail miserably. I probably take an hour to write a blog or 20 minutes to coach someone on SKYPE, if that can be called work and I am back to surfing. However, one thing I have done all my life.

I religiously take notes or bookmark something great I read 

I seriously do not know why I do that – probably thinking that I need to read this later. So I put it in my things to do list though I never return to those, unless I am put against the wall. My paper note books and diaries are full of these.

Working independently for buyers is not just about flexibility, freedom and finance. It is a lot about exploring and exploiting your true potential that is not defined by the metrics of just one environment but customized to your own well-being.

There are four steps to be a BECKON Coach

Image Background Credit: Canva Designs

To know how BECKON Coach can build an enterprise, click here
So, what will you book mark today or list in your things to do
That is the whole point - Being trained is easy, learning is not. The only key theme of this blog is "Taking Notes". Did you learn that yet?


Friday 15 April 2016

Freelancer Kit: How will you choose what skills to sell as services?

Easier said than done!

Identify Target Market

  • Call it instinct or habitual thinking – people who are new to freelancing, self employment, part time careers, entrepreneurship are inclined to list only those skills automatically, that they have been doing.
  • You need to choose skills based on two things:
    • What you can do?
    • What people and business need?
  • If the market is saturated and competitive for the skills you have, look at the current demand and consider tweaking your skills to meet that growing demand.
Image Background Credit: Canva Designs

Three Filtering Questions

Pass the skills you have identified through these questions:

  • Who will need these services?
  •  How can you offer more to those who order your services?
  •  Why will they return to you?

Do a realistic assessment and avoid any wishful thinking here. Define how your skill will bring value to the client

Skills or habit/ attitude

  • Let us assume, you are good in people management, stakeholder management, operations management, negotiation, closing deals, taking prompt decision, driving an agenda to execution and of course, not to forget boss management .
  • The question is can you or how can you sell any of these abilities outside the corporate environment as a service?

Here is how I identified one of my offerings

  • I love to write – All kind of writing. However I am an average writer compared to my global counterparts whose native language is English. That is the master stroke - knowing your limitations first. I knew mine.
  •  With 35% American population into freelancing and writing, I wondered what chance I had to stand on my own.
  •  A couple of years back when I had approached a leading nationalized bank with a business plan, the Branch Manager asked me who did the plan for me as she seemed impressed with it. She confirmed it was a feasible plan and can be funded.
  • While I had to shelf the idea of that business as I was planning to shift base back home in a yearor two – what came out of that experience and interaction was my skill in making business plans, not because of how well I write but how I think holistically.

Limitations
  • English is not my native language
  • I did not have any business degree or Masters tag
  • While my credentials were zero in the startup ecosystem my extensive experience in Bid Management went a long way to compensate for it.


Today
  •  38 International Buyers in 11 months
  •  35% repeat buyers
  •  I have prepared plans for different domain ranging from Hydroponics to App development, coaching to real estate, Bio diesel plant in Africa to entertainment industry in UK, restaurant in Dubai to marine management, bathroom grab bars to non-profit firms in Florida, first time venture in design industry to entrepreneurial coaching in China.
  •  Subject to industry and research I charge anywhere between, $135 to $450 to write 800 words plan.
  • This is just one of my offering and in just one portal.

My Resources:

  •  Self Learning
  • Online Learning
  • Micro Learning
  • Social Learning

The point is all I did was I just tweaked what I can do to fill a gap.


Now let us re-look at your skills and what gaps it can possibly fill. Are we ready?

To know more about Future of Work, click here

Based on BECKON Framework, the evaluation and learning road map are first to support your outcomes (income stream) and then assist you to transfer that to others, if you want to scale and build an enterprise or brand as an independent BECKON coach

Monday 4 April 2016

How Are You Branding Yourself Today?

How many of you receive mails from job consultants seeking these inputs?

  • Your current Salary
  • Expected Salary
  • Joining Period if selected
  • Have you applied before directly or through any consultant?
  • Are you a permanent employee?
  • Are you open to relocate?
  • What is your current location?
  • How many years do you have in

  1. Leadership Role
  2. Team Management
  3. Project Management
  4. Stakeholders Management
  5. Client relationship Management

And the laundry list can be longer. There was time I used to think, these questions in my inbox reflect interest in my profile for an opening, possibly. Now I just delete such mails whispering to myself – What audacity! What a pathetic way to build database? How immature!

  • It is perfectly okay that you do not have time to read my online profile
  • It is not okay that you demand sensitive information, just like that.
  • How can one trust your credibility to fill positions, if you lack basic ability to draft a decent introductory mail?

Content impacts your branding


Image Credit: Shutterstock


CEO,  Ventures
Over a year back, when a young job consultant spoke at a stretch and ended saying “Since you are not associated full time with any corporate now, I suggest you take this opportunity for whatever you are getting” I smiled and said politely “I will keep that in mind”. What I wanted (trade time, skills, both or neither) was not her scope to know, what she wanted was all that mattered.

  • When you treat profiles like products to push and fill roles, you most often forget the resource here has a mind of their own.
  • Your choice of words and under researched ways speaks volumes about your desperateness to meet targets than do justice to employers and aspirants.

Communication impacts your branding

There are a few people I know who are running their own firms for almost five years and yet their social/ professional profiles highlight their former roles with big corporate names.

  • Which entity do you think needs to be branded now – the firm you worked for a decade or the firm you created and associated with now?
  • How do you want people to remember you – for what you did in the capacity of former president or for the service you provide now and what you represent today?

Company impacts your branding

The young consultant and many others like her are yet to know large corporation is good platform to test and develop skills for a few years. The Future of Work is to trade your niche skills to multiple buyers across geography from the comfort of your home, without trading your time. Are you branding yourself today to suit/ meet that future?

To know more about Future of Work, click here

Based on BECKON Framework, the evaluation and learning road map are first to support your outcomes (income stream) and then assist you to transfer that to others, if you want to scale and build an enterprise or brand as an independent BECKON coach