business builder gremlin

Business Builder Gremlin – remember that movie “Gremlins”…. when you feed the things they get worse and wreck a bunch of stuff?

Yesterday I was in a coaching session with a man who owns a contracting business. He has been around the $750k mark for a couple of years with a small crew of 2 FT guys and 1 PT guy who do project oversight, light selling, etc. He is working to change his mindset, build a marketing engine, etc.

He is doing great really.

Toward the end of our meeting, after working on a lot of “stuff”… more my consulting hat than coaching hat… he looked at me and dropped his head and said,

“I keep wondering if this is just stupid and if I can do it or if I’ll just make a mess of things.”

WOW.

Ever feel like that?

That’s the Gremlin. He may only be in your head or you may hear him in the voices of others around you.

Don’t feed that little SOB. Starve him.

Stay around positive people.

I then reminded my client that he and I have only been working together 1.5 months… when he decided to work with me was when he put that Gremlin in the closet. He’s trying to get out.

We then reviewed the progress he has made especially with Mindset and thinking. His mood started to lift.

We then talked about the Vision and where he is headed and what he wants…. he reminded me it isn’t about money…. almost apologetically…. it is ok to make lots of money.

We then leaned into that future vision and talked about the next smallest steps he is taking in that Created Future vs. the Default Future path he was on.

His whole demeanor picked back up.

If you want something different than the way things are…awesome. The Gremlin will try to get out of the closet. Find someone to talk with regularly who Believes in You.

*Credit for the naming of this as “Gremlin” to the book Co-Active Coaching, or at least that is where I first read about this. It’s good to have a name for this!