Chris Barrow’s Blog

Back from Como last night (late) and cranking up the business engine again today.

We have a Chicago webinar from 9.00am to 5.00pm Central Time. Before and after that I will be catching up with emails and phone calls.

Jen is back from vacation today also – yay – so normal service is on the way.

A big public “thank you” to Tina, who stepped in over the last few days to make sure you were all looked after.

Thank you also for the response to my “should I send piccies” email – you all said a resounding “YES”.

So here was Lake Como on Monday morning.

We moved out of our summer home yesterday and hope to move into our winter quarters in downtown Como this coming weekend.

The family are in a little hotel in Cernobbio this week, while we wait for the banking system to transfer funds from the UK to Italy (see this week’s ezine for more on this).

I am in the UK now for 10 days, working at home for the next 2 days, meeting with Barbara for our monthly management meeting on Thursday.

I’ll be taking a weekend break on Friday/Saturday as the UK workshops begin on Sunday evening with the Advanced Planning Group dinner. Next week is back to back workshops in Oxford, Bristol, Coventry and Leeds.

Here we go again – these quarterly workshops come around so quickly.

You know I’ve been blathering on all week about my two gigs with the co-author of Profitable Dental Practice, Prof. Phil Newsome?

Well Phil mentioned that he is speaking today (Saturday) at the national conference of Denplan, the biggest dental insurance provider in the UK.

And he will be mentioning and featuring the book.

So it dawned on me in the shower just now (things dawn on me there) – that although I haven’t been invited to the conference, he will be marketing The Dental Business School for me when he mentions the work we have done together and when he sells the book.

Passive marketing. Multiple Streams of Marketing………

It makes me appreciate the co-authoring that much more.

Moral: find a co-author who is an equally prolific speaker and writer.

Thursday morning, waiting at the airport for a flight to Bristol, the a long drive to Leeds for a dental speaking gig tonight.

Last night I spoke in Dublin “fair city” and enjoyed a couple of pints of the black stuff afterwards.

Good session last night. Invited by a dental laboratory who have opened up in Ireland, with technicians based in Hong Kong. They are shipping the work to and from HK to Ireland and claim a 40% reduction in prices and superior quality. Southern Cross Dental Laboratory. I shared the speaking platform with the co-author of Profitable Dental Practice, Prof Phil Newsome. That’s the second time we have ever met!

As always, I enter a speaking gig with no idea of “how it will go” and have to take the rough with the smooth.

Last night (fittingly) it was the smooth that won out – just under 50 in attendance, mainly dental business owners and CB on form in spite of jet-lag. I presented a 45-minute version of Strategy 3 “Control your finances” and they loved it.

Then the God of opportunity stepped in and I was approached by an Irish dentist who runs training programmes for other dentists. He asked me to come back and do a 1-day special, which could lead on to opening a coaching group here later in 2005. That’s how the marketing funnel works.

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A client (dentist) wrote to me yesterday and (in a very courteous way) mentioned that receiving pictures of me sat on Lake Como or looking out from my Vancouver hotel room, didn’t really help when she is struggling to make her business better.

This made me stop and think. I recall a coaching client complaining last year that a photo of me grinning as I sat on the bonnet of my new Pontiac GTO had really p****ed her off.

I responded that the majority seem to find the “ups and downs of CB” an inspiration and, in fairness, I do write about the bad days as well as the good. Maybe I should start sending photographs of myself when I’m depressed or when it all goes wrong?

It’s not a big point, I’m glad she raised it – but if you have any views I would welcome them.

Ah the life of the international jet-setting business coach. An overnight flight from Vancouver to Schipol (Amsterdam) and Bristol England, where I have a 4-hour wait to catch a flight to Dublin.

I’m there this evening, presenting to a group of dentists on “How to improve your profit margins” with the co-author of Profitable Dental Practice, Dr Phil Newsome.

Then back to Bristol tomorrow lunchtime to pick up my car and drive to Leeds, where we repeat the Dublin show tomorrow night.

My body-clock is pretty confused.

Vancouver was an inspiration for me – renewing my enthusiasm and passion for coaching coaches and giving me the opportunity to meet with Team CB and discuss our 2005 business plan.

We have just finished the first day of our Coaching Success Forum and I’m taking an hour’s break before a bonus evening session.

What a day – CB live and uncut plus existing coaches sharing how they have applied the material in the Million Dollar Coach Programme to their own practices – with successful results.

It has been so interesting to hear other people share their stories – the delegates have gained enormously.

I have enjoyed the experience immensely and we still have another 2 days to enjoy.