"We Wish We Had Known: Everyday Tips from Consultants to Grow Your Business."

Chapter Three - A Business Plan: 50 Cups of Coffee - Mary Helen Conroy

MARY HELEN CONROY
Life’s a Daring Adventure
Chief Creative Officer
LifesaDaringAdventure.com / maryhelenconroy@gmail.com

I had my first cup of coffee on our senior class ski trip. If you asked for coffee, it was refilled for free rather than ordering the more costly hot chocolate. Coffee became a staple, and those who know me think that there’s an IV attached to my veins. I can drink it at 10 p.m. and sleep like a baby.

      When my career life ended, I set out living my new business’s name, “Life is a Daring Adventure, and you’re not done yet!” I was starting over. I was at an age some considered retiring.

However, not being done yet, meant I needed a way to begin again. It’s hard creating a coaching consultant business when you don’t have a huge mailing list or contacts. So, for my business plan, I began my 50 cups of coffee challenge.

      This 50-cup advice has been around for a while. In “What Color is Your Parachute,” 50 cups of informational interviewing can get you a job. Mark Susterhas a whole list of reasons why 50-cup challenges work from recruiting to finding venture capital.

      For me it was taking a positive step to meeting folks.

      For one year I would invite folks for a cuppa. Folks I met at networking groups, folks referred to me, folks I met almost on the street accepted my invitation. I wasn’t looking for work per se, I wanted to meet them and learn how they created their lives. Their personal and professional lives fueled me with passion. They shared their joys and sorrows, their wins and losses with me. Seven years later I still invite folks to have a cup and keep me and my business alive, even virtually.

      Whatever your reason, consider adding 50 cups to your business plan. You just might be amazed at what a strong brew might add.

 

“You will be the same person in five years as you are today, except for the people you meet and the books you read.”

Charlie Jones

      Consultants need to meet people. Mostly consultants need to listen. If our life is measured by the books and the people we cherish every day, then mine is indeed rich, like a Kenyan AA extra bold. What’s yours? Let’s have coffee and chat!

Take notes.

      Cups of coffee become a vehicle for contacts, ideas, dreams. I would ask three questions with all my cups. The answers taught me about resilience, learning and making my life and my business important.

• o   How did you begin?
• o   What was your biggest challenge?
• o   What did you learn?

Look for approaches rather than answers

      As you chat, look not only on how they answered their problem, investigate their approach. Did they use a team? What resources do they recommend? How did they face their hardest war story? Learning 50 different approaches to dealing with issues will make you an amazing consultant.

Don’t sell. Don’t ask for anything.

      Consultants are experts at giving advice. Over coffee, just listen and understand. Over coffee, absorb the gifts that are coming to you. Discover that everyone has a unique perspective and something to offer…even tea drinkers. Looking forward to meeting you!

MARY HELEN CONROY

Mary Helen Conroy, Chief Creative Officer of Life’s a Daring Adventure, is the bestselling author of “The Amazing Itty-bitty Retirement Book.” She is well known for her ability to inspire anyone to continue their dreams, regardless of the number of candles on their cake. Her life coaching signature program of Review, Retreat and ReInvent has assisted countless clients in recreating their lives.

Her own reinventions include a career as a public library administrator, a sales executive for the publication Women in Higher Education and adjunct professor for Cardinal Stritch University in the areas of team and change management. Mary Helen has been a sought-after keynote and workshop speaker. Her pandemic reinvention included becoming a publisher to two best-selling books. She holds a master’s in library science and is ABD in the area of adult education.

Meet Mary Helen and be ready to be inspired to (re)ignite your dreams and passions and discover how to live a life of daring adventure. Regardless of what she’s working on, her goal is to remind folks that life is a daring adventure and they're not done yet!

If you would like to purchase a copy of We Wish We Had Known - Everyday Tips from Consultants to Grown Your Business  click here.