Read a profile of Terri Levine

Real Small Business: Building Your Business

Terri Levine

From the Editors of Real Small Business

Name: Terri Levine Company: Comprehensive Coaching U Job Title: President Job Description: Advises entrepreneurs.

Terri Levine, who runs Comprehensivecoachingu.com in North Wales, PA, advises many entrepreneurs.

Q. Why did you choose your profession?

A. I was an administrator of a health-care company and was very unhappy, because my job really took me away from working with people. When I started to think about what I loved, it was listening to people, mentoring them. So, five years ago, I became a full-time coach, working a lot with entrepreneurs.

Q. How did you get started?

A. I knew I had the skills it took. I knew I had the ability. I quit my job, founded a company, started a Web site, then called everyone I knew and offered to spend a free half hour with them to see if they wanted me to coach them or if they knew someone else who might.

Q. What did you do before starting your business?

A. I had a degree in speech language pathology and I moved up the ranks, getting more and more into management and less into patient care. I started a small clinic right out of college. When I sold it, I was invited to be the administrator of an outpatient hospital. Then I helped found a new company running rehabilitation clinics. I left that to become the director of operations for another health-care firm. Right before I made my move, I was the regional president of yet another health-care company.

Q. What have been the biggest challenges you've faced?

A. The biggest challenge is that I love to do so many things--working with individual clients, training other people, doing seminars, writing books--that I have difficulty choosing what I want to do each day.

Q. What are your favorite resources?

A. One of my favorite Web sites is cluttersmith.com. It has all kinds of resources to get our lives organized. There's also Mrfire.com, which is a great resource for how to reach people and get your message out. I also like half.com, a good place to buy books, CDs, tapes for half price or less, or to sell your own stuff.

Q. What is your most useful gadget?

A. One is a telephone line called a bridge line; I can use it to have up to 30 people on the phone at a time, which lets me teach a class by phone. The other is a recording device that lets me record my classes so anyone who can't make it can call in 24/7 from anywhere around the world.

Q. What advice do you have for someone starting out in your profession?

A. Get your own coach so you understand the profession even more. Also, take an on-line assessment at coachinginstruction.com that will let you know if you're a good fit for the job. And you have to understand that you need to do some sales and marketing; the clients won't just come to you.

Q. What are the key changes happening in your profession?

A. Coaching is booming; it's a really growing profession. Also, we're weeding out the people who aren't treating this as a serious profession. It used to be that anyone could become a coach. Now, people are getting training to become certified and hold a coaching credential.

Q. What are the best and worst parts of your job?

A. The best part is working with my clients and training other coaches. I love seeing the wonderful changes in their lives. There really is no worst part. I truly love it all.

Q. What are the biggest mistakes people make when they're thinking of starting a business?

A. They have ideas, but no solid action plan. And very often they really don't have clear priorities; they don't understand that they need to do things in a structured way, that one step builds upon another. Also, a lot of times they keep it a secret. But they need to tell people about their vision.