Vision Coaching is no longer a kid.
Last month, the coaching business I launched on a dream and a $10,000 line of credit turned 18 years old.
It’s so hard to believe. Less than three in 10 small businesses in Canada survive after 17 years, a statistic that surprised me.
Truthfully, there were some occasions on this journey when I worried that Vision Coaching would be one of those that went out of business. (It’s hard not to think back to the business climate during the financial crisis of 2009, for instance.)
Thankfully, I am surrounded by amazing people that I could lean on during some of the more challenging times along with an amazing and very loyal client base.
No pressure!
When we launched on Oct. 1, 2005, it was a time of good chaos and great promise: newly married to Mary Ellen, building a home and enrolled in the renowned graduate executive coaching program at Royal Roads University. Two months after starting the business, we found out that we were pregnant with our first child. No pressure!
With only a $10,000 line of credit to bankroll the enterprise, it certainly had modest beginnings. I remember the time I spent creating a vision for it: “We envision a world that values and is transformed by creative, resilient and compassionate leadership.”
My sense of commitment to that vision statement prompted me to call the company Vision Coaching. Those words still propel us today, 18 years later.
Incredible team
For me, there is a lot to celebrate – the incredible coaching roster and support team we have built over the years, the remarkable clients we’ve served, the partnerships we’ve forged along the way and how successes have allowed us to give back to the community.
I owe so much to Mary Ellen, who has been an incredible support to me, to the business and to our family. And I’m delighted that she is now one of the outstanding coaches on our roster!
I also owe so much to our clients, some of whom have been working with us for a dozen or more years – back in those earlier times when leadership coaching was a relatively unknown, and misunderstood, offering.
A lot of time and energy has been invested in raising awareness of the power of coaching.
Full circle
Although we started with one-to-one leadership coaching and are still most known for that today, in recent years, we’ve worked hard to develop and refine our programs to help leaders and their organizations – programs like the newest entry, Pre-Retirement Coaching, along with High-Performance Team Coaching, Coaching to Lead for HR Professionals, Using the Coach Approach.
These programs are a way for us to teach essential coaching theory and skills to leaders to empower their leadership.
And that brings me back full circle to the reason we became Vision Coaching: to help create a world that values and is transformed by creative, resilient and compassionate leadership.
Sincerely,
Dave Veale
Founder & CEO
Vision Coaching Inc.