From Crippling Sickness and Sorrow to Business Coach

The key to Steve G Mbuthia adventure began during a coaching session. A coach posed the Dan Sullivan question to him. “Imagine we are having this discussion three years from today. You are looking back over those three years. What has to have happened in your life, both personally and professionally, for you to feel happy with your progress?” In seeking the answer to this question, Steve G had a light-bulb moment. He realized he would be able to get clarity, focus and direction for his business and life. He then resolved to help entrepreneurs, one at a time, in their quest of building businesses that last. To achieve this, he started Endeavour Connections Limited in 2011. The aim was to reconnect entrepreneurs to their dream of building sustainable businesses.

Born to win 45 years ago, Steve G ate life with a big spoon. This soon came to a screeching halt. Health complications and loss of loved ones left him kicked to the curb of life. The building process was slow. To have the right foundation for his life, Steve G enrolled for an internship program at the Nairobi Chapel Church in 1999. There he built his faith and became more grounded. Upon successful completion, he left to take on entrepreneurship in 2001. He had discovered his mission in life. He dived into social entrepreneurship. For the next nine years, he dedicated himself to developing sustainable and strong businesses and projects. He wanted to transform individuals and communities. His focus largely was on building CSR projects for the benefit of the community. He dedicated his time, sweat and effort to make it work. Yet as much as he tried and poured himself into it, the business model did not work well. He was about to close shop and sit on the curb once more when he met one of the top business coaches in the world.

For nine more years, he spent part of his time in international waters learning from the best of the best. This was the best thing he had ever done. From his cry for help, he reworked his business model and moved from CSR engagements. Instead, he helped entrepreneurs think through their business strategy and model. They would also draw an execution plan. In the grand scheme of things, coaching had never crossed his mind.

Steve G knows what his biggest mistake was. “Having the business depend on ME” and not having clear processes and systems to manage its growth. He was working IN the business and not ON the business. The focus was on WHAT they did. They looked for new clients rather than HOW the business worked to deliver for the customer. As the business grew, they were not able to manage the customer experience. They lost some of their bigger clients. Taking time off, they looked at what the business needed to grow. Then they worked to build those processes and systems. This has helped them grow over the years.

Along the journey, Steve G and his team have gleaned a few lessons. The primordial importance of managing your business growth was a painful one. He advises that sometimes it is OK to say NO to getting a new client or customer. They have learnt to pace business growth with client growth. For this, they have clear annual milestones on growing the business processes. This way, they can deliver on client engagements while maintaining their brand promise.

From his own journey and conversations with business owners, Steve G found out that many entrepreneurs are lonely. They struggle to manage business growth and cash flows. Client demands and expectations, as well as an ever-changing business environment, weight on them. “Having a business coach and a round-table of similar business minds gave me a place to bounce off my thoughts. I found clarity and focus on how to handle different challenges,” he says.

The Strategic Thinking Coaching Model at a glance

“When it comes to businesses, especially in the formative stages, 95 per cent of the business owners in any given industry will be stuck achieving an average kind of result. No amount of working longer or harder will take them above it, and there’s no wisdom within their industry about how to get above this level,” Dan Sullivan said once. Using the Strategic Thinking Coach model, Endeavour Connections Limited aims at helping entrepreneurs achieve their maximum.

The model is packaged in two programs. The first program helps the entrepreneur build their business G.P.S on 3-year framework processes. These engage clients and develop systems that align with their goals. The second is the coaching program. It is designed to help the client track their progress and review their goals every quarter. Steve G is an authority in this. He is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) with the International Coach Federation (ICF). The certification is an approved coach training program for those who want to position themselves as international professional coaching experts for emerging and growing niche markets. These are incidentally under-served. Steve G has also been certified as a Customer Journey Architect. He helps his clients to design and deliver memorable customer experience moments through all their business touchpoints.

The GPS Program is in 3 modules: Define Your Goals, Determine Your Processes and Describe Your Systems. It is covered over 10 hours, meaning five 2-hour sessions over eight weeks. The overarching aim for the coaching program is business stability, sustainability, and growth. To achieve this, Endeavour Connections Limited assists entrepreneurs to work through the different phases of their business. They unlock their thought process and achieve their business’ strategic goal.

The Measure of Success

With the ever-growing entrepreneurship courses and training, one may ask, does this work? And if it does, how do I measure my success? How do I know that doing the course has helped my business? And is there a success guarantee?

At the helm of the GPS program lies a process in the form of a coaching model which has a fixed amount per engagement. Strategic thinking lays down the foundation for the client’s strategy. From the engagement, the customer gets a laid-out plan for three years, and clear goals for the first year broken down into quarters. Here is where the rubber meets the road. The success depends on the execution and reviews to course-correct by the client. The company walk along with the customers to assist them through the process.

Over the past years, Steve G. has successfully walked with over a dozen entrepreneurs who had been stuck in a rut. Most of Endeavour Connections Limited clients are entrepreneurs who are feeling stuck in a rut. They have been in business for two to three years. Some are start-ups as well. Your business may be growing but the growth comes with more stress and pain than the freedom entrepreneurship promises. Most of those who approach Endeavour Connections Limited want to take a critical look at their business. They wish to build processes and systems to turn it into a self-managing company.

To stay in the right frame of mind, Steve G uses one of the key lessons of the Strategic Coach process. The Entrepreneurial Time System divides his days into Focus Days, Buffer Days and Free Days. On Focus Days, he works on current client engagements. On Buffer Days, he has time to clean up his in-tray and items on his to-do list, getting ready for Focus Day activities. On Free Days, he gets to disconnect from his business and take time to rejuvenate and relax. “I take my Free Days on Mondays when I get to take a whole day off to unwind,” he shares. “On these days I read a book that is not business-related, go for a hike at Karura Forest or play golf. I also take time to have conversations and catch up with friends over a cup of hot chocolate or coffee.”

Steve G considers that 2020 has been the toughest year for many entrepreneurs. “Extended restrictions and lockdown with the Covid pandemic have brought a slowdown in business. Taking lessons from the coaching process I have been through, I used this period to re-align our business goals and focus. I also piloted new business opportunities. Thus, we achieved over 60 per cent of our business goals for 2020. We pushed some of the goals we had for the year to 2021 and beyond,” he says.

Are there fresh opportunities, especially to women, in the coaching and mentoring industry today? Steve G considers that entrepreneurship coaching and mentoring is still growing in Kenya. The certified coaches are few. Entrepreneurs need help to get their business foundation and models in place. They need guidance for business growth and scaling. A major focus in the entrepreneurial space of late has been to get businesses ‘Investor Ready’. Yet for many women in business finding the right support system has been a difficult process. “Coaching thus fills the gap by focusing on helping the women in business get ‘ready for the business’. They work through their business growth strategies and goals. At the same time, they are balancing personal and family obligations,” he says.

Steve G has been married for 20 years and is a father of two. He believes in having clear business, personal and family goals as well as milestones. He thinks it’s the first step towards balancing one’s work and private life. “When building our 3–5-year business plans and goals, we often forget to include our personal and family goals,” he says. “This often has the entrepreneur having plans that are pulling in different directions. Have clear business, personal and family goals, and milestones. This will help you identify areas where the business might be demanding time and resources from your personal or family goals. Thus, you will make the necessary adjustments to ensure that one area of life does not suffer loss because of the others.”

In 10 – 15 years, Steve G sees Endeavour Connections Limited as a leading MSME advisory and support firm. It will have a footprint in Kenya and East Africa. “We will be on the list of top go-to organizations working with business owners and entrepreneurs. Our coaching and training programs will have seen hundreds of businesses grow to sustainability.

Business owners who have done our programs will have testimonies of business and personal breakthroughs because of our programs and engagements. We will partner with banks and institutions that have SME training programs. We will work as well with NGOs that engage in economic empowerment for micro business owners.”

To budding entrepreneurs, Steve G’s golden advice is, “Start small and build a business model that works for you. Learn fast, learn from your failures. Pivot and evolve as often as you can and disrupt your business before the industry disrupts you. Great businesses don’t just grow, they are built. This takes time, consistency, and discipline. Build the right kind of business and the right customer will come and stay.”

Behind many a successful business story is a fantastic mentor, trainer, or coach. Many business leaders owe a great debt of gratitude to their mentors, trainers, or coaches. Steve G. is one such a person.