I always knew that the team concept was its own niche in any sales industry used to celebrating solo producers, but I never realized how vastly different the mentality and the results would be from those living in the team reality. We created our own events and stages when the industry would not welcome us on theirs, and largely, this is still the case today.
Less than a year after accepting my role as director of coaching, things changed again. I was needed as Director of Operations. Now, this title is misleading. Director of Operations was a culmination of Director of Coaching, Director of Marketing, Director of Finance, and Director of Operations all in one. The original Director of Coaching was let go and, as a result, I was getting my feet wet trying to run a whole company with no actual experience or training on running a business, let alone a business in the volatile and competitive coaching industry. Finally, I had the notion to ask to see the books. Now, how a company was able to get about $180k in debt in less than two years is beyond me. There was no line up of others looking to run the company, there was less than no money, and I was starting to understand that the weight of our rebound as a business fell on my shoulders.
In the middle of all of this, two of the three owners wanted out, were wanted out, or both. They each had various director roles, but none of them had all of them.
When we were rebuilding, I only focused on what it would take. I had no space to compare job descriptions, responsibilities, or contemplate the full weight of what I was taking on. If I failed to clean up this mess, it would be me to blame, and if I succeeded, it would not be my name taking that claim either. So, I was back picking up change on the ground, knowing I was relentless enough to find enough for a few quarters. The rest could wait.
My mentality was more like, “Run a business doing what I love? Sign me up!” I was not thinking about the debt or ridiculous amount of responsibilities and tasks. I was focused on the dream.
Taking a massive pay cut, I finally transitioned away from selling homes to continue to build content, support our clients, run national events, and keep it all in the black while we cleared debt.
I had the realization that I was now the company. I literally obtained 50% ownership with 100% decision-making as the two owners transitioned out. I saw the mess that came with multiple owners and wanted no part of it. If I was going to clear the full amount of debt, including the 50% I now owned, and find a way out to where we could grow, I needed to move fast, straight, and reduce sideline interference.
I cleared the debt. We built phenomenal businesses with our clients where their growth was evident and a direct reflection of the new approach of the company. But then my silent partner suddenly grew less silent.
We agreed upfront that I was to earn a “fairer” income once the debt was cleared, the company was on its feet again, and I could forge ahead with my dreams for expansion, being rewarded as we grew. But suddenly, he felt we should go in a different direction. That I should take a pay cut, again, and automate the company so it was more plug and play. I made offer after offer to buy him out, to license the content I already technically owned, and come to some agreement so we could get back to what we should have been doing all along: helping people build their dream business and life.
No offers were countered, and on October 1st, 2015, I arrived at locked doors. I quickly was informed that my clients were told I was fired. Now, anyone who knows about business understands the impossibility of this. I was a 50% owner who was not consulted in firing the CEO, who held 100% decision-making power, and that person, the CEO in question, happened to be me.
None of the legal issues changed the immediate reality that I was scared and thought I lost everything I worked for. Every missed night of my children’s sporting or school events, every missed meal, all the financial sacrifices were for nothing.
How could I look my children in the face? How could I stand tall or proud? I was tricked. Despite the high odds of being screwed, this was a fire sale I had to jump on. Something in me waged the internal war with risk and knew that I was at a disadvantage, but the possibility of building something great and the experience of running my own company was impossible to turn down.
We had sent all ownership agreements to the lawyer long ago, signed by both me and the other silent partner. The ownership was all done, but we still spent months negotiating the prior owner out of the business—a business I needed to run with clients to support. Because of this we had delayed going to the lawyer to officially update the corporate documents.
My life went spinning out of control. I was terrified. The bank delivered old ownership documents without our updated agreements and already froze the accounts. I was enraged, sad, and felt deeply betrayed. I play fair, and this situation did not have an ounce of fair to its name.
To say I was depressed would be a lie. I was too shocked to be depressed. It would come out that the other owner thought I did not have the resources to fight him. He banked on my fear and need to support my children. He banked on me not having the guts or courage to stand up for myself. I was not paid that month as I often would pay our team first, ensuring we had the funds for them first.
My lawyer had to escalate to other specialized lawyers, as “they just don’t see this type of thing. It makes no sense to do this.” It was all taking so much time.
I was lucky to have a little voice that changed it all. A guide appeared this time with an important message. It said, “If you believe in it, and it is right, you do not need to hide or cower. You bank everything you have on it. You bet your house on it and get the resources you need to make this right.” It was this voice combined with a single self-empowering question, “What would you guide your clients to do in a similar situation?” that convinced me, without a doubt, I would stand for my clients and fight beside them. Now, I had to do the same for myself.
Finally, I made it in front of a judge and then to mediation. I literally had to bet my house on hiring that lawyer, paying over $800 an hour for my lawyer alone, day after day and week after week went. Having no resolve was terrifying. I was exhausted. The legal bill was mounting. Finally, we got clear direction from our mediating judge that the ownership agreement may not be in the corporate documents, but there was not a judge in the country that would overturn our ownership agreement or turn a blind eye to the fact that I was running the company as the owner for years.
The tides changed. I accepted an offer to sell my shares, and in an unbelievable change of fate, I also got to keep half of our clients. Both of us were to retain ownership of all intellectual content with the ability to legally start and promote a new company as of December 1st, 2015. The final share exchange and payout would happen January 15th, 2016.
December 1st, I was able to bill in my own name. I had clients who took a chance on me, but I had no income for two months, a stack of expenses, and was still terrified. I was still in shock and, luckily, too terrified not to hit the ground running. Within three weeks, my coaching schedule was more than full. Within two months, I brought in another coach. He came in with two clients paying in packs of two or four hours and using them as needed over weeks or months. He was now full with ongoing clients and we sought to hire another coach within six months.
Upon opening Kathleen Black Coaching & Consulting in 2015, we earned 35% more in gross income in our first full operational year followed by approximately 84% more in our second operating year over the 2015 gross income of my previous company. I went from fear and desperation to quickly scaling a company.
Your Own Face of Leadership
Most of us know all about unravelling. We went through the blunt transitions that unpack our former lives and try to morph us at a lightning speed into the new version of ourselves now needed by the present and future world.
I stood with clients during times of unravelling. I watched as changing aspects, often out of their control, impacted their lives, businesses, and even their sense of self in a way that seemed to cripple them with anxiety, fear, embarrassment, self-judgement, and the associated stress from the whole experience. From losing team