The Coaching Coach Daily Journal

We woke up to a cool day – and headed out for home. It should take until about 8:30 pm to get there – and we are both anxious to sleep in a real house for a few nights at least.

I had time to reflect on what we have accomplished – and whether or not to continue offering such a service. The answer though seems so clear if I think of each person I have met – one at a time.

Many people we saw did not realize the scope or size of the Coaching Coach Tour. We left for the first leg of the trip on March 1st and arrived in Duncan BC for March 3rd – our first of many, many sessions. We attended and or spoke at 8 meetings, held one workshop and 60 coaching sessions and spoke with over 500 women.

There were no medals, no graduation ceremonies, no welcome home parties when we arrived home. Just 12 inches of snow, -23 degrees and a strong sense of knowing however small, I had accomplished something that last fall seemed like an unlikely and impossible – even unreasonable task. In my own way – I had set out to help change the success rates of women in business. It may take many years to learn if this coaching crusade had any impact at all – but in my heart – I know it already has. It has changed me.

It made me question my motives for doing what I do – and ensure that I do things for the right reasons. Before this project – there was always a reward, a party, a certificate at the end of anything hard that had to be done – and the motivation was to upgrade skills or achieve something. This time the motivation had to be about the cause – raising the success rates of women in business – or it would be ineffective. I did not want to do a smoke and mirrors tour. I wanted every woman who attended a coaching session to leave encouraged and take away at least one new idea – something she could use to make her business ‘better’.

This trip has also shown me that anything can be done. Anything. It takes courage to go against what others say. It takes stamina and determination to make something work. And it takes belief and support of a great team around you to get it done. Thank you to all the Roaring Women and men who helped out in so many ways, promoting this tour, attending the sessions, waiting longer than usual for emails to be answered, for understanding when I was too pooped to answer a call, and the gifts of chocolate, wine and good humour. You all played a big part in a truly magical event.

Thank you also to the STAPLES Business Depot Team – Allesandra especially for believing in this project

I am home. I spent a very teary moment embracing the sights and smells of the familiar. I let down my guard. I am tired. I am happy. It has been hard. It has been worth it. With a lump still in my throat, I start the bath running and grab a new book to escape into.

Today we arrived to meet 2 very excited managers at the STAPLES in Winnipeg. They are very understanding and supportive of what we are doing.

They are announcing every hour on the hour over the PA in the store that there is free business coaching outside in the “STAPLES Bus” and have even placed a sign outside on the sidewalk.

We had several women stop in and lots of queries from passers by. This has been a rewarding trip with lots of lessons learned along the way. We have met with STAPLES head office earlier and we are looking at how we can help each other out – we both have very similar visions about helping small business it seems.

I was also surprised to see another manager interested in carrying my book. This is the fourth location that has mentioned it would do well in the copy centre. I left one with her to read and she seemed very excited!

You can order it here!

We left at 8 pm and headed west – homeward. We stopped at a rest stop in Virden Manitoba. Lucky for us (not) a refrigeration unit parked 15 inches from our sleeping area – and it was so loud I could not even here Strath snoring. I got my earplugs out – and heard nothing more until morning!

We woke up this morning to fog. Strath had decided to disobey Jill again and we had taken an alternate route from Thunder Bay to Winnipeg. It took us south along the Border of Canada and the US and he kept pointing to the other side of several lakes to tell me that was the US – which made me a little nervous – I hoped we did not have to cross the border.

Although I was sketptical at first of the alternate route – I like to stay on roads where I can predict where when and how, when we are in a hurry – I was glad he took this route as we heard that the highway 17 was closed just before Kenora – which meant we would be delayed significantly if we had traveled the traditional route.

We are headed to the Winnipeg Meeting tonight and I am anxious to be on time. It should take us about four and one half hours – so we have plenty of time.

About 2 and one half hours into the drive, Strath hollers – “get out the passports”. I immediately panic. We have not yet crossed the border with the ‘bus’ and it is labeled for business. It seems that Jill forgot to tell us that there is a 35 mile journey through the US on this route – so we must cross the border. We do have passports however when you cross the border on business – there are tariffs and on one occasion I was delayed several hours, finger printed and issued a 3 day work visa as well as a long lecture – even though I was not selling anything and was speaking for free.

We were ordered this time to pull over and they were going to inspect the vehicle. The worst case scenario was we would have to turn around and find another route which may mean we would miss the meeting. My palms were sweaty and I was trying to appear relaxed. Even thought I had been a police officer and in authority I still get the jitters if I am pulled over by border patrol or an officer. I do understand (and always did) how other people feel when I was an officer pulling them over. I tried always to reassure people that they were not ‘bad’ but had just broken the rules.

I was hoping now that we had not broken any rules. Then I remembered the grapefruit in the refrigerator and the open container of wine way at the back. I knew that these items would be confiscated. Oh well it was the price of travel I thought. So much for the safety of technology. In the end it was our talking and not and Jill’s direction that got us out of a bind.

The inspector was a young woman who laughed when she opened the first cupboard only to be hit in the head with a paper plate. We had purchased some as there are times when we have no water – and although they had been at the back of the cupboard – the bumpy journey had dislodged many things. So I warned her to be careful opening cupboards. We heard her going through all the accessible doors and drawers. She stepped back out and asked about Roaring Women and asked why we were in the US. I explained that our GPS did not warn us of a border crossing on this route and she laughed. She mentioned she was a ’scrapbooker’ and spoke of her sister’s business. She walked us back in to get our passports and waved us on our way much to the disgust of the younger male who was determined we needed to pay a tariff. She understood we were just passing through – so we were on our way.

There are many issues to be explored if you decide to do any business in the US. And often you will get different answers at every border crossing – so it is good to understand all possible scenarios.