There is no way to verbalize the level of learning that took place during the week at Natural Bridge but hopefully you will come to understand the level of training that is being taught to the fellows of the Kentucky Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute.  

The official goal of the workshop was "to grow coaching skills with tools that accelerate entrepreneurial successes for economic development and quality of life." 

The way I saw the goal was for the six entrepreneurs to leave with a complete business plan for the future of their business and the skills to present it to investors in 15 minutes and for the coaches to leave knowing the right questions to ask and how to ask them to empower the entrepreneur to create the business plan and be confident in presenting it to a group of investors. 

Levie said, "These workshops are always an act of faith that one can change the way people behave in four days. I had no doubt that we could do it in Kentucky just as we have done it in Scotland, Finland and elsewhere." 

The first day we learned how to phrase a 30-second "elevator message". 

Think about that. Can you tell what your business or career is about in 30 seconds? If you had 15 minutes to present your business to a group of investors, can you do it well enough to make them want to become a funding partner? 

There were whines and groans from both the coaches and entrepreneurs after the first day of training. Many of us saying "we just don’t understand", but we are a group full of determination, perseverance and courage, so the second day began with bright eyes and an eagerness to learn. 

The next three days were filled with the components of a business plan and how to look at a business starting in the future and working back to today. We learned how to do balance sheets, we learned about markets, advisory boards and management teams. 

The coaches learned to ask questions only; we don’t give advice or sit in judgment, we ask questions, hard questions that makes the entrepreneur look intently at their ventures. 

And these were only a few of the topics taught at the "Supercoaching" seminar. 

As the days progressed, there was a stronger bond between the fellows and the entrepreneurs that spent the week with us. It seemed that Levie and Ballard were our best friends and two of the most patient and capable instructors that have worked with the KECI. 

As the entrepreneurs prepared to deliver their 15-minute presentation to the fellows on the last day there was a hush in the room. 

The fellows were eagerly waiting to see and hear what the entrepreneurs learned and the plans they had designed for their business in the four days of training; the entrepreneurs were nervously making last minute changes and revisions to their presentations waiting to speak to the fellows as if we were investors waiting for just the right business to buy in to. 

All the work of the week was about to be demonstrated to our instructors. It seemed the attitude had changed from "I don't understand" to "I knew we could do it". 

As the first presentation came to an end, all the people in the room rose to their feet and the sound of applause and cheers echoed through the gorge. The presentation was fantastic as were the five that followed. 

"I found the Kentucky entrepreneurs in the recent workshop to be as bright, energetic, committed, and innovative as any I have worked with anywhere," Ballard said. "I was so impressed with their work ethic and their openness to learning new ideas and their bravery in trying new things with so many strangers (the fellows learning to be coaches). Kentucky has much to be proud of with this group of entrepreneurs, and I don’t see any difference between them and the best entrepreneurs I’ve coached, here in the US and in Europe." 

Levie added to that, "As always, it is the entrepreneurs who shine through first, and it is they rather than Sharon and I who succeeded in convincing the fellows of the latent potential that exists in all of us to make the world a better place." 

Many people have questioned the Kentucky Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute (which is funded by Phase I Tobacco Settlement funds) and what it will do for Eastern Kentucky; many question the investment of funds and time to a concept so new that understanding it is hard. 

Ballard said it very eloquently: "Kentucky has a bright future if each of these coaches can help to grow even six to ten new entrepreneurial ventures each year. Imagine the economic development impact to the state! And with these new tools they can easily coach that many ventures a year, and even more than that, if their career and lifestyle can allow it. The tools they have learned will help the coaches to be more efficient in their coaching efforts, and help the entrepreneurs do the business development exercises in a systematic way, allowing the coaches to catch inconsistencies that can slow down or block business growth." 

Between now and January the fellows of the Kentucky Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute must find five people to serve as an advisory team and an entrepreneur from the community to coach through February and March. 

And according to Levie, "The coaches now understand that their role is not to sit in judgment but to humbly ask the right questions that help the entrepreneurs come to their understanding of their own potential, and to shape their business idea to fulfill that potential." 

If you or anyone you know wants to start a business or expand/improve an existing business, please contact Paula Franke at 606-798-2553, the Lewis County fellow in the Kentucky Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute. She is also planning to present a workshop on "asset mapping" at the next Chamber of Commerce meeting on Tuesday, January 11, at the Chamber office in Vanceburg. Asset mapping is a tool that encourages identifying positive assets to assist in creating a roadmap for future success. 

Gwenda Adkins is Elliott County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences and also a KECI Fellow.