Hi. I'm John Deagan. I am a professional business coach, and the founder of the Professional Business Coaches Alliance.

Since you have reached this point, I know you probably have the desire to be a successful professional business coach. And I don't blame you. I consider it to be the finest profession in the world.

Although I am not comfortable talking about myself - particularly on the Web - I also recognize that I must in order for you to understand not only the love and passion that I have poured into this endeavor, but also my business background. Otherwise - it's just like all of the other fluff out there. So here goes...

I graduated from college in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration majoring in accounting, with minors in management and finance. Upon graduation, I went into public accounting so I could be exposed to a variety of different businesses. It's a fantastic education for a young person. I did very well, got my CPA in a single sitting, and was offered a partnership at the young age of 28. However, I knew my future would not be spent in this profession.  I went to work for a client as controller so I could see the "inside" of a successful business.

I fell in love. In a short time, I left the accounting world behind and became General Manager. I found that I liked the front-end of business far more than accounting. I learned all the aspects of running a business. The company had 160 employees, and worked to 100% of physical capacity. I started new financial divisions to generate more income. It was a blast. However, it wasn't mine, and I wanted to work for myself.

I became a free agent. I went to a business that was similar to the finance division that I had nurtured, and with the title of VP-Marketing, I grew the business through marketing and sales to nearly 10MM, and took a pre-arranged buyout.

I decided to take some time off to smell the roses. I knew that my hands-on experience in marketing, sales, management, finance, and accounting made me well-rounded, but I wasn't certain what I wanted to do next in my career. At that point, business coaching found me! The front-end focus of business coaching intrigued me greatly - because I knew first-hand that small business owners struggled in these areas.

I immersed myself into learning how to be an awesome business coach.  I joined every organization I could find, including a franchise, coaching communities, coaching community business coaching groups, federations... spending tons of money. I began developing my own coaching systems by combining what I had learned in the personal effectiveness side with what I learned and experienced in running a business.

I have had - and will continue to have - a 100% success rate with my clients, and a 100% client retention rate. That's not "bragging", it's just fact.. The average length of time that a client has stayed with me is over two years in comparison to the to industry average of 2-4 months.

I decided to start the PBCA, train other business coaches, provide a system for them to follow, and a network of fellow professional business coaches for a simple reason - it WASN'T AVAILABLE! If it was, I would have joined it! The thought of the cornucopia of training companies repeatedly taking small chunks of your money for class after class after class, and the franchises taking huge chunks of money saddens me because good people with good intentions are being taught skills by people who haven't coached outside business owners!  Please understand - their stuff may be very good - but ours is REAL, because I and the PBCA members do it every day.

I know that good coaching works 100% of the time, and I know this association of coaches will quickly become recognized as the finest group of professional business coaches in the world - because we will be the most highly trained, qualified, and practical business coaches in the world - and we will be selling a service that always works with a "coachable" client.

You may be wondering if it will work for you, and I'm quite sure that you may be somewhat cynical due to all of the other promises that are out there, so I'll be as plain-spoken as I can be about my successes as a business coach:

• I had moved to a city (for the controller position) where I didn't know anyone. When I started my business coaching practice, I couldn't have named five people in the entire county.
• Being in the Midwest, people are slower to accept "new" things, and I never spoke to a business owner who had ever heard of business coaching.
• If you watched the last presidential elections, you saw my city (Canton, Ohio) and entire county (Stark County) mentioned numerous times due to a tremendous loss of jobs. All of the major news networks were here doing stories. This is not an area that has tons of money to throw around.  In fact, our area may even be considered to be "depressed."
• I have been successful, and have made a good living as a full time business coach - even given the above circumstances.
• 100% of my income (prior to starting the PBCA in 2005) has come from coaching of traditional business owners in my area, whom I had never met prior to our first appointment. And I still maintain a part-time business coaching practice. Compare that to any training company or franchise out there.

I know that simply because the system that I have designed has worked for me, it may or may not work for you. But I know this also...if I could do this in a small, financially challenged city where I had no prior relationships...and no one had ever heard about my profession - you will be FAR ahead of where I started!

On a personal level, I am a non-denominational Christian, a dad, a husband, a brother, and a Cleveland Browns fan. I have been married to my wife, Sharon, for 17 years, and have three children, Kevin, Katie and Tyler. I also have eleven (yes - eleven!) brothers and sisters and twenty-two (22) nieces and nephews.  I am Past-President of the local Rotary Club, Past-President of the local Toastmasters Club, and I am active in the local Chambers of Commerce. I also have served as an instructor for Junior Achievemant, and donate time and other resources to local charities.

I hope you will join me and the other fine professional business coaches who have joined and will join the PBCA to empower small business, to grow our profession, and to improve every aspect of your life - and the lives of your clients. I look forward to meeting you and working with you.

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