“30% Turnover Increase, Reinvesting In The Business, A Happy Team and Better Work/Life Balance”

When Barbie Devall of Oakwood Dental Practice, first got in touch with ActionCOACH Wakefield, she was desperate for some business support and guidance.

While she’d been a self-employed Dentist for the best part of 20 years, Barbie had never run her own business, and would be the first to admit that she felt quite clueless when it came to business and financial planning.

She had spent a stressful few months trying to run the business, make sense of the numbers, as well as seeing patients, and was wearing herself out.

ActionCOACH Wakefield lead business coach, Jenni Morgan, introduced Barbie to the 6 Steps to Building A Better Business. This is our essential recipe that helps a business owner step out of their business and evaluate it step by step, with the aim being to build a commercial profitable enterprise that can work without them. Barbie found the structure really helpful.

“I could clearly see where I needed to go from and to.”

In the first few months, Barbie relied on the extra accountability from her coach to make sure she was delivering on what she said she would when it came to organising the business. She quickly learnt that she needed to delegate in order to preserve her time and reduce stress levels.

The impact on her business has been “phenomenal”. Turnover has increased by 30%, which has enabled Barbie to invest heavily in refurbishing and rebuilding the practice.

The business hasn’t just seen a financial improvement. Barbie says she has grown in confidence, and the team have really enjoyed the journey too.

“The positive energy within the practice is fantastic, and we’re attracting some great new talent to work with us.”

She can also see her work/life balance will soon improve dramatically, and with the support of her coach, she’s putting the systems in place for this to happen.

But most importantly, for Barbie, there is a real sense of achievement at having accomplished many of the plans she put in place with the support of her business coach.

“For me, that’s one of the biggest ticks in the box.”