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Maximize your potential with our integrated business coaching services and consulting approach that uncovers psychological insights to overcome deep-seated obstacles and strategic consulting, which provides you with the tools and resources you need to develop effective plans.
Our coaches and consultants are carefully vetted and chosen for their expertise and proven track record of success to provide you with the tailored solutions you need to achieve your goals.
We go beyond conventional coaching, tracking your progress to determine the effectiveness of our coaching interventions, demonstrating the value we deliver to you, and helping you strengthen your relationships for better business outcomes.
Ever wondered what really motivates your actions? Discover the answer with our state-of-the-art MindScan™ assessment, which leverages the Hartman Value Profile created by the Nobel-nominated Dr. Robert S. Hartman, to explore the deeper reasons behind your behavior.
Take the MindScan™ Assessment today and get a complimentary coaching session and review of your results with a certified MindScan coach valued at $500!
I believe strongly in reinvesting back into my business and personal life. Coaching is a MUST for anyone committed to working on their business while creating more Time, Money, and Fun. ProAdvisor Coach as a program is much different from any other coaching program because its I-on-I and customized for your business.
Tom Mingone
Capital Management Group
I've been in the business for 20 years and have achieved high levels of success. After working with Rich I increased my production and my confidence to a new level. After 18 years with a large firm I decided it was time to go independent. The coaching is more than just about increasing your production its about how to make a better life for yourself.
Scott Meyerson
Common Wealth Financial
The combination of personal coaching, spiritual coaching, results-based business coaching, and relationship coaching, offers a balance unlike other coaches I've worked with.
Rick Sapio
CEO
The art of being a great leader is not defined in a text book. The idea and concept is a part of who you are, your DNA. ProAdvisor Coach will help you stretch your personal and professional boundaries to help you achieve the goals needed to excel in this ever changing world. ProAdvisor Coach has made an enormous positive change in my life.
John C. Granzow
Wells Fargo Advisors
My ProAdvisor Coach offers an out-of-ordinary way of thinking to grow your business and practice. The tools they help provide are long lasting and will increase net revenue, improve your business skills, and increase your productivity while allowing you to spend more time doing the things you enjoy. ProAdvisor Coach will give you a perspective that adds value to yourself and your clients.
Mitchell Black
Ameriprise Advisor
My ProAdvisor Coach has the skills to help capture the brilliance in others. ProAdvisor Coach understands the power of coaching and how to utilize leadership concepts to produce positive results.
Ryan Beck
AXA
Matt Drinkhahn is a successful entrepreneur and veteran in the corporate world where he has specialized in sales, coaching, recruiting, and sales management throughout his career. He acquired his formal education at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC with a double major in Psychology and Business Economics. Matt’s career has been highlighted by his passion for his customers and people. He has grown his reputation on the platforms of integrity for doing the right thing the right way and his highly-energetic and enthusiastic personality.
I'd be forced to put myself into a corner if I said it was one specific vertical. I would say it's more of an archetype of a person that I tend to work with.
The person that does well with me is leader who’s an overachiever and a recovering perfectionist. T¬hey struggle to “turn it off at night.” They may be stretched thin, the bottleneck in their own business, because they’re still consumed by all the things that we’ve got to do as a startup entrepreneur. It’s the hard-charging personal that may not have as much time to spend or invest with the people on the team. They think their paycheck is their “thank you.” They think, “Go get your job done and I'll get mine done.”
Although it might sound amazing that they have the level of clarity to focus on their job, sometimes the other people on team feel neglected. So, my strength is helping them create culture… helping them with the way that they connect with their people.
Some people out there need to break out of a habit or routine and rebuild the way that they think and rebuild the way they approach business. It’s like Marshall Goldsmith said, “What got you here won’t get you there.” I help people to build new thinking and new systems as they scale their practice.
It’s questions that everybody has. “What do I do when I have now exercised the maximum capacity of selling?” “Now I need to go and build the operations team. How do I do that?” “How do I lead a company offsite retreat?” Or even simply, “How do I lead and show up with powerful impact and input at every team huddle that we have?”
These are some of the common things—the tactical things—that happen week by week. And there's some high-level strategy opportunities that happen as well. These are the things that we tackle at ProAdvisorCoach that I love to dive into.
The struggles are the same at all business sizes. I have clients right now that have as low as a million and a half dollars in revenue coming into their firm in a year. And some of the bigger clients I've worked with are large sections of global, national, multinational corporations that have multiple billions of dollars in revenue. It's a large section of different types of businesses.
What it comes down to is the person. They’re hungry, they're smart with people, they are humble or they want to move towards humility. They identify as a hard charger, as an overachiever, as a recovering perfectionist. They’re someone that wants to find that work-life harmony.
My mission in life is to help those people I’ve mentioned, is to not only create a positive impact for themselves, but create a positive impact their immediate teammates, their client base, on their families, and ultimately the world.
Let’s talk! I love to dive in, help understand what the client wants most, help understand what are the things that are holding them back, their barriers, their obstacles, the things that might try to stand in their way. Then, create a system to help them break through their barriers and reach their goals.
At ProAdvisorCoach, we’re here to help you break through to the next level by mastering the things right in front of you. Sometimes, the tiniest of tweaks in our daily routine will offer an impact greater than currently imaginable. Reach out today and let’s win together.
Have you ever failed to do an update on your phone or computer, just to realize why the update was recommended? Glitches. Processing speeds. New features. We've all been in a spot with technology where the next best option is a reboot. Turn it off. Turn it back on. Hope for the best. And if the updates and reboots don't work, back to the factory settings we go.
Maybe that's one of the best approaches for when we feel stuck—a factory reset. Back to "just us," without all the extras. Back to our sweet spots, the things that make us us, taking action that's in alignment with our natural giftedness may be the easiest path to getting unstuck.
Each of us are one of the following: a relator, a doer or a thinker. We either lead with relationships, action-taking, or systematic thinking. If we know where we are most dominant, we can more quickly get unstuck by leaning further into that area.
When relators feel stuck, they may find it helpful to connect with others - grabbing coffee with a friend, hearing someone's story or offering a word of encouragement to a colleague.
When doers feel stuck, they may find it helpful to let themselves dream big about the future, get their bodies moving outside or participating in a brain dump onto paper.
When thinkers feel stuck, they may find it helpful to get some quiet time to detail out the next steps in their plan or assess why they're in the season they're in. They may also find it helpful to ask deeper, more clarifying questions around what they are or aren't doing.
So which one are you? If you're not sure, there's a chance to find further down.
It's not uncommon for us to think that getting unstuck will require us to be stretched beyond our limits and pushed into a place that's really uncomfortable. But what if it's easier than that? What if getting unstuck just looked like you being more of yourself? What if it meant honoring what you're naturally good at? What if you paused on the push to be all the other things? It's easy to imagine why a relator may feel stuck when they've been pulled into being a doer or a thinker. Or why a thinker may be stuck in throws of relating or action taking.
The next time you're stuck... pull back, factory reset and do something that is 100% within your giftedness. Whether you're a relator, doer or thinker, simply take action that aligns with your giftedness. And if you're finding that you are stuck often, maybe changes need to happen in how you're running the business... perhaps you've given yourself a role that isn't in alignment with how you think and how you take action.
So which are you? And what do you need to do to get unstuck?
Ready to find out if you're a Relator, a Doer, or a Thinker? Then just click the button below to get started!
It's called the MindScan™Assessment and it's based on the work of Nobel-nominated scientist Robert Hartman. I use in my coaching engagements because of its propensity to easily give you a deeper understanding of yourself and your gifts. It allows you to more clearly understand how you think and act, which has a direct impact on:
Understanding where you are dominant will equip you better for any season of business you face, but particularly in the stuck seasons. You'll be able to more clearly see the path forward.
It only takes about 10-15 minutes, and there's no charge to take it, Upon completion you'll receive a note from me, along with access to your results, and an invitation to a free followup consultation to review your results!
And if you know somebody else who's stuck and in need of a reboot, then please forward them this link!
We truly are better together.
Clay Kirkland has been consulting and coaching for fifteen years. He is certified both as a Gallup StrengthsFinder Coach and an Emotional Intelligence Coach. In the past decade, he has worked with over three thousand individuals and hundreds of corporations and businesses including, Salesforce, BMW, Sherwin Williams, Valspar, Novarits, Merial, and Elanco Pharmaceuticals, Chick Fila, University of Georgia, and Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta. He resides near Athens, Georgia, with his wife and six children.
I like working with high performers who want to maintain their excellence and push themselves beyond where they are. I’m also especially suited to working with executives in need of a “rescue”— maybe they’ve lost the trust of team, or had some moral missteps, or they’re feeling the strain from board members pressuring them out. I also enjoy working with anyone who wants to know more about their potential and learn about their strengths, in general.
For the high performers, I aim to provide more efficient and effective ways for them to leverage their influence and maximize their abilities.
For the rescues, I seek to give them the tools to achieve the self-awareness necessary to understand the source of their issues, and then to enable them to formulate a path forward.
For the potential seekers, my goal is to provide them with a framework to know their strengths and then use them to serve others.
Two primary ways.
One way would be externally-directed. That is, the people above this person—the board, or the president, or some other executive-level person—they might say, “Hey, there’s this V.P. We hired him and he’s really underperforming,” or “He’s lost his team,” or whatever. They’ll come to me knowing my track record. I’m often their last line of defense before they let the person go.
The other is self-directed. That is, the person says, “I got hired for this position,” and “I thought I was ready,” or, “I thought I knew what I was doing,” or, “I thought I could handle the pressure.” They’re feeling internally that they're not performing like they should, or not carrying it like they should, or it’s affecting their life at home. They're feeling it at home. So maybe their work's great, but at home is not.
At this level, companies have invested a ton of money into that person. Contractually, they’re going to have to give them a ton of money from a severance standpoint. I typically find that people on both sides of that fence are willing and ready to do some work to try to help.
Generally, there’s some sort of crisis… and, again, this can be externally or self-directed. Maybe there's a significant disconnect between leadership and team. This can happen because of a clash in styles, personality conflicts, or even a perceived betrayal of trust. Or maybe there’s been an ethical lapse, or reputational damage, or behavior outside the office that affects performance inside the office.
For example, it’s not uncommon for someone to lose the trust of their team, or to see a clash between leadership style and team, to the point where it becomes a crisis. And at this kind of level, a CEO might know this person can’t just be removed, so they have to do something. Often, it’s a matter of teaching that person how to lead differently. I help figure out what that is, and how to go about doing it.
It comes down to change management. You're part of a change. You come in from the outside or you get brought in, and just that integration into company creates crisis for some teams and for some individuals. And so that, that's a pretty common environment where you would need some type of intense, again, crisis coaching, rescue coaching, turnaround coaching, leadership intervention, or whatever.
I've been a Gallup-Certified Coach for a while now. I’ve actually been strengths coaching since 2007.
Yeah, super common. The great thing about it is it gives you language for the things that you are probably already doing, maybe subconsciously though, because it’s really about the habits of your brain. There are these deep neurological pathways that we're using over and over and over again that we default to. Your brain's lazy. It wants to default, so it doesn't have to work very hard. This is a matter of being intentional those defaults, which isn’t necessarily the best thing to do in those moments. So, it's an optimization.
The assessment pulls that out. Then we work to see how they can then be applied into other areas of your life.
They achieve more of their goals in a quicker amount of time. Their leadership skills increase. Their ability to influence others increases. They enjoy their job more. They realize personal satisfaction.
A typical coaching session would start by having them looking at themselves, learning about themselves. Those talents or those strengths might be in conflict with self or others. People have different strengths; they’re are not necessarily “wrong,” just different. It’s about moving from “right vs. wrong” to “different.” People who are leading teams get much better at the understanding of, and the ability to maximize, their team and how to get the best out of them.
Often, these folks are “seekers,” someone who's in a job already, but there's some dissatisfaction or disillusionment and they're seeking something better. Or they're on the front end of their career and they're trying to figure it out. For example, I’m working with someone right now. He’s in an internship in the financial district, but has no idea which direction he wants to go. I'm helping him discover that right now, and helping him go into things with eyes wide open, instead of with his eyes you shut and just hoping he lands something good.
Some people struggle with the time in between the sessions, meaning they want a little bit more help or they want a little bit more validation, those kinds of things. Maybe they’ve been overdependent in their lives, and now they're having to learn how to, you know, do it on their own. I don't want to create dependent people or clients. My goal is to get them to being independent. I do my job well, they don't need me anymore for their specific issue now. Other issues can come up, but the point is to move them somewhere.
Another challenge that people face is the draw or the pull of what's always been normal for them. Typically, in coaching, you're redefining what's normal and you're basically breaking habits and trying to change them, or create new ones. That’s a lot what a lot of coaching is. Or you're trying to provide an alternate perspective on people or things or self. Again, it's going contrary to what's normal because the brain pulls so far back into normal. It takes a lot of intentional work to break those ritual habits.
And we create metrics or we create experiences for them to actually be reflected back to them, so they can see how things are actually changing.
The platform itself—ProAdvisorDrivers—provides an easy way for clients to see their growth. It’s really good for people who need to see and want to see metrics based performance, in the sense of, “Hey, I'm starting with this,” and then, “I want to get to here.”
They actual metrics vary. Like if someone's like trying to find out what they want to do with their life and we figure it out and great. Then are things more like, “I want to hit this goal at work.”
Sometimes, they’re bit more on that leadership front. For example, I worked with a person in a leadership role in a crisis scenario. In that case, we took a 360° approach. He, and every direct report on his team, filled out this 360° evaluation, and did it again and again, so he got to see those changes. You can work on yourself as much as you want to, but you don't always know if it's being reflected or how it's being perceived.
It really depends on which situations that we're in.
I had a really bad coaching experience in high school sports. It didn't make me want to never be coached. It just made me want to be coached by someone who was actually for me and not for some other agenda. And so that it was kind of one of those boomerangs that really sticks out.
But it was marriage that slung me into Strengths Coaching. I was married in 2001, and then in 2007 I went to Omaha, Nebraska to visit a friend and he asked me and my wife to do this StrengthsFinder assessment. And I had already done it a couple years ago, but I dug it out of my desk and found it and I had my wife take it. It moved our marriage from good to great. And to this day, we still do use strengths in our marriage all the time. And just the light bulbs that we experienced as a couple. Six weeks later. I was getting trained to be a strengths finder assessment coach and I've been doing it ever since.
ProAdvisorCoach has also provided me with opportunities to accomplish these goals for other clients who have been passed along to me from another coach, knowing I might be the better fit.
Do you ever feel hesitant to go after big goals or dreams? Or unsure of your goals or how to achieve them? Wish there was a way to turn your wildest dreams into a tangible roadmap for success? What if I told you there's a simple, yet powerful, tool that can help you gain clarity of your dreams and bridge the gap between desire and achievement?
You've probably heard about Vision Boards, but maybe you've never used one... or even considered using one. Maybe you've heard a friend or co-working raving about theirs, or maybe you've come across somebody's Pinterest board. Maybe you've even scoffed at that friend about their Vision Board, doubting the power of something so basic and simple, writing it off as nothing more than some sort of "dream life collage."
But a Vision Board is more than that. It's so much more. It's about turning your dreams into a roadmap for success—something to act as a constant reminder of what you're trying achieve, and keeping you focused on getting those things. And it's surprisingly easy to get started!
A vision board is a collage of images, words, and sometimes even objects that represent your goals, dreams, and aspirations. It's a visual tool that serves as a constant reminder of what you're working towards and why.
Consider the following scenarios...
People use vision boards for different reasons, but they share some common traits.
Regardless of whether you feel lost or unsure about what you truly want to achieve or if you have a solid and clear picture of what you want, a Vision Board is a powerful tool for bringing clarity and focus to your aspirations. It's a visual representation of your dreams and goals, acting as a daily source of inspiration to keep you motivated.
STEP 1: CHOOSE YOUR FOCUS
The first step is to identify the key areas you want to focus on. There are lots of possibilities for this. Here are some popular areas to consider (and this list is by no means exhaustive):
A lot of them may sound like areas you want want to consider. You may even be tempted to consider all of them. But it's important to remember that a Vision Board is about focus. That's why it's recommended that you choose no more than four categories per board. And you'll likely want to create different boards for business goals and your goals around your personal life and/or spouse.
STEP 2: DEFINE YOUR IDEAL SELF
Once you've chosen your categories, decide the type of person (identity) you want to become for each category you pick. Ask yourself questions like:
Then define that identity, for example:
Action & Experience:
STEP 3: ENVISION YOUR IDEAL SELF
Now that you've started to define that identity, ask questions to help define what that identity looks like.
Relationships & Connection:
Emotions & Feelings:
Sensory Details:
Adding these kinds of details will help make your vision board even more vivid and impactful.
STEP 4: VISUALLY CAPTURE YOUR DREAMS
With a clearer picture of your ideal self in each category, it's time to find images that resonate with you. Search online for pictures that embody your goals, as well as excite and inspire you!
STEP 5: ADD THE POWER OF WORDS
Motivational quotes or affirmations can further amplify the power of your vision board. Select motivational quotes or words that describe your optimal feeling.
STEP 6: BRING IT ALL TOGETHER!
Now it's time to assemble your Vision Board.
Upload images and quotes in either a phone app like Vision Board or Visuapp, or an online Vision Board builder or template, or even just a PowerPoint Slide. (Some of these Vision Board Resources are listed further down.)
STEP 7: MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO AVOID
Now that you've got your Vision Board assembled, you need to put it somewhere that you're going to see it... and not be able to avoid it!
STEP 8: MANIFEST YOUR VISION DAILY
This final step is the most important one! You must actively engage with your vision board daily.
Look at your vision board for a few moments before you start and end your day. Say an affirmation starting with the words, “I am (fill in the feeling you want to feel, names of people you want to be with, completed goal, etc.).”
By creating and consistently interacting with your digital vision board, you'll be well on your way to manifesting your dreams and designing the life you truly desire.
Have you ever gotten to the end of the day, feeling exhausted and, even more, feeling like you didn’t accomplish much outside of checking off your to-do list? Perhaps there was a flurry of activity, with you at the center, and yet, you couldn’t really recall anything you had done that was valuable, exciting, or even just interesting.
On the other hand, can you recall a similarly long day, having worked the same number of hours, but coming home energized, excited about the work you're doing and the impact you're making, feeling like you could stay up all night, ready to tackle the projects that will be waiting for you the next day?
What’s the difference between these two situations? It might be something we at ProAdvisorCoach refer to as "the Sweet Spot"—the intersection of Purpose, Passion, and Profit.
Now, before you go off thinking that this is some kind of Willy Wonka style fairytale world where everyone can just magically do what they love all day, every day, hear me out...
What we’ve found at ProAdvisorCoach, over and over again, is that when people are able to operate more consistently in their Sweet Spot (it is possible, keep reading), they, and their companies, see a massive return for their efforts, especially when you compare that to the unfortunately common focus many people give to putting out fires, crossing off tasks, and heading off the unexpected distractions that continually come their way.
While the ideal target is to be in a place where you're spending 75–80% of your time operating in your Sweet Spot(s), we know that there are factors that affect the ability to do this. Maybe you're a leader who is just getting started down this path, or an individual contributor who doesn't have full autonomy to make that happen. Regardless, know that any additional time spent in your Sweet Spot(s) is time well spent.
For example, in working with the leader of a real estate and property management company, we learned that he was frustrated with all the daily tasks he was facing.
He was surrendering all his time to tasks, addressing whatever felt most immediate and urgent throughout the day. This approach had him running around and putting out fires all day in support of his team and his clients. He felt like he had to hit the ground running at full speed at the beginning of each day, and the running didn’t stop until late in the evening. Yet, despite all his activities, he didn’t feel as if he was accomplishing much of value, other than keeping the company afloat.
So we worked with him on completing his Sweet Spot Analysis. When it was complete, we discovered that his Sweet Spot centered around people. This is something he had understood but lost track of in the race against the Tyranny of the Urgent, as he struggled each day just to keep his head above water. So maybe we should say, instead of helping him "discover" his Sweet Spot, we helped him "recover" it.
In focusing on his Sweet Spot, we were able to highlight what it is he does best, what he enjoys the most, and where his greatest impact lies for the company. This not only provided new energy for him as the leader of his company, but through the process, we were also able to empower his team to take on some new challenges in order to free him up. What we found was that his company grew AND he was able to create a more exciting and enjoyable role for himself.
So, how do you go about finding your Sweet Spot? Chances are, you may already have a good idea about the type of work that you love the most. For some people it may be solving interesting problems, for others it may be centered around people and leadership, and for others perhaps it is being alone and engulfed in the numbers. But let’s not leave it to pure speculation or assumption.
There is power in putting pen to paper here to dive deeper into our Sweet Spot. And, as is the case with everything, action leads to insight. First, let's complete a short exercise to explore; then, we’ll test it out to see what we’ve learned.
Grab a piece of paper and a pen or pencil and draw out three large, intersecting circles that fill up the entire page. This may take some of you back to elementary school, but what you’ll have is a Venn diagram, with one intersecting piece in the middle. See the visual for some help getting started and for some questions to consider for each area.
Once you have completed the larger circles with as much detail as possible, look for overlapping themes among them. What are some things that you’ve noticed fit into all three? Start to map out what some Sweet Spot activities could be for you. Record those activities, the ones that align with your Purpose, Passion, and Profit, in the center of your diagram.
This is the first step. Give yourself some dedicated time to think about this and put pen to paper to get your thoughts out. To get you started, here are some suggestions for mapping out your Sweet Spot activities in your diagram:
After you’ve discovered some overlapping themes, give yourself some time to test things out. For example, if you’ve found that time with people is a Sweet Spot, make time next week to spend some extended time with people, in whatever capacity that may be for you.
Wherever you think you've landed for your Sweet Spot(s), give it some time to see how those thoughts fit into your everyday activities. ProAdvisorCoach’s Time Tracker tool is a great companion for this to help you determine just where your time is going.
Remember, this is an ongoing process. As you learn and grow, your Sweet Spot(s) may evolve. This initial exercise is a valuable starting point to spark your self-discovery and guide you towards activities that bring fulfillment and success.
If you’re here, you're at least curious about how to improve yourself, your business, or your leadership. If you’d like to learn more about how to live and work in your Sweet Spots, more powerfully and more consistently, the team at ProAdvisorCoach can help.