Newtown Job Coaches Help Clients Define Goals

By Nancy K. Crevier

Newtown residents Tim Stubbs and Joe Tarshis know what it is like to benefit from employment coaching focused on helping people understand their strengths and desires. Before becoming coaches for The Entrepreneur’s Source (TES), Mr Stubbs in 2002 and Mr Tarshis in 2004, both men sought assistance from that very company in making career changes.

Mr Stubbs was a teacher in the Brookfield school system when he decided he needed a job that would allow his wife to pursue her career and be flexible enough to accommodate their children’s schedules. “I looked online and saw TES service for assistance,” he said. By the time he had done some soul-searching and narrowed down his options with his TES coach, he realized that what he would really enjoy doing would be helping others in the same way that the TES coach had helped him. He underwent intensive training and has offered the free service to hundreds of job seekers nationwide from his home-based office for the past five years. Income is generated through a placement fee paid from the marketing budget of a business when a match is made between a client and the franchise.

“I was in the high technology industry responsible for a lot of people in several states working under me,” recalled Joe Tarshis. But when he realized that it was time for a career change, he was not sure where to start. “I knew I could do something on my own,” said Mr Tarshis, “but I wasn’t sure what.”

Through networking, he discovered TES. “When I went for coaching, I found out that what ‘floated my boat’ was working with people one on one to make a difference for them,” he said. He, too, inquired about becoming a TES coach and since finishing training has helped dozens of people in Connecticut alone to take the steps to change their lives.

TES for Connecticut is headquartered in Southbury and is the nation’s largest franchise and self-employment coaching company. Both Mr Stubbs and Mr Tarshis are quick to note, however, that TES is not a pyramid-type franchise. “In five years, I would be surprised if I have ever offered the idea of a TES franchise to more than five or six people out of the hundreds I have coached,” said Mr Stubbs. “Every consultant is someone who has had to examine if the business was right for him or her,” he said.

What TES does offer is assistance to people exploring business options in system-based models like franchises, distributorships, and licensing agreements. “We work with over 200 businesses to help people who want to explore those opportunities. What TES does is try to keep a very broad choice of developing companies in over 40 industries that are office-based, retail, home-based, mobile, business-to-business, or business-to-consumer,” explained Mr Stubbs.

Matching People With Opportunities

The prospects to which TES can steer people range from $20,000 opportunities to multimillion-dollar opportunities. Through counseling, they help clients pinpoint whether it is a hands-on operation that best suits their styles or a high level management operation.

“We work with franchises that are very successful in a region and are ready to expand,” said Mr Tarshis. Those would include businesses such as Cartridge World, Snap Fitness, or Senior Helpers, he said. Making the best match between a business and a client means adapting to the many personalities, according to the two men.

While it would seem likely that a client would pursue self-employment in a franchise or distributorship with which they have previous experience, in actuality, said Mr Stubbs, 95 percent of the people with whom he works end up in a business that is new to them. “A franchise wants a certain thing done in a certain way. Franchisees who come from that industry may revert to their own ways,” he explained. What businesses are seeking are franchisees willing to manage and follow a particular business system.

Franchises and self-employment are not for everybody, said Mr Tarshis, and his role is to help job seekers get to a point of clarity. “We’re doing our role as coaches if we keep our minds open and help the client come to an understanding of what he or she wants and needs,” he said.

“The overall picture of where people want to be five years out is like a watercolor,” added Mr Stubbs. “We talk to clients and help them examine business models. That’s where the watercolor becomes an oil painting and they have a better idea of what they really want and what is important in their lives, what they want to accomplish. It is useful for clients to be able to get that insight from people who have already made that step,” he said. “Our specialty is for the ‘nonready,’ who are willing and able. We let them know the basics about business. We are the starting point,” said Mr Stubbs.

The two men operate home offices in Newtown independent of each other, but work together, as well as with other TES consultants in the region, to promote resources that can benefit all of their clients. One such instance is the upcoming Sixth Annual Connecticut Franchise and Self-Employment Showcase at which Mr Tarshis and Mr Stubbs will exhibit Wednesday, April 1, at the Sheraton Hartford Hotel in East Hartford, hosted by the hub TES office in Southbury.

The daylong showcase will include exhibitors of business models from across the country, representatives from the Small Business Association, the Small Business Development Center, and the University of Hartford’s Barney Institute for Entrepreneurship, SCORE, and other organizations offering presentations and seminars. Mr Stubbs and Mr Tarshis and other TES business and career coaches will address questions about business ownership and provide information on how TES can help individuals identify skills.

Break-out seminars scheduled are “Business Financing Solutions” at 11 am; “Choosing the Right Business” at 12:30 pm; and “Panel Discussion on Business Ownership” at 2 pm.

In a weak economy with unemployment rising each month, said Mr Tarshis and Mr Stubbs, it is important for people to gather as much information as they can about employment opportunities.

‘Forced Entrepreneurs’

They suspect that the poor economy may create a larger than usual turnout at the April 1 showcase. The TES coaches have seen an increase in what they call “forced entrepreneurship” in recent months as the newly unemployed look into self-employment as a stable alternative to the economy.

“The powerlessness that people feel these days comes from not having invested in themselves,” said Mr Stubbs. “There is no sense of job security these days, and the happiest people I know are those who invested in themselves two or more years ago, instead of in a 401(k).”

What holds most people back from taking the leap into self-employment, said both men, is the fear of the unknown and that is where coaching skills such as behavioral assessment can help a client determine if the risks are greater than the potential benefits for that individual.

Mr Stubbs and Mr Tarshis are encouraged by the news that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contains incentives to aid small business owners. “There are signs of hope,” said Mr Stubbs. “Small Business Association [SBA] loans will be easier to get, and giving people more chance at success in small business is the only way to stimulate this economy.”

According to a February 18 SBA press release, the bill provides $730 million to the SBA that includes funding for temporary fee reductions or eliminations on SBA loans; a new loan program to help small businesses meet debt payments; financing for new lending and for technical assistance grants; and an expanded SBA Surety Bond Guarantee program.

The April 1 Connecticut Franchise & Self-Employment Showcase, open from 10 am to 4 pm, is free to the public. Walk-ins are welcome, but preregistration is requested.

To register visit franchisenewengland.com and select Connecticut Franchise Showcase, or for more information contact Mr Tarshis at 364-8686, or Mr Stubbs at 364-8125.

“The showcase will give people a good example of their potentials and bring clarity to their job searches,” Mr Tarshis said.