Trail Blazers

Business coaches emerge to help clients stay on the path to success

STAMFORD - Akira "Aki" Sato was running a bicycle shop in Stamford - or was it running him? Sato was so involved in his business, Evolution Bicycles, that he often forgot to eat. Now, he's eating lunch regularly, thanks to David Silberkleit.

Silberkleit isn't Sato's nutritionist. He's his business coach.

At 35, Silberkleit represents a new generation of consultants who cater to the needs of today's New Age entrepreneurs and executives. To make sure Sato didn't go hungry, Silberkleit arranged for a nearby deli to deliver lunch every day. Now, Sato has enough energy to put in long hours and still have enough energy to ride his bike in the evenings.

"When I met this man, he wasn't doing anything in the evenings except passing out," said Silberkleit, who works from an office in Stamford's Shippan neighborhood.

Silberkleit also got the pedals spinning in other aspects of Sato's business. Although Sato focused on repairing bicycles, he didn't display merchandise in a way that encouraged customers to buy more, Silberkleit said. So Sato placed more bikes, parts, backpacks, clothing and nutritional snacks where customers could better see them.

"He suggested hanging a bike outside as a symbol of the store," said Sato, 29, of Norwalk. "A lot of people noticed it immediately. Now people ask, "Are you the store with the yellow bike?"

Silberkleit also persuaded Sato to invite some friends into the shop in Stamford's Bull's Head section for a "bike assembly party," Sato said. The event enabled him to give more attention to customers. Suggestions from Silberkleit helped the shop boost sales last August by 123 percent from August 1995, Sato said.

"David had a certain enthusiasm that really revitalized everything in the store," he said. "He happens to know about increasing sales, and marketing, and about people. He's not afraid to try something new. He looks at everything with an open mind."

Being multi-talented is a plus for a business coach. Many in the growing profession see themselves as hybrids, combining the roles of business consultants, therapists, spiritual advisers and personal trainers. The growth of the profession coincided with the recession. The Houston-based International Coach Federation and Coach University, a World Wide Web-based training organization for practitioners, both began in 1992.

"The '80s were about having it all, those who accumulated the most toys won," said Cheryl Richardson, president of the coach federation. "The '90s are about quality of life, balance and stress-free lives."

The federation has more than 80 chapters in 40 states and six countries, its mission statement on the Web says. There are about 650 members in the group, which seeks to attract about 10,000 members within the next several years, said Richardson, a business coach in Newburyport, Mass. The group helps develop coaches, and maintains and upgrades standards for the profession.

By the year 2000, business coaches will be as common as personal fitness

trainers, said Thomas J. Leonard, a former financial planner who runs the virtual, Web-based Coach University from an office in Florida. He expects the number of coaches to double, to about 2,000, by next year.

Economic uncertainties of the 1990S keep the profession thriving, Richardson said. "The whole idea of corporate America protecting us is gone," she said.

Silberkleit, an associate member of the International Coach Federation, agrees with Richardson's philosophy. "I think that there are lots of people in today's workplace who are afraid," said Silberkleit, who has been a coach for the past four years. "There are many corporations that are doing the same amount of work, if not more work, with fewer people. So you have a lot of people who are no longer having any fun. That's one mechanism that's creating a need for what we do."

So, for fees ranging from $125 to $2,000 a month, Silberkleit aims to help his clients have fun and be winners in the game of life. "I define winning as personal satisfaction, financial satisfaction, and satisfaction in

relationships with your peers and your co-workers," he said.

One of Silberkleit's satisfied customers is Dan Storper, who runs music and women's clothing businesses in New York City that do about $10 million in annual sales. Like many harried executives, Storper said, he got mired in details and had trouble delegating work.

Those habits "prevented me from going after a $100,000 deal or a half million-dollar business deal, or improving cash flow," said Storper, a Manhattan resident. "I was coming home exhausted every day, and too tired to go out and enjoy the evening."

Storper said he met Silberkleit through a mutual acquaintance. "When I asked him, 'Have you reached your maximum level of potential, and are you having any fun?' he said, 'You're hired.'" Silberkleit recalled.

Storper, owner of the Putumayo clothing line and Putumayo World Music, said he improved significantly with Silberkleit's coaching. "I feel healthier, stronger, more effective and clearer," Storper said. "Instead of having 100 things to do, I narrowed it down to about 30."

He said he postponed or delegated the rest so he could focus on the most important things. Health counts, too. Storper said Silberkleit also encouraged him to exercise daily. "He helped me realize my personal health and well-being should be considered foremost, so I could more effectively accomplish my goal by being mentally and physically prepared for each day."

Other business coaches, such as Michael Mendribil of Greenwich, also place a high priority on their clients' health. Mendribil also is a naturopathic physician, who uses natural remedies, such as nutrition therapy, to treat ailments.

"I worked with people who were at the top of their business ladder," he said. "But there was something missing for them, whether it was a satisfying relationship or creative self-expression. They didn't have enough time or space to enjoy life. Sometimes a better life means less rather than more."

Business coach Norma "Randy" Nelson of Greenwich also contends that wealth isn't the only parameter of success. "Sometimes people who have focused on money find that they are out of balance," Nelson said. "They need a coach to help them set goals and realize how to fulfill them." Nelson, who also is a family counselor, said coaches can guide people in their family, personal and spiritual lives, as well as in their work.

From Archie to Asia

Like many in this new profession, Silberkleit was in another line of work before becoming a business coach. For eight years, he worked in the family business, Mamaroneck, N.Y-based Archie Comic Publications. The popular series about high school kids is known for characters such as Archie, Jughead, Reggie, Betty and Veronica.

Silberkleit had been director of marketing and vice president of marketing. He said his favorite project involved assigning teams of Archie employees, some of whom worked in the warehouse or the accounting department, to develop stories for special editions. The team with the best idea - giving Jughead a baby sister named Jellybean, - won a Club Med vacation in Mexico. He said the project developed teamwork and fostered creativity.

But Silberkleit said he needed to move beyond the business founded by his grandfather, Louis Silberkleit and John Goldwater. Four years ago, Silberkleit started his own business, now known as Empower. "It was not a good time to quit. I had a pretty significant salary," said Silberkleit, whose father, Michael, is chairman of the Archie Comic firm.

"I set out to find for myself what I wanted to do. I wasn't totally satisfied having my work limited by the comic book industry. I love the variety of my work now."

His wife, Alexa, is also self-employed. She owns Lexington Fund Services in Stamford, which provides services for investment funds and bankruptcies. Silberkleit said he coaches about 20 clients, ranging from dentists and chiropractors to direct-mail companies and financial management firms.

A two-month bike trip last winter convinced him that he's in the right line of work. "While traveling in Southeast Asia, I discovered how much I really enjoy meeting and interacting with people. I met many strangers who invited me into their homes and shared their lives with me," Silberkleit said. "I realized if I could do it there, I could do it in my own back yard. A lot of consultants can talk about the bicycle business, but I got into Aki's life and created a breakthrough for him."

Empower Coaching
33 Wallace Road
Stony Creek CT 06405

david@empowercoach.com

Phone: 203 488 9188