The Interview
Damien Senn: So Philly, what inspired you to set up Gold Star Training?
Philly Richards: I was previously working as an Area Training and HR Manager for a 4/5 star hotel group in the heart of London, working every hour god sent, weekdays and weekends, commuting for 3.5 hours everyday. One day it hit me, I realized I was ploughing ALL of my energy, time and motivation into a job and I was not getting any rewards from it. I had a complete revelation that I was giving my heart and soul to make someone else rich.
There had to be more to life than this!
So, I decided to resign in July 2004 and set up my own Training Company where I could share my skills and knowledge with others and I would be able to gain all of the benefits of my hard work.
I have never looked back since.
Damien Senn: Did you have any special life experiences that equipped you for a business up in the industry?
Philly Richards: I love the Training Industry the ability to allow others to grow in themselves and what they do and to be able to inspire and share with others your skills and experiences. I have been training mainly the Hospitality Industry for over 8 years and have many qualifications in training and development.
My biggest life experience was being able to plan and implement my training sessions so that I was able to adapt to the different levels, the different learning styles and the different abilities of the Hotel Staff so that every participant had a maximum learning experience.
This was challenging at times but allowed my experience and confidence be a strength for my new training business.
Damien Senn: What was the biggest challenge you faced in bringing your idea to fruition? How was it overcome?
Philly Richards:
The biggest challenge was when I first set up, I spent hours upon hours creating materials, building my website and planning all of my courses when I suddenly realized that a few months had passed and nobody rang me to take up my services. Well I am not sure why I thought they would really because I had not contacted them! So, I had to get on the phone and start cold calling!! Aaaah! That was fun!
I then discovered internet marketing and how I can promote and market my business online. I then discovered that the courses that I was trying to sell people were not really buying, I thought I had a fantastic product but no-one else seemed to want it.
This is when I decided to move the focus of my business. I had spent many weeks, months learning all about the internet and wanted to share my skills as a Trainer and Internet Marketer and show others how they can dramatically improve their trainings and workshops by being creative and interactive and showing by Trainers, Presenters and Coaches how to make money through their events and market their business online.
Damien Senn: So what does it actually take to run a effective workshop?
Philly Richards: Wow, I think I need 3 days for this question! ;-)
The key to running an effective workshop is first of all ensuring that you have the right audience in your room and that you have set their levels of expectations correctly.
You then need to ensure that you as a Trainer, Presenter or Leader are in alignment and have strength and inner confidence to be totally present in front of your audience. You need to have the knowledge of the different learning styles to ensure that you give your participants a valuable and complete learning experience.
You need to be creative in your learning activities to ensure that your participants gain the maximum benefit out of being involved. This will help them remember the skills that they learnt and not forget them the moment they walked out the door. An amazing technique to enhance their learning levels is to use different NLP anchoring techniques and also stories throughout your sessions.
Damien Senn: You are the author of the 'World's Best Icebreakers For Trainers'. How important are ice breakers in creating a successful workshop?
Philly Richards: Icebreakers are essential in your trainings and workshops but the real key to Icebreakers is to ensure that they are used effectively and for a purpose. Have you ever been to a training session or an event where you are in a room full of people that you don’t know, you are asked to carry out an exercise but nobody understands what they need to do, the trainer only gives unclear instructions and everyone just stands there asking each other if they know what they are meant to be doing.
The importance of using icebreakers in your sessions is to first of all give your participants an opportunity to relax, to release anxiety, to loosen up, to start to talk and meet their fellow participants. This gets them in preparation for the rest of the course, their limbs are loosened up, they are not as nervous or anxious anymore, they have started to talk therefore feeling more at home and confident.
Damien Senn: You've also set up the book to make you money while you sleep. How did you achieve this?
Philly Richards: I pulled together 52 of the best Icebreakers that Trainers use from all over the world and put them into an easy to use E-Book that can be instantly downloaded on the web. I created my own website and set up my payment processing features and I then left the rest of the work to an amazing tool, called Total Business Cart (www.TotalBusinessCart.com).
TotalBusinessCart communicates with my customers, takes my orders, processes my sales, delivers my products for me while I sleep.
Damien Senn: Now I understand you are running a very special training event on the 18th, 19th, 20th of September in London to help trainers really maximise their potential in the business. What will participants actually take away from the experience?
Philly Richards: Our event is the first of its kind and will help Trainers, Presenters and Coaches take their trainings and workshops to a completely new level. We have 8 Top Class Speakers lined up who will share various techniques and skills on how to be totally present and centred in front of an audience. They will show the participants on how to enhance the creativity and interaction within their trainings and workshops so their participants can maximise their whole learning experience.
They will also learn how to structure their sessions most effectively, how to market their workshops and also how to make money out of their workshops.
The participants will be given an abundance of resources, tools, information to take away with them so that make a dramatic impact on the quality of their sessions.
Because the event is the first of its kind and we are creating a product out of the event we are offering an extremely discounted offer. Damien, your readers can find out more at http://www.GoldStarTrainingsandWorkshops.com
Damien Senn: What's the number one book you would you recommend to aspiring entrepreneurs?
Philly Richards: Sorry I am not very good at recommending just one book because there are a few that I would like to recommend.
Setting up their business: Emyth Revisited by Michael Gerber – Every entrepreneur must read this! A huge eye opener!
Money mindset . Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T Harv Ecker – This book and his seminars gave a huge shift in my success rate!
Mastering the secret to lasting success. Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill. 13 Step Formula to success. A very inspiring book.
Damien Senn: Are there any other thoughts, insights, or advice you would like to offer other people thinking about setting up their own entreprenurial ventures?
Philly Richards: I have learnt and grown through many of my experiences and there are certainly a few insights that I would like to share with your readers.
1. First of all identify your niche for your business. Then find out what the market want around that niche. Then create a service or product on what the market want. Many businesses fail by having a fabulous idea, creating a product or service and then wonder why the market does not want it! I learnt my lesson!!!
2. FOCUS – the biggest tip from me is to focus on one project at a time. If you are anything like me and you are Entrepreneurial, then you will get so many business and money making ideas. You CANNOT do these all at once. You must keep these ideas written down in an ideas book and focus on one project at a time. Then when that project is successful and up and running and making you money then you can start the next one. Not before!!!
3. Build a system for your business and then build a team to support that system.
4. Have a coach and a dream team to help you reach your goals and intentions. These are supportive tools for you but it is only you that can make it happen! You must have your own inner self confidence, self belief and determination to make your business a success.
5. Watch The Secret at http://www.TheSecret.tv%20
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