Chris Barrow's Bio

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Born and raised in Manchester, England, Chris Barrow embarked on his career in the financial services industry at the age of 17. He started as mail boy in 1970 and spent the next decade working his way up through the ranks. Despite only having a high school education, he became an office manager. Realizing both his income and advancement was capped in this position, he decided to pursue a career in sales at one of the most ambitious insurance companies in Britain in the early 80s. As a sales rep, CB needed to develop skills in the arena of public speaking. Once a shy, unassuming person, he became an excellent salesman and spent years honing his speaking skills – this skill would continue to help drive his career.

Between 1980 and 1987, CB rose through the ranks of one of Britain's most successful financial services companies and, by his own admission, was privileged to be force-fed on some of the best external and internal training courses then available - on public speaking, time management, marketing and selling skills. He became an award-winning sales rep, sales manager and sales-person (in that order) during those years.

In 1987, CB created his own financial planning firm – within a few years, he achieved his dream of being at the helm of a million dollar firm with a national reputation. However, the business was designed to expand rapidly during what became a period of acute UK business recession and despite his best efforts, CB was unable to save it. In 1993, he had to close the doors of his business, take the humiliating step of filing for personal bankruptcy and face starting his career and life from scratch.

That same year, CB attended for the 7th successive year the Million Dollar Round Table conference in Chicago and saw Dan Sullivan of The Strategic Coach Inc.* in Toronto speak about a radical new way of working - a schedule structured around a 4-day work week, 12 weeks of holidays a year, Free, Focus and Buffer Days*. Having been a workaholic in the past, this concept was foreign, yet very appealing. Sullivan also posed the question ‘What has happened to you in your professional or personal life, good or bad, that is of any use for you to pass on to other people?’ As a result, CB realized his passion was not in financial planning, but in problem-solving and helping to prevent others from making the same mistakes he did in business. Although he did not realize it at the time, this was the beginning of his transition from financial planner to coach.

While still paying the bills as a financial planner, CB decided to run a program for colleagues in the financial services industry through quarterly workshops in 1994. He started off with 8 clients - a group of small business owners he had worked with as a financial planner. His program was structured around his own experience, plus attributed information from professional development gurus like Michael Gerber, Dan Sullivan and Stephen Covey. Through this information and feedback from participants, CB created the 8 key strategies. During this time, his ‘More Profit in Less Time’ newsletter was launched and started off being snail mailed to 100 subscribers - it is now e-mailed to over 1800. In 1995, he made his program available to all small business owners and started the year with 20 participants. Throughout 1996, he continued to do as many speaking engagements as possible, his newsletter subscription base continued to increase and his clients base continued to grow. In January of 1997, CB said goodbye to the world of Financial Planning for good.

CB discovered coaching in 1996 after doing a search for the word ‘coach’ on the web - he became fascinated with this new concept and immediately enrolled in CoachU. His first teleclass leader, Marlene Elliott (now Marlene Panet-Raymond), also became his first coach. With no savings and the need to pay the bills, CB had no choice but to make this coaching thing work. Now being officially trained as a coach, he adopted the model of adding telephone coaching to his quarterly workshops. To his surprise, his UK clients took to the telephone coaching and his client based grew to 45, each paying about $375 USD a month. Later that year, he got a call from Dr. Paul Tipton, one of the top dentists in the UK.

After becoming Dr. Tipton’s coach, CB started conducting free lectures to dentists and making a name for himself in the world UK dentistry. He was then invited to speak at a full day event for the Faculty of General Dental Practitioners in Birmingham. What he thought was just another ‘gig’ turned out to be a speaking engagement for 750 dentists. CB generated enough interest from this event to begin his dental coaching practice, the Dental Business School. In 2003, another speaking ‘gig’ at Coachville's Future of Coaching Conference led CB to start his Million Dollar Coaching Practice, which is geared toward coaching coaches on how to build a million dollar practice. With both practices still thriving today, CB not only went from bankrupt to grossing a million dollars in 10 years, he found his life passion.

CB still enjoys his 12 weeks vacation a year, a 4-day work week, and works with the free, buffer and focus day model. He currently lives in the UK.

* TM & (C). 2006, The Strategic Coach Inc. The Entrepreneurial Time System and Free, Focus and Buffer Days are trademarks, copyrights, and integral concepts of The Strategic Coach Inc. All rights reserved. Used with written permission. www.strategiccoach.com.