By: Timothy I. Thomas, President, Makarios Consulting, LLC

 

It was an unseasonably warm and beautiful April day…as I chatted with my friend Scott high atop the Mellon Bank Building in Center City Philadelphia, sipping a soda in the Pyramid Club. I had just founded my new Leadership Development and Consulting firm, Makarios Consulting, LLC, and I was meeting with Scott, an extremely successful entrepreneur, to “pick his brain” for ideas about how best to build my fledgling company. We spoke for nearly two hours that day discussing marketing, sales, branding, my market focus, my services, what made me different from every other leadership development consultant in the Delaware Valley, etc. I frantically took notes at the feet of a master as the sunshine danced off the Philadelphia skyline just outside the Club’s windows.

 

As our time together drew to a close, Scott said something that shocked me mightily. Now, I want you to forget about everything we just talked about.” “Huh? What’s that?” I asked. “Yes, that’s right. I want you to forget everything we have talked about for the last two hours and do one thing,” said Scott as he raised his index finger. “Okaaaay,” I said with a furrowed brow and a mix of hesitation, confusion and curiosity. “Where the heck is he going with this?” I wondered to myself. “I want you to call Bob Waks at The Training Center.”

 

That was the one thing. Forget the great stuff he had spent two hours sharing with me and call Bob Waks? Who’s Bob Waks? Although confused, like any good student of success, I listened to my teacher; I did the one thing Scott told me to do…and so began what has become a wonderfully exhilarating three-year odyssey of personal and professional growth and extraordinary business success.

 

But that’s getting ahead of the story a bit because there was just one small hurdle to overcome before I could benefit from the life-transforming training and coaching of The Training Center: I had ZERO clients and ZERO money. Minor details, right? I was literally starting my business from scratch…having left a nice six-figure salary and cozy expense account as a new business development officer for a large Midwestern-based bank. An obvious imperative under such circumstances was to keep expenses at a minimum! How could I justify spending the kind of money Bob Waks was talking about for his services when I was just starting a business? And where would I find the money…even if I could get over the feeling that such an investment in me was not “economically sound at this stage of my business” (or so I kept telling myself).

 

But I was haunted by my meeting with Scott. “I want you to do one thing,” kept ringing in my mind. Perhaps I had to spend money to make money. Maybe I couldn’t afford NOT to find the money for the training. Despite the fact that my head was telling me that such an expense was economic suicide for a new business with no clients, my gut was telling me to find a way to make this investment in myself and in my company. I am happy to report that I followed my gut and, throwing caution to the wind, took out an SBA loan to pay for the training. I can think of no better business decision that I have made in the three+ years of Makarios Consulting, LLC.

 

The one-on-one coaching, transformational training and uplifting support from fellow Training Center clients have not only changed my business, they have changed my life. I have developed enormous self-confidence, learned through the use of a sales system how to create “win-win” relationships with prospects and clients, and I have overcome enough “head trash” to fill a small landfill – all as a result of my association with Bob Waks, his trainers/coaches and all the members of The Training Center staff.

 

To put cold, hard figures to this glowing endorsement (because, after all, numbers are the name of the game), my sales have quadrupled in the last three years! That’s right, a 400% growth in revenue since my first year of business. This wonderfully unexpected growth is directly attributable to the training, coaching and support I have received at The Training Center. Such growth has not only transformed my business…but has helped me to build a wonderful life for my family and to be more charitable to those less fortunate in our world.

 

And so, as I journey along on the next stage of my odyssey, hands gently on the wheel of my “Sandler Submarine,” continuing to grow personally and in my business, thanks to The Training Center, I wish to share a final word: I want you to forget everything that you have read in this testimonial. That’s right, forget it all and do one thing: Call The Training Center. Your business, and more importantly, your life may never be the same.

 

Makarios Consulting, LLC, headquartered in Downingtown, PA, is one of the Delaware Valley’s leading Leadership Development and Consulting firms. We assist small to mid-sized businesses in developing inspirational and empowering leaders so they can help their businesses achieve extraordinary results. We provide dynamic and interactive classroom training for leaders at all levels of organizations as well as focused one-on-one leadership coaching for business owners and executives.

 

For more information on how Makarios Consulting can help your business, please contact Tim Thomas at 610-380-8735 or visit our website at www.makariosconsulting.com.

 

more testimonials