Makes You Think

When he chose the entrepreneurial path, Chris chose to be a Business Coach and Consultant with a specific focus on entrepreneurs and business owners. Since his embarking on Business Coaching and Consulting, Chris Styles has become widely recognised throughout Africa as an acclaimed business coach who can guide entrepreneurs on the right path and quickly correct business issues for much greater ease and profitability.

From his childhood forward, Chris Styles never thought small. Raised as an only child in an entrepreneurial family, Chris was expected to “perform all the time at everything,” and perform he did, excelling in studies and activities. His youthful years were certainly responsible for instilling great discipline, persistence and work ethic in Chris, which saw him through precarious moments, weeks and even months.

At one point in 1999, Chris remembers emerging from more than 50 job interviews having been told that his degrees in applied ecology made him “unemployable in the corporate world.” Chris persisted, not only garnering employment in this “untouchable” world, but 7 years later, being appointed General Manager to one of South Africa’s leading retail banks.

Through his many successful years in banking and finance, Chris continually sought out business mentors and business coaches, understanding that the experience and expertise of others who had gone before him would help him make substantial, quick gains in his own management and business growth style.

Chris Styles stands out as a unique Business Coach because he discovered along the way that it’s not just about Making Decisions, Dreaming Big and Starting Small, or Being Persistent. Although these are facets he teaches and coaches on a daily basis, Chris understands that many entrepreneurs are dealing with subliminal, even unconscious mental currents in their minds that create obstructions and obstacles to success. These deep seated “paradigms,” or ways of unconscious thinking often conjure up fear of failure, fear of criticism, and feelings that they’re just not good enough (in some way, shape or form) to succeed as an entrepreneur.

“From our childhoods forward, we actually internalize people’s other negative, pessimistic thoughts and people’s other opinions to the point of believing that these same thoughts are the reality for our lives,” says Chris. “Then, we unconsciously begin to act on these beliefs, often to the detriment of our entrepreneurial dreams and great possibilities for success.

“When I work with entrepreneurs and business owners, it’s not just about the numbers and the margins and the branding of the company,” Chris continues “It’s about helping every individual recognize and eject the rubbish in their heads that has previously blocked them from what can be very real and substantial success

Suzanne Styles is a highly sought after Business Coach, Business Consultant and Speaker in Africa. She is the co-creator and lead presenter of Africa’s only life coaching and business coaching radio talk show ‘Time To Make You Think’. As a vastly experienced business coach, Suzanne teaches unique life and business success mechanisms. These are skills that she, herself, practiced along the way to achieve one success after another. She has an in-depth understanding for women in the workplace as well as for those women entrepreneurs who are building businesses without a lot of support from families or community circles. Suzanne’s extensive business and entrepreneurial experience made the transition from entrepreneur and business woman, to professional business coach, a natural one.

After founding, growing and selling her successful media company to a listed company, you wouldn’t think that Suzanne Styles had grown up in England’s “3-day work-week” recession.

As a child, Suzanne was surrounded with a family that seemed to constantly struggle financially. In her early years, Suzanne decided this was not going to be her adult fate and began applying the principles of success in her own life:

Know what you want
Make clear and definite decisions
Build clear plans
Take constant action
Be persistent
Be grateful

Despite the fact that she didn’t complete a formal education, and found herself a single parent with three children at the age of 26, Suzanne pressed on. She was determined to find her way beyond the initial structured family and community she had emerged from. Suzanne stumbled into the advertising industry and realised she’d found a niche which would allow her to grow in business. She became South Africa’s first female director of an Out of Home Media company and then co-founded her own company, Airport Media, in 2002. Just a few years later, she was selling the entity at its highest point of success.

As an entrepreneur Suzanne pursued specific business mentors. Nic Griffin, CEO of The Thornybush Collection, taught her the value of business relationships. Bob Proctor, Founder of LifeSuccess, taught her that there is a completely different and very powerful set of business tools that must be applied to your mind in order to generate the successes you dream of. “In my early days, had I had a business coach to guide me through the processes of how to use my mind, how to think into results, my successes would have been even greater” says Suzanne.

“For years, I did it the hard way with sweat and struggle because I believed this is what entrepreneurs had to do,” says Suzanne. “Granted, building a business takes dedication and persistence, for sure. But once you realize that the thoughts in your mind are ultimately and actually responsible for controlling your business success, you begin to see just how far you can go once you tackle those long-standing thought patterns! Knowing what I know now as a Business Coach, I can help entrepreneurs and business owners achieve so much more in less time.”

“Even if no one in your family or circle of life has ever managed to build a hugely successful business, their facts have nothing to do with how you will succeed,” says Suzanne. “All your results ultimately come from what you think about all day long. Because we can develop ways to change and control our thoughts, we can do exactly the same with our lives and businesses.”