Award-winning ActionCOACH franchise partner takes on new Firm Builder licence
Published: 08 February 2019
An ActionCOACH franchise partner is celebrating after being awarded an exclusive territory licence for Bristol, as well as winning two awards at the business services company’s annual dinner.
Gary Keating was named South West Coach of the Year and West UK Growth Coach of the Year at ActionCOACH’s Black Tie Awards Dinner for his firm’s excellent business growth results. In addition, Gary has been awarded ActionCOACH senior partner status for Bristol, an exclusive territory Firm Builder licence.
As the first to be awarded senior partner status in the South West, Gary has the exclusive ActionCOACH rights to support businesses in the Bristol area, a potential of more than 11,000 business owners. He plans to support as many of these as possible, growing a team of employee coaches over the next 10 years. His first employee coach, Jane Carvell, is about to take on her first challenge at ActionCOACH University.
Gary had previously worked for himself in the South West and Hong Kong before retiring to Bristol in 2011, but he ended up looking for a new purpose. He joined ActionCOACH in February 2016 with a licence allowing him to operate the ActionCOACH business and employ up to two more coaches in a non-exclusive area.
The new Firm Builder licence was launched in October 2018. Existing franchise partners were encouraged to apply for the exclusive territory in their location with a business plan for building a firm of employee coaches to engage with local businesses on a larger scale.
Gary works just four days a week and enjoys the halfway house between retirement and full-time employment that he has created for himself.
He says: “The ActionCOACH system is brilliant – the knowledge and tools we pass on to our business owner clients have also enabled me to build a successful business.
“I have a large family, including a grandson who is one month older than my own son. Even though I chose to come out of retirement, we all spend plenty of time together, whether that is teaching piano, tinkering with tractors or joining me on my latest passion of farming sheep and pigs!”
ActionCOACH’s UK co-founder, Ian Christelow, is equally excited about the future for business owners in Bristol: “It was an easy decision to award exclusivity and area development for Bristol to Gary Keating and his team; we know the Bristol area is in the best possible hands.”
So far, ActionCOACH has awarded more than 20 of the 230 Firm Builder territories available in UK.
