ActionCOACH Katherine Doe Finalist for Franchise Council of Australia Award

LAS VEGAS, Aug. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- ActionCOACH Business Coach Katherine Doe has been named on the shortlist for the Franchise Woman of the Year by the Franchise Council of Australia.

At the age of 17, Katherine Doe began working with Jim's Mowing, an organization which had just 400 franchisees at the time. She started working in their hectic call centre in the days before email and mobile phones. Katherine worked her way up thanks to promotions and was eventually appointed Administration Manager at Jim's national office.

Katherine worked for 12 years with that organization before meeting someone from ActionCOACH and hearing about his positive experience.

She did some research and within three weeks was on a plane to the U.S., waving Jim's Dog Wash goodbye. Katherine knew franchising inside out, and she knew ActionCOACH was the one for her.

Nowadays Katherine's clients are almost exclusively trade and construction businesses.

How?

"I am down to earth," she says. "And I can relate to tradies. Most of these businesses are family run, so helping the business means helping the family too."

Katherine describes herself as practical – she is not there to "fix relationships", she is there to care for the business. She really enjoys getting to know the person and forming genuine relationships. The majority of her clients have children and Katherine accepts that sometimes there will be little people running about during meetings, particularly in school holidays.

The other day, she notes, she was at a coaching session with a female client while a 4-year-old child slept in her lap. Katherine goes out of her way to cultivate friendships with her clients and they love celebrating birthdays together.

Katherine is "over the moon" about her shortlisting, but she is frank when she says deserves it. She says she learned a lot about herself during the application process for the shortlisting. As a woman, in often male-oriented environments, she felt she previously lacked a degree of confidence.

But during the process all the positive aspects of what she had achieved were highlighted for her.

"It is not a time to be modest; it is time to give myself credit for what I have done. I started in franchising when I was 17 and I am 31 now. The application process made me realize that I deserved this shortlisting. It is not easy for a woman to say that."

Katherine's indulgence outside work is food. She describes herself as a "foodie through and through."

She will shortly be departing on a gastronomic tour in Spain – and she will be able to sample her very favorite food – tapas – a small gift to herself for her, and her clients' many achievements.

For more information about business coaching or ActionCOACH Australia, visit actioncoachaustralia.com.

SOURCE ActionCOACH