Meet Ruby

Hi, I’m Ruby Curran.

I’ve been a Small Business Coach for more than eight years. But to tell you about me, I’ve got to go back farther than that. . .

I graduated from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics. About two years later, I became a certified Life Skills Coach and Basic Job Readiness Trainer. I worked as a coach for a couple of years and then moved on.

In 1985, I began work as a District Home Economist with Alberta Agriculture and spent 9 years total, working in numerous locations around Central Alberta. In 1994, along with about one half of the DHEs in the department at that time, I was “de-Kleined”. That was the beginning of the demise of Home Economics as a profession and even as a faculty in Canadian universities.

Between 1990 and 1993, I also owned and operated a small business - my first. To make a long story short, it didn’t work out. BUT. . . I learned enough to equal another four-year degree, I’m sure! My experiences in that business were the foundation for my interests in small business and everything related to being an employer.

By 1996, I had owned and operated another two small businesses. They provided more learning opportunities, and by then I had discovered “coaching”. I attended the “Virtual University” CoachU based out of Colorado. I studied the basic coaching program, which included a smattering of Life Coaching and Business Coaching. I then completed the specialized Business Coaching program again, with CoachU.

In 1999, I finally had the confidence to begin my coaching career and that’s been my passion ever since.

My coaching work has introduced me to many facets of business and several industries, including:

• Oilfield Manufacturing
• The Provincial Government (Alberta)
• A Federal Government department
• Non-Profit Organizations
• Mortgage Brokerages
• The Insurance Industry
• Legal Practices
• Municipalities
• Agricultural Businesses
• Real Estate
• Other Small Businesses and Professionals

My New Passion is Born!

In the process of coaching with each of these clients, my interest grew in helping to solve the “people problems” these companies and organizations were experiencing.

I began searching for tools and information that I could use with my clients. I read books; I searched the internet voraciously and followed every lead I found. I read business magazines, attended teleclasses, and signed up for dozens of newsletters. I bought online e-books, white-papers and e-courses.

I’ve tested the information and tools I’ve discovered, with my clients. We’ve had some great successes! I believe I now offer some of the best assessment tools available anywhere. Believe me, I checked out an amazing array of assessments before choosing the ones I now use with my clients.

Through the process of educating myself about every possible topic relating to “people problems” in business, I seriously considered going back to University to get a degree in Human Resource Management. But I discovered that there really isn’t a standard for excellence in Human Resource training institutions. Few of the colleges or universities even use the same text books.

Along the path of my self-education, I’ve discovered who stands out head and shoulders, above the crowd in the field of Human Resources. I’ve immersed myself in their discoveries, experiences and case-studies. I believe I’ve discovered who leads the field in almost every area of Human Resource Management.

But it has literally taken me a large part of the past 12 years. My education has cost me thousands of dollars – my personal business library far exceeds that of our city’s public library and mine grows every month. I not only own hundreds of books, articles, courses and white papers, I’ve read and studied every one of them.

As you can imagine, all of that information can be overwhelming! No small business owner would ever have the time or the desire to plow through the information I’ve absorbed, and the issues I’ve learned about. But all the issues should be important to any small business owner or manager within a larger company. . .If they want to lead their company or department to success and greatness!

And who doesn’t want to stand out as a success? Who doesn’t want the recognition, the praise, and all the perks that come with finding the keys to success? Imagine having the lowest turnover in your company or community – imagine attracting and retaining the best possible employees to your company – imagine having the time to innovate and grow your business, while reducing the amount of time you have to spend managing your people!

You can have it all – without spending the time and money it’s cost me to learn about and find solutions for the major “people problems” facing small businesses.

My passion for helping small businesses solve their “people problems” has lead to the creation of a way for me to get that information out and into the world of small business. Along my path as a coach, it’s become abundantly clear to me that no one gets into business because they’re good at managing people. The “people” part of the business just falls into the laps of entrepreneurs.

This blog is one way I’m making the information, tools, and solutions I’ve found available to small businesses.