Overview of Action Coach of Central PA

The Central Pennsylvania Coaching Practice owns a franchise from ActionCoach based in Nevada. As with all 1400 Action Coach Franchise holders, the Central Pennsylvania Team had to meet Action’s stringent eligibility requirements and go through the intense Business Coach Certification Process. The local firm, on top of the requirements from Action Coach World Wide, also requires that all its coaches have at least 5 years of owning their own business.(really?) "There is just no way I could advise and guide a small business owner if I didn't know what it was like first hand. I learned a lot in school and I will always be grateful for my education, but my own hands on experience with my own business were just as valuable" says Coach Thom Finn.

Business Coaching first appeared on the professional landscape in the mid 1990's and it quickly caught on as something that just wasn't a passing fad. Whereas consultants have been around for ever, the notion of a coach really struck a chord with business owners. "The biggest difference between a consultant and a coach is the accountability. There are some brilliant consultants right here in our back yard that do top caliber work, but so much of what they do never gets implemented by their client because there is no accountability," says Coach Thom. "I am amazed when I see the books left behind by some of the better consulting firms. These books are usually sitting on the business owner's bookshelf colleting dust. In some cases, these folks have a $25,000 dust collector and they still have not executed the strategies the consultant recommended". An Action Coach on the other hand works with the business owner during the creative portion of business planning and will be around to make sure it gets implemented. The first local franchise, then known as Action-International, started in 2003 and was a loose affiliation of several coaches.

Shortly afterwards, four of the independent coaches bought the franchise and established the Lancaster Coaching Practice. In 2006, the Lancaster Practice merged with the Harrisburg Coaching Practice to form the firm as it is today - ActionCOACH of Central Pennsylvania. The firm has been recognized as one of the best firms in the world and collectively its coaches have received 12 individual awards and the firm was awarded North America's #1 Business Coaching Firm for the Year 2006, 2007 and 2008.

This Pennsylvania firm is now owned by 5 local experienced professionals: Marcia Rynearson, Thom Finn, Paul Currie, Jeff Witmer, and Tim Rooney.