8 professional coaches share their home office set-ups

Working from home is common these days but professional coaches have been doing it long before it reached the current popularity in the corporate work place. Many coaches enjoy the freedom of working their own hours and being able to base themselves at home for much of their working day. A good home office setup although challenging will promote motivation, productivity and general well-being.

We spoke to a seven coaches about their home office setups and what works best for them.

Andre Obradovic

Andre has an awesome setup at home in Melbourne, Australia with three wide screen monitors so he can get the full picture as he works with his athletes data across multiple systems.

"I work with clients all around the world with my Triathlon, Marathon and Health Coaching. I work from home pretty much exclusively. I have a great set up of 3 x 24inch monitors which are awesome I can run Training Tilt on one, Garmin Connect on the other and then documents or emails or Chrome on the others. I even use an IP phone as I operate on a managed voice service with an IVR for my wife and I so we have a more professional presence as coaches using a land line number also. I also meet with clients in my office there is a huge leather coaching chair for my clients to sit in and we have some really good coaching discussions. My office has my race medals, and every single race bib is on a rope hanging from my wall as a reminder of all the races I have done."

You can learn more about Andre and his coaching services at http://andreobradovic.com/

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Coach Tony

Coach Tony has a great setup on his desk including his bike fitting wall with everything he needs easily accessable.

"My bike fit and coaching man cave"

Coach-Tony.com provides structured, affordable, easy to follow training plans for all levels of Triathlon, Swimming, Cycling, Running and Strength Training. All plans are on line and accessible through smart phone or device. We also do F.I.S.T. certified bike fitting and Total Immersion Swim instruction. For more information about Coach-Tony visit www.coach-tony.com or email at tony@coach-tony.com

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Brad Dixon

Brad is based in Tauranga, New Zealand and has a nice compact setup with a standing desk option. Brad works out of his physio clinic.

He had this to say about his setup. "I love walking my talk. As a physio and coach I like to work on daily habits that make the biggest changes to overall wellness. Using a standing desk is better for my back, my gluts are on, breathing and digestion is more efficient, and I am more productive in the afternoon. Stay ahead of the curve and get one now - with the research coming through they will be a legal requirement in 15 years."

"EVERFIT is a personalised PHYSIOTHERAPY and COACHING service owned and operated by me, Brad Dixon. My mission is to provide highly personalised services to clients, thus allowing them to achieve, maintain and build on wellness where-ever you may be on the spectrum. I treat any client with a holistic approach - always looking at the bigger picture to ensure all facets are addressed. I supply training and rehab plans for athletes of all levels of experience, which will maximise results. I have a particular interest in developing training plans that are time-efficient and that allow flexibility for a good balance of body, mind, and soul, and I encourage clients to review their nutrition as part of the quest for long-term health and performance."

You can learn more about Brad and his coaching services at http://everfit.co.nz/

Rob Dallimore

Rob is the original Training Tilt coach from my home town Auckland, New Zealand and we've been mates for years. Rob works from home full time with his coaching business Foottraffic Endurance Sport Coaching. Rob is a popular coach in the Auckland area and runs both a one to one coaching business and online membership options using Training Tilt's membership plans. Rob coaches all levels of athletes including high school teams.

He had this to say about his setup. "I'm lucky here at Foot Traffic that it's a Home Office like Training Tilt, so I have my dogs right by my side, or often times on my lap. I'm running a double screen arrangement and am regularly flicking between the computer and iPhone. With the applications we use being mobile it is often easier to do some of the athlete communication and programming on the phone....isn't it amazing how times have changed! I still have paper at my desk, as when I am meeting with athletes I like to write things down, its great to have a hard copy to refer back to."

"I'm in a position where not only do I coach athletes remotely and online, but I am also coaching at Saint Kentigern college, so spend a lot of my time out of the office at training sessions and races. This is a lot of fun and really rewarding as the true 'Art of Coaching' comes out when interacting directly with an athlete in the field. It is also a good excuse to get out and breath in some fresh air."

You can learn more about Rob and his coaching products and services at http://foottrafficcoaching.com

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Andrew Randell and Steve Neal from The Cycling Gym

Andrew and Steve run "The Cycling Gym" out of Toronto Canada.

Andrew is an ex pro cyclist and Steve is a life long athlete and professionally qualified coach. The Cycling Gym run their website off the Training Tilt platform and have just launched "The Cycling Gym Online" as an online community

"We are Steve Neal and Andrew Randell: friends and like-minded coaches who joined forces to open The Cycling Gym, an innovative training facility located in Toronto, Canada. The gym is building a community for people to work out, have fun and train properly to meet their athletic goals, whatever those goals may be. We deeply love the sport of cycling and genuinely enjoy watching people improve and perform to the best of their abilities."

"We don't work from home, we're at the gym most of the time. But I'd definitely say this place feels like a second home. Sticky notes keep us in line."

You can learn more about The Cycling Gym and their services at http://www.thecyclinggym.com

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Simon Cochrane

Simon is a qualified TriNZ triathlon coach, and runs a Property Management business, alongside racing Triathlon professionally. As you can tell Simon is a busy guy so he needs to be super efficient with his time so he mixes up his recovery with his work by using his "Normatec Desk".

Simon's coaching style includes a well rounded approach using skills in his strength and conditioning background. He has 8+ years of personal training and coaching experience and has worked with a large range of athletes from beginners running a 5km race, through to training Professional athletes at the Ironman distance.

Simon has an extensive racing history himself, having competed in 25 Ironman events with a P.B of 8hr 28mins at IMNZ. Over the last few seasons he has had multiple top 10 results and 2 x podium placings at big Professional international Ironman events. He has raced all over the globe and has competed at the Ironman World championships at Hawaii.

He coaches a select group of athletes of varying abilities in Triathlon, running and also gym strength sessions. He has recently moved to Hamilton (from Auckland) and is keen to get involved with the local triathlon community and to take on some more athletes to help them achieve some massive goals. You can read more about Simon on his website http://www.simoncochrane.net/

Lisa Tamati

Lisa is a legend in New Zealand endurance sport through her ultra running achievements. She has featured on multiple tv shows and documentaries. Lisa is based in New Plymouth which is an amazing spot hidden away on the west coast of the North Island. Lisa runs multiple businesses using the Training Tilt platform including http://runninghotcoaching.com and http://lisatamati.co.nz. Lisa is a published author, offers coaching services, designs jewelery and and is a popular motivational speaker.

Lisa keeps her office lean and mobile and spends much of her time at the dining table at home.

You can learn more about Lisa and her businesses at http://runninghotcoaching.com and http://lisatamati.co.nz.

Two of her published books are Running Hot and Running to Extremes.

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Adnan Kadir

Adnan is a USAC-certified Level 1 cycling coach who believes that in sport, as in life, it is important to strike a balance between the various aspects of what one does. Adnan has been a competitive cyclist and triathlete for 30 years. His full-time coaching practice can be found at www.aeolusendurance.com

Adnan uses a standing desk option with "stacked monitors". Adnan reckons it's not as messy as it looks, but to be honest it looks pretty tidy and organized to me.

"I have a worldwide clientele and run several training camps in the USA and Europe each year. The tools Training Tilt incorporates help me organize all of it. It's ideal for the home office as many of the aspects that would ordinarily have to be outsourced - billing and website, for example, are handled in one service."

You can learn more about Adnan and his coaching products and services at www.aeolusendurance.com

There is a fair bit of variety across the coaches and the great thing about running your own business is the flexibility to work from home and create the best environment for yourself to keep happy, productive and healthy.

Here at Training Tilt I spend 90% of my working time at home. Check out my setup below. I don't use any paper except a little note book I like to carry around to keep notes and my to do list. I had another monitor but I dropped it down the stairs when we moved into our new place. Doh. That reminds me I must get a new one.

The kittens Hugo and Frankie are a relatively new feature to the home office but don't always use the keyboard as a bed. I put the basket on the desk so the boys sit in that instead of on my keyboard or on my mouse pad. The kittens along with the 100's of coaches using Training Tilt are great company during a working day and keep me focused and motivated.

If you are a coach looking to grow your business or even just wondering how to get started I'd love to hear from you. Use the speech bubble to get in touch or flick us an email anytime. Or just signup for a free trial of our software. We love helping coaches with their businesses each and every day of the week.

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