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    Juan Purpose Shaping Entrepreneurs into More Effective Leaders

    Juan Alvarez’s career has taken him across countries and continents to Columbus, Ohio. As a native of Spain, it’s not exactly where he expected to be – and what he expected to be doing – when he began his career 18 years ago. 

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    “It wasn’t in my plans when I was 19 to become a businessman or entrepreneur,” Alvarez says, though he did come from an entrepreneurial family. But when his father passed away, he took over the family business, working through the unknown to support his mother and sister.

    JuanPurpose
    Juan Alvarez

    “That opened the door for me to a magnificent journey,” Alvarez says. 

    He would bounce around as an entrepreneur and executive for the next several years, picking up experience in varied industries. About six years ago he would move to the U.S. to become the CEO of an international solar energy distribution group in Boston.

    He’d started to develop an interest in business coaching, and decided to purse his professional coach certification thinking it would make him a better executive and leader.

    “Along the way I found a profession,” Alvarez says. He realized it wasn’t only a tool to make him a more effective leader, but “This is something I want to do because it’s going to help me change the business world in the way that I want.” 

    To Alvarez, “What a business means to me is a way to serve your community,” he says. 

    A business should add value to its owners and group of employees, those it interacts with and the larger community.

    “My motivation, my inspiration for doing this is to help those who really connect with my values and my idea of what a business is to help them succeed,” Alvarez says. 

    For four years he has been using his knowledge in coaching to help entrepreneurs succeed. He’s focused on the smaller business owner because they have the power to make changes within their organization versus larger outfits with set ways and a hierarchy to weave through to implement change.

    Alvarez’s coaching style asks a business owner to look both inwardly and outwardly to make changes.

    “Most of the time business challenges are personal challenges,” he says. “What may be blocking your company or your activity is something that is blocking yourself that you are projecting on your company.” 

    He helps business owners realize their roadblocks and move through them.

    Outwardly, “People really know why they want to do things, and they really know the strategies that are going to help them get there, but we fail constantly on the execution aspect of that,” Alvarez says. 

    Through coaching, entrepreneurs close that gap between their vision and the fulfillment of that vision.

    Never limiting himself on ways he can help, Alvarez also uses years of experience in many different industries to share knowledge with his clients. The addition of meditation coaching offers another avenue for clients to learn a long-term strategy they can continue to do on their own.

    Currently, Alvarez’s clients are concentrated on the east coast and in Europe. He’s new to Columbus, having moved back with his wife, a Westerville native, after meeting in Boston. While he’s working towards local clients, the reception he’s been met with in the city makes him excited for the future.

    Alvarez has found a genuine curiosity from others and much interest in what he does.

    “I felt supported from people that I really didn’t know,” he says. “It’s so easy to talk to someone.” 

    Columbus has shown itself to be a culturally open community, open to communication and support.

    I didn’t have that experience in other places in the U.S.,” Alvarez says. 

    For more information, visit juanpurpose.com.

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    Susan Post
    Susan Post
    Susan is the editor of The Metropreneur and associate editor of Columbus Underground, and also covers small business and entrepreneurial news and the food scene in Central Ohio.Susan holds a degree in Communication with a minor in Professional Writing from The Ohio State University. She sits on the board of the Central Ohio Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and loves coffee, whiskey, cooking and spending time with friends and family.
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