If you’re like me, you probably baulked at getting a business coach when you started your business. Everyone seems to have a horror story. And it can be expensive. And there are so many dodgy ones.
OK, all of that is true! When you don’t know what you don’t know, it’s easy for someone to take advantage and provide no value whatsoever or, worse, do damage to your business.
But when I got over my reluctance, I found a great coach and now I’ve grown three successful businesses! I’ve written this article to save you time, energy and money, and stop you making the mistakes I did.
How business coaches help you
Work smarter
When you’re in business, you have so many things going on that you tend to run around like a headless chook. You spend the day putting out fires and the day is gone before you realise it.
A coach can help you work smarter to be more effective and achieve more in the hours you have. They have heaps of tools and strategies that you’ve probably never heard of that can change your life!
Navigate the bad times
I took a hit in COVID and wasn’t sure if I’d come back from it. If I didn’t have a mentor to talk me down on the bad days and plant my feet in the right direction, I don’t know if I’d be standing here today.
It’s really lonely at the top, and sometimes scary, so having someone in your corner is a huge relief.
Get accountable
Depending on your personality, you might need a little push to get started sometimes. Whether it’s due to fear, overwhelm or just laziness, procrastination gets us all some days. A great coach can help get you motivated and keep you accountable.
I know it’s easy to keep avoiding business planning because there’s so much money-making work to do, but the business won’t grow unless you do it. A coach will make sure you carve out that time and get it done.
And they’ll expect real numbers and time frames – targets and strategies for achieving them. No fuzzy numbers! They will help you make plans and stick to them.
Get it right the first time
Yes, you get a lot of experience in business by experimenting, failing, tweaking and trying again. But in this fast-paced world, if there’s a way to speed up the learning process, we should take it.
A good business coach has already done the trying and failing, so they can steer you away from the uncovered manholes before you fall into them.
Learning from others’ failures is just as legit as experiencing the failures yourself – but faster and less expensive.
Get new ideas
Your business is only as good as the person running it. If you want your business to be better, you have to get better. You have to keep learning and keep getting new ideas. (Read my blog post on how I read a book a week.)
A business coach has a wealth of ideas that you may not know about or are too close to your business to have considered.
Finding a good one
Of course, anyone can hang out a shingle and call themselves a business coach. Here are some signs that you’re onto a good one:
- They’ve actually run successful businesses. You can find details about them to prove they existed.
- They’ve had successful clients. Some people just pick up coaching as a side gig, thinking that it’s easy money. They should be able to point to their successes (and be happy to use them as references).
- They’re familiar with your industry. Some give generic advice to every client, no matter what industry they’re in.
- They’re good communicators. Some have so much going on that they end up ghosting you just when you need them the most.
- They’re happy to sign a confidentiality agreement. Some dodgy coaches will hear a good idea from a client, shoot it down and then go implement it themselves. Beware!
Overall, know what you’re looking for and trust your intuition. If their office is a dark, messy room under their house and they offer you a crappy chair at a table covered in biscuit crumbs and cat hair, get the hell outa there!
Want to know more?
Feel free to contact me to inquire about working with me or just to ask any burning questions!