Coaching

Whether you run a small business or are nurturing a startup, business coaching can provide vital benefits. From alleviating what feels like a solitary journey to offering valuable direction and mentoring, a business coach is a critical resource as part of the global business environment.

You can find articles, ebooks, videos, and courses designed to help develop and grow a business. These are effective, but they aren’t as effective as the ability to directly tap into the experiences, knowledge, and expertise of a successful business person.

What is Business Coaching?

Business coaching involves a business coach who is typically an existing or previous business owner or entrepreneur. They help another business owner or entrepreneur who needs help with growing their startup or company.

Business coaching is as process intended to guide that growth by setting goals. The work also involves assessing strengths and weaknesses, addressing those weaknesses, and implementing a tactical plan.

Again, you can choose to read articles and watch videos. But, what you can’t get from those online resources or from books is customized advice and personal interaction that only a business coach can deliver.

That’s exactly why an athlete doesn’t just watch a video or a musician just read a book. They have coaches who are objective, who support, who push, and who direct.

A Business Coach in Action

A business coach takes an active role in helping other business people like themselves. Serving as a trainer, mentor, “Devil’s advocate,” and even cheerleader, a business coach focuses on optimizing their efforts for each client.

And, since no client is the same, the type of action a business coach will vary from one client to another. While some clients may need more information, another may require assistance with goals, networking, talent acquisition, or even funding sources.

Across all clients, the objective remains the same: make improvements, develop individuals professionally and personally, nature talents and skills, set clear goals, and create a successful, growing business.

Getting Started with a Business Coach

The first step in working with a business coach is learning everything about their client, including the founder, brand, company structure, purpose and value propositions, target customers, challenges, and opportunities.

Then, a business coach will delve further. They wan to understand a client’s vision, purpose, and goals for the company they’ve started. Will the company provide sustainable income, or will it become part of a larger empire? Will it stay private, go public, or be sold to another company?

From there, a business coach works with clients to outline specific attainable goals that align with both a client’s vision and growth targets. Along with the goals, a business coach can recommend defined tactical approaches to achieving those goals and tackling challenges to that growth.

Business coaches can also tackle those challenges in other ways. For example, many business owners hit a plateau or stagnate at some point in their company’s history. Figuring out how to get that company to the next level can be challenging. And, being so deep into it, you may not be able to see the answer like a business coach can who is on the outside looking in.

Business coaches can be a shoulder to lean on, someone who is available to confide in, and a support mechanism when feeling discouraged. They can lift a business owner up, be their advocate, question their decisions and actions, and cheer them on when success happens. They are in your corner, and they have your back.

Business Coaching Questions

It’s common to have many questions about business coaching and what’s involved in hiring a business coach. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about business coaching.

Q: What happens during a typical business coach meeting?

Clients can expect a friendly, casual discussion about their business, themselves, and their goals. A business coach is interested in knowing more about how they can help other business owners and deliver specific advice tailored to each client’s needs. Each meeting involves increasingly more detail and action to move toward the goal of improvement and company growth.

Q: How does a business coach help grow a business?

A: Business coaches are focused solely on helping a business owner achieve their growth targets. To make it happen, a business coach helps set specific growth goals that include actionable items directed at those goals.

Additionally, business coaches help identify what’s blocking growth, including addressing operational efficiencies, talent and skills gaps, and productivity.

Q: How can a small businesses benefit from business coaching?

A: Many business coaches like to work with small businesses over large corporations. There tends to be more flexibility and passion from entrepreneurs and founders to develop their businesses into high-growth companies.

Even though small businesses may also have smaller budgets, many business coaches develop small business and startup coaching programs that are designed with their needs and lean budgets in mind.

How to Select the Right Business Coach For You

When hiring a business coach for your startup or small business, it’s important to remember that this process isn’t a magic elixir that will solve everything. Like any relationship, there needs to be effort, communication, compatibility, and a shared passion and vision to create a successful partnership.

With that said, there are signs that alert you to business coaches to avoid. You don’t want to work with a business coach that’s focused on a one-time accomplishment. Instead, you want someone that works and evolves with you over the course of many accomplishments.

Do a thorough evaluation and learn more about the business coach you are thinking of working with:

• How many years have they been a business coach?
• Are they still operating their own business?
• How many clients do they coach at one time?
• Have they had to fire a client and why?
• Have they been fired and if why?
• What are they doing to continue to learn and stay on top of the industry where they offer business coaching?

Another warning sign is any business coach who promises some type of quantitative amount they can help you earn. When a business coach makes claims about their income, you will need to ask some specific questions:

• Have they reached six figures? And, if so, how many years in a row?
• Did they hit six figures in gross (total sales) or net (after expenses) earnings?
• If gross, what was their actual net income and profit?
• If net, how many years have they netted six figures?

Ready to find a business coach?

Here are Some Best Practices to Identify the Right Business Coach for You.

1. Look for chemistry. You need to feel comfortable talking to someone about issues, weaknesses, fears, and concerns. It can be difficult to open up but with the right business coach you should feel safe talking about these personal and internal topics. This is not about them becoming your friend, however.
2. Confirm expertise. Do the research to make sure the business coach is really who they say they are. That means looking them up on Google, checking out their social media profiles, looking for reviews, and asking for references like past clients.
3. Gauge interest. Make sure you can sense whether the business coach authentically cares about what you are doing and what you want to accomplish. Look for their reaction when you discuss what you are doing to see if there is a flicker in their eye. Do they ask you a lot of questions and listen to your responses?
4. Look for a business coach who will share their failures. It’s okay to select a business coach that has failed or made mistakes with their own businesses. Those stories provide good examples for learning what to avoid more so than any business coach who only claims 100% success rate.
5. Identify a complimentary skill set. You don’t need a business coach that has the same skills or strengths that you already possess. Look for a business coach who has strengths and skills where you are the weakest. They have the expertise and experience to show you how to improve those areas.
6. Assess availability. Stay clear of any business coach who is only available for scheduled appointments or offers some type of packaged, cookie cutter program. You want a business coach that offers flexibility and accessibility.
7. Find a lifelong learner. It’s important that the business coach be someone who continually seeks to learn and develop. With this mindset, they are open and enthusiastic about helping others to constantly improve themselves.
8. Have a test session. Pay for a single business coaching session to try the business coach out to see how it feels. You can get a sense of their coaching style and process of working with clients.

Business Coaching Works

Throughout my own journey as a successful entrepreneur, I have spend considerable time on one of my primary goals of helping others.

Serving as a connector, mentor, and business advisor, I have helped many startup founders, entrepreneurs, and small business owners find their path to success.

Now, I am available to answer your questions and assess if we are the right fit to work together.