By Jevon Wooden
(As originally featured on foundr.com)
Entrepreneurship can be stressful and lonely, but the rewards are worth it. A business coach can help you stay focused and achieve success.
As an entrepreneur and professional business coach, I’ve been on both sides of the relationship. I know what works and what doesn’t. I have spent sleepless nights grappling with tough business decisions and sat face-to-face with entrepreneurs seeking solutions.
I’ve been there. I’ve seen it. And a business coach can make a difference.
This article will examine ways a business coach can help you achieve your personal and professional goals. Whether it be motivation, knowledge, providing the right contacts, assistance implementing new technology, or more.
Do you want to take your business to heights? Are you unsure if it’s worth the time and expense? Here are 5 reasons why having a business coach is worth the investment.
Business Coaching Can Help You Mitigate Risk
Business coaching is a way for small business owners to understand their businesses and the reality of their situation. Through deep discussion, accountability, and planning, business coaching can create a buffer between small business owners and their potential risks. Running a small business can feel like you’re skating on thin ice at times, and it is hard to forecast the impact of a decision.
A key benefit of business coaching lies in the clarity gained, leading to better decisions and improved performance personally and professionally. Having a sounding board to think through the noise of leading a company builds confidence, develops the skills required to be a successful business owner, and helps to alleviate stress.
A Business Coach Will Guide You
A good business coach will help you see blind spots and guide you to have a strategic plan for navigating through them. Here are ways business coaching can help mitigate risk:
- You’ll learn things that Google or courses can’t teach you.
- You’re learning through their experience.
- They will help you prevent repetitive mistakes.
- They can fill in the knowledge gaps you’re missing.
- They can share failures they’ve seen, so you don’t make the same mistakes.
For example, an educational consulting firm I worked with had issues generating consistent monthly revenue. When I assessed their marketing and business development strategies, they clearly relied solely on inbound marketing, which wasn’t the best option for their business model. (e.g., Facebook ads, search engine marketing). But, they weren’t tracking the proper metrics, and their advertising campaigns were ineffective, with a cost per acquisition well over the industry average.
The bottom line, they were burning money with no return on investment. I recommended they implement a more targeted outbound marketing strategy that heavily focused on content marketing and leveraging their collective network to generate referrals and partnerships. The firm also created a referral program for clients and partners, creating a high-six-figure revenue stream. They also added government contracts to their portfolio, bringing in a reliable six figures over the next two years with the possibility of extension.
A Business Coach Can Help You Stay On Track
Business coaching can help you stay on track and focused on achieving your goals. It will help you to define your strengths and weaknesses and develop a growth plan. Your growth plan can include personal and professional items.
Examples include:
- Creating an effective marketing strategy.
- Creating or revamping your branding.
- Budgeting and finance improvements.
- Minimizing your daily negative stressors.
- Cultivating relationships.
- Improving your or your team’s communication skills.
- Increasing productivity.
Your business coach is your compass, ensuring that your objectives, goals, and day-to-day tasks are met and that you and your company are heading in the right direction toward maximum results. The feedback and criticisms they give you will be unbiased and come from a professional point of view.
A great business coach will push you past your comfort level and unlock your untapped potential as an entrepreneur. You will feel supported in your journey, especially when encountering roadblocks in your business. They will have insights to share with you that others in your network might not, but most importantly, a coach is there to listen and help you identify the right solution.
A Business Coach Can Help You Build a Sustainable Business
An experienced business coach can help you build a sustainable business. You have a lot on your plate as a business owner, and balancing it all can be challenging. You might need help prioritizing what you should focus on and what you should delegate. And that’s where a business coach comes in to help. They can help you clear your head, keep you on track and help you to focus your time on the right things. When you have a strong business coach, you set yourself up for success.
Like Steve Jobs said, “We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” A good business coach helps you improve your skills and strengthen the weak spots that could help you become a better entrepreneur.
To maximize time with your coach, come prepared with your topic of focus, questions, and any helpful material that will guide the discussion. Be receptive to their recommendations as they benefit from a bird’s eye view of the situation. Like in sports, your coach on the sidelines has a different perspective and can see things that help you solve problems you’re too engaged in the game to realize.
A Business Coach Will Help You Be a Better Leader
One of the best decisions you can make is to hire a business coach to help you be a better leader. Many business coaches have a unique ability to identify improvement areas and strengthen your business. They will help you improve your management abilities and have better employee relationships. A business coach will also help you better prioritize your work.
The saying goes, “The best in business do not ride solo .”You need a business coach to help you prevent stagnation and take you and your business to the next level without wasting time and resources doing it all by yourself.
A recent study of Fortune 500 businesses found that hiring a business coach can yield up to 529% returns. The return on every dollar spent on coaching was $7.90, or a return of 690%. The numbers do not lie. Business coaching works.
A Business Coach Will Help You Achieve Personal and Professional Goals
A business coach can help you reach your goals by providing advice, support, and insight into your personal and professional life. A great business coach isn’t there to be your friend. Your ideas will be challenged, solutions will be offered, and a success plan will be in motion.
The work is ultimately yours to complete, but a business coach will hold you accountable. Most business coaches establish the level of support you’ll need to accomplish the tasks identified during each session.
Coaches leverage proven frameworks and methodologies to keep you on track, driven, and clear on what needs to be done to achieve your goals. With my clients, I have them write goal statements for up to three major goals to be accomplished within a year’s timeframe.
A Business Coach Has Tools To Help You Identify Your Goals
Goal statement format: “I will accomplish X goal by Y because of Z.”
The goal statement ensures goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. The X represents what the goal to be accomplished is. Y is the time in a month, date, and year format. Z is the steps you will take to accomplish the goal.
Once the three goals are identified and prioritized, I work with the client to create a support plan that includes how I can best support them, who in their network will contribute to their success, and tools and techniques they can use to expedite their success.
The client and I then reverse engineer one major goal at a time to create an action plan with milestones to track progress. My clients have said the benefits of the goal-setting and accountability exercises were clarity, focus, and growth personally and professionally.
A Business Coach Will Level Up Your Business
You’ve already invested so much in your business, so why not increase your chances of succeeding by having an expert business coach beside you to guide you every step? Your business coach will help you recognize what you and your business need and what it will take to succeed.
A good business coach will take you and your business to new heights if you want an edge against all odds, roadblocks, and competition. You want to keep winning, right? Then it’s time for you to take action. Remember, “The best in business do not ride solo.”
Jevon Wooden, CEO of Live Not Loathe, is a business coach, keynote speaker, author, and Bronze Star Recipient passionate about marketing, sales, technology, and helping motivated entrepreneurs and businesses increase clarity, confidence, and cash flow while having more time to focus on what matters.
