Many coaches tend to be ‘reactive tacticians’; that is they identify what’s going wrong and fix it. This might have been the case with the coaches Susan spoke to, who couldn’t find anything ‘wrong’ to fix and didn’t have the experience to inspire her with the specific strategies that help her to develop to the next level.

The problem with this very common form of coaching, is that after a while, hanging out with their coach for an hour a week, becomes the clients’ favourite’ procrastination and makes them feel empowered and ‘connected’, whilst avoiding what needs to get done, to grow.

Is IS important that you ‘click’ with a coach; but you also need to be confident that they understand the psychology of business, not just the tactics. They also need to be experienced across all disciplines of business. They’re not there to be ‘technicians’, helping you improve ‘how’ your business is done; they’re there to teach you the skills of business ownership.

Finally and most importantly… Only ever take advice from people you aspire to be like! So make sure your coach is at ‘peace’ with who they are; enjoy significant wealth and financial habits (beyond the ‘bull’); are positive; have a successful family unit and place priority on ‘balance’.

I’m happy to talk to anyone that’s considering getting a coach, or would like a second opinion. Good luck! Steve.

I had a similar situation at my previous company, where the management team were looking for business coaching to refine their strategy and create an implementation plan.

We found it difficult to find a company to work with, as many ‘coaches’ actually came across as consultants. Though once we found a coach the team clicked with, everything was a breeze. It was helpful to have a fresh pair of eyes look at our team and strategy, and push the team in the best direction for the company.

We had 6 months with the coach, and afterwards, the management team seemed much more aligned and the implementation plan was very effective. So, the whole coaching experience was positive for my old business, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the experience to anyone else!

I decided to post my comment because it sounds like you put your decision about hiring a business coach on hold, even though you had found a potentially good coach to work with (the first one as I understand).

As I read your thread I understood that you would like to move your business to the next level, so I’m not really sure about why the second coach turned you down. What other reasons could she have had for turning you down?

I definitely see the value of having a business coach. I am a business coach myself, and I do have a coach. When I don’t have a coach I tend to lose focus, since I have so many things to manage and to think about. When I work with a coach everything flows much more easily, no matter if it’s about developing a new service, changing a strategy or managing my finances and time.

What would you find most valuable about working with a coach?

I have no idea who the first coach was, but would it help you to discuss your concerns with her?

All the best to you, I wish you an exciting and successful business!
Myriam

Fundamentally, both the business coach and the mentor act as your guides. The coach will guide you based on your own choices (alongside you).
The mentor will guide you based on their own experience (in front of you).

The coach will allow you to explore your own future with the risks, but also the rewards, that involves.
The mentor will help you to avoid mistakes that they might have made, and realised. However, then you are not walking your own path and you might not have the successes you could have.

By definition then, the coach might not have a similar background to you; The mentor would often be a more senior person with a similar background.

There are of course business coaches who are actually consultants and many of their tools are effective to manage your business. But that sort of planned growth does not allow you to explore your full potential.

Hope that helps.

A good example of coaching v consulting is the illustration Susan herself uses. PerhapsSusan will support this (or not): Through the conversation with the first coach, her ideas started to crystallise, and by the time she spoke to the 2nd coach, her understanding of the issue had changed to where she had defined a solution.

James, you don’t have to be big time to have a coach, but it might make your journey to get there easier.

Hiring a VA can be a good idea and that would cover off on a lot of tasks that can be delegated and free up time for more work that can only be done by the business owner. A complaint from many VAs that I know (and other services that work with business owners) is that the clients don’t know what they want them to do and often don’t give clear directions, or understand how to fully use their services. This is not surprising, because it can be difficult to know what’s possible when wee’ve never done something before, and articulating “what I want” can be strangely difficult.

Ideally, the business coach can help the client to identify issues within the business that can be improved and empower the owner to tackle issues that they have not considered till now, but may impact on the ability to reach most desired results that the client would prefer to achieve.

It was very empowering, and it’s translated well into other areas outside the gym.