Running your own business is great as it gives you full flexibility over the time that you have and you can make all the decisions, but running a business, especially building one, is not that simple. You need to have knowledge as well as experience to do that. There are hundreds of important decisions to make, and depending on your current situation, you might not have the experience needed.
If you’re struggling to get your business off the ground or need more impact for your business, a business coach would come in hand. They will be able to guide you through the process of building a business or making it more effective, and this can save you months and maybe years of your time.
Getting your business off the ground
So what exactly does a business coach do? A business coach is typically an experienced entrepreneur or business owner who decides to use their experience in building and growing a business to help other business owners reach their goals. You might say, there’s plenty of information and advice available online on how to start and grow a business. Yes, you might be right, but that doesn’t deal with your situation and what you exactly need to increase your sales and profitability immediately. A business coach, on the other hand, will provide personalized, custom advice designed for you and your current customers, products, services, and situation and serve as both a trainer and a mentor, training you in the skills you need to be successful in your business and serving as a source of information.
A business coach will teach you and mentor you. He will help you break down your ideas into realistic short and long-term goals and hold you accountable for meeting them. So, whether it be assistance in developing a business plan, creating a marketing strategy, or managing financial or legal issues, they can draw on their years of experience and knowledge of industry trends to assist you in making more informed decisions. In this, you are trained to do it for yourself.
Imagine going to the gym and the trainer says, “Hi, John, how are you doing?” Take a seat today. We are going to be lifting dumbbells, 30 kg dumbbells. You have a seat, and you have a drink. I am going to pick up the dumbbells for you and do some lifts, so just sit there and relax. How would that work? Will you ever get in shape as a person? Absolutely not.
It may surprise you to learn that even some of the world’s most well-known and successful business owners and entrepreneurs have enlisted the services of business coaches at some time in their ventures to help them achieve their objectives. Eric Smith, former Google CEO, has previously stated that hiring a business coach was the best professional choice he ever made. He admits that it took some urging at first, as he was already a successful CEO of a rapidly growing company and earning a lot of money. Nevertheless, after being encouraged by a Google board member, Schmidt opted to engage with a business coach and was astounded by the outcome, as reported by Fortune magazine. Schmidt said everyone needs a coach.
Growing beyond your capabilities
As a business owner, you’re very much at the top of the food chain. You are your own boss. You answer to nobody. When you are operating in a corporate environment, there is always someone pressuring you. When you’ve got your own business, it’s you versus yourself. Now, a business coach can now come in handy.
In major corporations, fully 20 or 30% of top executives have business coaches that they bring in from the outside and to whom they pay an enormous amount of money, as much as hundreds or even thousands of dollars per hour. And, whether you are running a small local business or looking to build a worldwide company, the benefits of employing a talented business coach cannot be overstated.
Learning is all about getting the most out of yourself and growing as a person. If you don’t let it grow and develop, you will be the person holding back the business.