In this article, I will share the value of business coaching and why I think business coaching is important for a business owner in various stages of business development. But first, let me tell you a story…
When I started my first business as a young entrepreneur I had a dream of becoming a free, wealthy, and powerful businessman. I hope you can relate.
I envisioned myself as someone that owned a business and had other people working for my company – all while I did the things I truly enjoyed doing with little to no involvement in my company or business operations. Things such as traveling, reading lots of books, having fascinating conversations, studying whatever I wanted to learn – all, of course, on my own time with no one telling me what to do and when to do it (– of course!).
Let’s recap: being free was my driver. Being wealthy was going to be my vehicle for obtaining my freedom. And, finally: being a powerful businessman was the outcome I was after. (In this context we use the word power as the ability to be in flow in any system while having unrestricted upward and downward mobility).
As you can imagine, my dream of being free, wealthy, and powerful had a set-back – at least for quite a few years. While I did have specialist skills in the area of design, I had very little understanding of business and how to organize myself to do it effectively – especially operating a business as a machine and most importantly how to be an owner.
How I wish I knew what business coaching was and the value of it earlier on in my development as an entrepreneur!!!
Thankfully, I met my lifelong mentor and Master Business Coach Robert Chun early on in my development after spending five years doing Self-employment. Self-employment was the antithesis of my dream!! I was completely tied to my business. I wore all the hats and was on the path of burnout – which, unfortunately, happened to me before I started to work with my mentor.
With that being said, as soon as I started being exposed to business coaching it altered my life and business forever. Through regular conversations, I started to fill the gap of where I was to where I wanted to be. It was as if I had a new lens through which to look at the world, and when I had that lens It gave me access into a completely new world of how to be an Owner and how to operate a business as an organization – and not a solo individual doing self-employment!!
So… let’s take a look at some different types of business coaching and how they may apply to your situation.
Start-up business coaching
- Applies to any business that is in the start-up phases of development
- This is where you are moving from nothing into something
- It requires the ability for the Owner to self-generate and does work without the need for external validation
- Typically there is only the Owner working on the front-line level of the business wearing all of the hats, eg. Administration, marketing, selling, and delivering their product or service to their customer
Small business coaching
- Best used for any business that is considered to be “small”
- While “small” varies from business to business it generally means a company of 3 to 25 people, producing $400,000 to $25 million (more or less) in revenues.
- Typically the owner in these situations is required for the company to run and cannot walk away from the machinery of the business – eg. he or she is highly involved in its operation
Online business coaching
- This is a specific type of coaching that deals with moving your business operations fully online
- It is best used for moving your business online and get valuable input on the most up-to-date tools, technology, and systems without the need to spend the time to do the research and avoid implementation pitfalls
- The online business coach will have experience with the tools, technology, and systems and can ensure things get implemented efficiently – while working with digital transformation experts and online specialists
Executive business coaching
- Best for situations when you are ready to hire managers or already have a manager/managers supervising your front-line workforce
- If management is not in place documentation of the organization will be required to enable automation
- Executive business coaching deals with the only competition that matters to an executive: their past self
- Beyond your past self, executive business coaching works on reimagining the business and upgrading it and your organization for its next phase of growth
Avoiding Pitfalls when hiring a qualified business coach
- The best way to avoid pitfalls when hiring a business coach is to ask questions.
- For this purpose, we have developed The Definitive Questionnaire for Hiring the Right Coach for Your Business
I hope this article gives you a sense of business coaching, why business coaching is important, and how to avoid some pitfalls when considering working with and hiring a business coach.