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Show Notes
What is a business coach? Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But a lot of business coaches are actually consultants, not coaches at all, and most of them are hybrids or a bit of both. So depending on what kind of coaching you do, you might think that a business coach is somebody who does step by step, gives you a framework, gives you a plan, and then you go off and do it from there. Or you might think a business coach is more about mindset and helps you to work out your strategies, work out what it is that you need to be doing to overcome the things that you can’t see.
Defining Business Coaching
It is really difficult to see the sky if we’re standing at the bottom of a train looking up, we’re just going to see the lights, and they might be the branches, and we won’t see that abundant blue sky that is above that. So it depends on your definition of a business coach, and it also depends on what you’re looking for.
So you might be looking for somebody to fill in that skills or knowledge that you’ve got a gap in. Or you might be looking for somebody to help you overcome that thing that you are stuck with. Business coaches can do both and quite often do. Some are more skilled in the coaching side and some, not so. But when we are thinking about a business coach, the first thing you need to do is think about what is it that you actually need?
The Power of Accountability
Do you need that skills base or do you need the accountability that keeping yourself on track? When you’re an employee, you have people that keep you accountable. Even when you’re on a salary. You have KPIs you might have okay at all those kinds of things where you are accountable. You’ve got to keep budgets and just general things that you need to do.
But when you’re running your own business, what are you accountable? Are you watching those financials? Are you making sure that that light is shiny object that you bought actually makes you money? Or was it just making the creative money as many of them do? So thinking about those kinds of things. So having somebody to keep you accountable and making sure that you’ve got that sounding board before you make rash decisions or decisions that could pivot your business one way or the other.
How many people have this offer? Do that for a couple of weeks. Might get a few calls, might not. So suddenly they’ve got a new offer. And then you say them all the time, don’t you? Signal lost. Even in our coaching circles. Yet you hear a few fellow coaches gone. Oh, yeah, I was doing this and now I’m doing that.
Now I’m doing something else. So it can be really difficult for people to be able to recommend you if you’re jumping around all over the place. So having a business coach and being accountable might be a really good way to think about those kinds of things. And do you need to stop? Pause and think before you make that decision or throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Setting Big Goals
Another thing that coaches can do business coaches can help you with your goal setting. What is it that you want to do for the year? Couple of years? We often underestimate sorry. We often overestimate what we can do in a year and underestimate what we can do in ten years. But if we don’t start, we’ll do nothing. And as it’s heading towards the end of the year as I’m recording this, it’ll be back to New Year’s resolutions.
So we’ll have all these goals and New Year’s resolutions and fabulous things. And then by February, what are we doing? So it can be a really great way to have those goals, those big rocks, setting the big things that you need to do and then the smaller things, and then making sure that you are doing something towards them every month, every week, and maybe every day.
So that can be another great thing that a business coach can do, can be that skills knowledge gap. It could be a case of it’s not actually a knowledge gap at all. It might be a mindset block and it might be something that you need to work through together. So that’s another option that can happen. Having a look at those perspectives and saying something from a different point of view.
Because even though you’ve believed it your whole entire life, sometimes one well-placed question or somebody else’s opinion or a case study can show you that there’s a different way may not be wrong. All right. That might put you on a different trajectory that will help you to get over that thing that you’ve been struggling with. And that might give you the motivation.
Motivates You To Grow
So sometimes if we’re having big growth spurts, it’s great while it’s out. But then as we know, most things that go up have to come down again. So we’re dropping off the edge of a growth spurt. And then keeping the motivation to keep that going can be another great thing that a business coach can do. Is it a time for growth?
Do you need assistance and help along that path? Getting your time for growth and making sure that you are looking after yourself. Because when we’re in launches and we’re doing things like that can be a bit like running on a hamster wheel, can’t it? So we do need sometimes to have somebody impartial, somebody who we can bounce ideas off, somebody who could just sit and listen to us.
Sometimes we just need a little bit of a vent or grizzle and then we can move on. That could be all part of your growth and your motivation. So there are another couple of things that business coaches can help you with. So when you are thinking of business, you really do need to know what you need to the type of business coach that you need
Teaches You Resilience and Flexibility
Sometimes, it is about that resilience and adaptability. If you’ve been running the same race for quite some time and it’s not getting you there, then maybe you need to be a bit more flexible and adaptable. So somebody challenging you quite often can help to show you that different perspective, as we mentioned, and show you where to go.
Self Care Matters
As coaches, make sure that you’re looking after yourself so that you can give your clients the best of you, and getting out to your clients to know, point being the best kept secret if they don’t know you’re there. So your skills. What do you need to do with the holidays coming up? Do you need to just take a break?
A bit of relaxation? Has it been a year where you’ve worked really, really hard and now you need to have some self-care? Have that reflective work and set your goals for next year. Work out what you’re going to do. Those rocks, the big rocks in first, and then you can put the smaller rocks. Read this article about Big Rocks to Making Your Goals Happen. Then you can put the sand and then you can put the water.
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How The Right Business Coach Can Unlock Success For Your Coaching Business
We put all that busy work in, we get to the end of the week and we haven’t worked on our goals. Why not? Because it was full of water then maybe a little bit of sand, but we couldn’t get the rock scene. So make sure that you are getting things in the right order can make such a difference to your life and your clients.
What else do you need to do for next year? Do you need to start planning that and making sure that you can fit every thinking? If you need any help. You know where I am. It is a great thing for you to check out over the holidays if you haven’t already.
Listen to the full episode of Small Business Talk episode 269.
You can also find the video versions of the Small Business Talk Episodes on YouTube.
