Suppose you’ve ever worked with a personal trainer at the gym. In that case, you understand how working out with expert guidance can be much more effective than trying to achieve similar results alone and running a small business shares similar principles. It’s exciting and rewarding to follow a passion. Yet, navigating markets on your own or with a small team is frustrating and often lonely. You won’t have all the answers, especially at the beginning of your journey. You’ll hit roadblocks and make mistakes, and that’s a regular part of the process. This is where small business coaching becomes essential, acting as a personal trainer for your business.
Small Business Coaching: An Overview
Small business coaching is a part of professional coaching that helps you launch or improve a budding business. A coach will guide you through identifying needs, setting goals, and creating and executing action plans to support your business. Coaches act as sounding boards and motivators for the problems and topics you discuss every session. They encourage you to open up, brainstorm, and refine ideas independently, offering support and asking good questions when you get stuck. They also help you manage expectations and stick to achievable goals instead of aiming too high and becoming overwhelmed.
The Perks of Small Business Coaching
Small business coaches can help you in various ways, from gaining a new perspective to improving business operations. Here are some ways you can bank on small business coaching.
Gain a New Perspective: Coaches provide an outsider’s view, which can help you see your business from a different angle. This new perspective can unveil opportunities and threats you might have missed.
Identify Your Motivations: Understanding why you do what you do can fuel your passion and drive. Coaches help you delve into these motivations, keeping you inspired and focused.
Know the Skills You Need: Recognizing the skills necessary for success is crucial. Coaches assist in identifying and developing these skills.
Improve Business Operations: Through systematic evaluation, coaches help streamline processes, improving efficiency and productivity.
Take Accountability: Having someone to hold you accountable ensures you stay on track with your goals.
Create Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Coaches aid in establishing KPIs to measure your progress and success effectively.
Mitigate Cashflow Problems: Financial coaches can provide strategies to manage and improve cash flow.
Boost Productivity: By optimizing your time and resources, coaches help enhance productivity.
Learn to Manage Teams Effectively: Leadership coaches can offer strategies for better staff management, fostering a cohesive and motivated team.
Bring an Innovative Approach: Coaches encourage innovation, helping you develop new products or services.
Push Out of Your Comfort Zone: Coaches challenge you to step out of your comfort zone, toward growth and new opportunities.
Foster Leadership Skills: Effective leadership is critical to success. Coaches help develop and refine these skills.
Confidently Remove Roadblocks: With a coach’s support, you can confidently navigate the complexities of growth.
Become More Receptive to Customer Feedback: Coaches help you leverage customer feedback to improve your offerings.
Rechart a Stagnant Initiative: Coaches help reignite momentum and redirect efforts if a project stalls.
Finding the Right Small Business Coach
A quick internet search shows plenty of unqualified individuals are trying to make a quick buck by hanging out their “small business coaching” shingle. In such a scenario, it’s challenging to decide if hiring a business coach is right for you in the first place. Given that, how do you identify a coach who best fits you and your company? If this is the crossroads where you are standing right now, check out the points below to learn the must-have qualities of a business coach who can empower you to take control of your business.
Look for Both Experience and Expertise: You hire a coach because they know more than you do about a given subject—and that’s not necessarily your scope of business. Ideally, your business coach will have quality experience in the area you want to focus on.
Accountability: Many entrepreneurs and business owners can fall into the trap of not caring for their best interests. So it’s important to know that hiring a business coach is an investment in your business and, more importantly, yourself. Knowing you have to check in with someone will keep you accountable.
Supportive and Encouraging Approach: Hiring a business coach is like getting a massage. It is like you are investing in yourself. More than that, this coach will help you be an even better version of the business owner, entrepreneur, or manager you are now.
Offering Networking Opportunities: Whether you have a brick-and-mortar establishment or run a virtual business, success often hinges on “who you know.” You have probably heard the famous saying, “Your net worth is your network.” Your business coach may have other clients you would love to meet and scale your business. Small business coaching should offer networking opportunities that could benefit your business.
What to Expect in Small Business Coaching Sessions
Starting the coaching process is an exciting and sometimes overwhelming step for any business owner. Knowing what to expect from your small business coaching can help you feel more confident going into it. Your relationship with your coach is personal and can be tailored to your needs — strategic planning or personal development. So, it’s fair to have expectations from something you are investing your precious time and hard-earned money into.
Seek Guidance, Not Advice: Unlike a consultant who offers advice, coaches push you to find answers within yourself. Coaching gives you the agency to rely on your instincts, problem-solve, and level up your skills. It’s an empowering process that shows you what you can do while offering any support you need.
Hard-Hitting Discussions: Your coach will create a safe, confidential space to open up about how you and your small business are precisely doing. Coaches are experts and active listeners who help you define goals or start seeing the big picture without judgment.
Opportunities to Grow: With the support of your coach, you’ll figure out what your actual goals are, set objectives to meet them, and create a schedule for your professional development. Your coach will inspire and motivate you, but you must remain accountable and find the drive within yourself.
Look for support, Not Remedies: Small business owners may suffer from stress and anxiety due to poor work-life balance. While a business coach can help you establish a better work-life balance, they don’t take a therapeutic approach to your problems. Seek the support of a professional therapist to battle anxiety, depression, or burnout.
Choosing the Right Small Business Coaching
The first step to investing in the best business coaching begins with selecting the right coach. When choosing the coach to hire, consider their relevant experience, compatibility with your vision, confidentiality, and availability. Here are some factors that can land you the best small business coaching.
Relevant Experience and Expertise: A prospective business coach should understand your business model and have experience working with similar types of businesses or business owners. Contact references and listen to what previous clients have to say.
Compatibility With Your Business Goals: During an initial interview or consultation, ensure the coach takes you and your business seriously, respects you, and communicates well. Trust is critical in this relationship.
Confidentiality: The coach should agree to keep any sensitive or proprietary information about you and your business confidential. Given that, remember: it’s a red flag if the coach speaks cavalierly about previous clients.
Availability and Accessibility: Ensure the coach’s parameters around when you can reach them and how they suit you. Agree on the ways you will communicate and work together.
Straightforward Coaching Approach and Methodology: Some coaches follow the methods of well-known leaders or “gurus” in the field. So before you follow, ensure their approach and plan make sense to you and that you are willing to do what they ask.
How to Find a Small Business Coach
Now that you know which business coach can be your ideal guide to success, here are a few ways to find them from a pool of options available today.
Understand the Connection: Remember that a 1:1 relationship with your coach is personal, so it’s essential to find someone you connect with who understands where you are coming from as a business owner.
Determine What You’re Looking for: The first step to finding an ideal coach is determining what services you need. So, ensure that your goals align with the scope of coaching work. Decide what expertise or skills you’d like the coach to have.
When running your own business, next-level success is subjective but definable. And when it comes to defined goals, small business coaching can help you establish a clear company vision, ensuring you know what you are working toward. Any small business owner, even with a thriving company, can use this resource to generate innovative ideas, boost their entrepreneurial spirit, and find tremendous business success. Your coach is there to enhance your business, making every step of your journey more impactful and rewarding.
Larry Vivola is a successful business coach who coaches entrepreneurs anywhere in the world via Zoom. If he’s not coaching he’s making meatballs and entertaining friends and family!
Free Advice Sucks! Invest in a one-time strategy session and pick Larry’s brain to help solve a pressing problem, discuss an idea, or brainstorm how to give your business performance a Turbo Boost!!! In the end your investment will yield you more money, time, and happiness!