Like anything else, this can be a complex question. At the detail level, it depends a lot on what stage your business is in currently, what your goals are, and what your expectations for the coach are. So, let’s start with some general issues.
If you are expecting a simple, quick, easy solution that will enable you to leapfrog from the very beginning stage, $100K Revenue to a fully sellable $20Million business over the next 12 months – let’s be honest - it is probably not going to happen that way. Building a fully sellable $20Million business takes a few years – and will require a several changes along the way in how you do your business. That said, it can be done - if you are willing to make those changes.
But let’s start with the coach:
Does the coach bring a system that is easy to understand? Can you visualize the steps from where you are currently to where you want to get to? Taking a business through massive changes to get to a big goal is a complex process. But the coach should be able to outline that process in a straightforward way and answer your questions about the different steps.
Does the coach have experience that he (or she) can use to guide you through that process? Be careful with this – the coach does not have to be a specialist in your industry. In fact, if they are, they may steer you to be exactly like everyone else – which gets in the way of differentiating yourself – and then becoming much more successful than everyone else. Amazon did not get to where they are by being like Sears or K-Mart…
We also need to talk about you:
If you want to HAVE something you don’t have already (perhaps a $20Mill Business?), you need to DO things you are not currently doing. But to do those things, you need to BECOME the person who will do them. And that is often where real challenges come up – learning to do things in ways you are not currently comfortable doing them.
For example; an early stage business owner is often most comfortable doing the skills involved with the product or service. To get to the next stage, the owner is going to need to learn to train other people to do things he has always done himself to get the leverage necessary. Often that means Marketing and Selling more systematically than he has been top create additional Revenue. It also means managing other people to achieve specific targets and standards of performance. Those may not be comfortable skills – but need to be learned - if growth is important.
This has been a general discussion of what kinds of problems can come up with business coaching. Each business owner is different, so there can be different issues in individual cases. But this covered most of the situations.
In spite of all this, business coaching, with the right coach and program, should be a profitable experience for a business owner. It should result in speeding up the process of reaching goals by years – which makes it profitable all by itself. A specific case I remember was a small family restaurant that achieved its goals in 5 months instead of the 2 years they expected.
Remember why top-level professional athletes hired individual coaches early in their careers (think Michael Phelps). It is not because they were poor players – it’s because they were striving to get to the top. And they didn’t want to wait.
Consider the questions,
If you would like to talk about your situation, contact me and let’s talk about your specific case.
Want to know your key focus area to help grow your business? Try our 3 min Assessment Quiz at https://stevechiama.nextlevelassessment.com/?source=LI_Event - 6Steps
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