Should I Get a Business Coach?
After investing so much into your business, it’s vital to reach your goals. But when you’re caught up in the day-to-day of building a business, it’s hard to keep an eye on the big-picture view of your business.
That’s why it’s important to get an outside perspective. You need someone with proven experience in navigating the ups and downs of growing a business. You need someone who understands your vision and genuinely wants you to succeed.
If you’re asking yourself, “Should I get a business coach?” You’ve come to the right place. This article will help you understand the role of a business coach, the pros and cons of hiring a business coach, and what you can achieve with a business coach. It will also equip you with the framework you need to choose the right business coach for your needs.
Understanding the Role of a Business Coach
A business coach guides you to achieve your business goals. If you’ve ever asked yourself, “Should I get a business coach?” you’re probably keenly aware that starting a business is no walk in the park. There are lots of uncertainty and hard decisions to be made.
A business coach, trained to understand your goals and values, can act as a compass that guides you forward.
The role of a business coach mainly involves:
Charting a growth path: A business coach, with their wealth of experience working with other clients and navigating their own business journey, can help close the gap between where you are today and where you want to be. They excel in revealing a client’s blind spots so they can propel them towards growth.
Defining and clarifying your vision: A business coach can assist you in aligning your personal values with your corporate identity. This helps develop a strong vision for startup success.
Tailored coaching and expertise: Working with a business coach lets you tap into the wisdom of lived experience tailored to your unique circumstances. You can’t find this kind of instruction from Google, books, webinars or courses, though, these are great for self-development and knowledge.
Acts as an accountability partner: A business coach is more than a consultant. They are like a mentor and personal trainer, pushing you to be and do your best. They give you the accountability you and your team need to act on big ideas and see them through.
A safe space: Bound by a code of ethics, a business coach will ensure that everything shared will stay between you and them. You can share your biggest business insecurities. A business coach has likely seen, heard and even experienced it all first-hand. It’s a judgement-free space for exploring concerns and possible solutions. Such trust leads to quality strategies that deliver great returns.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution in business. A good business coach will tailor their knowledge and expertise to your unique problems in ways that online courses or Google searches can’t.
Pros and Cons of Hiring a Business Coach
Knowing the pros and cons of working with a business coach is the next step after asking, “Should I get a business coach?”
Here is our roundup of what you should know:
PROS
Gain an outside perspective: Entrepreneurs often don’t realise what they don’t know. A great business coach can identify your blind spots and offer solutions and expert insights. Unlike receiving advice from friends and family who have never led a business, a business coach brings a high level of expertise to fill your knowledge gaps. They offer a protective barrier between you and risk.
Keeps you accountable: A business coach will push you to have the tough conversations. They will also guide you to develop SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound) goals and help you develop a strategic plan to see them through.
Practice your pitch: Speaking with a business coach provides a safe environment to practice communicating what your business is all about. This is an essential skill for growing a business. You need to know how to attract clients to your service, and get partners and investors to believe in your mission. A great business coach will give you constructive feedback on what’s working and what isn’t, helping drive you forward.
Maximise your potential: A great business coach won’t let you stay in your comfort zone. They will challenge you to take the next step after step. They help realise your strengths while determining which parts of the business should be outsourced. It’s about alleviating your responsibilities so you can spend more time on what you do best.
Build a sustainable business: Juggling multiple responsibilities as an entrepreneur is challenging. In identifying your strengths and weaknesses, a business coach can help you plan and prioritise effectively. You’ll become a more efficient entrepreneur and achieve sustainable business growth.
CONS
Cost: Hiring a business coach may not be feasible if you have extremely tight budgets. When you first ask yourself, “Should I get a business coach?” you need to understand the areas of your business you want coaching in. When you do that, you’re able to get more value from your consult with a business coach.
Time commitment: Working with a business coach involves attending regular coaching sessions, implementing recommendations, and staying committed to the process. It’s not a case of putting your business in cruise control and waiting for amazing results to happen. It requires time and effort.
The right expertise: Not all business coaches have experience or expertise in what you’re looking for. When determining, “Should I get a business coach?” speak to the business coach’s past clients to determine if they have the right expertise to propel you forward.
Question of trust: It can be daunting to share personal information with a stranger. That’s why it’s essential to seek a credible business coach whom you are compatible with, and who also has a proven track record of helping other businesses achieve their goals.
Navigating personal differences: Not all business coaches will be right for everyone. Differences in personality, work methods, and communication styles impact the effectiveness of the relationship. When choosing a business coach, see if they host any webinars or networking events. Attending could give you a feel for what they’re like as a person and whether you would work well with them.
Realising the Return on Investment (ROI)
Should I choose a business coach? Will the return on investment be worth it? Yes, having a personal business coach is an investment. One where the rewards you can reap from choosing a great business coach are unimaginable. It was found in a recent study of Fortune 500 businesses that hiring a business coach can generate a return of $7.90 for every dollar spent. With a caring business expert guiding your decision-making, you have everything to gain when working with a personal business coach.
Success Stories: Businesses Transformed by Coaching
Here are just some of the business coaching testimonials of those who have experienced the benefits of business coaching with Brainiact.
JDS Electrical
“My business coach is a great driving force in helping my business become more organised and self-sufficient.” – Josh Smith, Managing Director, JDS Electrical.
When Josh Smith, the founder and director of JDS Electrical, contacted Brainiact, his business was facing difficulties. In its early years, JDS Electrical experienced rapid growth. After around five years, a series of challenges like evolving customer needs, a pandemic, and internal management meant they couldn’t achieve the next stage of growth they wanted. They struggled with cash flow and stagnation in a saturated market.
Josh decided to consult with a Brainiact business coach. They helped him understand the exact running costs of his business and put contingency plans in place to account for inefficiencies. His business coach showed him different pricing structures and justified any pricing increases the business needed to make.
As they continued to work together, Josh’s business coach created a map for his business. In addition to revamping the pricing model, Josh’s business coach organised additional internal and external labour to help Josh manage better. This involved hiring an operations manager and a team of subcontractors to ensure all project deadlines could be met without overworking the full-time team. This has resulted in better-quality projects and happier customers.
The biggest lesson Josh gained from working with Brainiact was how important it is for him, as the managing director, to spend most of his time in the most valuable areas of his business and delegate the rest to someone else. Today, JDS Electrical is in a great position. With a streamlined team, it has more efficient project management, increased profitability insights, and a focused growth path.
BKW Electrical & Earthworks
“It’s like having a CEO on your payroll without the hefty price,” – Lisa Walsh, Director, BKW Electrical & Earthworks.
Lisa and Blake Walsh initially launched BKW Electrical & Earthworks as a sole trader earthmoving company which quickly grew to an 11-person team. As the business continued to expand, it began wrestling with organisational issues, inefficient processes and development challenges.
With no streamlined processes in place, BKW Earthworks was struggling to handle unplanned growth. Once they started working with a Brainiact business coach, they could implement budgets, make staffing decisions, and even hire a second in command for Blake. This enabled Blake to focus on the business’s organisational side. While, at first, it seemed counterproductive to them to step away from the tools, it proved to be a huge success.
One of Brainiact’s mantras, “When you’re working in the business, you’re not working on the business” deeply resonated with Blake. With their business coach’s guidance, Blake transitioned to a more administrative role, where he had the time to implement, automate, and digitise new processes. This ended up benefiting the whole team’s efficiency. It’s now much easier for the business to have workers all around Sydney and even in the Blue Mountains. The business is running a lot smoother.
Business coaching didn’t just help the business. With more time for himself, Blake can now enjoy little moments he previously couldn’t, like watching his kids board the school bus.
Karem Photography
“People pour thousands into online ads and get very little return. You could put that money towards a business coach instead, and what you get out of it lasts forever.” – Karem Nunez, Director of Karem Photography.
Turning your passion into a business can be deeply rewarding. But without direction, it can lead to overwhelm and burnout. This is where Karem Nunez, Director of Karem Photography, found herself before getting in touch with a Brainiact business coach.
Karem’s challenge wasn’t just about perfecting her shots; it was about combining her passion with a profitable business model. She was being pulled between a myriad of tasks and constantly juggling between jobs.
After only five months of partnering with her Brianiact business coach, Karem saw great progress in her self-run business. Brainiact helped Karem set financial goals and the steps required to achieve them. Structuring solid processes in her work led to substantial financial growth. In just a few weeks, she made more money than she had in six months.
Karem’s Brainiact business coach also recommended she outsource some post-production tasks so her shoots could run as smoothly as possible. Her revenue was growing substantially, but she wasn’t feeling stressed or overrun.
Previously, Karem thought that being busy meant she was being productive. The Brainiact business coach instead showed her that she wasn’t making enough money for the time she was putting in, leading to exhaustion. They helped her understand the monetary value of her offerings and receive more abundant rewards from her work.
Common Misconceptions About Business Coaching
Before you look for a business coach, let’s clear up a few misconceptions about the role of a business coach.
Only one person benefits: The person being coached, usually a managing director or other type of business leader, isn’t the only one who benefits from the coaching. The valuable insights and lessons learned can be used to guide the entire company forward. After all, one of the key areas business coaching can enhance is leadership. Business coaching is a gift that keeps on giving throughout all layers of a business.
Guarantees immediate success: While a business coach can offer invaluable support and insights to drive a business forward, it’s what you do with that advice that determines the success of your business. The business coach keeps you accountable, but the actual progress depends on your actions and commitment.
Coaching is for failing businesses: Business coaching isn’t just for the ones who believe they’ve hit rock bottom. All kinds of businesses can benefit from business coaching. Whether you want to scale an already successful business, explore new opportunities, or refresh your branding, a business coach can help businesses of all sizes and stages achieve their goals.
Making the Decision: Factors to Consider
Here are some aspects you should consider when choosing a business coach:
Know your objectives: What do you want to achieve from working with a business coach? When you arrange to meet with a business coach, come prepared with specific questions you want to explore and other relevant material to guide the discussion.
Your needs matched: Business coaches offer different packaged solutions. Before you book a business coach, cross-compare what they offer versus the needs of your business.
Happy customers: Review success stories from past clients of the business coach to determine their effectiveness. The best endorsement is a happy customer.
Relevant qualifications: Hiring a business coach is a formal relationship you enter to see tangible results. It’s not a case of asking a co-worker for an opinion. You need to ensure the person giving you advice is qualified to do so. Make sure they have proven experience helping others achieve success similar to what you seek.
Willingness to accept change: If you want success, you have to be open to change. Before acting on the question, “Should I get a business coach?” make sure you’re open to recommendations. Be ready for your ideas to be challenged. Prepare to adjust your business model. A business coach is there to push you to be your best.
Conclusion: Empowering Your Business Journey
One of the best investments you can make is in yourself. A business owner’s knowledge is the lantern that guides the rest of the business through the ever-changing marketplace.
To ensure the way forward is as bright as possible, harness the benefits of business coaching. The insights you gain from working with a business coach will power your business for life.
Ready to work with a business coach?
Brainiact is here to assist. Our personalised approach to business coaching is what sets us apart. We love learning about different businesses and helping them achieve the next stage of growth.
Contact us today to find out how we can help.
