Why Have Business Coach?
Embarking on a journey to turn your passion into a profitable business is one of the most exciting things you can do; however, there are challenges and pitfalls to avoid. Research shows that 25% of businesses fail in the first year, with 50% in the first five years. Having a business coach/mentor can help reduce some of these challenges and risks.
It is worth noting that having a coach is not a sign of weakness, and in fact, about 20% of top executives had a coach, including Bill Gates (Microsoft founder), Eric Schmidt (CEO Google) and Steve Jobs (Apple founder and CEO). Having someone from the outside looking in is indispensable.
Running a business on your own can consume a vast amount of your time, and you will go through many ups and downs. Starting up on your own brings common challenges that many face. These are discussed in a separate blog; the link is at the bottom of this article. Some of these are shown below:
Motivation
Staying focussed
Procrastination
Lack of business knowledge
Loneliness
Ability to sharing ideas and thoughts.
A simple and relatively cost-effective way to address these challenges is to team up with a business coach/mentor who will provide business knowledge, an independent and non-judgmental sounding board and act as your accountability partner.
If you run your business independently, having a coach is like having a pseudo business partner without giving away equity and sharing profits. Your coach will charge for this, but in the end, it will be significantly less than having a business partner.
So, what does a business coach/mentor do? This is best described by looking at each role separately. Let's start with the Coach part first.
A Coach will deal with some of the more personal challenges you may have - such as motivation, loneliness, procrastination, stress etc. These are the same things that a coach may work with an employee or sports person—mainly focussed on dealing with personal behaviours, blockers or limiting beliefs. A coach will generally assume that you have the answers but want some coaching to unlock and overcome the challenges to achieve your goals. In summary, the role of the coach is non-advisory. Many coaches have no business experience and may focus on areas such as relationships, health, career, mindfulness, amongst many other specialities. It is a non-advisory role, so don't expect them to give you answers to your questions or tell you what you need to do.
The Business Mentor is very much advisory and brings to the relationship business skills, knowledge and experience. They may help you with business, strategic and financial planning, leading to a set of actions and tasks that you should undertake to achieve the desired business outcomes. These outcomes may include more customers, increased revenue, profit, or better cash flow etc. They may also guide you on developing propositions or bringing products and services to market. A business mentor may not be a trained coach.
I would advocate that unless you have good business skills or have great self-discipline, look for a coach/mentor hybrid who is a professionally trained coach and has strong business skills. Hence, I refer to the benefits of having a coach/mentor in this article.
So why not use a friend or family for this role? This is a possible solution however not something I would recommend for many reasons. Such as:
You may get biased support as they will not want to hurt your feelings.
They may not have the depth of experience required to support you.
Discussions will not be focused just on your business.
They may tell you what to do and get upset when you do something different.
You may get bad advice that will cost you money.
The exception to the above is if they are investing their own money in your business. They may want to know and may want to influence how the money is spent. In which case, you both must agree and understand clear terms regarding what influence they can have on your business.
So, now you see the benefits of working with a coach and mentor, but possibly raises some other questions like :
How do you find a suitable coach/mentor?
Firstly, let me suggest that you should be aware when looking for a coach on the internet—many claim to be coaches, however, have no formal coaching training. I would generally describe these people as motivators that will pump you up and tell you that you can do anything and you are amazing. You will feel great in the session and directly afterwards. The problem is that those superman feelings will last until tomorrow, and the questions and doubts you had will still be there. The second is that they are not trained in techniques and practices to help their clients get to the bottom of what is holding them back and transform their underlying beliefs.
Unfortunately, these types of coaches seem to be the ones charging the most on the basis that if they are charging a fortune, they must be the best. This couldn't be further from the truth. Ask where they trained and if the program was accredited by one of the recognised accrediting bodies such as the ICF (International Coaching Federation), EMCC (European mentoring and coaching council) or ILM (Institute of Leadership and Management)
When looking for a business mentor, try and ensure that the mentor understands business. This may be hard to do if you don't have much business knowledge. One key giveaway is if they only tell you that they can get you more customers, grow revenues and profit without any examples or substance behind the statements. Pushing only internet marketing may also be a clue that they are not an experienced business mentor. Age may also be a bit of a giveaway if the coach/mentor is too young.
How much does a coach cost?
Coaching and business mentoring fees can vary widely. Coaches charge in many ways. Some charge by the hour, some for a package of sessions and others a fee for a fixed period, e.g. six months.
On the basis that you can generally derive an hourly rate from any of these three scenarios, you will find good business coaches/mentors for between £75 and £200 per hour. You will also find some charging between £300 and £1000 an hour. Stay clear of these unless you are the CEO of a large complex company.
Most coaches will offer a free introductory session to understand what you are looking for and see if you are a good fit for each other. Try to find out their charges before you go on an introductory call. Firstly, to establish if you can afford them, and secondly, you will find some coaches not wanting to disclose their fees until you are on the call. This is generally done so they can see the maximum they can charge based on your situation – I suggest you stay clear of these coaches.
Finally, many coaches offer group sessions. This is very lucrative for the coach, and it may initially seem like you are getting a great deal. These types of group sessions are acceptable if you are looking for generic guidance. If you want a coach who will spend the time understanding your business and unique circumstances and provide personalised custom advice, then one to one business coaching and mentoring may be a better fit for you.
In Summary
There are many coaches and mentors out there, some good and others bad.
Coaches tend to specialise in certain areas, so make sure your coach works in the field that you need help.
More expensive coaching doesn't equate to better coaching.
Go for one-on-one coaching rather than group or workshop coaching.
If you are looking for business mentoring, ensure that your coach/mentor has experience managing and growing businesses.
Avoid using friends and family as your coach/mentor.
Have an introductory session with your potential coach. Rapport is so important
If the coach doesn't disclose their charges before your introductory session – avoid them.
Alex Miller is a professional business coach and mentor, working with start-ups and small businesses in the UK. Find out more by clicking here Eiger Coaching