A business coach will change your life
But here’s the secret no coach will tell you
I read a great article in Leaders in Heels, online the other day (read it here) about the reasons for taking on a business coach.
The article got me thinking about my profession, about what I do and why working with me and people like me can make such an enormous difference to your business growth and development, and hence why I firmly believe that taking on a coach from time to time is one of the best decisions you’ll ever make in your business.
There is one reason above all others, that you should know about and noone tells you about. And that is this… it’s not the brilliance of the coach, rather it is the commitment you make that makes the difference.
The conventional factors
The article by Ros Cardinal mentions a number of important benefits from taking on a coach, such as:
Time management and prioritisation, clarity, brainstorming and accountability. and those are absolutely great benefits you’ll gain from having a coach (a good one anyway) and there a bunch of others, depending on the coach and the relationship you and your coach may have.
But the biggest one is rarely mentioned, because it actually is not dependent on the qualities, knowledge and experience of your coach… It is the commitment made by you, the client. Obviously coaches don’t like to mention this too much, because they want you to think they are brilliant and that their singular brilliance is going to make you rich and successful… I’m no different really, I am similarly convinced of my genius… but in the depth of the night, when noone is listening, I know it hasn’t got anywhere near as much to do with my talents as I like to make out.
The commitment
To take on a business coach costs significant time, energy and money. To sign a contract or shake hands with a business coach is not a decision to be taken lightly. It takes a lot of faith and trust and actually not going to make your life easier in the short term. I say to my clients that taking me on as their coach: “Is full-on, it’s intense, it’s made grown men cry… but it works”
And one of the reasons it works is that it is a big commitment, and once you make the big commitment it means you become highly invested to make it work for you by hook or by crook.
Once you make the commitment and I am up to the job of “holding the space” and being there for you every step of the way, the change becomes relentless and unavoidable.
It’s the reason I actually make it quite hard to engage with me (which doesn’t help my business model of course but then the dentists kids have holes in their teeth… maybe I need a new business coach!)
Next time you talk to a business coach who wants to make it easy to sign you up… go and find someone else… I promise you.
Business Life Coaching and the 7 Big Questions of Small Business
Business owners frequently ask 7 Big Questions about how to Build a Beautiful Business and Life.
The seventh of the Big Questions is: How do I find the right support in my business?
I believe there are 7 main types of business support you can engage with to help you build your beautiful business. Coaching, specifically business life coaching is one of those options, and the type of support I practice. To find out if what I offer could be right for you at the stage of business development you find yourself in I suggest you check out my 5 step discovery process which is designed to answer the question: Is it a good idea for us to work together (and the first steps in that process are entirely free).
There are a number of articles on this site that explain how business life coaching and other forms of business support can be of benefit to you.