As of 2020, the U.S. business coaching industry is worth a staggering $11.6 billion. Over the last five years, growth in the industry has been exponential, with the entire North American business coaching market size accounting for $955 million in 2015.
There’s a good reason the demand for business coaching services has skyrocketed in recent years. Business leaders in today’s highly competitive economic atmosphere need all the help they can get to thrive. Hiring an experienced business coach can make a world of difference, regardless of the nature or size of your business.
But exactly what is business coaching? What benefits can a business coach bring to your business? How can you identify the right business coach for your business?
These are some of the issues we discuss in this article
What Is Business Coaching?
Before we define what business coaching is, it is beneficial to know who a business coach is. A business coach refers to a professional consultant who provides insights and guidance on how to reach your goals and grow a successful business.
A business coach offers an outside perspective for you and your company. These expert entrepreneurs often provide guidance on issues that go beyond your business and stretch into your personal life. Thus, coaches for businesses can help you not just build a thriving business, but also figure out what is most important to you and assist you in finding career fulfillment.
So, what does the term business coaching mean?
Simply put, business coaching refers to the process of taking a business from where it is to where you want it to be. The process is introspective, thought-provoking, and creative.
Ultimately, business coaching helps business owners and executives maximize their personal and business potential.
Benefits of Hiring a Business Coach
Having a seasoned business coach in your corner is one of the most powerful strategies for navigating the turbulant waters of running a company. Here are nine clear benefits of business coaching.
1. A Business Coach Can Help You Get Unstuck and Find Inspiration
As an entrepreneur, the temptation to do everything on your own can be overwhelming.
2. They Challenge You to Try Something New
Many entrepreneurs get married to their ideas and goals. They choose to ignore the outside world and remain in their comfortable place. This is especially the case for people who run online businesses.
But to take your business to the next level, you need to step out of your comfort zone and try new things. A skilled business coach gently pushes you toward exploring yourself and your ideas. They walk alongside you and give you the encouragement you need to not quit.
3. Business Coaches Boost Your Creativity
Once you’ve stepped outside your comfort zone and gotten past your mental roadblocks, your creativity comes alive. You start to brainstorm ideas for improved products or services for your clients.
If your business has suffered as a result of the current coronavirus pandemic, a business coach helps you come up with new ways to prepare for the post COVID-19 world.
With your creativity unleashed, strategic planning becomes easier.
4. Business Coaching Increases Your Income
Once you gain the courage to get out of your own way, you can start to charge what you deserve. Your newfound creativity helps you start new products and services, which translates to more profits for your business.
The best business coaches create a safe place for their clients to brainstorm business ideas, test new theories, and showcase products better. As your confidence in your capabilities and accomplishments grows, it’s hardly possible to stop you.
5. Your Strengths and Weaknesses Come to Light
It’s human nature to think you know yourself well. But while you may understand your likes and dislikes, there are many other things about yourself that only a business coach can help bring out.
Many business leaders are unaware of their hidden talents and deepest desires.
6. You Get to Establish Audacious but Achievable Goals
Creating dreams and setting goals is easy. The essential question is: Do you have what it takes to attain them? When you work with an excellent business coach, you will.
Once you mention a goal to your business coach, they do what’s necessary to help you meet it. The best business coaches don’t allow clients to make excuses for not trying, provided the goal is realistic.
They see your potential and push you to reach for the stars.
A good business coach also challenges you to set bigger goals. These are the goals that might seem scary at first but are within your reach. As soon as you start achieving these goals, your confidence begins to skyrocket, helping you go for whatever you want.
7. A Business Coach Helps You Achieve Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance describes a state of equilibrium where you equally prioritize the demands of your career and those of your personal life. Many business people have a poor work-life balance as a result of many things, including:
- Numerous business responsibilities,
- Increased responsibilities at home,
- Long working hours, and
- Having children.
A poor work-life balance can be detrimental to both your business and family. One of the reasons business owners give for spending more time at work is that they expect to get more if they work harder. But overworking does more harm than good.
An experienced business coach can help you achieve a proper work-life balance. That means prioritizing your business needs in a way that doesn’t sacrifice other parts of your life. You need to be mentally and physically healthy to keep your business thriving.
8. A Business Coach Serves as Your Accountability Partner
Having a business coach by your side is the same as having a teacher. They may assign some new ways of looking at things and suggest ways to dramatically improve your approaches. Then, they regularly check in to discuss how you’re progressing on a certain goal and encourage you. You always have a person ensuring that you stay on the right course.
[quote]The challenge with working solo is that it’s easy to break the promises you make to yourself every time the going gets tough, or you lose motivation.[/quotes] When you have someone keeping you accountable, you don’t have this escape mechanism. Your business coach keeps reminding you of your commitments and nudges you to work towards them.
9. You Get New Networking Opportunities
Some of the top business coaches have been in the industry for a long time. For instance, your business coach may be a retired financial expert, now working as a professor. Such a coach will usually have a broad network of like-minded professionals who can prove beneficial to your business.
How Do You Choose the Right Business Coach?
Forging a good partnership with the right business coach can propel your business to new heights. Here are a few tips on hiring a coach you can count on.
Seek Recommendations from Trusted Sources
Getting referrals from friends, relatives, or other business owners you can trust is one of the best ways to identify a good business coach. You could also solicit recommendations from other service providers such as your accountant, attorney, or HR advisor. Consider checking online reviews about a prospective business coach too.
Be aware that a coach may be a subject matter expert and a valuable consultant for you but their role is not so much to tell you what to do to solve the problem but help you expand your capacity to look at the problem differently and resolve it. It’s the embodiment of the old bromide teach a man to fish versus give a man a fish.
Identify Your Specific Needs
Business coaches are unique people. Finding a compatible personality is important because to be effective, you have to feel comfortable telling them everything. A professional coach has a broad toolset to address multiple dimensions of what holds leaders back, including emotional intelligence, effective leadership, ability to ensure corporate profitability, and tolerance of turbulence. Together, you and your coach will identify the areas where you need guidance and new perspectives then work with you on overcoming any challenges.
Interview Several Candidates
Don’t always go with the first business coach you meet. Have a list of at least three and interview them judiciously. Doing so increases your chances of finding your ideal match.
It is easy to call yourself a coach so investigate the coach’s training, content, support team, background coaching, prior business experience and what their clients say about them.
Keep in mind that your potential business coach may be with you for many years to come. You want to make sure that you get everything right from the beginning. Once you’ve conducted the interviews, reflect on how you feel about each candidate, and make an informed decision.
A Business Coach Is Worth the Investment
Running a company is no easy feat. As a business owner, you need as much help as you can get. Hiring a reputable business coach is the best place to start.
Want to explore further? Questions? – Get in touch and let’s set up a time to talk. Mark R. Steinke 1.610.768.7774 Email Me