I recently had lunch with a young entrepreneur. His business had grown quickly, and, as a result, he was facing challenges he\u2019d never encountered before. He said, \u201cI think I need a business coach\u2014someone who can help me navigate the road ahead. Can you recommend someone?\u201d<\/p>\n
I get asked this question a lot. Running a business has never been more challenging, and coaching has never been more popular. As a result, business owners have a variety of coaching options.<\/p>\n
I have my own coaching program, so, of course, I mentioned that. But then I said, \u201cLook, I don\u2019t care whether it\u2019s us or someone else, just hire someone. The fastest way to scale your business is to grow your own capacity as a leader. And the best way to do that is with a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t hard to anticipate his next question, and probably yours: \u201cWhere do I start?\u201d<\/p>\n
I went on to share the three questions to ask when considering a coach.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the dirty little secret of the business coaching industry: most coaches have never run a business. They usually have experience working in a business and maybe even in leadership. But there\u2019s a vast difference between working in a business and running<\/em> a business.<\/p>\n You want someone who has taken risks, struggled to meet a payroll, overcome slumping sales, and figured out how to grow.<\/p>\n Several years ago, I met with a prospective business coach. He was a New York Times bestselling author with an MBA from one of the top business schools. He spent the day with me, learning about my business. He then told me emphatically that I needed to shut down every revenue stream except one, focus only<\/em> on that.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t ring true at the time, but I wondered if he was right. I thought about it for days. It really sent me into a tailspin. I had nearly decided to revamp my entire business my business when I happened to talk with Chalene Johnson, right before she interviewed me on her podcast. I explained my conundrum. She emphatically disagreed with the business coach. But here\u2019s what got me. She said, \u201cWhy are you listening to him? You do know he\u2019s never started or run a business?\u201d<\/p>\n She was right. He didn\u2019t have any experience. It was all theoretical. I dodged a bullet.<\/p>\n Ideally, you want a coach who has run more than one business. It\u2019s helpful if they have led businesses of different sizes, so you\u2019re sure what they teach works in a variety of contexts.<\/p>\n You want someone who has gotten\u2014and is getting\u2014the results you want. They need to be a living example of the transformation they promise. But you want more than this. You need to know that their clients are also getting similar results.<\/p>\n In addition, you want a coach who has distilled their experience and wisdom down to simple-to-understand frameworks and practical implementation tools. You need insight plus<\/em> application. They need to make it easier and faster to get the results you want.<\/p>\n\t\t2. Do they get the right client results<\/em>?<\/h3>\n