Why hire a business coach? Well, why purchase the services of a personal trainer, and interior designer or a sports coach – any professional for that matter? After all, we all know how to exercise, how to hang a curtain and how to play our own game. But we hire a professional because we know that they will hold us accountable on our goals and objectives – and since we’re paying good money for them to be there, often whether we show up or not, we have an added incentive to do so ourselves. We also understand that even though our knowledge of what we’re doing may be strong, a professional always has tips, tools and tricks at their disposal which can save us time, aggravation and money. And we get that even the best of best can’t "see themselves" from the outside and don’t have the clarity of distance about their business, skills and abilities that a trained and experienced professional can bring to bear on any given situation.
Just as even a top-notch athlete can benefit from the instruction and clarity of distance from an outside source (even a source whose skill does not match that of the athlete’s), so can many individuals benefit from an objective, trained and focused viewpoint to help with their businesses or life-balance. Most people are "too involved in their businesses” to make these sorts of changes or improvements themselves, or even realize that such change is possible.
Factors such as inertia, pre-programmed or biased thinking about our options and potential, unfamiliarity with opportunities or alternatives outside our normal scope of experience, procrastination etc., also make even the smallest changes difficult, if not impossible. How much harder then is it to make drastic, sweeping changes such as getting life-balance, turning a business around or chasing after that career you always wanted?
A business coach does not have the same limited views about the client’s business that the client does, and so can support the client to come to insight, ideas, frameworks, paradigms and resources that the client simply had not thought about. Coaches create a safe environment within which the client can explore new ideas, try out new directions, and think through problems and concerns without fear of judgment or criticism, while at the same time providing support that enable the client to move forward at whatever pace the client desires.
Business coaching is for anyone who wants: to create a business or career vision, define and formulate measurable goals, make sure your values and vision are aligned, life-balance, change, joy, skill improvement, a new career, a new life, renewed enthusiasm for their current business or career, adventure, energy, a sense of freedom, help finding a new direction, help dealing with their current direction, more fun, help setting up systems to support their goals and dreams and many other such quality of life improvements. If that describes you, then why not give it a try? The worst you could do is nothing at all.