In social settings, we get lots of practice explaining what we do because we get a blank stare if we just say, “I’m a business coach.” Business coaching is starting to catch on in the US and it’s a nice assist when Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO hires a business coach and goes on record saying, “Everybody needs a business coach.”
Business coaches help resolve the issues that keep business owners up at night, things like cash problems, too-long work hours, and poor employee performance. Unlike consultants, a business coach gets in the trenches with you, gives you answers and helps you execute rather than leaving implementation to you. Sometimes we jump in and get it done for you… we’ve been known to interview your job candidate, get your org chart on paper, or draft a job description.
We help business owners in any industry who want to resolve money issues, who want their team to be as motivated as they are, or who want their life back from what sometimes feels like the clutches of an all-consuming business. Maybe profit has come to a standstill or you’re not having fun anymore or you’ve just lost sight of the way forward.
You bring your industry expertise, a business coach brings the business expertise
Businesses, no matter the industry, require the same basic components to operate successfully. Like an Indy racecar and your Aunt Bertha’s sedan have the same components—chassis, engine, transmission, and body—every business has the same components. A business coach’s expertise isn’t in any one industry but in all the components that make up a business—sales & customer service, accounting & financials, marketing & operations, strategic planning & mergers, leadership & team building, family business & partnerships. Sound business principles apply to any industry, any size, and in any location. It’s a mistake to confine business improvement discussions to people within your own industry or worse still, within your own 
company.
How business coaching works
Often, business owners don’t reach out to a business coach because they don’t know how it works.
The business owner sets the tone at every meeting with the business coach. Though the business coach is the business generalist expert, the business owner is the technical, industry expert and the one on the front lines.
A typical meeting with a business coach starts with whatever’s on the owner’s mind, whatever the latest problem is. After that’s addressed, we review whatever you’ve worked on since our last meeting together and finally, we work on longer-term, higher-level projects. We follow the roadmap we create in our initial meetings so we always know the priorities, but we also leave time to address the daily challenges you face. The business coach shares the burden of finding answers to issues that are dragging the business owner down and then provides implementation support… for every step of the way if necessary.
Your investment with a business coach depends on how fast you want to progress. The business owner is in the driver’s seat and sets the terms. Some business owners choose to have 2 30-minute meetings with the coach per/month. Some choose 2 60-minute meetings per/month (the most common). You may want to progress faster with 4 60-minute meetings per/month. At each session, the business owner together with the coach agree on the highest priority actions and how to implement them.
Pricing is by the month so there’s no worry about an hourly fee. That way you call whenever a problem pops up or you need a 2nd opinion. At Inspire Results Business Coaching, pricing is month by month so there’s no contract to sign.
How do you get the time to work with a business coach when you’re already so busy
Everyone has the most impact if they’re doing what they love to do. Like everyone else in your business, the owner can and should be able to do what they love doing. A business coach can help you identify what those things are and help you get back to doing them. You’ll experience the passion you had at the start of your business and have an even bigger impact on it.
The former Google CEO wasn’t the only one to say “Everybody needs a business coach.” Bill Gates said it too, and so did Anthony Robbins.
“Business coaching is attracting America’s top CEOs because, put simply, business coaching works. In fact, when asked for a conservative estimate of monetary payoff from the coaching… managers described an average return of… about six times what the coaching had cost their companies.” FORTUNE Magazine
