5 Essential Things When Choosing a Business Coach by Jeff Miles

5 Essential Things When Choosing a Business Coach © Jeff Miles

One of the fastest way to improve your business or to get started in a new field is to find a business coach or mentor who can guide you. After all, there's no reason to reinvent the wheel and struggle alone.

Finding the right coach isn't easy, however. You can't just open the Yellow Pages and randomly pick someone. So here are five things you should consider when choosing a business coach:

1.  Reputation. You'll need to spend some time reading industry magazines, participating in online forums, attending Chamber of Commerce meetings or other outlets where successful people in your field get together and converse. You'll quickly learn who the "celebrities" are and who the truly successful people are. When you meet a successful person that you like and would like to model your business after theirs, ask who coached them or mentored them.

It's even possible that this person will be willing to coach you. It's good, though, to find people who do coaching regularly and already have an in-the-trenches 'proven' system in place.

2.  References. Any coach should be willing to provide references. It's a good idea to contact at least a couple of them to get a candid, in-depth perspective on that coach's style and effectiveness. Even if the coach has been successful, his personality style or methods might not mesh with yours and finding this out up front can save you time and money.

3.  Have a plan. Don't make the coach do all the work while you sit back and be a passive student. Instead, you should approach your coach with a business plan and list of goals. Tell him which step you are hoping to accomplish first. Don't throw a bunch or problems at the coach and expect him to solve them for you. Take it one problem and one step at a time. If you aren't seeing results or aren't connecting with the coach, don't hesitate to move on.

4. Beware of charisma. Coaches tend to be outgoing and easy to like. This is good, of course, but don't get hooked on the coach just because of his personality. If you aren't seeing improvements in your business you should talk to the coach about that. If you still don't see the result you like then you should move on, no matter how much you may like the coach personally.

5.  Set a time frame. It can be helpful to set up a time limit up front. You could tell the coach that you want coaching for a specific time period. Then, at the end of the time period, if you aren't satisfied with the coach, you can move on. If you are both happy with the relationship you might want to continue. A time frame will also help keep you focused and make it easier to achieve your goals more quickly.

Business coaching will help take you to the next level, even if you are already established in your career. Interested in finding out more? call me: 0413 606 089