Do You Really Need a Business Coach?

I just want to address something that has been coming up quite a lot recently and where people are talking about, you know, that they need a coach or they want a coach, or they're thinking of getting a coach, or what should I look at in getting a coach? And the reality is, for most of you, you don't need a coach. You don't need a coach at all. What you actually probably need more than a coach is a mentor or maybe even a consultant. And I'll walk you through the differences in these three things. And anyone who says that they're a coach should probably really ask themselves, are they a coach or are they a mentor or are they a consultant? Because they're very, very different things. And if they're calling themselves something and they're not, it's really more of a question that you should have as to what are you looking for. So let me explain. Coaching is when someone uses the Socratic method to ask a lot of questions to help you to figure out for yourself what you should be doing. So. So the coach is never supposed to give you a system. This coach is not supposed to give you a tool. The coach is not supposed to tell you what to do. They're not supposed to give you advice. They're not supposed to do work for you. They're supposed to ask you lots of questions. That's coaching. Mentoring is someone who has done it before. Someone who's going to give you the wisdom, the shortcuts, the cheat sheets. Someone who's going to help you do more in your business, do things faster. Someone who can help you get a little bit more done with less people faster. Somebody who's been there before you. So in many ways, I actually play more of a mentoring role. I'm not going to sit and ask an entrepreneur 10 questions to have them figure something out. Because the reality is they don't want to ask or be asked 10 questions. They want the shortcuts. And then there's the consultant. That's the person that you're actually going to be paying to do the work for you. So the consultant is someone who has done it before. You're going to be hiring them. You know, they have the expertise. They can shortcut it. Maybe you don't need to know how to do it. Maybe you don't even want to know how to do it. You just need it done. And that's the consultants. What most people are asking for is a mentor. When most people are saying they need a coach, what you're really asking for is a mentor. You're really asking for someone to help you grow your company, someone to help you grow your business. To grow your team is to align your vision, to build in the skill development, to figure out your marketing and strategy. So it's dangerous to be going out there saying, I need a coach, because you're not even really sure what you're looking for. And it's also very dangerous for people to recommend coaches to you when they don't know what you're looking for. So let's say that you're looking for something to help you grow your company. What I would suggest you do is to start off by making a list of the top five areas that you want to get better at in business, top five things that are frustrating you and your business that you want to work on. And that should get you a list of what you need help with. And then decide, are you looking for someone to do it for you, someone to teach you how to do it, or somebody to ask you questions so you can figure out how to do that for yourself? That's really the good starting point. But I think for most people, what you're really looking for is a paid mentor more than a paid coach. Most entrepreneurs that I know do not want someone to come and ask them 12 questions to help them figure something out. They want the cheat sheets, the shortcuts, somebody to help fast track that system for them, or they're looking for the consultant to do it for them. I think the mentoring role is really what most people are looking for, but the world is littered with coaches, and it's just gotten confusing out there. So hopefully that's helpful for everyone to understand the difference between them. All three can be paid. All three can be free. You know, I mentor CEOs and their leadership teams. I mentor COOs. I've often called myself a coach, but the reality was I'm more of a mentor. I think that's why Rich Karlgaard, the publisher of Forbes magazine, called me the CEO whisperer is I'm whispering in their ears the shortcuts on how to grow companies. I'm not whispering questions in their ears. I'm whispering the shortcuts. So hopefully that's helpful. Most of you are looking for a mentor, not a coach.