Are Business Coaches Worth It? (I Spent Over $60K A Year On This)

So today we are going to talk about if coaching is actually worth it. So when you think about it, you look at ads on Facebook, you look at ads on Instagram, there's a lot of coaches out there. There's a lot of coaches, there's a lot of consultants, and there's coaches teaching people how to become coaches or consultants teaching people how to become consultants. By the way, we have a program for that as well. You start to wonder to yourself, can you actually trust these people? Because sometimes you'll see people running ads on Facebook and/or on YouTube ads and, you know, these people look like they're fairly young and they're a life coach and so the question And you might be asking yourself is, how can these people become life coaches when they don't have that much life experience? And so you start to wonder. And what ends up happening is a lot of these people, they watch these other coaches teaching people how to become coaches. They go through that course and then they themselves teach other people how to become coaches as well. And it becomes this self-fulfilling thing. And now, I'm not saying there isn't any value in those programs. I think there certainly is, but I think what tends to happen when the barrier to entry is so low that it's very easy to now create a course and teach anybody how to do things and just charge people maybe a couple thousand dollars. It has now become, again, very low barrier to entry. A lot of people can do it. So now the question is, can you, can you trust these people? Who can you trust, right? Of all the people that you're looking at. So the question then is, is coaching actually worth it? Have I actually been through these programs before? The answer is no. What I can say is The way I've approached coaching or selecting the coaches I've worked with over the years is that I've asked for word-of-mouth referrals. So people would, I would just say, hey, who do you know that's a good coach? I'm looking to, whether I'm looking to improve fitness, whether I'm looking to improve my diet, or whether I'm just looking to improve how I run my business. There's a lot of different types of coaches, right? And so initially I remember I had a friend that introduced me to a coach based in New York and we did this virtual thing and it was, This is fairly early, I think I was about 27 years old or so. And I think it was like $500 a month or whatever and it was a weekly call and each call is about an hour. So I actually got a lot of value for that. This coach would sit with me and put together all these different goals. You know, what are you trying to do long-term? Who are you trying to improve your relationships with? There's a lot of these goals and the coach would hold me accountable to reaching those goals, right? And I would say this was more of a— an introductory business coach at the time. You know, there would be things that I would look at and then, you know, we just talk through how I'm approaching these goals and am I getting better or not. Again, this is $500 a month, so you annualize that, that's about $6,000 for the year. And so as time went on, um, you know, recently I had a coach who ran a couple businesses and, um, he actually used to work for a president as well when he was really young. You know, I just loved his experience. He was Great with his family, a great speaker, great at business, and just had a lot of life experience. And he had me work through his framework talking about, hey, look, same type of thing. What can I hold you accountable to? What are you looking to accomplish on the personal side, on the business side? And then he'll give me advice as well, and he has a lot of other frameworks that I can follow. And I thought that was great. He was based in the LA area. And that costs $2,500 for 3 calls, alright? So, it still wasn't that bad. And you know, that's how we worked it out. And you know, when it was time for another three calls or three meetings, I would go ahead and do it. And sometimes I might even visit him in LA, and that was good. And so I've gone through this progression of different coaches, and now the coach that I work with, I pay about it ends up running me about sixty thousand or so, sixty thousand dollars a year or so. It's about five thousand dollars a month, but depends on the stage that you're in, right? The benefit that I've got from my coaches is I've there's a level of accountability there, and there is a level of There's a level of therapy there as well. So people are like, oh, you know, I don't need a therapist. I would argue that I think a lot of people, you know, a coach really helps you unveil— if your coach is good at asking questions, they will help you discover things, patterns that you weren't aware of before. And it's only through these sessions where you work on yourself that you're able to figure out, okay, I used to behave like this when I was a child or growing up and I see these patterns and how do these patterns actually apply to real life now? How does this— Apply to my behavior now? You know, why am I impatient with people? Why do I lash out or why am I triggered by certain things? Oftentimes you find out it actually has to do with other things that are connected, but if you don't work on yourself, then you aren't able to get there, right? But again, it all ties back to how you select your coaches. Are coaches worth it? Absolutely, if you know how to select the right ones. You ask word of mouth and then you vet these people too, just like you're interviewing other people. And then from there, you figure out like, okay, You know, does this person pass the smell test? Has this person been where I'm trying to go? Like, that's important to me. How successful have they been in business, in life, with their family and all that? Because I want to be really good at those things too. So, I want to be able to talk to somebody who I look up to, who I follow. Now, if it actually ends up being someone that is, you know, just starting out in their career, just graduated from college, that's different, right? Because that person doesn't have the life experience and doesn't understand the context that I'm coming from. So, it's different. I'm not saying they're bad, it's just not the right fit for me. And so, look, is it worth— you might be thinking, oh my God, you know, you're putting in $60,000 a year, that's a lot of money, that's a person's— that is a person's salary right there. Now, here's the thing, if you think about it, if I run multiple businesses and I employ, you know, lots of different people, well, is it worth it if I can invest the $60,000 to perform even better? You know, what kind of effect is that going to have on the businesses that I run or the types of decisions that I make? Is that worth more than $60,000? I would argue yes, because even if I can get that investment, recover that investment, $60,000, where I make— chances are I'm probably gonna make a $60,000 decision, or even if I can get $120,000 back so I can get, you know, 100% of my investment, right? So, is that worth it? I think that's how you have to look at it. It's not just, oh, you're spending this person's salary, right? I think a lot of people look at, oh, it's like, They just look at the dollar amount and they don't think about, okay, what level if they're going to invest that? What level of impact? What level of ROI are they going to get back? And that's how you have to think about. And if you're starting out, you know there's a lot of coaches around the world where you can pay $100, $200, $300 a month or so, and then start to work your way up. And as you grow more and more, maybe you have different needs. And you know, I lot I know a lot of people that have you know they have they have coaches for they have language coaches. They might have cooking coaches. They might have nutrition coaches. They might have Fitness coaches as well. It just helps you get to another level because when you have performance coaches, look, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, they both worked with Tim Grover. And that trainer, Tim, he helped take them— I think it's Tim— helped take them to another level. And you know, Michael Jordan first worked with him first, basketball player, and then, you know, when Kobe asked, hey, like, who should I work with? Michael referred him over to Tim. And so, There's a time and there's a place, absolutely. Because when you look at all these successful sports teams, they have— they not only have the head coach, but they have multiple coaches. And I keep saying the word coaches over and over and over now, but there is a time and place for it. But even those people, they have the experience, right? So what you got to look for is, you know, is it worth it? I think that's the wrong question to ask. It's what are you trying to accomplish first? Do they have the experience that you're looking for? And do I think Then after you ask those 2 questions, is that good? Is that going to be— is the juice going to be worth the squeeze? Am I going to get a return on investment on this, right? Because not only are you putting in money, but you're putting in time as well. And I can tell you, the money I've been putting in right now, it's well worth it. Because for me, I kind of alluded to earlier, I'm discovering a lot of different patterns that I haven't worked on before. And to be able to understand those patterns and to be able to understand what triggers me, um, to be— that will help me tweak how I behave in the future. And, you know, I can have a lot more productive conversations with people. My behavior will be changed as well. And to me, that is worth its weight in gold. So let me know what you think in the comments. And if you're coming from YouTube, don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell button because it helps us grow. And yeah, we'll see you tomorrow.