029. Coach vs. Consultant vs. Course? How to know what you need.

Welcome. I am marketing expert and business coach Melissa Kellogg Lueck. And this is the Doing Business Like a Woman podcast where we are exploring and teaching you how women are reinventing the way business is done and money is made to help you create greater impact and financial freedom one business at a time. Well, hello, hello there my friends. How are you today? I hope you're having a great start to your week. I am enjoying a spring afternoon here and getting ready and getting very excited to be going to my mastermind and meet my coach this coming week. And so as I'm thinking about that and planning for that and thinking about making that investment in myself and in my business, I got to thinking about how that decision process happens and how to know what I the kind of help and the kind of support I need in order to get where I want to go. And so I wanted to talk with you about that today. And specifically as it relates to coaching versus consulting versus courses, these are all containers that I have provided that I have also purchased and invested in. And so I wanted to just, really just have an open discussion about all of this and help you in the process of figuring out what it is that you need for yourself and your business in order to get where you want to go. And so a lot of women that I talk to have never had a one on one coach before or maybe they have, maybe they have been part of a coaching group or a program. Most of us, me included, have bought lots and lots of courses. So we know that part. I'm like a collector of courses, right? I love learning and I always, I have a master's degree, an MBA in marketing and because I just loved going to school, but I feel like I would still be in university if money were no object because I just love learning. I think I would get an economics degree next, but that's another story for another day. But anyway, so I wanted to just have this open discussion with you and talk about my experience around how I've made decisions in what to invest in in order to get where I wanted to go. And let me make a caveat that like for the first, I don't know, 10 years of my business I was mainly only investing in low cost courses and not investing in coaching, not hiring consultants. And my business really suffered as a result. And so I'm going to talk a little bit about why that happened and, and what I've learned through the experience that I've been in, been through in the 17 years of being an entrepreneur and having my own business. So the main Overarching difference that I see between. And specifically we're talking about coaching versus consulting versus courses. So the overarching difference I see between these is in understanding exactly what you need. And so that has to come from you understanding what you need and what kind of support you need in order to get where you want to go. So for example, courses buying courses, which I have bought a lot of, are great for a download of skill development, right? Skill development, ideas and thoughts of other people, whoever is, has created the course. And I think of this as. Or the example I thought of around this is like medical school. And I know we don't buy a course to go to medical school because that's a whole other can of worms, but imagine going to medical school. It's super necessary and super valuable if you want to become a doctor. Like, there are skills and very specific empirical pieces of information that you need to know in order to become a doctor. Right? You've got to learn, you know, I mean, I'm not a doctor, so even want to attempt to describe what becoming a doctor is like, but there's like, you have to know the systems of the body, all of the different parts, how they all work together, how to solve problems inside the body. Like, there's a lot of things you really need to know before you can actually become a practicing physician, right? And so those are things that you're going to learn through taking courses in medical school. And so that's a download of information and skill development that will aid you in becoming a doctor. So that's what I think of as courses. Now consultants I think of as great for more personalized input and great for solving specific problems in your business. We're going to talk about in your business in this instance. I have worked in the past as a consultant, and so my work as a consultant involved addressing a specific business or marketing problem. It involved me analyzing the business or marketing to determine what was the issue or what I thought was the issue. Right? And then using my brain to solve the business's problems and then presenting that solution to them and then saying, yes, that would work or that wouldn't work, let's change it, do this, that, the other thing, and then helping them implement that solution. Consultants, generally, this is my experience, remain outside of the business and analyze the issues and use their skills and their advice based on their knowledge to solve your business problems. Right. And so because it's happening outside of you and your input, for the most part, I mean, obviously the business owner is bringing the consultant in, is you know they're discussing the problems. But basically the point I want to make here is because all this is happening outside of you as the business owner or CEO, and your input, it really is increasing the value and the skill level of the consultant, of the consultants, right? And so in my example, I would go into businesses and be presented with their marketing problem or marketing issues and analyze what's happening, present the solution according to my framework, my knowledge, my experience, my education. And it's generally, it was always very action and strategy focused. Right? Okay, so that's consultants and then finally coaching. So what is coaching? The work of a coach, as I see it, is to help an individual, which is usually the owner or the CEO founder to mine, which in the sense of digging for or discovering, develop, implement your unique ideas and create a cycle of continuous improvement in your mind, heart and mechanics. And I've talked about this in past podcasts, but I really believe that, and I know this to be true for myself and my own business and for my clients, that the success of us as entrepreneurs, as CEOs, as founders of businesses, our success depends largely on are what we're thinking and the energy that we're creating and then the actions and skills that we are applying to our work, right? So, but it's not just about strategy, it's not just about actions to be taken. So that's why coaching for me is so life changing and transformative, because the way I approach it creates a cycle of continuous improvement in your thinking, in the energy you're creating and the mechanics and strategy that you are using to develop your value, to solve for the problems in your business or the challenges, and create money, create revenue, create a sustainable business and create solutions and ways of thinking of and creating solutions that you can use for the rest of your life to create money and create success in whatever parts of your life you want to apply those principles to. So as a coach, my approach is completely different than my work as a consultant. You come to me with, for example, with help or needing help with your marketing or with scaling and building your business, and I'm going to help you discover your best method, your best way, your best path for problem solving, for making decisions, for creating visibility, creating compelling offers and applying those, and then evaluating, iterating and creating a process that you can use for the rest of your life to create success and money in your business and for yourself. Right? So this is not as it sounds. It's not easy work, right? It's deep work. And a lot of times we want to default to just having someone tell us what to do. Like wouldn't it be so easy? And I just wrote, I don't know, it was a post or an email about this not too long ago. I was like, wouldn't it be so nice if we could just hire someone to make a magic funnel for us that would just spit out millions of dollars and all we would have to do is just hire this magic funnel company and they would make the funnel and we'd be good to go. But that's not really how it works, right? That's not how building a business, especially in a service based, trust based business like we, most of us are in, that are in this audience. So our challenged to build a sustainably successful business by doing this deep work on ourselves. And then once we have done this deep work and created our unique to us business, then it makes it so much easier to hire others to help us with the implementation of all of our ideas. Right? For example, I have a friend that's an HR consultant and so businesses hire her to come in and help them hire. Right? And so, and she's really great at that. But what if a business, what if I called her up and I was like, okay, I want to hire you to help me build out a staff and I need a team of people to help me do my work. And I just said, how much money do you want? Whatever it is, I will pay it if you just get me a whole bunch of really good people. Well, before she can do her work, I have to have done my work right? In deciding what are the processes that I need help with, what are the actual job descriptions, who are the people, what is the kind of business I want to have, what are the values and the standards? Who are the clients that we're working with? Like I have to do all of that work. She can come in and say, okay, if when we're going to hire a team of five people or whatever, this is what we need to do. We're going to post your job here. I'm going to help you develop standard operating procedures here and develop compensation packages there. She can help with all of that. But I have to have done the deep work to decide what kind of people am I looking for and what are the standards and the values of my business? What are the exact skills that I need from of the people that I'm going to be hiring. You know, there's a lot of that deep work that I need to be doing and that is something that a coach could help me through and then I can actually hire a consultant like her to help implement the decisions that I have made. Right. And so then it would be like say, a leadership coach that might help me to become an effective leader and a good manager. So that's kind of how I see the difference between coaching and consulting. So my point with this episode is really to help you have the awareness so that you can think through the questions for yourself and think about where is the growth I want to be seeing in my business and what do I need in order to get there? Do I need to do the deep work and create with the help of someone bringing all of that out of me, or do I have. I already done the deep work and I just need higher level assistance on implementation and, and specific consulting on specific areas of my business and how to do things. It's just something to think about. Right. So what I also want to make sure to emphasize is that we're not meant to do this life, this entrepreneurial journey alone. It's definitely possible for us to do it alone, to DIY it. And I know that because I've done it for the first 10 years my business and it took me forever to get traction and I was earning a little bit of money, but I was stuck in my own way and in my head and stuck in my life and all on my own for 10 effing years. And then finally I decided that I no longer wanted to do it on my own. I decided it was time for me to step out of my shame for where I hadn't gotten to in my business and what I hadn't yet been earning or what, whatever. And I decided to raise my hand and ask for help. And so I hired coaches for myself. And since then I have experienced massive transformation in my life and in my business. And it is not just from the individuals that have helped me, the coaches, but it is from me seeking out and receiving great advice and coaching. But really it's about me deciding that my business, my dream and me are all really great investments. And the skills I've learned through that process, I now have the pleasure of teaching my clients. And those are skills that I will use myself over and over to create and impact more and more business owners and create a lot of money for myself and my business. So if you know that you're ready to raise your hand and explore the next best step for you and you in your business and with your business growth, I encourage you to consider scheduling a call with me to talk about it. I'd be happy to coach you with complete neutrality, of course, on what are your next best steps to get you where you want to go in your business and help you decide between coaching, consulting, or maybe it's just courses. Right. And then of course, whether we decide to work together or not, it's fine with me either way. My mission is to really help you make a decision and have a very clear path forward to help you get to where you want to go and feel really great about it and to help you see and have a plan on what kind of support you need at what stage stages. Right. So if that's of interest to you, I would love to hop on a call and there is a link in the show notes. Or you can go to my website, melissam Kellogg.com and find a day in time that works for you. And let's talk about it. All right. So I hope this was helpful to you. This sort of discussion would have been extremely helpful to me when I was first introduced to coaching, when I was first learning that I could get some really great help for my business. And so that's why I wanted to put this together for you. And if you have any questions, please reach out to me or want to discuss this further. Like I said, I'd be happy to. And I want to see every single one of you creating all the confidence and all the money and all the joy in your business and in your life that you desire. And however I can support you in that, I am all in. All right. Okay. Well, I hope you have a great rest of your week, rest of your day, and I will be heading off to my mastermind and I'm sure reporting back with lots of really great transformations and stories and all that good stuff. So I'll catch you soon. Talk to you later. Bye. If you like this podcast, then you have got to sign up for my free on demand video training, Grow youw Sales Doing what yout Love, Where I teach you in depth. My simple process that you can implement right away to harness your mindset and your skills to grow your sales to whatever level you want. So go grab that now. The link is in the show notes and I'll see you next time.