MBA2112 Do You Need a Business Coach? + Free Ride Friday
2 Feb 2026 · 14 min
Omar Zenhom explains when a business coach makes sense: if you're stuck or plateauing, a coach gives you experience and accountability. But they're not miracle workers. Books and masterminds work better when your business is already running well.
Questions this episode answers
Demi Ruku
Chapters
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Hiring a business coach to help you improve and improve your business is a big step. It's quite an investment because most coaches are going to charge a pretty penny. It's going to require a commitment of time and effort. So it's no little thing. So it's actually a big topic that I wanted to discuss because I don't want you to invest in things that don't actually help you improve or help improve your business. Like I mentioned, I've had several business coaches over the last two decades. I've been part of business. Big programs, small programs, expensive ones, not so expensive ones. I've been a coach myself where I coached people in a group setting as well as one on one. And here is the truth about getting a coach. Hiring a coach is a fantastic investment. If you are stuck, you need to start seeing coaching just like therapy, right? If you are feeling down in the dumps, if you feel like you're in a rut in life, you may want to speak to a therapist or somebody to kind of just work it out to be a sound. They're going to ask you to ask yourself some important questions to make some breakthroughs. And business coaching is very similar. You might be plateauing in your business and you just don't know how to get it to the next level. Probably because you've never been to that next level. So finding a coach that's been there that can help you through that is a fantastic idea. It makes total sense. This person's been up that mountain before. Get them to help you climb that mountain and they're going to give you the skills and the procedures and the tools and the practices that help them and you can use it. Your Own. But there's a big asterisk next to coaching. I have to say, and I said this to my own clients when I was coaching them. Coaching is not a silver bullet. Right. Coaches are not some miracle workers. They might be giving you the right advice and the right strategies and the right mindsets, and you might be doing everything correct, and you still may not get results. It's nearly impossible to guarantee results with coaching. So why do I talk about this? Why am I saying this like, kind of grim reality? Well, it's because it's the truth. The truth is that what worked for one business, what worked for one entrepreneur, what worked for one project or enterprise may not work for yours. Everybody's experience in their own business is actually very unique. Their customers could be different. The market they're in could be different. The time, like maybe the coach implemented these strategies 10 years ago. The world was a different place 10 years ago in the market. So, you know, maybe, you know, spending money on Google Ads is not as helpful or as profitable as it used to be. Right. That's just a weird example. But the point here is that every business, every situation is unique. This is why probably the best teacher is trying and failing and learning. And it's a very painful procedure because it takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of heartache. And a lot of us, we hire coaches to kind of fast forward through that and hopefully leapfrog some of those problems. And many times it does do that. But you have to recognize the fact that there is a chance it won't. That doesn't mean the coaching is useless. It means you've learned some things to help you improve and help improve your systems and your business. And I'm sure there's other things you took away from it, but the actual result might not be as dramatic as you thought it would be. And that's because of the simple fact that your situation, your business, who you are, the team you're running, the budgets you're under, when, where, how, all that stuff is unique to you. Now, I mentioned that it's good to get a coach when you're stuck, because a coach can give you a fresh perspective. They can give you an objective, objective perspective. They could tell you things that you need to hear, things you need to consider. And you will work it out through those perspective changes, through those thought experiments. And they're more like a trainer or somebody who's kind of pushing you along rather than a coach who's showing you what to do. A lot of us think That a coach is just going to tell us what to do, we're going to do it, and we're going to be successful. That, in my experience, is very rare to nearly impossible. Okay. Because a coach can't tell you exactly what to do because they don't know exactly what to do. Again, because you, your situation is unique to you. Now, if you have a really good coach, they know they can't be your coach forever. I always question when I hear somebody tell me, I've had this coach for 10 years. 10 years, wow. some point, that coach is not going to be able to give you what you need. You're going to graduate from that coach. It's like you being in 9th grade 10 years in a row. At some point, what that 9th grade teacher is teaching you is not going to be enough. Right. You can't just get the same level information. The best coaches are like, they work with you for a year or two and they're like, hey, I give you everything I can. You're good to go now. And the best coaches are the ones that specialize at certain stages in your business. They're like, hey, I know how to get you from 10,000 to 100,000amonth. That's kind of my sweet spot. Once you need to go beyond 100,000, that's not where my experience is and maybe it'll pass you on to somebody else. So know that this is not something that you're going to do forever. It's one of those things that you kind of get help with and you move on. And if you ever engage with a coach, have some clear outcomes, agree to, hey, this is why I'm signing up. This is what I'm expecting. This is what I want to get out of this relationship. These are the goals I want to achieve in my business. Agree to these goals so that you guys can work together with the same goal in mind. You're all looking at the same goal post. We're all shooting for the same place. And you have to see this as a transaction. You have to see this as an investment. I'm investing in this coach so that they can help me get to a certain place in my business. If you're not trending towards there, you have to have a conversation with your coach, hey, what's going on? I'm doing everything you're asking me to. I'm putting in the work. Maybe you need to change what you're giving me. Maybe we need to change what we're going after or how we do it too. Many people sign up with a coach, they don't really see a lot of progress or putting in the work and they just kind of blame it on themselves. Instead of touching base with the coach and say, hey, coach, it's been two months, it's been three months, it's been four months. I need to see how far we've come. Is that enough? Is it worth the investment? You have to take ownership of that accountability. Because in my experience, some coaches will have regular calls to do that, but many don't. Many just kind of say, hey, they're not complaining, that's fine, they're paying, keep it going, there must be happy. And it's not like a very over or intentional kind of evil thing. It's. They're managing different clients and, you know, you have to take the responsibility to put the question or put the accountability or the tracking in front of them and really make sure that you're on the right track. And there's nothing wrong with you saying, hey, this is not going to work for us, thanks, but we're going to part as friends. I need to move on and maybe work with somebody else or work it out on my own. I highly recommend that when you enter a coaching agreement that you have some sort of clause or some sort of trial period where you basically say, hey, if I'm not happy with the results in the first, let's say three months, four months, six months, that's up to you. Then all bets are off and there's no commitment. I know a lot of coaches, they have like a one year commitment, two year commitment so that you can actually get results, have enough momentum to get results. And I totally get that. I was a coach before, I get it totally. But it's also fair for them to at least see progress now. When do I not recommend getting a coach? And I've done this before, I've made this mistake. Sometimes as an entrepreneur, your business is going well, you're growing and you're thinking, what am I not thinking about? Where is the next level? Is there something I'm doing wrong? I should be doing better? Let me hire a coach and they can really, like, give me the secrets of business. And what I found out is nobody has any secrets. No one actually tells you anything you didn't know. The best coaches are actually the ones that when you're stuck, they kind of tell you the things, hey, you know, that you should be doing this, this and this. Let's get you on a plan to do that and hold you accountable. They're not giving you earth shattering information, right? So don't sign up for a coaching program thinking they're going to give you like a here's a real secret of business. Here's how you go from a million to a hundred million overnight. No one has these insights, okay? It's not that simple. Most of the time I found out that I actually know everything I need. I just need somebody to hold me accountable or to help me with the tracking or maybe show me a little bit on the implementation side how to implement these ideas or thoughts or plans. If you've been doing business, I would say for a few years, you probably know more than you think. The other thing is I've been part of programs where everything is going well in my business and I'm just trying to find that next level and I'm trying to find a way to kind of, you know, find that hack. And it kind of screws up my system. Right. I stopped doing the things that work in my business that was giving me results. I start trying new things when it's not necessary. My tension gets kind of taken away. I kind of cause problems for myself. I chase a shiny object that doesn't exist like a mirage. If things are going well in your business, do more of that. Do more of the things that are getting you results. Invest in books to give you new perspectives. Invest in podcasts, invest your time in conferences. The reason why I say that these are better bets is because they're going to give you the information, the perspectives you're looking for. But when we take on a new coach, we actually give a lot of ownership to this coach and say, hey, I'm going to listen to what this person says. I'm going to change the things I do. And that's really what we do when we get a coach is like, we're looking for change. And sometimes you don't need to change. Sometimes actually you're doing the right thing. And a lot of people sometimes don't recognize that they're putting their foot off the gas on something they're doing right, thinking, oh, this is just amateur stuff. It's not amateur stuff. It's actually fundamentals. It's actually the things that keep your business going. It's the important stuff. What other reasons should you not invest in a business coach? Well, sometimes people just are trying to get closer to someone they admire. Maybe a business coach that they know is somebody they really respect in business and kind of want to be their friend. So they sign up for their program. And in my opinion, that's a little bit of a disrespect to their program. But also in order for you to actually honor this coach and their program is to do the work and to implement. And that's taking you away from your business when you don't necessarily need it. Your time is limited. It's finite. You need to focus on what works, what doesn't and remove things that are unnecessary. And if you're just signing up for a coaching program to be close to the brass ring, that's not a good enough reason, guys.
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To wrap up today's lesson topic, do you need a business coach? I'm a big believer in coaching. I think coaching can help a lot of people, especially in the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey. Those first few years are very hard to navigate. They're unstructured. You need guidance. You need somebody to tell you just, just do these things, focus on these things, just to get the ball moving and get you some wins. As you progress in your entrepreneurial journey, it's going to change. It's going to depend. And I know that a lot of people say it's important to have mentors, and I agree with that. But mentors are not coaches. They're not getting paid, so to speak, to deliver you results. So you need to be a little bit more specific about your needs and what you're trying to get out of your coaching. Anytime you sign up for any kind of coaching program. In my experience overall, any coaching program I signed up for, I got something out of it. Some of them I probably would not repeat because I would have probably made use of that time and money in a better way. Knowing what I know now, you have to remember when you invest money, when you invest time, there's also the opportunity cost, which means the other things you could have done with that money in time. I want to make this clear because I know that this was a controversial episode, so to speak. I'm a big believer in teaching and coaching I've been teaching all my life. I was a teacher, a trained teacher at the high school university level for 13 years. I believe in education. I think this stuff works. But I believe that not all education or training or coaching is one size fits all. You got to find what's right for you at the right time and understand there are alternatives. Okay, Sometimes you just need a good book to shake you out of the funk that you're in, to give you a fresh perspective. But sometimes you need a 12 month program to set up your systems and get your results and give you some structure. Question things a little bit before you jump in. Look at your options and ask yourself, if I went down each of these options, which one would get me the best result? Which one would be the best investment of my time and money. Thanks so much for listening to the $100 Brigade Show. Today is Free Ride Friday. That means somebody's going to win a free ride. Let's see who won this week's Free Ride. And the winner is. Demi Ruku says great concept, five stars. Love the idea of bringing NBA level concepts in the form of a digestible podcast. Genius. Thank you Demi for that great review. Your mission is to email me over@omar00mba.net so I can hook you up with a lifetime membership to EZ course, our 30 day course on how to build your own online course over at EasyCourse co. It retails for $500 but Demi just want it for free. You can win one as well. You can win a free ride that is just leave us an Apple podcast rating and review and you enter our weekly random draw. Listen out on Friday just like right now to see if you won and you enter the draw every single week as long as you submitted a review. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. If you feel like you can use some coaching or the benefits of a business coach but maybe can't afford it right now, think about joining a mastermind. This can serve the purpose of the coaching or the accountability you're looking for. A mastermind is just basically a group of people that meet regularly, maybe once a week or twice a month to hold each other accountable for their goals, share resources, give each other advice. You might have a few other buddies that you know that are trying to start a business and you can ask them to start a mastermind together or if you're part of a co working space, send an email out or put something up in the message board. Hey, does anybody want to join a mastermind or be part of my mastermind, or I can be a part of their mastermind. It might be just the thing you need at the stage you're at right now, and it could be a tremendous help. It was for me, for sure. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll check you in Monday's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.
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