What Can a Business Coach Do For You?
“But what exactly is a business coach?”
I’m not surprised by how often I get this question. After all, the internet is brimming with coaches of every stripe, and if your Instagram feed is anything like mine, it’s full of promises to shift your mindset, own your purpose or step into your full potential. But what does that even mean?
Here’s my take.
All coaches are here to “help you grow,” often during a crucial moment of transition in your life. But unlike a life coach, a business coach is uniquely dialed into your professional ambitions.
A good one will help you get laser-focused on your career goals. A great one will provide you with an actionable plan for bringing them to life. Your business coach should be an objective sounding board who’s not afraid to push you outside of your comfort zone, provide honest feedback, and help you do the work to unearth any confidence blocks that have been holding you back—all in a safe, supportive environment.
Who are they for?
If any of these situations describe your life, you might be ready for a business coach:
The timing is right for a promotion, but it hasn’t happened yet. What’s the hold up?
You have career goals, but no amount of vision boarding or intention setting has moved the needle on your professional progress.
The line between comfortable and stuck is a fine one. Either way, you can’t shake this feeling of stagnation, and you’re losing passion for something you used to love.
A business coach can help you:
Get clear on your value, so you can express it to the world
Still waiting on that professional recognition? The hard truth is that talent isn’t enough. Quite frankly, I’m not even sure if being good at your job is 50 percent of what it takes to make others take notice.
You need to know how to present yourself: how to define your brand, show up consistently and establish yourself as a leader in your field. But how do you get there?
As a coach, I’m not just interested in how you see yourself. I want to know how others see you. Getting a 360-evaluation from your peers can be an uncomfortable process, but I can’t emphasize how helpful this constructive criticism is. That said, it’s not all negative. You have more hidden strengths than you know, and ironically, it’s usually your professional community—not your personal one—that brings them to light.
A coach will help you clarify your personal brand, cultivate your strengths and shore up your weaknesses, all while helping you build the confidence you need to move up in your career.
Force you to focus on your business
If you knew what you had to do to get to the next step in your career, you would have done it already, right?
Probably not. When life gets hectic, you turn your focus to meeting everyone else’s objectives before tackling your own.
A business coach can hold you accountable in a way that a habit-building app or friend who has volunteered to be your “accountability partner” cannot. I often tell my clients that working with a coach is like working with a personal trainer at the gym. I’m here to make sure you keep your goals top of mind and give you the tools and strategies to turn them into a reality. But if you want to see results, you need to put in the work.
Set BIG goals, then chart a path to get there
It’s easier to get from A to B when you know what Z looks like.
One of the best parts of my job is seeing how quickly people can evolve when you give them permission to think way outside the box. I spend a lot of time brainstorming with my clients, pushing them to think beyond the tried-and-true rungs of their career ladder when imagining what the next phase of their professional life could look like.
We strategize. We set timelines. We launch initiatives. A coach should never tell you exactly what to do, but they should offer guidance, support and a framework for accomplishing the goals you, ultimately, set for yourself. And yes, they should encourage you to take risks, because that’s where growth happens.
What could you accomplish with a business coach by your side?
I start every coaching engagement with a free 30-minute consultation. If you’re curious about what a business coach could do for you, let’s talk.