What does a Business Coach do?
I’ve been running my own business for over a decade now and have been a business coach since 2016. Calling myself a business coach was something I struggled with for a while, it felt a bit alien, but the more work I did supporting businesses to grow and the more I saw the positive effects of my coaching the more I settled into calling myself a business coach.
So, what does a business coach do?
A good business coach will help uncover what success looks like for you, your overall vision. They will then work with you to create goals and actions to get you there faster than if you were doing it on your own.
The Emyth described it really well when they said business coaching is ‘to help you design a vision for your business that aligns with your values and the goals you have for your life.’
A business coach is someone fantastic to have on your team if you’re feeling stuck and really want to supercharge your business.
A business coach helps you get from where you are to where you want to be.
This might be helping you to fine-tune your business model. This can be from looking at your products and pricing, to how you market your services, to your customer journey, the type of customers you are attracting and making sure your business is profitable.
A business coach will also help you uncover any blocks or self-limiting beliefs you may have. They will work with you to look at your whole business and look for areas to improve.
Day to day I work 121 with small business owners, helping them to grow their businesses, define their goals, get focused on the tasks that will get them where they way to go and hold them accountable.
We start by getting to know each other and asking a lot of questions. To get the most out of your business coach, you want to work with someone you trust and have a good rapport with. They don’t necessarily need to understand your business (I’ve worked with people in diverse industries from Steel to diamonds) but they do need to have a set of skills that you need.
Most businesses coaches have a specialism. Something that helps set them apart from other coaches and gives people a reason to choose them.
Businesses coaches have specialisms
I have three specialisms as a business coach, which gives me a good all-around view of how to grow a business.
So, if you’re looking for a business coach, or thinking about launching your own business as a coach have a think about the areas of expertise you need, or you think you can deliver.
My three areas of specialism are:
Digital Marketing
Mindset
Growth through simplifying
Digital Marketing
This skill has been honed over many years. From working in the head office at Boots for the Advantage Card team at the turn of the century to lecturing on Digital Marketing at Nottingham Trent University Business School for the past 6 years.
I’m aware from building my own businesses and coaching others of the power of digital. Knowing how to use social media and feel confident with it is a big part of running a business these days.
But for me, the extra elements of digital are where the true magic happens. Knowing how to optimise your website for SEO, means you can show up at the exact moment when people are searching for you. And creating content and understanding email marketing means that you’re creating great content for your social media and SEO and then building rapport with your customers through email.
Mindset
I realised early on that although I could support people with how to’s of digital marketing, it was their mindset that was generally holding them back.
People’s belief in themselves and their skills can motivate them and push them forward. But it can also hold them back, play small and not realise their worth.
So I trained as a Mindset Coach so I could support people through these self-limiting beliefs and support them to grow and ultimately play big.
I help people understand where their beliefs came from and what they would rather believe. And then help them reset their neural pathways and habits to build confidence and create a business they love.
And my skills as a mindset coach means I have lots of tools in my business coaching belt, from recording hypnosis to support my clients, to helping them reframe their beliefs and work on their money mindset.
Growth through simplifying
I really like to pull businesses back to their core components. What does success look like, what products and services do you have and how can we create a business model that simply and easily gives you the success you are looking for.
Often we are looking for big life-changing tactics, but often a few tweaks here and there are the things that catapult your business to success.
A great business coach will get to know you
No two businesses are the same and no two people are the same. So there is no one-size-fits-all strategy to business coaching.
A great business coach will want to get to know you, your hopes, dreams and plans for the future. How you like to work. The type of tasks that give you energy or deplete you. And they type of work and customers that get you excited and fulfil you.
They will then help you fine-tune your business model and create a strategy that gives you more of what you like and less of what you don’t like.
A business coach helps you get clear on actions
A good business coach is going to help you get clarity and focus on the things you need to do to grow your business.
They will also give you a lot of accountability, to make sure get stuff done!
There are a million things you could be doing to grow your business. But generally, only a few of them are going to make the biggest difference, and at worst some of them can be a distraction.
A good business coach, once clear on the goals, will help you create an action plan of tasks to move you to where you want to be.
As a coach, I end each coaching session with an agreed list of actions. I also make sure that the top 3 priority actions are clear. And then at the start of the next session, I work through these actions to see what worked and what didn’t.
A business coach helps you build a strong foundation for your business
For me creating a business needs a strong foundation. So each time I’m coaching someone I’m helping them create these strong foundations so that everything else is built on top.
I work with my clients to help them get clear on their mission, vision and values. Once we’re clear on these they act as great motivators and also enable you to get clarity on what to yes to and what to say no to.
Finally, a business coach will help you manage running a business
There are 3 things most businesses say they lack at some point or another; time, money and customers.
Creating a good business model, clear marketing strategy and clear goals will deliver results with money and customers.
The third element is time. Unfortunately, we all have the same amount of time available to us, so we can’t get any more of it. And I believe that a business shouldn’t take up all of your time.
Running a business needs to fit in with your family, friends and time out. Rest and recuperation is as important as working. They go hand in hand.
A great business coach will help you manage your time. From getting clear on what you need to do so you can ditch the distractions. To getting clear on your vision, mission and values so you can say no.
And then helping you to look at your business from a distance. Working out which tasks can be delegated to help you to create systems and processes and set up automations to free up your time.
As of December 2021, there were around 4.18 million self-employed workers in the United Kingdom and in the US just under ten million.
I think with Covid and changes around the world more people are thinking about starting their own business. Which is great for me, as I love to support people to build profitable independent incomes doing things they love.
We only have one life, right!
If you interested in having a chat with me about how my coaching could help your business why not book in a free call, I’m always curious to find out about what people are up to and how I can help them build their dream business!