Business Coaches Don’t Suck

Here’s how to find one that fits your needs.

Today, for the first time in a while, I found myself in a discussion on Facebook with a person I don’t even know.

We had different points of view, and she was kind of angry because I’m a coach.

For many valid reasons, people these days mistrust the coaching industry.

Many people claim to be coaches and mentors without proper certifications, and it’s hard to distinguish these from the ones who deliver valuable work.

On top of that, many dubious coaches are making millions by selling high-priced low-quality programs to desperate people, promising get-rich-quick schemes, and miracle transformations in business and life.

While this is the sad reality, there’s actually a problem that’s even more unfortunate:

Many people put all coaches in one basket and believe that coaching per se is not of value, and nobody should pay for it.

Now, to be honest, I believe that those who say “Don’t ever pay for a coach” actually desperately need a mindset coach themselves.

If you feel that offended by a whole industry and profession, you might want to understand why that’s the case and why precisely you feel so many negative emotions deep within yourself.

You can’t compare high-quality coaching that delivers results with scammy digital products.

But you can indeed compare different offers and make sure you work together with a coach or mentor that best fits your needs, understands your struggles, and helps you to reach your goals in business and life effectively.

“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.”

— Timothy Gallwey

Coaching, in business and in life, is absolutely voluntary, and nobody has to work with a coach. Coaches don’t work with people who have severe struggles in life, that’s the job of a psychologist or even a psychotherapist.

Coaching is different, and in fact, as long as you are just looking for a coach, you could also choose to figure everything out by yourself.

Thousands of people built business empires through the free information they found on the internet during the past decade.

These people had a ton of perseverance, were stubborn, and probably didn’t sleep much for quite a long time.

You certainly don’t need a business coach or mentor to build a successful business.

But being coached is a shortcut.

Having mentors who already walked the path means standing on the shoulders of giants and will come with enormous benefits besides the information you’ll get.

For example, having a good coach or mentor will also allow you to have access to their network, which can often be priceless.

Finding the right coach is not always easy, but it’s worth it, and it can even be fun if you follow these strategies:

Do Proper Research And Find A Good Fit

Seriously, with the internet at our fingertips, we can research almost anything and anyone.

If you can’t find proper information about a coach by doing a few minutes of research on the web, that’s probably a good sign to not trust them at all.

In the case of serious, well-educated coaches, you should be able to find a lot of insights into their work and probably even reviews on different platforms.

If your potential coach is on social media (which is almost inevitable), you can even scroll through their pages and have a look at what former customers or partners are saying about them.

You could even try to message some of their followers or past clients and ask about their experience.

It’s called social media for a reason, right?

Get social, ask people, do proper research, and find a coach that fits your needs.

And don’t forget that you need to look for two separate qualities in your future coach:

They should have a deep understanding of the topic. If you want to get coached on copywriting, make sure they are a copywriting expert. If you, however, want to understand Facebook Ads, get yourself a coach who’s an expert in that particular field. You get the point.
You need to get along on a personal level. It’s almost impossible to build a productive coaching relationship if you can’t stand the coach and vice versa. The personality of your coach is at least as important as their expertise, so make sure you get along well and, most importantly, ensure you have at least a 15-minute call before you buy a coaching program so that you can see if there’s a fit or not.

Be Aware Of The Value Of The Coaching

Most people simply don’t understand the value of a high-priced coaching program.

They just don’t get why they should pay a bunch of money for an hour of coaching because they compare it to their own hourly rates. That’s especially a dilemma with employed people who just get paid according to the hours they work.

Well, here’s why it’s totally okay to charge several hundred dollars for an hour as a business coach:

If I’m a well-established, professional coach, you don’t pay me for a single hour. You pay me for all the experience I made during the past years or even decades.

If you aren’t willing to pay the price, you’ll probably need to take the path of trial and error or at least spend lots of time finding answers to your burning questions.

A coach, however, is a shortcut. She knows most of the answers to your questions because she has so much more experience. That’s why you don’t pay for her time but her accumulated knowledge.

You are paying for quick solutions to your problems, not for coaching sessions.

Evaluate how long it would take you to bring your business to the next level or even start your company without the expertise of a coach, and if you instead want to invest money and save time.

In fact, the equation isn’t that complicated: You either invest money into professional knowledge and save time, or you save money and spend lots of time.

Both ways can work well, you just need to decide if your money or your time is of more value.

If you have lots of free time, figuring anything out on your own might be fun. If you, however, want to build a solid business or reach the next level quickly, investing money might be more effective.

Be Coachable

If you aren’t open to being coached, no business coach of the world can accelerate your growth.

I see so many people buying coaching programs but not applying the lessons because they’ve heard about it before.

Seriously, how can you expect knowledge to work for you?

As Dale Carnegie once said:

“Knowledge isn’t power until it is applied.”

You won’t ever make more sales or profit because you hired a business coach.

A coach can only present solutions, but you need to apply them.

Most business coachings fail because the coachee is not coachable and believes he can skip steps and still expect better results than before.

Again: By buying a coaching program or working 1-on-1 with a coach, you don’t buy a ready-to-apply solution. You buy expertise and knowledge, but you need to apply it yourself.

If you are looking for ready-made solutions, you need to hire an agency or simply outsource your tasks.

Even the best business coach on the planet can’t deliver results if the coached person doesn’t apply the lessons.

Bottom Line

It’s a real pity that coaching these days has such a bad reputation due to a few black sheep in the industry.

If you know what you need and spend enough time finding a coach that fits your needs, a coaching relationship can be incredibly profitable and accelerate your business in many ways.

Just don’t expect your problems to fade away because you hired a coach.

Instead, do proper research on the expertise and personality of the coach you’re planning to work with, spend some time reflecting what you truly need and if spending money to solve your problems is worth it and make sure you are open for constructive feedback and to actually applying the advice you receive.