[Article updated on 14/11/2021]
Let’s face it. Running a business is a difficult and demanding task, and those who have to manage day after day tend to feel lonely in their journey. Problems are difficult to share, solutions don’t come that easy, and making a decision is a challenge of its own. So what are the solutions?
Business coaching comes as one solution to solve these problems, and the good news is, whether you are an entrepreneur, an executive or an intrapreneur makes no difference. Even better, the industry you work in doesn’t matter either! Why? Because coaching focuses on making you see clearly and making your own decisions with more confidence. And it can be used to make the most of everyone’s ideas.
Believe it or not, but all our clients are unanimous: all it takes to make progress is a willingness to take the first step, and a decision to commit. Not that complicated, right?
The question is, what’s in it for you (really, we mean), and how can a business coach push your business to its next level?
In this article, we explore what business coaching is about and how it can make you improve and develop your business, from Hong Kong to Singapore, London and Paris. But first, let us start with some clarification as to what business coaches cannot do for you – because that matters too.
Things a business coach cannot do for you.
Let us first start with some thoughts as to what a business coach cannot do for you.
More often than not, people think that business coaching methods are either magic or daylight robbery. Some think that hiring a business coach will solve their problems overnight and rocket their business without work. Others believe that coaching is a sort of BS (excuse my French) which leads to nothing. Hence they tend to dismiss it without thinking more.
Truth be told, business coaches are not magicians, and they certainly won’t make you a millionaire overnight either. In fact, if someone tries to sell you any form of miracle, run away.
The business coach you hire will not tell you what to do. And he/she won’t make decisions in your stead either. And that’s because his/her role is not to replace you in any way.
What is business coaching really is about?
Business coaches follow a method and a process which consist in questioning and challenging the way you think your business.
During our sessions, we challenge our clients to make them think about why things happen the way they happen. We make them explore solutions they probably didn’t think about. We push them to think ahead and to anticipate. And, overall, we do our best to challenge them and help them to make informed decisions they can live with.
Said differently? Whether you are in Hong Kong, Singapore, London or Paris, business coaching can significantly improve the way you run your business, but the business coach you hire won’t do the work for you. Your coach will challenge you and make you go further, but doing the work remains your job.
Think about it. Running a business is like a marathon, but you wouldn’t expect your sports coach to run a marathon for you, would you?
Five ways a business coach can help your business.
Now that we have pushed the myth away, let us dive into the topic of how a business coach can really make a difference. Be warned, the next five points are much more pragmatic and Impacting than they seem, so please keep an open mind and wonder how these tips could apply to your daily routine. Because they really can…
1. Business coaches give entrepreneurs some private room to think business.
We regularly ask our clients what they find useful when it comes to assessing our weekly sessions, and one benefit keeps coming up: privacy.
While business coaching is mostly a matter of methodology (asking questions to make people think differently), the reality is that sessions come in the form of private one-to-one discussions which take place confidentially with the client.
For about an hour every week, the entrepreneurs and executives we work with get some private space to think about their business, privately.
They don’t need to justify themselves. They don’t need to convince anyone. And, more importantly, they don’t need to worry about sharing their concerns with their staff and worrying about them. Believe it or not, but that’s a lot of pressure on their mind, and that makes a big difference.
Think about it.
Do you sometimes think that having an advisor to talk to would make a difference? Have you ever wondered whether a neutral but challenging second opinion could be a game-changer? Have ever been stuck with a problem or a decision you couldn’t tell your staff about? Well, there you go. Spot on.
2. A business coach brings a critical look on your business.
Another way business advisers can help your business is by giving you an opportunity to look at it critically.
Because our job is to challenge our entrepreneurs and executive clients, we give them food for thought which always ends up as unforeseen insights.
Week after week, our clients systematically leave our sessions with something new and actionable that they can then work on implementing as they deem fit. And more often than not (again) the feedback is that the critical thinking we give them is something they don’t get anywhere else.
Think about it.
When was the last time you worked ON your business, with a critical perspective?
Are you sometimes stuck with issues (or ideas) you can’t sort out? Do you sometimes think that having some honest feedback and a challenging discussion could help you? Do you sometimes feel like you would have decided differently if someone had pushed you to think about this or that? Well, if you have answered ‘yes’ to one of these answers, business advisers can definitely help you.
3. One-to-one sessions give you an opportunity to think ahead and plan.
Whatever happens to your business a couple of years from now is likely to be a consequence of the decisions you are taking now – or of the decisions you are not taking, as a matter of fact. We call this Business Karma, and we are convinced that you have the ability to influence whatever comes next.
In line with the previous point, business coaching sessions give you an opportunity to think ahead and plan. Whether you run a business in Hong Kong, Singapore, London or Paris, chances are that your work routines are based on to-do lists and daily/weekly emergencies. And what that means is simple: the time you spend on building your business is often nonexistent because you are too busy coping with it.
By contrast, our advisers give you a chance to book time with yourself (and your business coach) which you can allocate to strategic thinking, goal management and business development from a big picture point of view. These sessions give you time to think about what matters, what works and what doesn’t work, about what needs to be changed or improved. Ultimately? Well, they give you an opportunity to be one or two steps ahead of the current version of yourself.
Again, think about it for a minute.
Perhaps your business model needs to be challenged and shifted? Perhaps your teams don’t manage to operate because nobody focuses on them? Or perhaps your business lacks the vision it needs to move ahead? Well, again, if you have answered ‘yes’ to any of these suggestions, you can use a dose of business coaching in your life.
4. Business coaching helps with time management.
We just wrote that running a business is often a matter of focusing on daily routines and on managing daily emergencies. The reason for that is simple: in our experience, this is typically what most entrepreneurs do day after day, which leads to frustration, fatigue and stress.
A business coach will make ou work on your time and routine management because our methods push you to consider and reconsider the way you work. We push you to spot routines, we push you to reconsider your organization and processes. We push you to build workflows that make sense to your business, and we progressively influence the way you run your operations. Sounds good, right?
So. Here come more pragmatic questions.
Do you happen to find that your days aren’t long enough? Do you sometimes complain about the number of hours you do, or about the fact that you don’t make enough money considering the hours you put into your business? Have you ever thought about what your typical week should look like? Or do you focus too much on what actually needs to be done?
5. Business coaching focuses on empowering you as an entrepreneur.
Last but not least, business coaches can make you work on becoming a stronger entrepreneur. Believe it or not, but just because you have decided to call yourself an entrepreneur doesn’t actually make you an entrepreneur.
In our experience, some business owners are pure technicians. For instance, architects or a web-designers usually tend to focus on creative and technical work but they rarely invest their time on strategic development and tend to hate doing the sales work.
Other business owners have teams to manage, so they tend to become managers. Their job and daily routines tend to focus on ‘managing’ and ‘getting shit done’ (excuse our French again). But they don’t spend time on planning and deciding about their business’ next steps.
Being an entrepreneur, by contrast, is a matter of anticipating and planning what we called earlier your Business Karma. If you want to make an Impact down the road, you need to plan for it carefully. It takes time, strategic focus and long-term thinking, but once again the question often is to figure out how to do just that. Which is when business advisers become relevant.
As a matter of fact, when was the last time you spent a couple of hours strategizing? How many times a year do you do that? If your reaction right now is in line with “ahem” or “oops”, then business coaching can once again help you.
Hong Kong, Singapore, or Paris and London…
Of course, the above has the merit to work everywhere. Your location doesn’t matter, really, because business advisory is a method that can be applied to what you do notwithstanding industry and location matters.
5 ways to use business coaches: the Bottom Line.
To conclude this article, business coaches can impact your business positively for various reasons, the main of which can be summarized as follows.
One, business coaching sessions provide business owners with very private occasions to think about their businesses. Such occasions are rather uncommon and rare, in our experience, but they are an absolute necessity when it comes to turning your business into something efficient which works for you.
Two, coaching sessions give you an opportunity to think about your business critically. Beyond daily routines, they can help you reconsider what really matters – hint: we call that working ON your business rather than purely INTO it – but also what works and what doe Decision-making then becomes much easier.
Three, business coaches give you a major opportunity to think ahead, plan, strategize and influence your own business karma. Things will happen whether you like it or not, but what you put into place now will impact whatever comes next.
Four, business coaches make a difference in terms of time management. Your days are too short, yet to-do lists tend to rule your time and the way you live your life. The question is, what are you going to do about it?
Five, business coaches can help with turning you into the entrepreneur you really want (and need) to be. By helping you to focus on the real priorities, tey can strongly influence the way you see yourself and the way other people perceive you. And that, dear friends, can make an enormous difference. So, what are you waiting for? Get in touch now and book a business coach online now!
>> Read also: Looking for a Business Coach in Hong Kong? Read this first!
