What Is Business Coaching?

Business coaching is booming, as more business owners are seeking professional guidance in achieving their goals. And with the pandemic leaving the business landscape with uncertainties, entrepreneurs are readily working with business coaches to get clarity of vision and make the right decisions. 

Being an entrepreneur comes with many benefits, but it has one drawback. It’s a lonely journey. When things don’t go as planned, you don’t know who to turn to for help and guidance. 

Here’s where business coaching comes into the picture. Business coaches provide you with the right guidance that helps you improve your decision-making capabilities, leadership, and business performance. 

Here’s all you need to know about business coaching and how it can add value to your life and business. 

What Is Business Coaching?

Business coaching is a process of helping business owners and entrepreneurs achieve better results by making appropriate decisions regarding business growth and sustainability. In a nutshell, business coaching focuses on growing a business by implementing strategic and incremental changes. 

Business coaches are professionals who bring decades of experience in starting, running, managing, and scaling businesses. A business coach helps you clarify your vision and set the right goals to take your business to the desired level. 

Often, people confuse business coaching with mentoring. Both coaches and mentors bring expertise and experience to the table. However, there is a subtle difference. Mentors function like guides, and they advise you on what you should and shouldn’t do. 

A business coach, on the other hand, works closely with you, understands your challenges and goals, and assist you in doing the right things to achieve your objectives and success. 

Business Coaching Is on the Rise

The business coaching market is projected to reach USD 11.6 billion in the US alone by the end of 2021. More companies are hiring business coaches to streamline their operations, set clear objectives, and accelerate success. 

Research from the International Coaching Federation(ICF) shows that 86% of organizations that work with a coach see a positive ROI. Furthermore, 96% of companies that hired a coach are willing to repeat the process. 

Companies have reported improvements in various areas of business, including:

• Stakeholder/supervisor relationships (70%)
• Teamwork (67%)
• Peer-to-peer working relationships (63%)
• Employee productivity (53%)
• Job satisfaction 52%)
• Organizational strengths (48%)
• Customer service (39%)
• Employee retention (32%)

Why Do You Need Business Coaching?

Consider business coaching as revamping your business at many fronts, such as leadership, performance, profitability, and more. A business coach helps you enhance multiple areas of your organization, thereby driving consistent and sustainable growth.

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Set Goals and Get Clarity of Vision

New startup CEOs and seasoned entrepreneurs can have a hard time setting realistic and achievable goals. Naturally, new business owners are ambitious, and they end up setting big goals and high standards for themselves. But when these targets aren’t met, entrepreneurs lose hope.

Contrarily, setting easily achievable goals isn’t helpful either. While they’ll provide a sense of satisfaction, you will always be stuck in your comfort zone and not challenge yourself. 

A business coach helps you find the right balance by assisting you in setting goals that are challenging and realistic at the same time. Setting SMART goals is a skill, and a business coach can help you develop that. 

Think Creatively and Critically

Critical and creative thinking is an essential skill for every business owner. With the business landscape being highly competitive, you can’t afford to be a part of the crowd. Standing out is important, and you’ll need to think creatively to do that. 

A business coach improves your thinking ability by asking you thought-provoking questions. They’ll bring a new perspective to doing business that will help you explore untapped opportunities and set yourself apart from your competitors. 

Build and Enhance Self-Confidence

Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy, and there will be times when you’ll lose confidence and start doubting yourself. It’s normal if your confidence takes a knock, but if it continues to happen over and over again, it can get the best of you and adversely affect your business. 

Confidence development and enhancement is a crucial aspect of business coaching. Business coaches understand that self-doubt can arise when running a business. They help you overcome your insecurities and tackle challenges with confidence so that you can keep moving towards your goals. 

Grow Your Network

Networking is synonymous with growth in the business world. The more like-minded and successful people you encounter, the better learning, development, and growth opportunities you’ll get. 

However, networking isn’t a gifted quality. With deliberate practice and expert assistance, you can learn how to network more effectively. Business coaches offer that expert assistance, enabling you to grow your network and explore lucrative opportunities. 

Improve Skills

Whether you are a startup owner or have been running a business for a decade, you’re always learning and improving. Moreover, when you’re an entrepreneur, you can’t restrict yourself to a particular skill, such as marketing, sales, accounting, etc. You need to be good in multiple fields, ranging from sales and marketing to project management and team handling. 

Business coaches help you improve your skills and build competencies. They will identify which essential skills you lack and prepare a blueprint to develop those qualities. Instead of spoon-feeding, a business coach will continuously challenge you at every point, so you can master and apply your skills in the real world. 

Take Calculated Risks

Elon Musk admitted on the Joe Rogan Podcast that 2008 was an awful time to be an electric car company. No automotive manufacturer believed that an electric vehicle could challenge the performance and experience of robust, fuel-powered cars. Yet, Elon took a risk, and today, Tesla is the leading EV manufacturer globally, valued at USD 800 billion. 

Moral of the story: learn to take risks. That said, you must ensure that your risks are calculated and not reckless. Entrepreneurs need to develop the right business understanding to be able to determine which risks are worth taking. A business coach helps you do that. They assess your business and enable you to identify which risks you should take and which ones to avoid. 

Improve Leadership 

Leadership is the holy grail of becoming a successful business owner. And again, leadership is a skill that you can learn rather than a gifted quality. Leading entrepreneurs and CEOs like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Eric Schmidt, have all worked with business coaches. 

Business coaching includes one-on-one coaching, grooming, and counseling, where coaches examine your leadership skills and identify the scope for improvement. 

Improve Business Performance and Profitability

Lastly, business coaching directly impacts the bottom line. Business coaches stay by your side and work as your business partner. They help you make strategic changes in your business that improve performance and profitability. 

How to Find the Right Business Coach?

There are numerous benefits of hiring a business coach, as discussed in the previous section. However, every business is different and has unique requirements. Therefore, it’s essential to find a business coach that helps you achieve your specific goals. 

Here are some crucial points to consider when looking for a business coach. 

Industry-Specific Expertise: Find a business coach who has knowledge and experience in your industry. A business coach specializing in helping IT companies may not be as effective with a manufacturing company. So, ensure that the coach you hire has previously worked with other companies in your industry. 

Diversified Skill Set: A business coach is responsible for upgrading you as a person, leader, manager, decision-maker, and more. To do that, a business coach must possess a diversified skill set and be knowledgeable on a wide range of topics. 

Alignment of Cultures and Values: Every company has a unique culture and set of values. The business coach you hire should share the same values. A disconnect in values will lead to frequent disagreements and communication gaps, which will neutralize the purpose of hiring a business coach. 

Proof of Results: Find out which other companies the business coach has helped and the results they have achieved. If possible, get in touch with those business owners and learn about their experience. This will give you a clear idea about the experience you’ll get by hiring that business coach. 

Budget and Cost: The final consideration to keep in mind is your budget and the coach’s fees. Naturally, established organizations have better spending power and can afford expensive coaches. In contrast, newer companies may not be able to afford coaches that come with hefty price tags. Be sure to determine your budget before searching for a business coach. 

Wrap Up

If you’re at a point in your business journey where you feel you need help and guidance, a business coach might be all you need. The right business coach can help you overcome your challenges, improve your skills, and enhance your perspective. As a result, you’ll be able to make better decisions, take calculated risks, and drive your business to growth and success.

At uExcelerate, our certified and experienced business coaches can help you enhance your business acumen so that you can grow and evolve your business. The business coaches at uExcelerate can help equip you with creative problem-solving abilities and help you adapt new perspectives to help you overcome hurdles and solve problems. 

Your business coach at uExcelerate will guide you in running your business effectively. Your coach will teach you to make the right decisions with confidence and identify the pitfalls and blind spots that you might not have noticed. Your coach will help you define your values, mission and vision for the company. These will help you make decisions in the best interest of your business, while maintaining the culture you began building your business on.