I have been in business for quite a while now. 13 years to be exact, yet I cannot help but wonder sometimes if I can achieve more! Having someone to guide and with whom you can confide in your business is great. I myself personally decided to get a business coach last year for my business and the experience has proved to be immeasurable both personally and also for my business profesionally.
Who is this business coach? Meet JT Foxx – He calls himself the World’s No. 1 Wealth Coach but to me, he is The World’s No. 1 Coach period. Before meeting him, I would have considered myself a rather successful business owner who grew my business from nothing to what it is today but upon meeting him, he truly opened my eyes to the glass ceiling that was holding me and my business back.
He thought me to look at things from different perspectives and also to do the one thing that always scared me most, make decisions and taking action!
Before meeting JT Foxx, my management principle was called “Analysis by Paralysis”, where I would weigh on decisions for what seemed like forever and ultimately not make any decision or take any action. The biggest lesson JT Foxx has thought me was to do this when it came to decisions “3…2…1… decide” and the fact of the matter is, I was surprised where those decision led me to. In fact that very quick decision landed me my biggest deal to date for my business.
I could go on and on and on about how JT Foxx has changed my life but today, I also want to share with you 3 paramount reasons why I think you need a coach and not a mentor in your business.
- Accountability
A Coach in your business is someone who is there and holds you accountable for your progress. As you are most likely going to be paying for their services, you will definitely want to hold them accountable for your success. A mentor on the other hand is someone who is giving you his / her time out of their busy schedule to meet with you and guide you with some words of advice. Do they want to see you succeed, of course!
But whether you succeed or fail, they cannot be held accountable as the dynamic of the relationship is different. Why is it different? making you succeed is not their primary job or business whereas to a certain extent, having a coach means he/she can be held responsible to a certain extent for your success. Of course an important aspect of getting a coach is the fact that you will need to listen to this person in essence to be humble and coachable.
- A Plan / Blueprint
When you work with a coach, its been my personal experience that any coach worth his/her salt will have a blueprint / plan for your success. Whereas a mentor may not give you so much of a plan but rather a rough map of what you should and should not be doing for your business. The difference? A plan or blueprint should contain a step by step approach to get you from where you are to where you want to be.
- Your Support Group & Sounding Board
Your coach should act as a sounding board or support to you as well. The life of an entrepreneur is hard and you will experience as many up days as well as down days. Your coach should be there to guide you through those down times and to guide you not to dwell on what went wrong but rather what can you do to fix it and ultimately what can you learn from your failures. A mentor might not be so inclined to do so as again the power dynamic of the relationship is different.
Having a coach will not guarantee your success but the accountability which a coach brings to your business and your directed actions will definitely put you on the path to success.
Ultimately, I cannot tell you enough how much having a coach like JT Foxx has done for me and more importantly opened up my thinking. In fact is was because of him I have been inspired to start a new extension to my business which is to provide retail coaching for retailers who want to bring their business to the next level.
The pride I feel when I see my students succeed because of my coaching gives me great comfort in knowing that I am making a change in this person’s life and I am sure JT feels the same way as well when I share my successes.
Conclusion
If you after reading this post you are still considering whether or not to get a business coach for your business I ask you to consider what is the worst thing that can happen; your business improves a little, you become a little bit more structured in your thinking and who knows what else but all I can say is that if you don’t get a coach, your business will remain the same and in business as they say, if you are not constantly moving forward you are already moving backward. Swimming in place in not an option, only moving forward is.
So what should be your next step? All you have to do is simple, take a deep breath and count 3…..2…..1….. DECIDE!