What's the hottest commodity in business today? It just may
be business coaches, as entrepreneurs across the country scramble
to find personal gurus to help make them better at what they
do.
Just as a personal trainer offers a physical fitness routine
tailored to help you build a better body, a business coach provides
personalized services-from strategic planning, marketing and
leadership development to morale-boosting and problem-solving-to
help you build a better business.
Sounds like a consultant, you say? Not exactly. While in some
cases consultants also work as coaches, the difference lies in the
aim and intensity of the service. Coaches offer a one-on-one
relationship with entrepreneurs that's far more personal than
in other consulting arrangements. They work behind the scenes, with
their primary mission to support, develop and empower the
entrepreneur-and, eventually, put themselves out of business. While
consultants are in the business of selling their expertise, coaches
are in the business of bringing out the best in you.
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"A coach enables you to become self-sufficient and
self-reliant," explains Helen Rothberg, a business professor
and coach at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. "I
teach my clients how to 'fish for themselves,' so they only
need my services for a limited time. My aim is to put control back
in the hands of the people who own the business, not in the hands
of experts."
"My goal is my own obsolescence-not to make the people I
coach dependent on me, but to help them fly on their own,"
agrees Sheryl Spanier, an executive coach in New York City.
Whether you are an experienced entrepreneur dealing with growth,
a downsized executive turning to business ownership for the first
time, or a novice in the business world, a coach can help you get
up to speed. A good business coach helps accelerate the learning
curve, bringing a perspective and overview that would take you
years to acquire on your own.
"There are patterns that work in every field of
business," says Bob Ritter, a small-business coach and
executive director of the Dutchess County Business Development
Center in Poughkeepsie, New York. "You're paying the coach
for knowledge of what works and what doesn't so you can [learn
from] other people's failures."
Along with business knowledge, a coach provides something else
that's critically important: moral support. You can't
overestimate the value of having a confidant who is knowledgeable,
unbiased and unfailingly honest-someone you can ask about anything,
no matter how embarrassing. "As a business owner, you're
supposed to look like you know what you're doing, so when you
need help, you're careful about the questions you ask,"
says Dave Bouton, owner and president of On the Spot Mobile Oil
Change in Wappingers Falls, New York. "But with my coach, no
matter how dumb the question, I know I can ask it and he won't
give me a funny look."
"We serve as sounding boards and help our clients gain
perspective and feel less isolated," says Spanier. "We
give them feedback and support, and recommend corrective measures
when necessary."
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