Is business coaching for you?  Whether you are starting up a business or running your own business the answer is….it depends.  What I want to do is to give you some things to think about as to whether small business coaching is right for you. 

Over years of experience and hundreds of clients I have found some things that they all have had in common. 

First, in owning your own business and to do it successfully, you must be open to change.  The first thing I determine is whether or not you are open to change.  Words about change come easily but I look behind the words to see if there is a history of action.  If there is then I will consider you as a potential client. 

Secondly, I determine if there has been a pattern of success in your business, or past businesses.  If you are in a position where your business is drowning you don’t need another life preserver, like coaching, thrown at you.    There is only so much you can grab onto when things are rough.  And, in this situation you are more likely to be focused on running your business by reaction to crisis as opposed to having and taking the time to work on yourself. 

The third aspect I look for is someone who is “successfully disatisfied”.  Are you enjoying some degree of success yet feel stuck or overwhelmed?  If you are having these feelings and want to be held accountable for your success then you may be a good candidate for business coaching. 

The fourth aspect to successful business coaching is:  Will you allow yourself to be held accountable?  This is the key.  If all the other things are in place yet you don’t want to be or won’t be held accountable, there isn’t much that can be done to help you.

The truth is that most small business owners practice self-accountability.  They remain in the same patterns that brought the challenges and problems they now face.  They will try one fix after another.  But, until they are held accountable for what they do and how they do it by someone else, such as a coach, nothing will change. 

If your business and life is not where you would like it then most likely you could use some outside accountability.  Without outside accountability you are operating on your business and yourself as if it was ”do it yourself heart surgery.”  And, you know what the results of “do it yourself heart surgery” are failure. 

Coaching is about being held accountable to create the pathways that you want to upgrade your business and life for greater success.