How a Coach Can Help Your Small Business

Have you been dreaming of buying a business…in an industry that you don’t know the first thing about? Maybe you’re a nurse but you’ve always dreamed of owning a doggy day care; maybe you’re a meteorologist but you want to run a coffee shop. Once upon a time, the first step was to go back to school and get an MBA to learn all the business knowledge necessary to run a successful enterprise. Now, though, many business owners are turning to business coaches.

There are business coaches available for every stage of business ownership. If you’re still contemplating whether or not you want to invest in a new business, you might want to look into business mentoring programs to find other people with experience in your field of choice. Mentoring programs like PivotPlanet, MentorMob, and Skillshare give you the opportunity to test drive a business ownership position before you decide to take the big financial step of purchasing a company.

Why Hire a Business Coach

Mentor programs allow prospective business owners to shadow professionals in their field of interest. So, if you’re that nurse who wants to own a doggy day care, you can follow a doggy day care owner for a few days to learn more about the business and decide if it’s right for you. If it is for you, you can hire your mentor as a long-term business coach to help teach you the ins and outs of the industry. You can learn about business strategy via Skype, and without the strict scheduling and high cost of taking courses at a business school. Also, you’ll be learning from someone who is already an expert in your particular business field.

If you’re already bought a business, hiring a business coach can be a cost-effective way to improve your bottom line. Business coaches can help you stay up to date on the latest trends in your field of business. Business coaches can also help you increase your profits, or understand what the profits are likely to be in a field of business you’d like to enter.

Like a regular sports coach, a business coach works to help motivate the players (you and your employees). Setting realistic goals but still understanding how much to push yourself can be difficult if you’re new in the field, but a business coach has the relevant experience to give you insight about setting your expectations.

Save Money and Time With a Mentor

You may be wondering why and how the field of business coaching is any different from the more established job of a business consultant. Basically, the difference between a business consultant and a business coach is that a consultant will solve problems for you, while a coach will teach you to anticipate and solve problems on your own. A business consultant is good when you already have a business and you need specific problem solved; a business coach is good for teaching you long-term strategies to succeed at any stage in your career as a business owner. In fact, a business coach is almost like a mini-MBA program, but without all the student loans and all-nighters.