In this blog post, I share how business coaching help your business grow.

After reading this post, I hope you will have more clarity about the key differences between:

• Teaching,
• Coaching,
• Mentoring, and
• Counselling.

This will help you understand how to choose the best solution to reach your business goals.

You will also be able to identify the 8 Benefits of Business Coaching. To clarify the reasons why you should invest in a Business Coach.

In coaching, the coach is helping the individual to improve their personal development and performance.

How can Business Coaching help your business grow?

Whether you are a novice, experienced or established entrepreneur, a business coach will assist and guide you.

Business Coaching is a valuable resource used to helping entrepreneurs to clarify their vision. Clarity on their business vision helps align their passions and purpose with all their business goals.

The main aim of Business coaching is to improve performances and focuses in the present rather on the distant future. To truly understand and define Business Coaching, we need to first understand coaching.

“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.”

John Whitmore

Let’s go back 26 years.

Many of us, at one point or another, experienced the resistance to learning. For me, it was mostly the 5 years of High School. The root behind my resistance was mainly my inner voice. I just never believed that I could be good at learning something and excel in it.

This was part of a real self-sabotage thinking way. Only in my late thirties I discovered the true power of knowledge. To learn a new skill or improve a skill, it’s much easier to find a teacher than to teach yourself.

As a solo entrepreneur, I never really invested in any type of coaching. I paid for many self-development courses, but I soon realized that great coaches are a much quicker route to success. I can confidently say, investing money into coaches are priceless.

There are various models of coaching besides business coaching. The key element is considering the coach as a facilitator of learning rather than as an expert.

What is the difference between Business Coaching and Mentoring for your business?

If your business is struggling, a business coach is one of the most effective options to invest in.

Business coaches serve as both trainers and mentors.

Timothy Gallwey and his insights into “the inner game” revolutionized thinking about coaching.

In his book, The Inner Game of Tennis, he suggested that the biggest obstacles to success and achieving potential were internal, not external.

His insight was that coaches help individuals to improve their game by distracting them from their inner dialogue and the critical voice that said “Not like that!”

Gallwey’s real insight was that this didn’t just apply to tennis, but that individuals generally have the answers to their problems within themselves.

The essential part of coaching is to help people learn to silence that inner voice and allow instincts or their subconscious to take over. Sometimes that means distracting it, sometimes it’s about exploring the “worst-case scenario” and removing any fear.

Coaches identify the stage at which an individual is at and use the right sort of language to help them move to the next stage. After all, it’s difficult to try to improve a skill if you don’t know that you lack it.

Many coaches will recognize the significant overlap between their role and that of a teacher.

Much like any other type of coach, business coaches align your talents, goals, purpose and visions so your overall business efforts are successful.

Here is a summary of 3 different “learning methods” to see how Business Coaching can help your business:

All these learning methods have key characteristics and is important in their own way.

Teaching and Training

Teaching and training involve an expert teacher who imparts knowledge to their students. Although the best teachers will use participation and interactive techniques, like coaching, there is very definitely an imbalance of knowledge, with the teacher as expert knowing the ‘right answer’.

Coaching

Coaching involves the belief that the individual has the answers to their own problems within them. The coach is not a subject expert, but rather is focused on helping the individual to unlock their own potential. The focus is very much on the individual and what is inside their head. A coach is not necessarily a designated individual: anyone can take a coaching approach with others, whether peers, subordinates, or superiors.

Mentoring

Mentoring is similar to coaching. There is a general agreement that a mentor is a guide who helps someone to learn or develop faster than they might do alone. In the workplace mentors are often formally designated as such by mutual agreement, and outside of an individual’s line management chain. They usually have considerable experience and expertise in the individual’s line of business. A mentoring relationship usually focuses on the future, career development, and broadening an individual’s horizons, unlike coaching which tends to focus more on the here and now and solving immediate problems or issues.

Counselling

Counselling is closer to a therapeutic intervention. It focuses on the past, helping the individual to overcome barriers and issues from their past and move on. Here, the focus may be either internal or external.

My conclusion

The term “coaching” means many different things to different people, but it is generally about helping individuals to solve their problems and improve their performances.

It doesn’t matter whether coaching is used in sport, life or business, the good coach believes that individuals always have the answer to their own problems. They just need help to unlock them.

Business coaches are typically expert entrepreneurs who know what it takes to make a business successful. Much like any other coach, business coaches work to refine your talents, hone your goals, guide your decisions, and do everything else that they can do to ensure that you and your business are successful.

Business coaches start by learning everything that they can about your brand, from its value propositions to its target customers to the challenges it will face and beyond.

Next, a business coach will work with you to set beneficial and attainable goals for your team. These goals will be ones that you need to hit to efficiently grow and achieve the vision you lay out.

Throughout this entire process, business coaches serve as an invaluable source of personalized information and advice.

I like to refer to Business Coaches as your flashlight towards thriving.

Here are 10 Benefits of Business Coaching to help your business:

• Improve your self-confidence
• Elevate your relationships
• Gain clarity on your dreams, desires, and goals
• Develop a growth mindset to find better solutions
• Create new ideas, perspectives, and habits
• Enhance your work-life balance and increase your overall productivity
• Helps you to take actionable steps to create real changes
• Find new insights and become self-aware
• Become more accountable and get real results faster
• Learn how to take advantage of your strengths and resources

Business coaches can also help you to build a new business from the ground up, advising you as they go through the process of setting up your business. Defining your mission and goals, and putting in place both long-term and short-term strategies for your business.

Likewise, a business coach can help you in growing your empire as they figure out how to take your business to the next level. Along with improving the operation and growth of your business, though, such coaches are also able to ease some of the burdens you experience and will help to make your journey easier and more enjoyable.

When should you consider investing in a Business Coach to help your business?

• Ready to achieve your goals and be more successful
• When You’re struggling and lacking self-confidence
• Feeling stressed or you’re going through a big transition
• Trying to understand yourself better and identify blind spots
• Want to make better use of your time, resources, and abilities
• Need honest feedback and new perspectives
• You want to reach your full potential
• Taking the next steps and ready to make an impact by leaving a legacy
• Boost your overall well being, live a purpose driven life and reach your freedom goals

Overall, in 2018 I decided to invest in a Business Coach to help me live my best life!

And since then, I also invested in becoming a business coach to other entrepreneurs.

Business coaches are typically experienced entrepreneurs and business owners themselves who decide to use their talents for building and growing a business to help other business owners reach their goals.

This just seemed to be the natural next step for me.

For a fee, a business coach work alongside executives and entrepreneurs to help them define their goals, polish their vision for their business, and set in place a series of strategies that will help them achieve their goals and live a purpose driven life.

While running your own business can be very rewarding, there’s no denying that it can be very demanding and stressful as well. This is doubly true if you are running an entire company all on your own. I know, I have been doing this for more than 16 years now.

So, when you are ready and do decide to work with a business coach, you will have someone in your corner who assists you through challenges and serve you with experience and expertise you can rely on.

In this way, business coaches make the lives of entrepreneurs much less stressful, which is a priceless benefit in and of itself.

Common Business Coaching Questions

If you are considering hiring a coach, you might have a lot of questions. While we’ve already covered many of these questions such as what business coaches do and how they can be of help to you and your business, here are a few more frequently asked questions to help you:

Q: What is the first meeting with a business coach like?

A: When you first meet with your business coach, the number one priority is going to be for the coach to learn more about you and your business so that they can specifically tailor their advice to help you. You can expect a friendly encounter and an enjoyable discussion about your business that will eventually transform into your business coach offering you specialized advice about the goals that you should set for your business and how you should go about meeting those goals.

Q: Can business coaches help me grow my business?

A: Business coaches can certainly help you put strategies in place to grow your business if that is your goal. However, growing companies is not the only service that business coaching provides. Such coaches also work to help make you more productive, make your job and running your business easier, and help you achieve all aspects of your vision for your company, including but not limited to its growth.

Q: Can my small online businesses benefit from business coaching?

A: Small online businesses are certainly able to benefit from business coaching, perhaps even more so than large corporations.

The issue is that many small business owners are not able to afford or access top-quality coaching. This is why I help 5 entrepreneurs for one month, or 20 hours, for $1. I designed this $1 Business Coaching to be a program that is affordable and accessible to all types of entrepreneurs.

Since working with many heart-centered entrepreneurs, I came to the revelation that people who pay, pay attention. During my journey as entrepreneur, I received many “coaching” & “mentoring” sessions for free, but I never took my homework serious and implemented what I learned until I started paying for coaching.

If you could partner with someone that can help you to build a profitable online business, grow it into a successful empire and help you live your best life, would you invest in such a partnership?

You are welcome to apply for the $1 Business Coaching program that might just be the breakthrough you are looking for!

If you need further advice on how a Coach could benefit you, or how to take the next step, or if you just need a helping hand to show you how to move forward, do reach out to me for a FREE discovery session.

You are also INVITED to join my FREE Facebook Group, PROFITABLE ONLINE CREATIVES, for a community of Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners to help, support, and empower each other!

See you online!

In this blog post, I share the 7 Things people don’t tell you about starting a business.

The first one no one talks about is our expectations!

“Expectation is the root of all heartache” – William Shakespeare

Although, preparation is the key to breakthrough!

If you expect a certain outcome from your efforts, but you do not prepare for it, you might as well expect heartache and disappointment to be the outcome.

Early on in my business journey I learned, there is a lot of stuff I did not know. Things I never even thought about and things no one ever told me about starting a business. It took me much longer, with many disappointments and heartache. I made many mistakes and endured many failures.

But I did realize things can be different, it did not have to be this way for others.

Fortunately, now years later, I know the key elements to starting a business.

Planning and preparation empowers our expectations so the outcomes are positive.

Since starting my first business more than 16 years ago, I learned a lot and I am sure to keep learning.

That is why I decided to share the 7 things people did not tell me about starting my business.

(don’t worry – it’s not all negative!)

1. Starting your business might not be a success

We became entrepreneurs to make money, gain more freedom, and enjoy the luxurious things in life.

When starting a business, be prepared to make very little to no money in the beginning. Even be prepared to lose money after you factor in startup costs. Knowing this ahead of time is going to help you get through the initial rough patch and actually give you a chance to succeed.

Allow yourself at least 3 years to break even.

That being said, not all ideas are money-making ones.

Sometimes, the success of starting your business comes down to

• the timing of your business launch (you may be too early or too late),
• current demand in the market, or
• stumbling blocks

Or, you may not be able to give this particular business the attention it deserves to make it work.

Validating your business idea is essential and an exercise you need to do before starting the launch of your business. Then crafting a proper Business Plan will help with starting a successful business.

2. It might be necessary to tweak your business idea

In order for your business to be successful, you might need to choose the following first:

• Choosing the correct business model,
• Finding the right pricing, and
• Deciding on the right target market that matches your resources and goals are all VITAL decisions to make to run a successful Business.

If you don’t have a ton of capital to work with, going with a brick and mortar business model with lots of overheads will pretty much be setting yourself up for failure.

But perhaps that same service or product could have been sold differently?

Or priced and marketed to a higher-income level demographic?

If you can’t get an idea out of your head and you just know it will work (even if it’s already failed!) don’t give up just yet.

Thomas Edison failed ONE THOUSAND times before making the light bulb work.

These three quotes from him sum up this section perfectly:

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
“We often miss opportunity because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work”

Thomas edison

You may think, “Well I’m not Edison.”

But even if you tried an idea a fraction of the times he did, you’d be way ahead of all the people who stopped as soon as they failed.

Do you want to make your Business idea successful?

Put in the work to make it happen and don’t EVER give up!

Find ways to do things differently and learn from those who have done it before you.

I am still learning from others!

3. You need to measure your business success and business failures

I quickly learned that if I do not find ways to measure my success, I cannot determine if my efforts were bearing fruit.

Learn to ask yourself TWO important questions:

• Am I doing something to help others?
• Can I manage to pay myself a reasonable income?

When starting out, you might not be earning a decent personal salary, but if you’ve been at it for a while (years) and you’re still not able to turn a decent profit, you may have a hobby on your hands – not a Business.

One VITAL thing to remember:

” SALES are just the revenue you bring in “

The profitability (and success) of a business is determined by what’s left after you deduct all expenses and costs to perform the services or make the products (materials, labor, overhead, marketing costs, etc.)

Many of those just starting out may factor in the obvious stuff like costs of materials, but it’s the little things that can add up and kill your profit margin.

Don’t underestimate the impact part as well – if you are helping others and making a difference, that is important. But if you have to make a living too, you may have to change course to make it worth the effort.

One of the 7 Things people don’t tell you about starting a business is the importance of tracking your efforts.

Don’t miss this important step!

4. Passion is the KEY element!

Entrepreneurial fatigue is a very real thing, and it happens to people incredibly passionate about what they do.

So imagine how quickly you’d burn out and be run down working at something tirelessly (sometimes without pay) that you’re not at all passionate about.

Passion is VITAL in a any business!

Running a Business takes perseverance, endurance, and dedication.

Passion leads to joy and if you can’t be super passionate about your Business Idea, then focus on the impact and the other benefits that having a business provides, such as freedom and flexibility.

How you start turning your ideas into a business requires a great deal of passion!

This is probably the most vital thing you need and people don’t tell you about it before starting a business!

5. Be willing to adapt

Starting your own Business is a great way to monitor ambition.

Lately, anyone can come from knowing nothing and be wildly successful (just take a look at most of the sharks on Shark Tank), or you can be born with a silver spoon in your mouth and fail miserably.

Money won’t make people buy your products if you don’t know how to interact and engage with your clients. 500 Business classes are not going to prepare you for the day to day situations you’ll face in your specific business.

It’s a theory – not real-life challenges.

We are fortunate to be living in the age of information, where a kid can upload a video to YouTube and be a millionaire pop star a year later.

All the information you need to run a successful Business is out there, as well as access to various Business coaches and other support from entrepreneurs and business owners who achieved their goals.

Many entrepreneurs make the excuse that they’re unqualified or won’t be taken seriously because they are bootstrapping and don’t have much experience.

I was stuck here for way too long!

You may be in a better position than those who come into a business thinking they know everything and throwing a bunch of money at it (a great book on this is “The Power of Broke” by Daymond John).

They have an ego and false sense of confidence that will likely get them in trouble, if not immediately.

Business is about providing a service or product that people want.

NOT what you think they want.

Choose to be a good listener, willing to take feedback (negative and positive), and adapt your ways to think beyond just profits, then your target audience will be putting their money on YOU!

By selling an experience, rather than a product, will help you to turn those ideas into profitable products.

6. Perfect the Basics of Business

Most Business Owners and Entrepreneurs think if they just get more people in the door or more leads, or if they had more money to advertise that everything would explode.

But the fact is, all the money in the world won’t help if your business is broken.

Things like:

• Poor customer/client service,
• Spending money on the wrong tactics, or
• Developing products without sound research and feedback are just a few examples of doing things incorrectly and this will hurt your Business

Developing a sound business first, then promote it.

Your Business Plan should explain these pillars:

• The basic foundations,
• Company Core Values,
• Business Basic Principles

so you will not need to, in 10 years, turn around and go back to change your basics.

You will want to do it right, from the first go.

Understanding your foundations and building cornerstone pillars in your business will help you eliminate future setbacks.

7. Your Business Breakthrough might not feel like one

Going back to William Shakespeare’s’ quote

“Expectation is the root of all heartache”,

William shakespeare

I can explain why this hits home.

No one ever told me that not everyone is going to love what I have to offer or how I offer it.

I also had expectations from people that did not deliver.

The fact is, not everyone is nice about telling you so.

For the haters, it often comes from a place of jealousy and insecurity. They don’t dare to do what you’re doing so they want to bring you down to their level.

If it’s family or friends, they often don’t understand your reasons and they don’t want to be left behind.

To succeed when starting a business, you’re going to have to accept that this may happen.

Learn how to tune it out and do what you do, and keep pursuing the way how you want to do it.

When you are close to your breakthrough, it hardly ever feels great, positive, or even like a breakthrough.

It might feel like you are alone, unsure if your decisions are good ones or it might even feel like you are not moving forward at all.

Breakthrough is sometimes just around the corner of giving up. So choose to believe in it, and it will reveal itself!

Fear is the major reason people never get their business started.

Only recently I realized how often I choose to wear the shoes of Fear:

• Fear of criticism,
• Fear of failure,
• Fear of rejection,
• Fear of missing out on the next new and the best thing
• Fear of being left out

We all like a safe space where everything is stable and predictable.

If you haven’t figured it out already, running your own business can often always be the opposite of that.

But I do promise you, it is definitely not boring! And very, very rewarding both personally and professionally.

There are a million quotes about why you should chase your dream, take the risk, be courageous, and do what you feel you are called to do.

But the truth is, Entrepreneurship is not for everyone!

These 7 Things people don’t tell you about starting a business can really make a huge impact for your growing a successful business.

The purpose of this post is to keep it real and give you a little preview of what it’s like starting a business – the good,  the difficult, and the reward!

I truly hope after reading this, you will still choose to charge ahead!

The world needs YOU and what YOU have to offer!

Are you ready to start your business?

Join my business membership, the B.O.S.S Society, where I teach all the ways you can start a successful online business, implement effective income strategies and learn how to build profitable funnels.

I also created a 6-Step Framework to help you create a game plan for your business.

See you online!

In this blog post, I share the vital differences between Bookkeepers and Accountants for continued growth.

As a business owner or entrepreneur, you definitely benefit from understanding these vital differences between Bookkeepers and Accountants.

We all need help to grow our businesses into successful, profitable giants. But if we don’t understand the type of support we need, how are we able to choose the right support?

Professional Support Your Business Needs

The title of your support team member should align with the actual requirements, roll and purpose they have in your business.

Different TITLES and how they contribute to your business success:

• Bookkeeper,
• Accountant,
• Tax Consultant{Practitioner},
• Business Coach/Advisor

Do you know and understand the real difference between these four titles and how each Professional can contribute to your business’ growth?

If you’re like many Business owners, you might never think of why you need to understand the difference between these Professionals.

This lead to hiring mistakes and people investing money in Professional help they don’t actually need or help they are not ready for within their Business. Both of which lead to money wasted and often a resistance to hiring ever again.

Vital differences between Bookkeepers and Accountants starts by identifying two types of support you can outsource or hire in your Business. How each one provides value when utilized at the right time and help you make informative decisions.

You can also read these articles about the key principles of a Tax Consultant{Practitioner} and Business Advisor/Coach for further help in deciding what type of professional support your Business requires.

Vital Differences between Bookkeepers & Accountants

It is important to understand when you should hire or outsource each type of support in your business, and when it’s okay to combine these professional roles.

Outsourcing each professional in the wrong order is like putting the cart before the horse

Bookkeepers are needed when:

You could use help keeping your books processed and balanced.

For example, your business may be growing too fast for you to do your own bookkeeping.

If you have room in your budget, you might consider hiring a bookkeeper so you can focus on profit-making responsibilities.

Choosing to hire a Bookkeeper as an employee or as an Independent Contractor is determined by:

• the type of Business you have,

• your day-to-day requirements, and

• how you would like to invest in resources

Accountants are needed when:

• You must make sense of your financial information
• Someone who understands profitability, cash flow, and financial planning are needed
• An accountant can advise you on the most financially savvy moves you can make based on your history
• Your year-end business tax planning and filing need the eyes of an expert
• An Accountant is needed periodically, it makes better sense to outsource this expert service to an Independent Consultant on terms that will assist your Business to benefit from it

While bookkeeping and accounting differ, they have overlapping functions. Both play an important role in informing you about your business’s health and projecting future outcomes.

• Bookkeeping is the foundation of your finances
• Accounting takes care of higher-level processing
  • For example, let’s say you offer a coupon to your customers:
    • You use bookkeeping to record how many coupons are used
    • You use accounting to look at how the coupons affect your finances and the health of your business

As a business owner and entrepreneur, you can record your books with a do-it-yourself approach. If you decide to use a financial professional, make sure you hire someone with credentials that match your needs.

The more complex your financial situation is, the more likely you will need an Accountant.

Need a Bookkeeper or Accountant to assist your business with continued growth?

Take the Next Steps if you are:

• overwhelmed by your processing and work and ready to hire or outsource help

• stuck in the cycle of having enough work to be successful but not enough time to serve all your clients AND grow your business

• Ready for help, but you’re not sure what help is worth your investment

• in need of the three-part method for finding the right team member who will save you time and earn you more by getting the right work off your plate

Then it is time for a FREE Discovery session with me!

Reach out to me for a FREE discovery session so we can find you the best solution within your budget.

You are invited to join my FREE Facebook Group, PROFITABLE ONLINE CREATIVES, for a community of creatives, entrepreneurs, and business owners to help, support, and empower each other!

See you online!

As an entrepreneur or new business owner, you might wonder when do you need a roadmap for your business. I know you are facing various challenges and pains. After reading this post, I hope you will feel motivated to implement a game plan that will allow you to enjoy more clarity about the direction your business is headed.

When you are at cross roads or particularly stuck at any of the below stages in your business, you might be ready for a Roadmap or Game Plan for your business.

• Client Dependence
• Money & Financial Management
• Fatigue & Overwhelm
• Founder Dependence
• Balancing Quality and Growth
• Your Bottom Line
• Day-to-day Bookkeeping and Accounting

Implementing a step-by-step Roadmap could help your business grow.

Business Coaching is a value-added service to help Entrepreneurs who needs direction, clarity and guidance to reach their success goals.

Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs and business owners hardly ever realize the need for business coaching until receiving them. Because it is a high-end value service, not all entrepreneurs and business owners who run their businesses on tight budgets, can afford it.

Sadly, it is exactly these type of businesses who desperately needs it.

Let’s look at what a Roadmap or strategic Game Plan can mean for your business:

1. Helping you find and retain your Ideal Customers/Clients
2. Increasing Your Brand Awareness
3. Assisting with Lead Generation and building your lists
4. Diversification in your Brand Messaging
5. Guidance on Hiring a Talented Team
6. Managing your Cash Flow & Finances
7. Financial & Tax Planning
8. Developing Technological Skills
9. Scaling your Business to its full potential

A complete Roadmap is a strategic business game plan.

It is designed to help analyze problems and find potential risks your business might face. A proper Roadmap helps your business find the right solution that is practical, immediately implementable, and effective. It is like having your own Business Coach directing you to growth. By having a strategic game plan for your business helps you to receive in-depth insights into your numbers.

To be more specific, when a Roadmap is implemented, your business immediately benefits from various strategies.

• This strategic business game plan prepares your business for managing finances through targeted Budgets
• It positions your business for marketing your services through certain organic Strategies
• Then it improves your day to day operations through operational systems and Automation
• It assists with the planning and execution of your business strategies to improve overall efficiency in the operational and financial management of your business

Let’s look at the overall approach on HOW we craft your unique Business Game Plan.

This approach can be identified in the following steps:

• Asking and Answering Questions
  • Your WHY,
  • Your HOW,
  • The WHO,
  • WHEN, and
  • WHERE
• Brainstorming Ideas
  • What you want to achieve
  • What gap or need your business fills
  • What your goals/dreams/desires are
• Finding your Compass
  • Your ideas will guide us to map out your business journey
  • Defining where your business is heading
  • What strategies are required
  • How to set S.M.A.R.T goals to reach your final destination
• Implementing your Action Plan
  • Finding the best lead generation strategy to align with your brand goals
  • Implementing the best content and marketing strategy to attract your ideal clients
  • Developing a launch and promotional strategy to attract subscribers into buyers
  • Managing your business through systems, solutions and support

Most Business Owners fail at planning and that keeps them stuck and not reaching their success goals.

The strategic roadmap or game plan approach is not a quick fix but rather a slow, consistent elevation to reach a steady ongoing movement towards success.

Using your strategic roadmap helps prepare specific financial plans, advise on projects and marketing opportunities but most importantly, analyze and measure your risks.

Having a business game plan is also similar to having access to a business coach. It directs, guides, instructs and aligns your business with your visions. It is specific advice that is usually important and in business should be treated as a key principle or foundational element for deciding on a specific route or path.

In your business journey, you will need help to define your Vision, Values, Mission, and Purpose. A strategic roadmap helps to align your priorities with your business goals.  This process requires a highlighted focus on your daily, monthly, and annual goals. A strategic roadmap typically provides a long-term plan and assist with reaching business success goals within specific time frames.

When you recognize your business is in need of a strategic roadmap or business game plan, you are welcome to get FREE access to my 6-Step B.O.S.S Framework to help you create your own business game plan.

See you online!