True or false: Business coaches should ONLY be current or former entrepreneurs.https://dianeprince.co/

DianePrince·Sep 09, 2021

Posted in:Advice Management and Leadership Misc Personal Growth Startups Vents

Business coaches should ONLY be current or former entrepreneurs.

These coaches offer insight into what it's really like to be an entrepreneur.

They know the challenges, fears and uncertainties that come with starting, growing and exiting a business.

They'll help you:

See your blind spots,Navigate Challenges,

Meet Goals,Unlock self-imposed limits

They can serve as your compass, close knowledge gaps, offer unbiased insight, open your mind to new habits, and more.

But there are lots of people marketing that they're coaches who've never successfully run their own businesses.

This makes no sense.

Business owners are the ONLY ones who really know what it's like to run a business.

Why would you hire someone for coaching purposes when they've never done the think they're coaching?

Would you hire a swim coach who's never gotten in the water? An acting coach who's never experienced stage fright first-hand? A third baseman coach who's never played baseball? You wouldn't.

So why would you want a business coach who's never been in your shoes to give you guidance?

Business coaches should only be current or former entrepreneurs.

What do you think?

Larissa88·Sep 10, 2021

I see what you’re saying and it makes sense. However, I’d also offer that a lot of what makes growing a business challenging is related to the same issues that prevent us from pursuing other interests or passions, which are our insecurities and limiting beliefs that live within us and are not directly related to business. So a coach who is focused on dealing with those things is going to be able to help me across a number of different areas, not just building my business, and that will bleed over into my ability to take action. My feeling honestly is that if someone has already been a successful entrepreneur, then it’s entirely possible they won’t actually recognise the struggles I’m having and the limitations I experience, which a person who is working at teasing greatness out of people for WHATEVER they want to do would be able to see. And in any case, doesn’t growing and running a coaching business qualify as entrepreneurship?

DianePrince·Sep 10, 2021

Hey @Larissa88 I see your point and I agree about the importance of having a person who works at teasing greatness out of people. I believe that a good and effective business coach has both the business experience and the emotional and mindset experience. If they have just the business experience then they could be an effective consultant. If they have the emotional experience then they could be a mindset coach. From my experience, founders benefit from working with someone who has both. Growing and running a coaching business certainly qualifies as entrepreneurship but I'd look at how long they've been doing it and what they've accomplished. Have they faced similar challenges to what you're going through? How have they scaled their business? Have they been through exits (if applicable to you)? How many employees have they managed? For a coach, I think it could be a very good idea to learn from a coach who coaches coaches (LOL that sounds funny) But from my own experience working with 17 one-on-one coaching clients over the last 13 months, someone who has not started, scaled or sold businesses could not possibly relate to what my clients go through.