59: So You Want To Hire A Business Coach?

Kimberly Beer 0:00 The Business Animal podcast is proudly sponsored by WP Engine your resource for managed WordPress hosting, and Keap the premier CRM software for small business. Head over to thebusinessanimal.com for the best deals on these two amazing products. Jaz 0:19 Welcome to The Business Animal podcast. Saddle up for a gallop to the top of the animal industry. Where you’ll learn how to tame your wild business beast with tips, techniques, and tools that will take overwhelm to obedience school, and have you wagging your tail with joy. And now your hosts Kim Beer and Cara Taylor Swift. Kimberly Beer 0:41 Hey there business animals. It’s Kim with Be More Business Cara Taylor Swift 0:44 and Cara with Fast Horse photography. Hey, Kim. Kimberly Beer 0:47 Hey, Cara. Long time no see. Cara Taylor Swift 0:49 I know. Before we get started, we need to announce our new podcast to everyone out there. I’m not sure that folks know yet. Do you want to say a little something about our new adventure? Absolutely. Kimberly Beer 1:00 I got to tell you, we recorded an episode this morning we recorded episode two, which I think by the time this one drops will either be out or coming out very shortly. And let me tell you it was a blast to sit with my friends, Phyllis and Cara and talk about our adventures. We have a lot of fun adventures in life. And we do like to share them. This is a podcast where there’s a nice technical learning piece of it. There’s some inspiration, and also some behind the scenes tomfoolery. That happens so please join us over at Cowgirls with Cameras. And be sure to have an open mind for having some laughter in your life. We hope you enjoy some of the antics we get into. If nothing else, you can get tickled at the fact we get tickled at ourselves. So… Cara Taylor Swift 1:52 That’s right. Kimberly Beer 1:52 Yeah, definitely join us for Cowgirls with Cameras. It is a twice a month podcast versus a weekly one. So I just want to give you the heads up on that. Cara Taylor Swift 2:01 Awesome. So Kim, what are we talking about today on The Business Animal podcast, Kimberly Beer 2:04 We are talking about business coaches today on The Business Animal podcast. So I know that there are once people out there, see if you see if you resonate with this, you look around your business, and you think I could do this so much better, there are things that I want to do that I just don’t seem to have time for or that aren’t aren’t coming easily to me. There are other parts of my business that feel like they’re a real challenge. And you would I would like to figure out how to solve that challenge. So it’s not so challenging. There are parts of my business that I really have maybe an attitude about that are a little bit stressful. And and I’m getting a little upset with I mean, if you answer yes, if you have frustrations or challenges or high end goals that you want to reach like you’ve set the dollar figure that you want to attain for the year and it’s still fairly early in the year. So we haven’t all dashed our hopes for that yet. If you want to attain that dollar figure that you want to get to or exceed it, then there are people that can help you. And you may have even toyed with the idea of hiring a business coach or hiring a business consultants, coaches and consultants are kind of two different things. Consultants are people who will help you with a strategy. And they can tell you what to do, they definitely give you advice, whereas a coach is going to help you attain your goal. In other words, they hold you accountable, they offer you avenues to remove the barriers that are stopping you from achieving whatever goal it is that consultant can help you with. Today, we’re going to be talking about that second batch of people, the coaches. Who are behind you to help you achieve whatever it is that you set out to do, whether it’s to solve a problem, clear up a frustration, or attain a specific goal in your business. So there’s a lot of reasons that you might want to hire one of these people. Don’t you agree, Cara? Cara Taylor Swift 4:05 Absolutely, the two big reasons for me that I would consider hiring a business coach would be if I have a problem or a project that I need to get through. And I need some support for that, and maybe some guidance, but also if I’ve got a measurable goal, and I want to know that I want to reach something that I’m working towards, and I it’s got to be something measurable that they can work with me on so that I can see the end results. Kimberly Beer 4:27 Absolutely. There are some steps if you’ve been considering this or if you have hired a business coach and maybe didn’t have the best experience. There are some things that we have as suggestions that will help you walk this path a little bit easier and find the right coach for you. And then definitely set your relationship in that coaching relationship up for success. So our big three for this episode are first of all to do your homework before you hire the coach. So we’re going to talk a little bit about some ideas that You can look at and a couple of red flags that might pop up that will tell you that maybe this is not the coach for you, as well as green flags that would pop up that say this is the coach for you. The second of the big three is to get super clear about the scope of the coaching, like it needs to have parameters, it needs to have bumper rails, entrepreneurship is a very connected train of many different moving cars. So you need to be careful because where you’re working at or focused on may actually be affected by several other areas of your business that are outside the scope of the coaching. So you need to be very, very clear about that. And then the final of the big three is you need to make the commitment, right. If you’re going to hire someone to help you attain this goal, then you need to make the commitment to attaining that goal and take their advice seriously, even if it sounds silly or off or you don’t necessarily wholeheartedly agree with it. If you’ve done number one, hopefully that wouldn’t be a problem. But if you’ve bought into this and you feel it’s the right program for you, then you need to make the commitment to see it through. Because sometimes coaching takes a while to be able to really play out the benefits. So let’s dig into the first one about hiring or finding out what coach you want to hire. And again, do your homework. So don’t just look on the internet for a business coach. And then say that’s, that’s a personal hire, or look at who’s trending on Facebook, or on podcasts or wherever you would happen to find coaches who’s the trending speaker on the tradeshow circuit that you’re on is another thing that you can get into pretty quickly. So make sure you do your homework, ask for references, interview them, look at their program really deeply to see if it aligns with you and what you’re doing. So Cara, what are your thoughts around what you should look for when you’re hiring a coach? Cara Taylor Swift 7:00 So I’ve always been someone that’s been super cautious and going into hiring a coach and a little skeptical about that. So what I tried to be super careful. And I like to look for those red flags and do a ton of homework. So the truth is, is that with COVID, and with people, a lot of people leaving those nine to five traditional jobs, there are a lot of little put in quotations, like storefronts popping up where you’ve got people that are advertising themselves as coaches in for one type of coach or another. It is an unregulated industry, correct me if I’m wrong Kim, but the truth is, is that you’ve got a lot of people out… Kimberly Beer 7:41 It’s not regulated. Cara Taylor Swift 7:42 Yeah, so there’s a lot of people out there that are calling themselves coaches that maybe haven’t spent a lot of time actually learning and doing the work to be a coach so it can get a bad name. So you’ve really got to do your homework. And you’ve got to look for those red flags that Kim started talking about, I highly recommend talking to more than one potential coach, you know, you really want to find someone that you feel is a good fit. So meet with them, talk to them find out you know what their background is, or have they participated in an accredited coaching program? Do they have certificates, do they have something behind that title, I feel like word of mouth is a great way to learn about potential coaches. I mean, if you’ve had someone else in your industry that’s worked with a coach and has nothing but great things to say about them or can tell you about them, that might be a great place to start too. And if there’s a way you can dip your toe in the water by, you know, looking at maybe they have an online workshop, or they have YouTube videos, I mean, Kim, you have a whole YouTube channel where you’re helping people in guiding people free of cost, you know, so people can get on and they can dip their toe in the water before they actually pay a coach and start working with a coach and determine if it’s a good fit. And if they have information, even things like Instagram reels you know where they’re providing education, or the longer form videos, just any way that you can get some information about them before making a formal commitment. I also like to ask people, so what were you doing before you started coaching, this might be an interesting way for you to learn a little bit more about their background, you know, where are they working in industry that is in alignment with what you’re doing already. So they have a lot of background in that area that they can bring to a coaching program with you? Is there a place where you can read up on their work and what they specialize in before booking them or before getting on a call with them? Maybe they’ve written a book or they have some papers published or articles published, go to their if they have a website or social media and see if they have press releases or things that you can read about them first. Look at who they’re serving. Sometimes you can see who their clients are some of their clients, you know, are they already serving clients who have similar goals to you or maybe who are in similar stages of their business in comparison to where you are. So that kind of got that track record of already working with folks that kind of have have similar pain points that you have. And then finally, you know, do you as the person that’s looking to be coached? Do you feel like their background and experience aligns with those areas that you’re hoping to gain some knowledge in? Those are the big things that I think about when you’re looking for red flags? Are you looking to bring awareness to your equine based product or service? Or create a unique way for your audience to feel connected to your brand quality horse photos tell your story and breathe life into your marketing. They draw your customers in and create an emotional connection. 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Kimberly Beer 11:31 So I want to talk about some red flag green flags with coaching programs and coaching businesses that I’ve seen out in the industry. And yeah, I’d work with a lot of coaches, I have a lot of coaches as clients. And I do like the list that you have here accredited coaching programs. So one of the things that you need to look into when you look into the accredited coaching program that accredited the coach are considering is you need to look into what are the requirements for that. So my certification is an equine Gestaltest, which gives me as a coach that is a two year investment of time. It has weekly classes every single week we attend a class that is an hour long, there’s homework, there’s a midterm, there’s a final you have to prove professional liability insurance before you get your certification, you are subject to an ethics and review board on your practice. If one of your clients has a complaint about you, there’s a board that you have to go see that’s part of that organization. I mean, it’s in depth. And then then on top of that there’s five in depth live trainings and a few virtual trainings that I had to go through where I had to prove in front of the person who certified me that I was capable of executing the program correctly. And in a learning environment where I could feel where I could make a mistake, but not do something damaging. So by the time you exit that program, you’ve got some chops. Now I have most of a degree in psychology. And I was actually set to get a master’s in psychology to get my LPC and when I looked at the difference between what the master’s program that I would have been in involved and the education I would have got. And the education that I got from the Gestalt program that I certified from, I got more out of the Gestalt program, there was more learning more experience more hands on than the master’s degree that I would have attained from the university that I was looking at. So some accredited programs are awesome. There are also other accredited programs out there that take a Saturday afternoon to complete. So you need to look and do your research on the accreditation behind that person. And if that person is accredited by a organization with one of those two day workshops, I’m not saying don’t use that coach, because that coach may be super talented in many other ways and just got the certification to kind of check mark that but you definitely want to look to see, you know, is that coach, it’s a red flag, it’s a little bit of a caution, maybe it’s more of a yellow flag. It’s a little caution, you need to look what is the program and then what has the coach done with that particular program. So red, another red flag that I have is a coach that won’t talk about their program except in vague terms. In other words, when you sit down and you do your interview with them, and you ask them what their program is, they only talk about it at like the highest level like well, you will reach your goals or we will do some goal setting or there will be accountability or you will learn this or you will be able to do that. If they aren’t getting specific, like those are just vague, high level commitments, then then that is a huge red flag to me. So in my four by four program, for example, I can tell you exactly, I can tell you what, 16 points we’re going to go over in your marketing program. I can tell you the common barriers that you’re probably getting run into, and I can give you some idea of how we’re going to conquer those. And the actual value in that program has more to do with me and my ability to get you through it, which is what a true coach does, then it does the content of the program itself. In other words, if you took the book on your own, and you did it, would you be as successful as you doing it with me, and I believe that the latter is the more successful way to handle that. So you definitely want to look at a red flag, if a coach is being very vague, either they don’t know their program very well, or they’re being super proprietary, which means that they’re not going to give you everything that you need when you get into the coaching program. Another red flag is if the coaching program you want to enroll in like you buy into the program, but the actual coaching itself is delivered by somebody other than the person who developed the program. Again, it’s not a definite no, it’s just a red flag to say, hey, you need to look at this a little deeper to see if this is something that really is following what you want to do, or is there something more sketchy going on there. And then the final red flag that I have, before I get into some green flags is that if you go to their website, when you’re doing your homework, and you’re looking at their testimonials, which if they’re a coach, they’ve got a lot of them if their testimonials are super vague. In other words, they’re not being specific about what that coach helped that person with, like they don’t have some really nice solid parameters to them, especially if it’s a long testimonial that concerns me that those were testimonials that that person didn’t get what they really wanted to set out to get. So look for testimonials that have a little bit more of specifics to them. Green flags would be when Cara mentioned that many coaches offer those online workshops, the YouTube videos, Instagram reels, all of those things, they offer some education out there for free, ask yourself, did you get some success from what they offered, you know, go go experiment with her free stuff, see if it gives you a step forward. If it does, chances are that particular coach would be really good for you. That means that their program is going to jive with you if you learned something from them. And then you took that option and you went out and you did something with it, then you’ve got a hint of success there that should carry through into the coaching program. Another green flag is that they have a well defined program with materials. In other words, you can see from the outside, and this sort of goes to the opposite of of the they don’t know their program really well. Or they’re vague about it, if they’re able to really show you well put together materials and a very well thought out program, then I consider that program a good program. And then the final red flag green flag that I have is the red flag would be that all of the coaching is video based. In other words, when you enroll in the program, you have very little one on one lifetime with the actual coach and a lot of videos to watch. I don’t dislike videos and coaching, I think it’s a really good use of the coaches time to record the things that they need to do repetitively. And trust me, there’s a lot of repetition of what you say in coaching from client to client. I think that’s great. And I think it’s important, but I also think it’s important that you have you time when you work with a coach that you get that one on one or small group setting coaching, where you can express your specific problem and get your specific barriers addressed. So those are some more considerations that you might look at when you’re doing your research around coaches. Cara Taylor Swift 18:49 I think that’s really awesome. And I like the reassurance that you give about if they’re willing to give away some things for free, that can be super helpful for your business, like what a great just initial, okay, I’m going to get something out of this coach, probably because the stuff that they’ve got out there for free has already helped me, I really love that. And I know that that’s something that you do in your business and something that a lot of businesses are trying to give more, give more away, you know, to establish that value. And anyway, I just think that’s such an important one. So thank you for sharing those Kim. I really appreciate that. Are we ready to move on to number two? Kimberly Beer 19:22 Yep, we sure are. Number two is getting super clear about the scope of the coaching that you’re wanting. So if you just vaguely say I want to hire a business coach, you’re probably not going to have a very good coaching experience right Cara? Cara Taylor Swift 19:37 I mean, you’re not off to a great start. I think once you’ve made that decision, like okay, I’m going to hire a coach, I’m going to do it that you really need to get super clear, you know about the scope of what you’re going to accomplish during that coaching and that can look like big picture goals, but also little goals that you hope to knock out on each one of your sessions. You know, but you’ve got to have those goals. I think outlined clearly in order to really get some success from that, right? Kimberly Beer 20:04 Sure, and I think a coach’s responsibility is to take your bigger goal and to break it down into palatable actionable pieces, and then get you to attain those pieces, right? And it’s not their responsibility to do it for you, it’s still your responsibility to execute on whatever it is. But what they can do is give you resources and tools and information and awarenesses that get you through those steps, you’re still doing the work. But just like a coach in a basketball team, they don’t go out and dunk the ball and make the shot Cara Taylor Swift 20:38 listen to you talking about sports. Kimberly Beer 20:40 It’s just sort of sad until you get me under raining. But yeah, you they don’t make the shot themselves, you the the person who is playing the game that is being coached, that’s the person that goes out and makes the shot. And it’s the same thing for a business coach, they’re not going to come in there and change your business, they’re not going to do it for you, what they’re going to do is guide you to being the best that you can be and accomplishing as close as you can get or exceeding the goal that you have set. When it comes to setting the scope of the coaching, you can’t be vague about it. If what you really want to attain is to make a certain dollar figure in your business, then that’s what you need to bring to the coach and you need to concentrate on that one thing, yes, that one thing is going to split apart into a whole bunch of little things over time. But the one thing is all of those little things are going to move you towards the bigger object. And when you’re deciding about what you want to be the scope of your coaching program, what I would do is I would look at do you want to eliminate? Or do you want to add? So is there something in the elimination part? Is there something in your business that is just absolutely driving you crazy, or you’re really struggling with it, or you’re really challenged with it, or you have a big block around it. So you could work with a coach to eliminate that. So you’re taking things away, you’re figuring out how to solve that problem on the opposite side of that is adding something to your business. So that would be a financial goal that you want to reach or an expansion goal. Or let’s say you have your dog groomer, and you have a shop and you have two groomers and you want to add two more, and you hire a business coach to help you attain that. So you have a very solid scope of the goal. But the actual coaching may be you know, maybe you have to find another building that you need to expand to. And you have to add two more sets of equipment into your grooming business. And then you need to expand your market to include twice as many customers because now you have twice as many groomers. So the business coach can help you settle down and look at those topics very specifically, as they’re moving you towards the goal that you brought to them for the scope of the coaching, you do need to be really clear and I one more thing before I get off my soapbox around this is you need to understand from the coach’s perspective, how assessable they are to you. Some coaches are only assessable during your sessions. In other words, you have to wait for a session. Other coaches are available during certain hours via text or via email or via phone depending upon this specific coach to help you if you run into something that’s a problem while you’re working on your homework or working through your coaching program, their coaching program, all coaches work a little bit differently. They all have their brand and their uniqueness. So you do have to look at what is within the scope of how much access you’re going to have to that coach. And then also, how long is the commitment for their program? Is the commitment? Is their program long enough for you to reach your commitment that you’re asking for? Or is it going to take multiple programs so just get really clear about all of the details. Every small business owner wants to gain traction in their marketing. 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And I think if you’ve reached that point where you’re ready to hire a coach you found the right coach you’ve identified the coach that has all the green flags that make you happy you think it’s gonna get you there you’ve done your homework, you know what it is that you want to accomplish then you’re ready for big three number three, which is you need to make the commitment and that is huge because It’s going to be a monetary investment, it’s going to be a time investment, it’s probably even going to pull in some emotional investment and work as well. Especially if you’re dealing with some some blocks around money or something along those lines. So a couple big things is you’ve got to be ready to make the commitment, you’ve got to be prepared, you know, spend some time in advance thinking about what you want to work on, you know, before you even get to your first coaching session, you don’t want to be scrambling last minute, you know, before your scheduled meeting. I think we’ve all been there where we’ve got Oh, crap, I’ve got to be on a call in 10 minutes. And we’re scrambling to pull ourselves together, you know, to get prepped for that call, you know, and then if you’ve had a session, sit back afterwards and really evaluate how that went, you know, did they give you strategies to try? Well, Gosh, darn it, implement those strategies that you agree to try, like, don’t just let them float out there, you’ve got to do that work, you know, things like taking notes, even when you’re not in your coaching session, like one of the things that I keep on my phone is I have a, I always have a note in my phone, that’s like my ideas log and things I want to, you know, talk about or that I need to go over and you never know you’re going to be driving or maybe you’re out on the tractor, or you’re riding your horse, or you’re walking the dog, and that thing pops into your brain that you need to talk to your coach about that you need to have questions answered, that’s when you need to put it in that note so that you don’t lose it and forget about it, we always forget the important stuff when we need to remember it right. And then you know, if your coach most likely they’re giving you or you know, resources that you need to be looking into, you need to be reading up on that you need to be trying out, go ahead and review those resources. And if you don’t, if you find that they don’t work for you, or you struggle with them, then you’re ready to talk about that with your coach next time you’re sitting down with them. And then the last piece that I have that Kim has already somewhat mentioned, your coach is not they’re not like your employee, you can’t expect your coach to do all the things right? Part of this process is that you as the animal based business owner need to do the work. And your coach is going to support you hopefully, as you move out of that comfort zone. But you have to be the one to do the work. And hopefully that includes their strategies, their support. So Kim, I know you have a lot you want to add to that. But when I think about, you know, making the commitment, these are some of the things that pop into my mind that I think are essential to getting prepared for that commitment. What do you think? Kimberly Beer 27:17 I think you did an excellent job in covering that. And I really don’t have all that much to add other than getting coached or being coached is hard. People think that it’s going to ease the burden, you know, like take it away. And the truth is, is yes, it’s going to ease it in the long term. But the work that it takes to get to the long term is going to take a little extra effort for you. So if you’re hiring a coach, because you’re looking to get something off of your plate, so to speak, you’re not hiring the right person, that’s an employee or a VA or a vendor or something like that. Coaches are there to help you reach those goals. And if you do not commit to doing the work to actually putting yourself into that you’re basically wasting your money having a coach and you’re also wasting that coach’s time, because you need to really commit to it in order to be successful with it. And yes, it’s going to be a little painful. I mean, I don’t think you can look, if you look at where coaching what we kind of traditionally thought of coaching before we ended up in the life coaching world. Athletes, they go through pain, I mean, getting to the point to where you are top flight in your sport for whatever level it is that you play, that takes a lot, it takes a lot of effort, it takes like you said mental, emotional, physical effort to be able to get there, you’re gonna have to play those games and definitely put into it your time and effort and your commitment in order to make it work. I do think that there is a lot of really good reasons to hire a business coach. I’ve worked with coaches for many, many years. And I’ve got to tell you that it has always improved my abilities when I work with a coach. So I always have gotten something out of those coaching relationships, even the ones where it may be didn’t actually reach the goal, I still walked away with a ton of benefit. And I think that when we look at coaching now as consumers, we have a better understanding of what that really means. And if you do your homework and you hire the right coach, it can take you miles ahead of where you thought you might actually land. So it’s a good all around thing. Just be mindful about the way you do it. Cara Taylor Swift 29:30 Excellent. This was awesome. I think it’s got me motivated. So a couple of the big three here, you’re thinking you’re gonna you’re ready to hire a business coach. So big three, number one, you guys we got to do our homework, okay, we got to ask for references. We got to interview them, we got to look at their program very deeply. Second, you want to be really clear about the scope of the coaching like what do you want to accomplish both big picture goals and then hopefully some smaller goals and maybe your coach can help you with those. And then thirdly, and probably one of the most Important, you’ve got to be ready to make the commitment and be willing to be in some, you know, you’re going to be in some pain, just like Kim said, those athletes out there, they’re going to build up their strength. Here we are talking about sports, again, they’re going to build up their strength. And they’re going to do that through a series of activities. And they’re going to it’s going to be painful to get there. So hopefully, working with a coach is not painful for you. But you know, growing pains will happen. And I think it’s just an cool opportunity. So I’m really glad we had this conversation today. Kim, I think there’s a lot of people out there right now in this, especially in this time of small business where people are looking to hire coaches, and there’s a lot of them out there. And it can be super confusing when you’re trying to figure out which route to go. So thank you for your insight on this today. Kimberly Beer 30:41 Oh, you’re very welcome. Cara Taylor Swift 30:42 Okay, so thank you, everyone for listening today. Once again, we’d love to know what you thought about this episode. Join us at The Business Animal on Instagram and or Facebook and of course at thebusinessanimal.com If you haven’t already done so we’d love for you guys to leave a review wherever you like to listen. And if you haven’t done so please hit that little subscribe button or follow button depending upon what your app has. It really means a lot to us and it lets us know that you’re listening. Thanks, guys. Have a Happy Tuesday. Jaz 31:11 Thanks for listening to this episode of The Business Animal. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you learned something today, leave us a review. To learn more Find us at thebusinessanimal.com we’d love to hear from you. Until next time, keep your business well trained with The Business Animal.