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Has a one on one business coach ever been "worth it" for you?

Nice_home

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What is the cheapest way to get one?

(Sidenote: I used to use a service called Coach.me. For 14.99 / week I had a business coach that helped me get to Inbox Zero. At that time it was very valuable for me. However now I would be more interested in the area of business profitability.... not just productivity.)
 
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Rabby

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Yes, very. I've never tried to get the cheapest so I don't know the answer to that, but I have a business coach on monthly retainer. We meet twice a month at least. No regrets.
 

Dan_Cardone

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Business coach here... (And no I won't try and sell you anything)

A legit business coach can shave years off your learning curve, save you money, lessen your headachs, and generally help you overcome obstacles plus a lot more.

The vast majority of "coaches" suck. They would not be able to run a profitable business to save their life.

The good ones, which are rare, do not come cheap.

Im in the car so if you have more questions just ask and I'll reply later.
 
D

DeletedUser0287

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Business coach here... (And no I won't try and sell you anything)

A legit business coach can shave years off your learning curve, save you money, lessen your headachs, and generally help you overcome obstacles plus a lot more.

The vast majority of "coaches" suck. They would not be able to run a profitable business to save their life.

The good ones, which are rare, do not come cheap.

Im in the car so if you have more questions just ask and I'll reply later.

If the business coach is wrong and you listen to him, wouldn't it have the opposite effect? Adding years to the learning curve? Pretty much inputting wrong directions into the GPS
 
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Lex DeVille

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Business coach here... (And no I won't try and sell you anything)

A legit business coach can shave years off your learning curve, save you money, lessen your headachs, and generally help you overcome obstacles plus a lot more.

The vast majority of "coaches" suck. They would not be able to run a profitable business to save their life.

The good ones, which are rare, do not come cheap.

Im in the car so if you have more questions just ask and I'll reply later.

You're not texting and driving are you? Might need a driving coach!

:rofl:
 

Entre Eyes

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Your Title to the Thread and your First Question is a Switch and Bait! :)

I would enjoy replying to the Headline but not so much the Cheapest Question.

It is sort of like asking for the cheapest Safety Gear on the market. :) You understand.

It really is a catch 22 Entrepreneur Marketers get caught in. The people that could help us the most are not as accessible. Who doesn't want a Mercedes as their first car?!

They guy/gal that made a dollar online is qualified to coach the guy/gal who has made nothing technically. And then there are people paying Warren Buffet couple Million for Lunch!
Edit 4.6 Million in 2019 for that lunch.

The cheapest really will be your ability to Research. Observe. Model after.

I was just sharing with someone earlier that if I was on a Webinar and they were telling me that this $2500 new must have tool was going to sky rocket my business to the next level my ears just heard YOU SHOULD BE DOING WEBINARS! :)

You are on the right track my friend. Leverage is indeed our friend.

But when on a budget Coach yourself to see the Free Education before you almost everywhere.
 
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Lex DeVille

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If the business coach is wrong and you listen to him, wouldn't it have the opposite effect? Adding years to the learning curve? Pretty much inputting wrong directions into the GPS

Coaches don't tell you what to do. They help you work through problems and find your own solutions. If the coach is wrong it would mean the coachee came to the wrong conclusions and made the wrong (or rather less effective) decisions.
 
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Clifford Starks

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Coaches don't tell you what to do. They help you work through problems and find your own solutions. If the coach is wrong it would mean the coachee came to the wrong conclusions and made the wrong (or rather less effective) decisions.
Yes, I have had the opportunity to work with a few solid coaches and some who were not the best too. It really is a journey of trial and error. You get an idea what to look for as you go through your process.
 

ZCP

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mentors, mastermind groups, coaches ...... yes. have helped me double my business.

what is your actual question?
 

StrikingViper69

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A good one is worth it. Like others have said, a good one shaves years off your learning curve, a bad one (or a 'guru') will send you into a tailspin without you realising it.

To distinguish between a coach and a guru:
  • They should have done the business you are going into
  • They should have other students successful in that business
  • They should be able to answer quantitative questions
  • They should be successful at the business, not successful solely from teaching that business
 
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Rabby

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A coach is like simultaneously an advisory board member and an accountability partner. My business coach was CEO of a large hospital group before retiring and starting a consultancy. His management experience alone is worth his weight in gold. But I also know I have a resource I can talk to about large mergers and acquisitions, regulations, risk management, etc. A coach should help you stay focused on what you know you're supposed to be doing. They don't have to be "better" at business even... they just need enough experience, and the focus to stick to their role; which is bringing out the best in you and the business.
 

Tiago

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I am a business coach and I've to date hired quite a few coaches.

I'm going to give an answer looking from both sides, both as a coach and as a coachee.

Has a one-on-one coach been "worth it"?

Absolutely yes, and also sometimes no.

There are a few factors that determine if they coaching will be successful:

a. Your ability to receive coaching
b. Your willingness to do the work required, especially when challenging and uncomfortable
c. Your commitment.
d. Your coach's skill

So I've had coaches where I didn't really benefit, but because at that time I wasn't ready to put in the work AND they weren't the right coach to get me where I wanted to go.

And I've also had coaches where it was so powerful, I created the whole money for the engagement even before us starting, and grew my business many times over.

Now to your other question, "Where do I find a cheap one?" - that is entirely the wrong question to ask.

You don't want to find a cheap coach. You want to find one who gets you where you want to go.

And in my experience, hire the coach you almost can't afford. Go for the best of the best. Money commits people like nothing else, and you paying a very uncomfortable amount will help you in your journey.

I know this because I've been there. I've just paid a coach five figures to fly out to another country, meet her for 4 hours, and have two extra hours of support for two months.

And that was one of the best investments I've ever made. She helped me see things differently and helped me play the game at a much higher level.

So to summarize:

1. Find a coach that has a track record of helping people get where you want to go.
2. Hire the best coach you can't afford. Then find a way to create the money to invest in yourself.
3. Know that you get what you put in. If you expect the coach to do the work for you, you might as well save your money.
 

Monkeycom

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What is the cheapest way to get one?

(Sidenote: I used to use a service called Coach.me. For 14.99 / week I had a business coach that helped me get to Inbox Zero. At that time it was very valuable for me. However now I would be more interested in the area of business profitability.... not just productivity.)

Find a who you want to be in the futur and work for him for free.
 
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Kung Fu Steve

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I'm going to find the cheapest coach I can find and when that doesn't make me an overnight success I'll have someone to blame for my lack of initiative!

Fool proof plan.
 

Nice_home

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Let me first just say thank you for all the replies, and also, express how shocked I am that so many people here are vouching for business coaches. I would have thought just the opposite, that this crowd considers business coaches more like "gurus" to be avoided. So this is a good learning experience for me.

I will give more background into my question. I was at a school event for my kid and there was a presentation from one of the teachers, who was afforded the opportunity by the school to join a high-level summer writing program abroad. And the teacher, who became a student for the summer, said she realized how important the teacher/student relationship is for stretching and pushing one’s limits in learning. And that’s what got me thinking about the business coach for stretching and pushing one's limits in biz.

Then the question about cheapness comes because my whole business is only generating roughly $90 bucks a month. I wouldn’t want to spend more than that on coaching since that will just add to more stress of scrambling to fill that minus budget. And I am not looking for more stress at the moment.

So far the least expensive coaching program I’ve found is for $25 / week on coach.me. I’ve had good success with them in the past for a completely different project, however, it’s still over my price range, which would cap closer at $25 / mo. So I think I will just go with one of the suggestions above to research on my own, but add “get a coach” to my list of future biz plans as soon as I can get to that level.
 
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Dan_Cardone

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So I was actually having a chat with someone today about the usefulness of having a business coach. An analogy I once read and really like:

"Have you ever had your butt kicked at a video game by a little kid? Probably. Is the kid smarter than you? Faster? More strategic? Doubtful on all three. So why did he win? Anticipation. He played the game before, knew the obstacles, the problems, the challenges, and had already sound and tested strategies to dealing with all of them. He has played the game so many times he is a veteran by now."

A (good) business coach has already traveled down the road you are wishing to go. He knows what it takes to succeed and can act as your GPS. With that said, NO ONE has all the answers or knows everything. Each business is unique and too many business coaches try to have a "one size fits all" solution. That simply doesn't work!

Too many coaches out there has never even ran a successful business.

"I sold my business back in 2008 for two million dollars!"

He neglects to mention that his business never made a single profit and sold his business at a loss.

Next you have the guys who came from the corporate wold and never even had a business of their own. They try to take what works for a giant corporation and apply it to your new small business. It doesn't work that way...

Or the guy who had a successful business way back in the 60s. While some principals are timeless, this guy is often out of touch with modern strategies and the new consumer.

Don't even get me started on the coaches who charge like $50 a month for "unlimited" coaching. Really? If that dude could actually run a business he wouldn't be working for peanuts!

A good business coach is often expensive and rightly so. Their time is valuable because they know how to actually turn time into money by running a business. Some of the best coaches only coach part time, the majority of their time is actually spent running and growing their own business! Be suspicious of a coach who only coaches.
 

Kung Fu Steve

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Let me first just say thank you for all the replies, and also, express how shocked I am that so many people here are vouching for business coaches. I would have thought just the opposite, that this crowd considers business coaches more like "gurus" to be avoided. So this is a good learning experience for me.

I think one of the challenges this forum has had since it's newest iteration (i.e. the original book coming out, the second book, ... and hopefully the third soon? :smile2: ) is that it has a much larger reach and impact... however, the more people you jam into a community, the bigger chance you have for misinterpretation.

The idea of "guru" that is constantly referenced is someone trying to teach you something they've never done before... and charge you an exorbitant fee for it...

But there's a LOT of people out there (some famous, some not famous) that have succeeded over and over and over again and now have this idea of giving back.

MJ called one of these gurus out a long time ago "what came first, your book or your black card?" -- essentially saying that you getting rich teaching people to be rich... before you're rich... is kind of a scummy thing to do.

Then there's other people who are filthy rich who just love to teach others how to do the same, it's what lights them up. Hell, MJ is one of those.

Then the question about cheapness comes because my whole business is only generating roughly $90 bucks a month. I wouldn’t want to spend more than that on coaching since that will just add to more stress of scrambling to fill that minus budget. And I am not looking for more stress at the moment.

So far the least expensive coaching program I’ve found is for $25 / week on coach.me. I’ve had good success with them in the past for a completely different project, however, it’s still over my price range, which would cap closer at $25 / mo. So I think I will just go with one of the suggestions above to research on my own, but add “get a coach” to my list of future biz plans as soon as I can get to that level.

At your current level (there's nothing wrong with it), if you want to get access to the best coaches on the planet ... it's time to buy some books.

Think about this: someone works their entire life to figure something out in business, sales, marketing, entrepreneurship, trading, or whatever... they spend 40, 50, 60 years of their lives trying to figure it out and then they write a book on the subject that you can read in 4 or 5 days.

It's literally compressing decades into days.

I had ZERO when I was starting out. But I sought out the mentors I couldn't afford and read everything they wrote.

Keep in mind, I didn't always read what was popular, I only wanted to learn from people who had done it. People who could give me next steps. People who created something from nothing and had instructions on how to do it.

The only challenge with this route is you have to be the one to read the information, take notes on it, create an action plan for yourself, and execute on it.

You'd be coaching yourself until you could afford to hire someone worthwhile.

I'll pay $25 for a book all day long but I would never pay $25 for a coach.

I have 3 coaches I work with consistently right now.

One, I work for, who I probably won't ever be able to afford.

One I pay just under 5k/month for.

One I trade my services for his.

But looong before this I spent a LOT of time in Barnes & Noble
 

Ismail941

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If you are facing a problem in your business and you want to solve it by learning from business coach, yes it will be worth it

But How do you find a business coach: It is upto you including pricing, value, time, location, industry, interest, etc

I think coaching/mentorship helps a lot [IF] it is the right industry, right coach, right place & right time

It's like a patient has a heart issue and needs to do a heart surgery by a doctor
 
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Rabby

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Some things you can do until you can afford a good coach. @Kung Fu Steve mentioned books, and I second that. There are lots of good book recommendations here in the forum, and if you ask about a specific problem, members will probably be happy to suggest specific books that have helped them. For example, I'm currently ecstatic over the book "Building a Story Brand," as it helped me reframe a marketing message and probably won me a customer... all in 5 hours of reading. But your problem might be sales, operations, time management, etc. Seek out books that solve the specific problems you think you have right now. Talk with us and we'll help how we can ;)

Two more things though. If at all possible, go out and talk to business people in your vicinity. You can find them in local mastermind groups (organized through facebook, etc), business networking groups, meetups, and even the school you drop your kids off at... find out what people do and get curious about the ones who seem to be succeeding with a business. Don't be too shy to tell them about your fledgling business, and how you are figuring out how to build it up. They may have been there too, and a few sentences from them might make something obvious that you never previously thought of (eg: I can make sales by talking a real estate agent into referring new movers to me? OMG, who knew?) You can also develop a mentor/mentee relationship if you find someone who is very successful and doesn't mind chatting once in a while.

Second thing. Consider calling up a business coach you can't afford. Let them know you don't think you can afford them, but based on their reputation you would like to engage them when you get to that point. Many of the people who are drawn to coaching hate to see people languishing when the problem could be fixed. They can be very gracious people. So just ask whether it would be good to talk for a few minutes now, or wait until your revenue is higher. And if you should wait, is there any resource they recommend? You can respect their time, but at the same time create the opportunity to find something out. The coach I have on retainer occasionally helps people who aren't developed enough for his coaching yet, but who he thinks may have potential. He's not going to spend hours with them, but he might give them a quest that helps them level up, so to speak. When they show that they have enough independence and follow-through to implement his advice, they'll likely be closer to affording his services, so it is win-win.
 

ghsebldr

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Not sure if a State paid business adviser counts as a coach but my guy through the county/state who is a business consultant with his own business fits into the above mentioned "not able to run his own business" class. His method was the baffle them with bullshit method.

I had been in business for a few years an asked him what he thought about me raising my prices. (seems that the business owner worries more about price than the customer)
He suggested just start raising prices. I asked him what was a good indicator that I was getting too high (pricewise). He said to raise them until the phone quits ringing. I did, I've been raising them on a regular basis for years between 10 and 15% and the phone keeps ringing. The price of a stock 24x96 greenhouse is now almost double what it was when he visited me about 7 or 8 years ago.

That was honestly the one thing that I can say he did for me. I'm pretty sure he's now teaching business management at a local community college. I feel for the kids who are taking his classes.
 
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G

Guest12120

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...however, it’s still over my price range, which would cap closer at $25 / mo.
You can't realistically expect that a successful person would spend his or her time to give you valuable business advice for $25/month. Or $25/week. Or even $25/hour.

Spend your money on books and be more active on the forum. You'll find a lot of value here. For free.

EDIT: On a separate note, I spent tens of thousands of dollars on coaching that turned out to be useless, so high price doesn't guarantee quality.
 
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Kung Fu Steve

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@Nice_home you know I haven't thought about this in years but you might want to check out SCORE.


I did actually use a SCORE guy to help build my business plan. Nice older man.
 

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