Business and Life Management Coaching

10 Reasons to Hire a Business Coach Now!

10 Reasons to Hire a Business Coach Now!

Focus. Perspective. Skills. And those are just a few of the benefits.

No matter what stage your business is at, a business coach can make you work harder and progress faster than you would on your own. From providing a much-needed ego check to helping expand your network, a business coach can give you both the tools and perspective you need to go from point A to point B.

Based on their own experiences, 10 successful founders from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) discuss some the benefits to hiring a business coach.

1. You'll go outside your comfort zone.  Especially for introverted entrepreneurs who run online businesses, like myself, it's easy to become enmeshed in my own business world. My business coach has helped give me the push to step outside my comfort zone, meet new people and try new things in my business. Even extroverted entrepreneurs can get caught in ruts -- a business coach will push you out of them.--Dave Nevogt, Hubstaff.com

2. You'll get personal attention from someone who knows your business inside and out. I've had a business coach for more than five years. The one aspect that a coach brings, that group sessions or mentors do not, is a keen awareness of your entire business and way of being. There are few times when someone is going to focus just on you for an entire hour, probing you about something that happened last quarter, an employee issue you had three weeks ago or your style of leadership.--Beck Bamberger, BAM Communications

3. You'll finally have someone who isn't afraid of correcting you. Every great team has a coach. Think of the best NFL and NBA teams, which all have coaches. A coach is someone who's not afraid to confront you and tell you when you're doing something incorrectly. They have a proven method to success and can help you take your business to the next level.--Marc Devisse, Tri-Town Construction

4. You'll learn how to make your ideas a reality. Business coaches have one goal: to make your ideas into a reality. Although you may have many brilliant ideas for your company, sometimes it's hard to know where to start and what to tackle first. Business coaches will evaluate your plans, assess if they are realistic or will be successful and set out a way that you can implement them correctly.--Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

5. You'll gain a needed confidante. When you run your own company, it's often hard to talk to people about your true concerns. Life partners, employees, peers and friends don't get it for different reasons. At the same time, there's a lot of noise in your head and around you. A business coach can provide that confidential, quiet space to focus, be a soundboard and problem-solve the priorities and challenges you face.--Charlie Gilkey, Productive Flourishing

6. Your networking opportunities will skyrocket. The more you are involved with successful people, the more you will succeed. Aside from the other great points in this article, networking opportunities skyrocket when your business coach is out being an advocate for you. They know you and how you react in many situations. You will be top of mind in many cases when your coach is out meeting new people.--Drew Gurley, Redbird Advisors

7. You'll make more money. Simply, a good business coach will help you make more money. Every good coach, whether it is sports or business, has a process. Phil Jackson ran the Triangle Offense and won six NBA championships with Michael Jordan. Vince Lombardi won five Super Bowls creating what he called an Execution Strategy, combining spiritual and military discipline. Find your coach. Find your strategy. Then cash in.--Derek Hunter, William Roam

8. You'll develop self-confidence. The biggest "pro" is confidence. I attribute this to experience. My coach is 67 years old. He's lived quite a life, from owning and selling businesses to failed partnerships, lawsuits and billion-dollar acquisitions. You name it, he's done it. I leverage his failures and successes. He's helping me achieve my goals, but also making sure I'm prepared for any situation that comes my way.--Jon Tsourakis, Revital Agency, LLC

9. You'll be held accountable for what really matters. A business coach can do wonders for busy entrepreneurs. As you run a growing organization, everything gets complex; you get busy and sometimes push off things you know are important. This is where a business coach comes in. You can discuss the vital things you need to accomplish in order to achieve your goals, and your coach will hold you accountable. That alone will make you more effective.--Jeff Cayley, Worldwide Cyclery

10. You'll hear unbiased opinions.One great thing about having a business coach is that he or she knows more about you than your business and will likely have no biases without your industry or company. This provides a great forum for unbiased advice based on your concerns as a leader. Good business coaches can lead founders to "aha!" moments and uncover solutions that people close to the business may overlook.--Brittany Hodak, ZinePak

Achieve Your Full Potential! Book a complimentary session at http://www.denisedema.com  to get the support you need to excel in your professional and personal life.

Source:INC

Professional Development is a Lifelong Activity.

How often do you set aside time to learn new skills? Chances are, not as often as you'd like! If you're like many people, you're keen to learn, but you struggle to find the time. So, how can you make this time, develop your knowledge, and increase your value, both to your organization and to future employers? 

Why Make Time for Professional Development?

If you're a manager, you'll know how important it is to ensure that your team members are given plenty of training and development opportunities. However, it's just as important to focus on your own learning and development. To do this, it's essential to set aside enough time. 

There are several reasons why you might not make learning a priority. Volume of work is the most obvious reason: with work and personal responsibilities competing for your attention, it can feel impossible to find room in your schedule for learning. 

As well as this, you may feel guilty about taking time out for personal and professional development; after all, this could be used to work on urgent or important tasks, or even to be with your family. 

It can also be difficult to make learning part of your routine. In the course of a busy, hectic day, tasks like "Read leadership book," and "Complete online course" can easily slip to the bottom of your To-Do List.

This can lead you to feel disappointed about not living up to your own expectations, which can affect your self-confidence and make you feel less positive about your career. You can also suffer if you don't stay up-to-date with changes to your industry or profession. For instance, you might miss opportunities to make a greater contribution to your team or organization, and other people may become more effective than you in the workplace.

However, when you make learning a priority, you increase your value to your organization. You're more marketable as a professional, and you're in a better position when you apply for a challenging project or seek a promotion.

Continuous learning can also help you develop expert power. If your boss, team members, or clients see you as an expert, they're far more willing to respect your opinion and follow your lead. This can make it easier to win support for your projects, negotiate a contract, or manage change.

Personal Learning Strategies

There's no doubt that it's important to make your own professional development a priority. But how do you find time to do it?

1. Set Learning Goals

If you don't recognize the importance of what you're doing, it will be easy to give self-development up whenever you're pressed for time or lacking energy and motivation. 

So, your first step is to identify your learning objectives, and visualize how these will help you achieve the other professional goals that you've set. So, what do you want to get from your learning? And why are you making time to learn? 

It's important to set smart, realistic goals from the beginning, and to break these down into long- and short-term goals that you can add to your daily to do list. 

Then, write down why you are devoting time to this activity and how these learning activities are going to make your life better.

2. Identify Obstacles

Next, identify possible obstacles that might make it difficult to stick to a learning schedule, and come up with strategies to overcome them.

For instance, imagine that, over the coming week, you've committed to spending half an hour reading a book when you get home. One possible obstacle is that your kids may want to play with you as soon as you walk in the door. To overcome this, you'll need to explain to them why you need time to study alone. Promise them time as soon as you're finished, and then sit in a quiet room, so you won't be disturbed.

Go through the possible obstacles that might prevent you from spending time on your learning, and write down the strategies that you'll use to overcome each one.

3. Think Small

Many of us assume that we'll need large chunks of time to devote to learning. However, short blocks of time can be just as effective, if you focus.

The key to learning effectively is to maximize the impact of every moment that you have available. Look at your To-Do List, and see what you can achieve in the time available. Make sure that you minimize distractions, even if you only have just 10 minutes free, and concentrate on what you're reading or learning. 

Tip:
Think about how you can use your mobile device to learn when you're on the move – by using appropriate apps, by listening to podcasts, or by storing information that you want to memorize on the device's notepad. 

4. Learn at Your Best

Many people schedule their learning for a time when they've completed everything else. However tempting this may be, think about how you feel when you've accomplished everything on your to-do list. You're usually exhausted, right?

Everyone has different peaks and valleys in their energy levels. It's important not to schedule learning, which requires a fresh, open mind, for the time of day when you have the smallest amount of energy. Explore how you can better schedule learning to take advantage of the changes in your energy throughout the day.

5. Make Learning a Habit

You'll only be able to sustain your learning if you make it a habit. Developing any habit takes work and self-discipline.

To build a habit, look at your schedule and see how you can work time for learning in every day. Could you get up an hour earlier, or learn on your lunch break? Could you study after everyone else has gone to bed? Take into account the energy levels we mentioned earlier.

Think of a reward that you can use to motivate yourself through, say, the next two weeks. This will help to keep you going when you don't feel like studying, or when you're tempted to skip a day because you want to do something else instead. 

Once you've made it through the first two weeks, take time to congratulate yourself! That first step is always the hardest. Next, commit to spending the next 30 days learning every day. Reassess the time slots you've carved out for yourself: are they working? If not, what tasks could you move around to make learning more practical? 

Remember, habits start out as little daily activities that you force yourself to do. They only become habits with time and persistence. 

6. Choose the Right Learning Style

Do know how you learn best? For instance, some people learn and retain information best when they can read and take notes. Others are active learners; they need to learn by doing something themselves. Still others learn best when they're presented only with the facts and with none of the theory.

It's important to identify your personal learning style so that you can tailor your learning to fit what works best for you. 

7. Collaborate

It's often easiest to learn in collaboration with others; after all, if you know that there are people who are always available if you need help or advice, you're more likely to turn to them instead of giving up. When you join a community that makes learning a priority, these people can also hold you accountable for your learning goals.

One of the best ways to do this is by joining a class or doing a course with others. However, you can also network on LinkedIn and Twitter to find other professionals in your industry who are interested in learning. You can also talk to colleagues to see if they routinely devote time to learning. If so, perhaps you could form a study group, or simply spend time reading or learning together? 

8. Delegate Tasks

Your day is likely full of tasks that you're responsible for. So, how are you going to fit learning in?

Look at your professional and personal responsibilities to see if you can delegate any tasks to someone else, for example by giving new tasks to team members, or by hiring someone to clean your house. If you can clear even a half hour from your schedule, you can use this time to work on your learning goals.

Tip:
See this time management article for tips on managing your time. 

Key Points

Lifelong learning is essential if you want to stay "in demand" in a changing business world. However, many of us feel that we don't have time to devote to regular learning, in spite of the many benefits it offers.

Start by setting small goals with your learning; commit to devoting time daily for the next two weeks. Identify your learning goals, so that you know why and what you want to learn.

Try to delegate activities to open up your schedule, if you can. And consider forming a support group with others who are also interested in learning.

Get on the right path to achieve your full potential! Focus on professional and personal development to improve your life. Book a free strategy session at http://www.denisedema.com