Your Business Coach Shouldn’t *Need* a Business Coach
The other day, I posted this question in a large group for mothers who own businesses:
“Do you trust a business coach who needs their own business coach? (Edited to add: everyone needs a coach, but specifically those *business coaches* who need a business coach)?”
And yes, I knew what I was doing. I expected that there would be lots of responses, but I was shocked at how overwhelmingly they leaned to one side. Out of the over 60 responses, every single person except 1 responded emphatically YES. The responses tended to be quite emotional, and they even somewhat aggressively defended their point.
I was also surprised and somewhat disappointed at the homogeneity of their industries. Without fail, almost every single responder was, themselves, a business coach.
Ugh. The downward spiral of coaches serving coaches who coach coaches rears its ugly head.
As you’ve figured out by now, I have a different opinion. Tune in to this week’s podcast to hear my hot take.
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Transcript:
The other day, I posted this question in a large group for mothers who own businesses:
do you trust a business coach who needs their own business coach? (Edited to add: everyone needs a coach, but specifically those *business coaches* who need a business coach)
Now, I want to be clear, if a business coach WANTS a business coach short term because they are getting to a new level- that’s one thing. But if a business coach always NEEDS a business coach in order to stay successful, feel motivated, or to keep up with what’s going on in the market, That is concerning to me. So that’s why I asked this question.
I expected that there would be lots of responses, but I was shocked at how overwhelmingly they leaned to one side. Out of the over 60 responses, every single person except 1 responded emphatically YES. The responses tended to be quite emotional, and they even somewhat aggressively defended their point. (even though no one was arguing with them, I did not respond to most of the comments)
Here are some of the most popular responses, selected by the likes and responses to the comment:
→ “Honestly, I don’t trust a coach who doesn’t regularly hire coaches. ” (comment was made despite the indication in the post that I’m referring to business coaches hiring business coaches, not hiring coaches in general) got 32 likes and 4 replies
→ I don’t understand the question? As a business coach, I will always invest in business coaching. (got 6 likes)
→ I wouldn’t trust one that didn’t have one. (got 9 likes and 2 replies)
→ Would you trust Simone Biles to teach you gymnastics? She has a gymnastics coach.
Or Michael Phelps to teach you swimming?
Or Steph Curry to teach you basketball?
All the greats have coaches so that they can *stay* the best.
(got 5 likes)
All 60 comments said something to this effect. The consensus was, every single business coach should have a business coach. In fact, NOT having one could result in a LACK OF TRUST from this market.
This made me wonder… do these respondents actually vet those they hire on whether or not they have a business coach themselves? So I asked! I went back to the post and responded to several of the comments with something like: “ Thank you for this response! Do you vet that the business coaches you hire have a business coach? Is that part of your decision making process? I'm truly curious about this ”
Here’s what they said: “it’s not on vetting a list exactly, but i can usually tell in our first conversation if they’re just ‘selling a program’ or truly invested in their own growth and healing. Someone who’s authentic and on their own growth journey is important to me ” To which I clarified, “do you equate business coaches hiring business coaches with being invested in their own growth and healing?”
She later responded: “there are many kinds of coaches. I don’t need a business coach to constantly be hiring business coaches. But ongoing growth and hiring other kinds of coaches is important to me!”
Ah ok, so it’s the ongoing growth that is important. That’s what I thought. I kept going.
Another response was definitive → “Oh most definitely. I always ask. It’s a core value of mine.” My first thought after reading this was… how interesting, no one has ever asked me who my business coach is. On hundreds of sales calls, I have literally never been asked this question.
Finally, Another said: → “I want to know how they are doing professional development. I would certainly question a coach that wasn't working with someone.”
I found it very interesting that there was such a strong response when asked, but when pressed, it actually ended up being more of a continuing education and personal development issue, rather than a business coach per say.
I was also surprised and somewhat disappointed at the homogeneity of their industries. Without fail, almost every single responder was, themselves, a business coach.
Ugh. The downward spiral of coaches serving coaches who coach coaches rears its ugly head again.
It was almost comical- the responses were overwhelmingly business coaches DEFENDING why they always need business coaches… and why their business coaches always need business coaches as well. And no one seemed to question it- there was no room for conversation. They just made A simple statement, “I would not trust a business coach who did not have a business coach” period.
And this baffled me. I myself have not had a business coach since 2018. At that time, I needed someone to teach me internet marketing. I needed to learn a skill I did not have. So, I hired someone to teach me. My next coaching hire was a mindset coach. I hired 4 of those over the next 2 years. Since then I’ve hired alot of healers, astrologers, therapists and several ad agencies, hoping they could take marketing off my hands (turns out, they couldn’t).
Mostly, where I hired was in where I lacked. Where I needed support. I hired what I could not do for myself.
And this brings me to a point that many of these commenters made. Would you trust Simone Biles to teach you gymnastics? Michael Phelps to coach swimming? Stephen Curry to teach basketball?
My honest response? Maybe.
Because just because someone can perform does not mean they can teach. And just because someone made it to the olympics does not mean they can show me how to improve in order to meet my goals.
I will be extremely frank with you. My business has not grown financially since 2019. I CHOOSE to hover around a quarter of a million dollars per year in business.
But, this is intentional. This is BY DESIGN. This is what I’ve purposefully created.
So many of the coaches who responded to my thread said they wanted someone who was continuously learning and growing. And I 100% understand that. That is what I want too. That is why I am always hiring various healers and coaches to support me in the areas where I need growth in my life.
But I am *not* growing in terms of my company’s financial revenue. I have not created a 7-figure per year business. I have not seen explosive growth year after year.
But do you know what I have created? I’ve created a business that feels easy. It’s aligned. Clients come to me. The marketing I do feels fun, light. Basically- I’m mostly sharing my case studies and thoughts on things that are fascinating (like this topic), and clients just show up! It’s incredible, and I’m so blessed.
And what I’ve found, is that the longer I do this, the easier it becomes. I don’t want to attract the attention of the wrong people here. This is not get rich quick. This was not “easy” for several years. NOW only after 5 years I have earned the privilege to work less and less year after year, probably in reverse correlation with the number of children I have.
See, In 2019, I worked *really* hard to get past $200k in revenue. Remember, to me ‘working hard’ means 20-30 hours per week, but the work felt harder because I was creating alot of content and doing mostly marketing to get people in the door versus now where I mostly serve clients and make alot less content. In 2020, I worked hard again. In 2021, I worked alot but also took 3 months off to give birth to my second daughter. In 2022 I gave up 1:1 sessions completely, and now in 2023 I took another maternity leave and now I work 1 or 2 days per week depending on the week.
But most importantly, I am *deeply* satisfied with my life and business. (How about normalizing THAT business coaches? )
Am I still learning and growing? Yes of course! I’m learning and growing in multiple areas of my life. I am learning how to be a mother to 3 daughters. I am asking questions like, “How do I have relationships with my parents and in-laws that aren’t triggering?” “How do I market my business in a way that feels nourishing and attracts the right clients to me?” “How do I lose my baby weight once and for all so that I feel super healthy and light always?”
Basically, I have moved on from needed strategic support in my business. I will always need energetic support and healing, because I am human. But because I am *actually* an expert in business, I TRULY do not need help in that arena. I can both be in the weeds AND get a birds eye view. Do I ever have questions? SURE! But business is my zone of genius. I don’t need a weekly meeting to support me. In fact, when I have sought business advice from traditional coaches, they have always, WITHOUT FAIL led me in the wrong direction. WITHOUT FAIL.
Why? Because their goals for me are different. They want me to have explosive growth. They would love to see me have sexy numbers and head turning headlines.
But that is not my goal. Right now, my goal is ease.
Right now, massive success to me looks like relishing these days while my kids are still little. Having the energy to be the mother and wife I want to be. Bringing home six-figures while helping women get to know who they really are. While helping women get to *their* six-figure business.
I’ve already hit all of my current goals in business, so instead of spending hours working on my marketing, meeting with my coaches, designing my ads, I’d rather help the women who come to me build their dreams.
It’s funny, because many of the comments in the thread asked, “Would you trust a dentist who needs their own dentist?” and I laughed, because of course my husband is a dentist. And I thought, “ok, let me play along with this line of thinking… obviously my husband can’t physically do dental work on himself so he needs a dentist for that. But What if my husband needed dental coaching. And he met with a dentist each week to discuss his care and practice and work. What would that look like?”
And there is merit in that. I’m sure he would become a better practitioner doing that. But that sort of thing doesn’t really exist in the dental world. Why? Because My husband is so busy in his dental practice SEEING PATIENTS that even though I’m sure he would LOVE mentorship since he’s only in his first year of practicing dentistry, he, AND THE OTHER MORE EXPERIENCED DENTISTS, don’t have the time! If there is a particularly tough case or he has some questions, he might just because he is a newbie go shadow a dentist for a few hours, but they are so busy DOING THEIR JOB that they are not constantly seeking an ‘eagles eye view’ into their dental work.
But you know what, dentists and all the other professions DO hire business coaches, because while dentistry (or physical therapy or healers or accountants or insert your career path here) is their area of expertise, business is not.
There is plenty of bread for us business coaches my friends- we do not have to resign ourselves to creating this incestusous market where we hire and coach each other… there are plenty of other types of businesses who will be glad to hire you IF you can get them results. (and that is the key)
Let me leave you with this final question → How many people do you know online who are DEEPLY, TRULY, AND FULLY SATISFIED with their lives?
Let’s normalize that. And if you’re a business coach, as in, you *say* business is your area of expertise, and you can’t get your business to that place, you may want to reconsider your calling.
If you’re not a business coach, and you are a healer who has an amazing area of expertise but needs support on the business side, and you are ok with a coach who is not going to make you gun for 7-figures but will support you in creating the life YOU WANT up to and including multiple six-figures, I’m your girl. You can find out more at theparttimeceo.com.
Chat soon CEOs
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