When Beth asked me to write a guest blog on ‘the difference a business mentor can have on agency’s (or person’s) success’, my first reaction was, ‘yikes’. I didn’t share that and obviously rose to the challenge. As a coach, I guess there’s a lot of expectation riding on this, isn’t there? I’m imagining who’s reading this, and you’re probably expecting me to share something hugely insightful.
Let me try to oblige. There is coaching, there is personal and business mentoring. And while there are dictionary definitions of both, let me try explain the concepts from my point of view.
On one level or another, we’re all at point A. Wherever that is for is for each of us is ok. We’re standing on one side of a bridge and we want to cross over and get to point B. Point A is where we are now and point B, over the bridge is where your goals are. There are going to be obstacles between point A and point B, because that’s life. Mentoring can help you navigate your way around, over or through those obstacles.
Sounds super simple, right? Well, the thing you don’t realise is that when you’re standing at point A and you want to push to point B, there’s an invisible elastic band around your waist. You feel that resistance as many things, maybe procrastination. You experience it in many forms, such has limiting beliefs or past failures. It manifests as a raft of things that have kept you from achieving your goals and kept you stuck at point A. Coaching can help you break that elastic band (or at least make it a little longer so it’s not puling you backwards so hard).
Throughout my years in business and decade of owning an agency, I hired business coaches. And they didn’t get it. They had a few tricks up their sleeves to produce some quick wins or land some “low hanging fruit”. I even remember one coach who let slip about their tactics to keep me consciously incompetent so that I become reliant on them because, well, I was their meal ticket. I’ve also done enough Tony Robbins events and coaching to know that most of the time the “gurus” tell you to set a goal, have a clear ‘why’, and take action. Sadly so many people do those things but still don’t get closer to point B. Why? Because no one deals with the invisible elastic band.
Thing is, for a long time calling myself a coach hasn’t felt very comfortable. There’s a lot of fakery, fuckery and manipulation out there. That kind of shit makes you wonder if coaching is legit or if it is in fact one big fat scam.
Fortunately, I believe from my own experience of coaching clients and working with some amazing coaches today, there’s real transformation that can occur.
I’m not just saying that because I’m a coach. Coachees report increase in confidence, work performance, better relationships. And according to Forbes, one in six entrepreneurs turn to coaching to improve their businesses. Since 2019, searches for coaches have grown by 51% so there’s an upward trend people are definitely catching onto.
Whatever you’re trying to do in your agency, whether that’s increase your revenue, decrease your doubt or get the team in flow, working with a coach can help you move forward further and faster. There’s an old saying, “if you want to go fast go alone but if you want to go far go together” and that really rings true.
It’s important to realise that there are different seasons to business, sometimes you’re in a season of growth and sometimes you’re building systems and processes to prepare for growth. There are foundation blocks to put down and at times you need to work on the business, marketing, sales strategy, people strategies or on a combination of things which is challenging. Leading, growing the business and growing your skillset as a leader of the business all need to be in pace with each other.
As an agency leader, you’re responsible for the company’s vision and direction and that needs to be chunked into strategies and tactics. That much is in your control. Where agencies lose control and become vulnerable is execution. That’s the one variable that when inconsistency strikes, it keeps business owners up at night.
The role of a coach or business mentor, should help you gain and keep clarity on the goals, and where you’re headed, keep you focused and accountable while offering expertise, perspective and objectivity to navigate the obstacles and ditch the elastic band.
A coach who understands the phases of business and execution can provide the strategies, structure, action steps and accountability to achieve your goals on purpose.
If you think a coach or business mentor is what you need for where you are right now, set an intention and a goal for what you want out of the partnership. To make a difference for you it has to be about you.
I hope this blog has shed some light on how business mentoring or coaching can help you in your agency or further your agency business. I’m happy to answer any questions or do a follow-up post on what to look for when hiring a coach if we get enough interest. So ask away….
Contact Sian about coaching and how she can help your agecny as a business mentor.