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James Pagano is a Certified Executive Coach with a focus on small business. Since 2013 James has brought his executive-level performance coaching processes and professional insight to small business owners and self-employed entrepreneurs. He loves the spirit and growth mindset his clients bring to their partnership, allowing them to work alongside each other to pursue sustainable improvement in business success and personal fulfillment. James is also a DISC Certified Behavioral Consultant since 2015. DISC Style: ISC.
As business owners, we have a lot of interesting behaviors. We’re entrepreneurs. It’s almost a requirement to be a bit “different” in the way we think and approach our professional endeavors. One common theme of business owners is that we love to talk to ourselves. We do it all the time. While getting ready for our day in the morning, driving to our office or appointments, sitting at our desks… you get the idea. The fact is, we talk to ourselves… a lot. One topic that may have made its way into those “conversations” with yourself is the idea of hiring a business coach. But for some reason, although the topic keeps popping up on the agenda, you push it aside, dismiss it as unnecessary, and talk yourself out of it before it becomes a serious consideration.
Business owners have common biases they use for not hiring a coach:
Excuse number one: “I’ve gotten this far without outside assistance; I can certainly continue to succeed on my own.”
You are probably correct…to a certain extent. You have made it “this” far. But I would like to challenge your thinking and consider how often you hear stories of self-made successes. They seem to be plentiful, but if you peel back the layers and reveal the truth behind those self-made successes, you will discover something remarkable. They surround themselves with other resources for advice, counsel, perspective, and coaching. The bottom line here is that you will rarely experience success truly on your own. Plenty of books on the subjects of professional and personal development will echo this same sentiment. And plenty of top-name business executives, entrepreneurs, and athletes would share the same truth behind their success.
Yes, you have made it “this” far, but challenge yourself to embrace the input of others to get to that next level.
Excuse number two: “Nobody knows my business as I do.”
True. And probably tough to argue, but that is not the point of hiring a coach. In fact, a coach should not approach the engagement with the attitude of knowing more than you about what you do. A business coach should offer you his/her perspective and objectivity that adds value to your specific industry knowledge. This perspective can help pull you up and out of your business’s everyday details and push you to “see” things through a different lens and from another angle. Let’s face it, you are in your business every day, and it’s not just from 9 to 5, it’s always on. And that can often push you to be too close sometimes; becoming mired in the details and potentially losing sight of the horizon.
Yes, you know your business. And you will most likely know your business better than your coach. But don’t allow industry knowledge to prevent you from hearing another perspective of the bigger picture.
Excuse number three: “I have my goals and know what I need to do to achieve them.”
If the statement above rings true, I applaud you. Setting goals is rarer than you would think. Many people don’t do it, and fewer people make it an on-going practice to initiate the actions and habits to achieve them. Here is one of the more valuable reasons to align yourself with the right business coach: accountability.
In addition to your coach being a resource to help you define the most meaningful goals for you and your business, he/she will hold you accountable to them. They will partner with you to see them through to their completion. Your coach will help you navigate around the obstacles that inevitably will pop up along the way, and will be there to remind you why you put those goals on paper in the first place.
Accountability. I hear this over and over again from my clients as a top reason we work together. When you are at the top of your organization running your business, it’s tough to realize the value outside accountability can truly offer.
I know you will continue to talk to yourself. Please don’t lose that. It’s part of entrepreneurship. But I would like to encourage you to listen to yourself a bit more as well. Pursue conversations with trusted sources, welcome outside perspective, and embrace accountability.
Being in business for yourself doesn’t mean you need to do it alone.
Learn more about James and connect with him at www.JamesPagano.com
