What's the difference between business coaching and
business mentoring?
As a coach in training we are taught the rather purist
"elicit their greatness" stuff, of which I am a big fan
when I coach. I believe in my clients (often rather more
so than they do in themselves) and their coach believes
they already have all the answers inside and frequently
they do, especially about "problems" such as lack of focus,
how you procrastinate, why you don't practise extreme
self-care, why it's different for you (yeah, right) and so
on.
But this is all rather different when it comes to money and
business. Because, of course, you don't know all the
answers do you?, You haven't necessarily got the wisdom
innately just lurking inside you waiting for a business
coach to ignite it, although sometimes when ignition
happens you might easily say to me "oh yes, I knew that"
and sometimes you mean instinctively. But remember,
knowing isn't all we need. We want action as well. And a
coach will get you into action by providing accountability.
And a business mentor doesn't necessarily know all the
answers either, does she? No, but she might know a darned
sight more than you, especially after years of experience
of running her own businesses and those of her business
clients. She might indeed be a Wise Old Bird. And if
she doesn't know, she not only knows a man who does, but
she can frequently get you an appointment to speak with him
and he will be delighted to help you too, as many
successful people love to do.
So, what DOES a Business Mentor know?
• Why it's important to invest in you first, as the finest
asset of your business.
• Time-saving and money-saving shortcuts.
• How to get useful stuff done, how to stop spinning your
wheels.
• Better ways of doing business which will get you the
results you want faster, the results we all want - more
money from less work and pronto.
• Lots of other people who have done what you are trying to
do, who may be willing to give you a leg up, or at least
some useful information which will save you time and make
you more money.
• How to understand accounts. How to teach you to read
your own without making you feel dim.
• How, when and why to outsource which tasks, how to do
that when you think you can't afford to and who to trust
with your tasks.
• How to give you an appropriate kick up the arse when you
need it.
• How to create wealth in your business, how to devise your
own exit strategy and why that's important while you are
still lovin' it, how to create a Business to Love and
what's lovable about a business.
• How to achieve perspective, plan for success and play a
bigger game.
• How to E-Myth it by creating robust systems and how to
work a 4-Hour Workweek.
• How to become a great leader and how to communicate
cleanly.
• How to fix your business if it's broken and how to ditch
it and start again when it can't be mended and why that's
not only OK, but easy and desirable and how to do it.
• Really cool ways that other people are making money in
business, from which you can learn and grow faster.
• How to overcome your fear of success AND your fear of
failure.
• When to push and when to pull.
• Lots of woo woo stuff which makes your task even easier
if you will surrender to the magic.
• How to keep you in The Zone - the place where you perform
best, where everything is effortless.
• Lots of tools which take a load off.
• How you will manifest your success.
• How to license your business across the country, and who
to go to if you want to franchise it.
• How to get out of your day job, or the job you have
created for yourself by becoming self-employed, a job which
is far worse because of the dreary pay and conditions!
• Which courses to go on, what books to read thus saving
you time and money
• The immense value of a Mastermind team and how you can
add value to one you join.
• How to get clear for take-off and landing
(clutter-clearing mentally and in every which way)
• Simply? What works.
"Gosh, Judith! Do I really need to learn all that?" No,
you don't. You get to pick and choose from the tools in
your business mentor's toolbox, the ones you need right
now. I could go on, but a bigger list is not necessarily a
better list as we all know, especially with our short
attention spans, us Entrepreneurs! But are you starting
to imagine the combined power of a business mentor and a
business coach? Va va voom. And just imagine her on YOUR
team!
For starters, here's a tip I learned only yesterday from a
trusted and admired colleague about motivation. Did you
know there are three elements to motivation? No, me
either until yesterday and actually I have always preferred
inspiration to motivation but now that I understand this
concept, I can see why I did. The three parts to
motivation are direction, effort and persistence. And you
might have one or even two, but without your three ducks in
a row, you ain't going very far are you, in fact it's
probably exhausting you.
So, how will a combination of business mentoring and
coaching skills will help you find your mojo? My personal
experiences in the past have been that I am often a tad
worried about stepping up to the plate, so a challenge
isn't always the best thing for me, in fact it can be
terrifyingly disabling. And I frequently know I should do
something, but we don't trade in shoulds in coaching, only
wants and you always know what you want, deep down and a
good coach WILL elicit that! And then finally when I come
across someone who has what I want and knows who and what I
need to know to get there, and has a gentle and provocative
style of helping me achieve those things, and I'm in, like
Flynn.
Are you ready, too? Yup, thought so.
Talk to a business coach and mentor and allow them to
listen to you explain about your vision and what you
really, really want and then trust them to find endless
ways to teach, share, encourage, support, cheerlead, nudge,
cajole, inspire, motivate, mentor and coach you into the
success you deserve and want with your business plans for a
happier, healthier, wealthier life. Especially a wealthier
one. Oh, and did I mention? It'll be fun!
----------------------------------------------------
Judith Morgan is a business mentor and coach, serial
entrepreneur and accountant who provides really useful
support, resources and advice to others in small business.
Judith runs an online members club called Lonely
Entrepreneur and teaches business skills to speed up your
journey to business success and wealth.
http://www.JudithMorgan.com