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Ask HN: Anyone ever had a business coach?

7 points by l33tbro 12y ago

Anyone ever had a business coach? Interested to hear the context and how you found the overall experience.

JacobAldridge 12y ago
Biased response - I am a business coach, and have used one as well. Happy to answer any questions if anyone has any. Warning: a LOT of a business coaches are a waste of money. I've been coaching around the world for 8 years, so must be doing something right, and even I would consider myself a poor investment for a non-funded startup. For larger, faster growing businesses, the problem with most business coaches is, well, 'coaching'. Pure coaching works from the assumption that the client knows everything, they just need the right questions to draw it out of them. In small business, that's complete BS. Most businesses are run by people who are good at what they do, not because they did an MBA and decide to go code / learn plumbing / become an architect. They need some direct business consulting expertise, and a coaching methodology to embed the key points so you're not constantly paying a consultant to come in and do the work for you. Some good articles: [1] http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/managing/are-business-coaches-a-waste-of-time-20140422-371gx.html http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/managing/are-business-c... [2] http://jacobaldridge.com/business/4-characteristics-of-great-business-coaches/ http://jacobaldridge.com/business/4-characteristics-of-great...
- l33tbro 12y ago
  Interesting. I'll have a look at these links. Same as anything I suppose - fossicking through the supply to weed out the charlatans for the people with substance and authenticity. I guess my questions are around extracting goals and milestones from people. I, probably like many you coach, have that problem of not being able to crystalise exactly what it is that I want. So would you say that helping someone find what they want is a big part of it?
  - JacobAldridge 12y ago
    would you say that helping someone find what they want is a big part of it? Absolutely - in fact, that's one of the few topics where pure coaching really can help, and it can usually be reached in 1-2 meetings (rather than signing up for a long course - see that first article for some lock-in rip offs).
TomSteck 12y ago
Yes, I had a professional coach and I find professional coaching process very useful, because it helps you to verify your own beliefs and actions, in a way you won't be able to do it yourself, neither with your friends or business partners. At the same time, I am aware that there are plenty of people that call themselves 'business/life/name-it coaches' having no idea what professional coaching is. If you are looking for an experienced and professional coach, first of all you should look for a person with accreditation of any big international coach organisation, e.g. ICF [1] is one of the biggest organisation that sets professional coaching standards. You should also understand how professional coaching differs from pseudo-coaching, so if a 'business coach' offers you to share their knowledge or give you an advice, they are NOT really a professional coach [2]. And this is the moment when you realize, that there is a profession called "professional coaching" and a life coaching, business coaching, executive coaching, etc. are only branding/marketing titles, and if a coach is certified/accredited by a large coaching organisation, they should use exactly the same tools to help their clients achieve their goals (regardless of their 'marketing title'). [1] http://www.coachfederation.org http://www.coachfederation.org [2] http://www.coachfederation.org/need/landing.cfm?ItemNumber=978&navItemNumber=567 http://www.coachfederation.org/need/landing.cfm?ItemNumber=9...

7 points by l33tbro 12y ago

Anyone ever had a business coach? Interested to hear the context and how you found the overall experience.

Biased response - I am a business coach, and have used one as well. Happy to answer any questions if anyone has any. Warning: a LOT of a business coaches are a waste of money. I've been coaching around the world for 8 years, so must be doing something right, and even I would consider myself a poor investment for a non-funded startup. For larger, faster growing businesses, the problem with most business coaches is, well, 'coaching'. Pure coaching works from the assumption that the client knows everything, they just need the right questions to draw it out of them. In small business, that's complete BS. Most businesses are run by people who are good at what they do, not because they did an MBA and decide to go code / learn plumbing / become an architect. They need some direct business consulting expertise, and a coaching methodology to embed the key points so you're not constantly paying a consultant to come in and do the work for you. Some good articles: [1] http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/managing/are-business-coaches-a-waste-of-time-20140422-371gx.html http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/managing/are-business-c... [2] http://jacobaldridge.com/business/4-characteristics-of-great-business-coaches/ http://jacobaldridge.com/business/4-characteristics-of-great...

l33tbro 12y ago
Interesting. I'll have a look at these links. Same as anything I suppose - fossicking through the supply to weed out the charlatans for the people with substance and authenticity. I guess my questions are around extracting goals and milestones from people. I, probably like many you coach, have that problem of not being able to crystalise exactly what it is that I want. So would you say that helping someone find what they want is a big part of it?
- JacobAldridge 12y ago
  would you say that helping someone find what they want is a big part of it? Absolutely - in fact, that's one of the few topics where pure coaching really can help, and it can usually be reached in 1-2 meetings (rather than signing up for a long course - see that first article for some lock-in rip offs).

TomSteck 12y ago

Yes, I had a professional coach and I find professional coaching process very useful, because it helps you to verify your own beliefs and actions, in a way you won't be able to do it yourself, neither with your friends or business partners. At the same time, I am aware that there are plenty of people that call themselves 'business/life/name-it coaches' having no idea what professional coaching is. If you are looking for an experienced and professional coach, first of all you should look for a person with accreditation of any big international coach organisation, e.g. ICF [1] is one of the biggest organisation that sets professional coaching standards. You should also understand how professional coaching differs from pseudo-coaching, so if a 'business coach' offers you to share their knowledge or give you an advice, they are NOT really a professional coach [2]. And this is the moment when you realize, that there is a profession called "professional coaching" and a life coaching, business coaching, executive coaching, etc. are only branding/marketing titles, and if a coach is certified/accredited by a large coaching organisation, they should use exactly the same tools to help their clients achieve their goals (regardless of their 'marketing title'). [1] http://www.coachfederation.org http://www.coachfederation.org [2] http://www.coachfederation.org/need/landing.cfm?ItemNumber=978&navItemNumber=567 http://www.coachfederation.org/need/landing.cfm?ItemNumber=9...