Should you hire a Business Coach?

We’ve all heard the expression "it takes a village to raise a child." We think it takes a village to raise your business, too. We can all use help thinking about strategy, sourcing suppliers, contemplating marketing initiatives and more. When we’re stumped at Admiral Road, we routinely turn to other mom entrepreneurs for help, as well as former business school professors and smart self-employed guys that we know, not to mention friends and family members.

While this informal system works for us, there are many entrepreneurs who swear by using a business coach to help them strategize and address business issues. Hiring a business coach means entering into a formal mentoring relationship where you pay an expert for her time and expertise. The question is, is it worth it?

Here’s what a business coach can do for you:

• View your business through a filter of experience and objectivity.
• Ask you questions that will help you see the issues in your business more clearly.
• Help you make tough decisions and develop an action plan.
  
• An outlet for discussing your business.
• Can be someone to whom you are accountable for getting things done.
  

That being said, there are a few things they can't do for you. A business coach can’t hold your hand every second. While they can help you figure out what to do, they can’t do it for you. They won’t be responsible if it doesn’t work out. Compare it to hiring a personal trainer. Using their expertise, a personal trainer will create a plan that addresses your particular fitness goals. They will work out with you regularly and they’ll answer questions and provide encouragement. But they're not going to get on the treadmill for you. And they can’t control what you eat or how often you work out. The same goes for a business coach – ultimately the results are up to you.

Another consideration is the cost. Business coaching isn’t cheap. You can sometimes get packages of sessions, or work with an online coach via email or phone, either individually or in a group setting. A one-on-one session can run you $100 to $200 per hour (sometimes more). It’s definitely pricey, especially for a small business, but if it helps you achieve real results quickly, it just may be worth it.

If business coaching sounds like it’s for you, your best bet is to ask around and get a recommendation from a friend or colleague. If that doesn’t turn up anything, you can try the International Coaching Federation or findacoach.com.

Finally, not all business coaches are created equal. Just as you’d want to hire a personal trainer who was in great shape, with years of experience and lots of satisfied clients, you’ll want to be sure that your business coach is the real deal. Ask lots of questions and, if you can, speak to former clients before making the investment.

Do you have any experiences with business coaching? We’d love to hear about them.

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Why it Pays to Plan

Recently, due to the G20 Summit, summitting has been all over the news. The goal of the G20 is not about quick fixes for complex problems, rather it's an opportunity to raise issues and plan how to tackle them.

While on a different scale, businesses also have complex problems that require thought and planning. When you own your own business, planning is essential. As a business owner, it’s very easy to drift off-course, reacting to daily business life without thinking about the bigger picture.

We are strong believers in writing a business plan. (Never did one? Take the time now – there are lots of resources online to help you get started, like this one from Ernst & Young.) However, there’s a big difference between a business plan and business planning. Although it's an invaluable exercise, your business plan pretty much becomes obsolete the minute you finish it – targets move, goals change, realities set in. This is where business planning comes in. The only way you’ll keep your business plan alive is with ongoing planning.

At Admiral Road, we didn’t hit our stride right away. There was so much we had to learn just to get a blanket out the door – how to make one, how to ship one, where to find our customers. And while we had spent the time on a comprehensive business plan out of the gate, regular ongoing planning definitely took a back seat. Then, about two years in, we had what we called the G2 Summit. (That would be the two of us!) We sat down and talked about our priorities for the business and began to look at our business in a new way. We made a plan for the coming 12 months and then executed it. A year later, we had another G2 Summit and made a new to-do list for the year ahead. Annual planning was a huge change for us. It helped us clarify our goals, which meant we were better prepared for whatever came our way.

Down the road, we moved to monthly plans and weekly check-ins. We set goals. We assign responsibility. And we move forward. Don’t have a partner? Have a G1 Summit. It helps you learn about your business, how the various parts work together, and how it might evolve.
Running a business is definitely a trip – and we all know that trips are a lot more fun when you’ve got a road map. All you need to do is follow it.

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Myths about Mom Entrepreneurship

So much has been written about mom entrepreneurship over the past few years. It’s a great choice for women – providing the best of both worlds – a blend of work and family. We wonder though, whether some of the less than perfect aspects of mom entrepreneurship have been glossed over in the media. So, from time to time, we’re going to do our best to shine some light on mom entrepreneurship myths.

Myth #1: Mom entrepreneurs get to spend lots of time with their kids.

Well, technically speaking this isn’t necessarily a myth. We do spend lots more time with our kids than we would if we worked for someone else. After all, that’s the whole point, right? We work carpool-to-carpool, and we wouldn’t trade that for the world.

The myth is about the quality of time we spend with our kids. Being a mom entrepreneur means that you always have something to do. So, even while you’ve scheduled “kid time,” it can be awfully hard to tune out the endless business to-do list running in the back of your mind. For example, we’re around with our kids after school – but we’re checking our BlackBerry and taking calls – and that’s on a good day. If there’s a business crisis, then all bets are off with respect to mommyhood. We may be sitting at the table with our kids for an after school snack – but so is our laptop.

And it can be hard for the kids to understand how it is that we’re home, but not available to them in the way they’d like us to be. We are not available to play Candyland again (mixed blessing on that one) and we may be only half listening to the endless discussion about Obi Wan and his cunning use of the Force. On the other hand, we are around to kiss a boo-boo better, to negotiate sibling scraps, and to listen when things didn’t go well at school. At the end of the day, we hope that they remember those things more than they remember the laptop and the phone calls.

We think that mom entrepreneurship is about having the things you want most. Sometimes we’re a little envious of the nine to five moms who can leave work behind, and also of the stay-at-home moms who are truly focused on their kids. For us and our families though, and maybe for you and yours, the balance generally works and we can’t think of an arrangement that would work better.

Read more of Amy and Danielle's business tips on Sweet Mama's "Ask an Expert"