No matter how good your business is, it could always be better. As the saying goes, nobody is smarter than everybody. Hiring a business coach is a great way for any business to work out how to improve anything from sales to staff management. If you’re a small business owner, there are three telltale signs that you could particularly benefit from this kind of help.
- You are overworked and burning out
One Gallup poll revealed that the average small business owner works for 52 hours per week, with 39% clocking up over 60 hours. We get it. Your business is your baby; it’s good to be prepared to invest time and effort into it. If you’ve forgotten the last time you took a vacation or finished work before midnight, it’s worth stepping back and taking an objective look at why this is happening.
If you’re spending too much time working, you’re probably not using your time as productively as you could be. Nobody’s at their most productive when they’re tired. Working with a small business coach can help you take a second look at how you use your time, helping you to review what you do on a daily basis and consider how you can alter processes within the organization (improving delegation, etc.).
- You lack clear long-term goals
One thing that’s particularly important to get right is formalizing your responsibilities and priorities as head of the business and making sure everyone else knows what they’re doing. If you don’t have a written set of plans and priorities or a sense of division of labor within the business, you’re going to struggle to grow your business and make it a success.
A small business coach can help you to make these things concrete and cement them in place. Having some targets makes you accountable for fulfilling them and clearing up who is responsible for what should help you de-clog your workstream. Another added bonus of business coaching is that it can help you to work on leadership skills, whatever your current ability level, ensuring that the workforce is with you and working to a common end.
- You have lost the love
23% of owners give pursuing their passion as the reason for starting their business. A failing business is often a lot like a failing marriage: the spark’s gone, and you don’t know how to get it back. If you’ve lost the passion for your business, it can be easy to get stuck in a rut. However, the answer to marital problems isn’t always divorce. Getting some outside help can allow you to reinvigorate the business, whether this is by strategizing about areas for growth or working out how you can reorient the business towards a slightly different market.
Disrupting the day-to-day running of your business can be daunting, but with some good advice from a small business coach, you could make some big changes and renew your passion before you know it. The best business coaches will remind you why you wanted to start your business in the first place.
