Do You Need a Business Coach?

As a small business owner and serial entrepreneur, I do a lot of networking and meet lots of other local business owners. They range from tiny sole proprietorships to corporations at the larger end of the small business spectrum. What do they have in common? They are all willing to take at least some steps, like networking, to make their business better. What they don't have in common is a definition of good business management practices and how to go about putting them in place. Another thing they have in common, for the most part, is the sense of living in chaos. As the person who is primarily responsible for business management decisions, whether or not they have a staff to help get the work done, many business owners feel that they spend their days, nights and weekends putting out fires to keep their business running. I doubt that long hours and less profit than they had hoped for is what they signed up for when they decided to open their own business. So, what's a small business owner to do? There are plenty of books available on business management and marketing, and many of them are quite good. The problem is that when you read a book and you are already a busy person, the tendency is to have a lot of "aha moments" while reading, but never implement the ideas. There are also a lot of seminars available, ranging from brief, free presentations given by business development groups to high end conferences offered by the biggest names in business. Unfortunately, while the concepts may be great and the speakers may be inspiring, once the business owner gets back to real life, the daily grind wears away their resolve and all that they learned becomes static knowledge instead of a plan of action. Of course, there are some self-starters who can stay motivated and follow through, but they are a fairly rare breed. So, if the answer isn't books and it isn't a seminar or conference, what is it? It seems the shortest route from good business management ideas to the implementation of a good business management program is to bring accountability into the picture. How do you do that? Well, you could buddy up with a friend, if you have a friend who is also a business owner and is reliable enough to follow through with the plan. Or you can hire a business coach. Business coaches get paid to coach you from the sidelines, just like a baseball coach. They don't do the work for you, but they support and encourage you to learn and grow and go through the process for yourself. The biggest problem with a business coach is the cost. Business coaching can typically cost you anywhere from $500 to $5,000 a month. For a company that can afford it, a good business coach can be a great investment. But what about for small businesses that can't afford a business coach? Are they doomed to continue doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results? Not anymore! Now there is Surge Business Growth Engine. Surge is a business improvement club that brings together the best of business coaching, business education, community and other benefits in a group setting, so we can offer it to our members at a fraction of the cost of individual business coaching. We teach the best business management principles, bring business owners together to brainstorm on solving each others problems and keep them accountable to applying what they've learned and reaching the goals they have set. We also address personal development, helping our members to overcome the obstacles they set up for themselves when they operate on incorrect premises and negative thinking. And at the end of the year's program, they might even be eligible for one of our in-house grants to help them fund the great ideas they've come up with during the year. Surge Business Growth Engine meets in Melville on a flexible schedule. Learn more at www.surgebiz.com.