Struggling to overcome challenges and meet your goals? It may be time to hire a life coach. Read on to find out what is a life coach and when you should consider hiring one to help with your business.
Far more than a personal cheerleader, a life coach is a professional who counsels you on how to overcome personal and professional challenges and meet your goals. These goals might be to take a business to the next level, boost your confidence or improve work-life balance. Whatever form the coaching takes, a life coach usually takes a more holistic approach than a business coach. A life coach focuses not only on your business, but on how business decisions can help you become more fulfilled in your personal life.
Having a life coach is sometimes dismissed offhand as a new age concept. But studies show that life coaches can measurably improve leadership, productivity and interpersonal skills. Among study participants who underwent coaching for the 2009 Global Coaching Client Study:
These improvements can benefit business leaders across industries. Once you improve your business and social acumen through life coaching, they carry into your professional and personal life. This means you can make better business decisions, use your time more wisely and create the life you imagine for yourself. Personal and professional fulfillment, is, after all, the reason why many people go into business in the first place. The secondary benefit of a life coach is gaining a reliable partner whom you can trust to objectively advise you. Small business owners, especially solo entrepreneurs, often face everyday challenges alone. A life coach can give you the fresh outside perspective you need for your business to overcome a hurdle and move forward.
Before hiring a life coach, it's important to identify what you hope to achieve from coaching. In the course of running a business, there are a number of situations that could benefit from the counseling of a life coach. These include:
If you're facing these or other similar situations, consider hiring a life coach. Keep in mind that you should be prepared to honestly express your concerns and shortcomings to your coach and readily accept feedback. This will allow you to put in place meaningful changes in your life and business.