Hello, this is Uriah from Productive Therapist, and this is The Benefits of Business Coaching. I wanted to record a quick episode and share with you a couple of my experiences with business coaching over the years, and I hope you find it helpful!
So I started my practice in 2008, and I would say that I’ve been taking advantage of business coaching off and on over the last about 10 years, and it’s been tremendously helpful.
In fact, if I step back and think about the things that have made the biggest difference in my business over the years, two things come to mind: one-to-one business coaching and mastermind groups, both peer-led masterminds and also paid ones that I’ve been in.
So I’m a huge believer in business coaching, so much so that I now offer that service through The Productive Therapist as well, which is exciting. So three things that I think are great benefits:
- Clarity
- Strategy
- Accountability
So Clarity, especially in the beginning, was tremendously helpful for me to figure out who I was as a clinician, who I wanted to serve, what my niche was, all of these things, right, that we all struggle with to some degree and how to communicate that well to my community. So talking with my business coach just helped me understand my vision, understand my identity as a therapist and as a business person in private practice.
#2: Strategy. How to do the things. So the clarity is helpful to figure out what you want and how and where you want to go, but without strategy, you don’t really have a map. So I’ve always valued coaches that help me figure out what the next steps are as practical as possible and as simple as possible as well, because things can get confusing.
So # 1 clarity, # 2 strategy, and #3: Accountability. Accountability specifically that leads to results. And that’s what you really want when you’re hiring a business coach. You don’t want to just “learn and grow,” you actually want to move the needle towards your goals and make some progress!
So a lot of coaches do focus on sort of motivation and mindset. I think those things are really key, but for me, the strategy has always been a priority.
And now, more than ever with my current business coach, we focus on the how-tos, the practical, the “what next” type of things. So clarity, strategy, and accountability that leads to results.
And a funny quick story!
Years and years ago when I was working with my very first business coach, I think in one year, the first year that I worked with her, I totaled it up and I paid her about $3,000, which is still a lot of money to me, but back then it was even more money!
And I remember at some point along that process, I told my wife how much I had spent on business coaching, and she was kind of shocked and taken back. But the nice thing about that was that I was able to come back to her and show her that I invested (right? Keyword “invest” 🙂 ). I invested $3,000 in my personal growth and development in business, and that turned into $30,000 of additional income that year!
So it was hard for her to argue with that 🙂
My wife is usually right, by the way, but in this situation, I was able to show her that it was a good investment and that it really did give us a good return on investment!
So clarity, strategy, and accountability.
Also, two things that I look for in a coach?
# 1: I want to work with somebody who has achieved the results that I want.
And then #2 like I said before, I want a focus on strategy and less kind of the motivation mindset, general, you know, encouragement-type of coaching. Those two things are really key.
I think #1 is super important because obviously you want to get guidance and direction and help from somebody who’s already been there, who has walked the path and can show you the way and really be a guide for you there.
So the good thing and the tricky part is that there are so many business coaches out there for therapists specifically!
The first recommendation to you actually is to go to productivetherapist.com/master, and there you will find our Master Resource List. And on there, there are a ton of services, virtual assistant businesses, insurance billing companies, etc. There’s also a section for business coaches, and these are all specific coaches for therapists. And you’ll find I don’t know, I haven’t looked recently, it’s probably 15 to 20 different options!
I encourage you to take a look and try to find a coach that really speaks to you and who you feel like will really help you. So that’s the first one.
And then the second one is, if you’re interested in figuring out what you want to do next with your business, I’ve actually become a Fix This Next advisor, which is Mike Michalowicz’s framework for figuring out the core need of your business, and then figuring out the strategy that you want to work on to achieve that.
So you can check out the Fix This Next coaching sessions with me!
Lastly, I wanted to share that I’m going to have an exciting coaching-related announcement in late 2020.
So stick around, listen to the podcast if you are curious about that, especially if you want to clarify your message and figure out marketing strategies that really work.
So with that, I’m going to wrap up this episode. I hope you found it helpful. If you are looking to go further, faster, get clarity, strategy, and accountability, I recommend one-on-one business coaching. It’s worth the investment. You don’t need to work with me, of course, but find somebody that you really connect with and that you believe in that can help take you to your goals.
Thanks for listening. Have a great day.
