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Business Coaching

August 13, 2006

Q- I am looking for a new business to start and have come up with the idea of becoming a business coach. It seems so profitable by many of the business Web sites that I have gone to. I enjoy talking with people and being around them and I have owned my own business in another state. Is this idea worth pursuing as I will have to quit a very good job to do this?

Like most things, if it looks too good, it probably is.

Relying on the advice of Web sites that are selling you some program or a business plan is not a good idea. These sites are promoting their own products and generally their concern is with their own interest and not necessarily with yours. Additionally, there are many great sources of information that can guide you into this market very inexpensively.

While more and more businesses are turning to business coaches, which is a great trend, they generally go with people they know or with whom they are acquainted because these are the people they know they can trust. Trying to break into this market is very tough, especially if you are not widely known and respected in the community.

As with most start-up businesses there is a long time between when you start-up and when the business becomes profitable. It has been my experience that this normally takes two to three years so you must have the cash to carry you over this initial period of time.

One great ways to mitigate the stress of a start-up is by embarking on the new venture on a part-time basis. That will let you determine whether you like what you are planning to do and whether you have a service for which people are willing to pay.

One of the things that I would be concerned with is how relevant your experience in running your own business will be when it comes to many different types of business. If you were in a service-oriented business, for example, trying to coach a manufacturing or distribution business is going to be very tough.

One thing to remember: most people are not going to look for a business coach through the yellow pages. Rather, they are going to rely on their own network and their peers to guide them to potential coaches. Consequently, you need to have some presence in the community so that you can build up the necessary relationships. This does take some time but can certainly be done.

A great book for you to get is The Business and Practice of Coaching: Finding Your Niche, Making Money, and Attracting Ideal Clients by Lynn Grodzki and Wendy Allen. This book takes you step by step through what you need to start a business like this.

Overall, this is a tough market to enter because finding potential clients is so tough. I would strongly recommend that you find something that is not so dependent on relationships and knowledge for starting a business. Since you have run another business, I know you can find something that has a shorter time to the break-even point and that is much easier to break into than business coaching.