What Makes a Great Business Coach?? ... Oh, and BTW I am Offering a Deal ...

If the wedding and lifestyle industry were just 'like all the rest' I wouldn't have started The Editor's Touch .. there wouldn't be a demand for it!  The wedding industry is a special industry ... it's completely different than anything else and that is why you, as a wedding or lifestyle professional, need to be VERY SELECTIVE with who you hire to help guide and mold your company.

>> Let's Chat Business Coaching <<

The term 'business coach' is new to me and I find that funny because I realize now that I have ALWAYS been one!  When I ran Style Unveiled one of my favorite things to do was create brainstorm babies with the paying advertisers of SU ... to introduce them to other wedding pros - and to tell them about other advertising options for them << yes, I completely supported other wedding blogs while I ran Style Unveiled.  I made it my business to know things ... to understand this industry by region ... to get to know all the other wedding blog editors out there so I could be educated on: who offers what? what blogs focus on what? what other wedding pros would be a good fit for XYZ??  Knowing is power - and I am 'in the know' ... So what is a business coach??

If I Google 'business coach definition' and pull from the first thing that pops up, I get this:

Business coaching is the practice of providing support and occasional advice to an individual or group in order to help them recognize ways in which they can improve the effectiveness of their business. Business coaches work to improve leadership, employee accountability, teamwork, sales, communication, goal setting, strategic planning and more. It can be provided in a number of ways, including one-on-one tuition, group coaching sessions and large scale seminars. Business coaches are often called in when a business is perceived to be performing badly, however many businesses recognize the benefits of business coaching even when the organization is successful. Business coaches often specialize in different practice areas such as executive coaching, corporate coaching and leadership coaching.

Ok, sounds good ... that's fine ... but WHO should be a business coach??  Can just anyone who went to business school be one?  In my opinion the following criteria make for a great business coach for a wedding or lifestyle professional:

1. Someone Who Has Been Actively Working in the Industry:  When you are on the prowl to find a good business coach you need to ask them what they have accomplished in your industry.  Have they worked closely with other wedding pros?  Have they owned their own wedding focused company?  Do they know about wedding blogs and magazines?  Ask them questions to narrow down if they can even chit chat with you about current wedding trends!  This is super important.
2. Someone Who Has Owned Their Own Company:  Running a company is something you can only understand if you have actually started your own company.  It's not really something you can explain to someone and expect to get great advice ... 
3. Someone Who Has Created or Been Involved in a Produced Photo Shoot:  Weird that I bring this up?? Not really.  When you hire a business coach to help mold your wedding focused business they need to be able to come up with great ideas and think outside the box ... you need someone who 'gets it' and one of the important things these days is creating shoots that help you show off your craft.  If you hire a business coach who doesn't understand the importance of a styled shoot or an editorial shoot then you will be explaining these things to them when what you really want are bomb-ass ideas ;)
4. Someone Who Understands Social Media:  DUH.  Social media is IT these days!  A great business coach will know how to quickly come up with ways to grow your social media following and have great ideas on how to capture the attention of your audience!
5. Someone Who Has Their Own Blog:  Do you think I'm crazy??  I'm not!  If you are looking to grow your company then you need to be able to hear ideas that will actually GROW your company ... one of the best ways I know how to do that is with a great blog.  If you are able to talk to your business coach about your blog and brainstorm some great blog post ideas together you will feel confident to attack your blog and publish some posts!
6. Someone Who Thinks on Their Toes:  This is very important.  Great business coaches need to be able to think fast ... to come up with ideas on the fly!  Creative juices need to flow during your session - otherwise you are paying by the hour for a lot of 'hmmm, I'm not sure' << and that won't help anybody.

Do you feel like I am being a brat right now??  I promise I'm not.  I just get super annoyed when I hear from my clients that their last business coach said things like: 'yeah, I'd just Google that and see what comes up' or 'you could browse Style Me Pretty for ideas' or 'there are some great books about making business relationships stronger on Amazon.com' << and these are actual things that my clients tell me their last "business coach" told them to do!!  I say f*ck that!!  If you are paying someone good money by the hour you want ACTUAL IDEAS - REAL ADVICE ... I can Google stuff until I'm blue in the face - but that's not why I'd hire someone.

My advice??  Before you hire someone to coach you ask them if you can get a 'freebie' 5 minutes ... call it a warm up ;)  Ask them a tough question and see where it takes you ... I know that when my clients and I are jamming on a coaching session I am pacing my floors and all sorts of awesome happens ... my clients leave the call feeling EXCITED(!!!) and ready to attack ideas.  If you jump on a call with someone you are considering hiring and you feel scared, intimidated, shamed, or like what they really want to do is show off how 'smart' they are and not really help you at all: get off the phone ;)

>> Oh, yeah ... I'm offering a deal <<

With engagement season literally 2 weeks away (lots of proposals on Thanksgiving!!!) I want to offer a little deal to my readers ... I currently charge $100 an hour for my business coaching sessions ... it's one of my favorite things to do!!  In light of this blog post today I'm going to offer 2 one hour sessions for $150 to anyone who wants to come on board.  Just fill out the form below and we'll get you on the schedule!  No better time than RIGHT NOW to get your batteries charged ... HIRING SEASON is upon us!

XO~ Heather