Why Entrepreneurs Need Coaches More than Consultants

Whenever they find themselves in an uncomfortable or unfamiliar situation, a lot of entrepreneurs immediately decide to hire consultants. This provides their business with a one-time boon to their operations. However, the next time a similar scenario occurs, the only course of action is to hire some more consultants. On the other hand, hiring a business coach may be a more sustainable scenario, due to the fact that it helps you become more self-reliant and capable. Here are five more reasons why entrepreneurs need coaches more than consultants.

Getting outside of your comfort zone

Being an entrepreneur means constantly being ready to face new challenges. While consultants are there to handle the issue for you or, at very least, suggest an optimal course of action, coaches are there to teach you how to handle the situation itself. A good business coach can make these administrative tasks a lot easier to handle and give you a chance to learn, not the patterns but the techniques for handling unique situations. Sure, this will take you out of your comfort zone. However, in the business world, there is no place for comfort zones, to begin with.

Honest feedback and opinion

The next thing you need to understand is the fact that your employees might be too afraid of you to correct you or tell you when you’re doing something wrong. A good business coach will help you get through this. The worst thing with bad business practices is the fact that, over the course of time, you’ll get so used to them, that you’ll become firmly assured that they’re the best course of action. Therefore, the most dangerous mistake is the one you aren’t even aware that you’re making.

Network of contacts

Another thing you need to understand is the fact that every business coach has their own set of contacts but, it’s even more important that they teach you how to develop one of your own. The reason why this is so important is that it’s industry specific. For instance, someone in the food or pharmaceutical industry may need contact with a reliable heat exchanger manufacturer, while people from other industries will need to get in touch with experts in other fields. Since there are no one-size-fits-all solutions, you’ll have to learn how to wing it. Learning this from a professional is by far the most reliable method of them all.

Learning how to execute your ideas

It is incredibly dangerous to assume that the idea alone is all that it takes for success in the business world. Before an idea can come to life, you have to validate it, do market research, develop a game plan, lay down the infrastructure necessary for its success and proceed with the execution. A collaboration with a seasoned business coach will implement this pattern so deeply into your psyche that you’ll start thinking about the execution as soon as the new idea pops into your mind. Needless to say, this will help you learn how to tell a difference between those ideas that are really good and those that only sound good on paper.

Developing self-confidence

The last thing you need to keep in mind is the fact that a business coach won’t be afraid to notify you of your own progression. You see, as you grow as an entrepreneur, you might have some difficulty pinpointing the exact progress that you’ve made. With the right coach and the feedback that they provide (something we’ve already discussed), this will become much easier. Needless to say, when collaborating with a consultant, the only thing that will progress are your projects, which is not really the same thing.

Anything that helps you grow as an entrepreneur is good for your business and your career (regardless of the success of your current enterprise). Seeing as how the most reliable way for you to get there is through a reliable and reputable business coach, the choice is more than clear.