How to Find the Right Business Coach (without wasting time & money)

You don’t have to work every hour of every day, hoping it will scale your business.

Yes, hard work is important, but what’s even more crucial is making better decisions faster, and with more clarity. 

But doing that when you run a business is hard because not only are you too close to everything that’s going on, you don’t have the objectivity a person on the outside has.

That’s where a business coach can really make a difference.

The difference between a great coach and a bad one

A great business coach will help you:

• Optimise the way you work

• Get you seen by people who need your products or services

• Increase your revenue

• Help your business grow

  
  

A bad one will feed you generic Googled advice that doesn’t work, waste your time and money and sap your energy and patience.

So, with that in mind, let’s look at how you can sift the good from the bad.

How to find the right business coach

Finding the right coach isn’t too difficult if you do the groundwork. And that is precisely what these next four steps will help you do:

1. Understand what you need from your ideal coach

Before you look for a coach, make sure you’ve thought about the support you actually need. Otherwise, you’ll hire someone who suggests strategies that are irrelevant to your business.

And (big surprise) if the strategies aren’t relevant, they won’t work.

So, ask yourself:

• Do you need help with hiring, pricing, revenue growth or operational efficiency? (or something else?)

• Are you struggling to prioritise things that make a positive difference?

• Do you need someone to keep you on track?

• Are you struggling to make decisions and need an outside perspective?

Knowing these answers will help you understand where you are now and the support you require.

For example, a founder scaling from $500K to $2M doesn’t need a coach whose action plan is positive thinking and vision boards. They need someone who understands systems, finance, delegation and sustainable business growth.

If you don’t define what you need, you’ll end up with one who isn’t the right fit.

Sometimes you need perspective...

2. Find a coach with perspective, not just a playbook

Many business coaches boast about having a guaranteed “playbook” or “framework,” but be wary of coaches like this.

Why?

Because your business isn’t a carbon copy of others. What works for one company doesn’t for another. 

Instead, look for a coach who brings:

• Pattern recognition: They’ll have worked with enough businesses to spot inefficiencies and opportunities you can’t see.

• Objective decision-making: They’re not emotionally attached to your company, which is important because they can see what you can’t.

• Scalable approaches: Instead of handing you their old playbook, they’ll help you develop one tailored to you.

Think of it like this: Would you hire a personal trainer who only has one framework for helping people get fit, whether they’re 18, 68, a seasoned athlete or someone exercising for the first time in years?

Or would you choose one who tailors the workout to the individual?

"I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach their maximum capabilities." - Bob Nardelli

3. Test they’re the right fit before you commit

A good coach won’t nod along, tell you how great you are, and that you’re doing everything right.

They’ll push you, challenge your thinking and help you make better decisions.

So, before you invest in a coach, book a discovery call and pay attention to whether they:

• Ask you insightful questions or just pitch themselves

• Challenge your thinking or agree with everything you say

• Provide real insights during the consultation or offer surface-level advice that you can Google

If you walk away from a free call with no new insights, that’s a red flag. 

A great business coach shifts your perspective from the first conversation. And if they can’t challenge you on a discovery call, why will they in a paid session?

Create a checklist...

4. Create a ‘right fit coach’ checklist

You might come across a few coaches you believe are the ideal fit for you, so create a checklist with questions like:

• Do they challenge me instead of just validating me?

• Do they have a track record of real results?

• What feeling did I get from them on the consultation call?

• Can they clearly articulate how they help clients get results?

• Most importantly, do I connect with this person (can I be open and honest?)

You can sift some out of your shortlist this way, leaving you a few or, hopefully, one obvious choice of coach.

The right business coach helps you scale faster

Put simply, the right business coach won’t just throw ideas at you, they’ll help you find your own solutions. They’ll challenge your assumptions, hold you accountable and help you build a business that works for you.

"Everyone needs a coach." - Eric Schmidt

So, now you know how to find the right business coach, get out there and find them!

If you think I’m a good fit for your business, drop me an email for a no-obligation conversation.

Until next time,

PS. To see if I’m the right fit for you, visit my Process & Pricing page.