What Holds Business Owners Back From Receiving Coaching Support

During my “The Difference Makes” series, I interviewed six female entrepreneurs and asked the question, “If you had to start your business over today, but still had your existing knowledge, what would you do differently?”  

A majority of their responses were, “I would hire a coach sooner.”  

And I’m not surprised by this answer.  One of the biggest challenges in starting up a  service-based business as a solopreneur is the big learning curve on all things business, marketing, sales, and technology.  Thank God for Google – but there comes a point when you need something a little more personalized than typing questions into a search engine.  

You may feel like coaching is reserved for the elite or for someone who’s further along in business. That’s why I wanted to shed light on two common beliefs (or really, two sides of the same belief) that may be holding you back from fully receiving coaching support when you’re ready for it.  

Belief #1: Believing that you need to “figure it out" before hiring a coach. 

I totally understand this thought – you want to make sure that you’re not wasting your time, and that your investment is worth hiring someone to help you with your growth edges.  You also can absolutely figure things out on your own (and please run far away from people who tell you otherwise).  

However, the most important factor in making your investment pay off is – knowing what problem to solve in your business in this season, and understanding how you’d like to solve it.  This way, you can find the right support to give you insight, feedback, and strategy to help accelerate the process of figuring things out.  

For example, most of my clients come to me kind of knowing what their niche is.  They’ve tried to figure it out on their own, and know that getting more specific and positioning themselves as the experts can make a real difference in the type of clients they work with.  By working through messaging, mindset, consistent visibility (and actually testing and tweaking to see what sticks), they feel even more clear and confident about who their dream clients are, and how to connect with them.  

Sales is another area where you may feel like you need to figure things out on your own before receiving support.  You may even feel like you need to make sales before learning how to sell — but that’s just backwards.  Learning how to sell in a way that doesn’t feel sleazy IS what leads to more sales in a sustainable way.  

It can feel hard to ask for and receive support, especially if you’re the one who is used to supporting others.  You don’t have to be perfect and “get it right” before allowing other people to help you.  I know it feels vulnerable to ask for, and receive help. 

But what I want to remind you today, is that there are 2 different types of hard work: it can feel hard to do it all on your own, or it can feel hard to be vulnerable and ask for and receive support.  It’s also so common to have things like apprenticeship and mentorship as a part of your professional development.  Whether you’re in the medical field, the therapy world, or studying to be a craftsman, it’s essential and expected to invest in your own apprenticeship.  In fact, when I was in college studying education, I paid the extra tuition to be a student teacher and to have that mentorship with an experienced teacher.  That semester gave me the experience to sharpen my skills and receive support before venturing off on my own.  This is totally applicable to your business, too. 

Belief #2: Believing that you need to do it on your own to build self-trust. 

I’m fully aware that the online space can breed low self-trust.  Selling you an online course that you never finish.  “Experts” telling you what to do without considering the context of your unique life and business.  Marketing that sends the message that if you’re doing something wrong.  No wonder it can feel like you’re better off doing things on your own.  

What I truly believe though – is that can actually help you to build your self-trust.  That’s because I believe that YOU are truly the expert of your business and your life and are capable of making the best decisions and the change you seek.  My role is to provide business strategy and mindset support to help you actualize your vision.  

I can help break down steps to a big project so you build self-trust every time you tackle something on your to-do list.  

I can support you on those tough days so you build resilience every time you vent and problem solve instead of throwing in the towel.  

I can help you to focus on what’s most important so you make better decisions that’s right for you.  

You don’t always NEED coaching — but when you have a right-fit coach in your corner, it can help you to build up your self-trust to grow your business. 

Whether you feel like you need to figure it all out on your own, or build self-trust before hiring a coach, the first step to seeking support is realizing that you deserve to be supported by someone who gets you, and gets what you do. 

That’s why I offer a free clarity call as a way to connect and understand if we would be a good fit to work together.  If you’re wanting to build a profitable and sustainable service-based business without burning out or jumping through a million hoops, then let’s chat!  I’d love to fully support you to get fully booked in your business.  

With joy,