Business coaching is a new career option that Indians are exploring these days. After the term “coach” gained popularity in western countries and the profits were made evident, it was anticipated that the Indians will follow the trends as well. And they did. Not only did coaching become a trending career in India, but it is also one of the promising career options for every qualified individual alike.
One can become a coach in whatever industry they feel inclined toward but today we are going to discuss business coaching and how one can become a business coach.
What Is Business Coaching? And Who Is a Business Coach?
Before diving into the “how to become” section, let’s first understand what exactly business coaching is and who can become a business coach.
Business coaching is a service that helps businesses and entrepreneurs find and eliminate problems in their current business strategies that can be slowing their growth.
A business coach is an individual who has decent knowledge about business and management and knows how to accelerate business growth and make it a success.
They offer personal coaching to the entrepreneurs, understand the problems they are facing, and, with their expertise, suggest changes and solutions that can help the business owners solve the problems and improve their business.
What Does a Business Coach Do?
In a crux, a business coach understands the problems of their client’s business and offers solutions.
For an aspiring business coach, this information may not be sufficient so we have covered a few responsibilities of a business coach.
However, it is important to understand that in business coaching people can choose to niche down even further and offer services tailored for a specific department.
Some of the responsibilities of a general business coach include:
- Understanding the business plan and goals of the entrepreneur and suggesting changes and improvements that will better the plans.
- Listening to the problems the business is facing and coming up with solutions.
- Recognising problems in the current strategy of the business.
- Finding ways in which the business can grow even further.
- Talking to entrepreneurs and assisting them in their personal development in a way that can benefit the business.
- Motivating the client.
- Analysing how their suggestions have contributed to the business and suggest improvements that can help the business even further.
Basically, a business coach connects with the client to discuss their business, understands how it is going and what is hindering the growth, suggests changes, gets to know the entrepreneur at a personal level, motivates them to learn, improve, and work better, and keeps the progress in check so that it can be analysed how their suggestions contributed to the business.
Step by Step Guide to Becoming a Reliable Business Coach
Unlike other career paths such as becoming a teacher, doctor, or engineer, the path that leads one to the designation of a business coach is not straightforward.
You don’t pursue your high school with an intention to become a business coach, get a degree in business coaching, and start working in an organisation as a business coach.
The coaching profession is so unregulated that literally, anyone can call themselves a coach, and no one can object to or question their qualifications, experience, or skill set.
This is why instead of teaching how to become a business coach we focus on teaching how to become a “reliable” business coach.
A business coach who can and will get their clients the expected results. A business coach who knows what they are doing and how it is done. Here is a step-by-step guide to becoming a successful, reliable business coach.
Get a Specialisation
Start with getting a specialisation in business, management, and a specific department that you would like to focus on such as marketing, sales, finance, or human resource management.
By specialisation, we don’t mean getting a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree. Though you can get it if that is what you want but your degrees don’t necessarily matter in the professions like business coaching.
What we suggest is taking online courses and reading books that will introduce and prepare you for the role and responsibilities of a business coach.
Level Up Your Skills and Knowledge
After getting the basic knowledge, it’s time to level up your knowledge and skills so that you can stand out from the crowd even when you are just starting out.
Make yourself familiar with the strategies that helped certain businesses grow, what is trending in the business world, the skills that can help you, as a business coach, grow and attract more and better clients, reasons why businesses fail, and how to make your client avoid these mistakes right from the start, and how a business can grow more after hitting the plateau.
There is a lot that can be learned in the department you get your specialisation in as well. Sales and marketing are the most trending departments these days and there are so many ongoing trends that you should be aware of as a business coach.
Read more: 10 Qualities of a Great Life Coach
Practice With Beta Clients
Once you are confident in your skills and knowledge it’s time to test them and practice practically. Reach out to your entrepreneur friends and ask if they would want your services.
Offer your services for free and in return ask for a testimonial if they are satisfied with your services. Another way of doing this is by reaching out to businesses online and making the same offer.
Work with around 2 beta clients and see how things work out for you. If their business experiences success or improvement, you are ready to enter the market. Don’t forget to get testimonials and feedback from your beta clients.
Set Up Your Online Business
Now, to enter the market you will need to set up your business. Create a business website and business accounts on different social media platforms.
Create posts for these platforms and optimise your website and social media accounts so that if a business owner searches for a coach, they are shown your profile.
Create service packages so that your potential clients get an estimate of what they will be investing and getting from your services. Do add testimonials and write SEO-optimised content for your website as well.
Market Yourself
Run ads on different social media platforms, create content that helps you reach your target audience, and let people in your circle know about your business.
Network more with like-minded people and ask if they have any leads for you. Reach out to your potential clients and let them know that you exist and you can help them with their business.
Consistently create content and send cold emails to the businesses and entrepreneurs you would like to work with.
Parting Words
Starting and growing a business, especially online, is not as simple. Probably because of the competition, because let’s be honest, after the pandemic, almost everyone is starting a business online.
Moreover, with digital and social media marketing taking over traditional marketing techniques, growing a business online has become a considerably convenient and profitable option.
For a business coach, to start and grow their own business as well as help their clients do the same, it becomes extremely important to know how to start and grow a business online.
Our Side Hustle Formula course will prepare you for the role of a business coach in the best way possible. The course covers everything you need to know to market and run a successful online business.
Check it out now!
