What Qualifies Someone To Be A Business Coach?
I often get asked what exactly qualifies someone to be a business coach. And the answer isn’t completely straightforward. Basically, if you decide to call yourself a business coach, you’re a business coach.
However, anyone who is serious about hiring a business coach would be wise to do their due diligence about exactly who they are hiring.
In this article, I’ll share with you the answers to some of the most common questions about what it takes to be a business coach.
Should you ever work with someone who isn’t a qualified business coach?
What qualities do you need in order to become a business coach?
How do I know if someone is a good fit to be my business coach?
What kind of questions should I ask a potential business coach?
Ready? Let’s get started!
1 What qualifies someone to be a business coach?
The short answer: you don’t have to have a qualification to be able to call yourself a business coach. And a lot of people who are business coaches don’t have specific training qualifications. So technically, the only thing you need to become a business coach is an email signature saying you’re a business coach, or to tell someone you’re a business coach.
Crazy, isn’t it?
Imagine wanting to hire a medical doctor, or a fireman, and just having to trust someone is qualified to do that job.
When I was starting out, as much for my own benefit as for the benefit of my clients, I wanted to make sure I was delivering excellent advice in a credible and helpful way, so I trained as a coach and became qualified through an affiliate of the International Coaching Federation.
This way, my clients know that I’ve invested in myself, and in my business, and they are confident that I have received formal training to be a coach.
To be honest, though, my qualifications aren’t why most of my clients choose to work with me. And it won’t always be one of the most important criteria you use to decide whether or not to work with a business coach.
Keep reading to find out what you should look out for when hiring a business coach.
2 What work experience should a business coach have?
The world of business coaching is as broad as the whole of business! And for this reason, no one business coach should claim to be suitable for all types of business.
The work experience a business coach has should complement the type of experience you are looking to bring into your own business.
You might look for someone who has experience within the same industry as you, like consultancy, photography, social media, running a restaurant or café, or building up an agency.
My own experience is varied. I’ve worked in London’s financial district, on Wall Street, and I ran a successful pilates business before transitioning into business coaching. So I’ve seen life from many different angles, and this brings great benefit to my clients, as I’ve very often been in exactly their position, and I can see what they have to do to move to the next stage of growth. My job in that situation is not to provide solutions, but to ask the right questions and provide the right prompts so that my clients can figure out their own path.
3 Should I work with someone who isn’t a qualified business coach?
This is a question of discretion, and nobody is better qualified to answer it about your business than you. As with many things in business, it’s a question of judgement and balance.
There are benefits to working with qualified coaches, but someone doesn’t have to be a qualified coach to be a great business mentor or coach.
For example (and this is a real example from one of my clients), if you’re an ecommerce entrepreneur and you have the opportunity to be mentored by a hugely successful ecommerce entrepreneur in your industry, it might seem like an incredible opportunity. You want to be where that person is in a few years, right? So surely, if you are coached by this person, you’ll learn all their secrets and catapault your business to the next level?
Well unfortunately, what makes a good entrepreneur doesn’t always equate to someone being a good mentor or coach, and I’ve seen examples of this simply not working. Both parties come away from the relationship feeling jaded, and not having moved the needle for the smaller, growing business.
As an entrepreneur myself, I’ve worked with many different business coaches over the years. Some have had coaching qualifications and others have not. The most important thing for me has been to find the right person at the right time for my own personal development, and for the growth of my business. If you get the chemistry right and their level of experience matches where you’re at, beautiful things can happen.
The only thing I would say is to really make sure you carry out your due diligence before working with a coach. Ask lots of questions about how their experience is relevant to your situation, and how they can help your business, and observe how your interactions with them make you feel. How tangible and realistic is their advice? Are they really listening closely and carefully to you and your needs?
I’ve also prepped a helpful checklist to ensure you hire the right business coach. You can click here to download it and ensure you find the right person for the job!
A coaching qualification can provide peace of mind that this person has taken the time and effort to educate themselves in proven coaching techniques, but it doesn’t mean that someone without a coaching qualification isn’t able to help you in your business.
4 What qualities do you need in order to become a business coach?
Good business coaches are hard to find. There is a lot of noise out there, and a lot of people who market themselves as coaches, but who haven’t taken the time to train themselves as coaches, or who can’t demonstrate tangible results for their clients.
In my experience, the very best business coaches demonstrate and role model the following qualities:
Leadership
Strategic oversight
Listening ability
Commitment to their craft
I also like to think that a healthy dose of good humor goes a long way.
As I’ve said before, my qualifications aren’t the main reason people hire me as their business coach. I like to think that it’s because of my talents in the four areas listed above. And it’s what my clients tell me time and again.
I suppose a little magic doesn’t hurt either. 😊
5 How do I know if someone’s a good fit to be my business coach?
There’s nothing like gut instinct to know whether someone is a good fit for working with your business. Usually, I know within 5 minutes of meeting someone whether or not they are a good fit for my business. Perhaps you’ve experienced the same with new hires, or freelance consultants.
However, you should follow gut instinct only if someone can fulfil your criteria for choosing a coach in the first place.
Do you need or want them to have a coaching qualification?
Does their experience of industry match where you want to be in future?
Can they demonstrate tangible results for their clients?
Are they willing to provide references from previous clients?
Do they challenge you when they ask questions?
Do you feel inspired and uplifted by spending time talking with them?
Can you afford to work with this person?
These are all things you should consider before making a decision about working with a business coach.
6 What kind of questions should I ask a potential business coach?
Before hiring a coach, you should always have the opportunity to speak with them directly. You should treat this call as an interview, and go prepared to ask plenty of questions. Write them down beforehand and think about what answers you are looking for, as well as anything that could be a red flag for you.
I’ve compiled a helpful checklist of things you should research before you hire any business coach (including me). You can find it right here.
7 How do I work with you?
Thanks for stopping by my website. If you liked what you read here, here’s how you can get more support from me to become the best entrepreneur you can be:
Accelerate your growth with this free handy download
Read my bestselling book, The Uplevel Project
Join my group accountability program: Business Growth Achievers
Work with me: Book a 1:1 consultation with me here.