Top 5 Reasons Entrepreneurs Seek a Coach
First off, let's talk about the elephant in the room. This post is ENORMOUSLY self serving for no other reason than I am a COACH! Whew, I feel better...
Having coached entrepreneurs of various stripe, I think I can speak - or write - authoritatively about what ails them. Throw in that I have been an entrepreneur for over 25 years and you can assume that I may know a thing or two...
So here goes -
1. Burnout - 'Number one with a bullet' as they say on the Billboard charts. Entrepreneur years are like dog years - one year as an entrepreneur is equivalent to seven years working in a cubicle. Perhaps a tad hyperbolic but it sure feels that way sometimes.
I have spent many a session talking folks off the ledge. My friends Keith, a very successful entrepreneur in his own right, coined a wonderful term - Unemployee-able. The notion that once your walk through that door to entrepreneurship, you can never go back. Kind of like when James P. Sullivan ends up in the Himalayas in Monsters, Inc.
Of course, there are many exceptions. But the urge to throw in the towel for many entrepreneurs is very real.
2. Losing Money - Entrepreneurs by their very nature are Optimists. I have this image in my head of an entrepreneur standing on the deck of the receding Titanic pleading, 'just give me one more chance, I know I can turn this ship around'!
Sometimes, the reality is you cannot turn the ship around as in said example. But in some cases you CAN. My first entrepreneurial business was as an Apple Computer Value Added Reseller. In the 90's, Apple nearly went bankrupt.
Sure, had Bill Gates, of all people, not pledged $150mil and agreed to NOT kill Office for Mac, that ship WOULD have sunk. But he did because the entrepreneur, Steve Jobs, made it so and today Apple (they dropped the Computer part) is the largest cap company on the planet!
3. Toxic Culture - I, as well as many others, believe that corporate culture comes from the Top Down. Certainly, in small companies, that is almost universally true. Yet a recurring complaint is that the culture no longer matches the founder's vision.
Whether it be outside influence, investors imposing their will or the employees simply making it up, the culture can deteriorate rapidly. Many entrepreneurs attempt to correct this by imposing their will or trying to CONTROL everything and everyone. That often leads to (a) Mutiny (b) Coup or Item 1.
4. Lost Mojo - Most entrepreneurs are not only the #1 company Evangelist, but also the #1 Sales Person. And as anyone who has ever sold anything knows, there's a rainy season and a dry season. The dry season, naturally, tends to come at the Worst Possible Time.
It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking 'I've lost my touch'. I'm reminded of the line from The Spy Who Shagged Me when Felicity Shagwell intones, 'you haven't lost your MOJO, Austin, it's been here the whole time'. Weird reference - no more so than Monsters Inc. - but no less true!
Sometimes you just need someone to help clean some of the dirt off...
5. Partner(s) - I have had two in my entreprenurial career - one went well for ten years, then didn't. The other ended when my partner leapt of a bridge - seriously he did - leaving me to clean up a God awful mess.
I sought out my first (in a series) of coaches to help me break away from my first partner. As often happens, I was overwhelmed with feeling like I was doing all the heavy lifting while only getting 50 cents on the dollar. Sound familiar?
I desperately needed someone to help me sort out my feelings. Were they real or imagined? Or were they systemic of something else. While this might seem like the providence of a shrink - and coaches are NOT that - it is also part and parcel to the coaching dialog.
Naturally, these are just my top 5. There are many other reasons most notably the inability to see ones self as you are and not through a fog of conflicting emotions and preconceived ideas. In other words, sometimes you just need someone to call you on your own BS.
Thanks for reading - don't forget to follow me...
Having coached entrepreneurs of various stripe, I think I can speak - or write - authoritatively about what ails them. Throw in that I have been an entrepreneur for over 25 years and you can assume that I may know a thing or two...
So here goes -
1. Burnout - 'Number one with a bullet' as they say on the Billboard charts. Entrepreneur years are like dog years - one year as an entrepreneur is equivalent to seven years working in a cubicle. Perhaps a tad hyperbolic but it sure feels that way sometimes.
I have spent many a session talking folks off the ledge. My friends Keith, a very successful entrepreneur in his own right, coined a wonderful term - Unemployee-able. The notion that once your walk through that door to entrepreneurship, you can never go back. Kind of like when James P. Sullivan ends up in the Himalayas in Monsters, Inc.
Of course, there are many exceptions. But the urge to throw in the towel for many entrepreneurs is very real.
2. Losing Money - Entrepreneurs by their very nature are Optimists. I have this image in my head of an entrepreneur standing on the deck of the receding Titanic pleading, 'just give me one more chance, I know I can turn this ship around'!
Sometimes, the reality is you cannot turn the ship around as in said example. But in some cases you CAN. My first entrepreneurial business was as an Apple Computer Value Added Reseller. In the 90's, Apple nearly went bankrupt.
Sure, had Bill Gates, of all people, not pledged $150mil and agreed to NOT kill Office for Mac, that ship WOULD have sunk. But he did because the entrepreneur, Steve Jobs, made it so and today Apple (they dropped the Computer part) is the largest cap company on the planet!
3. Toxic Culture - I, as well as many others, believe that corporate culture comes from the Top Down. Certainly, in small companies, that is almost universally true. Yet a recurring complaint is that the culture no longer matches the founder's vision.
Whether it be outside influence, investors imposing their will or the employees simply making it up, the culture can deteriorate rapidly. Many entrepreneurs attempt to correct this by imposing their will or trying to CONTROL everything and everyone. That often leads to (a) Mutiny (b) Coup or Item 1.
4. Lost Mojo - Most entrepreneurs are not only the #1 company Evangelist, but also the #1 Sales Person. And as anyone who has ever sold anything knows, there's a rainy season and a dry season. The dry season, naturally, tends to come at the Worst Possible Time.
It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking 'I've lost my touch'. I'm reminded of the line from The Spy Who Shagged Me when Felicity Shagwell intones, 'you haven't lost your MOJO, Austin, it's been here the whole time'. Weird reference - no more so than Monsters Inc. - but no less true!
Sometimes you just need someone to help clean some of the dirt off...
5. Partner(s) - I have had two in my entreprenurial career - one went well for ten years, then didn't. The other ended when my partner leapt of a bridge - seriously he did - leaving me to clean up a God awful mess.
I sought out my first (in a series) of coaches to help me break away from my first partner. As often happens, I was overwhelmed with feeling like I was doing all the heavy lifting while only getting 50 cents on the dollar. Sound familiar?
I desperately needed someone to help me sort out my feelings. Were they real or imagined? Or were they systemic of something else. While this might seem like the providence of a shrink - and coaches are NOT that - it is also part and parcel to the coaching dialog.
Naturally, these are just my top 5. There are many other reasons most notably the inability to see ones self as you are and not through a fog of conflicting emotions and preconceived ideas. In other words, sometimes you just need someone to call you on your own BS.
Thanks for reading - don't forget to follow me...
Comments
Post a Comment