The Best Thing You Can Do for Your Business

Before I quit my corporate job to become self-employed, I was terrified. I knew in my gut it was the absolute right decision for me, but I was terrified nonetheless. I tell my clients that terror—yes, not just fear but sheer terror—is a great sign because it means you care.

Having your own coach means that you are vested in your business, you are determined to succeed and you are venturing into uncharted territories which are way outside your comfort zone. Terror is a perfectly normal emotion to experience as you transition from employee to entrepreneur, even if we don't talk about it enough. 

But you shouldn’t operate on terror on a day-to-day basis, so what do you do to overcome the terror? 

That brings me to one of the best decisions I ever made in my business, even if I had to be coaxed into it due to my own initial skepticism: Hiring my first coach. 

That's right. Investing money—more than what my business was yet making—to have a trusted expert help me was the best thing I ever did for my business. Since that first coach, I have now hired four more coaches, each with a higher level of investment and commitment, and I have only continued to do this because it works. 

For me, it has meant the difference between a mediocre business and a thriving 6-figure business by having the right business coach. And the right coach will guide you along, push you outside your cushy comfort zone, hold you accountable more than your spouse or best friend could ever do, and tell you the truth—the stuff you may not want to hear, like "It seems to me you are the only one in love with your product," or "You need to call that client now. Email won't do."

In a nutshell, what coaches have done for me is to help me create the kind of success that I wasn't creating for myself, because I lacked the experience and the expertise. It was not because I wasn't the hardest working entrepreneur, but I didn't know what to work on.

Besides, as a business coach myself, I have to walk my talk. So I invest in my own coach. And that continues to make the biggest difference in my career. 

What about you? Do you have your own coach—whether you are in corporate or in your own business? And if not, have you ever thought about getting one?

-Farnoosh Brock, Business and Career Coach, Prolific Living Inc.