Talking with a business coach can do a lot for you. It can make you more confident, give you a good idea of which of your plans will work and which may not, and more. However, as a business owner, you always have to keep an eye on the bottom line. To that end, you have to know the answer to a very important question: will using a business coach increase your business’s profits?

The answer is almost always yes, but it’s sometimes hard to see. If you and your business coach discuss your business and he or she notices areas where you can improve, then you may tangibly see an increase in profits. Making your business more cost-effective is one thing a business coach can help you with that will obviously result in profits. Your business coach may be able to uncover places in which you can slash a budget or change a business practice so that you can make more money.

However, you may not always be able to see an actual dollar increase from your business coaching sessions. This is because business coaches often work on areas that don’t directly correlate to budgets. For example, they may help you work on your management style or discuss some of your visions for your business. These abstract ideas can’t be measured in profits, obviously, but they can be measured in other ways. The continuing success of your business is often the best measurement.

When I work with my Business Coaching clients, the results are often directly related to their bottom line in terms of increased sales and/or profits. But for every time I can help a client financially, I can help them many times over in less directly-measurable ways such as hiring the right positions and people, leading more effectively, better managing of work load and work flow, or utilization of outside resources to best leverage my client’s time. All business problems have some level of impact to the bottom line and often it has to do with something that my client can’t accomplish because roadblocks are in his/her way. Quickly figuring out how to remove those barriers is often an essential aspect – maybe the most important aspect — to improve business profitability.

If you’re thinking Business Coaching may be right for you and your company, please call Carroll King Schuller at 804.288.0099 to set up a time for your complimentary first consultation. My client’s success is critical to my success and you can read testimonials on my website.

There are many different ways to receive business coaching. One way, of course, is to schedule a one-on-one phone call or visit with your business coach. This is the most common way of conducting a business coaching call, but there is another alternative that you may be interested in: group business coaching.

In group business coaching calls, you join other business owners in the discussion. The business coach directs the call, with everyone adding his or her own ideas or asking questions during the discussion. There are some advantages to group business coaching. Instead of just hearing the ideas of the business coach, you can get feedback from the entire group. Often one person will have a completely different view on a subject, which can be very valuable. Because the business owners in the group are often in different types and sizes of businesses, they can provide viewpoints outside of your own. Hearing these other business owners discuss their problems and how they do things can be very insightful and may help you avoid roadblocks in the future.

The biggest downside to group business coaching calls is, of course, the group. You don’t have the one-on-one time with the business coach like you normally would. This means the conversation will not be as focused on your own concerns. In fact, since the call is on a time limit, the group may not get to your concern at all. However, most business coaches do keep this in mind and stick to a schedule, so that everyone gets time to speak.

In my coaching practice, I offer group sessions by phone and also in person at my office. The groups are kept small, no more than 6 people, in order to keep the conversation flowing and still give everyone the chance to ask questions and get what they need. Many people like the group sessions because of the benefits of working with other business owners and professionals, as well as the reduced per-person cost. But some business executives prefer a session with just one or two of their own business partners, in order to more quickly solve their own business problems.

Whatever you prefer – group sessions, partner sessions or individual coaching – the discussion will be valuable to you, perhaps in different ways. Please call me, Carroll King Schuller, to discuss which coaching option will best suit your present needs or to customize a business coaching program in your office or mine. My confidential office line is 804.288.0099.

Most people have probably heard about life coaching, but are unsure of what it is that a life coach actually does. The truth of the matter is that there is no one clear answer because a life coach will work with individual clients to help them achieve their personal goals. The way that someone will accomplish this could easily vary and would depend, for example, on the methods employed by the life coach and how the individual will react to these methods. Life coaching is something that is intended to help people in a way that works best for them: therefore, a coach could try a few methods before finding the right one for a particular client.

Life coaches are not intended to work with people needing therapy or medical treatment. Instead, they focus their life coaching techniques on the people who have the capacity to deal with their life, but often lack the motivation or desire to achieve their goals. The form of life coach that we know today originated in the upper levels of business management when it was known as executive coaching because it would help high-powered executives prioritize and achieve company goals.

There is no regulatory board for life coaching, so probably the best way to find a good coach is through a referral, preferably from someone you know and trust. And certainly you should ask for testimonials from both current and past clients before signing on. Current clients should be making progress and getting specific results in just a few months of working with a life coach.

If you have any questions about how I work with my life-coaching clients, please call me, Carroll King Schuller, at 804.288.0099. And you can always visit my website for my recent client testimonials.  Clients’ own words are proof-positive that life coaching works.