Thinking of Hiring a Guru Business Coach?

July 5 ▪️ 3 min read

Thinking of Hiring a Guru Business Coach?

Read this first!

Chances are you've seen attention grabbing ads like this on social media from business coaches:

"The Secret to 6-figure months!"

But how do you know if that business coach can actually give you the help you need? Keep reading...

You've probably noticed who the big players are (I call them gurus) in the business coaching industry because they've spent a lot of money getting their message in front of you. Should you sign up to work with one of these gurus?

I admit I've done it. These gurus have charisma. They pump you full of feel-good, let's-do-this energy that makes you feel you can conquer any obstacle standing between you and a 7 figure business. Yes, they help people. But can they actually help you? Can they actually help your business?

What happened to me

Her ad crossed my Facebook feed at just the time I was thinking I might need help with my business. It was a miracle! She would be speaking on stage in just a few days in my town and it was free! Another miracle! It was a sign...I needed to go!

The room filled quickly with over 150 people. The inspirational music blasted over the speakers. She came out on stage and blew my mind with the possibility of all the money I (yes me!) could make working with her. In just a few short months, I'd be raking it in, baby.

One year and $20,000 later, I still had no clients, still didn't really know what I was doing, and was feeling like giving up. I'm not saying it has to go this way. I knew of others who'd had success. I saw their posts in the Facebook groups. It was working! But I wasn't one of them.

To help you figure out if signing on with one of those flashy pump-you-up gurus is a good idea for you, here's my breakdown of how working with one will probably go:

• The person in the ads or the person inspiring you from the stage is probably not the person who will be coaching you. You will be assigned a "coach". And like many employees, this person may or may not be good at their job. It can be a crapshoot. I naively thought I'd paid for access to the brilliant mind of the genius who'd built her multimillion dollar company from absolutely nothing. I never even once had a phone call with her.

• The big guru business coaches will not look at your business. That's right. You will be enrolled in a coaching program and given a blueprint to follow, the same blueprint everyone else gets regardless of what your business is about. You will then implement the blueprint on your own and apply it to your particular business and the results are up to you. For some, this formula works well. Just give them the information, and watch them fly! For others, it's not quite enough. I was one of those people. I was just starting out. I had no business experience and didn't understand much of what I was doing. If you're in the latter category and need a bit more personalized guidance, this might not be your thing.

• You will be spending a lot of money. It should be no surprise that most big coaching gurus are expensive. If that doesn't bother you, good for you! But what's not always apparent is that their fees won't be the end of your cash outflow as you implement the blueprint. Depending on how tech savvy you are and how much free time you've got to work on your busines, you'll likely be outsourcing some of the tasks to experts to do for you, in addition to all other business startup expenses. Yes, you'd probably be spending this money on these other expenses anyway while building your business. It's just that the money really adds up fast when you're already paying a coach with steep rates.

What did I learn?

Despite the fact that I didn't get rich, I did get value out of my experience with my guru. Namely, I learned a tremendous amount. Because I was so new, I needed to be given the information. I didn't know what I didn't know! I also met many like-minded folks at various stages of the entrepreneurial journey I connected with. Would I do it again? Probably not. The ROI just wasn't high enough for the stage I was in.

Whether or not this style of coaching will meet your needs will depend on what stage of building your business you're in, your current knowledge base, and your learning style, to name a few factors.

Alternatives to the gurus

If more personalized guidance sounds more like your speed, you might try a business coach who will work one-on-one with you, taking at look at what is and what's not working in your business. There are many to choose from at many different price points.

Don't even know where to start? Check out my free checklist for newbie online entrepreneurs. Complete a task. Check it off. Repeat. Keep moving forward toward reaching your goal!

And if all out hand-holding is what you need....

....check out my custom done-for-you business startup packages. No loads of free time or tech skill needed. No formulas to follow. You just go on living your life while the work gets done for you. Did I just hear a sigh of relief?