Business Mentoring -v- Business Coaching - What's the Difference?


by Judith Morgan - Date: 2007-08-07 - Word Count: 1108 Share This!

What's the difference between business coaching and business mentoring?

As a coach in training we are taught the rather purist "elicit their greatness" stuff, of which I am a big fan when I coach. I believe in my clients (often rather more so than they do in themselves) and their coach believes they already have all the answers inside and frequently they do, especially about "problems" such as lack of focus, how you procrastinate, why you don't practise extreme self-care, why it's different for you (yeah, right) and so on.

But this is all rather different when it comes to money and business. Because, of course, you don't know all the answers do you?, You haven't necessarily got the wisdom innately just lurking inside you waiting for a business coach to ignite it, although sometimes when ignition happens you might easily say to me "oh yes, I knew that" and sometimes you mean instinctively. But remember, knowing isn't all we need. We want action as well. And a coach will get you into action by providing accountability.

And a business mentor doesn't necessarily know all the answers either, does she? No, but she might know a darned sight more than you, especially after years of experience of running her own businesses and those of her business clients. She might indeed be a Wise Old Bird. And if she doesn't know, she not only knows a man who does, but she can frequently get you an appointment to speak with him and he will be delighted to help you too, as many successful people love to do.

So, what DOES a Business Mentor know?

• Why it's important to invest in you first, as the finest asset of your business.

• Time-saving and money-saving shortcuts.

• How to get useful stuff done, how to stop spinning your wheels.

• Better ways of doing business which will get you the results you want faster, the results we all want - more money from less work and pronto.

• Lots of other people who have done what you are trying to do, who may be willing to give you a leg up, or at least some useful information which will save you time and make you more money.

• How to understand accounts. How to teach you to read your own without making you feel dim.

• How, when and why to outsource which tasks, how to do that when you think you can't afford to and who to trust with your tasks.

• How to give you an appropriate kick up the arse when you need it.

• How to create wealth in your business, how to devise your own exit strategy and why that's important while you are still lovin' it, how to create a Business to Love and what's lovable about a business.

• How to achieve perspective, plan for success and play a bigger game.

• How to E-Myth it by creating robust systems and how to work a 4-Hour Workweek.

• How to become a great leader and how to communicate cleanly.

• How to fix your business if it's broken and how to ditch it and start again when it can't be mended and why that's not only OK, but easy and desirable and how to do it.

• Really cool ways that other people are making money in business, from which you can learn and grow faster.

• How to overcome your fear of success AND your fear of failure.

• When to push and when to pull.

• Lots of woo woo stuff which makes your task even easier if you will surrender to the magic.

• How to keep you in The Zone - the place where you perform best, where everything is effortless.

• Lots of tools which take a load off.

• How you will manifest your success.

• How to license your business across the country, and who to go to if you want to franchise it.

• How to get out of your day job, or the job you have created for yourself by becoming self-employed, a job which is far worse because of the dreary pay and conditions!

• Which courses to go on, what books to read thus saving you time and money

• The immense value of a Mastermind team and how you can add value to one you join.

• How to get clear for take-off and landing (clutter-clearing mentally and in every which way)

• Simply? What works.

"Gosh, Judith! Do I really need to learn all that?" No, you don't. You get to pick and choose from the tools in your business mentor's toolbox, the ones you need right now. I could go on, but a bigger list is not necessarily a better list as we all know, especially with our short attention spans, us Entrepreneurs! But are you starting to imagine the combined power of a business mentor and a business coach? Va va voom. And just imagine her on YOUR team!

For starters, here's a tip I learned only yesterday from a trusted and admired colleague about motivation. Did you know there are three elements to motivation? No, me either until yesterday and actually I have always preferred inspiration to motivation but now that I understand this concept, I can see why I did. The three parts to motivation are direction, effort and persistence. And you might have one or even two, but without your three ducks in a row, you ain't going very far are you, in fact it's probably exhausting you.

So, how will a combination of business mentoring and coaching skills will help you find your mojo? My personal experiences in the past have been that I am often a tad worried about stepping up to the plate, so a challenge isn't always the best thing for me, in fact it can be terrifyingly disabling. And I frequently know I should do something, but we don't trade in shoulds in coaching, only wants and you always know what you want, deep down and a good coach WILL elicit that! And then finally when I come across someone who has what I want and knows who and what I need to know to get there, and has a gentle and provocative style of helping me achieve those things, and I'm in, like Flynn.

Are you ready, too? Yup, thought so.

Talk to a business coach and mentor and allow them to listen to you explain about your vision and what you really, really want and then trust them to find endless ways to teach, share, encourage, support, cheerlead, nudge, cajole, inspire, motivate, mentor and coach you into the success you deserve and want with your business plans for a happier, healthier, wealthier life. Especially a wealthier one. Oh, and did I mention? It'll be fun!

Related Tags: business coaching, small business success, wealth creation, entrepreneurs, business mentoring

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