You work 70 hour weeks. The moment you step through the door to come home, you lock yourself in your office instead of spending time with your family. And when you go to bed, you toss and turn thinking about balancing the books or how you’re going to approach a client tomorrow.

If any of these sound familiar to you at all, I have one piece of advice: see a business owner coach right now.

Today, I will be making the case for when you should contact a business owner coach, and how they can help you out of your rut.

It’s all about time

Business owners tend to have a strong entrepreneurial sense to them. They prefer being hands-on, and being very active in how their business is run.

I respect that…I really do.

However, I find that oftentimes this idea that business owners need to be a jack of all trades, or be involved in every aspect of their business, is the root of many problems. This attitude might have been great while you were smaller. But now that your business has grown and you have a better team, you need to break this habit.

Because at its core, business ownership is simple:

• Your business exists to make you money
• Money is a means to an end, NOT an end in itself
• You use your money to get more TIME and to build the lifestyle that you want

This may sound like an oversimplification, and it is. But at a fundamental level, it holds true. The most successful business owners are the ones who can afford to “switch off” once they lock up for the night. They can also live their lives without letting their business dominate their thoughts.

Are you one of these business owners who doesn’t have the time to live your life?

1. You’re in work mode 24/7

When you go to bed, do you see spreadsheets, plans, and clients in your dreams?

Do you even get enough time to dream?

If you’re in work mode even at home or you feel it’s been years since you had a holiday, you need to ask yourself the hard question of whether or not you need help.

A business owner coach can help you “switch off” a number of ways. I personally like to start by looking at your business. I begin by identifying any day-to-day tasks that aren’t productive in the grand scheme of things. More often than not, business owners spend far too much of their time on unproductive, routine tasks.

By looking at your daily tasks and how you do them, I help you create systems to carry out menial work. This will allow you to let others take it off your hands. As a result, it gives you more time to focus on more pressing matters… or to spend taking a break!

2. You worry about your business more than necessary

Closely related to point 1, I find that many business owners feel anxious when they’re not in the office. Many feel like their business is going to fall apart without their presence. Once again, this is because many business owners are hands-on types of people.

As a business owner coach, I often tell my clients that delegation doesn’t have to be a dirty word. Even after I help create effective systems, time-management tools, and plans, many of my clients still try to join their team in the trenches.

This is a strong NO from me.

Fixing this can often require a complete change in mentality, which I try to encourage in my clients through face-to-face meetings and more formally allocating responsibilities.

3. You’re not cut out for business ownership… yet

While the end-goal is to have a business that works even when you aren’t around, sometimes, it’s just not possible for you to take a hands-off approach towards your business. This is especially true of smaller businesses or businesses still going through growth, where it’s all hands on deck.

And even after these stages when you can afford to step back, there are still essential skills and qualities that all business owners should possess.

There’s just one problem: not all business owners are prepared for business ownership. You might be an expert on your products and services, but mightn’t know the first thing about what it takes to run a business.

Business owners need a very unique set of inherent skills. Fortunately, even if you aren’t born with these skills, you can still learn to pick them up.

This requires a training and education. I work with my clients to teach essential skills for business ownership such as leadership, planning, and proactiveness. Not only does this make them better at running their businesses, but at the end of the day, it leaves them as better individuals.

4. Your business isn’t making money

I am a strong believer that time is the most important indicator of a successful business owner. This is also what you should be striving towards.

That said, money IS still important!

Your business exists to support and enable your lifestyle. And it does that through earning you money. Not only does this money directly enable you to travel the world, buy a bigger house or fund your model train hobby, but money also directly gives you your time back.

If your business is printing you money, you can hire the right help.

A bigger team means less work on your plate.

And less work on your plate means more time to live your dream lifestyle.

A business owner coach can help you earn money by developing actionable plans for how your business can make money. I help you budget, streamline your processes, grow sales and convert enquiries. And if that means training you in sales or hiring the right people to do that part for you, so be it.

5. You see no path forward

No good business exists without a good plan.

If your business feels like it’s drifting aimlessly, or that its direction doesn’t align with where you want to go with your life, perhaps it’s time you evaluate your business plan. 

Like I said before, a good business requires a good plan to provide direction and to help it succeed.

But a good plan needs to start with an in-depth understanding of your dream lifestyle, your life goals, and your ambitions. It’s not enough for your goal to simply be “I want higher revenue” – money should be the means, not the end-goal. Talk to any business coach, and more likely than not that’s what they’ll home in one.

As a business owner coach, however, I build plans around your ambitions. Every point of your business plan, from the money to the staffing to the end-goal, needs to be targeted towards your ambitions.

Here’s an example: if your dream is to travel the world, how much money will we need your business to make, and what’s our time frame?

Are you using the right business model, and if not, what can we change it to?

What parts of your business processes can we systemise and delegate? What can we get rid of?

And most importantly, how we can get you back in the zone.

Business owner coach vs business coach

When I talk to business owners, I often find that the first question they ask me (aside from a polite “how are you”) is “what’s the difference between a business coach and a business owner coach?”

And that’s reasonable. On the surface, they sound like they do very similar things.

I make the distinction like this: a business coach is concerned with the nitty-gritty of your business. That means systems and processes, staffing.

On the other hand, a business owner coach dabbles in the functions of your business. However, he also focuses on bringing your business in line with your goals and ambitions, changing your way of thinking and improving your personal qualities. Because if you want your business to get you more time for your life and money to improve your lifestyle, we need to start with you.

If you think that this service sounds like it might help you, contact me now, and together we’ll get you the time and money you want for your life.