Things To Consider When Choosing A Business Coach

Mike DeHaan: [0:01] Welcome to the collecting keys Friday focus. What is going on, guys? On this episode of the collecting keys Friday focus, you have me, Mike DeHaan, talking to you today about something that has come up quite a few times over the past couple of weeks, and that is things that you should consider when choosing a business coach or, like, how exactly to choose a business coach. So I've posted about my business coach a few times over the past, I don't know, month and a bit. He recently came and spoke to our instant investor mastermind group coaching program and sort of talk around, you know, mindset and systems and things like that. And, you know, as a result, people are asking me about it. Right? When you share information, especially about something that is of interest to people, such as business coaches and what that looks like, people wanna know more. So I figured I would do a quick deep dive Friday folks episode around things to consider when hiring a business coach, and also to whether or not that's that's right for you, which is always sort of a personal question. So I'll just jump right into it here. So when it comes to business coaches, there's a few things to keep in mind. And one of the main things is that there are different kinds of business coaches. I don't think a lot of people necessarily realize this, especially when they are, you know, newly introduced to the concept of a business coach, and they're not entirely sure what to look for yet. But there's basically three different kinds that I found. There might be more.

Mike DeHaan: [1:26] These are just the ones that I found. So the first one is a mindset coach, and you'll see these pretty commonly with people that, I guess, I can honestly don't have a lot of business experience. The mindset coaches are not my thing. Some people are super into them. You know, somebody that just sort of helps you think outside of the box and establish, like, a better mindset. Jason Jurese is kinda like someone that would put in this category. He was a big coach with Brandon Turner a little while back, and and he's pretty active in the the business coaching community. But these are guys that or guys and girls, I guess, that help you sort of, like, reframe your mindset and, like, help you get out of your own way to grow your business. And that's really what they're focused on is, like, the inner self as a business owner as opposed to, like, specific things about the business. So that's the first kind. The second kind is, like, a coach that focuses on business strategy and tactics. So this is kinda what my business coach focuses on. Steve Rozenberg, if you're not familiar, you can go give him a follow on Instagram. I think he's at Rosenberg Steve. We've been working with him now for about six months, and a lot of the talk that we dive into is around building systems, building different processes within the business, like how we're gonna strategically grow, different things like that.

Mike DeHaan: [2:40] And actually, like, nuts and bolts of, hey. Try structuring things this way. You know, try implementing this system. You set it up to do, like, x y z sort of thing, and actual tangible things within the business. And that's been, you know, really, really viable for us because, you know, the mindset wasn't really an issue. It was more just like learning how exactly to structure the business, and Steve's been really helpful for that. And then lastly, the third kind you'll see and again, these are the three that I know of. There might be more. Our CEO and leadership coaches. So you see these a lot with people that have larger organizations, typically when they're trying to figure out how to build social structures and team structures within businesses, and that's what they focus on. Right? It's like, how do you get people excited to work for you? How do you increase the efficiency of your team? You know, how do you work on team dynamics and things like that? And I'll say most coaches are they kind of have, like, a portion of all three of these things, but they also are typically gonna have a specialty amongst these three. And also too, I mean, if you're growing like a huge business, there's no problem in having a coach for each of these individual things individually as well. Right? Like, people that are super, super high level, you know, they're going to have a mindset coach and a business strategy coach and a leadership coach and, you know, other coaches sort of mixed in there as well. Just as consultants. Right?

Mike DeHaan: [3:56] It's really, really valuable to have experts or people that are focused on specific facets of your life and your business to balance things off of. So first thing to keep in mind is, you know, think about those three types, especially I'm assuming that you're a smaller business owner. You probably can't afford three different coaches. If you can, good for you. If you're further along than me. But if you're looking to hire one business coach, sort of think about which one most fits your needs right now and just make sure that whoever you choose aligns with that. So second thing to sort of realize with business coaches is people are always kinda skeptical about it, and they think that they don't necessarily need it because they're figuring out on their own. They're watching YouTube videos. Their business coach doesn't know their business or anything like that. But understand that it can majorly increase the speed of your growth just from getting that outside view that is fully focused on you and your business. Right? Just like everything in life at this point with the Internet, you can learn it for free online. What you pay for is you pay for speed, and you pay for specificity. So don't like discount it because the costs seem expensive. I mean, we paid $50,000 for one on one access with Steve this year.

Mike DeHaan: [5:00] You know, it's not a small cost at all. People have all sorts of different price ranges. I know Steve, for example, he has another program where people get like one call with him per month. We get unlimited access to him. He also flew us out to a meetup that we didn't pay anything for, stuff like that. So, you know, it's not cheap, but understand that the cost is really worthwhile because it'll speed up your growth. And I know for us, least, we've already 10 x that money, if not more. So it was absolutely worth it for us. Next thing to keep in mind is when you're looking at coaches, you want the coach to have experience with whatever you're going through, at least in some capacity. It doesn't have to be exactly one for one experience. I've heard people say that you wanna have a coach that's done exactly what you're trying to do. And I don't necessarily think that's true because most people's businesses are unique. Right? And people can, you know, have done stuff parallel, but very few people are gonna have done the exact same thing. But I mean, mainly, the stuff that you wanna look at are, you know, do they have experience with the scale of business that you're working in or you're trying to get to, and also to just like a slight parallel in the business type.

Mike DeHaan: [6:00] So for example, if you're trying to grow a very large business to get company public, you probably don't want a business coach that's mostly works with people that are like just getting started or trying to like make their first, you know, 1 or $2,000,000, that's not gonna be the best fit and vice versa. Right? If you have somebody who, you know, has like, you're a small business, right, and you have somebody that focuses on taking business public, it's not gonna be the best fit for you. You guys aren't gonna be mutually aligned. And I'll say to you that as you continue to grow, this person will probably change. Right? The business coach that gets you to 5 or $10,000,000 a year, you know, if you decide that you wanna try and go even bigger than that, might not be the same person. Right? It's just like, you know, for for sports, the coach that is going to take you to the high school championship probably isn't the same coach that's gonna get you to the NBA. Right? You know, sure there's exceptions to that, but most of the time, it's not the case. Eventually, you need to level up your game with someone that has more knowledge, and that's perfectly fine. You know, it's a professional relationship. People will understand that. So ideally, what you want is somebody that has experience working in, you know, the similar revenue ranges that you're trying to hit as well as the similar team sizes that you're looking to hit.

Mike DeHaan: [7:07] Right? So, like, for example, again, if somebody only ranges, like, solopreneurs and you're trying to build a team of 40 people, there's gonna be a lot of different problems that they may not have experience with. So it's really important thing to consider. And then next on the the term of their specialty like this, you know, outside of just like the size of the business, you also want them to have some sort of parallel experience on your business type or, like, whatever your service is. Right? Just as an example on this, If you have, like, a real estate or services business, and you have a business coach who only focuses on, like, ecommerce brands, right, it's probably not gonna be the best fit and vice versa. Right? If you're trying to grow an ecommerce brand and you end up with, like, a real estate specific coach, there's gonna be a lot of gaps in their knowledge that just won't be helpful for you. So you wanna make sure that they at least kind of have some experience in the business, and they're not going to need to be learning sort of everything on the fly. Alright. I think that there's a lot of different things here to consider, but what it comes down to is the most important part of it, is that you need someone whose style and temperament, and the kind of like their vibes just sort of pair with you. Right? Like, there's gonna be people like Steve, for example, that he's a no BS guy. He says it how it is. He calls you out.

Mike DeHaan: [8:18] He holds you super accountable, things like that. That's what Dan and I needed. So that's what we sought after. I mean, one of the reasons we decided to work with him was he came on our show as a guest, and we were like, we really like this guy's energy. We like the way that he just told us exactly how he would sort of change our business and things like that after we talked with him after the show. And we decided to work with him from that. Other people are not going to be that way. Others are gonna be, like, softer, and they're going to encourage you more. Other people are some people are gonna, like, give you lots of, like, homework and, like, research and reading to do. Some aren't. Some are going to wanna meet with you, like, once a month. Some aren't gonna be freely available to you. Ultimately, you need to find the ones whose communication style and whose just, like, energy that they go off is going to lift you up and get you excited to meet with them. Because if that's not the case, it's a giant waste of money. You're not gonna be getting anywhere. That's really the most important thing when you're hiring any sort of, like, mentor. Right? Is you want them to be someone who energizes you and not brings you down. And it's funny that you even have to say that, but people, sometimes they get, like, tied into names or experience, and they're like, oh, man. This person grew such a great business that's similar to mine, and now they're offering mentorship.

Mike DeHaan: [9:24] But they don't even take into account the fact that they don't have anything in common with that person at all, and so it's just not gonna be a good fit. Right? Even though, you know, the experience is is what they're after. So that's the most important thing. Just make sure that their style and their sort of attitude just pairs with yours. And I guess the last thing before you really make a decision on this, just before I wrap this up, is before you pay anyone any money at all, ask for testimonials, not only from clients, but also from any personal connections. Like, ask your circle ask your circle circle if anybody knows anything about this person as a coach for their character. Because, you know, you ask for testimonials from them, they're gonna send you their success stories. Right? That's just business. That makes sense. But if you ask, you know, people that you know if they have anything to say about that business coach, even ask on public forums, ask on Reddit, ask on, you know, BiggerPockets, wherever you're looking. And if nobody has anything to say, that's kind of like a little bit of a red flag. It's kinda weird. And obviously, if anyone has bad things to say, you wanna consider that too.

Mike DeHaan: [10:21] You know, it's just really important that you get outside views on business coaches so you know who exactly you're working with and, what you you can expect. And obviously, when you're gonna be showing someone so much of your business and your life and your finances, you want them to have good character. So it's really important they back check that as well. Anyways, guys, thanks for listening. I hope you got some insight out of that. I'm not an expert on business coaches. You know, I've had a couple over the years. You know, we had a wholesaling specific one to start, and now I've been working with Steve, who has been helping us focus on our business systems. And I'm sure at some point in the future, I'll have more coaches on leadership and things like that as we continue to grow. I'm trying to figure that out. But these are just the things that I have figured out to be some of the key things that you should consider. But anyways, let me know what you think. Follow me at Mike underscore Invests and shoot me a DM. Let me know your thoughts on business coaches, any coaches that you've worked with. If you're con interested in being connected with Steve, let me know. Like I said, we paid $50 for him, but he had other programs that are a lot cheaper that will get you access to his expertise. It's just, like, a little bit more limited than we have it. And I'm more than happy to make that connection if you want. Besides that, guys, shoot me a follow. I really appreciate it.

Mike DeHaan: [11:31] And let me know what you're doing with your investing. And also too, if you're interested in being a part of the instant investor program, it's our group coaching mastermind program. We're currently up to about 50 members. We're pretty selective about who we bring in there. But if you're someone who is serious about your real estate investing business and you wanna get to the next level, you should absolutely let me know, and I would be happy to have a conversation with you. So anyways, guys, thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you all next week. Thanks for listening to this collecting keys Friday focus. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts.