The teacher, or this case—coach—will appear. I’ve always seen coaching as an effort to draw the best out of my client. Since I work with people who are fully employed, their time is valuable and we focus on their goals and needs.
What would the situation be if client was a “blank slate” with no other commitments than to become a fully fledged entrepreneur? Imagine a twenty-something college graduate seeking a coach to help them become a successful business owner. The mind fairly reels at the questions:
- Is this coaching or mentoring or both?
- What is not included in this type of coaching?
- How will you ever determine an ROI or success?
- Why not just get an MBA?
Interestingly, I read a recent article in the Coaching Commons that was a report from the South African Times (read the full article here). A father has engaged a coach for his two college seniors to help them prepare to become entrepreneurs.
I would love to be able to follow this story from the future. When Lyn and I wrote our book, The Entrepreneur’s Toolkit, we had a difficult time identifying the core attributes of an entrepreneur and our research showed that we were not alone in this difficult quest. I hope the money is being well spent.
What do you think? As you look backwards on your business, could you predict what you should have done to be a successful entrepreneur?
About the Author: Neil Phillips is a founding partner of Team Connections and Director of the DSWA Coach Excellence program. Get more from Neil on his Direct Selling Notebook , the DSWA Coaching Center and Twitter.
