5 Essential Questions to Ask Yourself Before Joining A Coaching Program

Before you join that coaching program you’ve been pining over, you may want to consider whether or not it is the right time and/or person for you to do the work with. Hiring a good coach can make a significant impact on your business – especially when you are ready and the coach is a good fit for you and your business.

Before deciding, we need to be cautious of the micro-celebrity movement that surrounds a number of savvy coaches in the marketing space. These people become public figures that are celebrated on social media for their presence, reach and marketing abilities. From all appearances, they seem to have the perfect life, hang with all the right people, and – to someone who is experiencing problems in their business – they could seem like the perfect solution.

But hold on…

Before you jump in and invest what could be the price of a new car in a business coach, you might want to consider these questions.

1.)  What do you want to get out of this coaching relationship?

You might not like where you are in your business right now but do you know WHERE you want to go? If you are about to invest your hard earned income (and yes, you should pay cash, not credit but that’s another blog post) on this coach, you really need to know how you will measure success. What are 3 quantifiable outcomes you want from this relationship? If you can’t quantify what success looks like, chances are you will have a really hard time measuring your ROI (return on investment) from this decision.

2.) Does this coach have the necessary experience to help you move the needle?

Let’s just say you’ve answered question one and you know what you want, the next question is, can your coach help you do that? You need to ask them.

A while ago, a client of mine interviewed me to be her business coach and asked me if I could help her build a 7-figure business. My answer was quite clear – I have not done that in my coaching business, only in my retail store. I can share with you the path I have walked, what I have done to go from zero to 6-figures, to over 500K four years in a row, but I can’t say I have a track record in building a 7-figure business because I don’t.

You don’t hire an expert fisherman to teach you how to ballroom dance because chances are the fisherman isn’t going to be able to do that. Don’t hire a coach who hasn’t done what you aspire to do.

3.) Will this coach give you access to ask a few questions?

Access is one of the biggest complaints I hear about working with a coach. You will want to understand what the boundaries are up front and know EXACTLY how much access you will have to your coach.

If it’s a group program, do you get a turn to talk about your business on every call, or are you only guaranteed one opportunity to talk every six months? Are you allowed to email your coach and should you expect a reply, or are questions only answered on coaching calls? Does your coach have set hours of work and do they align with when you need them?

These details matter if you are going to achieve your goal. Sometimes it’s not the coach who is in the wrong, it’s the buyer for not getting the skinny on what the program entails up front. Chances are if you can’t get access to the coach to have your questions answered when you are in the buying phase, it will be even harder to do once you become a client.

4.) Does this person’s values align with your values?

You should be able to get a sense from their content, social media postings, and the conversation you are going to have BEFORE you buy as to whether or not their values align with yours.

I cannot stress how important this is.

You have to feel COMFORTABLE with your coach.

If they are super religious, and you are not, that might make you feel uncomfortable.

If every other word is an f-bomb and you think that is unprofessional, chances are you might not feel good around them.

If they are such a big deal to you that you are nervous speaking honestly to them, then they aren’t going to be able to help you.

Find a coach you resonate with, someone you can speak to openly and whose values align with yours and who has the capacity to stretch you out of your comfort zone so you can achieve your goals.

5.) Are you ready to do the work?

A coach is NOT going to save you, and it is NOT their job to do the work for you. A coach is there to mentor, guide and support you. They can be a sounding board, a brainstorming partner, a critic, a teacher and even someone who helps to build your confidence but it is NOT up to them to do the work in your business. That is YOUR job and you have to decide – are you REALLY ready?

Are you ready to be stretched? Do you REALLY want the growth you are chasing or are you going to sabotage your success by delaying taking action?

This is the tough stuff you have to work through. More often that not, a coach will show up and offer insight and direction and the student will procrastinate… and procrastinate and the next thing you know, the program is over and the goals have not been met.

Investing in a coach, whether it is a private coach or a group coaching program is a big step for you. It can TRANSFORM your business when the relationship is a good match, the coach knows HOW to get you to where you and to go and you are WILLING to do what is necessary to get there.

Another sidebar on coaching is your coach’s ability to be coachable. I take feedback from my clients VERY seriously. I am also conscious of what best serves them and am looking for ways to best support their success.

Sometimes that entails noodling over constructive feedback designed to help me, other times it means researching what people like and dislike about other programs so I can design a program that is win/win/win.

Coaching is a relationship between two people that is only as effective as each person’s willingness to communicate honestly.

Want to know more about my coaching programs?

You can read about what it is like to work with me here -> lisalarter.com/work-with-lisa/

You can read about Profit Pods, my Group Coaching program here -> lisalarter.com/pods