How do I find a business coach?
Many small business owners, wear all the hats, from sales and marketing to production, HR and finance.
It can be a big task to admit we need some help in our business, or we need to learn new management skills.
Finding a business coach or mentor that understands us, and our business can seem like a daunting task.
Here are a few of our recommendations on how to find a business coach:
Entrepreneurs Circle
Entrepreneurs Circle is one of the UK’s leading marketing resources for small business owners. Developed over 10 years by entrepreneur Nigel Botterill, EC helps educate thousands of small business owners on how to market their business effectively.
The Vault contains a wealth of marketing tools, training and how-to videos. Monthly Local Meetings and EC Certified Coaches compliment the self-directed learning.
An Entrepreneurs Circle Certified Coach has studied the Entrepreneurs Sales and Marketing System and is accredited in helping small business owners develop marketing techniques that create a rhythmic flow of enquiries and customers.
>> Click Here for A directory of Entrepreneurs Circle Certified Coaches <<
Local Business Networking Groups
A great way to meet local business coaches in a relaxed environment is your local business networking group.
If you have a business coach within your group, then over a period of days and months, you’ll get to know them, their specialities and an incline as to how they work. This can really break the ice and help you understand if you’ll work well together.
Local business networking groups such as First Friday, BNI, 4Networking and OmniLocal are great places to start your quest.
The Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs
The Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs (IOEE) is the national body for enterprise education. As a qualifying body, it sets the standards for business and marketing education to be delivered in adult education, further education and its Approved Academies.
The IOEE Campus is an online learning resource for entrepreneurs, the forum is a great place to find support and there is a directory of qualified business mentors and enterprise advisors.
Enterprise Nation
Enterprise Nation is an online community for small business owners and business advisers. Its whole purpose is to connect business owners with help and resources to start and grow their businesses.
With a whole host of great sponsors and supporters, Enterprise Nation hosts a range of webinars, educational events and social events for small business owners.
There’s a directory of business coaches and advisors to help with your search.
The Association of Professional Coaching
The quality of your business advice hinges on experience, your coaches training and their commitment to regular continuous professional development.
The Association of Professional Coaching provides training for coaches across a range of techniques including Timeline Coaching, NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming), Gestalt Therapy and other coaching techniques.
Each APC member makes a commitment to continuous professional development and the directory provides a number of ways to narrow your search, including specialisms – such as business coaching, executive coaching and career coaching.
The Association of Business Mentors
A great place to start looking for a business mentor is The Association of Business Mentors. The ABM was established to help improve the standards of Business Mentors across the UK. Business mentoring is a reasonably new and unregulated industry within the United Kingdom.
The Find a Mentor section of the website shows enrolled members and their profiles. Again, there is a commitment to regular CPD and the association provides regular regional events and training for members.
The Federation of Small Business
The Federation of Small Business is a lobbying group promoting and championing the needs of small businesses in Parliament. An amazing group of pro-business people supporting other small business owners.
The FSB run a number of events, networking events and regional groups to support small businesses. The regional volunteers could be a great place to start when it comes to getting recommendations for a business coach.
Other places you could try include:
- Your local Enterprise Agency
