Why Business Owners are often resistant to help:

Often business owners feel that they are supposed to know how to run a business and they’d look stupid if they were to admit that there were some pretty big gaps in their knowledge; which in turn affected their lives and their business.

So it’s no surprise that they are reluctant to ask for help as they fear they will be found out or that their peers will wonder why they need such “help”.

This is not based on some big scientific survey – it’s based on the real-life conversations I’ve had with the vast majority of my clients.

Once they felt they could trust me, they quickly told me they have never had any formal education around running a business and that sometimes they can feel that they are holding on by the seats of their pants.

And these are not start-ups, I usually work with successful business owners who’ve typically been in business for 20 years or more.

Its normal to feel this way:

I tell them it’s totally normal – I hear it all the time, in fact most people in business feel the same at some time.

The reason people feel uneasy is beautifully explained by Michael Gerber in his book The E-Myth Revisited – I recommend all business owners read it, here’s my summary of the key point:

The ‘E-Myth’ is the myth is that most businesses are started up by Entrepreneurs. In fact, most businesses are set up by what Michael calls ‘Technicians’.

Technicians are people who are really good at what they do, for example, an employee plumber who is really good at his (Technical) job might decides one day that he is fed up working for his boss and sets up his own business.

And sure enough the business proves to be successful and it grows rapidly – because he’s a great plumber and attracts a lot of customers who love his plumbing service.

But here’s the thing, for a business to prosper it needs more than just a great Technical service.

It needs Management (the ability to plan, organise and control) and it needs to be Entrepreneurial (keeping an eye on the future, planning, seizing opportunities etc).

Ideally, these 3 things, Technical, Management and Entrepreneurial all need to be in balance.

But often they are not. Often Technicians are great at technical jobs but is not so good at being a Manager or being an Entrepreneur – because they never learnt how to!

The reason businesses often struggle:

Initially this is not so critical, but over time, as the Technician side of the business becomes successful and grows, the gaps in the other 2 areas begin to cause problems, sometimes even business failure:

  • Management issues – teams aren’t doing what they should be, finances are not controlled so well, cashflow comes under pressure.
  • Entrepreneurial issues – there is little or no planning, no anticipating how customers’ needs are changing, competitors are starting to steal business from us and there is no vision for where the business is going.

As these issues begin to appear, the business owner comes under huge pressure trying to hold it all together, relentlessly working longer and longer hours keeping the staff, customers and bank manager happy and trying to ensure all the cards don’t come tumbling down.

Ah the joys of being in business – especially as our friend in the example really just wanted to be a plumber.

So how do I help?

As a business coach my job is NOT to help you become a better Plumber, Engineer or whatever else it is that you do. For me to even try would be pretty stupid as what do I know about those technical jobs!

But my job as a business coach is to help you work out what needs to happen so your business starts to function better, and even works without you being there, which means:

  • Management: Your people need to be responsible for running the business and being accountable for the results and….
  • Entrepreneurial: The business provides the time and money for you to live the life you choose (OK thats my definition but you’ll get the point).

What to do next

You don’t need a coach – just go and read the E-Myth – that would be a great start. But on the other hand, if you would like to explore whether I can help you make the changes you’ve always wanted in your business faster than you could alone, then check out my programmes page.