Business Mentor or Coach

[Alejo Mi]

Hi has anyone had experience with a business coach and views them as invaluable?

I'm considering getting one but I'm wondering if anyone has any guidance or recommendations.

 

[fisicx]

@Alejo Mi - a business coach to do what? Is this just general help or was there something specific you need help with?

 

[Mark T Jones]

@Ozzy has some good insights here, but before you go hunting, it is important to be clear what you are looking for / hoping to achieve v

 

[Ozzy]

A mentor and a coach are two very different options but often confused with each other.
If you want someone to teach you from their experience usually in your industry then you want a mentor. Someone to learn from.
If you want someone to help you remain focused and hold you accountable with your progress, to your own goals and objectives, then you want a coach.

You can have both a coach and a mentor, but they cannot often be the same person. Mainly because a coach cannot and should not give you answers, but a mentor can.

 

[Alejo Mi]

A mentor and a coach are two very different options but often confused with each other.
If you want someone to teach you from their experience usually in your industry then you want a mentor. Someone to learn from.
If you want someone to help you remain focused and hold you accountable with your progress, to your own goals and objectives, then you want a coach.

You can have both a coach and a mentor, but they cannot often be the same person. Mainly because a coach cannot and should not give you answers, but a mentor can.

Thank you for this! In my case I would be more suited to a mentor. I recently had a friend who has hired a coach but she says the coach is not only for accountability but for strategy development. From your description a coach wouldn't be there to provide answers and help me plan how to strategically reach my goals. I'm in a product based business, I design prints/patterns which I then apply onto different types of home decor accessories, coasters.. placemats, cushions etc.

I've been at it for over 5 years but don't have a good strategy and I work full time in a 9-5. I have made some progress but it's very slow..

I have been searching for a mentor whilst plodding along.

 

[Alejo Mi]

@Alejo Mi - a business coach to do what? Is this just general help or was there something specific you need help with?

I need help to develop a strategy to change my current craft business that brings in £300 per month into a full time business bringing in at least £3000 a month so I can leave my current job. I would then seek to grow the business, hire employees etc to take it further, ideally to a 7 figure revenue.

 

[fisicx]

I’ve looked at your site and your whole approach is wrong. What you need to do is get your products listed on the major home accessories sites. Your very limited range is unlikely to attract repeat custom so you just need to put them in front of more people.

£3000/month is a huge step. It could take years to achieve this.

 

[Alejo Mi]

I’ve looked at your site and your whole approach is wrong. What you need to do is get your products listed on the major home accessories sites. Your very limited range is unlikely to attract repeat custom so you just need to put them in front of more people.

£3000/month is a huge step. It could take years to achieve this.

Thanks for taking the time to reply and checking out my online shop.

I definitely need to put my work infront of more people. I need a strategy to do that, I'm okay with the years it'll take to do this. I've been doing this since 2017 and I'm committed. I'm also clueless.

As it's an online shop, I'd love to know what you saw that showed a) my approach and b) that it wasn't working? (Other than my lack of sales).

Thank you in advance!

EDIT:

My thoughts would be, to do trade shows like TopDrawer to put my products or designs in front of wholesalers.

To send emails and PR to home decor magazines.

To pitch to companies like John Lewis, Urban Outfitters and other diverse home decor outfits.

 

[fisicx]

Yes, but if John Lewis place an order for 1000 coasters per week can you deliver?

I went to a garden centre yesterday and they a had hundreds of cushion, coaster and placemat designs. All selling at a lot less than the ones you sell. What incentive is them to place a bulk order with you?

 

[Alejo Mi]

Yes, but if John Lewis place an order for 1000 coasters per week can you deliver?

I went to a garden centre yesterday and they a had hundreds of cushion, coaster and placemat designs. All selling at a lot less than the ones you sell. What incentive is them to place a bulk order with you?

No I can't deliver those numbers.

No incentive to place a bulk order with me.
As a design-led business, if there is no value placed in the actual design, then there isn't any incentive to place a bulk order. My products would not appeal to those buyers.

 

[fisicx]

In which case there is no point in even approaching any of the high street or online retailers. You are only ever going to be earning £300/month. To earn more you need to massively ramp up production.

 

[Alejo Mi]

In which case there is no point in even approaching any of the high street or online retailers. You are only ever going to be earning £300/month. To earn more you need to massively ramp up production.

I disagree with this solely because I earn £300p/m just from my Etsy store and putting in approx. 7hrs a week. My website pulls in no sales as I do not advertise it. This of course is a significant detail we didn't get to discussing. Your time is precious so I didn't expect to get to the details. Nevertheless details are important when providing advice.

Thanks for taking the time to look through my business website though. I'll check some other posts so I'm not asking questions that may have been dealt with elsewhere.

 

[fisicx]

That’s you selling on Etsy. What I meant was you supplying the major online stores. You aren’t going to sell 10 times the number of products on Etsy. You need to increase the range or find more channels. Selling 10 times more products means making 10 times the number of products and packing and posting 10 times the number of parcels. Do you have the resources to do this?

Have you done a cost analysis of the £3000/month? Subtract costs, tax, NI, insurance, rent/mortgage, utilities, food and other expenses and I doubt you have anything left over.

 

[Alejo Mi]

That’s you selling on Etsy. What I meant was you supplying the major online stores. You aren’t going to sell 10 times the number of products on Etsy. You need to increase the range or find more channels. Selling 10 times more products means making 10 times the number of products and packing and posting 10 times the number of parcels. Do you have the resources to do this?

Have you done a cost analysis of the £3000/month? Subtract costs, tax, NI, insurance, rent/mortgage, utilities, food and other expenses and I doubt you have anything left over.

I like the idea of the cost analysis for the £3000p/m scenario. That'll be a good exercise to do.

 

[fisicx]

I like the idea of the cost analysis for the £3000p/m scenario. That'll be a good exercise to do.

Good. And also consider if you are able to source, make, back and post enough products.

 

[Financial-Modeller]

If the numbers you have provided are net earnings, you're just about earning minimum wage from this. If those are revenue, you're earning significantly less.

If you sell 10 times as many products, to bring in your target of 10 times as much revenue, will you have to do 10 times as much work? 70 hours per week on minimum wage will not be much fun!

 

[Robin Waite]

Hi has anyone had experience with a business coach and views them as invaluable?

I'm considering getting one but I'm wondering if anyone has any guidance or recommendations.

I'm happy to help you with this Alejo. I am a business coach and have helped and continue to do so many, many consultants, small businesses, other coaches and freelancers. I'm happy to run through a 30 min call for free and see where you're at and what the gaps are.