By Dania Mahmoud
Picture your favorite sports hero: Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, J.J. Watt. Now picture that hero without a coach. Athletes who want to succeed need a training plan, health advice, and the motivation to push themselves to their limits. No one expects athletes to overcome these challenges without coaching, and the same goes for entrepreneurs. Tackling a business without choosing someone to help structure your goals or hold you accountable for your progress leaves you without direction in a market that’s easy to get lost in.
A business coach, or business consultant, helps clients establish clear paths towards success. Whether you are building a foundation for your startup to stand on or you’re looking to take your established business to the next level, a business consultant can offer expert advice and service to help your company become more than a day-to-day operation and grow into a long-lasting legacy.
At Small Business Innovation Consulting, we focus our efforts towards small businesses that are ready to expand their reach in the Houston community. We think community is important because small business owners can often feel that they are facing their own island of challenges. A good consultant will throw you a lifeboat by connecting you with a network of trustworthy professionals and providing you with the innovative solutions that will make a real difference in the way you do business.
Here are 5 more reasons to hire a business consultant:
1. You want a long-term plan.
One of the major reasons small businesses should hire consultants is to put their big picture goals into perspective. Day-to-day operations are often the most demanding aspect of a small business, and with all of your attention focused on the short-term, your long-term plans are in danger of becoming a hazy vision in the distance.
Luckily, your business consultant will move that vision to the forefront. A consultant will will first help you understand what you want from retirement. Are you looking to leave your business completely, or do you want to continue to have some influence in decision making? Your consultant will lay out the options, then strategize the best ways to make your retirement goal attainable.
Of course, long-term goals don’t end with retirement. Your business is your legacy, and your business coach is going to help you make that legacy Hall of Fame worthy. Your coach will help you create a sustainable business model for the leaders after you to use as a resource for continuing success.
And speaking of successors, choosing one is one of the most important steps you can take for your business’s longevity, especially if you’re running a family-owned business. The sooner you narrow your choices down for a successor, the better-- you’ll have that much more time to provide training and mentorship. Your business consultant can help you make this decision by giving you an objective perspective on potential candidates and laying out a succession plan to make the ultimate transition smooth and successful.
2. You have an ultimate goal in mind.
While you don’t want to leave any stones unturned when it comes to the challenges you are facing, you and your business coach should focus on one big-picture goal that will move your business forward.
Choosing an overall objective for your business-- whether that’s reaching a target audience more effectively, improving the quality of your product or service, or organizing your operations to run more efficiently-- will maximize the productivity of the consulting process. That’s because the solutions your coach presents will all be geared towards progressing that ultimate goal. Steps towards realizing a goal, even small steps, are more productive than blind strides towards an unclear objective.
But what if you’re not sure what your ultimate goal is? Don’t worry; a business consultant can help you narrow down what you want to do with your business. Your ultimate goal will begin to take shape as you talk about your hopes for the future. All that’s left for your consultant to do is structure a plan to meet that goal.
3. You’re ready to embrace change.
If you’re ready to move forward with your business, and you’re willing to make changes in your operations in order to make that progress happen, consider hiring a business consultant to make those changes less stressful.
A business consultant will help you understand where innovation could make a difference in the efficiency of your operations. And if change means expanding your operations, consultants will often offer services to help with that, including financial planning, talent acquisition, and marketing.
Change doesn’t stop at expansion; if you’re serious about innovating your business, chances are you will have to face some of the challenges you’ve been avoiding within your business structure. Be honest about these challenges-- both with yourself and with your consultant. Ignoring problems doesn’t make them go away, but addressing them with a fellow entrepreneur who has likely overcome similar experiences is certainly a step towards resolving them.
4. You want to bring new skills to an adaptable business.
Coaching is not about solving a problem, then walking out the door forever. When you hire a consultant, you are making a step towards self-improvement and advancement. Your consultant will help you identify any gaps in your business knowledge, then guide you towards a better understanding of that area. From filing taxes to creating a business plan, a good consultant wants to help you achieve sustainability by teaching your business the skills it will need to adapt to the ever-changing market-place.
Small Business Innovation especially takes sustainability seriously. Our goal is to help our clients build a solid foundation upon which they can grow and expand their business.
5. You want to tell your story better.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: sharing your story effectively is crucial to your success. If you haven’t identified your story yet, don’t worry. A business consultant will help you build a brand by determining what’s important to you and what impact you want your business to make on its target audience.
The value of storytelling goes beyond the number of followers you have on Twitter or how many people are visiting your website. Though these can be good measures of progress, ultimately your story is going to spark a connection between your business and your target audience. When your audience is invested in your brand, you’re on your way to building a community around your business, which means long-term success.
Sources
Harvard Business Review
Inc.
Picture your favorite sports hero: Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, J.J. Watt. Now picture that hero without a coach. Athletes who want to succeed need a training plan, health advice, and the motivation to push themselves to their limits. No one expects athletes to overcome these challenges without coaching, and the same goes for entrepreneurs. Tackling a business without choosing someone to help structure your goals or hold you accountable for your progress leaves you without direction in a market that’s easy to get lost in.
A business coach, or business consultant, helps clients establish clear paths towards success. Whether you are building a foundation for your startup to stand on or you’re looking to take your established business to the next level, a business consultant can offer expert advice and service to help your company become more than a day-to-day operation and grow into a long-lasting legacy.
At Small Business Innovation Consulting, we focus our efforts towards small businesses that are ready to expand their reach in the Houston community. We think community is important because small business owners can often feel that they are facing their own island of challenges. A good consultant will throw you a lifeboat by connecting you with a network of trustworthy professionals and providing you with the innovative solutions that will make a real difference in the way you do business.
Here are 5 more reasons to hire a business consultant:
1. You want a long-term plan.
One of the major reasons small businesses should hire consultants is to put their big picture goals into perspective. Day-to-day operations are often the most demanding aspect of a small business, and with all of your attention focused on the short-term, your long-term plans are in danger of becoming a hazy vision in the distance.
Luckily, your business consultant will move that vision to the forefront. A consultant will will first help you understand what you want from retirement. Are you looking to leave your business completely, or do you want to continue to have some influence in decision making? Your consultant will lay out the options, then strategize the best ways to make your retirement goal attainable.
Of course, long-term goals don’t end with retirement. Your business is your legacy, and your business coach is going to help you make that legacy Hall of Fame worthy. Your coach will help you create a sustainable business model for the leaders after you to use as a resource for continuing success.
And speaking of successors, choosing one is one of the most important steps you can take for your business’s longevity, especially if you’re running a family-owned business. The sooner you narrow your choices down for a successor, the better-- you’ll have that much more time to provide training and mentorship. Your business consultant can help you make this decision by giving you an objective perspective on potential candidates and laying out a succession plan to make the ultimate transition smooth and successful.
2. You have an ultimate goal in mind.
While you don’t want to leave any stones unturned when it comes to the challenges you are facing, you and your business coach should focus on one big-picture goal that will move your business forward.
Choosing an overall objective for your business-- whether that’s reaching a target audience more effectively, improving the quality of your product or service, or organizing your operations to run more efficiently-- will maximize the productivity of the consulting process. That’s because the solutions your coach presents will all be geared towards progressing that ultimate goal. Steps towards realizing a goal, even small steps, are more productive than blind strides towards an unclear objective.
But what if you’re not sure what your ultimate goal is? Don’t worry; a business consultant can help you narrow down what you want to do with your business. Your ultimate goal will begin to take shape as you talk about your hopes for the future. All that’s left for your consultant to do is structure a plan to meet that goal.
3. You’re ready to embrace change.
If you’re ready to move forward with your business, and you’re willing to make changes in your operations in order to make that progress happen, consider hiring a business consultant to make those changes less stressful.
A business consultant will help you understand where innovation could make a difference in the efficiency of your operations. And if change means expanding your operations, consultants will often offer services to help with that, including financial planning, talent acquisition, and marketing.
Change doesn’t stop at expansion; if you’re serious about innovating your business, chances are you will have to face some of the challenges you’ve been avoiding within your business structure. Be honest about these challenges-- both with yourself and with your consultant. Ignoring problems doesn’t make them go away, but addressing them with a fellow entrepreneur who has likely overcome similar experiences is certainly a step towards resolving them.
4. You want to bring new skills to an adaptable business.
Coaching is not about solving a problem, then walking out the door forever. When you hire a consultant, you are making a step towards self-improvement and advancement. Your consultant will help you identify any gaps in your business knowledge, then guide you towards a better understanding of that area. From filing taxes to creating a business plan, a good consultant wants to help you achieve sustainability by teaching your business the skills it will need to adapt to the ever-changing market-place.
Small Business Innovation especially takes sustainability seriously. Our goal is to help our clients build a solid foundation upon which they can grow and expand their business.
5. You want to tell your story better.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: sharing your story effectively is crucial to your success. If you haven’t identified your story yet, don’t worry. A business consultant will help you build a brand by determining what’s important to you and what impact you want your business to make on its target audience.
The value of storytelling goes beyond the number of followers you have on Twitter or how many people are visiting your website. Though these can be good measures of progress, ultimately your story is going to spark a connection between your business and your target audience. When your audience is invested in your brand, you’re on your way to building a community around your business, which means long-term success.
Sources
Harvard Business Review
Inc.
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