MBA2293 When to Hire a Coach + Free Ride Friday

Summary

The $100 MBA Show: MBA2293 When to Hire a Coach + Free Ride Friday

Host: Omar Zenhom
Release Date: April 21, 2023

---

Introduction

In Episode MBA2293 of The $100 MBA Show, host Omar Zenhom delves into the critical question: When is the right time to hire a business coach? Drawing from his extensive 20+ years of entrepreneurial experience and the journey of building multiple businesses, Omar provides actionable insights to help entrepreneurs make informed decisions about leveraging coaching to scale their ventures effectively.

---

Common Mistakes in Hiring Coaches

Omar begins by addressing prevalent misconceptions entrepreneurs have about hiring coaches. He highlights two primary pitfalls:

1. Hiring Too Late:
   “Many people wait too long, meaning they get to a desperate situation where their business is about to go under and they're like I need a coach to turn this around. This is the worst time to hire a coach because it's going to take time for you to implement what the coach is recommending.”
   (02:45)
   Entrepreneurs often seek coaches when their businesses are in crisis, leaving insufficient time to apply the coach’s strategies effectively.

2. Hiring Too Early:
   “Some people try to hire a coach when they're just getting started. But unfortunately, a coach can't help you if you have no direction, you have no goals, you don't actually have a business or product on the hand for them to help you improve.”
   (04:10)
   On the other hand, securing a coach before establishing a foundational business structure can render coaching efforts ineffective.

---

The Right Timing for Hiring a Coach

Omar emphasizes the importance of finding the “sweet spot” for hiring a coach:

“There's a great time to hire a coach where they're going to make a huge impact on your results. They say timing is everything. This definitely applies when it comes to hiring a coach to help grow your business.”
(05:20)

He defines this optimal timing as the period just after passing the traction phase, where the business has:

• A viable product or service:
  Proven market demand with actual sales.

• Established foundations:
  Clear mission, goals, unique selling propositions, and a customer base ready to provide feedback.

“It's time to find a coach once you just passed the traction phase, meaning you have a business, you have a product or service for sale. You've sold this product or service to customers. You've proven people actually want this. And now you want to scale the business so it could be successful...”
(06:15)

At this stage, a coach can effectively guide entrepreneurs in scaling operations, optimizing strategies, and building a robust team.

---

Omar's Personal Experience with Coaching

Drawing from his journey with Webinar Ninja, Omar shares how strategic coaching influenced his business growth:

“We hired Dan Martell, probably the best SaaS coach in the business... He held us accountable. He pointed out some of the weaknesses in our business. He saw things that we didn't see because he's been through this before...”
(07:30)

Under Dan Martell’s guidance, Webinar Ninja experienced significant growth. Omar notes that the coach’s role was not magic but providing accountability and highlighting areas for improvement, enabling the team to take informed risks and make necessary changes.

---

The Role of a Coach in Business Growth

Omar outlines what entrepreneurs should expect from a coach:

• Accountability:
  Ensuring that entrepreneurs stay on track with their goals and strategies.

• Objective Feedback:
  Identifying weaknesses and blind spots that the business may overlook.

• Experience-Based Insights:
  Leveraging the coach’s past experiences to navigate similar business challenges.

“The expert, the coach, the mentor, the whatever. They don't have all the answers. All they have is some skills and some experiences that they gain throughout their own life that they can share with you to help you along the way.”
(05:50)

Additionally, Omar emphasizes that the value a coach provides is maximized when the business already has solid foundations in place.

---

Choosing the Right Coach

Selecting an appropriate coach is crucial. Omar advises entrepreneurs to look for coaches who:

• Have Proven Track Records:
  Preferably those who have successfully scaled businesses similar to theirs.

• Prefer Established Clients:
  Coaches often seek out clients making at least $10,000 a month to ensure they can provide meaningful guidance.

“The best coaches that you could find actually are the ones that you are going to find after that stage... some of the best coaches will only take on clients that are making at least $10,000 a month first.”
(08:40)

He also highlights the benefits of group coaching programs over one-on-one sessions:

“I'm a big fan of actually joining group coaching programs instead of one on one coaching. You not only learn from the coach, but also from the experiences and the mistakes and the advice that the coach is giving other entrepreneurs in the group.”
(10:00)

Group coaching fosters a collaborative environment where entrepreneurs can learn from each other’s journeys, enhancing the overall coaching experience.

---

Final Recommendations

Omar wraps up his lesson with actionable steps for entrepreneurs:

1. For Beginners:
   “If you're just getting started... Get started with some training and courses. Shameless Plug. Check out the $100 MBA.”
   (10:55)
   Building a strong foundation through education is essential before seeking advanced coaching.

2. Once You Gain Traction:
   “Once you have traction, once you're making money, once the business has proven that there are customers that want what you have, it's time to find a coach.”
   (11:05)
   This ensures that the business is ready to implement the coach’s strategies effectively.

3. Continuous Growth:
   Recognize when growth plateaus and seek coaching to navigate new challenges and scale further.

“As you keep growing, once you start seeing your growth not going in the same direction... this is time to call on a new coach to take you to that next level before it's too late.”
(10:30)

---

Conclusion and Free Ride Friday Announcement

Concluding the episode, Omar reiterates the importance of timing in hiring a coach and encourages entrepreneurs to invest in their growth at the right stages. He also highlights the ongoing Free Ride Friday contest, where listeners can win a lifetime membership to the $100 MBA live program by leaving an Apple Podcast rating and review.

“Let's see who won this week's free ride. And the winner is Green Solitaire... Thank you Green Solidaire for that amazing review.”
(10:45)

Omar also encourages listeners to subscribe and follow the podcast to stay updated with invaluable business lessons.

“Before I go, I want to leave you with this... It's like a think tank. It's like a collective experience that you can just grab and use in your own business and your own journey.”
(11:15)

---

Key Takeaways

• Optimal Timing: Hire a coach after establishing a viable product and gaining initial traction, not too early or too late.

• Role of Coaches: Provide accountability, objective feedback, and experience-based guidance to scale your business effectively.

• Selection Criteria: Choose coaches with proven success and prefer those who work with established businesses.

• Group Coaching Benefits: Offers collective learning and shared experiences, enhancing individual growth.

• Continuous Learning: Invest in foundational training first, then seek coaching to navigate growth phases and overcome new challenges.

---

By understanding the strategic moments to seek coaching and leveraging the right guidance, entrepreneurs can significantly enhance their business trajectory and achieve sustainable growth.

Transcript

[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Omar Zenhom]

Welcome to the $100 NBA show. No fluff, just the good stuff. Every single day with our daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of Webinar Ninja, an independent software company I started with my co founder back in 2014 and today is Free Ride Friday. On Free Ride Fridays, we give away a lifetime membership to one of our programs. We're giving away our $100 MBA live program. It's a two day live program where we show you how to improve as an entrepreneur. 100% guaranteed. If you want to win a free ride to the Live the recordings, lifetime access to those recordings. Just leave us an Apple Podcast rating and review and you enter our weekly random draw we call Free Ride Friday Live. Listen in on Friday to see if you won. It's that easy. We announced this week's winner a little bit later in the episode. In today's episode you will learn when is the right time to hire a coach. In previous episodes we talked about why you'd want to coach, how to find the right coach, and even when you don't need a coach. Like when it's time for you to graduate from your coach. But in today's episode we're going to talk specifically about when. When is it a good time for you to start looking to hiring a coach? Many people wait too long, meaning they get to a desperate situation where their business is about to go under and they're like I need a coach to turn this around. This is the worst time to hire a coach because it's going to take time for you to implement what the coach is recommending. And you might not have that time in order to do it quickly enough to save your business. Some people try to hire a coach when they're just getting started. But unfortunately, a coach can't help you if you have no direction, you have no goals, you don't actually have a business or product on your hand for them to help you improve. There is a sweet spot, though. There's a great time to hire a coach where they're going to make a huge impact on your results. They say timing is everything. This definitely applies when it comes to hiring a coach to help grow your business. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. I've hired several coaches over the last 20 years. Throughout my entrepreneurial journey, some coaches helped me for a short period of time, three, four months. Some of them helped me for two, three years. Some of them I worked with on just a project. And once the project was up, our agreement together, coach and client was over. But in my several experiences, I've noticed that the timing actually matters when I actually hire the coach. Sometimes it doesn't matter how brilliant of a coach they are, they just can't help you because you're hiring them at the wrong time. I mentioned a few of those times at the start of the episode. You see, this is something that people don't talk about. There are certain things that you need to figure out on your own, and then once you figure those out, your coach can help you take you to the next level. Here's another secret. The expert, the coach, the mentor, the whatever. They don't have all the answers. All they have is some skills and some experiences that they gain throughout their own life that they can share with you to help you along the way. So in my opinion, and in my experience, it's a great time to hire a coach once you just passed the traction phase, meaning you have a business, you have a product or service for sale. You've sold this product or service to customers. You've proven people actually want this. And now you want to scale the business so it could be successful, so that you can earn a healthy living, so that you can expand it and grow it and hire a team. This is great timing. Why? Because you have a lot of things already established. A coach can come in, look at your business, and help you build the next steps. You have a foundation, you have a mission, you have a goal, you have a product, you have a differentiator. People know what you stand for. You have customers you can ask and get feedback from, and you're early enough in your journey for you to make some serious foundational moves that can help you move in the right direction and build upon solid ground. I did this several times in my own software company, Webinar Ninja. We had different stages and I had different coaches in different stages of the business. I wanted to get to another, bigger stage of my business, so I hired the best SaaS coach in the business. Who's Dan Martell? He is probably the expert when it comes to SaaS business. In my opinion, he is the best. So when we hired Dan to take us to that next level in our software company, did he just like sprinkle some magic dust and we all of a sudden blew up and grew 500%? No, he held us accountable. He pointed out some of the weaknesses in our business. He saw things that we didn't see because he's been through this before several times, built several companies, had two, sold two companies. He's been through this before and he basically just helped us move in the right direction. We did a lot of work to do that, made a lot of changes, took a lot of risks. But I can wholeheartedly say that his coaching at that time helped us a lot. And I noticed that we did a lot better than other companies in different stages. And I'll tell you what I mean by that. You know his coaching program, SaaS Academy, it's a group coaching program. So there was like over a hundred different SaaS companies in the program with us at the time. I got to learn from other companies, see what they're doing, see how they're growing. And you know, we weren't the best company there, but we definitely weren't the worst. And the ones that struggled the most were the ones that really were wishy washy on their mission, on what they're trying to do, on their differentiator, on their unique selling proposition, on how they acquire customers, who their target avatar is. They haven't established the basics and therefore the concepts and the strategies the coach was offering really didn't make sense because they didn't have the foundation. So you really need to have a solid foundation. And this is why I believe that in terms of stages of development, courses and training are great in the beginning for you to get traction and get your first customers and establish those foundational pieces and concepts in your business. And then once you get that, having, you know, a dedicated coach to take it to the next level is the next course of action. And there's lots of courses out there in entrepreneurship, there's free Ones, there's paid ones, there's the $100 MBA. You know that this is my program. But no one's going to really be able to coach you through that. You got to do the work, and that's just the secret of it. And people don't want to talk about this, but coaches don't want to work with people that haven't established themselves. They want to have a good track record. They want to have clients that actually are successful and they're going to be picky. They're going to be like, hey, I want somebody that is have proven themselves already and has a product or service that's selling and doing well, and I want to help them get better. They don't want to help somebody from 0 to 1, because that's the hard part. That's what you have to do first. And it's super risky. And there's a lot of variables outside the coach's realm of influence, like how hard you work. And if you actually take those risks and take those bets on yourself to put your products out there, put yourself out there, they want you after that stage. The best coaches that you could find actually are the ones that you are going to find after that stage. And that's kind of the funny part about it. You know, some of the best coaches will only take on clients that are making at least $10,000 a month first. And you want one of the best coaches. Right. And for those who are trying to get to that point, it's actually kind of hard to find a lot of materials. This is why, if you ever take my course, the $100 MBA, it's actually just six workshops, six modules, and it's the fundamentals. This is basically the strategies and the mindset and the systems you install in your business to get going, to actually have a business on your hands. Everything else is up to you. You got to do the work. I basically give you what really matters. This is what you need to focus on. So what happens if you hire a coach outside of this kind of period? Nothing disastrous, but I'm just saying where you get the most value, like the highest value per dollar you're spending on a coach. I've had coaches where I wasn't at that timing. I was past that point or before that point in a project or business, and it was still helpful. I still had somebody who held me accountable. I had somebody to ask advice, bounce ideas off. But if I'm going to talk about, like, exponential growth, you want to hire them when you are in the flow when you're actually in traction and you're not stuck. Now, I've been doing this for a very long time, so I kind of could predict when it's going to start getting stuck, meaning we're starting to slow down or not growing as fast as we used to. This is like a red alert for me. Time to get a coach to take me to the next level, whether it's a short term engagement or a long term one. And I did this. Even sometimes having short term engagements can really get you out of rut and push you to the next level. I had one of those with Ayman Abdullah, the former president of Appsumo, who took their company from 3 million to 100 million. And he unlocked a whole bunch of things for me in the few sessions we had. And it was enough for me to move on and improve and get to where I want to go. I know I will need another coach along the way. I know this is going to happen because I've seen it throughout my life, throughout my entrepreneurial career, through different projects, through different products, through different businesses. This is just the nature of business. It's levels, right? Certain levels. You're going to need certain assistance.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying. No judgments, but that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway, give it a try.

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

@Mintmobile.Com Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month. Required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full [e-mail] and we're back folks.

[Jim]

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[Ramp Announcer]

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[Jim]

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[Ramp Announcer]

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[Jim]

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[Ramp Announcer]

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[Omar Zenhom]

So to wrap up today's lesson, here's my advice. If you're just getting started, you don't have any business on your hands. You don't have any customers, you don't have a brand, you don't have a direction. You don't have a mission, you don't have a usp, you don't have any of that. Get started with some training and courses. Shameless Plug. Check out the $100 MBA. It might be right for you. We guarantee 100% of your money back if you don't feel like you've improved at the end of the two days of training. I also recommend picking up the classic books that will help you change your mindset. Autobiographies, Biographies. There's tons of must reads here on the podcast. Just search must reads over at 100mba.net. I recommend books constantly that you could read to improve from there. Once you have traction, once you're making money, once the business has proven that there are customers that want what you have, it's time to find a coach. We have episodes in our archives about how to choose a coach, how to find them, all that kind of stuff. And as you keep growing, once you start seeing your growth not going in the same direction, meaning you're not growing as fast or not growing as fast as you did the last three months or last quarter, this is time to call on a new coach to take you to that next level before it's too late. That wraps up today's lesson, but today's episode's not over. Let's see who won this week's free ride. And the winner is Green Solitaire. That's the handle on Apple Podcasts. Green Solitaire says everything I wish I'd known. After 20 years of running a business and about 10 episodes into the hundred dollar MBA show podcast, I wish I had a time machine to send these episodes back to my former self when I was getting started. There's so much business advice out there. Often veteran business owners that are spouting things are either obvious or downright incorrect, but the 100 MBA show nails it. Thank you Green Solidaire for that amazing review. Your mission is to email me over at omar00mba net so I can make sure I hook you up with the lifetime membership to the hundred RBA program over at 100mba.net. If you want to win a free ride, just leave us an Apple Podcast rating and review and you enter our weekly random draw we call Free Ride Friday. Listen in on Friday just like right now to see if you won. It's that easy. Thanks so much for listening to the podcast. If you want to continue to hear amazing business lessons, just hit subscribe, hit Follow on favorite podcast app. It's the best way to support the show and show those podcast apps that you love this podcast. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. I'm a big fan of actually joining group coaching programs instead of one on one coaching. Why? Because you not only learn from the coach and the advice they're giving you, and you know the direction they're giving you, but you're also learning from the experiences and the mistakes and the advice that the coach is giving other entrepreneurs in the group. You also learn from their wins and what worked and what didn't. It's like a think tank. It's like a collective experience that you can just grab and use in your own business and your own journey. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in Monday's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

[Ramp Announcer]

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