Twenty years ago, when I was 35 years old, I never heard mention of a life or business coach. I was under the impression that you just needed to get in the game and figure it out. I read articles, books and news post to gain all the information I could in life and business. It never dawned on me to hire a professional that could walk me through the difficulties or more importantly point me in the right direction.
Fast forward, it's now 2015, and my experience has taught me that it is necessary to hire an experienced coach in whatever arena I'm interested in tackling. I feel that I am capable of figuring out most problems or new processes alone and possibly even mastering them, but why would I want to travel the road alone, unaided, with no direction at all? Why would I want to invest the time, resources and energy dodging all the land mines and potholes? Why not pay a professional that has walked where you're headed, rather than get all banged up yourself?Yes, this advice is self-serving because I am a coach. I can easily build a case for hiring me because I feel I can help you move the needle. I believe what I do adds tremendous value, or I would not do what I do. I say this with great humility and humbleness, but I do feel 36 years of business background adds perspective.
I practice what I preach. I recently hired a LinkedIn coach to help me understand the benefits of using such a wonderful social media platform. There are 360 million unique users on LinkedIn that are dying to do business with someone, and I want to participate in such a beneficial environment. I will have to say that this LinkedIn coach offered invaluable information and insight. He told me how awful my profile was and instructed me to talk more about the client than I do myself. It was very evident he was a seasoned veteran and more than qualified to teach me the ins and outs of a powerful search engine.
I wanted to navigate the psychology behind why we do what we do as businessmen, so I hired a coach. I wanted to familiarize myself better with tactical approaches to monetizing my business, so I hired a coach, again. I'm creating an online course and wanting to learn to be a better communicator, you guessed it, I hired a coach. Currently, I want to learn more about the benefits and uses of Twitter, I'm currently looking for a coach, if you know a good one, please let me know.
I am more than willing to pay a coach to help me navigate my way
through a personal or business interest.
Often I hear men say, "coaching is expensive" and I agree, it is. You may even feel that there is no way that you could afford a coach, or maybe even allow your pride and ego to disallow anyone to help you. God forbid we ever ask for help.
Do you have any idea how expensive it is to learn it on your own? Have you thought about the loss of productivity that will occur and the steep learning curve ahead? Have you considered the opportunities you will miss because of your inexperience?
In the past, I have been guilty of stepping over dollars to pick up dimes. This is what we do every time we attempt to operate outside of our expertise. We think we might save a quarter if we do it ourself. We say, "I can learn this or that on my own, and not pay the professional".
Almost, every time that I have attempted something without the pro,
it has cost me more. I invariably end up doing it twice, it's substandard in quality,
or it took me double or triple the time to complete as originally planned.
There are many task today that I have stopped doing. It's not because I'm too good to do it. It just makes a lot more sense to let the pros do it while I'm being coached to execute on the vital few things I do best.
I would encourage you to consider the best way, not the cheapest way, for education in your next endeavor. The net result may surprise you.
Live on purpose,
Aaron
