Does coaching make a difference between sustained success or bitter failure for entrepreneurs?

“If anyone ever wondered whether it was talent or sustained systematic training that makes athletes so good, they need only look at Joshua Gordon, a professional mediator in Boston. Mr. Gordon ran cross-country in college before stopping completely to take up baseball. Six years later, in 1999, he decided, almost as a lark, to run the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/b/boston_marathon/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier">Boston Marathon</a>. He joined a program to learn how to run longer distances, a process that involved gradually increasing the length of his runs and focusing only on distance, not speed. He finished the marathon in a little over four hours, not especially fast for a man of 24, but he did meet his goal. “I was thrilled,” he said.” (NYTIMES.COM 4/23/09) If you want to bump up your chances of meeting your business goals, just like training for a marathon, a coach can really help. Dr. Roberts, an inline skater who competes in skating marathons, said: “If your goal is to finish, you just need to skate enough so that you can cover the distance. If your goal is to be faster, you have to train.” There are a million coaches in America and abroad. Their tips and suggestions can be found easily in magazines, books, blogs and their websites. But eventually, I believe, most people need guidance from a personal – en vivo – coach. Meeting weekly with a coach, though, can require a commitment over at least three months. Many drop out – just like when training for a marathon – once the going gets tough. Committing to focused accountability to a professional coach, is often what distinguishes a successful entrepreneur from a mediocre one. It can mean the difference between a thriving business and one that succumbs to the cynicism born of isolation—the ultimate dream killer. Carl Foster, an exercise physiologist at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, gave an example of what coaching can do in the physical sphere. “A man who has been running but not training might run a 5K race at a pace of 7:45 a mile. If he trained for six months, he could get his pace down to 6:10.” I believe this same kind of measurable progress can be experienced in the business domain. After all, real gains are incremental and hard won. Yet people regress if there is no one to champion them. Many find that they need a Mastermind Group, or affiliate with a business network like linkedin.com or better, biznik.com. Some attend weekend workshops to boost their confidence and grow their skills.  It all depends on one’s areas of weakness. Knowing your style, of course, helps you go with what works. Knowing your “growing edges” (once accepted) can be the opening to cultivating what’s missing. “If you are training to run, you need to run,” Dr. Roberts said. “If you are training to inline skate, you need to inline skate.” As Malcolm Gladwell (the author of Outliers) says, “People who thrive put in at least 10,000 hours of sustained, consistent training to reach their potential.” As I’ve said in the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=67291673574&amp;ref=mf">biznik.com</a> video, no one succeeds alone in the 21st century marketplace. If you're having any of these problems, and want to do something about it, coaching (and Biznik) may be for you: <ul> <li>You love running your business, but hate feeling isolated.</li> <li>You need more clients and customers.</li> <li>You need to raise your visibility and credibility.</li> <li>You do most things well in your business, but not everything.</li> <li>You don't have enough opportunities to meet colleagues and potential partners.</li> <li>Your business isn't growing fast enough.</li> <li>You have a hard time keeping up with trends that affect your business.</li> <li>You aren't sure how to use social media to promote your business.</li> <li>You're thinking about starting a business, but aren't sure where to start. (See About Biznik)</li> </ul> 2009-04-24T04:51:54Z