10 questions for hiring the perfect business coach

This week on the podcast I talk through 10 questions you need to ask yourself to know when it’s time to get a coach (04:30), what coaching methods suit you best (5:30) and what kind of coach you need (7:00) so that you can find the best coach for YOUR business success!

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Introduction

Hi everyone. Welcome back to The Wanderlover Podcast. I’m your host, Danielle Hu.

This is our first episode airing in the month of June. Gemini season is in full swing. It’s also my birthday month. My birthday is on the 21st. So I’m really feeling the energy and the excitement that always comes around around this time of year. I’m currently in Cornwall, England, and we’re going up to London for my birthday, and then we’ll be flying to Indonesia by the end of the month. So a lot going on also really exciting as you guys may know, I have a jewelry line called Anda Brand that I started last year with my best friend from childhood friend Annie. And we are hosting our first trunk show at Love Shack, Fancy Coconut Grove on the 18th and 19th of June. I unfortunately won’t be able to make it, but Annie will be there and so if you are in the Miami area, please stop by. If you’re not in the area, it would mean so much if you could share our invitation on Instagram, share to your stories and just encourage as many people to visit love shack, fancy coconut Grove. We’re going to have all of our pieces from our first collection, as well as all of the pieces from our beaded collections. 

And it’s our first in-person live events. So I’m really excited for you all to see the display and everything that we have prepared the first of many, many, many more to come. It’s been such a learning curve in the jewelry space, but I’m just so grateful to have this business with my best friend who I love so much and have it serve as a Testament that you are able to create businesses around what you genuinely love with people you love and working towards a mission that you are just so passionate about. We also have an on-coming collaboration with coral gardeners. So we’re working out a proposal behind the scenes where purchase made a percentage will go towards saving the coral reefs.

So stay tuned and follow along at Anda Brand because we just have so many exciting new projects to share with all of you. And I really hope you are able to stop by our first trunk show with that being said, I also want to reiterate just how passionate I am about entrepreneurship. And I really want to be transparent with all of you. Anda is my second business and I do not have any background in jewelry, jewelry design, and we are truly just learning on the go and I’m sharing with you. This is our first in person event after almost a year of selling online and we have never done this before! We’re still learning as we go. And I think that is a really important part of entrepreneurship in the beginning to understand that you’re not going to know at all to not have the expectation on yourself that you need to know it all, but always adopt a growth mindset and ask yourself, how can we make this work? Who can we ask for help? How do we learn so that we’re able to perform at the next level, right? Because it’s not impossible. We know it’s not impossible. We just need to learn how. And thankfully we both have a lot of experience with running our own businesses with entrepreneurship so we can kind of see the bigger picture, but it’s really understandable if you are going from corporate to entrepreneurship.

If this is your first time, even thinking about making an income on your own, then it’s going to be daunting. There’s going to be a lot of questions. And this is why it’s so important to ask yourself, do I need help? Because there are many business coaches out there who can provide guidance on how to build a successful business.

So this episode is going to be 10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Business Coach.

1. What am I Struggling with?
2. What Kind of results do I expect?
3. What do I want to learn from them?
4. Am I willing to do the work?
5. Do they have experience (do they walk the talk)?
6. Do they have testimonials?
7. Do I get direct access to them ?
8. Do you respect them as a person and their values?
9. Does their pricing reflect commitment and expansion?
10. What does my gut say?

If you’re considering, do I need one? Is this the logical next step for me on my entrepreneurship journey, here are some questions to ask yourself first, before hiring one. You want to make sure that they’re a really good fit and that this is exactly what you need at the moment. And by the end of this episode, you’ll know exactly whether you need one right now or not. Or if you currently know that you need one, and you’re not sure who to sign up with these questions are going to help you decide exactly who to hire as your new business coach.

The first question is to ask yourself

What am I struggling with?

You need to be able to pinpoint some of the blocks that you’re experiencing, whether that’s you need help getting started. You have ideas for a business, but you don’t know where to start. Maybe you’re struggling with mindset. Maybe you’re struggling with imposter syndrome, or you don’t know how to sell. There are so many different things you can seek help for, but you need to, self-assess a coach will be able to see your blind spots, but it really helps you decide where you are at with business, what you need help with. And then you can attract the answers that will come to you. And you can filter out who is best suited to solve those struggles and bring you to the next level.

The second question to ask yourself is

What kind of results do I expect?

This goes hand in hand with what struggles you are facing, because now you can decide, am I looking for a more spiritual mentor? Am I looking for heavy strategy? Am I looking for heavy systems? What is it that you are looking for to get the results you want? Is it solely an increase in income? Is it an increase in confidence? Is it an increase indealing with people and relationships, being able to know what results you’re expecting from this business coach is going to help you so much. And it’s going to help you reach your goals faster because you’re just working on the same wavelength as your mentor.

The third question is

What do I want to learn from them?

So if you are self-assessing and you decide, I want to make more money, but I want to make more money doing private coaching or versus I want to make more money by increasing the number of digital products I sell. Be super specific because if you are just looking to hire a business coach to make more money, that is too vague, think about how you would like to make more money in what kind of capacity, what kind of service you want to provide and see if they have the experience to help you get there. On the other hand, maybe you want to learn how to sell more effortlessly, or you want to learn attraction marketing. All of these things can help you increase your sales to make more money, but you have to know where your weak points are. What can they really help you push through so that you get over your own bullshit.

You are the only person holding yourself back, right? So be really honest with yourself. Do you need to learn more systems? You need to learn more about the technical side or is it simply a matter of showing up really authentically and then find the mentors who are exhibiting that, who are doing that. And that is probably who you’re going to want to learn from. A lot of my clients, they come to me because I really embody this full time traveling lifestyle. And they see my online presence. They see the business I’ve built and they are attracted to this lifestyle because I obviously budget free time to spend with my friends and family to go surfing.

I have this amazing balance and it’s a lifestyle that I truly truly embrace. And so when you join my community, when you join my masterminds or you work privately with me, most of my clients, they go on to do the same because they see firsthand how possible it is. So we have two girls in momentum. One of them is flying to Bali. The other is flying to Greece to start their digital nomad life. And it’s just so amazing, but it’s almost expected, right? If you are surrounding yourself with people who are doing that, you ask yourself why, why don’t I like I can do that. And all of those limiting beliefs go away. So ask yourself, what do you want to learn from your mentor?

Question number four,

Am I willing to do the work?

Do I have the time to dedicate to my business? Do I have the time to really carve out this new path of opportunity for my life? This will probably require a lot more time and effort than you are currently putting in. And it may require things that feel uncomfortable. It’ll probably be uncomfortable for you to step into this next level. So ask yourself, am I willing to do the work because your coach is not going to build your business for you. Your coach is not going to do the work for you. This is your business, your baby, and it’s not going to be easy, but I promise you it’s going to be so, so worth it.

Number five,

Do they have experience (do they walk the talk?)

It is so easy on the internet, on social media to brag about your accomplishments, to share your highlight reel, but are they living the life you want? Do they have experience launching digital products, launching digital courses, launching PRIVATE COACHING or masterminds or hitting the income goals that you want to hit wherever you want to go. You want to make sure that they have the experience to lead you there. Similarly to when I was working in finance and I wanted to learn from influencers and from other digital nomads, I sought the help of other influencers and digital nomads. I did not ask my peers in corporate how to become a digital nomad because you wouldn’t get the answer from them, right? So only ask for help from people who have the experience.

Which leads me to question number six,

Do they have testimonials?

So even if they say that they can get you there, do they have testimonials from other people who have actually gotten there? You can usually find this on their website or on their Instagram, or you can DM them and ask for any testimonials. You can even ask people who have signed up for their programs, what they think, word of mouth testimonials and referrals go a long way. And you can really see from past clients experiences, what they thought of their teaching style, what they thought of working with them. And you can get a better sense of whether this coach is right for you.

Question number seven is

Do I get direct access to them ?

In many coaching programs or masterminds, you will probably be introduced to support coaches or other coaches who aren’t really affiliated with the main coach that you’ve signed up with.

In my experience, I never have as much of a transformation with support coaches as I do with the main coach. And it makes sense, right? Because I signed up with someone that I’ve been following for a long time or someone who I know can offer me changes in my life. And I don’t want to really be working with someone who I’ve never heard of before. And with that being said, and knowing this, I always encourage you to really research how much direct access you get, how much one-on-one time do you get in all of my programs, you get access to me, whether it be a mastermind or my private coaching programs, or start your hustle intensive, you get your own private Voxer channel, or you’ll get a Voxer channel where I am in it every day.

So it’s really easy to access me and you can always see on me or email me, but I truly believe if you want to work with a coach and you want to learn from them, you have to have the access in between calls to ask them questions, to be really open and transparent with them so that you’re not holding anything back. I hold this standard with the coaches I sign up with and I hold this standard in all of my programs as well.

Question number eight that you should ask before hiring a business coach is

Do you respect them as a person and their values?

So in the world of business coaching, there’s so many businesses that coaches or can coach on, right? It can be e-commerce, it can be coaching. It can be for creatives. It can be for specifically photographers, whatever it is. There are so many ways to make money and so many ways to make money online. And there comes a time where you really need to filter out who you’re respecting and who you admire versus what they do in general. So for example, you’ll see a lot of guru coaches who charge tens of thousands, who promise you so much money, so much transformation, but if you kind of dive into their sales strategies, their marketing tactics, it’s almost deceptive.

You’ll sign up and be like, wait, where are they even, how do I even get in touch with them? And a few of them, I won’t name names, but a few of them have the reputation of simply being scammers who take your money. And so, yes, they’re making a lot of money, but you need ask yourself, do I admire that work ethic? Do I admire this sales system? Or sometimes you’ll get bombarded with odds. And it just seems very soulless. Like there is no heart and soul behind the sales process. There’s no authenticity behind the OD. You really want to connect with the person. You really are looking for a different sales style when it comes to serving your clients.

So look for mentors who really embody that as well. Or if you know that you really want to go a certain route, if you really want to do digital products and have so many ads behind that, and you want to do it ethically in a way that still really connects you with your audience, then look for that, right? But be really cautious when you see marketers and see business coaches, advertising for their services and ask yourself like, do I respect them as a person? Do I respect them as a business owner? Do I embody the same values that they do? And if you are really clear on your own values, then it’ll be easier for you to find your perfect coach.

Number nine

Does their pricing reflect commitment and expansion?

I’ve signed up with business. Coaches ranging from $500 to $15,000. And I’ve signed up with multiple coaches in my career. Every time you are ready to level up, you should be making an investment that is scary to you. That, you know, if you pay, you are committed 200%, there’s just no reason why you can’t make it work. And you cannot take no for an answer. You are willing to do whatever it takes to make that money back.

So this price needs to reflect commitment to that next level and expanding who you are as a person, because let’s say you’re going through a dilemma. Like I really want to sign up with this coach, but she charges $15,000. And what if I can’t make it back? What if I don’t have what it takes? What if, what if, what if you are basically telling yourself saying no to that person who you, who your gut is telling you is so aligned. If you say no, that’s basically telling yourself I don’t have what it takes to make that back. And on the other hand, law of polarity, best case scenario, investing that amount of money is going to help you.

It’s going to be an investment into yourself and your business to make it back 10, fold, a hundred fold your business will never stop making money. So ask yourself, does their pricing reflect commitment? Am I going to be so committed to this? And am I going to be expanded by this? This also reminds me of when I downloaded a fitness app that charged me $1 a month for three months, I ended up canceling it. I was like, it’s just nothing. Like I really don’t have any skin in the game. It really doesn’t matter if I don’t work out every day. It’s just a dollar a month and I barely use it versus some apps I spend hundreds on per month.

And you know that I use it every single day. The ones that you are paying for more, you put more attention. You put more thought you put more action into it. And that is exactly what we are looking for. When we’re looking for programs that are going to make you and help you do the work. 

The last question to ask yourself before hiring our business coach is

What does my gut say?

I sometimes think about that little voice in your head or the voice in your gut as my future self. Like let’s say you have already lived this lifetime up to your fullest potential and your future self making. Multi-millions making billions. It’s just whispering to you, like, do this, do this, to escape your current reality, to change your current reality.

And it’s usually telling you to do something different, like invest in the business coach or start that business or book that flight, or send out that sales email, go live, host that seminar, speak at that conference, whatever it is, it’s usually scary because it’s something outside of your comfort zone. And what if these are the exact actions you need to be taking that your future self is whispering to you like, Hey, Hey, do this. And it will change your reality to this.

And it will change your life. But your current comfort zone is like, no, I can’t like what if, what if this, what if that think of it as little signs from your future self? And all you have to do is follow what your gut is saying. So listen, journal about it, light some candles too. I want to move forward with this. Is there more possibility or is there more downside? What if the best case scenario happens? What is the best case scenario? And that is what we want to be shifting our attention to. And if the best case scenario is what you want your life to look like, and if it is completely different from your life now than it is a good sign that you need to be doing that thing and taking the action and signing up with that coach to get you there.

Want to work with me?

So if you are looking for the guidance and the accountability to live out your fullest potential to build a freedom based business that allows you to work from anywhere, the ways you can work with me in the month of June, I have slots available for three months and six months of PRIVATE COACHING. You can apply in the episode description, or you could sign up for my online course, the Wanderlover business academy. It is a self study, eight week business program to get your business up and running off the ground with, with ads, with content. And you have access to me in our private Facebook group. If you have any questions, and if you want to meet a community of invested like minded entrepreneurs, lastly, you can sign up for a momentum mastermind waitlist.

This is our signature four month program, where we bring together a small group of entrepreneurs who are ready to scale to their first 5k month. The next cohort starts in September. So you can sign up for waitlist in the episode description, but depending on where you’re at with business, what your gut is currently telling you, all of these options are open for you. And if you have any questions, just feel free to DM me on Instagram. That send me an email and I look forward to supporting you. 

 I hope this episode was helpful. I can’t wait to hear all of your reflections. If you really enjoyed it, take a screenshot and tag me at the Wanderlover at The Wanderlover Podcast. I repost each and everyone.

That’s it for this week. I will see you in the next episode, have an amazingly abundant, joyful freedom filled month of June. Love you guys.

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