Does Your Small Business Need a Strategy Coach in 2022?
Oh my goodness: it’s December. While I’m sure that many people are throwing around questions like, “How is it the end of the year already!?” I. am. not.
Good riddance to you, 2021, haha. And while we’ll finish this year strong and with focus, I currently have my sights set on making the most out of 2022. So speaking of that, I wanted to share a little nugget that a fellow business owner, whom I admire, shared last week. It was such a great description of a strategy coach… or outsourced strategy department, as we like to say.
Paraphrased:
I’ve come to realize that all that advice they give you to ‘hire an assistant’ in the early days isn’t right for me. I will do the necessary stuff that they do: run payroll, publish marketing, make staffing assignments.
Instead, I actually need a strategy coach. I want a partner to think big picture, analyze, and hold me accountable to stay the course for those things that I don’t have to do. But I want to do them because I want our business to get to the next level.
Can you believe that this colleague said this to me on Thanksgiving morning? Could someone say anything to make me more thankful!?😂🦃😍
And along these lines, I’d really like for people to know that colleagues don’t hire us because something’s “wrong” with them or their business. I want people to know that our clients are some of the smartest and most inspiring people I know. We learn so much from them, every single day.
Instead, people hire us because strategy isn’t in everyone’s “zone of genius.” Business owners get more of an ROI on their headspace and energy, by pouring it into their specialty (often design, professional services, or health and wellness). Just as one might outsource bookkeeping or accounting, they know that it’s smart for them to outsource strategy to someone who can see the forest for the trees and help them zoom out. It’s hard to see the full picture when you’re inside the frame.
As one of our clients brilliantly says,
It’s like you’re the boss of the boss. We small business owners (ironically) do want someone to tell us what to do, in a way. We want a ‘boss’ to tell us where to focus our attention and what to (not) do.
I’m thankful for both of these brilliant points of view. And to follow up on that, I’ll going to make a shameless and transparent ask for help.
Fellow colleagues and friends, we have 4 slots open for our Advisory Practice in January, February, and March 2022. Six are spoken for, and we’re so excited.
So if a small business owner you know is craving what’s described here, and they’re ready to get off the hamster wheel, please schedule a (very friendly, no pressure) consult with our beloved Sarah Patton.
Thank you, as always, to everyone for your support of our work.
