Ask the experts

Do you have a burning question that you would like the answer to? Or maybe you’re looking for some advice to help your business? In each edition some questions will be shared and answered by some of The Business Bulletin experts.

How do I go about choosing a business coach?

A. Here are a few steps from my point of view:

Step1. Self Assessment — Understand your why Why do you need a business coach right now? Are you willing to get coached in the first place?

This will help you to understand your need gap well and you would be in best position to take the next steps to choose a right business coach for yourself & your business.

Step 2. Speak with your coach — Try to connect Connect with the coach. Best would be connecting with your coach one to one and share your current situation. It is advised to be transparent with your coach and never try to hide things, be yourself and genuine.

Step 3. Chemistry & mindset connect — Long term investment Personalities don’t always click. You may discover that an otherwise perfect business coach is difficult to work with, or doesn’t fully understand your perspective. Your coach should be someone who earns your trust and confidence, not intimidates you into following his or her advice. A business coach is a long-term investment and therefore a right business coach must click with you first, you must feel connected, high and empower with them.

Step 4. Ask for personal coaching — 121 format only (online/offline) Understand every business owner is a unique personality, they behave uniquely, they speak uniquely, their business issues are also very unique - there is no one fit size solution for anything especially in business. It is advised that once you identify your coach ask them for your personal time, your personal space be it online or offline so you can dig deep into your game and derive a unique solutions for your case.

Step 5. A strategic thinker — Engagement with the core team Get a business coach who not only coaches the business owner but also open to connect with the core team. Core team is an important single link to get your business to the next level. It is essential that your core team also feels the same high, empowerment and hunger to get grow big and faster. Once your core team is set with the right mindset you rest assured that your business is now ready to thrive;

each one putting their 100% means a lot to the business.

Step 6. Trust your guts — Trust your instincts

Trust your instincts. Yes, you can seek social reviews (Google ratings), read up on testimonials and do your research, but ultimately, go with your gut feeling.

Paul Simpson TaxAssist Accountants

Q. How do I better manage my time? There are not enough hours in a day – how do I cope?

Contributing experts

Paul Simpson TaxAssist

A. “I haven’t got time”. “There are not enough hours in the day”. “I don’t have time for that”. As a business owner I suspect that these words may have passed your lips today. Part of being successful is ensuring that you are managing yourself to use your time efficiently and effectively, a skill that takes time to acquire.

Here are my nine top tips for managing your time:

Does it need doing? – Look at your list and decide whether the task actually needs doing. If it does then are you the best person to do it, or could you delegate to someone else. If it doesn’t need doing then in the bin it goes.

Delegate – By using your team effectively you will collectively achieve more. Everyone has their strengths and as a leader it’s important to recognise what everyones are and allocate tasks accordingly.

Prioritise your to-do list – Now you have the list that is down to you, spend some time each day planning ahead and prioritising the key tasks that need to be done (put in calendar with estimated timelines). Work out urgent and non-urgent, making sure you don’t forget which are dependent on others. Everything goes in your calendar, not just appointments.

Review – Check your calendar at the end of each day making any required changes. Block out time during your day for breaks. Do not take on extra tasks without first putting it in your calendar and moving something else.

Deadlines – There is nothing like a looming deadline to focus the mind. Whether these are daily, weekly or monthly, you are likely to have recurrent tasks that need doing. Colour code as ‘Do not move’. Similarly, when you have a project on the go look at breaking it down into sections with deadlines so that you work methodically through your work load. Start planning from the end and work backwards.

Eat that frog – Procrastination is the enemy of time management. Put the task in your calendar and do it, do not put it off.

Emails – I mention these as a task because we tend to get lots and they can take over our lives. Give them a slot in your calendar and stick to it.

Just say no – One of the skills of being a manager or the owner of a business is learning when to say no. You’re not being rude you’re simply working effectively and efficiently. Kathy Bassett Action Coach

Other peoples’ monkeys – now you never want to hang onto those, make sure others deal with their own.

Time management takes time and it is something that you are going to have to work at. Eventually good practices will become good habits.

Kathy Bassett, Action Coach

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