Years ago, I worked for a woman who had a small publishing company. Some of the books did pretty well, but the business struggled at times. I was hired to manage the day-to-day operations. I was the only full-time employee and my duties included website management, accounting, online order fulfillment, and book editing. It was interesting work and I learned a lot about the publishing business.
When I started working for her, she had a “consultant” who was, in my opinion, a shady character offering no real value to her business. She was paying him $4,000 a month to give her bad advice. I couldn’t understand why she was doing that. One day I said, “Marty is an idiot. Why are you paying him so much money?” She never answered.
Eventually, I realized that her fear was driving the train. She was afraid of making the wrong business decisions and she felt safer outsourcing that decision-making to someone claiming to be “an expert in the publishing field.” I knew then and I know now, there are no experts. Everyone has an opinion, based on their individual experience or something someone else did or said.
The thing she didn’t know was that, after I had been there less than a month, Marty approached me with an offer to pimp me out to other publishing companies on a part-time basis. He was impressed with my skillset and saw a way to make money off of me. I declined his offer and lost all respect for him. This created some tension, of course.
One day, Marty sent me an email saying, “I want you to prepare a report every Monday covering the activities of the previous week.” I replied saying, “Marty, I’m a problem solver, not a report writer.” I cc’d my boss on the email and when she read my reply, she sat there and laughed hysterically. She said, “You’re right!”
Anyway, the business trudged on and she continued paying Marty. Eventually, she hired a business coach. What was the first thing the business coach said? “Get rid of Marty.” Even though I had told her the same thing two years prior, having a certified professional echo my opinion, gave her the courage to finally cut the cord.
Since then, I’ve come across many small business owners battling the same fears. Fear of failure, fear of what other people will think, fear of screwing everything up. I’ve even been there myself. What I’ve learned is, there really is nothing to fear. The horrible outcomes you imagine in your mind probably aren’t going to happen. If something goes wrong, so what?! Even if things turn out worse than you ever imagined, you’ll get through it. You’ll learn lessons. You’ll be stronger and wiser.
In recent years, I’ve offered many clients my advice when asked. Some call me first before they make certain decisions, just to get my perspective. I can usually offer clear direction or solutions they haven’t thought of. In an unofficial way, I’ve always been a sort of business coach. So, I’ve decided to officially offer Business Coaching as a service.
The only way to succeed is to fearlessly stand in your own power and trust your own inner guidance. Some people learn to do this naturally. Others need someone to hold their hand as they boldly walk through the dark, scary forest.
I can offer that. I’m not claiming to be an “expert” and I’m not going to offer a contract costing you thousands of dollars. If you’re looking to expand your small business or live a more fulfilling life, I can probably be of some assistance to you on your journey.