Can a business coach help you advance your career or business?

 

This article is a little off the beaten track, and has nothing directly to do with writing for the web.

 

 

However, we are all employees and freelancers, as well as writers. We have careers or businesses to take care of.

 

So how about coaching? Is it an effective way to get ahead? Can paying a business coach to talk with you over the phone really make a difference?

 

I must admit to having a small demon on my shoulder when it comes to coaching. It's probably a second cousin to the demon who whispers in my ear when confronted by a therapist. Part of me is just daring the person to utter that awful phrase, "How does that make you feel?"

 

Recently I went through a few months of coaching.

 

And here's the bottom line:

I will make twice as much during the second half of this year as I did during the first half. And next year is looking even better.

So how does this weird magic work? How can talking with a business coach make that kind of a difference?

 

My coach was Alan Allard.

 

He's a patient man. I probably spent the first two sessions introducing him to my demon. After all, the guy used to be a therapist himself. And I think he came perilously close to asking me how I felt on a couple of occasions.

 

For the first few sessions at least, I had very little idea of what he was trying to do with me. I couldn't quite figure out the process he was following.

 

As it turned out, that didn't really matter.

 

In fact, the entire experience was like trying to grab hold of mist.

 

What he did, with his cauldron and frogs and eyes of newt, was re-awaken a level of self-confidence I had somehow lost. Not just in myself, but in my work. (And no, I had no idea I had lost that level of self-confidence. That realization came as quite a shock to me.)

 

Feeling good is one thing. Feeling good in a way that one can directly apply to one's work or business is quite another.

 

In other words, he didn't just sugar coat me with a cloud of ethereal, feel-good encouragement. He gave me something I could take to the bank.

 

I have no idea when or how it happened, but he quietly opened a couple of doors deep inside me and then stood back and waited.

 

And I guess that's his skill. To open or re-open doors. To enable people to tap into strengths and depths which they either never knew they had, or had somehow forgotten.

 

Perhaps Alan won't thank me for describing him in a pointy hat with a large cauldron. I use the analogy simply because I can't unravel the mystery of how he made his magic.

 

All I know is that it worked.

 

So if you have a feeling that you're not moving ahead in your career as fast as you could, or that your freelance business should be booming, but isn't, consider engaging a business coach.

 

And if you want to speak with Alan, you can reach him at AlanAllard.com. He's a great coach and an outstanding person.

 

 

 

 

Resource Reviews:

 

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