Are you coming, going or staying?

I started working with a business coach a month ago.  I wasn’t planning to, I mean, this running a business thing…it might not be my area of expertise (there is a big gap between being a therapist and a business owner), but I’d get there in the end, right?  And the cost.  How could I justify spending that amount of money when my business was only the teeniest of a teeny baby?

But then I had a proper think.  I didn’t want to ‘get there in the end’; that might be too late anyway.  I want to understand what my options are from someone who actually knows, to be guided on what to, be held to account to actually do the doing.  I wanted to invest in my business and grow it up into something I am proud of.

I admit, I didn’t want to feel quite as terrified as I have with some of the tasks and with what I can anticipate is coming, but Jesus, this woman knows her stuff and puts in the effort.  So I do too, even if my heart spends more time in my mouth than my chest.  And that is getting me somewhere I don’t think I’d ever have got to alone. (And you might not be seeing any of this yet, but believe me, I am working really hard behind the scenes and changes are a-coming).

And this morning I was thinking about this and realised that working with me – or any therapist –  must result in the same sort of conversations in a lot of clients heads that I had:

• Why spend money on something I could work out myself? (Maybe that investment is what you need to start doing the doing rather than the thinking?)
• Why do I need someone to give me expertise I probably already know? (Only probably?*)
• Do I really need to be held accountable? (I don’t know.  Do you?  If you don’t, why aren’t you already where you want to be?)
• I can’t afford it right now (Can you afford not to?)
• I can always do it later (Absolutely.  But what could be better / get better if you just get on with it now?)
• What can they do that I can’t do for myself? (When has an extra pair of eyes and a different perspective ever been a bad thing?)

*It turns out that phrase ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’ has never been truer for me.  Maybe for you too?

Really it comes down to this:  If you value something, you invest in it.  And if you don’t, you just stay where you are.  And either way, the choice is entirely yours.

If you want to come on my journey with me (and find out what the scary coach has me doing),  you can sign up to occasional updates here. 

And if you want me to join you on your journey, all my details are on my website.  I wonder where you would like to go?

PS: Julie Creffield is the business coach I am working with. You can find out all about her here.  (And she’s not really that scary, promise.)