The Coaching Question

Having the right coach will help you implement consistently. We all need support, encouragement, and accountability to move forward. This is also true of your team. They need a coach.

In fact, a leader is a coach. And every top performer has several coaches. But we will discuss that later.

No one succeeds alone

Gary Keller, co-founder and phenomenal leader of Keller-Williams Realty, the nation’s largest residential real estate company, said, “No one succeeds alone.” He also shared that he doesn’t consider his company a real estate company but a coaching and training company that happens to do real estate.

My growth has happened only with the help of a coach—many coaches. I do not know one phenomenally successful business owner who has succeeded alone.

I was only 23 years old when I started my cleaning business out of the trunk of my car. I had yet to gain experience as a business owner. However, my experience as a high-end waiter taught me how to deliver the most outstanding service experience ever.

As a high-end waiter, I learned to be ultra-attentive to the needs of the city’s most prominent citizens, celebrities, and high-profile clients who came to dine. I waited on Howard Hughes’ accountant, Liza Minelli, Tom Jones, Sammy Davis, Jr., and many more names.

This set me up perfectly for my first business. My customer service was off the charts from the beginning. I did not know then that my service company would also serve the same level of clientele. Celebrities, astronauts, star athletes, and world leaders became our clients. Former President George Bush and Barbara Bush were clients before they passed away.

Long before that, however, I was in the first stage of business growth. But I had a lot of business. I made US$100,000-per-year profit. I could not get to all of them because I was overwhelmed with the duties of the company. I was in survival mode. I did not have systems.

My many coaches

Fortunately, I had a spiritual mentor named Bill Beckham. He is the wisest man I know, and being mentored by him was a huge blessing. He would come to my office every week to pray with me. Let’s pause right there and think about that for a moment. He didn’t get paid to do that. He just loved people and understood his purpose was to develop leaders.

Beckham traveled the world training leaders, and even though he was a pastor, he diligently studied business to extract leadership lessons from the leaders. As he sat at my desk, observing the stack of papers, the numerous interruptions to deal with staff members’ questions, and the general chaos, he said, “Howard, you need the E-Myth.”

The E-Myth Revisited is a book as ground-breaking, nerve-hitting, and revolutionary as the man who wrote it, Michael E. Gerber, “the world’s No. 1 Small Business Guru,” according to Inc. Magazine.

The E-Myth, or Entrepreneurial Myth, is a concept introduced by Gerber, with the central idea being that many small business owners are trapped by the “fatal assumption” that understanding the technical work of a business means they can successfully run that business. He argues that this assumption often leads to failure because running a business requires skills different from performing technical work. He emphasizes the importance of working on your business, not just in it. He introduces the idea of creating systems and processes that allow the business to operate independently of the owner. The E-Myth framework helps business owners identify and address the key areas that need improvement to build a sustainable and scalable business.

Upon reading The E-Myth, I realized, for the first time, that I could have a turnkey business that ran itself. I began putting systems in place.

Later, I got to know Gerber personally. We are friends and currently neighbors. He has been on my stage several times, and we have shared the stage many times. When he turned 80 (he is 88 at the time of this writing), his wife asked me to emcee his birthday party.

Beckham and Zig Ziglar helped me develop myself. Gerber and his work helped me build my systems along with my team. Ellen Rohr came along and helped me become financially free. My coaches, Rick Jones and John Maxwell, helped me become a better leader.

Having the right coach is only part of the picture

The problem is we need different coaches for the different areas of life and business. The seven areas of life, to me, include:

1. Spiritual – Having the right relationship with God.
2. Mental – Having a positive self-image without undue stress.
3. Physical – Being healthy.
4. Family – Having good family relationships.
5. Career – Doing work that fulfills you.
6. Financial – Being prosperous enough to fulfill your vision.
7. Personal – Having friends, having fun, being free.

And in business, we focus on five more areas:

1. Leadership
2. Marketing
3. Sales
4. Operations
5. Administration

That’s 12 areas we need to be strong in, and no one is naturally strong in all those areas. So, what are you going to do? Should you hire a coach for every area you need to improve in? It would be worth it if your dreams are valuable enough and you can invest the time, money, and energy. But a better way exists.

Community

I call it community. When you have a community of coaches, trainers, experts, and peers, you will have a community’s support, encouragement, and accountability.

We need community. Community is a place where we support one another, encourage one another, and help one another. It can help you be accountable for your biggest dreams and goals and help you become the person you need to achieve them.

So you need a curriculum for life and business, you need the community that loves you, and you need coaching to keep you focused. Coaching is the key ingredient. The fastest way for a business to grow in any area is to have a coach. The problem is that one coach can’t help you in all areas. That’s not even what a coach does.

A coach helps you stay focused, get perspective, and ask great questions. A trainer teaches you the essential skills that you need. Community gives you the love and encouragement you need to inspire you, as we are all on the same journey. Each of us can inspire one another through our actions to learn from someone else and be inspired by them.

Coaching can result in your freedom

Coaching helps you grow your business and enables you to have the life and freedom you’ve always wanted. Many years ago, I created the acronym L.I.F.E., which stands for Living In Freedom Everyday. No freedom is had by being a captive to your business or in debt.

No freedom exists in not having the team you need to reach your goals or not knowing what to do in each situation. No freedom comes from being a prisoner of what’s happening in your head. No freedom can be had in not having a community that loves you and can give you feedback and perspective.

At 64 years old, I have been in the coaching space for over a quarter of a century. I have come to realize the value of coaching. I have been on both sides of the coaching table. As a coach, I have seen tremendous breakthroughs and results.

For example, Michael Killen, owner of an outdoor furniture company, went from bringing in $3 million per year at a loss to $11 million at a considerable profit, from a disengaged team and employee problems to a phenomenal dream team running the business for him as he comes into the office three days a week and invests more time in his family.

So, who will coach you?

Having the right coach in your corner makes all the difference. You cannot see how you fight when you’re in the ring. And even better, we need a coaching community.

All of us have personal strengths and weaknesses, and all of us have strengths and weaknesses in our businesses.

In business, I learned leadership, marketing, sales, systems, and finance from phenomenal coaches. To become successful personally and professionally, I paid many coaches. I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on coaching, mentoring, and training from some of the best in the world. Not everyone is able to do that, and it takes a long time.

So, find your coach and your community so you can get the support, encouragement, and accountability needed for growth. Having a coach is not a weakness; it’s a strength.

The greatest life lesson I have ever learned is to surround myself with people who have already been where I want to be and who have a plan for me to follow.