Real Life Planning Podcast Ep 41: What is it Like to Work with a Business Coach?

In Episode 41, Vekevia Tillman-Jones discusses the transformative benefits of working with a business coach. Vekevia shares her insights as a seasoned business coach, highlighting how coaching empowers entrepreneurs to align their goals, overcome challenges, and achieve sustainable growth.

"There’s no shame in asking for help or in needing guidance to take your business to the next level." - Vekevia Tillman-Jones

This week on Real Life Planning Podcast:

Takeaway Quotes:

"You are not your business and your business is not you… You have your own personal goals and understanding both of those is important. ” - Vekevia Tillman-Jones

"I think that people get caught up in thinking that they have to have their business look like someone else's business.” - Vekevia Tillman-Jones

Connect with Real Life Planning:

• Facebook 
• LinkedIn
• X 
• Instagram 
• Pinterest
• Email: podcast@reallifeplanning.com  

About the Real Life Planning Podcast

Hosts Cynthia Meyer and Vekevia Tillman-Jones explore practical steps for real estate investors to build financial freedom and make working for someone else optional.

TRANSCRIPT FOR EPISODE 41

[00:00:11] Vekevia Tillman-Jones: Being a business coach is very similar to being a financial coach. These topics and being able to get so close to someone as a coach, like a coach encourages you. A coach is there when they see that you strive for something and maybe fall short of a goal. They're there with you during the successes, as well.

[00:00:34] So you have to be able to trust that person. When you're doing financial coaching, people have to trust you enough and feel like you care enough. You're their accountability partner enough to allow you to go through the various processes And and stages, if you will, of life. Where they know that you're going to give them sound judgment that what you don't know automatically, that you'll do thorough research and come back to them.

[00:01:02] They know that you're not just going to give them just any high level answer. That You're going to provide them with things that you have thought through dearly that you have a vested interest in their finances or in their business. Only once they feel that trust is when you find that they start to open up.

[00:01:19] And it really, we joke about it sometimes when people say, Oh, especially when you have a married couple Oh, it's are you their counselor? But the truth is sometimes you are. It's like a thin line. It's like the emotional side of financial coaching or business coaching.

[00:01:34] Because your emotions are tied into it and they are in many cases driving how we handle our finances and how we move about being a business owner and growing to whatever place we want to or hitting whatever goals that we want to have. I would say specifically as a business coach working with various business owners has really been enlightening in the sense that I realized how much business owners- first, when they come to you, they are saying that they want help with something. Maybe they're growing a business. They're not necessarily the clients I work with aren't necessarily in the early stages anymore or growing the business. I found that they've done the work. They've done the due diligence.

[00:02:17] When it comes to financial coaching and just the the process that takes, right? It's very similar to business coaching, actually, because in order for you to be able to walk with someone as a coach, they have to trust you. They have to know that they feel comfortable. They have to know that you're their accountability partner. They have to feel comfortable that when they set a goal and they reach it, that you will be there to apply them. But also when they set a goal and they fall short of it that you're also with them. You'll be there with them to pick them up. You'll be there with them to walk them through the process of getting right back up and starting again and reminding them what their goals are and how far they've come, et cetera.

[00:02:59] People really appreciate that. And Having worked with small business owners in the past, something that's been very interesting is just the ability to connect with the business owners and no matter what industry they're in, right? Because it's not really about the industry. It's a process. It's an art to first connecting with the business owners and allowing business owners to feel like, Hey, I see you. I see what you're doing. I want to know more about you. I'm a safe place for you to be able to tell me where the business really is. Sometimes what small business owners are dealing with is they have a little bit of shame, sometimes. They might have a little bit of shame because perhaps they put more money into the business and they thought they were going to. Perhaps, they have not actually kept their finances separated from their personal and their business side, which is very easy to do when you're starting a business, especially when you're coming from a place of I'm putting everything in. I'm going all in. I didn't really have any money to pull from or no one handed something to me or whatever have you whatever the situation is. And so that's very easy to happen, especially for a new business- new and growing business. And there's nothing really to be embarrassed about that. And I think hearing your coach tell you that's okay is very valuable and it's helpful and it releases or relieves people from some of the weight that they feel on their shoulders; thinking that they need to show up in a particular way as a business owner.

[00:04:30] There are already having to worry about that in terms of actually having a business. And Business owners really appreciate when you can allow them to not feel shame. For, They've gotten this far, there's nothing embarrassing about it. There's nothing to be ashamed of for having put all your energy into a business and actually it's growing and now you're at the place where it's time to actually take it to the next level. And You need some assistance and that's okay. And What I found is sometimes some people are busy and overwhelmed because they are just busy and overwhelmed. Why? Because they're doing absolutely everything in the business and nothing's being delegated. They're trying to, um, even though they might not literally be answering the phones, but it's you're trying to answer the phones, type all the emails, do all the client facing activities, or, if it's fashion- I worked with someone who was in the fashion industry before. It's You're trying to handle all the orders and who are the different vendors. You are everything.

[00:05:34] And While we can do that for a season, once it's completely overwhelming, obviously, you want to handle it before it gets to that place. But if it becomes completely overwhelming, it's we really have to think about is there an opportunity here to revisit- and your coach can help with this- to revisit what the goals are for the business. Because Sometimes, you might just be so amazing that you grew the business and is successful and perhaps is successful in a way, not that you didn't want to be successful, but not in that way. Maybe you never want it to be that big or have it to grow that big; not where you had to manage it. And

[00:06:10] That's okay. And I think sometimes people need to hear that. That is okay. I am looking for X. Your goals are your goals. It's your business. You get to run it, manage it, grow it to whatever level you desire. But, I think that people get caught up in thinking that they have to have their business look like someone else's business.

[00:06:33] It's just not the case, right?

[00:06:35] If you don't have a very large organization already, or maybe you haven't hit a certain threshold, you might not be in a place or ready to go and spend money for some of these more expensive consultants. You might not have a whole team of people where you feel like you need that type of consultant. Whatever it is, and A business coach could still be more pricey, but oftentimes a business coach is walking you through some of those steps.

[00:06:57] It's perhaps a little bit less than some of the some of the consultants that are more larger, more established organization might go or work with and that's okay. And so

[00:07:05] I think giving business owners, giving you permission to admit I've grown this thing. I'm overwhelmed. Sometimes, I want to let it go. Sometimes, I feel like I'm on top of the world. I'm doing it. I'm definitely proud of myself, but it's very overwhelming. It's become more time consuming that I wanted to wanted it to be. It's also taking a toll on me financially. I don't even, maybe you're not paying yourself. Maybe you aren't paying yourself what you think you should be. Perhaps you're ready to grow your team. How do you do that? You're so busy focused on working in the business that there's not really enough time to work on the business and working with a financial coach can really help with those. You sit down. Get an opportunity to just tell your story.

[00:07:47] Your financial coach, we- I'm going to try to get to know you. What's your story? What are your goals? Your personal goals, right? You're You are not your business and your business is not you. You are still an individual. You have your own personal goals and understanding both of those is important.

[00:08:02] That's why I really love the just the combining a financial planning and business coaching, financial coaching and business coaching, because one can't necessarily, in my opinion, exist without the other. What happens is I found people who might be thriving in their business and kind of a mess when it comes to their personal finances and it's because the two are not talking together. It's the same thing in financial coaching. Or As a financial planner, you're going to talk to clients and you want to make sure that their financial plan is something that's understood and we take into consideration what their CPA or their tax professional is saying. These things are important.

[00:08:38] It's the same thing that you will want to make sure that their estate plan is important. These things all go together and the decisions are not made in silos. The decisions need to be- they're all interrelated. And They need to be made with the other areas in mind.

[00:08:54] That's what we do for you, is we are here to take you through the process without making you feel like you are being forced. And There is definitely an art to that. I learned early on with working with business owners that they don't they, some, might like you to come in and tell them exactly everything right up front, but many and oftentimes, I found that's not, that didn't sit well.

[00:09:19] For them to actually make change, you had to, they had to trust you. You had to build that rapport. Get their buy in. And Each person had their own pace at which they were open to being able to make any change. And That is a very important thing as a coach to be able to understand. So You might see, sometimes when you're talking to people, you can get really excited, you see I can be animated. You can get very excited and be thinking about, oh wow, this is where this could go. This is where it could take them.

[00:09:44] And that's awesome. But if you stress the person out, then they're less likely to listen to your advice. You want someone who is going to understand and take you from point A to B in a way that you feel is comfortable for you and sustainable. It's sustainable and nothing has been more rewarding than working with clients and seeing business owners grow from A to C to D to E to F to wherever they were trying to go in a pace that worked for them. And The light bulb goes off and they believe even in themselves, they see the changes. They hired another person; two, three, four people.

[00:10:24] They started putting efficiencies in place and really looking at how they run the business either on their own or even with someone they've hired. They've started delegating to either a person or a process or a system, right? They put these things in place to help them run the business; things that they weren't necessarily thinking about before they started working with the coach.

[00:10:48] And I think you add a lot of value there. You give them some time back. They want to go to the gym. You want to go to the gym. You want to go to bed at a decent hour. If you have children, you want time with your children, right? You can only eat, sleep, and drink it for so long for most people. Now, there are people out there who could do it forever, and that's amazing, right?

[00:11:06] A coach can help you, too. But Most people are looking for balance. And I think helping clients understand and be given permission to not be as involved as they were in the beginning, right? Because it took a certain oomph, right, to start the business, get it going and be the only- everything was about your efforts and what you did.

[00:11:30] And There's no reason to feel guilty when it's time to go ahead and start to delegate or to hire; to grow in a way that's different. There is nothing bad about that. That's excellent. That means you've been doing a great job if that's what your desire is. And, you As a coach, we help clients walk through- do you want this business to grow outside of you? Because a lot of times what you've created is something that is so tied to you and who you are, it could make it challenging for someone else to come in or others to come in and take it over. So then you have to revisit like your marketing efforts.

[00:12:06] Is the business solely tied to just you and your brand? How is that going to continue going forward? Are all the ideas and processes and everything just in your head, right? How do you get them out of your head into tangible things that other people can replicate, duplicate, whatever, have you and and allow the business to be successful without you being so heavily involved.

[00:12:27] That's a process. That is a complete process. You have to have a coach who's willing to walk with you through that process. I've walked with people through that process, and sometimes they were slower about adjusting to some things that I thought, Hey, if they could just, if you could just do this, it's probably going to propel you to where you're trying to go.

[00:12:48] That doesn't matter. I can think that all day. I can think that all day. Each individual business owner has to get there and they have their own process and my role as a coach to business owners, such as yourself, is to walk with you and to help you create your process. To better understand the industry that you're in. To better understand you and your clients.

[00:13:13] To be your accountability partner to help guide you so that you can grow your business in the way that you would like to and just to coach you along the way to see the success that you're looking for. That's it; as simple as that, and it's a delight. It's a delight to do that in particular as a financial coach and a business coach.

[00:13:39] We want to make sure the whole song of who you are. is set up.

If you like this video podcast, consider joining Real Life Planning’s Question of the Week where our CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERs™ and rental property business owners  answer the most common questions about real estate financial planning direct to your inbox.

This blog is for general financial education purposes. Information contained in this blog should not be construed as financial, tax, real estate, legal, or investment advice. For educational purposes, blog posts may contain links to other websites which are not under the control or and are not maintained by Real Life Planning. Real Life Planning has provided those links for your convenience but does not necessarily endorse all the material on those sites. Please consult your financial, real estate, legal, or tax advisor for advice specific to your situation.