Everyone in America is looking for new and different ways to create income.  If you are one of those individuals and have a business management degree or experience in business management, there is a fantastic opportunity waiting for you.  That opportunity is working as a business coach.  With today’s struggling economy, once profitable businesses are losing money.  Unless help is sought and fast, those businesses may have to close their doors.  They need you! As nice as it is to hear that you can make money working as a business coach, you need more information.  Most importantly, you need to know what is expected of you.  What job responsibilities do business coaches have? Education. As a business coach, you are the expert.  You have schooling or experience that makes you qualified to run a business.  You know what works and what doesn’t.  Unfortunately, many home based business and small business owners did not think their plans through.  They realized they could make money and jumped in with both feet.  Action is good, but having knowledge and experience is even better. It is your job as a business coach to educate them on how to properly run a successful and profitable business.  To do this, dissect the key components of running a business.  These include leadership development, proper communication, teamwork, organization, resolving workplace conflict, sales, and marketing.  Those who started a business on a whim may not see the connection between these important components and profits.  You need to show them. Setting examples.  As a business coach, your job is to educate and teach a business owner how to run a successful and profitable business.  You are just like a sports coach, you teach the team plays to run.  Do not do the work yourself.  You can however, set examples and give continued instructions. For example, organization is key to business.  In the retail industry, an unorganized sales floor turns off customers.  They want to shop where it is easy to find what they need, easy to walk through the aisles, and so forth.  If your client’s retail store is unorganized and unclean, give team members a shopping cart and a list of items to pickup.  Let them see for themselves how hard it was to shop.  Then, give them a few suggestions, such as removing bulky displays from the middle of the aisle.  Run through one play yourself, but let the team do the rest of the work. Reviewing. You can educate your clients and show them ways to improve productivity, organization, marketing, and sales, but there are no guarantees.  As soon as you leave or end a training session, your client and their employees can revert to their old habits.  Include a review in with your fees.  Return a week or two after your training sessions.  Have things changed?  Did the company utilize your tips or did they return to normal habits? If you return to a client’s place of business and do not see improvements, don’t start the process again, especially for free.  Verbally repeat the important components of running a business and restate some of the tips you shared.  Before leaving, warn your former client about the dangerous path they are headed on.  Unless they offer to pay for your services again, your hands are tied, but at least you made an attempt. Summary As you can see, you will be wearing many hats.  If you ad some of the work that your clients many not have the expertise to do, you can do some of that yourself, or even potentially outsource it.  Keep in mind that you will need to package your services and explicitly spell out what your rates are for each specific request.  You will find business coaching lucrative, challenging, and rewarding. Chris W. Kilber is an avid supporter of small business in America. He is an entrepreneur, small business owner, small business coach, SEO expert, and a past systems engineer. His business works with individuals and business start-ups to establish and increase revenues using online and offline marketing methods. Chris specializes in small business coaching, marketing, and leadership. He blogs at http://smallbusinesscoaching.info and can be reached at 1-888-518-1776Wordpress Autoblogging Software

Introduction What’s the first thing that someone thinks of when you think of coaching? Yes, sports coaches are the most popular and widely thought of. They teach athletes to play and work together as a team, but the phrase coaching encompasses a world of opportunity. For example, there is business coaching. Do you know what a business coach is? If not, you should take the time to familiarize yourself. Why? It is a great opportunity and one that can translate into profits. What Is a Business Coach? A business coach is an individual who provides business owners support and encouragement. This support and encouragement gives them that extra push they need to see success. The most common users of business coaches are new small to medium sized business owners. These individuals usually have a passion and they want to profit from it. For example, a stay-at-home mother may enjoy making handmade quilts for her children. One day, it dawns on her that she can make custom order quilts to sell both locally and online for a profit. She has a good idea and a good product, but does not know where to start. This is where a business coach, which could be you, would provide assistance. A Business Coach’s Responsibility What do business coaches teach their clients? Anything and everything related to business. If the above mentioned mom wants to open a local quilt shop, you can show her the importance of location. A high-trafficked and easily seen storefront will automatically translate into more customers and sales. If she has yet to pick a location, help her make the right choice. As for an online shop, if she has yet to set that up, help her choose an affordable web hosting package, a good domain name, and encourage her to hire the services of a professional web designer. Some clients seek the advice and expertise of a business coach right from the start, but others wait until their new business shows signs of trouble. In these instances, business coaches educate their clients on marketing and sales. A stay-at-home mom selling her handmade quilts online is nice, but handmade products are widely available online. Just because she has a well-designed website, it does not mean that people will find it. Business coaches need to stress the importance of online and local marketing, as well as highlight a few examples for their clients. Is Business Coaching for You? In keeping with the example of a stay-at-home mom who wants to profit from her talent, most of these individuals want to be self-employed. They want to work for themselves and have no hired help. This does lower costs and increase profits, but many new small business owners make costly mistakes. One of those mistakes is taking on too much, too quick. Business coaches should also stress the importance of time management and show proper techniques. For example, the above mentioned quilt selling mom should have a waiting list and inform customers of a long wait, not stay up all night making quilts. One question that those interested in running a coaching business ask is about profits. Most clients are new business owners or business owners who aren’t seeing profits. How can these individuals pay for a business coach? Honestly, some cannot, but many can. Summary Business owners need to look at it from the standpoint of a wise investment and you must do the same. For a small to medium sized business that is barely staying afloat, a professional business coach may be its last hope. For that reason, you will always find clients willing to pay for your service. With that said, fair rates and flexible payment plans cannot hurt. Coaching certainly involves more than just teaching an athlete to beat the competition; it encompasses many things. If you have a business management degree or prior experience running a small to medium sized business, take your degree and experience and turn it into a profitable career. Become a business coach. Chris W. Kilber is an avid supporter of small business in America. He is an entrepreneur, small business owner, small business coach, SEO expert, and a past systems engineer. His business works with individuals and business start-ups to establish and increase revenues using online and offline marketing methods. Chris specializes in small business coaching, marketing, and leadership. His website is at http://www.ChrisKilber.com and can be reached at 1-888-518-1776Give Aways