Compared to identifying your vision and creating a strategic plan, following through is probably 80% of the work of success.... That is why 8 out of 10 businesses fail within the first five years.

If you own a business you are probably a creative risk taker. Running a business is a very demanding and often lonely enterprise. Walking the line between success and failure can be very stressful and will often take over your life unless you have unlimited funds, know how to set boundaries and pace yourself so that work is part of your life and not all of it.

When you have a clear vision, a well-thought-out plan and the ability to follow through, your business will succeed. Of all the strategies you might formulate to help yourself achieve business success, getting a coach may be the single most effective step. Whatever the issue, having a business coach helps you keep that issue on the front burner. A coach keeps you accountable and creates compelling reasons for you to follow through with the actions necessary for success.

Business coaching is not magic but it can be a very powerful tool. The coach can work with you to define your vision of what you really want, create your plan so that it is realistic and develop strategies to make it happen.

A business coach will also help you address your personal issues that you must attend to in order to make your vision become a reality. These may be emotional issues, such as fear or wanting to be liked, organizational issues such as the optimal business structure or delegation of details, hiring practices and how you choose your employees; or other roadblocks that may appear. The coach can help you break down these issues into bite-sized pieces and assist you in designing a plan for dealing with them.

Finally, and importantly, a coach will help you follow through on taking the actions needed to achieve your goals. Compared to identifying your vision and creating a strategic plan, following through is probably 80% of the work of success. This is where most people fall short and where your coach can be most helpful, by keeping your attention and intention focused on doing what you've determined to do. The coach helps you in identifying and designing strategies that will work best for you. Then, each week, together you assess your follow-through success and re-strategize when necessary.

Your business coach may ask you to commit a period of up front time to the coaching process. The coach will ask you to share your story, perhaps through an autobiography or business history, and may even ask to interview several people who know you well, in order to gain a broader picture of how best to assist you. The process of business coaching is not miraculous; it is hard work for both the coach and client. But it can, indeed, be life changing.

-adapted from Following Through: A Revolutionary New Model for Finishing Whatever You Start by Steve Levinson, Ph.D. and Pete Greider, M.Ed.

© 2013 WorkLife Coaching