Do Entrepreneurs Really Need Coaches? Here’s the Real Answer

Hire Yourself Podcast with Pete Gilfillan

Pete Gilfillan tackles an essential question for entrepreneurs: Do business owners really need mentors and coaching? Drawing from personal experiences and expert insights, Pete makes a compelling case for why mentorship and coaching are vital to entrepreneurial success and long-term sustainability.

In this episode, Pete discusses:

• Leveraging Expertise

Mentors and coaches bring years of experience and proven strategies to the table. Pete shares how working with Darren Hardy and other mentors helped him gain invaluable business insights.

• Objective Feedback

Coaches provide straightforward and constructive feedback. Pete explains how this unbiased perspective can help business owners identify blind spots and improve their performance.

• Skill Development

Entrepreneurs must continually evolve. Pete recounts how a coach introduced him to advanced marketing techniques, like the 10x10 marketing plan, which enhanced his business operations.

• Emotional Support and Confidence

Business ownership can be isolating. Pete emphasizes the importance of having someone to lean on for emotional support and guidance, especially during critical decision-making moments.

Key Takeaways:

• Invest in Coaching and Mentorship

The right guidance can accelerate your growth and provide clarity during challenging times.

• Focus on Continuous Learning

Skill development and networking through mentorship lay the foundation for long-term success.

• Gain a Trusted Partner

Coaches and mentors are accountability partners who help you stay aligned with your goals.

"Mentorship isn’t an expense; it’s an investment in your success and your ability to live life on your own terms." — Pete Gilfillan

CONNECT WITH PETE GILFILLAN:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petegilfillan/
Website: https://www.hireyourself.com/

CONNECT WITH HIRE YOURSELF PODCAST:

Website: https://www.hireyourself.com/podcast
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hire-yourself-podcast/id1472038217
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7eTKOLjuUWbf7BRtGtp6dP?si=eb2f7b38bd884804
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@hireyourself7642
Email: info@hireyourself.com

Transcript

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Welcome to the Hire Yourself Podcast. Are you stuck in the corporate rat race, worrying about layoffs, and longing to take control of your destiny? This is the place for frustrated executives like you who want to escape the grind, live life on your own terms, and build wealth. Whether you're ready to make a full transition into franchise ownership or wanna start building a side business along your corporate job, Pete guides you every step of the way. He'll talk about how to create career and income security, diversify your assets and income, and live life on your own terms. Your path to controlling your own destiny starts now.

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Welcome to the Hire Yourself Podcast. My name is Pete Gilfillan. I am the international best selling author of the book, “Hire Yourself”. I'm a nationally recognized franchise consultant. I'm an entrepreneur, and I am a proud corporate escapee. And my mission as a franchise consultant, as an entrepreneur, is to help make a difference in people's lives. Simply put, I wanna help people take control of their destiny to live life on their own terms and build wealth. What I did, I escaped the corporate world and I built a great life being an entrepreneur. And that's my purpose is to help others. So today, I've got a question for you. Do entrepreneurs really need mentors and coaching? I mean, these are successful people. Right? They've got a business. Do they really need coaches and mentors? Well, that's the answer we're gonna figure out today. Now I am, again, a former corporate executive, worked for large companies like Ford. I ran very large businesses. And I learned a ton from those corporations. But, you know, when you start your own business, when I got into business, I realized I had a lot of great experience, but I wanted to be successful as a business owner. So I actually went out there and hired a business coach, and I hired this business coach, literally to meet with me once a week for an hour, to help coach me, to drive me, to push me, from that standpoint. I paid this coach $25100 a month, and that's a lot of money when you're starting a business. I also went out and invested in mentors, going to programs. Darren Hardy is one of my mentors. I went out there to basically learn from others that were very successful. So I hired a coach. I went and spent money to get in front of mentors to help me be successful as business owner. So why is this important? Well, number 1 is is that you can leverage the expertise and the experience that these coaches have. So I think a little bit about Darren Hardy. I again, I've been to almost every event. He's got an incredible if you don't follow Darren Hardy, you should. Darren Hardy has a free Darren Daley. Darren Daley is a free, inspirational video helping you become a better person, better entrepreneur every day. It's about 7 minutes. It's incredible. Encourage you to sign it up. He's also got business mastery classes where, really, he kinda shares his experience. And he was the one that, basically transformed or brought back from the Ashes Entrepreneur Magazine. And he talks about interviewing successful people like Bill Gates, and all the things that he learned, and he shared those things with us during the business mastery class. So he takes his 30 years of great business experience and and shares that, from the standpoint. So one is expertise and experience that you can gain from mentors and coaches. Another one is objective feedback. So when I had my business coach, I would be having a call with them in a coaching session, and he would give me pretty straight feedback on how I was doing and not always was it pretty. Like, you gotta step up your game. You've got to be better at what you're doing. And that was extremely valuable because not everybody can do that. When you're a business owner, it's kinda lonely because your spouse can't tell you you suck and your employees can't tell you you suck or you're not doing something right. But a good coach, a good mentor can give you objective feedback. And as we talk about being an entrepreneur, another one is emotional support. As I was just saying, it's a little bit lonely being an entrepreneur. And so sometimes, we just need to talk things through and run our ideas by and get some emotional support because it can be draining as an entrepreneur. And, again, it's a little bit lonely because you can't lean on your employees for emotional support. And, certainly, I don't believe your spouse, when it comes to business. And so having a good mentor or having a good coach is a excellent way to to, to continue to, thrive or or move forward. You know, when we talk about having mentors and coaches, it is also about networking. You know, I think about I was fortunate to be a part of Elite Business Mastery Class with Darren Hardy. We brought 20 business owners from all over the country, very successful business owners, in fact. And we got in a room, and we spent 2 days together, and Darren shared a lot of ideas, but I built a great network of other business owners. In fact, I got a one of my accountability partners, is a business owner that I met there, and he has helped change my life, from the standpoint of the things that he has taught me, being a, kind of an accountability partner. But that wouldn't happen if I wouldn't have been able to do the networking, business networking. So that's such an important thing. And then skill development. And I think a little bit about the coach that I hired in our coaching sessions, he would give me skills. And one of the things that he taught me was the the 10 by 10 marketing plan. You come up with 10 ideas to drive your business, to create customer acquisition, in my case, candidate acquisition. And it really then it's a mathematical thing of this are the different, ways in which I'm gonna go after trying to find my case more candidates? How much does that that lead cost me? Right? And then how does it wrap up to achieving my objectives? And so it is about this idea of really kind of improving your skills. I learned a little bit more about just the idea of, marketing and how to leverage AI from Darren Hardy. Right? That would be another example of skill development, learning that from my mentor. Another great reason to have a coach or or a mentor is accountability. So I have an accountability partner, and I meet with him every 2 weeks, 8 AM on a Monday morning. We go through kinda where we're at with our businesses. So I had to talk to him the other day. He says, listen. I'm I'm struggling in this one area. And he kinda said, hey. Listen, Pete. Have you thought about it this way? So it's about accountability that I have to be present with him every other Monday to share my results, and more importantly, is to also challenge him a little bit on his his results from some point. And maybe another great example of why you have a mentor, why you have a coach is strategic guidance. So, you know, one of the things that I do, from standpoint, and I learned this from Darren Hardy, is living your best life ever, which is a great plan that he put together that it's very tactical in the way in which you attack your objectives for the year. If you have not done living your best life ever program by Darren Hardy, I would highly recommend it. It's it's incredible. I've given it to people forget as gifts and and and well worth it. And then, one of the other things that, the benefit of having a mentor, having a coach is really that, decision making support. And I think a little bit about when I decided to invest in my first franchise. And I was really nervous. We're investing a lot of money. I was a sole provider for my family. So this was basically, we're gonna make it or we're not gonna make it. And I was really nervous about this idea of investing all my hard earned dollars into the business and and a lot of fear, to be honest with you. And I called my mentor, Wes, and he's just a great guy. And I said, Wes, I'm freaking out. Bottom line is I've gotta make decision if I'm gonna invest in this business, and what if this thing doesn't work? And he asked me a series of questions that allowed me to get past my fear, and I would have not moved forward with that franchise if I didn't have that mentor, that person that I could work through that decision making criteria, or simply put, help me get through my fear. And another reason why you have a mentor or you have a coach is that it helps you build confidence. And I I like Darren Hardy, the stuff that I've learned from him during, business mastery classes, insane productivity, which was amazing, is that it helped me build skills, but more importantly, built confidence in my abilities. And and I I go back to the insane productivity about being very efficient about how you use your time. It's actually a skill, and it's a skill that I learned from him and I continued to hone. And that's given me confidence as I'm building my business because I can tackle any issue if way in which I use my focus and my energy from that standpoint. No question about it. And then when we have mentors and coaches from a standpoint, it is about putting together long term success and sustainability. You know, it's one thing to be successful a flash in the pan. You're successful a period of time, but it's continuing to adjust to build your business, to adjust it, to pull all the different levers. And what worked last year may not work this year, and so what we want to do is make sure that we're leveraging our mentors and coaches always to be with this long term mindset, to be successful, to be sustainable, with our business. So bottom line is, the answer to your question is, do entrepreneurs need coaches and mentors? And my answer is, heck, yes, they do. Absolutely, they do. There's so many positives. And, yes, you have to invest in mentors and coaches, but it is well worth the money. So if you do not have coaches or mentors, I encourage you to get them. If you're thinking about busy getting a business owner, although as you launch a business, it's difficult to spend the money on it, It is well worth the money to put infrastructure behind you in terms of coaching as well as mentoring. And with that, have a great day.