A peek behind the Drio curtain: 6 takeaways from working with a business coach

Should you work with a business coach? That’s a question only you can answer. But, chances are, there will come a time when it’s a wise choice for your business.

If you’re feeling stuck, your growth has slowed, or you’re overwhelmed by your workload, a business coach could be just the ticket you need. They help you clarify your vision and take bigger strides in the right direction.

To give you an idea of what’s possible, we wanted to share a little about our experience working with our business coach, Racheal Cook.

Why we wanted to work with a business coach

Before working with Racheal, Drio was growing in terms of the number of clients we had. Some projects and tasks were less than ideal or required more energy than they were truly worth.

We were overloaded with the amount of work that fell on our two-woman team. As a result, our capacity and revenue were maxed out.

We needed a plan to keep up our momentum while also creating more space for life outside business. Our two-brain duo can do a lot—but we’re still human beings!

We had never taken the time to consider how working with a coach could help us. But when our friend/colleague/client, Erika Holmes, told us about her experience with Racheal Cook, we had to learn more. We could see the growth Erika had quickly achieved in her business (without her needing to work more) so we wanted to give it a shot with Drio.

Here are 6 key takeaways from working with a business coach:

1.  We got an outside perspective and dedicated time to work ON our business

   Overall, the biggest benefit of working with a coach is the fact that you get someone’s fresh eyes on your business. Our coach wasn’t weighed down by our personal biases. She was able to take a completely new perspective and help us see the big picture (and small details) with more clarity and simplicity.The best part of this was we had scheduled time every other week to work deeply on our business, instead of in it. We were able to set aside the day-to-day distractions of client work and little things that feel big in the moment. This allowed us to explore what we truly want to get out of our business.To guide our goals, Rachael helped us put together a 90-day plan to set our sights for the quarter and the year as a whole. We’re able to rinse and repeat this planning process so we don’t fall behind on the goals we set for ourselves.

2. We got more intentional with our marketing.

   Even as marketers ourselves, having a coach help us refine our own marketing strategy was huge.Part of this involved narrowing our focus to our most important services: Website Development and Design and Digital Marketing Strategy. We also offer services such as digital marketing retainers, SEO, and website maintenance. But, instead of trying to market ALL the things, we can now focus on our bread and butter—these are big-ticket services that our ideal clients need. Narrowing this focus keeps our messaging clear and compelling.In addition, we also simplified what platforms to focus on. Instead of trying to be everywhere, we stick to the most impactful mediums. For us, that means email and LinkedIn.

   Email is great because it gives us a personable tie to people who already have some sort of relationship to Drio. It’s intimate, algorithm-free, and gives us space to flex our creativity. We also love LinkedIn because it feels comfortable and it’s effective for our B2B market. We’ve decided to put a lot of effort there and less effort focusing on other channels like Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

3. We hired a team that supports our growth

   In order to expand our growth without working 100 hours a week, we needed a team! We now have a small crew of people with clear roles and direction. That means we can pass along some of our admin and marketing tasks so we can truly step into our CEO roles.We’ve learned to lean into each of our team members’ strengths in ways we didn’t expect. For example, our assistant has become a true thought partner. She has brought great new ideas and energy to Drio and how we approach our own marketing.Hiring a team also helps keep us accountable. When we have other individuals setting us deadlines and relying on us to provide what they need, we make stuff happen more efficiently than if it were all up to the two of us.

4. We’re growing our passion project

   One of the most exciting things our coach helped us focus on is our group, Monument Women’s Creative Alliance, which is a place where women can come together to support others in their success and in their times of need.We’ve been able to dedicate more time to growing the group in terms of events, outreach, and fostering the community within it. We’re feeling re-energized about the group and are starting to work on a bigger plan to expand the group and its offerings. Stay tuned!

5. We made connections with other amazing women in business

   Rachael works exclusively with women CEOs so she has a flourishing community of like-minded people. Like us, she believes that when women support each other, amazing things happen.By working with her, we’ve been able to meet some of the other women she coaches (in-person!). It’s been incredible. We all feed off of each other’s energy and are able to learn from one another.We’ve loved that these connections are similar to what we’re trying to build with Monument Women’s Creative Alliance.

6. We set better boundaries around work-life balance

   One of Rachael’s key principles is creating boundaries around work time. We were thrilled to have someone help us find more space and pair down the number of hours we work.While we were originally working about 9 hours per day, now we usually work about 7 with Friday’s off in the summer. This ebbs and flows of course. It’s surprisingly difficult to let go of old habits and, sometimes, there is simply more work to be done. But we’ve made amazing progress in creating more time for all the things we love outside of business.The biggest change we’ve made is our overall mindset around work-life balance. Racheal helped us recognize that rest is not only enjoyable—it’s key to our success. After all, when we allow ourselves more time for fun, our brains have more space to generate genius ideas.

Final thoughts

Working with a business coach has given us the confidence and the tools we need to become true CEOs. Racheal has helped us to set goals for revenue, raise our prices, focus our services, hire staff, re-organize our duties, and plan for future growth. All of that is massive for our business.

In short, if you’re in the position to invest in a business coach, we highly recommend it.

We also can’t help but see the parallels between hiring a business coach and hiring marketing experts. While the two roles are very different, both allow you to bring in someone with a fresh perspective on your business. They both help you spot the gaps you may be overlooking in your strategy and identify solutions that can propel your business to new heights.

Have you ever worked with a business coach?

We’d love to know how you’ve grown and what changed in your business by collaborating with them. Have you had any similar takeaways as us?