Depends on the coach. A lot are full of sh*t and are just good at selling.
While it’s not a hard requirement, I would never hire a coach that didn’t have significant success as an entrepreneur. Not a “high level exec”… an entrepreneur who created their own business, with employees, and real world challenges.
Those are harder to come by.
I started and grew my own business and experienced similar… burnout(?)… or maybe “disenchantment”.
The turning point for me was realizing that I had 100% control over my reality. I was the boss so I could change my role at any time. I was making excuses before, like thinking no one else could do what I did so I had to be the one doing it. I was wrong. Hiring myself out of those tasks was the best thing I ever did, and actually, they did it better than me in the end.
I guess what I’m saying is that the sooner you realize you’re not trapped at all b/c you have ALL the control, the better. It’s empowering. Then, make the moves to change your reality.
You’re likely to encounter 3 types of things here… in order of frequency:
Experts selling programs is a many-to-one relationship. They’ve taken their knowledge and created a course that teaches you how to do it too (or someone on your team). Prices can be a few hundred dollars to thousands. For certain industries this works. It’s the most cost-effective for you.
Consultants do most of the heavy lifting. They think of the solutions and implement them for you, and report on how it’s going and (if you want) can show you how to do it too. They won’t go into as much detail as someone selling a course, most likely. They are short-term because they are expensive.
Coaches are guides, and is what I do. Most have deep experience and success in entrepreneurship across various disciplines and can point you in the right direction. They can brainstorm with you, but they don’t do the heavy lifting. That’s still on you. They are a sounding board and help to keep you focused on what is most important (i.e. making money) for your business. They are more affordable than consultants and relationships are long-term.
The goal of every one of these options is to be a shortcut to success, so you need to determine what price you’re willing to pay for that shortcut. Or, you can learn the skills/lessons yourself (nothing wrong with that), and the cost to you is time.
I’m on the other side of the equation. I’m a business coach for founders (started & sold my own company, now do it for fun). Happy to answer any specific questions you may have. And don’t worry, I won’t try to sell you. I’m fully booked and not looking for clients.
The good ones will ask a lot of questions, and also give you advice based on their deep experience in certain areas. For example, I’m really good at branding & marketing, so I am able to give more pointed advice on those topics, but I also have experience in many other areas (hiring, firing, priority setting, partnerships, etc.), so I know the questions to ask. This is what you should look for in a good coach.
It’s important to remember that in coaching, you are the one doing the work still. Coaches don’t implement, they guide. Consultants will do the heavy lifting, so if you want that kind of relationship (short-term worker) then that’s the way to go.