Small Business Coaching Foundations

In this first module, you will learn how demographics and psychographics help you understand the small business owners you coach. You will explore who they are, how they think, what influences their decisions, what matters to them, and what they want from their business.

You will also be introduced to the Effective Business Coaching Method, a practical coaching process for helping small business owners gain clarity, identify what is possible, create a plan, and move forward with action.

Learn how to establish a clear and professional coaching relationship with a small business owner. You will explore the role of coaching, consulting, and organization development, and understand when each approach may be needed.

You will learn how to create a coaching agreement that reflects the unique needs of a small business client, help clients identify their North Star, and ask effective goal questions that lead to meaningful priorities and action.

This module also introduces Appreciative Inquiry and the value of exploring strengths, possibilities, and what is already working. You will apply these ideas to client goals and create goals for the growth of your own small business coaching practice.

Learn how to use a coach approach to strategic planning by helping small business owners explore what is possible for their business. Through deep listening, powerful questions, values, shared vision, and Appreciative Inquiry, you will help clients describe their ideal future and find meaning in their goals, dreams, and aspirations.

You will also learn how to create a safe thinking space where business owners can step back from the daily demands of the business, reconnect with their entrepreneurial vision, and begin building a practical strategic plan. Using the tools provided, you will create an appreciative strategic plan for your own coaching practice.

Learn how to coach small business owners on money with greater confidence. You will examine your own financial beliefs, become familiar with the three key financial statements in plain English, and learn which financial records every small business owner needs to track.

You will also explore the common money challenges, habits, beliefs, patterns, and blind spots that affect financial results. Using financial reports and thoughtful coaching questions, you will help clients understand their numbers, plan for profitability, and make more informed decisions about pricing, purchasing, sales, product development, and the future of their business.

Learn how to coach small business owners to build a healthy company culture that supports employees, customers, business results, and the wider community.

You will explore how an owner’s attitudes and behaviours influence the employee experience, even when culture is shared across the whole organization. You will learn how to ask questions that look beyond the organization chart, gather useful feedback, recognize common culture traps, and help clients move from blame toward greater trust, recognition, and accountability.

This module also examines the role small business coaching can play in strengthening organizational health and helping owners create a workplace where people want to contribute, grow, and stay. 

Learn how to coach small business owners to clearly identify and understand their target market. You will explore who is most likely to buy from them, why those customers make purchasing decisions, what they value, and what they expect from the business.

You will learn how curiosity, effective listening, demographics, and psychographics can help clients recognize their ideal customers, as well as the warning signs that someone may not be a good fit. With this understanding, clients can develop a more focused marketing strategy and make better decisions about where to invest their time and marketing dollars.

You will also examine the emotions involved in choosing a business coach and identify a target market and niche for your own small business coaching practice.

Learn how small business owners, including business coaches, find and attract clients through networking, advertising, promotion, referrals, and relationship building. You will explore practical examples of what works and how to choose the right activities for your own coaching practice.

You will consider how your own experience, knowledge, and way of being contribute to the coaching relationship. The module concludes with the next steps in your training and the path toward becoming a Certified Systems Business Coach®.