Why Trusting Your Gut Matters When Hiring A Business Coach

This morning I had a great email hit my inbox. A seven-figure online entrepreneur hit the “let’s be vulnerable” button and shared just how rough Q1 had been for her business. And when I say “vulnerable,” I mean it. She laid it all on the table including good business decisions, bad business decisions, money spent, money earned, mindset challenges, the whole kit and kaboodle.

Her blog post detailing the rollercoaster her business rode January through today wrapped up with her top 11 lessons learned. Number one hit VERY close to home. It read:

Hiring external consultants and experts is not the magical golden ticket to scaling a business. No one knows your business better than you do. Trust your gut.

Some consultants/experts would have you believe she is off her rocker. Their marketing copy makes it seem like you’d be insane not to follow their exact steps to achieve your goals. After all, they have already accomplished them (or so they say) so clearly whatever tactics they used work like gangbusters, right?

I know how it feels to read that kind of marketing copy. It’s enticing. It’s captivating. It makes you want that same result. You are an entrepreneur after all, which means you are driven and have specific goals in mind for your business and life. You want to get to a certain level of success, a term we all know by now is totally relative, and someone who has “been there done that” and is willing to teach you their ways can be oh so appealing.

It can also lead you very astray if you forget the final three words of that quote above: Trust your gut.

My $10,000 Lesson in Learning to Trust MY Gut

Let’s rewind to spring 2017. I had just been laid off from my corporate marketing job, decided to put all my effort into turning DCM from a side hustle into the marketing agency it is today and realized I needed help. I found a business coach who had already achieved all the things I thought I wanted to, had a consultation, felt like I found my person, and signed up for the course and group coaching calls.

While the $10,000 investment in said coaching put a larger balance on my credit card than I had ever experienced, I trusted my gut that this guy would be the one to show me how to make it back – and then some.

Off to the Races

I got my course access, watched the videos, created the content, asked 10,000 questions, listened to the coaching calls, tested the sales practices with 1:1 offers (and made back my investment in two months🙌🏻), and got ready to put my big ideas into the world.

I should have felt like a rockstar, right? I mean, I made back a $10,000 investment in 2 months! That’s awesome!

Something felt off though. I had the track record of success that my offer was viable and valuable, yet I couldn’t shake this “ick” kind of feeling. I thought Imposter Syndrome had gotten the best of me so I tuned into more group calls with my coach as well as his team of experts. The more I listened (note: listened, not talked) the more I realized their way of doing things did NOT align with the brand I wanted to create.

So I took the sales tactics that did feel right, and worked for me thus far, and walked away.

Yes, they had built a multi-seven (now eight) figure business using their specific methodology. Yes I wanted to build my business to seven figures as well and help more people than my 1:1 model would allow. But their way would not be the DCM way.

I had trusted my gut to hire this person. I learned new sales tactics that I still use today and teach my clients how to use. I then had to trust my gut again and walk away when their way no longer felt like my way.

The Lesson

That experience led to creation of the core principle of DCM:

To teach (and create) marketing & sales tactics that will work for my clients’ business goals and lifestyle.

If it feels off to you, then by all means, pass on it. I am not here to teach anyone how to recreate my business. After all, mine is still evolving, which I hope it continues to do for many decades to come. What I am here to do is offer marketing & sales strategy, how tos, guidance and support (when needed) to get you to YOUR business goals.

Sometimes I will hit it out of the park. Sometimes the recommendations I make may fall on deaf ears. All any coach/consultant/expert should be there to do is offer the best possible advice and solutions based on their experience and research. (I emphasize the research because, in my opinion, any advisor worth their salt should be doing it regularly. We don’t live nearly enough or have enough hours in the day to know #allthethings that could benefit our clients.)

It is up to the client/mentee to internalize the recommendation and make the best decision for their business. You must trust your gut in making decisions, particularly when it is your name on the door.

For me, that decision meant walking away from a coach who had a proven track record of churning out million dollar businesses. Doing so may mean it takes me longer to get to seven figures in revenue than his other mentees did, but I trust my gut and know I will get there. And I’ll do so in a way that feels right for me, which means focusing on providing valuable, accessible information to my clients rather than simply my bottom line.

I encourage you to do the same.