For business couples, coaching is important as it is a good way to handle conflict as the lines of communication between personal and business can sometimes become intertwined. In the beginning things like growing a business, strategic things, and how to handle conflict needed discussion; and it proved difficult to find our groove.
Rhapsody Strategies is an amazing organization that has a structured and research-based approach and really helped us to figure out structure in our business relationship. It began with an in-depth questionnaire about all aspects of our business. Christina did her questionnaire; I did my questionnaire and we compared answers; this was an eye-opener for us to see what each other’s viewpoints were on certain things. The structured approach was so beneficial to us. We realized that the pressures and the difficulties we were facing were not just unique to us and were the same challenges that every business faces.
Having a coach helped us to feel part of a community; they are there to cheer us on, to speak to us objectively, and ask the right questions. Whenever we get to the next phase, we realize that it’s something new we’re getting into, and doing that can be scary.
It provides you with ‘forced’ time to work on your business and as the visionary of the company who spends a lot of time thinking about the direction in which we’re heading and just wants to get down to the work, this becomes important.
For Peter having a coach, having a process, and having him get you to a place where you need to get ‘out’ of the business and start working ‘on’ the business was a major transformational thing for us. We needed to start thinking about the bigger picture and start creating structures and systems and processes around that.
So much goes into building a business it’s kind of mindboggling so having a coach forces you to sit down to think about it, talk it through, and to check in with each other on how we’re both feeling. And it’s also forced ‘me’ time which is something we all need.
It was when Christina attended a Zoom conference call with Serena Williams and saw that she too has a coach, was when the notion of having a coach really stood out to her. And it just goes to show that the right analogy at the right time allows you to open your mind to that piece.
Our conversations with each other have evolved with having a coach. We feel like we’re completely different people in a different company as a result of the process. It gives you the time as an entrepreneur to think about how to approach and structure your business when you might not otherwise have the time to.
For Christina coaching enabled her to feel more like an entrepreneur and to feel confident in her role as CEO of a marketing and communications agency.
Our advice to any business out there (especially for married couples in business together) would be to get a coach. However, you need to think carefully about what type of coach you need, what their coaching style is and what their process is, and if that is a fit for your business.
