Be Coachable

I have a personal dilemma. Someone very close to me says she wants to run a business. The business is retail, and she’s been dabbling for the past couple years. Expenses are three times revenue. And she wants to spend more on advertising.

I’ve tried to offer business advise. Some my advice is for her to try to not spend another dime until she proves there is a market and she has customers. There are lots of free or nearly free things she can do. However, she says my consulting / strategy business is nothing like her retail business and the advice I’m offering won’t work for her.

So I connected her to another entrepreneur who has a successful business for some coaching advice. This entrepreneur offered her similar advice. The trouble is the advice that the retail business owner heard was to go ahead and spend more money on advertising (which would increase her expenses to four times revenue).

The retail entrepreneur doesn’t appear to be coachable. And this will be a HUGE issue for her and the business.

Minds only work if they are open. Businesses are successful if their revenue exceeds expenses.

If you want to be an entrepreneur, you need to be coachable. If not, then maybe you shouldn’t be an entrepreneur.