I am originally from Europe, Portugal living now in the US. Back home, most entrepreneurs when deciding to open small businesses, they have in mind creating their own job and a job for their very close relatives, get good money out of the business every month and not having a boss telling them what to do…The problem is they work and work and work finding themselves complaining that the money is never enough…they hardly see their children… or even go on vacations with their family.

Back there I had this idea that in the US everything would be very different… entrepreneurs would open their small businesses focusing on their Client, systemizing their processes, doing great marketing on their uniqueness…in other words building their business very sexy to sell to others and make great return out of it.

I was wrong! The truth is, small businesses are not that different from the ones in Portugal after all… in fact we see entrepreneurs seeking for a “fast miracle”… they built a business their own way, invested very little in innovation or differentiation, don´t have a clear and objective strategy for year or quarter to come, don´t think about growing beyond what they can control, don´t have systematized processes and even worst… they stopped investing in themselves, in getting educated and supported to be accountable, saying it is expensive and they don´t have any free time to do it because they are too busy working IN their businesses… what they have in fact is a high demanding not well paid job and they are their own bad boss… We are living times of absolute speed in business and the impact of technology or regulation can get you out of the market in a glance… business owners need to understand how consumers are buying and getting information about products, places… they need to know how to align their business with what´s going on, discover their niche and adjust their trajectory as fast as they can.

I believe that, never as before, each small business should have a Coach. It can really make the difference.

CDC Consulting Partners /2014