Support

Many of you were or are solopreneurs or leaders in organisations where you spend a significant amount of time working alone. As a result, it’s tempting to fall into the trap of feeling you have to figure out everything for yourself.

This makes it even more important to get support. What is available?

Here are my top 7 resources

Coach

Coaching is all about the relationship between coach & coachee, whereby the coach begins by helping the coachee decide on goals or outcome. It’s this goal or outcome focus which defines coaching and differentiates it from other modes of support. An excellent practitioner, be they a Performance, Business or Executive Coach will empower you to make good choices or decisions.

Do you need a coach? Perhaps a better question is, “Do you want a coach?” Since World champions all seem to employ one, why wouldn’t you and I want one?

Mentor

Whereas a coach will empower you to achieve goals and objectives, a mentor is usually a trusted adviser, a guide. Mentors tend to have successfully trodden a similar path and will guide you, using their own experience. A good mentor will be non-judgemental, will respect diversity of thought and be knowledgeable enough to adapt their advice according to your individual needs. They will give constructive feedback.

Psychotherapist

A psychotherapist helps raise awareness and builds an understanding of how and why their clients think and act the way they do. They can help make the connection between emotional problems and behaviours and to treat them. Depending on their training and expertise, they may work with individuals, couples and groups.

Mastermind Groups

These can be very effective in helping members by sharing triumphs and challenges. They work best when people are in similar fields with similar abilities.
A Mastermind Group may have a facilitator who helps with solutions and helps the meeting flow. Ideally, members of the group come up with solutions to problems. ‘Hot Seats’, where each person presents a problem, and the group members provide challenges and/or solutions. For this reason, the group size ought to be low, perhaps 5-8 people.

Tribe

My definition of a tribe, would be your peers via organisations such as trade bodies holding meetings either in person or online. Since the onset of the pandemic, Hybrid meetings, i.e. a mixture of in person and virtual, have become popular.

These meetings can be a great way to keep abreast of industry developments and to ‘pick the brains’ of colleagues who may offer solutions to any challenges.

Virtual Assistant (VA)

For the Entrepreneur/solopreneur or small business owner who may try to do almost everything, it has never been easier to find one or more VAs to undertake specific tasks. It may be anything from book-keeping to diary management or email creation.
When the industry emerged, places such as the Philippines or Eastern Europe where labour was inexpensive, mushroomed. Latterly, because of recognising their value, VA providers closer to home have also become popular.

Friends & Family

Last but probably the most important of all, switch off and devote quality time to friends and family. They’ll remind you why you do what you do. That’s the best support of all.