Trusted to Grow Companies in 40+ Countries

Who is Brett Denton?

Brett is the founder and owner of Kvell Fitness and Nutrition (https://kvellfit.com/) a boutique fitness brand and Idaho’s highest and most reviewed gym, Tip Top K9 Meridian Idaho’s Highest and Most Reviewed Dog Training Company, and Your Heroic Business (https://yourheroicbusiness.com/) a business coaching company that helps business owners scale sales, systemize operations, streamline accounting systems, optimize/build their website, enhance graphic design, transform marketing, and help create time and financial freedom for the owner for less than it would cost to hire an $8.25 per hour employee.

Fun fact: Brett was a walk-on athlete for the Boise State University Football team earning a full-ride scholarship, rushing for a career-high 126 yards in his senior game, and playing in what ESPN dubbed “one of the greatest games ever played” the 2007 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

Founding member of multiple successful companies including Kvell Fitness and Nutrition, Top Top K9 Meridian, and Your Heroic Business.

Kvell Fitness and Nutrition (https://kvellfit.com/) Idaho’s Highest and most reviewed gym Tip Top K9 Meridian Idaho’s Highest and Most Reviewed Dog Training Company Started Your Heroic Business (https://yourheroicbusiness.com/) to help business owners create time and financial freedom.

Brett, his companies, and his partners have been featured on Forbes, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, PandoDaily, Bloomberg TV, Bloomberg Radio, the Entrepreneur On Fire Podcast, the ThriveTime Show, and countless other media outlets.

Brett is the author of Provoking Success: 25 Quick Lessons to Hone Your Principles, Purpose and Power and OWNIT: How to Take Your Life from Ordinary to Extraordinary. Brett and his partners have helped over 2,561 business owners grow their businesses Brett and his partner’s business coaching clients generate over $2 billion in annual sales.

Claim to fame…Played running back for Boise State University and rushed for a career-high 126 yards in his senior game on the blue turf and played in what ESPN dubbed “one of the greatest games ever played” the 2007 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

Can Business Coaching Help Me?

 
How do you know if business coaching is right for you? How do you know who you should hire to coach you on your business journey? What do you need to know before hiring a business coach? What makes a good business coach? How much should you pay a business coach? What does business coaching do? Does your business coach need to be local?
As a business owner and entrepreneur, you are constantly fighting for your livelihood. You don’t have somebody to pay your bills, keep you employed, or make sure everything runs smoothly. You are doing all of this for your employees and family. You are responsible and held accountable for the success or failure of your business. Being a business owner can be challenging and lonely.
Let’s look at small business statistics for the reality of the challenges small business owners face. There are 30.7 million small businesses in the United States (2021). The percentage of small businesses that fail within the first year is a whopping 50%…worse than the rate of divorce, which is a disaster in and of itself (side note, the rate of divorce for entrepreneurs ranges from 43% to 48%). Nearly half (46%) of the United States workforce works for a small business. Small business is the backbone of the United States economy and the living and breathing realization of the American Dream.
With 50% of businesses failing in the first year, it is obvious that we have a business education issue. The top five reasons that businesses fail is lack of capital(trans lack of property financial planning and acumen), strong competitors (translation: weak business or product), unsustainable growth rate (translation: the inability to create systems and process), lack of market interest (translation: lack of proper market research), lack of personal business knowledge (translation: lack of seeking the requisite knowledge). Yes, starting and running a business can be hard, challenging, frustrating, and disempowering…But it doesn’t have to be.
The fastest path to anything is a straight line. When it comes to starting and running a successful business, what is the “straight line?” The straight line of business is finding a mentor, coach, or organization that has “been there and done that” and is willing to help you do the same. You have heard the term “standing on the shoulders of giants,” right? That, in short, is what business coaching is. When you find the proper business coach, you are standing on the shoulders of giants. Business coaching is the straightest, smartest, and safest way to build a successful business.
So what exactly does a business coach do? A business coach fills many roles for business owners. They are a professional friend. Somebody who the business owner can talk to who understands them. Remember, the vast majority of people are employees and do not understand the thoughts, actions, behaviors, or struggles of a business owner. It is vital for business owners to have somebody in their social group to talk to that understands the intricacies of business ownership. This professional friend relationship allows business owners to vent to somebody who understands their struggles and has valuable feedback and input. The professional friendship of business coaching has saved the lives of business owners and made the journey of business ownership more enjoyable.
A business coach provides accountability like nobody else in the business owner’s social circle can. The business coach has one goal: to assist the business owner in creating a business and life that they desire. Thus, a good business coach will hold the business owner accountable for their actions to ensure progress towards the business owner’s goal. A good business coach will have the hard conversations that a friend will shy away from. A good business coach will demand the best from the business owner.
A business coach will provide wisdom beyond what the business owner possesses. The business coach’s job is to understand business at a higher level than the business owner. This does not mean that they are experts in a specific industry (although this is often the case). What it means is that they are experts in business. They understand how to start, grow, and scale a business no matter the industry. The business coach serves as the business expert, not the industry expert. Being the industry expert is the job of the business owner.
A business coach will provide an outsider’s perspective. This is invaluable and why it often makes sense to hire a business coach who is industry agnostic. If everybody in an industry is doing the same thing, it won’t be long until that thing no longer works. It is invaluable to have an outsider’s perspective on your business and industry. Often the business coach has a perspective that has never been looked at in your industry. The whole “can’t see the forest for the trees” issue.
A business coach will have a proven path to success. Any business coach worth his salt will have a proven plan for business success. There is no one right way to grow a business, but there are ways that work and ways that don’t. A good business coach will have a proven plan to get a business owner from where they are to where they want to be. This is a vital component of good business coaching. Without a plan and a proven path, any business owner and business coach will struggle to achieve success.
Business coaching fees range from next to nothing to millions of dollars per year (Tony Robbins, as an example, charges one million dollars a year). The real answer to the question “How much should a business coach cost?” is whatever amount of value they bring to your business and life. How much would you pay to have the business and life of your dreams? What is that worth to you, and how much can you afford to pay to make it happen? There is no magic amount you should or shouldn’t pay for business coaching. The amount you pay just needs to be congruent with what it is worth to you, the value it produces for your business and life, and what you can afford.
So is business coaching right for you? I don’t know. Let’s figure it out. Eric Schmidt, the CEO and Chairman of Google, said, “The advice that sticks out I got from John Doerr, who in 2001 said, “My advice to you is to have a coach.” The coach he said I should have is Bill Campbell. I initially resented the advice because, after all, I was a CEO, I was pretty experienced. Why would I need a coach? Am I doing something wrong? My argument was, how could a coach advise me if I’m the best person in the world at this? But that’s not what a coach does. The coach doesn’t have to play the sport as well as you do. They have to watch you and get you to be your best. In the business context, a coach is not a repetitious coach. A coach is somebody who looks at something with another set of eyes, describes it to you in [his] words, and discusses how to approach the problem.”
Have you ever played a sport that didn’t have a coach? Is there any professional athlete who doesn’t have a coach? Coaching is vital for people who want to be the best and seek the fastest and most effective way to be the best. Does everybody need a business coach? No, only people who want to be the best. The greatest things in life are achieved with a team. A vital part of their team is a business coach for business owners. Having a business coach allows you to focus on what you are best at.
So do you need to hire a business coach? Only if you want to be the best, focus on what you do best, and take the straightest path to success.
What do you need to know before hiring a business coach? Thousands of business coaches and coaching methods are available, making finding the right business coach challenging, bewildering, and frustrating. Let’s look at what you are looking for in a business coach to determine the best coaches for you.
The first criteria to look at is your budget. How much do you have to spend on a business coach? Take a look at your profit and loss statements to determine how much you can afford. If you don’t know what a profit and loss statement is, go to my Financial Training (hyperlink to yourheroicbusiness.com/financial-training). How much can you currently afford to spend to grow your business?
The second criteria to consider when looking to hire a business coach is your business’s level and what type of coach is best suited to help you. For example, Tony Robbins is one of the top coaches in the world, but if I am just getting my business started, he would not be the person best suited to help me. He is too far removed from what it is like to start a business and no longer understands the issues that I am facing. On the other hand, if I run a multi-million dollar business empire, Tony Robbins may be just the business coach I need. Finding a business coach who understands your current business situation is vital to finding a good fit. If you are a small business owner, you will want to find a small business coach. If you are a fortune five hundred company, you will want to find a business coach who understands how to run and grow a fortune five hundred company.
The third thing to consider is personality fit before hiring a business coach or looking for the right business coach. Each business coach has a unique personality, and if you hire a business coach who has a personality that clashes with what you need, the relationship won’t last long. Now, don’t get this twisted. You do not need your business coach’s personality to be the same or match yours. You need the business coach to have a personality to ensure your success. The goal of business coaching is not to feel all warm and fuzzy. The goal of business coaching and, thus, your business coaching relationship is to get results. The bottom line, find a business coach who has a personality that forces you to get results, whatever that may be for you. Some people work better with supportive business coaches, whereas others like the drill sergeant approach and others like something in between. Find the right fit for you.
The fourth criterion for hiring a business coach is their experience. I get it. Everybody has to start somewhere. We just rarely want that somewhere to be with us. If you are going in for brain surgery, you are not likely to volunteer to go with a surgeon who has never performed the surgery. You will go with the surgeon who has performed hundreds of surgeries, all else being equal. So if we are going to be doing surgery on your business, it makes sense to hire a business coach who has performed business surgery on many businesses. This business coach will be able to diagnose and fix the issues within your business faster, more efficiently, and more effectively. They have seen the issue you are experiencing or something similar many times, and thus fewer things will surprise them. Even the things that do surprise them, they will be able to handle better than the less experienced business coach.
The fifth thing to consider is your commitment level to your business. No business coach can build your business for you, no matter how good they are, just like no football coach can play the game for their players and no golf coach can swing the club for the golfer. You have to be committed to your business’s success. You have to be committed to implementing the business coaching given. You have to take ownership of your actions, habits, and behaviors. If you are not fully committed to growing your business, working to achieve the life of your dreams, and implementing your coach’s business coaching, don’t waste your money or time hiring a business coach. A business coach will only be able to take you as far as you are willing to go.
The sixth area to evaluate is the business coach’s knowledge of business financials and accounting. Warren Buffett has said that accounting is the language of business. Now, you nor your business coach need to be an accountant. However, you must have a business coach who understands how to read financial statements to maximize your business success, including the profit and loss statement, cash flow statement, and balance sheet. The numbers that you and your coach need to be intimately familiar with and understand how to manipulate on the balance sheet are revenue, cost of goods sold (COGS), gross profit, gross profit percentage, overhead expense, net profit, and net profit percentage. Accountants are great at reading the numbers, and your coach needs to be an expert at taking those numbers and turning them into actions that increase your bottom line profit. Having a business financial coach or a coach who can coach business financials is imperative to small business optimization and success.
The coach’s business scope of practice and knowledge is the seventh area to consider. Do you want a business coach who is an expert in only one area or industry? Do you want a business coach who can coach a diverse range of industries on many different aspects of business? Some business coaches are exceptional in a specific area like profit generation, marketing, or human resources, as examples. This type of area-specific coach is great if you are hitting on all cylinders in all other areas and need somebody to laser focus on their specific area of expertise. If your business has many areas of improvement, then finding a business coach who has a wider scope of practice is likely to be a better fit as they will be able to not only help in many different areas but can also work on your business with a holistic approach. A holistic approach to business coaching is often the best method as nothing lives in a vacuum. If you change one thing in your business, it will likely affect other aspects of your business. Lastly, do you want a coach who understands and has knowledge in multiple industries or one who is solely focused and has expertise in one industry? All types of coaching work. The key to determining the optimal business coach for your specific business coaching needs.
The eighth area to consider is the business coach’s digital marketing knowledge. Digital marketing is not going anywhere and, for most businesses, is a necessary form of marketing. If you are not showing up in online searches, you miss out on business opportunities. Digital marketing coaches are becoming increasingly more important. Digital marketing can be costly and produce little results if not implemented correctly. You want to make sure your coach has at least a fundamental understanding of digital marketing if you are in a business that would benefit from having a strong online presence (hint: most businesses).
Let’s take a quick look at a handful of business areas that a knowledgeable small business coach can help optimize. There are seemingly infinite areas in business, but there is just a handful to master to create a profitable small business. These small business fundamental areas are business financing and accounting, small business human resources and recruitment, small business marketing (both small business digital marketing and non-digital marketing), small business sales and conversion, small business branding, small business pricing strategy, small business leadership and management execution, small business strategy, small business time management, small business product creation and market research, small business goal setting, and small business systems and processes (small business operations). Mastering these small business fundamentals will all but guarantee you a successful small business.
We at Your Heroic Business will review over forty areas and look to optimize them. The thing about improving one business area is that it compounds the other areas. This also works in the opposite direction. The areas that we will dig into and coach small businesses to optimize are market-dominating position, strategy, trust, expertise, education, policies and procedures, leads, alliances and joint ventures, referral systems, digital marketing, publicity and public relations, direct mail, advertising, compelling offer, drip campaign, scripts, initial close rate, follow-up close rate, reactive former customers, more appointments, downsells, upsell and cross-sells, increase longevity, cut costs, sales general questions, sales management, sales compensation, sales superstars, sales training, sales prospecting and lists, sales dream clients, sales trade shows, sales dealing with decision-makers, sales closing the sale, sales order fulfillment, and sales buyer’s remorse. This is just the start of what we dig into with each small business coaching client.
On the digital marketing side, we will look to optimize content marketing, website optimization, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), digital advertising, social media marketing, video marketing, digital metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs), list building and drip campaigns, downsell and pop-up windows, digital costs and increasing margins. Digital marketing is a critical area of improvement for most small businesses and a large amount of focus should be dedicated to optimizing it in most small businesses.
Realize that business coaching is not a panacea. Every business is different. Every community is different. Every business owner is different. Yet, business fundamentals don’t change. There will still be challenges, difficulties, and frustrations. However, with the right business coach and implementation of business fundamentals, you will overcome and breakthrough these issues faster. These issues will cause you and your business less stress. You will have a mentor, partner, and coach in the trenches to help you see the light. Don’t think business coaching is a magic pill. Actually, business coaching is more closely related to the red pill in the Matrix movie. It is a path to the real world, albeit a much more certain future than the red pill in the Matrix. With business coaching, you can see your business for what it is and understand the path to achieving exactly what you want. Your business coach will show you the real world and, as Morpheus did for Neo, help you successfully navigate it, dodging the business bullets.
Are you ready to commit to your business success?
Are you ready to commit to your personal success?
Are you ready to take the straightest path to small business success?
Are you ready for a business coach and business coaching experience to help you accomplish your business and personal goals?
Schedule $100K Challenge