Owning and growing a business is a challenge. Founders must become masters of many business disciplines. Some of these may be far from the expertise they carry. Challenges with management, marketing, operations, finances and legal procedures are all top priorities even when founders don’t have the expertise in many of these areas.
When a founder faces so many challenges at once, they must seek out advice. They can receive all kinds of training and crash-courses on must-know functions to keep the business running, but that never guarantees success. And failure may not be due to economic factors. It may be in the execution of what they learned.
Ryan Kauth works as a professional coach. He is not an advice merchant, selling quotes from books on how other people succeed. His process starts with the founders themselves. Rather than giving advice on how they should act like someone who has already found success, he gives them the wisdom and knowledge to grow personally as a founder who can handle the business that has grown around them.
The principle of Ryan’s methods work on the simple fact that the owners of the businesses he coaches are people first. They have backgrounds, lives, preferences and abilities which differ from textbook cases. He doesn’t try to mold them into the one working example of a business owner from a “manual” because not every business functions well under the same kind of leader. He works with them directly, gets to know them, understands where they are coming up short, and helps them adjust to their work leveraging their personal strengths.
One of Ryan’s favorite testimonials stated that he encouraged them to take a break. Just a weekend to separate from work, relax, and return to their work with a refreshed mind and perspective. It worked. It was something so simple that they never thought of giving themselves permission to do. The owner was able to spend time with their loved one, readjust, and tackle the issues they faced with a more level head and much calmer demeanor.
When faced with so many challenges at once, the mind can stall or lag behind. Taking on things one at a time is the natural course, but some tasks require a sudden shift in priority. If owners can’t keep pace with an ever changing list of demands, they must try something different to be successful. When the steps get shuffled and priorities become muddied, there’s only so much general training and advice can do.
Offering an outside perspective is what has helped Ryan coach over 1,000 business owners. His clients range from first-time start-up founders to family business owners finding new generational success to serial entrepreneurs who need a new method for their umpteenth new venture.
When asked to give advice in an interview, Ryan said “I don’t give advice per se, but I would say this: if you want your business to grow, you must personally grow ahead of it!” His method of focusing on individual personal development to match the growth of a founder’s business has led many owners emerging from the valleys of a failing business. He helps bring owners out of the spiral constant advice that won’t be executed well and gives them the tools to trust themselves first, helping them turn into the leaders their businesses require.
