This article deals with the fears you have as business owner about using business consulting and how you can use it to get what you want for your business.

Do you feel that?

The anxiety of the feast/famine cycle, not having any customers, or having too many and having to turn away business. Problems with cash flow, staff, technology, invoices and all that marketing and sales to do.

You’ve considered getting some help but you keep putting it off in the hope that things will improve. Now its Sunday night and your dreading new problems that take you away from the work you love.

This is the typical experience of the struggling business owner who is overwhelmed, working “in” and not “on” their business.

You’re about to discover the seven biggest fears business owners I work with have about using a consultant. And why its worth challenging and reconsidering these beliefs.

So if your interested in how other struggling business owners have pushed themselves out of their rut read on.

That is unless you let your fears get the better of you.

Fear #1 – Its The Money, I Cant Afford Business Consulting Services!

This is the most common fear around using business consulting services. There are already enough expenses in running a business and they are reluctant to invest their time and money.

The good news for most business owners is that there are always immediate improvements that will generate cash right away. The fastest, easiest returns are always targeted first. Imagine having your investment pay for itself as you go, a very low risk strategy.

The job of any good consultant is to generate results for you as quickly as possible. Your investment must pay for itself and generate a cash return so its not a burden on your business.

Fear #2 – Business Consulting Won’t Work For Me!

Many business owners are stuck in a “belief rut”. For the longest time that have been trying new things, doing courses, following fads and chasing the next “shiny object”. The inability to make headway will sap your belief and kill your motivation.

If you have low belief you are less likely to take action. This leads to poor results and that, in turn, creates even lower belief. This is called the action/results/belief cycle, and it can work for you, or against you.

The goal of the business consultant is to focus in on the “one” improvement that get’s you fast results. The best way to do this is to model strategies that have already been proven to work for other clients.

The cure for this fear is results, get the results, action, thoughts and belief cycle working for you. Once you get the first taste of success you’ll never look back.

Fear #3 – I Might Get Taken To The Cleaners

Its no wonder trust is the most valuable asset in business today, just about everyone is trying to separate you from your cash. Many consultants are seen as a marauding band of pickpockets trying to light your money on fire.

An irresistible “risk reversal” is always part of any good consulting arrangement. You, as the business owner, need to get results before handing over any money.

Think of it as like your building a house, you evaluate each stage and measure results as you go. Trust is built along the way, even better your results are paying of your investment as you go.

On top of this, the results keep paying off once the consulting work is finished. Many clients I have worked with in the past achieved sustained growth and refer business on a continual basis. Trust is built over time and with a good track record of performance, causing this fear to dissolve.

Fear #4 – Do I Really Need Business Consulting?

For many business owners its difficult to acknowledge that they may be overwhelmed in their business. This is a very common situation that’s fixed with a few key skills and strategic improvements to the business.

The key is for the stressed owner to be able to step back from the overwhelm. But often there is just too much going on and its impossible to get a chance to “take a breath”.

That’s were having an objective professional pays off, they are able to look objectively at the situation. Then identify the one or two areas that are causing you to remain stuck.

If you’ve made no forward progress in the last six months, chances are you will benefit from a business consulting strategy session. At the very least you will walk away with some excellent ideas on how you can improve your business. Then try them out for yourself.

Fear #5 – Cant I Just Take a Course?

Of course your can! There are a multitude of training courses out there both online and face-to-face. Many business owners get a lot of value from these and manage to apply this knowledge to their own work.

The flip side of this approach is that a business owner cannot be an expert in all areas of their business.

“You can walk fast by yourself but with the help of others you can walk far.”

African Proverb

There is simply not enough time to master them all, focusing on your strengths is the key to success. And as they say, you can walk fast by yourself but with the help of others you can walk far.

Knowing how things are done does not necessarily get things done and getting out of the overwhelm is the number one priority for most business owners I work with.

Once you have some breathing space, profitability, cash-flow and spare time you have options. You can study and improve the systems that you have in place and focus on the tasks you love doing.

Fear #6 – It’s Too Much Work

How much work are you doing now, 40, 60, 80+ hours per week and do you have the results to show for it? What if you could reallocate these hours to more efficient activities and get twice the work done?

The law of Pareto says that 20% of all the activities we do generate 80% of all the results. Put another way, most of your results are generated by only 20% of your effort. Think about that, what are you spending the majority of your time on that’s only giving 20% of your results?

A business consulting program is able to take an objective look at what your high value activities are. Then help you focus your attention on them and outsource all the boring and low value activity. Imagine how many more clients you could serve profitably if you were able to focus on your highest value activities?

Fear #7 – What If It Doesn’t Work?

Of course there are no guarantee’s in life except death and taxes, but if you have tried to move the needle on your business performance so far and its not working then the lack of results wont change until you change your strategy or approach.

The best way to ensure success is to use a strategies that have worked for hundreds of other business owners in dozens of different niches. Model something that works and is proven and your chances of success increase dramatically with the action you take.

When you use a business consultant and a proven process you will see results early, you have proof that your investment is making a return.

What Now?

So there they are, the seven biggest fears of clients and prospects that I talk to in my travels. I’m betting that at least one or two of these have crossed your mind at some time and if your struggling in business perhaps all of them.

The aim of this post is to alleviate fears that business owners have around using consultants and to show that results and trust can be built gradually over time, as with any good long term business relationship.

Imagine what your business and life would look like in six months if you had focused strategies in place that had worked time and time again with other clients? How would it feel to have more time, more money and control over your business, serving your clients in ways you enjoy!

Want to discuss your business challenges? Click on the button below to book a free 45 min strategy discussion where we will uncover strategies that will substantially improve your business in 30 days or less. No obligation, sales tricks or continuity programs, what you learn is yours to take away and use as you wish.

P.S. If you would like to see more content on this topic, see this article “When to Hire a Consultant” in entrepreneur magazine

P.P.S. Check out the Reboot blog article “7 Ways The Right Advisor Can Help You Get Fast Results In Your Business And Make You Look Like a Rockstar”