You already know you get better results at the gym when you’re working with a coach. Coaches push us to reach farther, work smarter, and never give up. Coaches can also help you avoid sports injuries and deal with setbacks. Could having a coach for your startup have the same positive effects on your business? Here are 10 benefits you get when you get startup coaching.

1. It’s Tailored to You

If you look hard enough, you can find endless advice online. Hey, you’re here on this site, aren’t you? While places like TheStartupMag certainly provide value, sometimes you need solutions more directly tailored to your individual situation, industry, and even personality. That’s where startup, business, or executive coaching comes in.

These startup coaches help you identify important goals, and develop both a short and long-term strategy, and refine your processes to work smarter, not harder.

Anyone can benefit from coaching. Any many successful people you probably know credit coaching, at least partially for their success. Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt invested in coaching. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs both regularly had a coach. Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, and Leonardo Di Caprio have also invested in business startup coaching. And these are just a few names, you know.

2. They’ll Play Devil’s Advocate

Your coach isn’t a continual naysayer who tears down your dreams and ideas. But he’s also not a “yes man”.

They will encourage you to challenge assumptions that may be holding you back from achieving success.

If you’re considering going in one direction, they’ll help you explore likely scenarios and outcomes to clarify your path and help you avoid passion-driven missteps that you haven’t thought out well.

This can broaden your thinking and reveal previously unseen potential.

3. Strengthen Your E.I.

Having someone who is willing to be honest with you also strengthens your emotional intelligence. Startup coaching in EI will improve how you work with others, receive ideas, take criticism, make your case with facts, and other important people skills.

4. They Keep You Motivated

A little setback like a bad customer review or missed sales projection can leave any entrepreneur discouraged. Discouragement breeds a lack of motivation, which kills productivity and may impact your interactions with your team.

A coach will help you channel disappointment into motivation to get back in the game to score the winning point. Not only will you perform better, people who feel motivated are also happier in general.

5. Enhance Leadership

Startup coaching can help you identify character traits and habits that may be holding you back as a leader. Learn how to earn buy-in from your team more effectively, achieve shared visions, and demonstrate that you care about those around you to build trust and increase productivity.

6. Expand Self-Awareness

Who are you? Why are your strengths and weaknesses? You may be spending all your time focused out there, getting your business up off the ground. But often, you’d do better to spend equal time turning inward and exploring what makes you tick. Reflect and grow from the inside out.

A coach can help you discover your unique leadership style, so you’re not faking it until you make it or trying to become something you’re not. Be the kind of leader you are meant to be.

7. Improve Self-Control

Your coach can help you become more disciplined with your time through time management, work-life balance, maintaining healthy work boundaries, decision-making, and organization to streamline your life and startup.  You can position yourself and your startup for growth.

8. Enhance Business Performance

Startup coaching ultimately improves business performance by helping you grow as an entrepreneur. When you become a stronger leader, your employees perform better. Your company produces a more quality product and service to customers. You grow into a trusted brand and meet important business goals.

9. Boost Your Confidence

Startup coaches aren’t just random people who took a course to become a coach. They have real-world experience and have chosen to use their skills to help others achieve their dreams.

When you have confidence, you can make bold business moves to enter new markets, expand your product lines, reach new customer demographics and grow your business.

10. Be Accountable

To be successful, you have to be accountable to your employees, customers, family, and yourself. If you’re not working on the plan you’ve developed, you won’t be the only one who suffers. But so often, we need the startup coaching that can keep us honest and focused. A coach can be this in your life.