The Value of Ongoing Strategic Support & Thought Partnership in Your Business
Who do you talk to about your business?
What do you do when you need to figure something out?
In this article, I outline the main benefits of long-term thought partnership and strategic support in your business—a good read for anyone considering hiring a business coach or advisor (like me!).
This article was originally published May 30th, 2025.
Who do you talk to about your business?
And… Is this working for you?
Do you feel supported? Is your business growing in a direction you’re happy with?
If you’ve got a solid process or support for this, fantastic. If you find yourself overwhelmed by day-to-day decisions or big-picture questions, that’s where additional support could come in.
In this article, I outline the key reasons why sustained strategic support is valuable to small business owners and explore the main benefits of working with a trusted thought partner over the long term. I’ll be referencing my own 1:1 business advising service, which clients describe as “business strategy meets business therapy”, but these points will apply to many other coaches, consultants, and advisors doing similar work.
4 Key Reasons Ongoing Support Is Valuable for Small Business Owners
First, let’s open with why this kind of support is valuable.
1. Business is about evolving, not arriving
Business isn’t static. Because none of its parts are static: you, your customers, your employees, your market, the economy… It’s all continuously evolving.
That’s why ongoing support can be valuable. Figuring something out in your business or “arriving” at a goal, such as a revenue milestone, doesn’t remove all your challenges and questions—it introduces new ones.
Growth is an ongoing conversation between you and your business.
Consistent support means you’ve got someone in it with you, eager to help you navigate each growth stage effectively. Someone who knows you and your business, and can be that vital sounding board and second opinion.
2. Entrepreneurship can be isolating
You’re supporting everyone, who’s supporting you?
When we’re on our own, it’s easy to overthink, avoid action, or lack motivation.
Having a thought-partner to support you and keep you on track can make running your business more enjoyable and effective (saving you time/money/energy!).
Regular calls offer space to process, untangle your thoughts, and make smart decisions on behalf of you and your business.
With someone by your side to help think things through and act with intention, you’ll be able to feel clear, energised, and motivated.
3. It’s hard to have clear perspective on your own work
We only have our view of the object.
When you’ve been looking at your business head-on for years, it’s easy to lose the forest for the trees. A skilled outsider can come in, “walk around” the object, and let you know what they see from different angles.
This fresh energy and new questions can reveal options you simply couldn’t see on your own. As Einstein noted, “We cannot solve problems with the same mind that created them.”
4. It’s difficult to make the time—or have the energy!—to address those important but non-urgent things in your business
It can be hard to slow down and have the conversations you need to have.
Without a reliable, consistent way of bringing the more strategic elements into focus, things/decisions pile up and create a version of “technical debt” in our business.
Having a thought partner alongside you bridges the gap between the day-to-day and your long-term vision. Regular calls facilitate accountability and momentum on the things that matter.
Dealing with things as they come makes growth more manageable.
These four key points underpin the benefits that long-term support can offer.
The Benefits of Ongoing Advising
Now, let’s explore how ongoing advising can be beneficial to you and your business.
A relationship fully dedicated to the health of your business.
What do you do when you need to figure something out?
Who do you ask for a second opinion, and do you trust their judgement?
Moreover, how do you feel after talking to them?
Many of us rely on our partner(s)/spouse, peers, therapist, or friends for support. These support systems are important and valuable. However, they can be incomplete. Just because someone knows us, loves us, and wants the best for us, it doesn’t mean they have the skill, experience, and capacity to give us effective support for what we’re navigating in business.
It might also be genuinely hard for them not to project their own experiences, fears, goals, and interests onto you. Similarly, family and friends who have known you for a long time may inadvertently hold onto an outdated version of you.
If you ever feel more confused after talking to someone about your business, feel that “no one quite gets it”, or find that the advice you’re getting is leading you astray… there’s nothing wrong with you or those relationships. You may simply need a different type of support in this season of growth.
My clients tell me that having dedicated support specifically focused on the health and sustainable growth of their business:
Puts less strain on their relationships
Means they feel seen for who they are today (not who they were 10 years ago)
Brings new insights – because I’m not in their industry, my thinking isn’t limited by preconceived notions of how things “should” work (common when asking peers for advice)
Space to think through things you otherwise wouldn’t.
Do you find yourself putting off important but non-urgent things in your business?
This can show up as:
Not addressing big-picture questions and feeling directionless or stagnant
Avoiding small friction points (with clients, employees, or in your systems/processes)
Feeling overwhelmed by things you “should get around to”
Even when we do carve out the time, it can be a low-energy experience to do this work on our own. We can struggle to productively facilitate a strategic conversation while also being a participant in it.
Because we’re so heads-down in the day-to-day, it’s also tough to see things that could become issues or identify untapped opportunities.
The added energy and accountability of regular meetings with someone you trust can be a huge help.
As one of my clients, Taheera, puts it: “Things get addressed through our conversations that I wouldn’t otherwise think to look at. We find a solution together. You keep me from ruminating and help me organize my thoughts.”
Proactively deal with small challenges before they become large ones.
Processing challenging situations as they come up keeps them from lingering and taking up valuable mental and emotional space.
There’s also almost always a broader learning opportunity in these situations.
For example:
You come to our call with a tricky client situation. You need to respond to their email and don’t want to make decisions from a reactive place.
Together, we:
Figure out how to deal with the current situation. How can you show up to this in a way you’re proud of? (no people pleasing, no emotional reactions)
Ask what, if anything, can be learned from this. Does this remind us of anything else or point to a broader problem? Are we learning more about who your ideal client is or isn’t?
Ask what, if anything, needs to be changed moving forward to avoid this from happening again. Here’s where we might adjust your intake process, payment terms, or marketing materials.
That’s how one situation can give us the information we need to further refine your business.
This is what so much of sustainable growth looks like. It’s not the big annual strategy meeting; it’s the continuous noticing, naming, responding, and evolving.
We are consistently refining your business based on your current experience of it.
These small, steady adjustments make growth more manageable.
You’re prepared for upcoming opportunities.
Do you ever attend a trade show, speak at an event, get interviewed, or send a pitch and then think… “I should have made better use of that opportunity”?
It happens.
Being able to talk through upcoming events together ensures you approach them strategically and thoughtfully. We’ll clarify what you want this opportunity to do for you or your business so you can be focused, present, and effective.
Practice your presentation with me! Let me review your pitch deck! Small tweaks can be the difference between connecting with your audience and making the sale or not.
You might be so immersed in your expertise that it’s genuinely hard to know what makes sense to your client. (I see this all the time in presentations and marketing materials—you’re speaking to the wrong audience or using language that goes over their heads.)
Make use of my marketing communications background! I’ll help you say what you mean to say to who you mean to say it to.
A skilled outsider’s perspective on your business.
It’s hard to have a clear perspective on your own work. (I’m struggling with this right now as I edit this article, ha!)
It doesn’t matter how skilled and thoughtful you are, it’s truly difficult to see the big picture while immersed in the details. It’s mentally and emotionally draining to hold several levels of awareness at once.
It’s hard to “solve a problem with the same mind that created it.” (h/t Einstein)
A skilled outsider can:
See your business from different angles
Bring a new perspective to persistent problems
Point out things you’re not considering or that you have tunnel vision around (we get so fixed on optimizing something that we forget to check if it’s worth doing in the first place)
Identity simple tweaks or opportunities that will get you the results you want faster and with more ease
Show you options you didn’t know you had (we often get caught in the binary of A vs B, missing the middle path)
Spot the gaps between what you mean to say and what actually comes across (invaluable when it comes to your messaging and client communications)
Give you objective, non-emotional feedback on your ideas
Notice patterns in you and your business, so you can lean into the helpful ones and untangle those holding you back
You get the benefit of someone who cares, yet doesn’t have the same emotional entanglements about your work that you do.
Consistent support through business ups and downs.
Intensity doesn’t equal growth.
My goal is not to blow your mind with one call or create explosive in your business in three months. My clients are patient and understand that you need to be ready to handle the growth you’re asking for.
Instead, I provide consistent support through your business's inevitable valleys and growth spurts. Together, we aim for steady progress rather than dramatic pushes and peak experiences. Your business can experience enough turbulence day-to-day; our work together seeks to smooth those growing pains.
This really is about what happens when you take a long-term commitment to your business rather than try to “fix” everything in two months. We’re taking the long view. We’re avoiding the hamster wheel in favour of strong foundations and sustainable growth practices.
I care about where your business will be one, two, and three years from now. That’s the success I’m aiming for, rather than engineering a short-term growth spurt that goes away as fast as it came.
A calm, curious presence to make decisions in.
When we’re stressed, we often want someone to tell us what to do.
An effective advisor:
Is calm and isn’t going to accelerate your worst fears
Meets you with genuine curiosity
Looks at challenges like puzzles and helps you solve them
Is comfortable saying “I don't know”
Doesn't rush to solutions just to ease discomfort
Has the capacity to let you be different from them (in other words, they won’t eclipse your lived experience with theirs!)
Helps you make decisions in favour of what matters to you
You don’t need to remove your impulse to ask for advice. Instead, be mindful of who you ask and how you ask them (more on that here).
Advice tailored to you and your business.
Most business advice is prescriptive, generalized, and rooted in a context that may not apply to your business model or how your brain works best.
General business advice speaks to the middle—the average, but how many people are actually in the middle? Averages don’t represent individuals.
Peers can unintentionally project their own experiences, fears, and definitions of success onto you. That’s why even if someone does the same thing as you, their business can feel completely different because it’s built on different assumptions, needs, and measures of success.
I’m skeptical of people who give advice without first seeking to understand you and your business. If you struggle to connect with conventional business wisdom or the advice you’ve received doesn’t fit the realities of your work and life, you likely need a more personalized approach.
As Kristen, a long-term client, shares, “What’s special about Kate is that she works hard to understand the DNA of your business... and also of you, your values, your management style, your goals, and your dreams. When I get insights and guidance from her, it's thoughtful and realistic. She is now one of my trusted advisors.”
Stay focused with fewer unaligned “side quests”.
My clients tend to be highly self-aware with a strong sense of what’s right for them and their business. When prompted, they typically have a fairly clear sense of direction, i.e. “This is what I’d like my life to look like in five years and here’s why that matters to me.”
However, none of us stays connected with that sense of direction and meaning all the time. No one is immune to distraction, disconnection, and questioning.
That’s where a trusted strategic partner comes in. We’re regularly checking in on the fundamentals:
Why are you doing this?
What actually matters here?
What’s the most effective—and enjoyable—use of your time, money, and energy to grow the business you want to run?
This results in fewer rabbit holes, distractions, and “side quests” (i.e. funnelling time and energy into social media before realizing it didn’t make sense for your business in the first place).
With ongoing strategic support, you become less impulsive and reactive. You get to slow down, talk things out, and receive a thoughtful second opinion. “What’s your impression of this? What else do you think I should be considering? What am I missing?”
As Tina, another long-term client, puts it: “Because we’ve had this steady practice of meeting with you, I know that everything we’ve done over the last two years we’ve done with intention. That’s all we can really ask for.”
For couples and co-founders: It’s a dedicated space to talk about your business.
It’s hard to facilitate a conversation and be a full participant in it at the same time.
Having someone else in the room means you’ve got a dedicated third party in charge of leading the conversation, taking notes, and sending the follow-up email with next steps.
When a skilled outsider is involved, the quality of the conversation will be different, the content will be different, and you might find it easier to say uncomfortable things or practice new ways of relating to each other.
You’ll also benefit from the outside perspective. It’s easier for an outsider to spot unhealthy patterns, assumptions, or a lack of information holding you back. They can also spot hidden opportunities that you’re too close to see.
A note for couples: Being skilled partners in life doesn’t mean you automatically know how to be skilled partners in business. If you struggle to have productive strategic conversations together, or simply find it’s tough to make the time and stay accountable, a neutral third party can help. It’ll also give shape to these conversations so they’re not bleeding across your personal life.
Having an advisor takes the guesswork out of leading and facilitating necessary conversations. They’ll come prepared with relevant exercises and thoughtful homework.
And finally, a sense of partnership in your business so you feel less alone running it.
Entrepreneurship can feel lonely.
If you have a team, you might feel like you’re supporting everyone but no one’s supporting you. You’re holding everyone else accountable, but no one’s holding you accountable.
If you’re a solo business owner, you might find it tiring keeping tabs on everything, motivating yourself to take action, and making every decision by yourself.
When we’re largely on our own, it’s also easy to overthink, ruminate, or get stuck in our heads. We can lose entire days or weeks to this kind of mental looping without making meaningful progress.
If you feel like you can’t hold it all—or hold it all together—it might be because that’s simply an unrealistic expectation to place on yourself.
Despite what Western culture teaches us, the answer to this kind of strain doesn’t have to be “try harder” or “figure out how to be more disciplined”. You are allowed to want, and ask for, support.
Having a dedicated thought partner to support you, keep you on track, and help you make decisions that honour what’s best for you and your business can be incredibly valuable.
Finding the Right Business Support for You
As you know, there’s no end to things to think about, do, or consider when you’re a business owner. This can take up a tremendous amount of our mental and emotional energy.
Having dedicated space where you know you’ll have someone to talk things through with on a regular schedule helps 1) keep things manageable and 2) keep you on track with what matters.
You know the growth that’s possible for you.
You don’t need to navigate this alone.
Curious to explore working together?
Get started with a discovery call.
I provide truly personalized, holistic business advice based on understanding each client’s unique situation. I’d love to find out about what’s happening for you in your business to see if I’m the right fit to help you meet your goals. What would it mean for you to feel supported, gain perspective, and act with intention so you can grow your business on your own terms?
Ready to be well-supported?
I’d love to find out about what’s happening for you in your business to see if I’m the right fit to help you reach your goals.
We all win when good people doing good work are able to be in it for the long haul.
