How I became a Business Coach in Just 37 Years

I spent 37 years working in corporate organisations gaining a wealth of business knowledge, attractive promotions, and financial security. It was great. Right up to the point where I could take it no more.

The decision to leave was really easy. With every promotion came more stress and more time away from my family. As soon as one week ended, I was already consumed with thinking about the next one. I was miserable to be around – on the rare occasions I was home. It wasn’t fair on anyone.

Having got to the point of exhaustion on all levels, I left my career pretty much overnight and invested a lot of money into myself to do something that I loved as much as I was good at; Business Coaching.

Why coaching?

Whilst working in corporate, I had experienced Executive Coaching for myself on a number of occasions, and I absolutely loved it. It was a chance to escape the day-to-day stuff for an hour or so and explore why/where my “thinking” was getting in the way of what I needed to achieve. It brought me clarity and peace of mind when my life left me feeling a little crazy. I requested more coaching through my boss, as I really believed that it would turn things around for me and help me to love and thrive in my work again without the negative impacts. Sadly, the boss couldn’t clear it. I see that now as a good thing – otherwise I might still be there.

When I eventually left, I felt a little lost. I started hearing about Business Coaching, and the more I looked into it, the more I was impressed with it even more than Executive Coaching. It combined working on mindset with an objective of improving business profitability and effectiveness. I’d have loved that myself. I started thinking that this might be a path down which to travel, given my own knowledge and experience.

A change in perspective

In corporate, my job was to save my clients money by finding better ways to do things – both operationally and strategically. Even when the firms would save millions though, the organisations were so huge, the reduction barely registered.

As a coach, I now work with owners of SMEs, so when as a result of our work together they make an extra £100k or more in their business, it makes a massive difference – and not just to their finances. The stress relief and freedom to enjoy their lives this process brings, in my opinion as a coach, far outweighs the financial benefit.

A business that is running efficiently with steadily growing profitability will be much more valuable and sellable, so working with a client to achieve results where they may one day decide to sell up and go live their life is a wonderful thing.

I love my business – and now I want you to love yours, too.

Call me on 07970566390 or email me davidlee@actioncoach.com