Client loved the service so much, she bought the franchise!
Tanya Hill turned around her upholstery business with the help of an Action Coach. When she stopped working 14 hours a day in her business, she realised she could be an Action Coach too. But what is this mother of two’s secret to success now she specialises in business growth coaching for the trades?
After returning from two years of backpacking around Australasia, Tanya and her husband Scott, decided to start their own upholstery business, Hill Upholstery & Design. Tanya’s background was fashion design where she trained and worked as a children’s wear designer for Tammy Girl. Scott had worked for one business for 20 years, but this had ceased trading during his travels.
They decided to start their upholstery company, based near their home in East Anglia, because they thought owning a business would bring in more money, more holidays and more control. But they soon began to realise how wrong they were.
“I was working 14-hour shifts handling all areas of the business from sewing, bookkeeping and VAT returns, invoices, quotes, the list goes on. The worst thing about all of this was that my children were brought up in the corner of a cold workshop.
“After attending an ActionCOACH 6-Steps Seminar, I made some simple changes which made a difference to the business and six months later I’d graduated through group coaching to one-to-one coaching. Scott and I invested our 12 years of savings (intended for a family holiday to Thailand) in business growth coaching with ActionCOACH’s Kent Rhodes.
“We went on such a journey, from knowing literally nothing about running a business, to being systemised to within an inch of our lives.”
Making the trade
The day-to-day operations began working without any major input from Tanya, giving her the freedom to think about her future. Within three months, she had hired her replacement and in October 2015, she became a franchise partner with ActionCOACH.
“My job as a business growth specialist is to make sure my clients stay on the right path so they can have the life they deserve. I want clients to achieve their dreams in the most time-efficient route possible as time is our most precious gift. I believe personal life and business are very entwined and both should be fun. I understand how important it is to show business owners there’s another way and with the right discipline, guidance and accountability, you can achieve great things. I’m not in this for the glory or awards, I’m in it so I can give other people the chance we got.”
Mastering the trades
“I must admit, I didn’t have the best start when I launched my ActionCOACH business. It took me a while to find my natural flow. I was trying to be a business coach called Tanya which didn’t work for me and by January 2017, I only had three clients bringing in £2,800 a month. I spoke to other coaches in the team and they helped me realise that people buy into people they like and trust. Now I’m Tanya who coaches, a subtle difference. That’s when I began to get more clients. I now specialise in working with business owners in the trades, those that get my black and white approach and need a coach who is grounded and authentic.
“I meet my clients through sharing insights and client successes on LinkedIn. I’ve partnered with Marc Eccles, another local Action Coach, to deliver regular group seminars and 90-day planning sessions. Once you’re earning enough to support your family, your focus really moves to making a difference to your clients’ lives. By June 2018, I had grown my income to £23,000 a month.
“The ActionCOACH community is amazing, there’s always someone at the end of the phone and we get together regularly. They offer a lot of training and there’s a huge library of resources to support my work with clients. If a client needs something I don’t know straight away, I can ask the global community of coaches and get recommendations.”
Work-life balance
Tanya manages her business, with the help of a full-time PA, inside school hours.
“I achieved a work-life balance through the coaching support we had with our upholstery business and I didn’t want to lose that just because I’d started a new business. After just a year of Action Coaching, in Christmas 2016 we were able to afford a two-week family holiday to Thailand. But by Christmas 2017, we were in the fantastic position to be able to take a month’s break in Thailand and Indonesia – both Scott’s upholstery business and my coaching business could work without us while we enjoyed the time with our two daughters.”
Hitting Milestones
“In 2013, as part of my coaching for Hill Upholstery & Design, I went to a GrowthCLUB planning day with my Action Coach Kent Rhodes. In 2018, I found the planning book where I had written my five-year goals – I wanted to have paid off my mortgage and moved to our dream home location, Westley Heights. When I wrote those goals, Scott and I had no significant income to speak of and there were no systems in our business. Now we have just paid off our mortgage and moved in to a home in Westley Heights. It was a significant moment of realisation to read back those plans I had made and I enjoyed the sense of achievement in hitting those milestones.
“When you enter the ActionCOACH community, you learn so much more than how to be a business growth coach. Helping business owners to grow their business so it can work without them gives them the option to spend time on creating other long-term income and achieve those dream lifestyles. My husband and I always wanted to buy a holiday home in Devon. Because of ActionCOACH, we’ve been able to begin building a property portfolio to secure our financial future and we’re now searching for our holiday home.”
If you would like to step into a new career that will secure your future and you:
- Get a buzz from helping others succeed
- Love learning and developing yourself
- Have enjoyed success in your career or sport…
