The Coach's Journey - build a coaching business with integrity

Robbie Swale

Coach’s Journey founder Robbie Swale and a team of hosts interview coaches about how they created a successful business and how they create impact for their clients.
Through these conversations, you can learn how each coach came to coaching, grew their coaching practice and found their way to the successful business they have today. Each interview, like each journey, is different. But each is also packed with insights, tips, suggestions and ideas to grow your coaching business and have even greater impact creating change in the lives of your clients. Past guests include life coaches, business coaches, executivecoaches, career coaches, leadership coaches and more. Some are household names; some are coaches you’ve never heard of. All of them share ideas on the key topics for creating a coaching business: money, fees, impact with clients, training and more. About Robbie: Robbie Swale is a leadership coach, podcaster and the author of four books. He has trained with masters in the field of coaching and building coaching businesses, including Rich Litvin, Robert Holden and guests on the podcast like Katie Harvey and Myles Downey. He is the creator of The Coaching Business Flywheel, which attempts to boil down everything he has learned from many years supporting coaches to grow their businesses and interviewing amazing coaches on this podcast, into one simple, actionable model. Subscribe and read more about the podcast, The Coach’s Journey Community and get the free ebook An Introduction to The Coaching Business Flywheel at www.thecoachsjourney.com

Episodes

Mentioned books

Dec 7, 2023 • 2h 5min

Episode #56: Introducing the New Hosts – Ushering In The Future of The Coach's Journey

Nov 2, 2023 • 1h 47min

Episode #52: Susana Gonçalves – How an Introvert Engineer Became a Master Certified Coach

As a self-described introvert, it was a surprise to Susana Gonçalves when she found her calling in coaching.In our conversation in episode #52 of The Coach’s Journey Podcast, Susana explains how she experienced “an awakening” that led her forward from her background in IT, engineering and finance.When the organisation she worked for invested in team coaching, Susana witnessed first-hand the evolution of her colleagues as they worked with a coach, inspiring her to invest in her own development and transformation to become a coach.In this episode Susana shares her experience of rising up through male-dominated industries in the early part of her career, instilling her with a deep belief in the power and importance of diversity within organisations – a belief that shapes her work as a coach.Now, as an ICF Master Certified Coach with more than 2,500 hours of experience in coaching leaders and executives, she works with clients across the world, from Saudi Arabia to Brazil. In this episode, we also talk about:The art of team coaching and its transformative potentialThe impact of mindfulness on a coaching practiceThe different ways in which people live and work as coachesThe differences between ICF certificationsImposter syndrome, and how we manage itThrough her coaching company Meaningful Works, Susana has enabled herself to be location-free, delivering her work from wherever she needs to be in the world, and we discuss the sensitivity and understanding required when working cross-culturally.To learn more about me, visit https://www.robbieswale.com/, and to learn more about Susana, visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/susana-goncalves.For information about my wider work, my writing or to buy my books, visit www.robbieswale.com.Music by My Good Man William: listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4KmeQUcTbeE31uFynHQLQgTo support the Coach's Journey, visit www.patreon.com/thecoachsjourney and to join the Coach's Journey Community visit www.thecoachsjourney.com/community. Things and people we mentioned (that you might be interested in):- ICF coach training https://coachingfederation.org/credentials-and-standards/find-education - John Monks on The Coach’s Journey Podcast https://www.thecoachsjourney.com/podcast/episode-39-john-monks-closing-the-circle-and-becoming-closer-apart - Robbie’s group coaching session on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFBvAVfZrKQ - Bounce by Matthew Syed https://www.matthewsyed.co.uk/book/bounce-the-myth-of-talent-and-the-power-of-practice/ - Rebel Ideas by Matthew Syed https://www.matthewsyed.co.uk/book/rebel-ideas-the-power-of-diverse-thinking/ - Headspace https://www.headspace.com/ - Insight Timer https://insighttimer.com/en-gb - MCC certification https://coachingfederation.org/credentials-and-standards/credentials-paths/mcc-credential - Live coaching sessions by MCC coaches https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgQvPII9BKg - Janet Harvey https://mccmentorcoach.com/janet-harvey - Janet Harvey video with commentary on a coaching session https://youtu.be/2C8aIPA82UY- Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL) https://www.ccl.org/ - ‘Luck is the residue of design’ – John Miltonhttps://scottturman.com/luck-is-the-residue-of-design - ICF Converge https://coachingfederation.org/events/icf-converge BIOGRAPHY FROM SUSANASusana Gonçalves is an ICF Master Certified Coach with +2,500 hours’ experience coaching leaders and executives globally and a strong background in IT, organisational development and team leadership. She is a seasoned professional with over two decades of experience in multinational organisation environments with a breadth of cultural influences, including invaluable international experience, bringing a wealth of personal and professional experience to her role as executive coach and team coach. She excels in coaching individuals and navigating the complexities of global and culturally diverse teams, yielding remarkable outcomes. She is driven by a profound passion for empowering leaders and guiding them to forge their own transformative paths. Through the creation of a safe coaching space, she brings awareness to their aspirational potential, inspiring them to reach new heights.

Jul 6, 2023 • 2h 19min

Episode #51: Matt Thieleman – Mindful Leadership and Letting Your Hidden Side be Seen

Matt Thieleman admits that for many years he “wholeheartedly dismissed” the coaching industry. He also says he denied an important part of himself.Now, as the author of This Is Coaching and a renowned transformational coach, visionary and featured TEDx speaker on the topic of mindful leadership, Matt is adept at identifying when people and organisations have shut off vital parts of themselves.In this episode Matt talks frankly about the barriers he had to overcome to allow the hidden parts of himself to be seen, and how experiences like the Samurai Coaching Dojo transformed his own sense of belonging as well as the spaces he creates for his coaching clients.He shares what becoming CEO of founders coaching organisation Pilea taught him about growing sustainably and building without burnout, and outlines his goals for every business founder in the world to have a coach, for every coach in the world to be world class, and for every human in the world to have the skills of a coach. In this episode, we also talk about:Broken leadership models, and how we can fix themHow to handle difficult feedback and criticismHarnessing deliberate practice to train and improve as a coachHow we fall into the trap of outsourcing our decision-making capabilityThe process of pitching, publishing and marketing a book on coachingMatt shares details about his new pilot group program called Mastering the Coaching Game, which will take the principles of his book deeper and support coaches in applying them to their life and work.To learn more about me, visit https://www.robbieswale.com/, and to learn more about Matt, visit https://goldenbristle.com/.For information about my wider work, my writing or to buy my books, visit www.robbieswale.com.Music by My Good Man William: listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4KmeQUcTbeE31uFynHQLQgTo support the Coach's Journey, visit www.patreon.com/thecoachsjourney and to join the Coach's Journey Community visit www.thecoachsjourney.com/community. Things and people we mentioned (that you might be interested in):- Toku McCree on The Coach’s Journey Podcast https://www.thecoachsjourney.com/podcast/episode-15-toku-mccree-sales-with-honour-and-love-on-the-end-of-a-sword - Aaron Caulfield https://www.aaroncaulfield.com/ - Mike Harris https://michaelvharris.com/ - Rich Litvin’s Prosperous Coach Intensives https://richlitvin.com/intensive/ - Pilea coach community https://joinpilea.com/ - Pilea (the plant) https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-pilea-peperomioides/ - Jomar Gomez https://www.facebook.com/jomargomez.coach/ - Chris Joseph on The Coach’s Journey Podcast https://www.thecoachsjourney.com/podcast/episode-19-chris-joseph - This Is Coaching by Matt Thieleman https://goldenbristle.com/book - Blink by Malcolm Gladwell https://www.gladwellbooks.com/titles/malcolm-gladwell/blink/9780316005043/ - Tony Robbins https://www.tonyrobbins.com/ - Wayne Dyer https://www.drwaynedyer.com/- Dave Ulrich https://www.rbl.net/about-us/consultants/dave-ulrich- Marshall Goldsmith https://marshallgoldsmith.com/- Matt’s TEDX talk on mindful leaderships https://www.ted.com/talks/matt_thieleman_why_the_world_needs_mindful_leaders - The Samurai Coaching Dojo https://tokumccree.medium.com/our-origin-18f2b41e5f0c - Adam Quiney https://adamquiney.com/- David Deida https://deida.info/ - The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida https://deida.info/the-way-of-the-superior-man/- Kari Sulenes https://www.linkedin.com/in/kari-sulenes-3847a350/BIOGRAPHY FROM MATTMatt Thieleman is a transformational coach, visionary, speaker, advisor, and author.Matt works with leaders and change-makers to help them live into their purpose more fully, and bring their masterpieces to the world. He educates and trains coaches to be world-class in their field, and help their clients reach their full potential. You can learn more about him at goldenbristle.com.Prior to becoming a coach, Matt was in the marketing world, working with clients in practically every industry imaginable. He has been a leadership coach since 2016 and spent 2021 as CEO of Pilea, a coaching organisation for venture-backed founders. After a year of intense growth and hard work, Matt turned his focus back to coaching and other soul work he’s called to bring to the world. It’s simply a continuation of a lifelong mission to heal himself, help others heal, and lead others with authenticity.He is the author of This is Coaching: How to Transform a Client’s Performance, Life, & Business as a Master Coach & Warrior of Love.

Jun 1, 2023 • 1h 51min

Episode #50: Marie Reig Florensa – Lean Towards Love and Lead from the Heart

Heart-based leadership is an approach to solving problems, building relationships and creating flow that expert practitioner Marie Reig Florensa uses to transform individuals, teams and organisations.In this episode of The Coach’s Journey Podcast, Marie describes how, during 15 years as a producer on live television shows, she became adept at living in the moment and honed her intuition as she navigated the “big live opera” of broadcasting.Marie shares her journey of self discovery and how she came to recognise the intangible factors – aspirations, emotions, imaginations – that quietly drive our experiences and shape our lives.She also shares a precious technique that you can start using today to unlock your own ability to lead from the heart, follow your intuition and be at your best. In this episode, we talk about:How we feed our imagination, and thus shape the worldHow to harness discomfort and drive yourself forwardThe real uniqueness of our own authenticityTurning to ancient indigenous cultures for insight into human natureHow to follow your curiosity towards beautiful giftsMarie reflects on the transition from being a creative problem solver to becoming a facilitator of regenerative spaces, describing the principles that lie at the heart of her revolutionary work.To learn more about me, visit https://www.robbieswale.com/, and to learn more about Marie, visit https://mariereig.com/.For information about my wider work, my writing or to buy my books, visit www.robbieswale.com.Music by My Good Man William: listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4KmeQUcTbeE31uFynHQLQgTo support the Coach's Journey, visit www.patreon.com/thecoachsjourney and to join the Coach's Journey Community visit www.thecoachsjourney.com/community. Things and people we mentioned (that you might be interested in):- The Berlin School of Creative Leadership https://www.berlin-school.com/ - Berkley Executive Coaching Institute https://www.berkeleyeci.com/ - Guy Sengstock https://circlinginstitute.com/about/- The HeartMath Institute https://www.heartmath.org/- Presence-Based Coaching by Doug Silsbee https://presencebasedcoaching.com/- The Four-Fold Way by Angeles Arrien https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/books/reviews/view/7721- The ‘journal’ section of Marie’s website https://mariereig.com/learn-more-about-heart-based-leadership/ BIOGRAPHY FROM MARIEMarie Reig Florensa is a humanist, executive coach, and heart-based leadership expert exploring the crossroads of human values, leadership, and creativity. She is on a global discovery quest to better understand and communicate what it truly means to lead from the heart, beyond assumptions and stereotypes.Marie supports creative leaders, teams, and organisations to fast-track their leadership development, unlocking their "best self" – the self in alignment with their values and soul purpose for positive social impact. She does so by means of tailor-made playful and artistic strategies that unleash genuine human connection, ignite creative genius and awaken self-generative learning. Her heart-based creative leadership coaching methodology is supported by expert practitioners' work, contemporary academic and scientific research, and ancient cross-cultural indigenous and spiritual wisdom.Marie has more than 20 years of experience working in the creative industries, in mainstream and unconventional projects, teams, and organisations. Her mission is to catalyse human flourishing, demonstrating that every small gesture is a weapon of mass construction and that our lives are our most precious works of art.

May 4, 2023 • 2h 5min

Episode #49: Ray Martin – How to Let Your Inner Voice Speak

Many of us live out our lives while tied to our careers, our homes, our families and our friends. This can be joyous, but for some it is stifling.Ray Martin lived that life and achieved great success, even being named Daily Telegraph Business Leader of the Year in 2002 as the CEO of a company that developed business leaders.But when his personal life changed dramatically, he realised his work was not making him happy and he set out on a mission to discover his authentic self.Now, as the author of Life Without A Tie, Ray tells the story of a journey of exploration that took him to 28 countries and saw him launch a global foundation, become a marathon runner, act in a play and turn himself into a coach whose clients have included more than 100 people across Asia.In this episode of The Coach’s Journey Podcast, Ray describes how he learned to serve people who are trapped in a life that others expect of them, and how he allowed his inner voice to return and guide him to a life of possibility, fulfilment, and greater self-awareness. In this episode, we talk about:The confirmation signals we need when making decisionsHow acts of service can lead to personal breakthroughsHow we become the actor, scriptwriter and director in our own livesThe shift from materialism to experientialismThe power of intention to deliver the work and life you wantThe freedom that comes from feeling less attached to each possibilityRay shares wisdom about the cycles of desire and craving that don’t always lead us to what we need, and offers sage advice on the tools that can guide us to a place of authenticity.To learn more about me, visit https://www.robbieswale.com/, and to learn more about Ray, visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/raymartin/ or https://lifewithoutatie.com/.For information about my wider work, my writing or to buy my books, visit www.robbieswale.com.Music by My Good Man William: listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4KmeQUcTbeE31uFynHQLQgTo support the Coach's Journey, visit www.patreon.com/thecoachsjourney and to join the Coach's Journey Community visit www.thecoachsjourney.com/community. Things and people we mentioned (that you might be interested in):- Life Without A Tie https://lifewithoutatie.com/ - The Better Bolder Braver Podcast https://betterbolderbraver.com/ - Robert D’Aubigny and Exegesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exegesis_(group)- The Landmark Forum https://www.landmarkworldwide.com/the-landmark-forum - Henrietta Nelson on The Coach’s Journey Podcast https://www.thecoachsjourney.com/podcast/episode-46-henrietta-nelson-nobody-else-can-put-a-feeling-in-you - Sydney Banks https://sydneybanks.org/- Wait But Why https://waitbutwhy.com/homepage - Stuffocation by James Wallman https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/07/stuffocation-living-more-with-less-james-wallman-review - Joseph Campbell and The Hero’s Journey https://www.skillshare.com/en/blog/the-heros-journey-stages-and-structure/ - Bernadette Russell https://www.bernadetterussell.com/ - Undefended Love http://www.undefendedlove.com/ - The Hoffman Process https://www.hoffmaninstitute.co.uk/about-the-process/ - Ray’s blog https://thedailyexplorer.com/blog/- Asia Pacific Alliance of Coaches https://apacoaches.org/- Robbie’s appearance on the Leadership Live podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqsdH23Nm4o - Coach in a Box https://www.linkedin.com/company/coach-in-a-box- Robert Stephenson on The Coach’s Journey Podcast https://www.thecoachsjourney.com/podcast/episode-41-robert-stephenson-the-scaffolding-of-change-and-when-to-discard-it - Steve Biddulph https://www.stevebiddulph.com/ - The Sabbatical Project https://thesabbaticalproject.org/- The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer https://untetheredsoul.com/- Quote from Marcel Proust https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22270761/

Apr 6, 2023 • 2h 15min

Episode #48: Bill Small – The Key to Creation is Dealing With Being Uncomfortable

Bill Small’s voice is a powerful creative tool that has been creating songs and conversations throughout his life as a professional musician, entrepreneur and business coach.In this episode of The Coach’s Journey Podcast, Bill describes the challenge of blending his passions for music and conversation in order to create the life he wanted, highlighting key shifts in his mindset that enabled a balance to emerge.During 35 years of performing and playing music and 20 years helping small business owners to thrive, Bill has accrued some wonderful stories and a huge amount of wisdom, not least through his experience of two of the biggest movements in personal development: The Landmark Forum and the Law of Attraction.In our deep and searching conversation he reflects on creativity, integrity, personal responsibility, and money.Alongside his work as a coach and as a musician, Bill is the co-host of The Subtle Art of Not Yelling podcast and co-founder of a creative community called The Box, both of which serve to help people chunk down their projects and get out of their own way in order to finish what they’ve made. In this episode, we talk about:Important versus interesting, and how we choose between themWhy finishing our creative projects mattersThe comparison sticks we beat ourselves withHow to show up as everything we are, instead of our divided selvesIntegrity, and what it means to honour your word as yourselfFinishing his work is something Bill has committed to in order to honour the creative process, and hearing him speak about how he approaches all aspects of his fiercely creative life is truly inspiring.To learn more about me, visit https://www.robbieswale.com/, and to learn more about Bill, visit https://www.artistmind.co/.For information about my wider work, my writing or to buy my books, visit www.robbieswale.com.Music by My Good Man William: listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4KmeQUcTbeE31uFynHQLQgTo support the Coach's Journey, visit www.patreon.com/thecoachsjourney and to join the Coach's Journey Community visit www.thecoachsjourney.com/community. Things and people we mentioned (that you might be interested in):- Bill’s podcast The Subtle Art of Not Yelling https://subtleartofnotyelling.com/ - Toku McCree on The Coach’s Journey Podcast https://www.thecoachsjourney.com/podcast/episode-15-toku-mccree-sales-with-honour-and-love-on-the-end-of-a-sword - Toku McCree on the Coaches Rising Podcast https://www.coachesrising.com/podcast/the-path-to-coaching-mastery-and-what-new-coaches-get-wrong-with-toku-mccree/ - The Coaches Rising Podcast https://www.coachesrising.com/podcast/ - Robbie’s 100 podcast challenge https://www.robbieswale.com/writing/2022/2/4/the-12-minute-method-100-podcasts-challenge - Robbie’s appearance on The Subtle Art of Not Yelling https://subtleartofnotyelling.com/robbie-swale/ - The Tim Ferriss Show https://tim.blog/podcast/ - Steven Pressfield’s appearance on the Tim Ferriss Show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RhIp9C5OO8 - Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler https://www.gruffalo.com/julia-and-axel - 12-minute article on The Lost Relics of our Art https://www.robbieswale.com/the-12-minute-blog/2021/12/4/the-lost-relics-of-our-art - Bill’s music https://billsmallmusic.com/ - The Landmark Forum https://www.landmarkworldwide.com/the-landmark-forum - Walt Wilkins and the Mystiqueros https://www.mystiquero.com/ - Erhard Seminars Training (EST) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhard_Seminars_Training- Phil Bolton on The Coach’s Journey Podcast https://www.thecoachsjourney.com/podcast/episode-2-phil-bolton-from-forensic-accountant-to-the-go-to-career-coach-in-london-and-on-to-work-with-ceos-mds-and-founders - The Secret https://www.thesecret.tv/the-secret-documentary/- BetterUp https://www.betterup.com/ - Steve Chandler https://www.stevechandler.com/index.html - Bob Doyle https://thelawofattraction.com/about-bob-doyle/- Mastering Your Personal Brand https://www.robbieswale.com/mastering-your-personal-brand- Miles Hanson https://twitter.com/mileshanso- The Box https://subtleartofnotyelling.com/box/- The 12-Minute Method https://www.robbieswale.com/about-the-12-minute-method

Mar 2, 2023 • 2h 8min

Episode #47: Lindsey Lewis – Turning Torment Into Talent

Lindsey Lewis was a sensitive child. “The one crying about the bird that fell out of the nest,” as she puts it.Her intimate connection to living things was a challenge early in her life, but in this episode of The Coach’s Journey Podcast she describes how she harnessed the power of her sensitivity to become a passionate, brave and creative coach.Throughout her life as a magazine editor, communications consultant and now as the owner of a thriving coaching business, she has always taught and practiced yoga. She explains the importance of physical bodily awareness to the phenomenal energy she beckons into her coaching sessions.The power of an invitation is a key theme in this episode, and Lindsey explains how she learned to instigate and lead interactions that recognise and reflect the value of what she has to offer her clients.Our conversation comes at an exciting time and Lindsey discusses her work on a documentary that will showcase the work of brilliant people seeking to make positive change in the world – something she is well-placed to promote. In this episode, we talk about:Easeful conversationsBeing ‘on path’ and what that can do for our health and our workHow to create timely invitations to engageThe terrifying, transformative thrill of group experiencesHow the way we do one thing is the way we do everythingLindsey has a wonderful way of describing the call to adventure, and how to overcome resistance to those ideas that just won’t leave us alone.She also outlines what she has learned about the skills that every coach needs to build a successful coaching business:Being her professional selfInvitationsInitial conversationsProposalsNavigating what comes after the proposalsShe generously shares practical tips and advice on each one.To learn more about me, visit https://www.robbieswale.com/, and to learn more about Lindsey, visit https://imlindseylewis.com/coaching/ For information about my wider work, my writing or to buy my books, visit www.robbieswale.com.Music by My Good Man William: listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4KmeQUcTbeE31uFynHQLQgTo support the Coach's Journey, visit www.patreon.com/thecoachsjourney and to join the Coach's Journey Community visit www.thecoachsjourney.com/community. Things and people we mentioned (that you might be interested in):- Robert Holden’s workshops https://www.robertholden.com/events/- Martha Beck https://marthabeck.com/- Rich Litvin https://richlitvin.com/ - Amber Krysz https://amberkrzys.com/ - Steve Chandler https://www.stevechandler.com/index.html - Carolyn Freyer-Jones https://carolynfreyerjones.com/ - The Prosperous Coach https://richlitvin.com/prosperous-coach-2-0/ - The Coach’s Journey Community https://www.thecoachsjourney.com/community - Joseph Campbell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Campbell - Finding Joe documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8nFACrLxr0- Clear Self vs Clouded Self https://imlindseylewis.com/resources/ABOUT LINDSEY LEWISLindsey Lewis is a professional life and business coach. In the business arena, she works primarily with small businesses run by caring, passionate people who want to create more freedom and income. She also mentors and supports coaches wanting to grow their practice and income.She has appeared on Roundhouse Radio, Breakfast Television, the cover of WHERE Magazine; has been a featured speaker at Green College at The University of British Columbia, Rhodes College and Simon Fraser University; plus businesses and organisations including SAP Labs Canada, The City of Coquitlam, The Vancouver Business Network, Grace Club Vancouver and CPHR BC and FuturPreneur Canada.Her work initially focused on supporting people with handling stress, and increasing happiness. Over the years, it has evolved into a mission to help create a world where each person experiences and shares their own inner strength, capabilities, and true gifts – in their work and in their life.

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