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

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

Written by: Robbie Swale
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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, executive
coaches, 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

 Careers Economics Personal Success Self-Help Success
Episodes
  • #120: Mel Sims – Neurodivergent Coaching, and How to be Unpolished, Scuffed and Brilliant

    #120: Mel Sims – Neurodivergent Coaching, and How to be Unpolished, Scuffed and Brilliant
    May 7 2026
    When Mel Sims discovered coaching, she was adamant that nobody could understand her life. Her journey into coaching allowed her to put down the mask, harness her strengths, and re-emerge into the world as a neurodivergent emotional coach.Mel trained as a coach while learning about herself through the lens of an ADHD diagnosis. As well as offering her a pathway of personal growth, these experiences helped Mel find her niche through the realisation that neurodivergent people need a particular coaching approach.In this episode of The Coach’s Journey Podcast, Mel speaks to host Joey Owen about different styles of emotional communication, and the many ways in which people can be misunderstood. She talks about how being an “unpolished” coach enables her to offer a space where people can let go of their need hide their feelings and be guided by an authentic intuition.Mel offers several brilliant metaphors and visualisation techniques that illuminate this episode, such as the idea of wearing a colander on your head as a way to filter information, and thinking of neurodivergent minds as stars that have become more visible in our world of modern telescopes and greater understanding.The challenges of time management, rest and staying grounded are explored in this episode as Mel describes how she tailors coaching to people who might need alternative approaches to scheduling, flexibility, communication and depth.Mel and Joey also talk about:The intuitive, bordering-on-magical connection that neurodivergent people share having navigated shared challengesHow to make space for emotional outpourings that can have a transformative impact in coaching sessionsA psychological technique that enables a kinder, more compassionate approach to self-coachingHow to own your weak spots and set healthy expectationsMel also explains why she starts some of her inspirational coaching talks wearing a snorkel, a diving mask and a pair of flippers!For more information about Mel, visit: https://melsimslifecoach.co.uk or @theadhdhummingbird on Facebook and InstagramFor more information about host Joey Owen, visit http://www.joeyowencoaching.com/ Read more about The Coach's Journey at www.thecoachsjourney.comMusic 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 WE TALKED ABOUT THAT YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN:- Robbie Swale’s 12-Minute Method books https://www.robbieswale.com/the-12minute-books - Ruth Kudzi https://www.ruthkudzi.com/- ICF https://coachingfederation.org/- John Demartini https://drdemartini.com/- Calendly https://calendly.com/- Meta Business Suite https://www.facebook.com/business/tools/meta-business-suite- Inside Our Minds with Chris Packham https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0bbnh47- Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) https://emdrassociation.org.uk/- Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) https://www.additudemag.com/rejection-sensitive-dysphoria-and-adhd/- Transactional Analysis https://www.simplypsychology.org/transactional-analysis-eric-berne.html- Episode #116 of The Coach’s Journey Podcast, on the importance of having your own coach https://www.thecoachsjourney.com/podcast/116-why-hiring-a-coach-is-the-most-important-investment-youll-make-in-your-coaching-business- Patience https://www.channel4.com/programmes/patience LINKS FROM MEL:- My favourite ‘emotions in individuals’ viewing https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0b8kmch/couples-therapy - Shame and ADHD https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002c6bb - Being different and anxious as an Autistic person - https://www.channel4.com/programmes/are-you-autistic Free additional training for coaches with Positive Intelligence (do the test first to see what your Sabateurs are) https://www.positiveintelligence.com/saboteurs/ - Discovering your values quiz (I realised my ad agency days and working with under 5’s was all about loving helping people) https://drdemartini.com/pl/play?url=%2Fwhat-are-values%2F - Great book on RSD (hating people being cross with you) https://atlantic-books.co.uk/book/the-courage-to-be-disliked/ - And another one written by a brilliant ADHD podcast host https://www.sheldonpress.co.uk/titles/alex-partridge/why-does-everybody-hate-me/9781399827843/‍ ‍
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    1 hr and 53 mins
  • #119: Dorie Clark – Fear Not, Coaches! Dorie is Your Colleague, not Your Competitor

    #119: Dorie Clark – Fear Not, Coaches! Dorie is Your Colleague, not Your Competitor
    Apr 2 2026
    If coaching was a competition, Dorie Clark would be a truly fearsome competitor. A university graduate at the age of 18, she has since embarked on a unique career spanning journalism, politics, writing, coaching, consultancy, education and community building. And that’s without mentioning her musicals, stand-up comedy, TED talks and conferences!Thankfully, Dorie is with us on this episode of The Coach’s Journey Podcast to insist that coaching is not a competition. On the contrary, she says we all need each other and must find a community of practitioners who can support us in our goals as we navigate an ever-changing coaching landscape.Dorie launched her first consulting and coaching practice in 2006, before rising to the very top of her profession. She was named the world’s #1 communication coach in the Marshall Goldsmith Leading Global Coaches Awards, and is the bestselling author of books like The Long Game, Entrepreneurial You, and Stand Out, which was named the #1 Leadership Book of the Year by Inc. magazine.In conversation with Alex Swallow, Dorie draws on her vast and varied experience as she shares personal and professional insights about overcoming barriers to success in coaching, debunking commonly held myths and barriers to personal development that keep many of us from fulfilling our potential.She offers an invaluable perspective on what coaches can do to future-proof themselves in the age of AI, and shares learning from her Trajectory Mastermind thought-leadership group and her Recognized Expert reputational development course.Dorie also speaks about her long-term goal to be US ambassador to a foreign country, and reveals an exciting announcement she is about to make that will be important for coaches everywhere to pay attention to!Dorie and Alex also talk about:- The challenge of being a beginner and how to cultivate an authentic, confident stance- Where to find the roots of our self esteem and how to strengthen it- Handling knockbacks and rejection in a way that actually drives you and your business forward- How to spot structural risks in your coaching business and how to protect yourself against the winds of fortuneTHINGS WE TALKED ABOUT THAT YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN:- Cheryl Richardson https://cherylrichardson.com/ - Recognized Expert https://learn.dorieclark.com/courses/expert - Dorie’s work in Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2011/03/reinventing-your-personal-brand - Dorie’s podcasts https://dorieclark.com/resources/podcasts/ - Dorie’s TED Talks https://www.ted.com/speakers/dorie_clark - Dorie’s LinkedIn newsletter https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/dorie-clark-newsletter-6640647216497209344/ - Jim Rohn, You are the Average of the Five People You Spend the Most Time With https://www.jimrohn.com/wisdom/articles/average-of-five-people-you-spend-time-with - Dorie’s musicals https://dorieclark.com/musicals/ - RExCon/REx Summit conference for Recognized Expert https://learn.dorieclark.com/courses/rexsummit - Marshall Goldsmith https://www.marshallgoldsmith.com/ - Dorie’s books https://dorieclark.com/books/ - dorieclark.com/subscribe - Dorie’s course on Writing for High Profile Organisations https://learn.dorieclark.com/courses/highprofile - Trajectory Mastermind https://learn.dorieclark.com/courses/mm
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    1 hr and 17 mins
  • #118: Anise Frost – How to Craft Presence and Ask Magic Questions

    #118: Anise Frost – How to Craft Presence and Ask Magic Questions
    Mar 5 2026

    By studying Plato and Socrates for more than a decade, Anise Frost learned the art of asking questions that unlock the hidden parts of people.

    Her mastery of that skill has forged relationships of trust with brands and organisations who turn to her for team coaching and consultancy. In return she helps them explore deeply and unearth new pathways for development.

    Anise was a maths teacher when she discovered coaching, and her years in the classroom gave her relational skills, resilience and an ability to hold space that would be difficult to develop in the same way in any other setting.

    In this episode of The Coach’s Journey Podcast, Anise describes how team coaching allows her to bring “all the magic” of teaching, coaching, and neuro-linguistic programming together to enhance collaboration, make group dynamics visible, and instill purpose in the teams she works with.

    In conversation with host Alex Whitton, Anise describes how she curates coaching spaces in which men can be vulnerable, as well as spaces where women in leadership can accelerate their development. She also speaks about the Executive Round Table discussions she facilitates for her LinkedIn contacts, offering a space where people from divergent industries can reflect on resonant themes and topics.

    Anise and Alex also talk about:

    Having the confidence to not only sit with uncertainty but flex in response to it

    How to keep your cup full and avoid the common pitfall of compassion fatigue

    What happens when we focus too much on asking the right question and not enough on being curious

    How to stop working against the grain of your own preferences when building your coaching business

    Anise also shares the story of meeting with one of the world’s biggest brands and explains how she side-stepped her imposter syndrome to allow her expertise and brilliance to shine undimmed.

    THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT THAT YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN:

    - The Coaching Academy https://www.the-coaching-academy.com/

    - More Happi https://morehappi.com/

    - Women in Business Network https://wibn.co.uk/

    - Sam Isaacson on The Coach’s Journey Podcast https://www.thecoachsjourney.com/podcast/112-sam-isaacson-the-challenges-facing-coaching-in-the-age-of-ai

    - Claire Pedrick on The Coach’s Journey Podcast https://www.thecoachsjourney.com/podcast/episode-44-claire-pedrick-cutting-through-complexity-and-simplifying-coaching

    - NLP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming

    - Rich Litvin https://richlitvin.com/

    - Nicky Davies https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicky-j-davies-executivecoach/

    - Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Five_Dysfunctions_of_a_Team
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    2 hrs and 15 mins
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