Thirty-two years ago, I was a young entrepreneur sitting in a small spare bedroom with a big idea. Back in 1993, the term “business coach” wasn’t even common parlance. In fact, when I told people I was a business coach, I often got blank stares or jokes asking what sport I coached. I had been giving seminars to help business owners, but I realized they needed more than a one-time workshop; they needed ongoing guidance. That realization sparked the concept of business coaching as a profession, and in August 1993, I founded what would become ActionCOACH, right there in that tiny room with a phone and a vision. Little did I know that a humble one-man operation would ignite a global movement. Today, ActionCOACH is the world’s first and largest business coaching company, an entire industry that grew from that initial spark. We pioneered business coaching when almost no one had heard of it, and now the idea of having a business coach has become mainstream for entrepreneurs worldwide.
Growing the Company
Growing the company was an adventure of passion and persistence. In the early days, it was just me testing out ideas on how to help businesses grow. By the late 90s, we started to spread across the world, proving that coaching wasn’t just a local service but a universal need. We began franchising first to reach business owners I couldn’t get to myself, then across countries and continents, and never looked back. Fast forward to today, and we have over a thousand coaching offices spanning 80+ countries. From Brisbane to London, from New York to Beijing, the vision that began in a single room now has a home in virtually every corner of the globe. It’s incredible to reflect on that journey, how an idea turned into a profession, how a small start grew into a team of coaches changing lives everywhere.
Acknowledging Our Franchise Partners, Coaches, and Clients
One thing I’ve learned in 32 years: you can’t create a global impact alone. The success of ActionCOACH is, at its heart, the story of our people.
Our Franchise Partners and Coaches
I want to thank our franchise partners and certified business coaches, the men and women who took a chance on this new idea decades ago, and those who continue to join our mission today. Each of you became a pioneer in your own community, spreading business education and positive change. It’s because of your hard work and heart that we’ve been able to help tens of thousands of businesses thrive and, in turn, add tens of thousands of jobs around the world each year through our clients’ growth. I’m continually amazed and inspired when I see coaches from dozens of countries come together, whether on training calls or at our global conferences, all united by a common purpose of helping others succeed.
Our Clients
To our clients and the business owners we’ve worked with: thank you for trusting us with your dreams. In the beginning, it took a leap of faith to work with a “business coach” when hardly anyone knew what that meant. Your courage to try something new to invest in coaching, to invest in yourselves, is what allowed this whole movement to take root. Many of you became our biggest champions, referring friends and sharing your success stories. You proved that coaching isn’t a luxury for struggling businesses; it’s a catalyst that turns good businesses into great ones. Each success, every new startup we helped guide, every family business saved, every company that broke through its growth ceiling has been the real fuel of this journey. Seeing you reach your goals is the most rewarding part of my job. So to every client, past and present: thank you for being part of our family and for demonstrating what’s possible when you commit to growth and learning.
Our Internal Team
And I must mention our internal team, the support staff, Master Coaches, and everyone at ActionCOACH Global. Often, the behind-the-scenes heroes, who’ve built the infrastructure that allows our coaches to do what they do best. From developing training programs to organizing events to simply picking up the phone when help is needed, you have been the backbone of this company’s growth. This 32-year milestone is your celebration too.
The Evolution of an Industry and Our Leadership Role
Reflecting on how far the business coaching industry has come, I feel both proud and humbled.
Pioneering Business Coaching
When we started, business coaching as we know it didn’t exist; we had to invent the tools, the terminology, the market itself. Today, business coaching is a respected profession worldwide, with countless individuals calling themselves coaches. It’s even common for top executives and entrepreneurs to have a coach or mentor. In many ways, coaching is now an essential part of the entrepreneurial journey, the same way as having an accountant or lawyer is. And while many players have joined the field, ActionCOACH has continued to lead from the front. I’m proud that our company remains, by far, the largest in this space; no other business coaching franchise even comes close to the scale we’ve achieved. But that isn’t just a statistic to brag about; it’s a testament to the effectiveness of our methods and the passion of our people. Being the industry leader means we’ve been able to help more business owners than anyone else, and that is the true achievement.
Education and ABoS
From the beginning, I believed that success in business was a learnable skill, not an innate talent. That’s why education and coaching are at the core of what we do. We often say our vision is “World Abundance through Business Re-Education,” meaning that by teaching entrepreneurs how to run better businesses, we create a ripple effect of prosperity and positivity. Over three decades, that philosophy hasn’t changed. We’ve just gotten better at it. We distilled the lessons from working with hundreds of thousands of clients over the years into a powerful framework, the ActionCOACH Business Operating System (ABoS). ABoS is our blueprint, a 6-step methodology for building what I’ve always called “a commercial, profitable enterprise that works without you.” In other words, a business that doesn’t trap the owner, but sets them free. Systems and strategies that make the business run smoothly, profitably, and independently so the owner can truly enjoy the fruits of their labor. We’ve taught these principles in books, workshops, and coaching sessions, and the results have been proven time and again. I like to say we don’t just install systems, we install freedom. Our coaches don’t just drive profits; they help business owners reclaim their lives and purpose. Seeing an overworked entrepreneur transform into a confident leader with time for family, health, and passions is as big a win as any revenue graph.
Innovation and Co-opetition
Innovation has always been a part of our DNA. Being the first meant there was no roadmap for us to follow, so we created our own. Over the years, we introduced group coaching, executive coaching, financial mastery programs, and countless other innovations in methodology. We even foster a culture we call “co-opetition,” meaning we choose to collaborate and share knowledge rather than view others in the training industry as enemies. That spirit has helped raise standards across the entire coaching profession. When I look at the current state of the industry, I’m thrilled to see that many concepts we championed, from focusing on measurable results to nurturing a positive business culture, have become standard practice among coaches everywhere. The pie has grown, and millions of business owners have benefited as a result. Business coaching is now a force for positive change in the world of entrepreneurship, and ActionCOACH has been honored to play a leading role in that story.
Embracing the Future: From ABoS to AiBOS
While it’s great to reminisce about the past, part of celebrating a milestone is also looking to the future. The world of business is ever-evolving, and so is the world of coaching.
AiBOS: The AI-Powered Business Operating System
Technology, in particular, is reshaping how we work and learn at a pace we’ve never seen before. At ActionCOACH, we’ve always tried to stay ahead of the curve, not for technology’s sake, but to serve our mission better. One of our proudest innovations in recent years is the evolution of ABoS into AiBOS. AiBOS stands for our AI-powered Business Operating System, essentially, your AI business coach, powered by 30+ years of our coaching expertise. We took the collective knowledge from decades of coaching thousands of companies and built an intelligent system that can provide answers, guidance, and support instantly.
Now, let me be clear: AI will never replace human coaches. What it will do and is already doing is extending the reach and impact of coaching.
The Future of Coaching
I often say to our team that the coach of the future isn’t a lone wolf working in isolation. The era of the one-person coaching practice is fading. The most successful coaches now operate within systems-driven organizations, leveraging collective intelligence and technology to serve clients better. AiBOS is a perfect example: it allows us to give every business owner, whether they’re a client yet or not, access to some level of coaching 24/7. It can answer questions at 2 AM, help you brainstorm strategies, or analyze your numbers, all those things that used to require scheduling a meeting. By handling the routine and data-driven aspects of coaching, our AI tools free up our human coaches to focus on what they do best: the human side, building relationships, providing accountability, and inspiring real change. In short, AiBOS lets us amplify the human touch with cutting-edge tech. It’s the next chapter in our innovation story from ABoS’s structured 6-step roadmap to an AI-augmented coaching experience. And trust me, we’re just getting started exploring what’s possible.
Looking ahead to the next decade, I see a world where coaching becomes even more deeply embedded in everyday business life. AI will help make coaching scalable to the point where it’s not just the CEO or owner who gets coaching – it’s every team member at every level. Imagine a company where every employee receives a bit of coaching or mentorship each day, guided by AI prompts and insights. That might sound far-fetched, but it’s coming. In fact, it’s already possible. This kind of widespread coaching could create unprecedented alignment and performance across organizations. Employees staying focused on goals, getting instant feedback, and continuously learning, it’s the ultimate synergy of human potential and technology. And business coaches will be the ones orchestrating this symphony of growth, using dashboards and data in ways we only dreamed of a few years ago.
Yet, even as we embrace these futuristic tools, some things remain timeless. The heart of coaching is human connection. People often ask me, “Won’t AI coaching make human coaches obsolete?” I firmly believe the opposite is true. The more we use technology, the more precious genuine human interaction becomes. A study I read recently highlighted that face-to-face coaching time has a significantly higher impact than purely virtual interactions, a reminder that empathy, encouragement, and personal insight are not downloadable commodities. As coaches, our role will evolve to blend high-tech with high-touch. We’ll use AI to gather intelligence and suggest options, but it will be our experience, intuition, and empathy that guide clients to make the right decisions. In the future, the best coaches will be those who harness AI as a tool but keep the coaching relationship deeply human. I find that prospect exciting, because it means our work becomes even more impactful. We can focus on the breakthroughs, the mindset shifts, the big-picture strategy, the things that really change lives, while technology helps us handle the rest.
So, as we celebrate 32 years, we do so with one foot honoring the past and one foot stepping into the future. The business re-education revolution we started in 1993 is alive and well, and poised to reach heights we couldn’t imagine back then. Our commitment is that ActionCOACH will continue to lead the way in coaching innovation, just as we’ve done from the start. Whether it’s through new technologies like AiBOS or new methodologies we haven’t dreamed up yet, we’ll keep finding better ways to serve entrepreneurs. Why? Because the world needs successful businesses, and successful businesses need coaches. We believe every business owner deserves to rediscover the joy in what they do, and that by helping one entrepreneur at a time, we create a ripple effect of abundance and opportunity for all.
An Invitation to the Journey Ahead
As I speak to you on this anniversary, I feel a deep sense of gratitude and optimism. Thirty-two years is a long time, but in many ways, I feel like we’re just getting started. There are so many more lives to touch, so many businesses yet to be transformed.
To Our Partners and Coaches
To my ActionCOACH franchise partners and coaches: thank you for your dedication, your trust, and your alignment with our vision. You are truly family to me. Together, we’ve built something that has not only endured for decades but has thrived and evolved. Please take a moment to celebrate what you have made possible. Every award won, every milestone hit, it’s because of your belief and hard work.
To the Coaching and Training Community
To the wider coaching and business training community: I celebrate with you as well. The rising tide lifts all boats. By raising standards and spreading coaching ethics and skills, we’ve together transformed coaching into a true profession and improved the way people conduct business for the better. Let’s continue to collaborate, innovate, and learn from each other. The next decade will challenge us all to grow and adapt but I’m confident we’re up to the task. After all, as coaches, we preach a growth mindset; our industry will be a living example of it.
To Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders
And to the entrepreneurs and business leaders out there – especially those who may not yet be part of the ActionCOACH family – consider this a personal invitation. If you’ve never worked with a business coach, give it some thought. It doesn’t have to be with us; just find someone who resonates with you and commit to the process. Coaching is not a sign that you’re struggling; it’s a strategy to help you win. Even the best athletes have coaches to reach their full potential – why should it be any different for business? And if you’re someone who is passionate about helping others succeed, if you love business and teaching, maybe your future is to become a coach. We’re always looking for driven, caring people to join our mission. There’s nothing quite as fulfilling as guiding a fellow entrepreneur to an aha! moment or seeing a team you coached double their revenue and their confidence. If that idea excites you, I encourage you to explore it here.
32 years ago, I started this journey with a simple belief that businesses thrive when owners get the right education and support. That belief has only grown stronger. I am proud of what ActionCOACH has achieved, and even more proud of the successes of those we’ve coached. I often say the scorecard of our success is not the money we’ve made, but the many lives we’ve touched and improved. On this anniversary, I want to thank everyone who has been part of our story, from the first client who took a chance on me in the 90s to the newest franchise partner who just came on board this year. Each of you is a chapter in this incredible story.
Here’s to world abundance through business re-education, a vision that continues to drive us. Here’s to the next ten years, and the ten after that, as we embrace new tools and reach new heights. And here’s to you, the reader or listener: may your journey be filled with growth, learning, and the joy of achieving your dreams. If we can play even a small role in that, it would be my honor. Thank you, and let’s continue making history together, one business, one coach, one lesson at a time.
— Brad Sugars, Founder and CEO of ActionCOACH