Most coaching firms fail because they hire themselves over and over again.
I learned this the hard way, building ActionCOACH. My natural instinct was to find coaches who thought like me, worked like me, and approached clients like me.
Big mistake.
The breakthrough came when I realized something counterintuitive. My employed coaches often outperformed me with certain clients.
Not because they knew more. Because they focused differently.
While I juggled business operations, marketing, and strategy, they concentrated entirely on client success. But more importantly, they brought different personalities to the table.
Systems Trump Individual Expertise
Here's what most coaching business owners get wrong. They think success comes from finding the smartest coaches.
Wrong focus entirely.
The foundation of scalable coaching success lies in systematic processes and frameworks. Individual expertise adds premium value on top of that foundation.
Think about it this way. When clients get results, is it because of your brilliant insights or because they finally implemented proven business fundamentals consistently?
Most of the time, it's the implementation.
This means your hiring strategy should prioritize coaches who can execute systems effectively, not necessarily those with the most business knowledge.
Personality Diversity Drives Results
I'm a high D personality type. Dominant, direct, results-focused.
This works incredibly well with similar business owners. CEO types who want straight talk and quick decisions.
But it fails miserably with others.
Relationship-oriented business owners need a different approach. Detail-focused entrepreneurs require patience I don't naturally possess.
When I hired coaches with complementary personality types, our client success rates improved dramatically across all business owner types.
The lesson? Your coaching team needs diverse communication styles, not homogeneous ones.
Map out your personality type first. Then identify the types of business owners you struggle to connect with effectively.
Those gaps become your hiring priorities.
Recruitment Is Marketing, Not Just Hiring
Most coaching firms approach recruitment like traditional businesses. Post jobs, review resumes, conduct interviews.
This misses the point completely.
Recruiting coaches requires the same marketing mindset you use to attract clients.
My most successful hires came from existing networks. Former clients who wanted to transition into coaching. Seminar attendees who demonstrated natural coaching instincts. Referrals from business contacts.
Traditional job boards rarely produced quality candidates.
Instead, create dedicated landing pages for coaching positions. Share opportunities through your social networks. Leverage your existing business relationships.
The best coaches often aren't actively looking for jobs. They're already successful in other roles but attracted to the coaching opportunity you present.
Building Business vs Being a Coach
There's a critical distinction most people miss. Learning to be a business coach versus building a business coaching business.
Individual coaching skills matter. But they're just one component of a scalable coaching business.
The real work involves creating systems that enable consistent client success across multiple coaches. Developing processes that work regardless of which team member implements them.
This is where most coaching firms break down.
They scale the person instead of scaling the system.
When you scale the system, adding new coaches becomes straightforward. They plug into proven frameworks rather than inventing their own approaches.
When you scale the person, every new hire requires extensive training and still produces inconsistent results.
The Premium Value Layer
Here's how the economics work in a systematic coaching business.
Base value comes from implementing proven business fundamentals. This is what clients pay for primarily.
Premium value comes from the additional insights, experience, and guidance each coach brings beyond the system.
This flips the traditional coaching model.
Instead of paying primarily for expertise, clients pay primarily for systematic implementation. The expertise becomes the premium layer that justifies higher fees.
This approach makes hiring easier because you're not looking for business geniuses. You're looking for people who can execute systems effectively while adding their own valuable perspective.
Your Next Steps
Start by honestly assessing your own personality type and coaching strengths. Identify the types of business owners you connect with naturally.
Then map out your gaps. Which personality types or business situations challenge you most?
Those gaps become your first hiring priorities.
Create a simple landing page describing your coaching opportunity. Focus on the growth potential and impact rather than just job requirements.
Share this opportunity through your existing networks before posting it publicly.
Look for candidates who demonstrate systematic thinking, not just business knowledge.
Remember, you're building a business that works without you. That means hiring people who complement your abilities rather than duplicate them.
The goal isn't finding coaches who can replace you. It's finding coaches who can serve clients you can't serve effectively yourself.
This approach transforms your coaching business from a personal service into a scalable system. One that grows beyond your individual capacity while maintaining the quality that built your reputation.
That's how you build a coaching business that truly works without you.
Ready to scale your coaching business beyond your own expertise?
Let’s talk about how to build a system that works without you. Book a free discovery call and explore how to attract, hire, and lead a high-performance coaching team that delivers results—even when you're not in the room