When Kevin became one of the UK’s first ActionCOACH franchisees to gross £1million in revenue, it was clear his decision to buy the franchise five years before had been a good one.

When Kevin became one of the UK’s first ActionCOACH franchisees to gross £1million in revenue, it was clear his decision to buy the franchise five years before had been a good one.

“Of course you have some doubts about whether the franchise will work for you, especially in the early days, but I always had faith in what I was doing. I knew that if I followed the ActionCOACH approach, I’d build a major business and more importantly make a massive difference to the companies I coached.”

Kevin was used to advising companies; a chartered accountant, with lots of experience in regional practice and industry, he’d had been working as a self-employed freelance FD for 15 years, but in 2006 he was ready for a change.

“I read an article about ActionCOACH and liked the idea of coaching as a way of working with businesses in a much broader way.”

“Colleagues and friends told me to save my money and do it on my own, but I felt it would take me five years to amass the tools, techniques and knowledge I’d have from day one with ActionCOACH. I didn’t want to wait five years before I was equipped to get motoring!”

“There are so many people there to support you, saying ‘you can do it’ when you have those moments of doubt. I also like the ethos of self development – it’s really strong, so you and your coaching business are improving all of the time.”

“The choice was clear for me. ActionCOACH might have been the highest investment, but was clearly the best value; if I’d wanted to be a partner in a major accountancy firm like PwC I’d be expected to buy in. I felt I was doing the same with ActionCOACH.

Kevin says there have been challenges. For instance he had to develop new skills:

“I’m a reserved accountant; I wasn’t used to sales, or being on stage presenting. It was a big shift, but it was a welcome one. I discovered I’m more outgoing than my career to date had allowed, but I needed to be. I had to be out there showing people that an ActionCOACH would really make a difference to them.”

Kevin says you need to have faith in following the Action system, as it works.

Kevin currently coaches 28 clients. These are in a mix of sectors. Some have weekly coaching; some are fortnightly or monthly. Others just attend his quarterly GrowthClub.

It’s when talking about his clients that Kevin gets incredibly animated. It’s obvious he loves the work.

“My clients are all so different, all shapes and sizes, but that’s what makes it so interesting. Every week I have highs.

For instance Kevin had one client, in the electronics sector, who had been stuck in their business for 5 years, with a crippling workload. Within 9 months Kevin had freed him from the business. Another, running a sailing school from his attic almost 24/7, now only needs to work one day per week. While with Kevin’s help, the owner of a children’s nursery has been able to get out of the day to day running of things, and concentrate on growing the business – as a result she has rapidly moved from 5 to 10 nurseries.

Kevin won his first client – a printing firm – after one month. This client is still with him and many others have followed. Indeed, just two years after setting up his coaching business it was big enough for Kevin’s wife, Jane, to leave her job and join him, working part-time, handling the marketing.

Today, Kevin is taking his business to the next level. The firm has taken its own offices, with coaching suites and a training facility. Kevin now has other coaches working with him and aims to bring on more – all working within the firm.

“I just love being a coach. It doesn’t feel like a job. When times are tough I still can’t think of anything I’d rather do.”