PODCAST: Season 7, Episode 8
This week on Soul Leaders I sat down with Tara Punter from The Thriving Business Woman, and honestly — this is one of those episodes where I came away thinking, more people need to hear this. Tara doesn’t do the highlight reel version of business. She gets real about the messy bits, the grief, the pricing wobbles, and what it actually looks like to rebuild when everything falls apart.
If you’ve ever looked at your business and thought “shouldn’t I be further along by now?” — this one is going to hit different.
How It All Started: A Tea Room, A Blog & A Sack of Courage
Tara’s story is one of those brilliant, non-linear ones that I absolutely love. Back in 2015, she was managing a boutique tea room in hospitality — overworked, underpaid, and desperately feeling like there must be more to life. Then a guy walked in, ordered a flat white, and mentioned he was building an equestrian lifestyle website.
Being the kind of person who just talks to people (something I’m always banging on about), Tara offered to write him a blog about retraining racehorses. Days later, her employer tried to change her contract — more hours, weekends, no extra money. With £200 in her bank account and no backup plan, she said “fuck it, I’m out.”
She went back to the guy and said: “Funny story, I’m now unemployed. If you need more blogs, let me know.” Days later, she was covering one of the biggest equestrian events in the world as a journalist — with absolutely no idea what a press centre even was.
That “say yes and figure it out” mentality has been the thread running through her entire career. When someone messaged her on Twitter in 2017 asking to be taught social media, she said yes — despite never having heard of being a “business coach.” Eight years later, here she is.
The Pricing Evolution: From £50 a Week to £750 a Session
This is where the conversation got really juicy. When Tara first started doing social media management, she charged £50 a week for three platforms. She was putting in 20 hours and earning less than minimum wage. But she had so many fears around raising her prices that she just… didn’t.
Her first ever coaching session? £75. She drove 45 minutes each way, prepped extensively, did the session, offered follow-up support — and probably put in 12 hours for that £75.
But here’s where it gets interesting. She doubled to £150. Then £300. Then £300 became her sweet spot for a while — the point where clients could see the value and she could get behind the price. Today, a one-off 90-minute session is £750.
And she was honest about something most coaches won’t touch: she’s also dropped her prices. During COVID, she was charging £1,600 a month for one-to-one coaching. After a period of grief knocked her sideways, she brought it down to £795-£1,000 a month. And it felt right. Sometimes going backwards on price isn’t failure — it’s realignment.
The Bit Nobody Talks About: 25K Months to 2K Months
This was the moment in the conversation where I think anyone listening will feel seen. During COVID, Tara’s business was flying — 25K cash months, fully booked, clients everywhere. Then she was hit with devastating grief at the end of 2022, and everything changed.
She kept a handful of clients, stopped launching, stopped promoting, and went from 25K months to 2K months in a matter of weeks. And she was really honest about how hard that was mentally — the constant loop of “I used to be doing this and it was easy and everything felt incredible, and now I’m almost back at the beginning.”
What struck me is how common this story actually is. Tara is probably the tenth person I’ve spoken to in recent months who’s said some version of “my business boomed in COVID and it’s never been the same since.” And yet nobody talks about it publicly. There’s this illusion that business is linear — that sales go up every month and you just keep getting bigger. It’s not true, and I think more conversations like this need to happen.
“I Should Be Further Along By Now”
Coming up on her 10-year business anniversary, Tara shared the mindset loop that still catches her: “I should be further along by now.” Her business isn’t where it was in 2020-2022, and even with years of mindset work under her belt, that thought still creeps in — especially when she sees coaches who’ve apparently done a million in their first year.
But here’s what she also said that I thought was so important: during those 25K months, she was on six Zoom calls a day, working weekends, stuck in her office with no freedom. Yes, the money was great. But she hated her calendar and resented her schedule. Now, she has freedom and flexibility — coaching calls some days, nothing the next, staying with friends for a few days. The lifestyle is completely different.
It’s a really important reminder that big money months don’t automatically mean a better life. You have to look at what your goals and values actually are, and build your business around that — not around someone else’s revenue screenshots.
Mindset, Morning Routines & The Secret Weapon
Tara trained in NLP, timeline therapy and hypnotherapy back in 2019, though you’ll rarely see her use those words on Instagram because she feels most people don’t know what they mean (fair point). For her, the real shift started in October 2018 when her coach told her to commit to a morning routine. She hated it. Resisted it. Thought it was a waste of time. Did it anyway.
That routine became the foundation for everything — building resilience, self-belief, laser focus, and the ability to manifest some incredible things. She even wrote a book about it.
Her approach with clients is beautifully practical: it doesn’t have to be an hour of journaling and meditation. It can be as simple as being intentional about your thoughts from the moment you wake up — even while making tea or feeding the dog. The point is taking control of what’s going on in your head before your phone and your inbox do it for you.
The Quick Fire Round
- Beach or mountains: Beach
- Pizza or pasta: Pasta
- Trainers or heels: Heels
- Guilty pleasure: Selling Sunset and Below Deck
- Secret nobody knows from Instagram: Hates mushrooms and fish
- Dog: Jack Russell called Kiwi
- Office surprise: Mountains of books and capital chill radio on full blast
- Favourite coaching style: One-to-one (she’s results-focused and loves going deep)
Connect with Tara
- Instagram: @thethrivingbusinesswoman
- Check out her book on morning routines
- Tara’s website: https://thethrivingbusinesswoman.com
- Join 10x your launches free challenge!: https://mailchi.mp/thethrivingbusinesswoman/10x-your-launches
Connect with Mills
- Instagram: @mills_gray
- Facebook group: Mind Your Mindset
If this episode resonated — especially the honest conversation about rebuilding, pricing and the “I should be further along” loop — share it with someone who needs to hear it. Tag us both on Stories, we’d love to see it.