PODCAST: Season 7, Episode 1
Grab your coffee and settle in because today’s episode is a bit different. Instead of doing the typical “here’s what happened in my business” year-end wrap-up, I’m pulling back the curtain on what actually happened with my clients this year. Real transformations, real numbers, real results.
If you’ve been wondering whether coaching actually works or what’s possible when you stop winging it and get proper structure in place, this one’s for you.
A Quick Reminder About Who I Work With
Before we dive in, I need to address something that winds me up about the coaching industry – coaches who only coach coaches who coach coaches. It’s what I call the coaching pyramid, and I’m not about it.
I work with a proper mix of service and product-based businesses because I believe you need varied experience to give solid business advice. This year alone, I worked with 32 one-on-one clients including:
- Beauty brand copywriters and PR agencies
- Garden designers and planners
- Pilates and yoga instructors
- Health coaches and nutritionists
- Digital marketing agencies
- Therapists and breathwork practitioners
- OBMs and business strategists
- Even a sustainable fashion shop owner
The point? When you’re looking for someone to help grow your business, dig into what else they’ve done beyond their own coaching business.
The Common Themes That Showed Up
Looking back through this year’s client onboarding forms, some patterns kept appearing. Here’s what people were actually saying when they came to me:
On Inconsistency & Structure:
- “I’m extremely inconsistent – I need clear structure”
- “I’m tired of taking tiny actions that take me forever”
- “I feel totally unorganized”
- “My marketing message is shit”
On Income Rollercoasters:
- Feast or famine cycles (£3k one month, under £1k the next)
- Averaging £2-5k but nothing consistent
On Marketing Confidence:
- “I have no idea what I’m doing with advertising”
- “My messaging isn’t clear – it’s all in my head”
- “I need people to take me seriously”
On Burnout:
- “Done with trading time for money”
- Teaching 20+ classes per week
- “I want a digital business without so much time input”
On Winging It:
- “I see you – never forward planning”
- “Not good at delegating”
- “No promotional structure – just winging it”
Sound familiar? Keep reading.
Case Study #1: The Audience With No Business
The Starting Point: She’s a yoga instructor with 28,000 Instagram followers and 1,500 email subscribers. Four years of creating content. Making about £250/month from 58 Substack subscribers at £4 each. Basically nothing.
The Problem: It wasn’t her content. It wasn’t her audience. She had nowhere to take them. No actual offers or programs. Just creating content into the void hoping money would magically appear.
What We Did:
- Built actual funnels with somewhere for people to go
- Created programs she launched quarterly (with a long-term plan for a passive library)
- Figured out what her knowledge was actually worth and packaged it properly
- Created an actual launch strategy, not just “post and hope”
The Results:
- Went from making nothing to £5-9K per launch
- Made her £4K investment back within the first month
- Now has a proper business, not just an audience
The Lesson: Having an audience isn’t the same as having a business. If you’ve got visibility but no money, you don’t have a visibility problem – you have a strategy problem and an offer problem.
Case Study #2: From Hobby to Proper Business
The Starting Point: Garden planner/designer who’d been at this for three years but it still felt like a hobby. Super seasonal (busy spring to autumn, dead in winter). Only five paid gardens ever. Income ranged from £180 to £1,500 – completely unpredictable. Working evenings and weekends around a full-time job.
The Problem: Great idea (downloadable garden plans) but no clue how to sell them. No marketing structure. People only booked when they randomly saw a post. Wanted to grow Instagram (had around 1,500 followers) but didn’t know how.
What We Did:
- Sorted her offers properly
- Got crystal clear on what was selling and who the ideal client was
- Created a system so it wasn’t just random bookings
- Built actual marketing structure (not complicated, just structured)
The Results:
- Now fully booked (as of our September meet-up)
- Over 10,000 Instagram followers
- Making proper, decent money
- Ongoing inquiries consistently
- Confidence completely transformed
- My advice when we finished: “Just keep doing it – I know it’s boring to not add new things in, but keep going”
The Lesson: She was one of those clients who just needed structure and a to-do list. Give her that, and she’d tick it all off. Sometimes the answer isn’t more strategy – it’s just consistently doing the boring work.
Case Study #3: Successful But Still Stuck
The Starting Point: Yoga instructor with an online membership. Started with 146 members in September, felt time-poor and stuck. Had to do in-person events to make extra money. Membership had peaked at 160 then dropped back. Always winging it with no promotional planning.
The Problem: Loads of ideas but not all came to life. Getting to month-end super busy with all the things, then nothing ready for next month. Chasing her tail constantly. She was the bottleneck – doing everything but not the things that actually grow the business.
What We Did:
- Created an actual growth strategy for the membership
- Implemented proper planning systems
- Focused on working smarter, not harder
The Results:
- Now over 250 members (from 146 in three months)
- Planned through Christmas and prepped for January (never happened before)
- Dropping some in-person lessons to give herself time back
- No longer the bottleneck
The Lesson: You can be super successful and still feel stuck. Sometimes it’s not about working harder – it’s about having the planning and systems so you’re not always reactive.
What All Three Had in Common
Let me break down what made these transformations possible:
- They stopped winging it – Got clear marketing structure instead of hoping
- Less reaction, more planning – Steady, predictable, calm
- They invested despite being nervous – Every single one was squeaky bum about the investment
- They made it back – All three got return on investment
- They trusted the process – Even when it felt uncomfortable
- They built proper funnels – Actual pathways for people to follow
- They got clear on offers and pricing – No more guessing
And here’s what they didn’t need: loads of training on how to make a reel or some complicated new skill. They needed someone to take a bird’s eye view, see the gaps they weren’t seeing, show them where to focus, and give them structure and strategy.
Your Turn: Where Do You Fit?
Let’s do a quick audit. Which one are you?
The Audience With No Business:
- You’re doing content but have nowhere to take people
- You’ve got visibility but no offers
The Hobby Business:
- A couple years in but still inconsistent
- Treating it like a side thing, not a proper business
Successful But Stuck:
- Making good money but feeling maxed out
- Busy all the time, always the bottleneck
- No forward planning or promotional structure
And the big question: If you had the structure, strategy, and plan… would you actually implement it? Or would you need to “think about it”?
Work With Me in 2025
I have a few spaces opening up in January. Fair warning: I only work with people ready to move fast and implement. If you’re an overthinker who needs six months to decide, that’s totally fine – but I’m not your girl.
If you’re thinking “Fucking hell, I’m one of these women,” DM me on Instagram @mills_gray and tell me what you relate to most. I’ll send you the details about what working with me actually looks like.
Final Thoughts
I absolutely loved working with all my clients this year. You’re all phenomenal. And if you’re listening, I love and appreciate you. I learn from you as much as you learn from me.
Have an incredible end to your year and start to 2025.
Let’s Connect
- Instagram: @mills_gray (DM me what resonated!)
- Facebook Group: Mind Your Mindset
Remember: You can have a huge audience and still not have a business. You can be successful and still feel stuck. The difference is structure, strategy, and someone who can see what you can’t see.
Now go do the thing.