Coach as Entrepreneur

Stop Throwing Spaghetti at the Wall: Coaching Lessons from Year 1

"If your employees are hearing feedback for the first time at the annual review, way too late." Dr. Lani Jones is a clinical psychologist turned executive coach and founder of HBL Advisory Group. She helps ambitious leaders stop chasing conventional success and start architecting a lasting legacy through her Final 1% framework. In this episode, Dr. Jones brings her deep understanding of human behavior to the conversation on leadership, culture, and the realities of building a coaching business. We unpack the Index Card test that exposes the true culture of any leadership team, why yearly performance reviews destroy growth, and how to escape the "minnow in the ocean" feeling when you're a new coach finding your voice. Key Topics: The Index Card test for revealing true company culture Why yearly evaluations are broken and what to do instead The "minnow in the ocean" problem for new coaches The Final 1% framework: turning success into lasting legacy How to spot when a "fear state" is killing creativity on your team Year-one advice: put blinders on, keep the path narrow Connect with Dr. Lani Jones: Website: https://drlanijones.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlanijones/ Company: HBL Advisory Group Ready to close the Growth Gap? Get the Growth Gap resources here: https://growthgap.kyberfive.com/?ref=k5post ABOUT COACH AS ENTREPRENEUR: Coach as Entrepreneur is the show for coaches building real businesses with systems, strategy, and heart. Hosted by David Chung, each episode features honest conversations with coaches about the realities of building a sustainable coaching practice. Subscribe for new episodes every week. CONNECT WITH DAVID: Website: https://kyberfive.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidchung-01/ Find us on your favorite podcast apps: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/coach-as-entrepreneur/id1843243824 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0hpKBTpaHH5qT1mzilKRu6 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/98fa3ba9-56dc-4eb3-989f-d890ab21bf02 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/g7Vqn8EsUSw

How to Build Business Systems So You Can Take a 2-Week Vacation | Laurie Hollinger

Laurie Hollinger didn't plan on becoming a coach. She planned on fashion. Growing up in a town of 900 in North Dakota, she told her mother she was going to live somewhere she could actually touch the clothes in the magazines. She got to New York. She got recruited into the Saks Fifth Avenue training program. And she became a designer sportswear buyer. What followed was 15 years in corporate and another decade-plus helping a small business scale to $10 million. Then she woke up almost 50 and thought: what's next? The answer became a coaching practice — and a 10-week mastermind called Design Your Decade. In this episode, David and Laurie dig into what it actually takes to build a business that supports the life you want — not just the work. They cover the Design Your Decade framework (values, wheel of life, Working Genius), the three pillars every business owner needs to grow with ease (clear vision, empowered team, great systems), and the vacation litmus test for knowing whether your systems are real or just theoretical. Plus the North Star Laurie has carried since day one: better daycare pickups. Key themes: Intentional business design | Fractional teams | Systems building | Coaching as a second act | Vision and values alignment Connect with Laurie Hollinger: Website: https://hollingerco.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriehollinger Ready to close the Growth Gap? Get the Growth Gap resources here: https://growthgap.kyberfive.com/?ref=k5post About Coach as Entrepreneur: Coach as Entrepreneur is the show for coaches building real businesses with systems, strategy, and heart. Hosted by David Chung, each episode features honest conversations with coaches about the realities of building a sustainable coaching practice. Connect with David: Website: https://kyberfive.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidchung-01/

Why Your Brain Wants You to Stay Mediocre (And How to Fix It)

Your brain doesn't want you to succeed. It wants you to survive. David Edmonds explains why that difference is the thing keeping coaches stuck. David Edmonds is an ontological leadership coach and author of Becoming You. After 20+ years in architecture, he took a 75% pay cut to coach full-time. He now works with leaders and executives who sense they've outgrown the identity that made them successful. In this conversation, David and I dig into the root fear that stops most coaches from charging what they're worth, putting themselves out there, and building real businesses. He shares his own journey from £350 for five sessions to premium leadership coaching, and the stories that shaped how he thinks about fear, identity, and contribution. We also talk about why money is a measure of contribution, the "Filing Cabinet Error" that keeps people living into their past, and the coaching conversation that may have shifted a Brexit negotiation. Key Topics: * Why your brain is designed to keep you mediocre, not help you thrive * Fear vs. danger: how your imagination hijacks decision-making * The "Filing Cabinet Error" — stop filing past failures into your future * Charging what you're worth: from hourly rates to value-based pricing * Three tiers of coaching and why transformational work changes everything * Why every coach needs a coach * Book picks: The Chimp Paradox and Man's Search for Meaning Connect with David Edmonds: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-edmonds-31603020/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-edmonds-31603020/] Website: https://www.certuscoaching.co.uk [https://www.certuscoaching.co.uk/] ABOUT COACH AS ENTREPRENEUR: Coach as Entrepreneur is the show for coaches building real businesses with systems, strategy, and heart. Hosted by David Chung, each episode features honest conversations with coaches about the realities of building a sustainable coaching practice. Subscribe for new episodes every week. CONNECT WITH DAVID: Website: https://kyberfive.com [https://kyberfive.com/] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidchung-01/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidchung-01/]

Why Today's Business Leaders Must Become AI-Savvy

In this episode, we sit down with Rob Ott, former co-founder of a global pharmaceutical powerhouse that scaled from zero to over 5,000 employees. Today, Rob is an executive coach helping leaders navigate a rapidly changing world, where AI isn't just a tool—it's shifting the very fabric of leadership and management. We dive into Rob’s entrepreneurial journey, the hard truths he learned about himself through his first experience with executive coaching, and why he believes we are looking at the "last generation of leaders that will only manage humans." We also tackle the realities of running a coaching business, the fear of selling, and how to reframe marketing as a responsibility to help others. Key Takeaways: - [00:01:10] From the garage to 5,000 employees in the pharma space. - [00:08:52] The brutal feedback that reshaped Rob’s leadership style. - [00:33:07] Why this is the last generation of leaders to only manage humans. - [00:47:58] How AI will expose the "lazy leader" and close the performance gap. - [01:05:45] Reframing marketing: If you can help someone, you have a duty to let them know. Connect with Rob Ott: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-ott/ - Website: www.ottmgt.com - Substack: The Spark of Leadership Connect with David Chung / KyberFive: - Website: https://kyberfive.com - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidchungk5/ - Growth Gap Diagnostic: https://kyberfive.com/growth-gap-insights/

Coaching at Spotify: Building Systems for Scaling 10,000 People

Fiona Siseman spent seven years at Spotify mapping the coaching culture for an organization that scaled from 3,000 to over 10,000 employees. Then, she walked away to build a private coaching partnership, Frank and Eddie Leadership. In this episode, Fiona shares the real story of transitioning from the safety of a global tech brand into the messy reality of entrepreneurship—the financial alignment, the networking systems, and why your job as a coach is to become completely redundant. What you'll hear: * How Spotify's viral coaching culture evolved as the company rapidly scaled * Why Fiona and her partner aligned on a "survival threshold" before taking any clients * The "Gorilla Facilitation" style for influencing leadership teams without a mandate * Why "don't look real" is a trap and why you don't need a perfect website * The "System of 4" networking habit that replaces traditional hustle marketing * Why the ultimate goal of the best coaches is to not be needed anymore Connect with Fiona Siseman:  Website: https://frankandeddy.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fionasiseman/ READY TO CLOSE THE GROWTH GAP? Get the Growth Gap resources here: https://kyberfive.com/growth-gap-insights/ ABOUT COACH AS ENTREPRENEUR:  Coach as Entrepreneur is the show for coaches building real businesses with systems, strategy, and heart. Hosted by David Chung, each episode features honest conversations with coaches about the realities of building a sustainable coaching practice. Subscribe for new episodes every week. CONNECT WITH DAVID:  Website: https://kyberfive.com  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidchung-01/