Why I Recently Stopped Coaching Small Business Owners
It’s About Working for Purpose and Meaning More Than Anything Else
Me and my new bucket hat for practicing archery in our backyard.
The old saying, “Never say never,” comes from Charles Dickens' novel The Pickwick Papers, published in 1837. Dickens used this phrase to suggest that we should keep an open mind and avoid ruling out possibilities, as the future can be unpredictable.
Over time, the expression became popular, encouraging us not to dismiss unlikely events or outcomes. The saying implies, "Anything can happen." While I won’t use the word “never,” I recently decided to stop coaching and consulting small business owners.
Here’s the rest of my story.
Pivot, Reinvent Yourself, and Never Stop
My reasons for ending my long coaching and consulting practice are similar to those I chose in 2002 to walk away from the investment advisory and retirement planning business I had built for over a decade. I’ve fulfilled my purpose and done my best.
The back story is that I stopped working for money in 1991 when I quit a respectable career as a sales and marketing executive for a ritzy hotel chain. I’ve not had a salary since the first day I started working for myself in 1991, even though I worked for small and global brands.
The only way I knew how to make a living was to see a big problem people would have, market, promote, and sell my skills, earn the trust and confidence of clients, and help them solve their problems for a fee or commission.
My mindset from day one is working for purpose and meaning by helping people solve problems. I’m not Steve Jobs, but the following quote summarizes my primary motivation as a business coach and consultant:
"The only way to do great work is to love what you do." - Steve Jobs
After selling my investment advisory financial planning business in 2002, I fell into an abyss of uncertainty. For many reasons, I learned what living through a “dark night of the soul” in my early forties is like. My wife Janice begged me to get a “real job,” as if working in financial services for over a decade wasn’t real enough.
I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next for a business. That took time. In the meantime, mostly to appease Janice, I went on a few interviews. Each employer wanted me to sell and market because I’m best at doing that for myself. But it seemed crazy to do for others what I could for myself, and the last thing I wanted was a day job or losing my time freedom.
Once I started working for myself, there was no going back to “normal.”
During this time, I was searching for a way to start another business with no money and nothing but hope. After the third or fourth interview, I figured out what was next. The only thing I had to do was convince Janice. I said, “I’ve been a few interviews. They want me to sell and market for them. Give me ninety days to fire up a sales coaching and training business. If I don’t start making a profit in the next three months, I promise I’ll get a real job.”
Janice Gives Me the Green Light, Again
After Janice’s blessing and more cold calls than most humans will make in their lifetime, I nailed a $30,000 fee. That was the genesis of the same business I’ve run since training, coaching, and consulting small business owners.
Even though I’ve had the same Tax I.D. number, I’ve changed the company name more than once to suit the positioning and focus of my solutions. Some of my closest friends and family members are confused about what I’ve done for over thirty years because many clients ask me to use my name on their websites and marketing materials.
The entire time, without exception, these companies, including one famous man, paid my small LLC, a business of one man serving many small business owners.
All of this to say, I recently decided to stop coaching and consulting small business owners for these reasons:
I fulfilled my purpose. In doing so, the work lost meaning. Without purpose and meaning, I move on because I can reinvent myself using my core skillset: creativity, sales, marketing, and customer service.
The work became too stressful. Trying to coach the uncoachable is futile. Despite my best efforts, most small business owners can’t or won’t learn to market and sell well enough to stay in the game.
Too many clients stiffed me on my fee. I got upset when clients didn’t honor our agreements in my early consulting years. I always delivered the goods, but clients who wouldn’t keep their word were too much to bear.
Lesson Learned
Here’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned as a financial advisor, business coach and consultant, ski instructor, tennis instructor, and Pickleball coach:
Most people won’t, don’t or can’t learn the “inner game” or the psychology and discipline it takes to be a top performer. Instead, they want to have fun and live as they are. It’s for this reason most of us stay stuck.
Success in life, business, and everything else takes courage, creativity, compassion, conviction, and steadfast love, which fuels my burning desire to serve others.
The Next Opportunity and Pivot
When unsure of what’s next, I live in acceptance and pray a lot. Not long ago, a former client reached out on LinkedIn. He asked me what I was doing, and I said, “Nothing much that’s useful. I’m done coaching and consulting.”
It’s a simple role mostly involving selling. I’m still paid as an independent contractor, and once again, if you look at my LinkedIn profile, it appears I’ve taken a new job. That is true in a sense.
For the third time in my working life, I’m making a hard pivot to learn a new business from scratch. I’m helping companies buy and sell their intellectual property or patents. It’s simple because instead of having multiple small business owners driving, ignoring, and stiffing me, I get to do what I’ve done best for myself and one company: selling and serving.
While it’s too early to tell if this will work out long-term, I’ve learned not to worry about the future because I live and work now, which makes all the difference. In the meantime, I’m having a blast making money writing, speaking, and mentoring other men lost in addiction and working through their “dark night of the soul.”
I write about the art of human transformation, transcending suffering, mental health, and recovery from addiction. Learn more about my work at www.CliffordJones.com.