Ben had been considering a leadership coach for some time but hadn't known where to start. Running the business sixty-hours a week, and structuring his thinking and prioritising effectively had become a real struggle, pulling him further from the goals he actually held for his family and himself. He was determined to break ten years of habits that were no longer serving him. The early coaching calls with Gayle focused on getting clear on exactly what Ben wanted to work on, and why it mattered, helping him connect to the reasons behind his goals rather than just put them on a page. One exercise in particular became the thread running through every session that followed: writing a speech for his own retirement party, fifteen years from now, delivered to his closest family and friends.

Since then, Gayle and Ben have met monthly, with Gayle helping him recognise what was already working, bringing focus to where the gaps were, and reinforcing it all with follow-up material between sessions. Compartmentalising his goals, one at a time instead of all the noise of running a business at once, has been the most useful shift of all.

A year on, the shift shows up in how Ben spends his time, not just how he thinks about it, and it's Ben himself who now makes the case for coaching to other business owners.