Simplified Success: Digital vs. Analog Operations
This interview features Pauline Hughes, founder of Gains.
Gains is like a personal trainer for businesses–optimising cultures, building resilient people, and creating confident leaders.
Key Insights
Simplified Success: Running Your Coaching Business “Manually”
Building relationships and reaching out to connections can help grow your business faster.
Don’t overcomplicate things; only use tools and systems that truly save you time.
Automate where it makes sense, but keep a personal touch, especially in client-facing work.
Use processes that work best for you–you don’t need to pay for the latest tools if you’re not going to use them.
Prioritise tasks that generate revenue and delegate or streamline the rest.
The Interview
To start, I want to know a little bit more about you and how you became a coach.
My goodness. Right. So, I'm going to make a long story short. I was a communications director and had worked in comms all my career—started off as a press officer and worked my way up. I worked in non-profits, the government sector in the UK, and PR agencies. I loved it, but it got stressful. I wouldn't say I was burnt out, but I was close.
When I was pregnant with my third child, the pressure became too much. I went on maternity leave early because he was premature—possibly due to work stress. During that time, I thought, "I don’t think I can go back to that world." I'd done informal coaching throughout my career and loved working with people. I met someone who had done the Barefoot training course and really loved it. I didn’t research much into other coaching providers—I just went for it, did a postgraduate coaching certificate, and the rest is history.
What helped me initially—and this is good advice for new coaches—is that I had a strong network from my comms career. I’d built good relationships, and I reached out to people, letting them know what I was doing. People were really kind, and that got things rolling. If I hadn’t had that, I would have struggled for sure.
Was this the first business you started completely from scratch on your own?
Yeah. Absolutely. 100%. I'd always worked for "the man" before.
How did you do that? Did you take a course on starting a business, or did you create a business strategy plan?
My god, no. Definitely not. I'm not great at formal business plans. Some coaches I've met just declare themselves coaches and start making loads of money. I didn’t feel confident doing that.
My mindset was, "I need a qualification, I need to feel confident, and I need to go through the ICF journey." I started as a sole trader for about six months, and then a company I was working with—Arup—required me to have a limited company. It wasn’t planned; they just needed me to bill them. Looking back, it was a great move.
When it comes to running your own business, what has surprised you the most?
That sometimes your pipeline looks empty, and then suddenly things just happen. For example, I was having lunch with friends in December, and one of them mentioned that his team hadn't spent their budget. I wasn’t pitching to him—we were just chatting over lunch—but in January, I was already running sessions for his company. It happens out of nowhere.
What’s been one of your biggest challenges?
The sheer volume of things I could be doing. I have a high achievement drive, and I want to do everything. There’s guilt when I can’t. Especially as a solo operator, there’s never a day where everything is ticked off. I constantly have to coach myself into accepting that.
What’s the easiest part of running your business?
The actual coaching. I particularly love the dynamic and flexible nature of group and team coaching. Not knowing what will come up keeps me on my toes. I love being with people, having conversations, and seeing things come together. That’s when I feel in flow.
What advice would you give to a new coach starting their own business?
Don’t overthink it. You’ll never feel fully ready. Just start, even if it’s imperfect. Five-year plans don’t work for this kind of business. Have a general direction but remain flexible.
If you could give your novice self some advice, what would it be?
Be confident and don’t undervalue yourself. Early on, I discounted my prices before clients even asked. I pitched myself too low. Also, maintain boundaries—I once gave a free session to a struggling client instead of referring her to additional support. I wouldn’t do that now.
What’s one thing you enjoy the least about running your business?
Admin. I should track analytics on LinkedIn, build more case studies, and organise feedback better, but I never get around to it. It’s just not motivating for me.
What’s one thing you enjoy the most about running your business?
Networking and talking about my work. I get passionate about the impact of coaching on culture and leadership. I love making connections and helping people and businesses grow.
What’s one thing you’d like to improve in your day-to-day business operations?
I’d love to have Fridays free, but I always end up booking things. I’d love to put more time aside for deep work and feel like I can slow down a little.
What does an average workday look like?
Most days have a mix of delivery and planning. Today, for example, I had a morning coaching session, a lunch meeting, two more coaching calls, and a strategy session with a colleague. Ideally, I like having thinking time, but I get excited when there’s lots of delivery.
And finally, what tools do you use to run your business?
My website is on Squarespace. I use Claude AI for brainstorming, Zoom and Teams for calls, Microsoft Office, Google Drive for storage, and SurveyMonkey for client feedback.
