What keeps owner-operators going, and what nearly stops them: 15 in-depth interviews

Why this question matters

Research on coaching has given much attention to what clients achieve, while the challenges faced by the people delivering it remain underexplored (Haydon, 2025, p. 17). Most outcome studies treat the client as the unit of analysis, and much less is known about coaches as workers in their own right, even though research on client dropout points to significant financial and psychological consequences for them (p. 97). As a member of the same organisation, the author had the chance to interview people who might otherwise be hard for researchers to reach (p. 49). These interviews asked people working in client-dependent practices what keeps them going and what gets in the way.

Who was interviewed

Fifteen people in franchised advisory practices in the UK (ten owners, five employed). Their income depends on clients, who can give 30 days’ notice. Five held a licence that let them trade anywhere in the country and employ only two advisers, five owned an exclusive territory with no limit on staff, and five were employed with the single job of coaching, while the owners also had to run marketing, sales, operations, finance and employee management (Haydon, 2025, pp. 106–107). Eleven were men and four women, nine were aged 50–60, and each was working with between 2 and 10 clients at the time (Table 2, p. 107).

How was the study done?

The interview questions came from the two literature reviews and were grouped under four preliminary themes: drivers, barriers, enablers and strategies (Haydon, 2025, pp. 107–109). The author reordered them for a natural flow, because asking someone directly what makes them cope and persist would have had little context and might have produced a closed answer (p. 108). Each interview opened with “What made you want to be a coach?” and used follow-ups such as “Tell me more about…” to go deeper (p. 110). To keep the conversations natural, the overarching focus of the research was not disclosed to participants until the study was complete (p. 111).

The author was an insider, which gave access but brought challenges. Participants assumed he already understood their experience, with phrases like “as you will know Lewis…”, so he asked them to answer as though he were not a coach, and he interrupted to have them explain in-house terms such as DISC profiling (p. 112). Recordings were transcribed with Otter.ai, videos were deleted and transcripts anonymised (p. 105). The analysis ran twice: once in NVivo, as a non-biased approach to forming descriptive codes, and once by hand, so the author’s experience could pick out what mattered; both were counted by how many people raised a code and how often they talked about it (p. 105). The approach was thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Thompson, 2022) (pp. 104–105).

What drives them

Driver	How many of the 15
Flexibility: control of their own time, results not hours	15
Money: replacing a corporate income, providing for the family	8
Personal growth and learning	7
Meaningful work: compared with the old job, helping others grow, their community and the economy	a dominant theme; count not stated

Six of the fifteen said they did not want to be in a corporate career with no flexibility. One put the trade-off plainly: “I probably work as hard if not harder than I did in my corporate life, but everything I do is because I enjoy it” (Coach 2) (Haydon, 2025, p. 117).

Money was about the basics: “I needed to pay the mortgage, and all that sort of good stuff and eat. So it had to be a business that made money” (Coach 1), and some needed to replace a corporate income so that their families were not affected (Haydon, 2025, pp. 114–115). Flexibility came from a results-not-hours model: “you don’t have to work 12 hours, 15 hours a day, you can manage your own time, as long as the results that you want, are within that time” (Coach 14) (p. 116). But it had to be worked at: “we’re not immune to having to be really deliberate in making that happen in our businesses” (Coach 5) (p. 117).

Growth meant new experiences, facing new challenges and overcoming fear, with one describing the journey as “a healthy dose of fear of failure” (Coach 11) (pp. 117–118). Meaningful work included the wider ripple effect: “you’re not just helping the individual that’s in front of you. But you’re also by default, helping their family or helping their employees or their employees’ families” (Coach 8) (p. 125). Some had owned businesses themselves and wanted to spare others their mistakes: “I spent 20 years of hardship, working my socks off working really, really hard rather than smart. And I wanted to become a coach so I can help people not do the same as me” (Coach 10) (p. 122).

What nearly stops them

Barrier	How many of the 15
The threat of clients leaving	15
Clients who don’t take responsibility or follow through	8
Clients who already know it all	7
Self-doubt and the stories they tell themselves	count not stated
The tightrope between being liked and being direct	count not stated

“The apprehension about clients leaving has been a consistent concern throughout my coaching journey,” said one (Coach 1) (Haydon, 2025, p. 128). The same adviser named the main barrier: “The most significant barrier … is internal — the mental noise and the stories I tell myself” (Coach 1) (p. 129). Losing a client, the thesis found, sets off a downward spiral of emotions: self-doubt, lack of confidence and low self-efficacy, which in turn affect the work (p. 205).

Knowing it will happen does not make it easier: “The inevitability of such events has not dulled the disappointment and the self-interrogation that follows” (Coach 1) (Haydon, 2025, p. 128). It also changes how people work: “My desire to be liked is a personal challenge, particularly when it leads to a reluctance to be as tough as necessary for fear of losing clients” (Coach 13) (p. 128). The thesis describes the bind. Push too hard and the client might leave; don’t push hard enough and the client may not make the behaviour change needed to get results, and may leave anyway (p. 188).

Self-doubt was tied to a profession judged on results: “The possibility of being ineffective in a profession that’s so results-oriented is daunting” (Coach 4) (p. 130). The thesis likens it to the dual-edged nature of impostor syndrome and says it highlights the emotional labour inherent in the work, aligning with Eby et al.’s (2003) exploration of identity challenges in fluid career paths (p. 188). On difficult clients, one separated healthy doubt from dismissal: “I prefer to work with sceptical clients who seek evidence over those who dismiss ideas outright” (Coach 3) (p. 133). On clients who don’t follow through: “It undermines the foundation of the coaching relationship and can be quite wearing over time” (Coach 9) (p. 135). Some also cautioned that a client’s behaviour may be a response to a difficult situation, such as survival mode under external pressure, rather than a trait (p. 137).

The thesis records further barriers not in the table above. Some found it hard to be forceful: “I’m not really a confrontational sort of person” (Coach 4) (p. 138). Some wanted their own coach to hold them more accountable: “A little bit more like last time you said you were going to do this. Did you do it?” (Coach 4) (p. 140). The more confrontational ones had to practise compassion deliberately (p. 141). And the move to online delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic brought a loss of group energy, technology failures and ‘Zoom fatigue’, although some with geographical constraints found coaching online a positive (pp. 141–143).

What helps

• A supportive work community. All fifteen said their peer group and a community of like-minded people supported their work; one also credited the coaching they receive themselves.
• The right clients. All fifteen talked about the characteristics of their clients; the ideal client was open to learning, shared their values (all fifteen), had clear goals and believed they could be reached, and was committed to changing (all fifteen), not just talking about it (pp. 147–153).
• Getting away from the desk. Walking, swimming, being outdoors, and a workspace that is organised rather than chaotic.

The supportive community also included family and the structure around the work. One valued the franchise model because “there’s enough freedom to do my own thing, but also within a structure of support” (Coach 2) (Haydon, 2025, p. 146). The thesis links peer networks to the knowing-whom competencies of boundaryless career theory (Eby, Butts, & Lockwood, 2003) (p. 189). It describes the role of the physical environment as a novel dimension: “An office that’s visually stimulating and organised complements my occasionally chaotic thought process, grounding me in structure when needed” (Coach 2) (pp. 147, 189).

On ideal clients, belief mattered: “Belief in the possibility of achieving their goals, and even surpassing them, is what distinguishes the most enjoyable clients” (Coach 5) (p. 151). One looked for a track record: “Their ability to showcase past successes indicates a winning mindset, which is a significant predictor of a fruitful coaching engagement” (Coach 9) (p. 153). The thesis notes that its emphasis on value alignment between adviser and client extends the literature (p. 189).

What they do about it

Three groups of strategies (chapter 8 groups them in three; Table 4 adds tailoring strategies to client needs; all fifteen discussed communication strategies):

1. Learning: reading and book clubs, keeping a journal after sessions, and learning from every client (“Every single client I’ve ever had has taught me more than I thought” (Coach 4) (p. 158)).
2. Communication: asking questions that make people think rather than giving answers; listening and reflecting back; being direct and challenging, which one said their clients “appreciate and even request more of” (Coach 1) (p. 168).
3. Adapting: setting goals and building the other person’s belief; acknowledging success, because “Business owners and leaders often don’t receive acknowledgement for their well-done work” (Coach 4) (p. 175); deliberate empathy; staying calm and positive.

Learning was built into the routine: “Every coaching session is practice; it’s like repetition is the mother of skill” (Coach 2) (Haydon, 2025, p. 157), and “Asking for feedback is how I learn” (Coach 5) (p. 159). On questioning, one set the standard: “A good question is one where neither the coach nor the client knows the answer yet” (Coach 12) (p. 160). They did not all agree; one avoided asking why because it can make clients defensive, while another found it prompted deeper reflection (pp. 160–161). Holding back answers had a practical reason: “clients are more likely to commit to actions they’ve chosen themselves” (Coach 6) (p. 164). The more experienced advisers called this ‘pure coaching’ or ‘true coaching’, and found that clients who reach the answer themselves show higher commitment to their goals and more self-efficacy to achieve them (p. 190).

On directness, some described balancing challenge with care: “My dogged determination and the ability to build trust through being direct, but caring, are what make my coaching effective” (Coach 11) (p. 169). Adapting included concrete planning, “Setting a specific goal with a date and then creating a detailed action plan” (Coach 5) (p. 173), and calm, “I’m quite calm. So, I think that helps it diffuse any drama out of a situation” (Coach 4) (p. 180). The organisation trains its advisers in DISC, a behaviour profiling tool, which some described using to adapt to different client personalities (p. 171).

Together these form the cope-and-persist model in the thesis: four areas (drivers, barriers, enablers, strategies) that the thesis offers as a tool for business coaches to raise awareness of how they cope and persist.

How did this lead to the survey?

The thesis concludes that participants showed high levels of personal agency and self-efficacy, drew on intrinsic motivators such as growth, flexibility and meaningful work, and relied on professional and personal support networks to overcome barriers (Haydon, 2025, p. 195). It highlights three new contributions: the altruistic dimensions of career success, the role of environmental factors, and the evolving relational strategies advisers use (p. 195). Because participants described sustaining self-belief amid uncertainty, keeping an optimistic view of future work, recovering from setbacks and staying goal-oriented when demand fluctuated, the thesis mapped these themes onto the four parts of psychological capital, efficacy, optimism, resilience and hope, and tested them in a survey of 85 (pp. 195–196).

What this doesn’t show

Fifteen people from one network, each interviewed once. It’s a map of what they said, not a measurement, and it may not represent people in other advisory fields or in other countries. The follow-up survey in the same thesis put numbers on the mindset the interviews describe.

My read

My view, kept apart from the findings.

Swap “client” for “customer” and “practice” for “company” and this is every owner I’ve sat with. The fear that the big customer leaves. The two or three customers who drain the business because they won’t do their part. The pull to be liked by your team instead of being clear with them. And the three things that actually help: other owners who get it, the right customers, and a routine that gets you out of the chaos. My own businesses only started paying me properly when I treated the barriers in this table as things to design out, not things to be brave about.

What an owner can do with it

• Screen customers the way these people screen clients: open to new ways of working, shared values, clear goals, committed.
• Build the community on purpose. Other owners, a mentor, a board.
• Be direct. One who learned to challenge said their clients asked for more of it. Your team will too.
• Write down the acknowledgement. Owners often don’t receive acknowledgement for work well done. Keep the record of what you’ve built.

Sources

References as listed in the thesis (Haydon, 2025, pp. 312 onwards). Eby et al. (2003), also cited as Eby, Butts, & Lockwood (2003), is cited in the thesis text but not in its reference list.

• Haydon, L. J. (2025). How UK business coaches cope and persist towards higher levels of objective and subjective success in boundaryless careers [DBA thesis]. Aston University. Study 1, chapters 4–9, table 4 (pp. 183–186).
• Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
• Thompson, J. (2022). A guide to abductive thematic analysis. The Qualitative Report, 27(5), 1410-1421. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2022.5340