the business you built. the role it now needs. the person who's still running it the old way.
Coaching for founders and CEOs. When the business has outgrown the way you run it.
You built it with speed, instinct and the willingness to do everything yourself. That's exactly what got it here. Now it needs something different, and the habits that made you are the ones holding it back: doing it all, deciding everything, never switching off. I spent two decades building and running my own agency before this work, so I know the territory. I work with founders and CEOs on the patterns behind how they run the business and how it's running them.
If this is you, you're in the right place.
"The business has outgrown the way I run it."
"I can't switch off. Even rest feels like time I should be using."
"I built this, so why does it feel like it owns me?"
"Nobody on my team can tell me the truth."
The traits that built the business are now its ceiling.
Founders are wired for urgency, control and doing whatever it takes. In the early years those traits are the business. Then it grows, and the same traits become the bottleneck: decisions queue up for you, people stop thinking for themselves, and the pace that once felt exciting starts to feel like survival.
Knowing you need to step back isn't the problem. The problem is that the pattern underneath, the need to hold it all, the fear of what happens if you don't, runs faster than the decision to change. That's the part I work on.
Work on the founder, not the business plan
I don't write strategy or growth plans. There are good people for that. I work on the person running the business: how you decide, delegate, lead and recover. Where a pattern keeps resetting no matter what you decide, I use behavioural analysis and clinical hypnotherapy to change it at the root.
The first session is two hours. We map where the business and the founder are pulling in different directions and agree what we change first. Then one-hour sessions, near Maidstone or online.
If three or more are true, it's time
- Most decisions still need you, even small ones.
- You've hired senior people and still do part of their job.
- Your best ideas come at 2am and so does the worry.
- Holidays mean checking in every day.
- The people closest to you get what's left after the business.
- Growth feels heavier, not lighter.
None of these are business problems. They're founder patterns, and they change.
What people ask first.
Do you work on business strategy?
No. I work on the founder or CEO: how you lead, decide, delegate and switch off, and the patterns underneath. I'll tell you if strategy support is what you actually need.
Can the business pay?
Yes. I can invoice the company directly. Everything we discuss stays confidential.
I've tried coaching before. Why would this be different?
Most coaching works on goals and accountability. If the thing in the way is a pattern that runs automatically, accountability won't reach it. That's the level this work goes to.
Can we work online?
Yes. Video sessions work well and are easier to fit around a busy week. In person is near Harrietsham, just outside Maidstone, Kent.
Got a question that isn't here? Ask me on WhatsApp. I reply personally.
More on this: Business coaching for owners and leaders
Jon Billingsley DHP CHyp MCMA. MSc Psychology. MSc Communication, Behaviour and Credibility Analysis. Master Certified Hypnotherapist, EMDR practitioner, Master NLP Practitioner, member of the MCMA and BAThH, published author. 25 years in business and personal development before this work, and I did it on myself first.
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A free 15-minute call. No pressure and no pitch. Tell me what's going on and I'll tell you honestly whether I can help, and how.