James Burke: From Homeless at 16 to Global Award-Winning Coach

Turning tragedy into triumph

At 16, James Burke found himself homeless after a series of difficult events changed the direction of his life. Five years later, he was earning a six-figure salary and building a successful career in property. Today, he is a global award-winning business coach, an entrepreneur and a familiar face from Amazon Prime’s Business as Unusual.

His journey has been far from straightforward. From losing his home and being forced to give up his dream of becoming a professional boxer to building a successful coaching business, James believes his experiences have helped shape the person and coach he is today.

James has never hidden his past. In fact, he sees it as one of the reasons he has been able to connect with people, understand their challenges and help them see what is possible.

“I’d always dreamt of becoming a professional middleweight boxer. I was getting stronger with each day and had a real dedication to the craft. But then I got kicked out of school and was asked to leave my family home, rendering myself homeless. My dream had to be put on hold whilst I was sleeping on friends’ sofas, park benches and even in an old outhouse toilet.”

Between the ages of 16 and 18, James had no permanent place to call home. He eventually moved into a hostel in Wigan, where he stayed for several years and returned to boxing.

Just as he was beginning to rebuild his life, further difficulties followed. Two close friends died, leading to a period of severe depression. He also broke his jaw and was subsequently diagnosed with osteoporosis, bringing his boxing career to an end.

“I was forced to retire from boxing, and consequently I lost my identity. After a few years, at the age of 23, I looked at myself and knew I’d had enough. It was time for me to find a new dream.”

James focused on his physical and mental health before looking for a new direction. He joined an estate agency and progressed to Branch Manager within two and a half years. During that time, he helped the branch win a national award for profit growth, leading to his appointment as an area director at Yopa estate agencies.

It was a significant change in direction, but James was beginning to understand where his strengths could take him.

He had developed experience in leading teams, improving business performance and helping people achieve their goals. At the same time, he was becoming increasingly interested in personal development, influenced by the work of author and speaker Simon Sinek.

James began to think about the wider impact he wanted to have.

“I now had a new goal to make a difference to a million people by 2030, and I knew this wasn’t going to be possible by staying in the property world. It was time for me to try a different route.”

Finding a new direction through business coaching

James knew he wanted to use his experience to help other people succeed. Having worked in leadership, sales, marketing and business development, he began exploring how he could bring those skills together in his own business.

He initially set up a business consultancy, which delivered promising results. But he wanted a model that would allow him to develop further, reach more people and build a business around his longer-term ambitions.

A Google search introduced him to ActionCOACH UK.

“As the world’s number one business coaching franchise, I knew it was the place for me to harness my skills whilst achieving my personal goal more quickly.”

James quickly recognised the opportunity. He could put his existing experience to use while developing the skills and structure needed to build a business coaching practice.

He was awarded his franchise in early 2018 and completed his initial training at ActionCOACH University in May that year.

“The training was excellent. It was everything I was promised and more. It was extremely beneficial to be in an environment where everyone is hungry to succeed, as we could work together, supporting one another on our journeys.”

For James, the combination of structured training, a proven business model and the experience of other franchise partners provided a strong starting point.

Building a coaching business and supporting his family

Launching a new business brought its own challenges. James had to learn how to apply the ActionCOACH UK model, build a client base and understand which marketing activities were generating the best results.

He quickly recognised the importance of testing and measuring his approach rather than relying on guesswork.

“The first few weeks after launching the business were a huge learning curve. By following the model, I could see the process of testing and measuring my marketing activities was the most efficient way of generating new clients going forwards. I very quickly found my feet, winning new business and supporting clients to achieve tangible results quite early on in my business.”

A few months into his franchise journey, James, his fiancée Lauren and their son Matthew went on holiday to Ibiza. Lauren was expecting their second child, and the family wanted to enjoy a break before their daughter arrived.

What was meant to be a holiday became an unexpected nine-week stay when their daughter Lilly was born ten weeks prematurely.

It was an incredibly challenging time for the family, but James says the flexibility of his coaching business and the support of the ActionCOACH UK network meant he could continue working while being there for his family.

“The day we got to Ibiza, Lilly was born. She was 10 weeks early and we had to spend a total of nine weeks on the island. Due to the support from ActionCOACH, I was still able to operate my business overseas.

“With ActionCOACH’s support, I carried on growing the business whilst being there for my family. I would travel home to the UK every fortnight for two days to do group coaching sessions, and I completed my one-to-one sessions via video conferencing. Without the support from ActionCOACH, it wouldn’t have been possible to keep my business going.”

For James, this experience demonstrated the importance of building a business that could work around his family commitments.

He also speaks highly of the personal support he has received from the wider franchise community.

“The encouragement from the ActionCOACH community has always been second to none. Throughout hardships outside of my professional life, they have always been there, dropping me a supportive message, putting a card in the post, or being available for a chat if I need to talk things through.

“Head office and the rest of the network have been amazing, and it’s just one of the reasons I’ve been fully invested in the franchise right from the start.”

From business coach to global award winner

Since joining ActionCOACH UK, James has built a substantial coaching business, working with more than 50 long-term clients, from start-ups to multi-million-pound organisations. His business has expanded across three territories, generating a reported monthly client income of £35,000.

His work has also extended beyond his paying clients. Through complimentary coaching, events and seminars, James has helped more than 500 people in a single year.

His achievements have been recognised through multiple global awards, and he has appeared on Amazon Prime’s Business as Unusual, giving viewers an insight into his life, his coaching business and the experiences that have shaped him.

“Being involved in such a huge project like Business as Unusual is just another example of how ActionCOACH has supported me. It was a strange experience as I had a camera and crew watching everything I did, from my morning routine to my coaching sessions, but it was an opportunity to be intimate with some of the things I've been through in the past. I wanted people to know that they too can rise from the ashes.”

James's story has become part of the way he connects with others. He understands that personal circumstances can change quickly, that setbacks can affect confidence and direction, and that people sometimes need help seeing a different path forward.

His own experience has given him a strong reason to keep helping business owners and the people around them.

A bigger ambition: helping one million people

James has always set himself ambitious goals. One of his biggest has been to make a difference to one million people by 2030.

A major part of that ambition was a personal milestone: hosting a large-scale personal development event at Manchester Arena.

Growing up in Manchester, James had watched boxer Ricky Hatton compete at the arena and had long imagined doing something there himself. With encouragement from the ActionCOACH UK network and support from co-founder Ian Christelow, he announced the Master Your Lifestyle event, planned for January 2024, with the ambition of welcoming 21,000 people.

The event brought together the scale of ambition James had developed through his coaching career with his desire to reach people beyond the businesses he worked with directly.

“I’ve exchanged my dream of knocking others down to one of lifting others up, positively impacting not only business owners but their employees and families too. With big plans ahead, I’m well on my way to making a difference to a million people by 2030.”

Why James chose ActionCOACH UK

For James, joining ActionCOACH UK gave him a way to bring together his experience in business, his interest in personal development and his ambition to make a difference.

The training helped him establish his coaching business, while the model gave him a structure to follow as he developed his client base. Just as importantly, the wider network provided support during both the growth of his business and some of the most difficult moments in his personal life.

His experience also shows how varied a background can be before someone becomes a business coach. James did not begin his career in coaching. He brought experience from sport, property, leadership and business development, then developed those skills into a new career.

His advice to anyone considering a similar move is to recognise the value of the experience they already have and understand how it could be used to help others.

James's journey is a reminder that a career change can open up opportunities that may once have seemed out of reach. For him, the ambition to succeed has grown into something bigger: helping other people build better businesses, create more opportunities and improve the lives of those around them.

Could a business coaching franchise be your next step?

James's story is one example of how people with different professional backgrounds can build a new career through business coaching.

If you have experience in business, leadership, sales or managing people, you may already have many of the skills needed to help business owners improve their performance.

With training, a proven business model and support from the wider ActionCOACH UK network, you can build a business that draws on your experience while helping others achieve more.

Interested in becoming an ActionCOACH UK franchise partner?

Find out more about the opportunity and take the first step towards building your own business coaching practice.

Discover how an ActionCOACH UK franchise could help you build a business with purpose, flexibility and the support of an established coaching community.