Jamie Goral: From Finance to Business Coaching

A passion for helping business owners succeed

Growing up, Jamie Goral experienced first-hand the pressures that come with running a business. His parents were divorced, and both ran their own businesses. His mum owned a hair salon, while his dad ran a shop selling cots, prams and buggies.

Whichever parent he was staying with, Jamie heard familiar stories about financial pressures, long working hours and the challenge of keeping up with the mortgage. These experiences shaped his ambition to help business owners build stronger businesses and enjoy better lives.

Initially, Jamie believed a career in finance would give him the skills to make that difference. However, discovering ActionCOACH UK introduced him to a new way of helping businesses grow, one that would combine his financial expertise with a passion for developing people.

Why ActionCOACH UK?

Jamie began his career at an accountancy firm in central London, specialising in services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), including auditing, accounts and tax advice. He then moved into a series of Financial Controller roles, where he quickly discovered that improving financial systems could free up valuable time to support wider business growth.

His biggest achievement came at a company that was making a £6 million loss when he joined. Over six years, Jamie helped turn the business around, taking it to a £1.5 million profit before it was sold for £20 million.

With the company ready for sale, Jamie began considering his next move. He wanted to use his experience to help more businesses succeed, but he had not yet discovered business coaching.

“I wondered what to do and how I could help more businesses grow. That’s when I saw an email from ActionCOACH. It made me double take. I couldn’t believe that two really important facts had snuck past me for all this time. One, that there is a thing called business coaching and, two, that there was a company who had been doing it 20 years and had over 1,000 coaches!

“In March 2013, I called Julie Wagstaff, ActionCOACH UK’s Recruitment Director, and told her that what I had read about ActionCOACH was totally amazing and couldn’t believe that it was true. I asked if they had a process where you check each other out before deciding if the franchise was suitable for me and if I was suitable to join ActionCOACH. I found out that the next training course was in May and so I asked if we could try to hit that deadline.”

For Jamie, the opportunity offered a way to combine his commercial experience with his original ambition: helping business owners overcome the challenges he had seen his own parents face.

Building a business with the right support

Jamie was excited by the prospect of joining a community dedicated to helping business owners improve their performance. He also recognised that the ActionCOACH UK systems, training and shared knowledge could help him continue developing his own skills.

“All I could think was that this was how I could really help business owners like my mum and dad. I constantly strive to be a better version of myself and I could see how having the ActionCOACH community, system and environment would help me to do that.

“I flew out to Las Vegas to spend 10 days at ActionCOACH University and it was totally amazing. The content was great and specifically geared to growing an SME business, with a selection of the 100,000 examples delivered by some of the best coaches in the world.”

Jamie launched his ActionCOACH UK business on 1 June 2013, supporting SMEs across London. He used ActionCOACH’s client generation centre in Chesterfield and attended local networking events to begin building his client base.

He soon realised that a broader marketing strategy would help him accelerate his growth. Jamie established strategic partnerships with accountancy firms, including Grant Thornton, and high-street banks. These partners promoted his seminars to their client networks, helping him secure 15 clients over a 12-month period.

He also introduced group coaching sessions. These gave him more opportunities to develop his coaching skills while making business support accessible to smaller businesses at a lower cost.

His approach combined his financial background with a commitment to learning, building relationships and helping business owners put practical strategies into action.

Recognition built on learning and results

In January 2015, Jamie’s efforts were recognised when he won Growth Coach of the Year at the ActionCOACH UK awards ceremony. The award recognised the franchise partner who had achieved the greatest proportional business growth over the preceding 12 months.

For Jamie, the achievement reflected consistent effort rather than a quick fix.

“This wasn’t from waving a magic wand. It had been achieved through a combination of my thirst for learning and the sales and marketing strategies available to me through ActionCOACH.

“Right from the beginning of my journey with ActionCOACH, I listened to or read two to four books a month, and this knowledge had begun to impact on not only my coaching skills but my ability to market my own services. I took part in both a weekly group call and a coaching session but, on top of that, I would also pick the brains of coaches who were performing better than me, and their help was always forthcoming.”

Jamie also learned to evaluate the financial performance of his own coaching business. ActionCOACH’s client generation centre had helped him acquire four clients, each generating at least £1,000 in monthly income. He reported an acquisition cost of £1,351 per client, meaning the cost could be recovered by the second month of coaching.

Understanding these figures helped him focus on the activities that delivered the greatest return and build a more sustainable business.

The award further boosted his confidence, which he felt had a positive effect on his coaching and his clients’ results. Referrals increased, and by the end of 2015, Jamie had grown his business by 130%.

His clients were achieving impressive results of their own. He helped a web design firm grow by 100% in two months and a backcare clinic increase its business by 50% in three months, sustaining that growth rate for a further 12 months.

His achievements also led to invitations to deliver three webinars to the ActionCOACH UK franchise network in late 2015 and a training session planned for 2016.

Success that makes a difference

While Jamie was proud of his business growth, financial success was never his only motivation. His original ambition was to help business owners like his parents, and to build a career that offered a better balance between work and family life.

At the time of the original story, Jamie had 14 one-to-one coaching clients, generating £15,000 in monthly client income. The business was helping him spend more time with his wife and two daughters while planning for their future.

“I currently have 14 one-to-one coaching clients with a monthly client income of £15,000. But it was never about the money for me. I wanted a better work-life balance and to make a difference to struggling SME business owners just like my parents.

“I now see more of my wife and two daughters. My dad lives in Israel and I like to see him once a year. My wife has family in New York who we will be visiting every two years and my brother in Australia gets to catch up with us every four years. The business has also allowed me to start thinking about a university fund but, first of all, I’ll be financing their Bat Mitzvah celebrations.”

Jamie’s plans for the future were ambitious. He aimed to increase his one-to-one client base to 24 by the end of 2016, targeting £30,000 in monthly client income and the opportunity to make a positive difference to 10 additional local business owners.

He also planned to grow beyond a business that relied solely on his own coaching time, eventually bringing in employee coaches. At the time, he already had a marketing assistant who was working towards her own goal of becoming an employee coach.

“My goal from the start has been to improve the life of at least one business owner and their team every month, and that still holds strong today.”

Turn your experience into an opportunity to help others

Jamie’s journey demonstrates how existing business experience can become the foundation for a rewarding new career. By combining his financial expertise with ActionCOACH UK’s coaching systems, training and community, he found a way to help business owners improve their results while creating more freedom for his own family.

For Jamie, success is about more than turnover or awards. It is about helping business owners build stronger companies, creating opportunities for their teams and giving families more time to enjoy the rewards of their hard work.

Could you turn your experience into a business that makes a difference?

Discover how an ActionCOACH UK franchise could help you build a business with purpose, backed by proven systems, training and a supportive community.

Could business coaching be your next chapter?

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