Lucas Vigilante: What It's Like to Truly Love Your Job

Creating a life to love for your family, your clients and yourself.

After spending 20 years helping build a successful telecommunications business, Lucas Vigilante had reached a point where he was ready for something different. He had experienced major acquisitions, business growth and the eventual sale of his shares in a company that had grown from a small operation in Romford into part of a major global organisation.

His next ambition was to build something of his own. He wanted to work with interesting people, make a difference to businesses in his local community and create a career that gave him more time for his family.

When he discovered the ActionCOACH UK franchise opportunity, he found a business that appeared to bring all those ambitions together.

More than seven years later, Lucas had built a successful coaching business, invested in other companies and created the flexibility to enjoy the things that mattered most to him. His experience demonstrates how a career in business coaching can offer experienced professionals the opportunity to put their knowledge to work in a completely different way.

From corporate success to a new challenge

Lucas's business career began in 1991 when he joined a telecommunications business with a few friends. The company started in a semi-detached house in Romford, Essex, and went on to experience four major buyouts before eventually becoming part of global communications company Arqiva.

Over two decades, Lucas played an important role in building the business. He experienced the challenges of scaling an organisation, navigating acquisitions and developing a company through significant periods of change.

When the Arqiva deal was completed, Lucas sold his shares and stepped away from the business.

After taking a few years off, he began thinking about what he wanted to do next.

He had enjoyed working alongside talented entrepreneurs and business leaders throughout his career. One person who had particularly influenced him was Richard Thompson, a mentor and entrepreneur he had worked with in telecommunications.

Lucas wanted his next venture to provide opportunities to work with similarly ambitious people. He also had some clear requirements.

He and his wife, Amanda, had discussed starting a business together, and being able to work close to home was a priority. They wanted to avoid long commutes, extended periods away and the demands of another high-powered corporate role.

The challenge was finding a business that offered the right combination of commercial opportunity, personal fulfilment and flexibility.

Discovering the ActionCOACH UK franchise opportunity

Lucas came across ActionCOACH UK while researching potential business opportunities.

Initially, it was the company's Points of Culture that caught his attention. There were 14 principles, and he found that every one resonated with his own values and approach to business.

He wanted to understand more, so he contacted the team and arranged a meeting in September 2010.

The more he discovered, the more the opportunity appealed to him.

He could build a business within his local community, use his existing commercial experience and spend his time working with business owners who wanted to achieve more.

The opportunity also offered something that had become increasingly important to Lucas: the chance to enjoy his work while creating a better balance between his professional and family life.

After discussing the opportunity with Amanda, they decided it was the right direction to pursue.

For Lucas, joining ActionCOACH UK was about more than starting another business. It was an opportunity to build a career around the things he genuinely enjoyed: developing people, helping businesses grow and working alongside ambitious entrepreneurs.

Turning business experience into a coaching career

In January 2011, Lucas travelled to Las Vegas for ten days of intensive ActionCOACH training.

He had already followed the UK team's advice, reading several recommended business books and watching more than 20 hours of training videos before arriving.

Even with that preparation, the experience was demanding.

The training challenged him to reflect on his own approach to business and introduced him to the knowledge and practical skills needed to become an effective business coach.

Lucas quickly realised that the experience had given him something valuable that he wanted to share with business owners in his local area.

However, there was one challenge. Despite having lived in the area for years, he had very few existing business relationships locally.

He needed to establish himself within the business community and start building a network.

Before travelling to Las Vegas, he had taken advice from the ActionCOACH UK support team and joined local networking groups. He had even secured the position of Business Coach at BNI, one of the world's leading business networking organisations.

Just days after returning from training, he attended his first meeting.

It proved to be an important decision. Through networking, Lucas quickly began meeting local business owners, developing relationships and building his understanding of the local business community.

Within five weeks of launching his ActionCOACH business, he had secured his first client.

Building a business with clear goals

From the beginning, Lucas approached his coaching business with the same commercial discipline he had applied throughout his corporate career.

He established two important goals.

His first was to make the business self-funding within three months. He wanted to generate enough income from coaching clients to cover the costs of running the business and establish a financial cushion.

He achieved that target.

His second goal was to use the business as a foundation for developing relationships with people he could potentially work with in other ventures and investments.

He was interested in building a portfolio of businesses, using his commercial experience to support their growth while creating additional opportunities for himself.

His first coaching client was a removals company. Over six months, he helped the owner improve profitability and gain greater control over the business.

A subsequent relationship with another removals company led to an opportunity to invest in the business and help develop it into the largest firm of its kind in the region.

It was an early example of how business coaching could create opportunities beyond the coaching relationship itself.

Lucas was building his own business while helping other owners improve theirs, developing relationships that could lead to further commercial opportunities.

The power of working alongside other ActionCOACH UK franchise partners

One of the most valuable parts of Lucas's experience was the support he received from other ActionCOACH UK franchise partners.

From the outset, he made a conscious effort to learn from coaches who were already established and achieving strong results.

Fortunately, experienced franchise partners Kent Rhodes and Peter Boolkah were both based nearby.

They welcomed Lucas into their businesses, allowing him to observe how they attracted new clients, delivered coaching and built long-term relationships with business owners.

He attended their seminars and group coaching sessions, gaining practical experience that helped him develop his own approach.

Their support went beyond simply sharing advice. They challenged him, encouraged him and helped him recognise where he needed to improve.

Lucas also had the opportunity to co-present a seminar with Kent and join his fortnightly ActionCLUB group coaching programme.

This introduced him to an important part of the ActionCOACH UK culture: co-opetition.

The idea is that franchise partners can work together, share opportunities and support one another while independently building their own businesses.

Even when coaches operate in the same geographical area, there are opportunities to collaborate and learn from one another.

Lucas saw this first-hand.

“There are six seriously high performing ActionCOACH franchise partners within a 10-mile radius of me, but there's so many business owners out there happy to be coached that we'd probably need another 20 coaches to stand any chance of helping them all.”

For Lucas, having other successful coaches nearby was an advantage. Rather than seeing them purely as competitors, he recognised the value of working together and sharing knowledge.

It helped him learn faster, develop confidence and build a stronger coaching business.

Building a successful coaching business around the right lifestyle

Lucas's progress was steady.

By his twelfth month, he had built a client base of six one-to-one coaching clients. By his third year, he was confident in the difference his coaching could make to business owners and the results they could achieve.

By year seven, he had developed a well-established business that allowed him to work with 17 one-to-one clients across just two and a half intensive days each week.

He had also invested in three other businesses, spending approximately half a day a week supporting those investments.

The structure he had created meant he could dedicate time to his work while protecting time for the other things that mattered to him.

For Lucas and Amanda, building a profitable business was always important. But they had another priority: creating a business they genuinely enjoyed running, close enough to home to make family life a priority.

They had two daughters and wanted to give them the same kind of enjoyable childhood experiences Lucas had growing up.

His experience of corporate life had shown him how easily work could take over. He wanted a different outcome for his own family.

“On a personal level, of course Amanda and I wanted a profitable business, but we also wanted a business we would love whilst being close enough to home to enjoy plenty of family time.”

He found that building his ActionCOACH UK business around the right clients, systems and working structure gave him greater control over his time.

That meant being available for important family occasions, enjoying his hobbies and spending time with his parents.

“I get plenty of opportunities to pop out on my mountain bike, visit the driving range and do the crossword with my elderly parents. It's allowed me to do so many things which a high-powered corporate job simply wouldn't, something that contributes to putting a constant smile on my face.”

For Lucas, that flexibility is one of the most valuable outcomes of building a successful coaching business.

Working with ambitious business owners

Lucas's enjoyment of his work comes from the people he gets to work with.

His clients are ambitious business owners who want to improve their companies, develop their teams and achieve more from their businesses.

He particularly enjoys working with people who are committed to learning and open to new ideas.

His own experience of growing a business means he understands the pressures involved in making decisions, leading teams and managing growth.

He can draw on that experience when helping clients work through their challenges, while using the ActionCOACH UK coaching methodology to help them develop their own plans and take action.

The relationships have also given Lucas the opportunity to learn from other business owners.

He believes the commitment to continuous learning and the willingness of people within ActionCOACH UK to support one another creates a particularly rewarding working environment.

“I really enjoy the commitment to endless learning and the way everyone encourages each other at ActionCOACH UK. I've never encountered so many exceptional people in one place before and believe me, I've looked.

“As for my clients, they're so exciting and inspiring to work with that I've got caught up in their growing momentum. Being honest about it, I'm still not sure who benefits the most from our relationship, them or me!”

It is this combination of commercial challenge, personal relationships and the opportunity to make a difference that has kept Lucas passionate about his work.

A franchise community built around shared success

The support Lucas received from other franchise partners during his early years continued to be an important part of his experience.

He regularly speaks with people across the wider ActionCOACH UK and international franchise network, whether he needs advice, wants to share an idea or can offer support to another coach.

For someone who had previously spent much of their career within a large corporate organisation, the opportunity to build an independent business while remaining connected to a wider professional community was particularly valuable.

He appreciates being surrounded by people who are committed to developing themselves and helping others succeed.

The culture of collaboration means franchise partners can learn from different experiences, discuss challenges and benefit from the knowledge of people who have already faced similar situations.

For Lucas, this ongoing exchange of ideas is one of the reasons he continues to enjoy being part of ActionCOACH UK.

His advice for anyone considering an ActionCOACH UK franchise

Having built a successful career in telecommunications before becoming a business coach, Lucas understands the importance of making an informed decision when starting something new.

His advice to prospective franchise partners is to carry out their own research, speak to existing franchise partners and understand what building the business will involve.

He also believes it is important to consider the role family will play during the early stages.

When he first started, Amanda played an important role in ensuring their family life continued to run smoothly while he concentrated on learning, developing his skills and building the business.

He encourages anyone considering the opportunity to understand how responsibilities will be shared and what the initial commitment will mean for those around them.

His advice is to speak to franchise partners in different locations and, where possible, talk to their clients to understand the experience from both sides.

Above all, he believes people need to recognise the value they can bring to business owners.

“Run your own due diligence, just as Amanda and I did all those years ago. Work out who will be doing what as you build it.

“Recognise that nothing is perfect, ActionCOACH UK included (it is close though). Speak to a range of franchise partners, in a range of locations, even ask to speak to some of their clients too.

“And when you do take the plunge, remember; every business owner out there will be better with you than without you. When you truly believe that, this thing's a cinch. Now go and make it happen because it might just be what you've always been looking for.”

Could business coaching be your next career?

Lucas's journey shows how decades of experience in business can provide the foundations for an entirely new career.

He had already experienced major business growth, corporate acquisitions and the rewards of working alongside talented entrepreneurs. What he wanted was the opportunity to use that experience in a way that gave him greater independence and more control over his time.

Through ActionCOACH UK, he was able to build his own business, develop relationships with ambitious business owners and create opportunities to invest in other companies.

Just as importantly, he created a working life that gave him more time for his family, his interests and his local community.

You do not necessarily need a background in coaching to become a successful business coach. Experience in leadership, business ownership, sales, operations or management can all provide valuable foundations.

What matters is having the desire to help others, being willing to learn and having the commitment to build a business of your own.

Interested in becoming an ActionCOACH UK franchise partner?

If you have business experience and want to help other people succeed while building a business of your own, discover more about the ActionCOACH UK franchise opportunity.

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