Day in the life of a Brainiact business coach

As a Brainiact franchise partner and business coach, my life is an exciting blend of work and leisure. While I’m permanently based in Sydney, Australia, I have the incredible opportunity to pursue my passion for business coaching while exploring Europe. I’m currently in Switzerland, enjoying the balance between giving back to small business owners and embracing my active lifestyle with family.

My schedule is always changing to accommodate my international clients. I try to reserve my business coaching sessions for Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, but I’m always flexible, even if it means a few midnight calls! Here’s what my typical Tuesday looks like as a Brainiact franchise partner and business coach.

I start my day at 6 am with 30 minutes of vinyasa yoga. I’m a nicer person after yoga; it gets me in a good headspace and is good for my overall health. I usually attend yoga classes twice a week, but being away in Switzerland, I’m happy doing online videos by myself.  

After yoga, I’ll have a cup of tea or coffee with my classic bowl of muesli and yoghurt for breakfast. I also take a moment to check my overnight emails and messages. These are usually on financial matters, client inquiries, or just networking and catching up. As a rule, I don’t like to do mundane things like checking emails first thing in the morning, but being in a different time zone, I have to make an exception. 

Around 7 am I kick off with my first client coaching session of the day. This client is an electrician based in Sydney who is energetic and hardworking but gets caught up in personal pursuits, and I’m constantly reminding them to grab the steering wheel and drive this great business they’ve got. I’ve been working with them for three months now and it’s a very fulfilling relationship. They absorb our sessions like a sponge. These days we’re working on their leadership skills and pricing strategy, encouraging them to increase their prices to reflect the hard work their team does.

The hour flies by and afterwards, I collate the notes I scribbled during the meeting. I like doing this after the meeting because I can really think about the key takeaways and outline goals and weekly actions to send to the client. My client meetings aren’t on a fixed recurring schedule. I always lock in a time for the next week as we wrap up the current session. Nevertheless, I always try to schedule meetings on the same day for each client.

Then, it’s straight to my next coaching call with my clients in Melbourne. This husband-and-wife duo has a successful business but grapples with work-life balance. We're working on helping them transition away from the tools and delegate to their employees, so they can focus on growing the business. It's all about creating a sustainable future because they simply can't keep up the gruelling routine of waking up at 5 am, spending the day on-site, and then working late into the night. Slowly but surely, they're embracing the need for work-life balance.

After the meeting and some notetaking, I have a relaxing coffee with my wife, Allison. Then, around 10 am, we go for our four to five-kilometre walk, often venturing into the beautiful mountain trails and valleys, sometimes reaching the snowline. These are just leisurely nature walks to rejuvenate us and soak in the sights.

By noon, we’re back for a light lunch, which is usually some soup or sandwiches and then I have a business call with an advisory client in Indonesia. They’re bringing in new products from Europe and they need my help repositioning their business. It’s a good chat where we bounce off ideas and work out the next steps. I also put my business coach hat on for a bit, nudging them to do a few things instead of shouldering everything myself!

At 2:30 pm, I have time to send my Brainiact clients reading materials to inspire them if they have 10 minutes to spare. I’ll also text them asking how they’re doing with their action plans or if they have any questions before our next meeting. I make sure there’s regular contact between our one-hour sessions. At least they know I’m thinking about them, and we can have a stronger relationship that goes beyond just the one-hour sessions.

After that, I’ll have a call with another advisory client – a startup CEO in the software space from Australia who is looking to penetrate the American market. This is essentially a chat between me, an experienced CEO, and him, a fast-learning CEO, discussing insights and shared experiences.

At around 4 pm, it’s time for my big bike ride. I typically do a 50 km loop down the mountain to the Rhone Valley and return uphill. The roads are narrow so there’s no margin for error here. I’ll admit it’s a pretty tough time! But it’s a good workout and it makes me feel great afterwards. Allison will sometimes join me on her e-bike and we can ride together.

The bike ride takes about two hours, after which we prepare dinner. I’m a good cook but I also need to show off in front of friends, so I won’t cook that often. But I’m a great helper and washer-upper! For dinner, we keep a conscious diet. We usually eat fish two to three times a week and have a few vegetarian days, but these days we mostly stick to pork or chicken and low carbs.

We then catch up with family via WhatsApp. Our parents and three boys are all in the UK, so we engage in video calls and messages a few times a week. Being physically separated due to travel or work, finding time to talk to them is quite important. At around 8 or 9 pm it’s time to relax and wind down with a glass of wine, watching Netflix or cheering on Manchester City.

At midnight, I have my last coaching session. Among my three business coaching days, I’ll usually have one midnight call, which isn’t bad at all. This client is another hardworking husband-and-wife team working in the air conditioning space. They are transitioning their focus from installation to maintenance work. It’s always a good session with these two because the more I give them, the more they do, but now it’s just a matter of finding a good rhythm for growth. Currently, we’re preparing for their first-ever team meeting, trying to create a productive and cost-effective day for their employees.

I finally head to bed around 2 am, hoping I can fully recharge and be ready for my next set of adventures tomorrow.