What can coaches and leaders learn from the people who have mastered the art of appearing on stage and screen? And what can coaching give back to the creative industries? Answering these questions through his work at the intersection of coaching, corporate leadership and on-screen presentation skills is Gareth Davies, renowned executive television producer of shows like Strictly Come Dancing and Top of the Pops, who is now one of the industry’s leading presenter coaches. Gareth co-founded The Pr...
Nov 20, 2025•2 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 113
Sam Isaacson saw the rise of artificial intelligence coming, and he was ready for it. With his background in managing technology risk and change, he could see the impact that rapid AI development would have on his current profession as a coach, and in this episode of The Coach’s Journey Podcast he addresses some of the most pressing issues facing coaches all over the world. Very few people are as well placed as Sam to speak about the threats and the benefits AI holds for human coaches. After all...
Nov 06, 2025•2 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 112
What does the future of coaching look like… and what can we learn from those who helped build it? Ruth Rochelle returns to The Coach’s Journey Podcast to reflect on how the coaching world has evolved over the past four decades and where it might be heading next. Prompted by a listener’s question, Ruth shares stories from the early days of coaching - when it was more movement than industry - through the professionalisation of the 1990s to today’s fast-changing, tech-enabled landscape. Alongside t...
Oct 16, 2025•32 min•Season 1Ep. 111
What if almost every coaching challenge you face in your practice could be solved with better coaching contracts and clearer agreements? That’s what Robbie dives into in this short episode. Drawing on his own coaching practice, experiences in supervision, and lessons learned from mentors and peers, Robbie explains why contracting with clients is one of the most important skills a coach can develop… and how better contracting could have solved almost every challenge he’s ever brought to supervisi...
Oct 02, 2025•19 min•Season 1Ep. 110
Ever since she was a child, working in her father’s clothes shop in Derbyshire and standing on a box to see over the counter, Jenny Bird has spent her life being interested in people. She drew upon the principles of communication honed during those formative years as she blossomed into one of the United Kingdom’s very first master coaches, going on to co-author renowned coaching titles such as The Art of Coaching: A Handbook of Tips and Tools, and How to Work with People... and Enjoy It! In this...
Sep 18, 2025•1 hr 53 min•Season 1Ep. 109
Shruti Sonthalia says purpose is her superpower. A strong sense of purpose helped Shruti to demolish seemingly insurmountable barriers to becoming a Master Certified Coach and a globally renowned industry figure, and in this episode of The Coach’s Journey Podcast, she implores all coaches to find their ‘why’. Shruti began her journey without coaches around her to learn from, living and working in a culture that assumed expertise was the preserve of men with white hair. Believing it was her purpo...
Sep 04, 2025•1 hr 50 min•Season 1Ep. 108
A commitment to “directional correctness” has helped Patrick Quinton-Smith solve existential questions on the way to becoming the co-founder of a multigenerational coaching consultancy, Gen Z Coach. In his fast-paced career, Patrick has overcome huge challenges by remaining true to his philosophy of maintaining a steady direction – even when sidewinds threaten to blow him off course. When rapid success in the energy sector failed to bring Patrick fulfilment he took a bold step towards coaching, ...
Aug 21, 2025•1 hr 41 min•Season 1Ep. 107
In this episode, Robbie walks you step‑by‑step through how he leads the first conversation with a potential coaching client - with authenticity, honour and integrity, and without being salesy or pushy. Packed with clear guidance and real‑world examples, you'll learn how to: Prepare clients in advance and set expectations before the call Model leadership in the first conversation to build credibility and trust Guide the conversation through contracting, coaching, and honesty Lead naturally toward...
Aug 07, 2025•20 min•Season 1Ep. 106
What does it really look like to take your coaching practice on the road? In this short episode, Robbie and Alex Swallow get together to explore the possibilities and challenges of coaching as a digital nomad — or simply working remotely and flexibly as a coach . They talk about their experience working from Costa Rica, Dar es Salaam, cafés in the UK, and the practical and emotional realities of taking coaching work on the move. This conversation is filled with candid reflections, personal stori...
Jul 17, 2025•20 min•Season 1Ep. 105
What if the way you sell your coaching is getting in the way of the coaching itself? In this solo episode, Robbie shares how his thinking and practice around selling coaching packages has evolved — from charging by the session, to selling time-bound coaching engagements that prioritise impact, flexibility and real transformation. This candid, behind-the-scenes reflection covers everything from awkward money conversations to powerful client breakthroughs — and invites coaches to rethink how they ...
Jul 03, 2025•20 min•Season 1Ep. 104
Every village and every community throughout human history has relied upon people who can facilitate conversations, allowing sacred truths to be passed along generations. In a modern world gripped by a process of massive transformation, this vital, ancient work now falls to coaches. That is the view of Bob Singha, a master coach who has spent 28 years helping people connect the day-to-day reality of their lives with the eternal teachings of their ancestral heritage. In conversation with Alex Swa...
Jun 19, 2025•2 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 103
How do we keep working when tragedy shakes our lives? If seismic events disrupt our foundations, is it possible to build something new with confidence? For Ellie Scarf, suffering a heartbreaking loss led to profound changes that have moved her from her zone of excellence into her zone of genius, where she draws upon her experiences to offer her coaching clients an approach and a service that is uniquely her own. In this episode of The Coach’s Journey Podcast, Ellie recounts the steps that took h...
Jun 05, 2025•1 hr 50 min•Season 1Ep. 102
The question that new coaches ask most often: do I need a niche and how do I choose one? We don’t know why that idea is so pervasive among new coaches, but it is, so when Robbie got a question about it from a subscriber recently, he thought he’d make a short episode about it. Excuse the audio - he recorded on his phone - and see below for links to a few things he mentions in the episode. For more information about Robbie Swale, visit https://www.robbieswale.com/ Read more about The Coach's Journ...
May 29, 2025•5 min•Season 1Ep. 101
To celebrate the 100th episode of The Coach’s Journey Podcast, Robbie takes us back to where the whole Coach’s Journey adventure began: the story of how he grew his coaching business so it could support him full time, less than two years after he started training as a coach. As you’ll hear him say in the introduction, coming back to this story - which forms the basis of Robbie’s most-read piece of writing about coaching - reminded him how, when it comes to the fundamentals, little has changed in...
May 15, 2025•33 min•Season 1Ep. 100
In a world so focused on productivity, Coach’s Journey founder and host Robbie Swale is interrogating what this word really means. His work on the concept of meaningful productivity explores up questions like: “What do I need to do in order to be at peace with myself?” And: “Do I want to be more productive or simply not feel like I’m failing all the time?” In this episode of The Coach’s Journey Podcast, Robbie joins Joey Owen for a conversation that gets to the very heart of Robbie’s work as a l...
May 01, 2025•2 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 99
Being made redundant 18 months after moving to America transformed Ashana Crichton’s life because, in her own words, when you take away the security blanket you have to leap into something new. In this episode of The Coach’s Journey Podcast, Ashana fondly recalls having the rug pulled from under her feet, because it set her on the path to becoming a certified Master Executive Coach and the founder of Arc Growth, which cultivates spaces of shared belonging for influential leaders and under-repres...
Apr 17, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 98
Growing up with a father and brother who were “never wrong” left Yannick Jacob seeking a life that wasn’t about right answers. That led him to coaching, and more specifically to existential coaching, a space where humanity’s oldest and most profound questions – and the plethora of answers to them – can be explored at a deeper level. Yannick is an existential life and leadership coach, a positive psychologist, and the programme director of the Accredited Certificate in Integrative Coaching (ACIC)...
Apr 03, 2025•2 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 97
How do our surroundings affect our ability to think? And can we connect with our sense of place and purpose by immersing ourselves in nature? In this episode of the Coach’s Journey Podcast, walking coach Rebecca Norton brings her combined expertise in coaching and mountain leadership to bear on these questions and many more, in conversation with host Alex Swallow. Rebecca and Alex explore the lasting impact that access to the natural world has on our lives, from infancy through to adulthood, and...
Mar 27, 2025•2 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 96
GiveDirectly is an extraordinary organisation, working to end extreme poverty through an idea that is simple but revolutionary: give cash directly to people in extreme poverty and let them decide what they need most. Research shows this approach is not only effective but also deeply empowering. Since I ( Robbie ) first read about GiveDirectly in 2017, it has been the focus of almost all my charitable giving: I find the research-backed practices and incredibly meaningful recipient stories so comp...
Mar 20, 2025•1 hr 46 min•Season 1Ep. 95
In this episode of The Coach’s Journey Podcast, hosts Robbie Swale, Alex Swallow and Alex Whitton reflect on some of their most practical takeaways from over 90 episodes of the show. These are the things that they have taken and used in their coaching and coaching businesses… and you can too! In particular, they talk about : Working over a period of time not a number of sessions. Creating rolling coaching engagements . Making the invitation to a coaching session a gift . Using neuroscience in th...
Mar 06, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 94
So many coaches find themselves lost in comparison as they work on their coaching businesses. In this TCJ Short, an excerpt from Episode #42 , you can hear developmental psychologist Jennifer Garvey Berger sharing the metaphor she uses to support her clients to gain more perspective on the impossible comparisons they create for themselves. As Jennifer and Robbie discuss, even just hearing this metaphor will help anyone who finds themselves trapped in comparison to gain even a tiny bit more persp...
Feb 20, 2025•4 min•Season 1Ep. 93
In this unique crossover episode of The Coaching Inn and The Coach’s Journey Podcast, hosts Claire Pedrick and Robbie Swale come together for the first time to discuss their upcoming collaborative workshop, The Artful Coach and the Soulful Coaching Business , scheduled for 10th May, 2025. This episode is a delightful blend of humor, insightful conversation, and a deep dive into the themes of artful coaching and soulful business practices. In particular : Claire delves into the concept of the Art...
Feb 06, 2025•42 min•Season 1Ep. 92
This short episode contains Robbie’s answer to a question every coach should ask themselves, especially if they want a sustainable coaching business: how do create a powerful ending to a coaching engagement? It’s so easy as a coach to completely miss the opportunity to create meaning and transformation at the end of our coaching programmes. But that's what's possible if we pay attention to this key moment in our work. In this episode Robbie explains : What I learned about endings from my coaches...
Jan 23, 2025•21 min•Season 1Ep. 91
In this TCJ Short, an excerpt from Episode #47 , you can hear Lindsey Lewis describing the six key skills she had to develop in order to create a successful coaching business , inspired by experts in the field like Amber Krysz, Carolyn Freyer Jones and Steve Chandler. Lindsey outlines the skills, and then she and Robbie and dive into some of them in detail. The things Robbie and Lindsey discuss here give practical texture to some of the stages of The Coaching Business Flywheel . Download the fre...
Jan 02, 2025•25 min•Season 1Ep. 90
This short episode contains the answer to one of the questions Robbie gets asked the most, a question that is really hard to answer as you set out on your journey as a coach: how do I choose a coaching training programme? There are links to most of the people Robbie mentioned, as well as the article about changing careers, below. Download Robbie’s ebook, An Introduction to The Coaching Business Flywheel, here. For more information about Robbie, visit https://www.robbieswale.com/ Read more about ...
Dec 26, 2024•7 min•Season 1Ep. 89
Can coaching teach us to love ourselves more? Can it help us come to terms with injustice and pain? Does it offer a route towards peace? Executive coach, consultant and facilitator Philip Crocker explores all of these questions in this episode of The Coach’s Journey Podcast, and shares the wisdom and insights he uses in his work with senior leaders from some of the world’s most innovative organisations. Philip tells host Alex Whitton what he learned from launching several successful businesses b...
Dec 19, 2024•1 hr 52 min•Season 1Ep. 84
Amy Brann has been studying neuroscience since she was 15. Now, as the founder of Synaptic Potential, she brings all that expertise to working with organisations to create meaningful change backed by scientific underpinnings. Named 2023 HR Most Influential Thinker , Amy is the author of three books about neuroscience, including Neuroscience For Coaches , which is on the reading lists of many of the best coach training organisations and forms the foundation for this episode: a deep dive into how ...
Dec 05, 2024•2 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 87
In this TCJ Short, an excerpt from Episode #53 , you can hear Sarah Fox and Robbie outlining powerful and simple ways for a coach (and any freelancer or self-employed person) to take control of their finances and manage them more skilfully: both for now, and for the future. In particular, they talk about: Separating priceless you from the business and work you do so you can get clear on your numbers. The practical change that Robbie made that transformed both how well his finances are organised ...
Nov 28, 2024•20 min•Season 1Ep. 86
This is the sixth and final episode in a series diving into The Coaching Business Flywheel and the fundamental parts of a sustainable coaching business. In this episode, Robbie and Ruth get to grips with the final part of the flywheel, the thing we all got into this coaching thing for: working with clients . They share the most effective ways to make your coaching more powerful and useful for your clients and – more than that – how to make your coaching more likely to create future referrals and...
Nov 21, 2024•52 min•Season 1Ep. 85
Gary Buxton admits he spends his life stuck in rabbitholes. As a psychologist and executive coach, he loves nothing more than to geek out about the evidence base for coaching, ensuring his own practice is built on the latest science. While Gary is a firm believer that coaching is always a process and never a destination, in this episode of The Coach’s Journey Podcast he warns against the pitfalls of being overwhelmed by study, reminding us that it is through practice that we cultivate and nurtur...
Nov 07, 2024•1 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 84
