MENTORING & BUSINESS COACHING FOR EXECUTIVE & LEADERSHIP COACHES
You’ve got the corporate experience. Now turn it into a thriving coaching business.
You left corporate to build a coaching business you’re passionate about, on your own terms.
Now you have the coaching qualification, what you need next is the business itself: clients who seek you out, pricing that reflects your worth, the confidence to put yourself out there and be seen.
Because the business side is a skill in its own right. Like every skill you’ve mastered, you can learn it.
But coaching techniques and business skills are only two-thirds of the picture. The other third is your mindset. Miss that, and you risk trading a high-flying corporate career for a coaching business that owns you.
The relentless drive comes with you. The long hours creep back. Because your drivers don’t stay behind when you hand in your pass.
Learn a new way of working alongside the new skills, and you get a business that works for you.
Introducing the Thriving Coach Programme
The Thriving Coach Programme is a one-to-one, high-touch mentoring and business coaching experience for coaches building a high-value business after a successful corporate career. It’s built on the THRIVE framework: a coaching methodology of six principles drawn from my coaching experience.
Most business coaching for coaches works on the outside of your business: the offers, the marketing, the pricing. That work is essential, and we do all of it. But the reason you’re not yet charging what you’re worth, or putting yourself out there, or growing the business you pictured, is rarely only on the outside. It’s an inside job, not an outside job.
THRIVE works on both. The business and the person building it.
The THRIVE Framework
We get crystal clear on your bigger business goals, the difference you want to make, and how to structure it so it supports the life you want instead of recreating the job you left. This is where we remove the clutter, stop chasing shiny objects, and align everything around your real priorities.
You likely have offers or packages already, but something isn’t landing. We simplify, strengthen, and price them properly, so you walk away with a clear, streamlined programme that sells and a business set up for client retention and revenue growth.
We sharpen your messaging and create a simple, sustainable way to be visible, without living on the content treadmill. Consistent, values-based marketing that brings the right clients to you.
This is the inside work. The undercharging, the over-giving, the not putting yourself forward. We uncover the drivers you brought with you from corporate and replace them with evidence-based beliefs and habits that support success.
To win high-ticket contracts and corporate clients, you have to talk about your work with clarity and confidence. We develop the positioning, pricing, and proposals that show the real value of what you do, and the self-belief to stand behind them.
A clarity or chemistry session is two professionals deciding whether they fit, and you can lead it without a script or a pitch. I’ll show you how to guide the conversation with confidence, hold the space without second-guessing yourself, and connect the value of your offer directly to the results your client wants.
Six principles, applied directly to your business, with me walking alongside you.
What working with me looks like
Here’s what that involves:
“I wasn’t paying myself before, but now I’ve blown my financial goals out of the water. I now pay myself more than ever before, and made a 900% return on the money I invested in working with Sue!”
“I increased my clients by 70% and raised my fees twice while working with Sue.“
How to get started
Try the free Thriving Coach Workshop
Want a feel for how I work before you book a call? Watch my free Thriving Coach Workshop. I’ll walk you through the most common mistakes coaches make when building a coaching business, and what successful coaches do instead. You’ll leave with practical steps you can put to work straight away.
Hi, I’m Sue Belton, business coach for coaches and best-selling author
I’m a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Federation (ICF), and I’ve been running my own coaching business since 2008.
I know the journey you’re on because I’ve made it myself. I left a career as a BBC documentary producer, trained as a coach, and went all in on my own business. I wanted the freedom to set my own hours, do the work I loved, and live life on my own terms.
Here’s what I didn’t expect: two years in, I burned out. I’d left television to escape the long hours and the relentless pace, and I’d brought every bit of it with me. I had to learn that a sustainable business gets built from the inside as much as the outside. That’s the work I now do with you, so you don’t lose two years learning it the hard way like I did.
I also learned the business skills no coaching certification teaches you: how to shape a signature offer, how to price and sell your work without feeling salesy, how to market so the right clients find you. I built my business through a recession, Brexit, and COVID. It’s now a six-figure business coaching senior leaders and C-suite executives in organisations like Virgin Wines, Getty Images,Curtis Brown, Costain, and Generali.
Along the way I was named Coach of the Year in 2025, Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2020, and Best Coach in 2021. I’m the author of two bestsellers, Screw Meditation! and Change Your Life in 5, and I hosted the Change Makers podcast.
And I walk my own talk. These days, I work the hours I choose, and I don’t work Fridays. My fiance and I walk our dog, Daisy, every morning. We spend quality time with my daughter when she’s home.
I want all this for you too. Even if your saboteurs are going crazy right now. Even if you don’t think it’s still possible to build this kind of business. It is. My mentees are doing it right now, and you can too.
My approach is warm, direct, and designed for capable, driven people who are ready to do the real work. I’ll tell you the truth about what I see, including the things you might not want to hear. And I’ll be right there with you while you do it.
If you’re ready for a coaching business that lives up to your ambition, join my waitlist. I take on a small number of coaches at a time. When a space comes up, I’ll be in touch to arrange a call and see if we’re a fit.
Who the Thriving Coach Programme is for
This programme is not for everyone, and that’s by design.
I work with a small number of coaches at a time because this work requires proximity and attention. The coaches I work with are serious about building a high-value practice, ready to invest in getting there, and clear that they don’t want to recreate the corporate grind in a different setting.
If that sounds like you, read on.
The Thriving Coach Programme is for coaches who bring a wealth of experience from a senior corporate career and want a coaching business that matches their ambition without consuming their life.
You want an income that reflects your worth and the freedom that made you leave corporate in the first place: time for your family, your health, and the work-life balance you left for.
You might be at the very start, having recently stepped out of a senior role to retrain and go out on your own. Or you might be a year or two in, doing good work but not yet reaching the income, clients, or confidence you know you’re capable of.
Either way, you’re ambitious, self-aware, and ready to do real work.
A lot of capable coaches give up and go back to corporate because they’ve cracked the coaching part but can’t get the business side working. After a while a salary starts to look easier than struggling to figure it out. I don’t want that for you.
That’s exactly the point where the right support makes a huge impact.
Thriving Coach graduates include:
- Executive coaches
- Leadership coaches
- Executive life coaches moving into higher-value work
- Coaches building a corporate client base
- ICF-credentialed coaches (ACC, PCC, MCC)
- Coaches recently qualified after a senior corporate career
This is not the right programme if you’re looking for a quick-fix, a template-driven approach (although you will receive plenty of client document templates), a large group programme, or if you want to coach part-time, pro bono, or as a lifestyle side-project.
This is the right programme if you’re a professional building a six-figure coaching business, you’re ready to charge what your experience is worth, and if you’re committed, coachable, and ready to build a coaching business you’re proud of
What you’ll gain from the programme
Committed to the Co-Active Community
I trained and certified with the Co-Active Training Institute (CTI) in 2008, and I’ve been an advocate and active member of the community for over 15 years.
Since 2024, I’ve been a guest presenter, delivering workshops on building a thriving coaching business to hundreds of coaches around the world. Most recently at Niche Advantage in January 2026 [LINK], and at International Coaching Week 2024-6, with sessions on Launching and Growing Your Coaching Practice and Coaching as a Career. [LINK]
Over the years I’ve also served as the Co-Active UK Local Groups Leader, the CTI London Ambassador, and CTI’s Business Mentor, running the live monthly “Business of Coaching” Q&A series for the community [LINK]. I’m honoured that Karen Kimsey-House, co-founder of CTI, endorsed my book Change Your Life in 5 and wrote its foreword.
Co-Active is a community built on a high standard of coaching, and it’s the standard I hold myself and my clients to.
Marketing Operations Specialist, Co-Active Training Institute
Is the Thriving Coach Programme a fit for you?
Join the waitlist. When a spot comes up, we’ll get on a clarity call to talk through your goals for your coaching business, the challenges you’re facing, and what you want from the programme. If we’re a fit, I’ll walk you through the options and you’ll choose the one that’s right for you.
What clients say
“Since working with Sue I’ve completely reshaped my packages and programmes and created an infrastructure that makes it simple and easy for people to work with me. I’ve had a complete upgrade of my coaching business, and I’m busy doing what I love. Being mentored by Sue is like being in a masterclass for how to be a professional coach, who knows her value and inspires others to do the same.”
“Sue is a coach who knows exactly what you need and will deliver to you the whole package + more than you can expect. She challenges you in a way that feels good, she sees what you need, and has a very good balance between mentoring and coaching.“
“I was immediately impressed by Sue’s professionalism and her practical, process-driven and highly strategic approach to coaching. As a coach, Sue is pragmatic, honest and good fun to work with! She was direct and always challenged me to step outside my comfort zone. The knowledge and experience that Sue shared was instrumental in helping me set the foundations for the successes of my new business.“
“Working with Sue is a mix of coaching, accountability, lots of determination, tenacity and hard work. As a coach and mentor, I would highlight Sue’s boldness, courage and transparency. I also admire her non-attachment to the results, her authenticity and her determination.
I highly recommend Sue to any coach who is looking for serious business development coaching and mentoring.“
“As a coach and mentor, Sue is direct, insightful, and tough at times! She’s intuitive and brave, and asks the questions that create discomfort, but ultimately the greatest learning, growth and change.“
“Sue is an incredibly warm, kind and supportive coach and mentor. She’s straightforward, no nonsense and at the same time sensitive and perceptive. She’s able to see your gifts, have you do the same, and encourage you to make progress in your life.“
“In terms of impact on me Sue has given me greater self-assurance as a business-owner. She’s pushed me to assess my standards, expectations and boundaries. I now have a raft of clients I love working with, I have a clear marketing strategy and a new business pipeline I’m excited to convert. I am proud of the business-owner I have become with Sue’s help.
Sue is a great coach and mentor. Sue is both professional and warm. She cuts through the crap and gets to the heart of what matters.”
“Before working with Sue, I was siloed into my immediate network of schools which left no room for growth. I lacked confidence in my offers and was hesitant to put myself out there.
After ten months of working with Sue, I now have two well-developed offers which have really helped me to be concrete when talking to prospective clients. One of my biggest accomplishments is that I’m now working in 3 new clients outside of my network.
I wasn’t paying myself before, but now I’ve blown my financial goals out of the water. I now pay myself more than ever before, and made a 900% return on the money I invested in working with Sue!
Sue had the perfect balance of warmth and directness. She creates a safe environment where I can take on challenges. She is a gifted mentor and coach.”
“I started working with Sue when I’d decided to resign from my corporate job but hadn’t done it yet. By December, when I submitted my resignation, I no longer had any doubts this was the right step for me.
One of the big things Sue and I worked on together was my relationship to money: being able to ask for what I am worth without feeling shame or guilt about it. Together with Sue, I created a 3-tier rate card for both 1:1 clients and corporate clients.
Sue is a generous and thoughtful coach. She’s generous both with her resources and generous with the time she spends thoughtfully responding to my WhatsApp messages. I looked forward to our 1:1 sessions together. At the end of each 1:1 session I always felt inspired and re-energized, more than ready to take the next step.”
“As my coach and business mentor, Sue was instrumental in the development of my coaching business. Leveraging her many years of experience, she helped me understand and take action on key milestones in creating a sustainable practice. Because of her coaching, I became much more comfortable with selling, which had a direct impact on the financial success of my business. I also developed my own IP/leadership model as a result of working with her. And I was clearer about what to (and not to) prioritize, when.
Entrepreneurship is more than a set of tactics. It’s also a mindset. She was great at helping me work through the emotional ups and downs, the saboteurs and the undermining narratives that arise with entrepreneurship. She helped me keep my own self-care and energy management in check along the way so that I could keep showing up to myself, my business, and my clients with vitality.
She’s sharp, direct, kind, no-nonsense. She has a wealth of experience and is generous with it. If you are in the early stages of building a coaching practice, she’s a smart investment. I’m grateful for our time together and have seen such an impact.”
“Sue is an amazing coach and business mentor. She is empathetic, direct, and injects warmth and humour into her sessions. Her advice on setting up a solo business was practical and clear. After working with her for 6 months, I am earning a decent living from doing something I love. I highly recommend Sue and I am sure I will be back for more when I need it again.”
“Some things I just needed to know, from someone who’s been there and done it, successfully, already. … She was so generous with her resources e.g. the templates she shared up front which have provided a lot of insights and inspiration for short-cutting the development of my own materials.“
“I was overwhelmed, a bit stuck, and I didn’t want to get it wrong… since working with Sue I’m now super clear on who I am and what I offer.“
“She’s sharp, direct, kind, no-nonsense. She has a wealth of experience and is generous with it. If you are in the early stages of building a coaching practice, she’s a smart investment.“
“One of the big things Sue and I worked on together was my relationship to money: being able to ask for what I am worth without feeling shame or guilt about it. Together with Sue, I created a 3-tier rate card for both 1:1 clients and corporate clients.”
“Since working with Sue I’ve completely reshaped my packages and programmes and created an infrastructure that makes it simple and easy for people to work with me. I’ve had a complete upgrade of my coaching business, and I’m busy doing what I love.“
“Sue is an invaluable business mentor. She helped me identify my strengths as a coach, clarify who I want to serve, and think through how to position and package my services. I’m incredibly grateful for her guidance and support.”
“As an MCC with 21 years of coaching experience, I’m a better coach today because I worked with Sue. Her wisdom, presence, and integrity have been such a gift.”
Monthly coach business building tips and tools
Client-getting strategies, workshop updates, and lessons from two decades of running my own coaching business. Straight to your inbox, every month.
Is the Thriving Coach Programme a fit for you?
Join the waitlist. When a spot comes up, we’ll get on a clarity call to talk through your goals for your coaching business, the challenges you’re facing, and what you want from the programme. If we’re a fit, I’ll walk you through the options and you’ll choose the one that’s right for you.
