Meet Liam James Collins, co-founder of The Coaching Masters

Based in London, Liam James Collins is the co-founder of the international multi-million pound life coaching academy The Coaching Masters.

Joining forces with business partner and life coach Lewis Raymond Taylor, Liam co-founded The Coaching Masters bringing with him years of successful coaching with clients in London. The pair came together with a vision to bring their skills to a wider international audience.

What inspired the launch of The Coaching Masters, and why this specific business model?

Prior to setting up The Coaching Masters I was running my own coaching business. I was fully booked and it was going well. However, it was set up in the traditional way; so working with individuals one-to-one to help them achieve their goals.

I came across a fellow coach and entrepreneur – Lewis Raymond Taylor – on Instagram. We started messaging each other and just connected straight away. We agreed to meet up and during that first meeting, we mapped out what is now known as The Coaching Masters. We shared exactly the same vision and we each brought different skills to the table. I came with the coaching experience and Lewis came with online business acumen – and these approaches combined enabled us to create The Coaching Masters.

Can you tell us more about your personal experience with coaching and how it has impacted your life?

I first discovered coaching when acting work had dried up and, out of a sheer need to earn money, I became a postman. During my post rounds I spent hours and hours listening to multiple podcasts about personal development and life coaching. It was through these that I not only heard about coaching but listened to experts sharing coaching lessons, approaches and methodologies. I learned so much.

The catalyst for me actually starting my original coaching business also came during my time as a postman. In a true ‘sliding doors’ moment, I delivered a parcel to Tom Hardy’s house. I had spent months working alongside him on the set of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Batman film, and seeing him face-to-face, after being on set with him, really hit home about how much my life had changed. That day I quit my job and set the wheels in motion to put what I’d learned into practice and I set up my one-to-one coaching business.

My desire to grow my original business – and later down the line, build The Coaching Masters – was driven, in part, by wanting to help others overcome adversities and make something of their lives. I had faced my fair amount of struggles as an actor, but it was in 2017 and 2018 that I faced significant traumas. In 2017, my wife and I were caught up in the London Bridge terror attacks which left eight dead, and the following year I lost my dad to suicide when he stepped in front of a train.

“I’m a very ordinary guy; I come from humble beginnings, I’m married, I have a young child - I’m similar to a lot of people out there. If coaching can help me not only get my life on track, but create a life I once only dreamed about, then anyone can.

How do you ensure the quality of your coaching courses and maintain high student satisfaction rates?

We put a lot of time and energy into really going the extra mile for our customers. I know it sounds a bit cliche but showing you care is something that so many businesses just don’t do and it counts for a lot. For example, sending a message in between coaching sessions to check in or sharing extra information or knowledge adds a lot to their experience. Coaching is often quite a personal relationship and so showing it’s not simply transactional, but runs deeper than that, is important.

We also constantly look at how we can innovate with regards the courses and services we offer. We want to give our members really amazing value for their money and we also want to encourage them to add to their skill sets and continue developing. Things like the CoachApp – our new interactive app, which is unlike anything that is currently out there – is a great example of how we’re reinvigorating the way coaches operate and work their business.

What is your long-term vision for The Coaching Masters?

Our long-term vision is to become the world's largest coaching community; that’s always been our mission from the start. We’ve already made huge strides and we’re currently the fastest growing online coaching academy in the world. 

A big part of how we’ve managed to grow so quickly - and keep that momentum going - is our approach. We’re quite futuristic in how we have developed our business and we’re unlike any other business out there. 

Pre-pandemic, we had already decided to develop our entire business online - so train people to become coaches online, accredit people online, host our graduation ceremonies online, the membership site would be housed online, the app and so on. Many in the industry laughed and said it couldn't be done; that coaching had to be delivered in-person. But our vision was always to be totally online and, of course, once the pandemic hit, pretty much every business in the world had to adapt to working more online - but we saw this as the future way before the pandemic came along.

How do you keep up with the latest trends and developments and factor in their impact?

To be honest, we are at the forefront of the latest trends and developments. We’re the ones paving the way in what the coaching world will become in the future and that’s what gives us the edge.

As I’ve said, we’ve always believed the future was going to be in the online world. But as we did the ground-work way before the pandemic hit, we’re a lot further along in our journey. While everyone else is doing bog-standard things like hosting sessions on Zoom, we’re light years ahead. Our app - CoachApp - utilises cutting-edge VR and AI to help coaches connect with potential coachees, grow with e-learning products and accredited qualifications and exchange coaching products on the app’s own marketplace. This is just one of the many ways that we do things differently.

Can you walk us through the process of launching and growing The Coaching Masters, and the challenges you faced along the way?

It happened quite quickly – and very organically. As I mentioned, Lewis and I mapped out our vision for The Coaching Masters during our first meeting. We then concepted and created our flagship 12-week accreditation course, which is still, to this day, one of our most popular courses that we offer.

We launched the course online, and delivered it live to the group, so we could take questions and feedback from the group throughout each session. On that first launch we made £17k which we reinvested back into the business. We used the feedback from the first course to tweak and refine the content. We then launched it a second time and made £50k, which again was reinvested. We repeated this process, and created many other courses, and built an ever-growing army of members.

It was this approach – of delivering courses to people online and live - that meant we could make the content razor sharp. It also meant we could engage directly with people, which is helpful with something that is quite personal like coaching.

A big challenge we’ve found is hiring and finding the right people for the team. We now have over 100 employees and it hasn’t been easy to find them. We’re the leaders in our field and so we want the very best talent we can find to help us stay ahead. 

We’ve also faced criticism from other coaches within the industry, who have been quite ruffled by what we do and how we’re changing the way coaching is delivered. We also move fast - we’re always looking to the future and challenging ourselves on how we can develop what we’re doing. There are obviously lots of positives to this but ensuring the present-day business is given the time and energy it needs alongside this is a constant juggle.

How has your background in acting and the entertainment industry helped you in your current role as a co-founder of The Coaching Masters?

The obvious would be that my years of acting experience has meant I’m confident talking to people and delivering coaching courses. You can be the most knowledgeable coach out there, but you have to be able to deliver it in a way that engages people, and in a way that they understand.

However, it goes much deeper than that. I grew up on a council estate and, when I went to theatre school, I met people from completely different backgrounds to me. They didn’t need to get acting jobs; they came from wealthy families who could support them financially regardless of if they got the job or not. I didn’t. For me, if I didn’t get the acting jobs I couldn’t pay rent. It was as simple as that. There was a lot at stake. I remember well what it’s like to live paycheck to paycheck and the uncertainty of not knowing if you’ll have a roof over your head the next month. Which is often something that people who join our courses can relate to. They aren’t all living paycheck to paycheck, but they are often working in a job that isn’t for them, or feel like something is lacking in their life, which is exactly where I was.

It has made me doggedly determined. And it’s actually been quite eye-opening for me to experience first-hand how someone like me, who came from very humble beginnings, can end up in this situation where I’ve built a successful business which is valued at $25million. It’s something I never thought would happen to me.

How do you balance your personal life with the demands of running a multi-million pound business?

It’s difficult, I’m not going to lie. But I keep myself grounded and don’t over-stretch myself. The things I seek to do in my personal time is what a lot of people want to do – I’m married and have a young daughter so I like to spend quality time together, provide a home for them and do things I enjoy in life.

I have one day a week where I don’t work, and that’s my day with my daughter. I guard that time fiercely, and I strictly keep that day free of work commitments. I also have weekend time with my family too.

I’m also lucky that I have a co-Founder who can share the load with me. Although we are often physically apart and many miles from each other, it feels like any issue or challenge is halved simply by having another person to share it with.

What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start their own coaching business or online training platform?

Consume as much knowledge as you can. I started off learning about this world through podcasts which are available to anyone. There are also lots of training platforms - like ours - that offer free content for those at the very start of their journey. 

Obviously I’m a huge advocate of joining a coaching community. They really do help you to propel your business forward much quicker, and more successfully, than you would if you were going solo. Just being surrounded by like-minded people is a huge motivator. But more to the point, you can avoid making all the common mistakes and pitfalls that many make when they are starting out by learning from others. It’s basically a fast-track to success.

How do you see the coaching industry evolving in the future, and what role do you think The Coaching Masters will play in shaping that future?

Without a doubt, the future of the industry is virtual. In fact, the future of the whole world is virtual. Whether people like it or not, it’s happening. Back in 2004 when Zuckerberg said our social interaction was moving online the vast majority of the world didn't understand - it seemed alien. But of course, we did all learn about it and now we have all adapted.

At the moment, we’re the only ones shaping the future of coaching in this way. We’re building out platforms in the virtual world - in fact, we already have a Coaching Masters building in the virtual world. It’s here that the future lies.