Do I need a Mindset Coach or a Business Coach?

I often see this with women business owners and entrepreneurs: they arrive for coaching convinced they need a better strategy, only to discover (pretty quickly) that strategy isn’t actually their problem. The blocks are internal, and planning alone will rarely shift something that lives in your mindset rather than your marketing plan.

This is more important than most people realise because hiring the wrong kind of coaching doesn’t just waste your time and money, it leaves you feeling like a failure when it seems the coaching “doesn’t work”, when in reality it simply wasn’t addressing the right problem.

When the plan isn’t the problem

A strategy gap is pretty straightforward to spot. This is when you genuinely don’t know how to build a sales process, structure your offers, or market yourself consistently. You need information, frameworks, or systems you haven’t found yet. Business coaching is built for precisely this: helping you understand what to do and how to do it.

A mindset block looks completely different. You do know what to do. You’ve written the plan, read the book, watched the webinar, and done the courses, but when it comes time to actually do the thing something still stops you. You procrastinate on the tasks that matter most. You feel like you start strong and then self-sabotage just as momentum builds. You overthink every decision until it’s too late and you never have to decide at all. Maybe you can even feel this happening at the time and you find yourself thinking something like “what the hell is the matter with me, why can’t I just do it?”. On the outside this can look like a strategy problem, but inside you know it isn’t.

The most useful question you can ask yourself

Here it is: if someone handed you the exact strategy tomorrow, would you actually implement it? Not “would you try” but would you genuinely follow through, put yourself out there, be visible, speak your truth, say the things that will challenge people, make the bold decision, and hold your boundaries?

If the answer is yes, a business coach is almost certainly the better fit. If the honest answer is “probably not” then the barrier is internal, and that’s where the work needs to begin.

That mindset block is a hard thing to admit, particularly for capable, intelligent women who have built something real and look like they’ve got it together to the outside world. But recognising it is not a confession of weakness. It’s going to be the most efficient, game changing decision you will make for your business because it means you’re choosing the support that will actually move you forward, rather than the one that you feel you shouldchoose, or the one that would appearbest to other people.

So, now that you’re a bit clearer on what your stumbling block might be, we’re back to the original question…

Do I need a mindset coach or a business coach to grow my business?

When a business coach is the right choice

Business coaching is genuinely powerful when the challenge is structural, and you know you want to grow but you genuinely don’t know the right way to do it. By structural I mean revenue models, sales processes, market positioning etc, and those are things that a decent business coach can help with. Operational efficiency, team alignment, smarter hiring decisions, these are the kinds of external, fixable problems that good business coaching is designed to look at and develop.

Your hesitation isn’t about fear. It’s about not yet having the knowledge or framework to act with confidence. You’d move forward if someone helped you build the right plan. You’re not paralysed by self-doubt; you’re blocked by a genuine gap in your strategic knowledge.

The investment in a business coach makes sense when the return is commercial and operational, and when you’re genuinely positioned to put into practice and really test what you learn with them.

If that describes you, a business growth coach is exactly the right investment.

When a business mindset coach is the right choice

Research from HSBC UK found that more than a third of women in business (37%) said self-doubt was actively stopping them from growing. That figure isn’t surprising to anyone who works closely with female business owners, but it is striking because most of those women aren’t describing themselves as struggling with confidence. They’re describing themselves as not having the right strategy yet, or they might say they’re not good at business.

The signs that a mindset block is the real issue are consistent and recognisable. You have a plan and can articulate your strategy clearly, but you consistently don’t implement it. You procrastinate most on the highest-stakes tasks. Those are the ones that require you to be visible, take a risk, speak up, or make a bold decision. You hold back from raising your prices, showing up on social media, putting yourself in rooms with people you want to be rubbing shoulders with, pitching for speaking opportunities, or making offers, and it’s not because you lack a plan but because you’re afraid of being judged or getting it wrong somehow.

Imposter syndrome is the little voice in the back of your head that tells you you’re not qualified enough or ready yet. Visibility feels exposing rather than exciting. That’s a mindset block, not a knowledge gap.

What mindset coaching actually delivers in practice

A lot of people think mindset work is all journalling prompts and positive affirmations, but mindset coaching is far from that. A decent certified coach will draws on evidence-based coaching techniques to produce genuinely measurable shifts in your mindset – that’s how you think about and approach situations. The blocks are removed one by one, and the confidence to take those steps forward grows.

Women who work through their internal blocks consistently report improved decision-making confidence, the ability to be visible without the dread that previously came with it, and a self-trust that doesn’t collapse the moment something goes wrong (because life does life, and things do go wrong).

These shifts then translate directly into business results. Clients raise their rates to more appropriate levels, charging what they’re worth, and are able to tell people what they charge without whispering it, apologising for it, or immediately offering a discount. They apply for opportunities they had previously talked themselves out of.

Client case studies from mindset-led coaching, and results and testimonials from women I have worked with directly, report outcomes such as income doubling within six months, meaningful revenue increasing in the weeks following a mindset shift, and clients closing deals they wouldn’t have previously pursued. When the internal blocks are removed, the strategy can finally be put into action.

The pressure to “just get better at business”

Women often tend to reframe their fear as a strategy problem because that feels more acceptable to talk about. It’s easier to say “I need to fix my marketing” than “I’m terrified of being seen on social media”. Smart, capable women who invest repeatedly in business coaching when it’s a mindset issue often feel like failures when they still don’t move forward, and decide that coaching simply doesn’t work for them. It’s notthat coaching doesn’t work. It’s that the wrong kind of coaching was trying to address the problem. Coaching for female founders must begin with an honest conversation about how they feel about themselves and how they see themselves in their role as a business owner, and then they can work towards that being “better at business”.

How I approach things differently

Rather than jumping straight to strategy, the work we do together begins by identifying whether the real block is internal or external. If it’s internal, the mindset barrier is addressed first, because without that foundation, no strategy will stick. This is precisely why specialist mindset coaching for women business owners exists – not to replace business strategy, but to make sure the woman implementing that strategy is no longer working against herself. My clients regularly describe our sessions as non-judgemental and direct, somewhere they can get genuinely honest about what’s holding them back, often for the first time. Comfortably challenging, but challenging enough to make real change quickly.

What business mindset coaching typically costs with me

I’m very transparent in my pricing – I don’t believe you should have to email me, call me, fill in a survey, and jump through several hoops before I’ll give you a price. I have options to suit most women too.

A single focused power hour session, such as the Breakthrough Session, offers a lower-risk entry point: one hour of coaching dedicated to diagnosing a specific block and creating immediate forward momentum, and it’s priced to reflect that it’s a single focused session rather than a full programme.

The three-month Signature Coaching Intensive sits at the deeper end of the mindset coaching range and is designed for women ready for sustained transformation rather than a quick fix. We spend time together regularly, working on blocks as they come up in real time, evaluating the challenges and shifting the limiting beliefs that you have around them so that you can move forward.

And if you want even more impact, I offer VIP days and half days. These are designed to work on what matters most right now — for you, your business, or both. The day gives you focused, in‑person time where you stop sitting with things and mulling them over, make real decisions, and have a plan to put them into action.

Executive contracts can be designed if that’s what you would prefer. Just drop me a line and we’ll chat about what you need.

I also have a business mindset membership, so if you’re looking for ongoing community, accountability, and support without the investment of 1:1 coaching, The Rise membership for female business owners offers exactly that.

Both mindset coaching and business coaching represent a real investment, which is exactly why choosing the right one matters so much, and why the question of whether you need a mindset coach or a business coach to grow your business deserves a proper answer before you commit.

How quickly each type of coaching produces results

Mindset coaching can produce visible shifts relatively quickly. Many clients notice changes in their decision-making, their willingness to be visible, and their relationship with self-doubt within the first few weeks.

Business coaching typically delivers its most measurable commercial results over three to six months, as new systems and strategies bed in and compound.

The sequencing matters here too. My advice would be to seek the mindset coaching first, because women who address their mindset blocks then find that when they move into strategy work they actually implement it because the internal resistance is no longer in the way.

The most courageous business decision you’ll make this year

The question of whether you need a mindset coach or a business coach to grow your business isn’t about which type of coaching is objectively better. It’s about which type of challenge is actually getting in the way of you running your business right now. Getting honest about that distinction is its own act of courage, particularly if you are a woman who has spent years being told that the answer is always more strategy, more discipline, more social media, or more hustle.

For many women, the real answer is a mindset coach. Not because strategy doesn’t matter, but because strategy often won’t take hold until the internal blocks are cleared.

If you’re ready to find out what’s actually holding you back, take a look at how you can work with me or come and join The Rise. Moving your business forward is closer than you think.