From Burnout to Butterfly: A Coach's Real Story 🦋🔥
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Trish Ford has spent thirty years in and around the human side of business — from a master's in research psychology to two decades in corporate strategy and monitoring and evaluation. Today, as managing director of Step Transformation, she does the work she says she was quietly missing all along: guiding leaders and business owners through deep, inner-world transformation.
In this episode of Meet My Business, Trish sits down with host Hendrik Baird to talk about what real coaching looks like beyond the post-COVID noise. She explains the difference between wearing "the consultant's hat" and truly holding space for a client, why so much leadership work is actually about self-doubt and identity, and how she uses science, structure and vivid analogies — including a broomstick named Joe — to help people see themselves differently.
Along the way she shares her own discipline built through triathlon (including guiding South Africa's first visually impaired athlete at the Commonwealth Games), the hardest parts of building a business, and the client success stories that keep her going. If you're a leader who has done the courses, built the strategy, and still feels stuck, this conversation offers a grounded, honest look at what it takes to move from burnout to clarity.
In this episode of Meet My Business, Trish sits down with host Hendrik Baird to talk about what real coaching looks like beyond the post-COVID noise. She explains the difference between wearing "the consultant's hat" and truly holding space for a client, why so much leadership work is actually about self-doubt and identity, and how she uses science, structure and vivid analogies — including a broomstick named Joe — to help people see themselves differently.
Along the way she shares her own discipline built through triathlon (including guiding South Africa's first visually impaired athlete at the Commonwealth Games), the hardest parts of building a business, and the client success stories that keep her going. If you're a leader who has done the courses, built the strategy, and still feels stuck, this conversation offers a grounded, honest look at what it takes to move from burnout to clarity.
Chapters
- 00:00 Cold open: the burnt-out founder
- 00:38 Welcome & introducing Trish Ford
- 00:55 Who is Trish, beyond the job title
- 02:13 Physical wellbeing, resilience & the Commonwealth Games
- 03:21 A typical day: 4am starts and holding space
- 05:01 From research psychology to two decades in corporate
- 06:14 Noticing the same human themes everywhere
- 07:08 Consultant's hat vs. holding space
- 08:00 The hardest part: finding the first retainer
- 08:18 Never too hard: discipline, resilience & "FAIL"
- 09:37 Advice to her younger self: pruning the branches
- 10:44 What surprised her most: people & alignment
- 12:34 The ship captain and the crew
- 13:42 Explaining coaching in plain language
- 14:18 The ideal client
- 15:10 The client journey & discovery session
- 17:55 What makes this coaching different (meet Joe)
- 19:39 What actually changes for a client
- 21:11 Biggest success stories
- 23:29 Where to find Step Transformation
- 24:32 One piece of advice: become the butterfly
