How BU Coaching is Growing Global Wellbeing

This inspiring story is of a rising startup called BU Coaching started by Declan Edwards. BU Coaching exists to grow global wellbeing, one mind at a time, by empowering people with the tools and team to thrive. Here is the story of BU Coaching in Declan’s own words.

Introduce us to the idea of BU Coaching

BU Coaching specializes in providing personal development and wellbeing coaching to people who want to learn how to master their mind and manage their emotions. We empower people to recognize that happiness is a skill, and like any other skill, it can be developed over time.

The main way we help people do this is via our signature Personal Development & Wellbeing Accelerator program which combines 5 fields of research into practical group workshops, live masterclasses, eLearning modules, and immersive 1 on 1 session with a Coach selected for them.

We noticed when it came to the mental and emotional wellbeing ecosystem there was a distinct lack of proactive approaches that equipped people with important life skills before they hit rock bottom. We decided to add value to the industry by developing an approach that wasn’t only proactive but also practical and fun for people to utilize.

Since launching in 2017, we’ve helped people in 5 countries dramatically improve their wellbeing. On average, our members achieve a 57% increase in their happiness within their first year at BU!

Now, as we continue to grow and make an impact, we’re focused on how we can continue to add even more value not only to our members lives but to the wider community as a whole.

Two examples of this are our free Hikes for Happiness initiative as well as our free Hacking Happiness online workshops. These programs provide people with some of the foundational tools for improving their wellbeing without costing them a cent. It’s our way of giving back.

What’s your strategy story? What led you to start BU Coaching?

I started BU Coaching from the spare room of my house after spending 5 years working on my own personal development and wellbeing.

I had struggled for most of my life with low self esteem, a lack of clarity in my life vision and a deep sense of being unfulfilled.

Eventually it got to the point where I was in and out of hospital with disordered eating. It was at this point that I realised that something had to change – I could work on my physical health as much as I wanted but until I dealt with my mental and emotional wellbeing directly I would never truly be happy or content.

Over the years that followed I was fortunate enough to work closely with a range of incredible Coaches; some of who I still work alongside today. I also went on to study fields such as Positive Psychology and Mindfulness.

Step by step my entire life was changed for the better.

I also noticed that as I became happier and developed the skillsets required to life a fulfilling life I automatically began spreading a positive ripple effect to the people around me.

When I realized this ripple effect of the change was the true beauty of personal development and wellbeing I wanted to play a larger part in making a positive impact on the world.

This is what led me to create BU Coaching as a vehicle for making the same positive impact in the lives of others that I am so grateful to have experienced within my own life.

Despite the years and the challenges, our why has never felt stronger.

What marketing, operation strategies are you adopting at BU Coaching?

We have moved a lot of our focus over the past year from just acquiring new clients to instead adopting strategies that deeply nurtures our existing client base.

We have seen this reflected in our metrics as our client count has stayed around the same but overall revenue has increased. We have also enjoyed a substantial increase in the number of referrals and organic inbound enquiries we receive.

Now that we have a solid Customer Lifetime Value for 2021 we are refocusing on a lead ecosystem that delivers a large amount of value organically and educates people in a natural way.

Our main costs are the SaaS services as well as the Coaching team that fulfill this ecosystem. Our way of remaining cost-conscious with these is to directly measure them and ensure they’re delivering value for what we pay. We’re also quick to readjust and lean out areas of the company that aren’t aligning with our strategic direction.

As the majority of our marketing strategies are evergreen and organic we are more able to play a long game that is centered on building a brand and movement instead of a churn and burn short game that focuses on quick profit alone.

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Any strategy mistakes you have made and what did you learn?

Focus on building the right team around you as early as possible.

This means bringing in people with the right technical skills as well as the right culture fit and soft skills.

We spent years making the mistake of hiring fast and firing slow. As soon as we became remarkably clear on who we wanted to have in our team, and we built an onboarding process that set our team up for success everything ran a lot more smoothly.

Entrepreneurship can often be lonely. Getting the right people in your corner is one of the best strategy decisions you can make.

Finally what advice do you have for your fellow entrepreneur readers?

The best advice I can offer for other entrepreneurs is to do it for a reason that is bigger than yourself.

Entrepreneurship is often over-glorified these days and too many people pursue it as a way of getting rich quick.

There isn’t much that is as challenging as starting and building a successful company but if you’re doing it for the right reasons it is also deeply fulfilling.

Be an entrepreneur to make a difference in the world, do it to leave a positive impact on the lives of the people who interact with your brand.

Not only will this spread a positive ripple effect on your team and your customers, but it will also leave a profoundly positive impact on you personally.

Disclaimer: The information in the above story is provided by the startup and The Strategy Story takes no responsibility for the authenticity of the product and services offered by the startup. Reader’s discretion is advised.

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