Choosing a Client You LOVE - Lessons from Dylan Jones

In the world of entrepreneurship, there’s always more to learn. Whether you’re a seasoned business owner or a new coach, the journey of scaling, optimizing, and serving your clients is never-ending. In my latest podcast interview with Dylan Jones, founder of Profit Launchpad, we dove into the nuts and bolts of running a profitable coaching program—and he didn’t hold back.

With years of experience in operations consulting and private equity, Dylan has created a coaching program that’s transforming the lives of mid-six-figure business owners, especially in the blue-collar space. Here are some golden nuggets from our conversation that every coach should know.

1. Start Slow and Iterate

One of the most valuable lessons Dylan shared is that great coaching programs start small. Instead of launching with massive groups and complicated curriculums, he began by coaching five people at a time.

This allowed him to truly understand what his clients needed, rather than relying solely on his assumptions.

He emphasized that as coaches, we might think we know exactly what’s best for our clients, but the reality is often more complex. By starting small, Dylan was able to gather real-time feedback and tweak his program based on what worked best for his clients.

He took the time to refine each version of the program, making improvements along the way. It’s a powerful reminder that coaching is as much about listening as it is about teaching.

2. Don’t Try to Be Everything to Everyone

Another standout point Dylan made was about understanding your own limitations. He was quick to admit that even though he runs a coaching company, he doesn’t consider himself an expert in everything.

In fact, he believes the key to delivering a world-class coaching experience is bringing in subject matter experts to support your clients in specific areas like marketing, sales, or operations.

This struck a chord with me. Too often, we feel the pressure to be everything for our clients. But, as Dylan pointed out, the best coaches know when to call in additional expertise.

Not only does this take some of the pressure off of you, but it also ensures that your clients are getting the best possible support.

3. Focus on What You Do Best

Perhaps the most profound insight came when we discussed niching down. Dylan’s coaching program focuses specifically on helping blue-collar businesses reach seven figures without burning out.

He found his niche almost by accident—returning to his roots in trades after working in private equity. What he realized was that his deep connection to this community, combined with his operational expertise, gave him a unique edge.

The same applies to any coach. We all have areas of expertise that we might take for granted because they feel so familiar.

But, as Dylan emphasized, what seems obvious to you is often gold to your clients. Don’t discount your knowledge. Instead, focus on the one thing you do better than anyone else and go all in.

4. Sustainability is Key

One of the most common mistakes coaches make is overcommitting their time. Dylan was candid about this. He shared that he can only handle three hours of 1-on-1 coaching a day before his brain starts to fog.

Instead of pushing through and giving his clients subpar experiences, he’s learned to set limits. He schedules no more than 15 client hours a week, ensuring he’s able to give 100% to every session.

For coaches who are scaling their business, this is a vital lesson. Overextending yourself doesn’t just lead to burnout; it affects the quality of your coaching.

By setting realistic limits and sticking to them, you can create a more sustainable business that serves your clients better in the long run.

5. Know Your Audience

What I loved most about Dylan’s approach is how deeply he understands his audience. He’s built his business to serve tradespeople—carpenters, electricians, roofers—because that’s where his expertise lies.

More importantly, it’s where his values align. He knows the pain points of blue-collar business owners because he’s been in their shoes, and that authenticity shines through in everything he does.

For all the coaches out there still searching for their niche, take a page from Dylan’s playbook. Pay attention to the communities you’re already part of.

Chances are, there’s a group you can serve like no one else, simply because you already speak their language. As Dylan said, “Once you find or accept the group you want to serve, you’ll light up, and people will start paying you.”

Dylan’s insights are a masterclass in building a profitable coaching program that truly serves your clients. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to scale, these lessons are invaluable.

It’s about starting small, staying focused, knowing your limits, and ultimately, finding the community you’re best suited to serve.

If you’d like to hear more from Dylan Jones, follow him on Instagram at @IMDylanJones and check out the full interview on The Amanda Kaufman Show

Show Highlights

0:00 - Introduction: Dylan Jones and His Coaching Journey
1:07 - Dylan’s Background: From Private Equity to Coaching
2:30 - Why Dylan Chose to Focus on Blue-Collar Businesses
4:00 - Top Ingredients for a Successful Coaching Program
5:20 - Starting Small: How to Build a Program Through Iteration
7:00 - Bringing in Experts: Why You Don’t Need to Be Everything
8:30 - Balancing Client Work with Personal Time: Dylan’s Strategy
10:14 - The Importance of Listening to Clients’ Needs
11:30 - Avoiding Burnout: Knowing Your Limits as a Coach
12:50 - Niching Down: How Dylan Found His Perfect Audience
15:00 - Coaching in Trades: Why Dylan Loves Working with Blue-Collar Businesses
17:30 - Key Advice for New Coaches: Focus and Deliver One Powerful Thing
20:10 - What Makes a Coaching Program Scalable and Sticky
22:00 - Final Thoughts: Build a Business Aligned with Your Values
23:00 - Where to Find Dylan Jones Online

Full Transcript

Interview with Dylan Jones on Coaches That Don't Suck

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[00:00:00] coaches are so focused on people having a good life, and I love that. And I love their discipline and how they do that.

[00:00:09] And it's like you with trades, you gravitated back to it after trying other things. I tried to go niche less As a coach, I tried relationship coaching. more corporate stuff. things around productivity. I was trying and testing all these things and I kept gravitating back to this one community because I shared a lot of the values

[00:00:26] [00:00:30] Mhm.

[00:00:44] Hello and welcome to the Amanda Kaufman show. We are continuing our series on coaches that don't suck.

[00:00:52] And I found another coach who definitely doesn't suck. This is a very successful entrepreneur. Dylan [00:01:00] Jones has agreed to come and share with us, his journey. He runs Profit Launchpad, right?

[00:01:07] Yeah,

[00:01:09] our conversation in the DMs started because we're both in a higher level coaching program

[00:01:14] we both clearly believe in the power of coaching. when I asked him what he did, he told me about profit optimization, He's working with companies on being even more efficient in how they generate their revenue and how they [00:01:30] streamline their operations.

[00:01:31] But he was telling me about how he has launched a coaching program. Dylan, welcome to the show. I'm so glad you're here. Take 30 seconds and introduce yourself in your own words.

[00:01:43] Thanks for having me. I'm really excited. Yeah, as you said in the DMs, I was like, we click a little bit.

[00:01:47] Let's have a fun conversation. I've been in operations and an entrepreneur for pretty much all of my career, except the first little bit. I went from my early career into entrepreneurship. [00:02:00] And had a CEO of a larger company that trusted me to take a company off and did really well.

[00:02:05] And then from there, I never looked back two and a half years ago, I launched Profit Launchpad after leaving the private equity industry. I was an operational consultant, optimizer, they called me. And I just didn't like a lot of that industry in general.

[00:02:18] So I created my own consultancy and then in the last. nine months launched a coaching program for mid six, high six figure [00:02:30] local service businesses for local traders of blue collarhelping them get their companies up to seven figures profitably and without working themselves to death.

[00:02:38] That's the key point we're really excited. We're well on our way with that program. Finished a couple of cohorts. And are seeing really good results. it's like any coaching program. very regimented. We go through, checklists and ensure everything's all set up and then going to the implementation side, which is a lot of fun.

[00:02:56] I love that. My background as a consultant before I [00:03:00] went entrepreneurial was in operations consulting. I think you and I might have a similar love for the process. Where are you located?

[00:03:07] Vancouver. You're in

[00:03:09] Vancouver. Okay, wonderful. I've got family out there. That's cool. Awesome. I haven't actually visited them in Vancouver yet. Ben and Caroline don't watch this, but I'm really excited that you're there. It's actually been years since I was there.

[00:03:21] Last timewas probably 2007. Oh, it's changed a lot,

[00:03:26] but it's wild how much it's changed.

[00:03:29] [00:03:30] Yeah. What I wanted to make sure we covered in this short segment is just what have you found? Like you're obviously a consumer of coaching, you run a coaching program, you care about doing a really great job.

[00:03:42] what would you say are the top ingredients for a really excellent coaching program? Like maybe the top three.

[00:03:50] Great question. I think we have a great coaching program and from the way more great is the first thing is like starting off slow. So instead of [00:04:00] jumping right into a group coaching with lots of people and saying this is what you'll need.

[00:04:05] We instead we did slow implementation of five people at a time and five people at a time. And iterated every time. So we went in with this like idea or hypothesis of this is what our clients need, but then we had to listen to them with what they actually want and find like the combination of the two that works the best, we do know in some cases what would be better than maybe, because that's why [00:04:30] we coach.

[00:04:30] And then the other hand is like the wants of someone. Are not always aligned with that. So that was, that's been first and foremost for us in this progress of getting people to seven figures is figuring out where they're at, how we define it and where they go. The other one for me is, it's funny,

[00:04:46] Although I own a coaching company and I'm coaching people daily, I still don't really consider myself a coach. the reason I have that mindset is I want to be able to bring in better talent. my goal is to have daily coaching [00:05:00] from subject matter experts who are coaches, specifically in whether it's sales, marketing, ops, or whatever.

[00:05:07] And that for me frees up the whole program to always be delivering results to clients based on the day or the learning or the lesson rather than me trying to be everything. I spent in the last year like 50 grand on coaching because I really wanted to see what good and bad coaches, more so good coaches, are and who they [00:05:30] are and what they do.

[00:05:31] And the one thing I really took away from really good coaches is they don't try to be experts in every single thing. And they're not afraid to be like, Hey, over here's John or Sarah, and they're really good at, social media marketing. I am a terrible social media marketer. So I have I have people can help on that.

[00:05:49] So that's been huge. It's like always looking at where we can deliver more value. the third one for me is listening and knowing my limits. I can do about three hours of one on ones [00:06:00] a day. if I try to do that fourth hour, I don't deliver a great experience to the person I'm coaching.

[00:06:07] My brain is full of ideas and been listening intently for three hours. I have to do inner work on the company or work with my team to get something done. I can do a maximum of 15 client hours a week.

[00:06:17] when I was a little baby coach, I always tell my clients, never call yourself a baby coach, but of course it's fine for me to do it for myself.

[00:06:23] Kidding. But when I was starting out, I went from being a 40 hour a week entrepreneur [00:06:30] and I had this expectation that I would just be able to fill my time the same way that my job had filled my time with coaching clients back to back. Good coaching is intensive and I love what you had to say about the listening And the discovery you as an expert or subject matter expert in your field Have a lot to say and a lot to impart to someone But that doesn't always mean that they're ready for it.

[00:06:56] And it's not undermining your knowledge or expertise in any way. [00:07:00] It's just understanding the nature of change and how people can pull it in.

[00:07:05] Honestly, one thing I do really well, but maybe isn't super scalable is I'll tailor the delivery to a client. Based on how I feel they'll absorb it.

[00:07:16] I have clients that I do 45 minutes a week, an hour a week. I have a client that I do 90 minutes every two weeks because an hour every week of a new model or a new big idea, it's just too much. They can't implement it fast enough. [00:07:30] And then it just becomes this backlog. And it becomes from going, what I've experienced, It goes from being this positive learning growth experience to stress of not having it done.

[00:07:39] And and the group we're in, I see that a lot. It's like this massive library of intense models that would take months to implement well into an organization. And it's just given all at once. What happens is you just don't do it. for me, working with a group of people who have lower revenue, I have to be more [00:08:00] cost conscious.

[00:08:00] if we don't get things rolling and get revenue up or more profitable and find efficiency. I'm the first guy to go. I don't want that to happen.

[00:08:08] That is such a great call out. When I'm working with my clients, I'm often working with them on the offer first.

[00:08:14] the very next thing after the overall promise is how do we deliver on that promise in a way that is going to give them Quick wins really quickly and also design your curriculum and design your process in such a way that it's sticky, right? [00:08:30] That people are gonna want to stick with it and keep progressing and going through it because change can be really hard and if you don't have that self study skill right and regulation because they're busy living their life, one of the biggest differentiators between a really successful coach of the long term is the scalability.

[00:08:49] I'm so glad you're an ops guy, because I can geek out on that kind of thing with you all day. That said, this is a short segment. So if someone was wanting to take their deep [00:09:00] expertise. And turn it into something that they can be proud of, but is also likely to be profitable.

[00:09:07] You're a profit guy. What would you say is your top advice to someone who's mainly focused on being an expert online or a coach that wants to be profitable doing so?

[00:09:20] Focus find your, You're most powerful piece that you know, that, that would be unique to someone. you'd be shocked at how much a [00:09:30] person who wants to become a coach or an entrepreneur in that sense knows that they think it's just like humdrum information.

[00:09:37] they already know it

[00:09:38] and they already know it and they're like, Oh, everyone knows this. No, nobody knows. So test. To see how many people are interested in What you're talking about and if you feel like you're getting traction you're getting that excitement Then just do that for a year at least you'll probably be shocked at how much money you can make how many clients you can get and how much [00:10:00] value you can add just teaching one thing that's what I found when we started the consultancy we did everything it's come down to just a few really good systems we can implement quickly for big impact people are really happy with it

[00:10:13] I'm the expert in everything. I'm a coach of everything. if it's already implemented into a corporate and you're bringing it over to teach an individual or a business leader or business, it's valuable. It's there because you're already doing it for someone else.

[00:10:27] So it exists for that problem already That's how I think of it, at least.

[00:10:29] [00:10:30] So much gold in that, right? Don't discount your knowledge just because it's easy for you or because it's obvious to you doesn't make it that way for your clients and focus focus, goodness, where were you when I started eight years ago?

[00:10:46] I decided to be a niche list coach when I first started because I really just couldn't make the decision about what I was good at. even to this day, I think I'm a bit of a jack of all trades and a master of none

[00:10:56] It turns out that being a jack of all trades is not all [00:11:00] bad, I did learn over time that, I really am a genius when it comes to seeing systems.

[00:11:06] Really

[00:11:06] quickly and systems in humans, right? the Transformation process really is a process Oh, yeah,

[00:11:13] usually

[00:11:13] that has been our sweet spot and I understand like the coaching that you're doing You're focusing on business owners that are running Trades businesses.

[00:11:23] How did you arrive there? You went from a private equity type situation to discovering this niche How did [00:11:30] you do that?

[00:11:31] It's both business and personal. in high school and university. I was a carpenter. I did framed houses. Oh, okay. I went into then got a business degree and went into business.

[00:11:41] most of my friends growing up are tradesmen. I'm from a city called New Westminster. It's pretty blue collar. It's not really anymore. Like unlike most of Vancouver is not anymore, but very blue collar group of friends and family.

[00:11:52] And A, it's a great way to make a living, but B, in private equity, I bought and sold a couple [00:12:00] companies that were trades. That's how I got brought into the private equity group. Love it. I worked specifically with roofing companies and I just brain parted solar panel company installation, roofing and solar go hand in hand nowadays.

[00:12:11] So yeah. I worked with both those groups What I love about the trades in general is like lots of hardworking people, replicable businesses, challenges that need to be solved because they're installing real things. I'm hands on, I understand things when they're tangible, which makes, I think why I went into apps, [00:12:30] ops, sorry.

[00:12:31] But I really love the it's the group of people you generally are very like, Focus that building long term companies. I had a little stint in tech and industrial tech and what I didn't like about tech and SaaS no shade against those industries, it was you're building companies to be sold within three to five years

[00:12:52] like a quick burn

[00:12:53] So it's build,

[00:12:54] trades is I'm building a company that I want to give to my kids and I really like that in [00:13:00] general. There's lots of exceptions. But I really like that about the industry in general, how people are thinking long term rather than so short term, because it aligns with my values, basically.

[00:13:11] I love this. Cause I, I know I also went through this, but I hear it a lot among, newer entrepreneurs. So you're heard of that farm story where the little duckling is walking around going, are you my mother to the cow? And are you my mother to the pig? it's just walking around looking for that customer or looking for that [00:13:30] niche or that marketer, that salesperson.

[00:13:31] specialty that they want, they want to do. And I love your story of just, you kept bumping into it. You tried something else that didn't totally align. And then you came back because you realized that you had certain values. that's actually what happened, in my space, coaches who coach coaches are not great reputationally for whatever reason.

[00:13:50] It would be like doctors not learning from doctors. But that aside, what pulled me back and just kept pulling me back to it is that coaches [00:14:00] are so focused on people having a good life, and I love that. And I love their discipline and how they do that.

[00:14:08] And it's like you with trades, you gravitated back to it after trying other things. I tried to go niche less As a coach, I tried relationship coaching. more corporate stuff. things around productivity. I was trying and testing all these things and I kept gravitating back to this one community because I shared a lot of the values and that's where I settled

[00:14:26] I am a coach of coaches. What do you want, and just owned it [00:14:30] and I think if more people did that and paid attention to what they already love, they're probably immersed in a community that they could serve like crazy.

[00:14:39] Oh, a hundred percent. And I think once you find or accept the group that you want to serve based on your experiences or just what you want to do.

[00:14:47] With me, I light up and I can talk about it. And honestly, I get to swear a little bit, which is fun because I like to swear. that group looks at me and says, he's one of us. He might do a [00:15:00] different thing, but he's one of us. if you're really into yoga, you want to see more yoga coaches online and have more clients, you're not going to be able to lie about that and teachbusiness coaches or finance coaches, you should stick with, your yoga coaches and feel like find that and then of course there's tertiary industries, but like I find when I hear that and when people do that it gets people excited because you're part of our tribe and you can teach us.

[00:15:25] once you get in that realm of what you're saying, find your niche people just [00:15:30] start paying you signing up and saying Hey, I don't know at all, but I'll figure it out for you. I'll find someone who can fix this. It's like an alignment

[00:15:36] and it's aligned with the people that you're serving.

[00:15:39] Love this. Dylan, if people wanted to follow you, what's the very best way for them to reach out?

[00:15:46] So actually since I'm really pushing on Instagram, I'm changing that. You are now into it. I'm learning all about it and so on Instagram, it's, IM Dylan Jones and that's Dylan with a y.

[00:15:58] DM me. I'm doing all [00:16:00] sorts of cool stuff on it, testing all sorts of fun stuff and making lots of videos all the time. I'm really enjoying it.

[00:16:05] Yeah, you've been prolific and that's fantastic and amazing to see thank you so much for coming and doing this little episode with us we learned a lot in a really short amount of time.

[00:16:15] Thank you.

[00:16:16] Thank you so much for having me. It's a lot of fun

[00:16:19] Don't forget to subscribe and leave a recommendation, five stars, please, because we want to help more coaches. We want to help more entrepreneurs to build a business that they're super proud of and that [00:16:30] they are really confident in.

[00:16:31] That's it for now.