The Coaching Session That Changed Everything

It was 2016. I was exhausted.

Not the normal tired that comes with running a business. The kind of exhausted where you lie awake at night wondering if you can keep doing this. Where you snap at people you care about. Where you start to resent the thing you built.

The agency was growing. By every external measure, things were working. More clients. More revenue. More employees. The kind of trajectory entrepreneurs are supposed to celebrate.

I was miserable.

How I ended up in that chair

A friend had been bugging me about coaching for months. Not business coaching—she was clear about that. Leadership coaching. Personal development. Working on yourself.

I thought it was nonsense. I didn’t need a therapist. I needed a better marketing strategy. A stronger team. More efficient systems. My problems were business problems, and business problems have business solutions.

But I was desperate enough to try something. So I booked a session with a coach named Chantal Binet.

I walked in expecting tactics. A framework. Some clever methodology I could implement and watch the magic happen.

That’s not what I got.

The question that broke me open

Chantal didn’t ask about my business metrics. She didn’t ask about my marketing strategy or my team structure or my growth goals.

She asked: “What are you so afraid of?”

I didn’t have an answer. Or rather, I had too many answers and no idea which one was true.

I was afraid of failing. Of people finding out I didn’t know what I was doing. Of losing clients. Of letting my team down. Of making the wrong decision. Of being exposed as an imposter.

I was afraid that if I stopped pushing, everything would fall apart. That I was the only thing holding it together. That rest was weakness and delegation was abandonment.

No wonder I was exhausted. I was carrying everything because I was terrified of what would happen if I put anything down.

The mirror I didn’t want

Over the next few months, Chantal held up a mirror I didn’t want to look into.

She showed me that my “strong work ethic” was actually an inability to trust anyone. That my “high standards” were perfectionism that was crushing my team. That my “dedication” was fear of being dispensable.

She pointed out patterns I’d been running for years. Saying yes when I meant no. Taking on work that should have been delegated. Jumping into problems that weren’t mine to solve.

Every behavior I was proud of had a shadow side. And those shadows were running my business.

I didn’t like hearing it. I argued. I defended. I explained why my situation was different. Why those patterns were necessary. Why letting go wasn’t possible in my industry, with my clients, with my team.

Chantal didn’t argue back. She just asked more questions. And eventually, I ran out of defenses.

What started to shift

Change didn’t happen in one session. It happened over months of uncomfortable conversations, small experiments, and lots of failure.

I started saying no to things. Not dramatically. Just one thing at a time. A project that wasn’t right. A client who drained energy. A meeting that didn’t need to happen.

The world didn’t end.

I started delegating more honestly. Not “delegating” while secretly checking on everything. Actually letting go. Telling people what the outcome should be and then stepping back.

Some things got done differently than I would have done them. Most of them got done fine. A few got done better.

I started being honest about what I didn’t know. Admitting to clients when something was outside my expertise. Telling my team when I wasn’t sure. Asking for help.

People didn’t lose respect for me. If anything, they trusted me more.

The moment I realized it was working

About six months in, I had a hard conversation with a client. The campaign wasn’t working. We’d tried multiple approaches. The results weren’t there.

Old me would have spun it. Found something positive to focus on. Promised to work harder. Taken responsibility in a way that was really about controlling the narrative.

Instead, I just told them the truth. “This isn’t working the way we hoped. Here’s what we’ve learned. Here’s what I think we should try next. And if that doesn’t work, we should have a conversation about whether we’re the right partner for this.”

The client didn’t fire us. They thanked me for being honest. They said it was refreshing. They asked more questions. We figured out a better approach together.

I walked out of that meeting feeling lighter than I had in years.

That’s when I knew something fundamental had changed. Not in my strategy. In me.

What’s different now

Nine years later, I’m still doing the work. It’s not something you finish. But it’s transformed how I run this business.

I set boundaries without guilt. Not rigid walls—boundaries. Lines that protect my energy and my time and my ability to show up fully for the things that matter.

I trust my team. Actually trust them. Not trust-but-verify. Real trust. And when that trust is broken, I deal with it directly instead of adding more controls.

I’m honest faster. About what I know and don’t know. About what’s working and what’s not. About what I want and what I’m willing to do. Honesty used to feel like weakness. Now it feels like strength.

I don’t carry everything alone. I have a coach. I have peers I’m honest with. I have systems that don’t depend on me being in the office every day. The business keeps running when I’m not there.

And the clients who started with me in 2013? Most of them are still with me in 2025. Not because I worked harder than everyone else. Because I learned to work differently.

Why I’m telling you this

I resisted this kind of work for a long time. I thought it was navel-gazing. Self-indulgent. A distraction from the real work of building a business.

I was wrong.

The coaching session that changed everything wasn’t about business strategy. It wasn’t about marketing tactics. It was about looking honestly at myself and the patterns that were limiting everything else.

The breakthrough wasn’t a strategy. It was a mirror.

If you’re running a business and you’re exhausted—like really exhausted, not just busy—the answer might not be better systems. It might be looking at the stuff you’ve been avoiding.

It’s uncomfortable. It takes time. It doesn’t have the satisfying clarity of a new framework or a clever tactic.

But it works.

And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

Kimberly Biggs is the CEO of POP INC Digital. She works with Chantal Binet and credits coaching with transforming not just her business, but every area of her life. If you’re curious about leadership coaching, she’s happy to share resources—just reach out.