What I Learned About Coaching Business Success From Appearing on Stage in the West End

A few years ago, my wife Deana and I went to the West End to see The Play That Goes Wrong which, in hindsight, should probably have been more than enough information for me to know that volunteering for ANYTHING was a terrible idea.

Anyway, before the show started, some of the 'crew' were on stage supposedly setting things up ready for the performance and at one point they asked if there was a strong bloke in the audience who could come up and help lift something.

Of course, I did what any sensible man would do.

Absolutely nothing.

I shrunk in the chair, avoided eye contact and pretended to fumble with something important in my bag.

Deana, on the other hand, immediately volunteered me by pointing at me and shouting out "Over here! HE'LL do it!"

Yeah... of course she did.

And as soon as they set eyes on me and registered that a) I was a big and obviously strong bloke and b) how uncomfortable I was, they were on me like heat-seeking missiles and wouldn't take no for an answer.

So...

Up I went.

Hundreds of people watching.

My wife grinning from ear to ear and clearly very pleased with herself for throwing me under the bus and barely containing her anticipation of what was about to happen.

So, picture this...

I'm up there on stage in front of everyone and a crew member (who later turned out to be a member of the actual cast) asks me to pass her a toolbox.

"No problem" I thought to myself. It wasn't that big and didn't look particularly heavy so I bent down, grabbed it, lifted it... or at least, I TRIED to.

But it didn't budge an inch.

So I tried again.

Still nothing.

At this point I’m pretty certain that EVERY man in the theatre was mentally adjusting his estimate of my physical capabilities and wondering why my face is going beetroot red with embarrassment.

So naturally I tried harder.

Because that’s what you do when something doesn’t move, right?

Give it more effort and MAKE it move by force of muscle and will.

Yeah... great in theory but in this case, still nothing.

That little toolbox may as well have been welded to the bloody stage.

Eventually it became obvious that THIS was the joke and that I'd been too dim to notice the setup.

They’d rigged the thing somehow, probably with an electromagnet underneath it or something, so no matter how hard I pulled…

…it wasn’t going anywhere.

Then, just to make absolutely certain my dignity was fully smashed to bits, the petite female cast member who'd asked for the toolbox casually walked over, picked it up effortlessly and carried it away.

The theatre erupted.

Deana nearly needed medical attention.

Everyone laughed at my expense (Deana laughed considerably more than everyone else because she enjoys seeing me brought down to earth) and I shuffled back to my seat with what remained of my dignity, which, to be honest, wasn't very much.

And just like that, my career on the West End stage was over.

Because I think a lot of coaches are doing EXACTLY the same thing with their businesses.

The business isn’t moving the way they want it to…

…so they pull harder, push harder and use more force.

More content.
More posts.
More offers.
More launches.
More leads.
More followers.
More hours.
More funnels.
More speed.

And when THAT doesn’t work?

They convince themselves that they need to become stronger.

More disciplined.
More productive.
More motivated.
More consistent.

But maybe strength was never the problem in the first place.

Maybe the time they've invested in trying to get stronger would've been better invested in checking whether there’s a bloody magnet under the toolbox.

Because much of what we’ve been taught about business success is rigged.

I don't mean rigged to make us fail.

I mean rigged to make us think that MORE is BETTER.

We’ve been handed a very particular definition of what it takes to be successful…

…and then told the answer is to chase it HARDER and to work FASTER.

But...

More followers doesn’t automatically mean a better audience.

More clients doesn’t automatically mean a better business.

More revenue doesn’t automatically mean a better life.

More speed definitely doesn’t mean a better direction.

And more effort and speed doesn't prove that you’re heading somewhere worth arriving at.

You can move really quickly towards a business you hate running.

You can scale an offer you can't stand delivering.

You can build an enormous audience of people you don’t enjoy speaking to.

You can create a company that makes a lot more money while quietly stealing every bit of freedom you started the business to create in the first place.

And throughout all this, people will STILL stand on the sidelines shouting “KEEP GOING!”

But sometimes (or even MOST of the time) the smartest thing you can do isn’t to pull harder.

THEN build the foundations.

THEN choose the direction.

THEN worry about speed.

Trajectory first.
Velocity second.

Because speed only amplifies direction.

And no amount of 'harder, faster, more' is going to help if someone’s secretly bolted your toolbox to the floor.

PS. Deana would like it officially noted that she has no regrets and would absolutely volunteer me again if the opportunity arises.