January 5, 2026
Whether you are a new or seasoned coach, an experienced businessperson or just discovering your interest for business, these tips will help you develop as an individual from the day you stick to them. Take a look at our blog below for how you can improve as a coach, at work and as a business owner.
After studying countless successful players, coaches, mentors, entrepreneurs and companies, we found that they have one thing incommon: they strive for personal development and are always
looking for new things to learn. The average CEO reads 60 books per year. That’s an average of 5 per month and most will never stop! Think of Oprah, who revolves her personal time and shows around reading, discussions, self-development and personal growth. Her work as a media executive, writer, actress, reporter, talk-show host, television producer and more amount to a net worth of 2.5 Billion USD. Needless to say, as a businessperson she clearly knows the key to success!
Rob Moore, the multi-millionaire business expert and financial coach suggested choosing Audio-Books over classic paper books - this becomes a huge time saver and the perfect way to get even more self-development in at any time of the day. Indeed, at his recent seminar, it seemed like every person in the room was addicted to audiobooks and put development above all.Here are 5 audio-book providers to help you become the best that you can be and reach your goals!
Now that you are using your time reading or listening to books regularly to help you improve as a coach and business person, hopefully, you will constantly be scanning the horizons for your next listen.Although it’s great to read all the football coaching or business books in the world, if you are only learning from one pool of knowledge then you may risk losing your creative spark, inspiration or ability to think laterally.
This is why we recommend looking for new listens from outside of your comfort disciplines.Biographies, fiction, historical, social, health, classic, crime, self-help, factual and pretty much any other genre can still help your personal development as they will force you to encounter thoughts or topics that you may not do so on a regular basis. New genres are also great for making you a well-rounded individual with the capacity of engaging with other people who have different interests. Being socially flexible and able to engage with lots of different people are vital skills for coaches and business people. Not to mention the fact that reading something outside of your usual coaching or business genres can help you think outside of the box and get those creative juices pumping.
It has been recorded that even coaching legend Pep Guardiola - would constantly strive for personal development and the discovery of new ways in which he could improve his club. He often did this by surrounding himself by experts in fields different to football and studying other masters of their disciplines. In 2008, he even took on board the ex-water-polo professional Manuel Estiarte, who became his most trusted assistant.
Manuel, the “Maradona of the water” captained the Spanish water-polo team for over 20 years, an impressive feat for any sportsperson. He joined Guardiola and brought his management expertise to a record-breaking Barcelona side and followed Pep to Bayern too. He is often referred to as Pep’s left-hand man and has had a critical impact on his career. Manuel was a life-coach who supported Guardiola in his personal, coach and management development. He played a key role in the work and success of Guardiola. If even Guardiola is prepared to take on lessons from an expert in another field, we should all be willing to do so.
We have highlighted the main characteristics key to becoming a better coach and business person in the article above. Coaching and business can be complimentary. Although it takes time and effort to build these skills, they can become habitual to you as a coach and business person and will have a successful impact on your future. We hope that these tips have been helpful to help you become the best you can be and reach success. We Make Footballers have brought together a network of 14 individuals who run their own franchise businesses, together coaching over 2000 children per week across 25 venues. We’ve been able to support this network of football coaching business owners through our systems and software but we always recommend that they stay on top of their career using these tips above. For more helpful resources follow our Instagram and Twitter which focus on helping individuals create viable careers in football.
