Solving the Right Problems: The Key to Coaching and Business Growth
Solving the Right Problems: The Key to Coaching and Business Growth
When it comes to building a successful coaching or service-based business, many entrepreneurs make one critical mistake: they jump to solutions before identifying the right problems to solve. This is a concept that Gabriel Ryan, entrepreneur and growth strategist, discussed passionately on the latest episode of The Amanda Kaufman Show.
Gabriel, who has years of experience helping businesses grow through automation and AI, emphasizes that success isn’t about adopting every shiny new strategy or tool. It’s about clarifying your vision, understanding your challenges, and solving the right problems effectively.
Here are some key takeaways from our conversation with Gabriel Ryan, including actionable insights for coaches and entrepreneurs.
1. Simplify Your Strategy and Focus on the Next Step
In a world saturated with advice, it’s easy to overcomplicate your business growth strategy. Gabriel shared how many coaches and business owners become overwhelmed by thinking too far ahead. While it’s important to have a vision for your business, true success lies in mastering the next best action.
Amanda reinforced this idea with her personal mantra, the "NBA" or Next Best Action. She reflected on her own eight-year coaching journey, explaining that steady, thoughtful growth often comes from focusing on what’s directly in front of you, rather than obsessing over a perfect future plan.
2. Consistency Trumps Flashy Tactics
Both Gabriel and Amanda agreed that sustainable growth isn’t about chasing the latest trend or strategy—it’s about showing up consistently. Gabriel likened this approach to the philosophy of Warren Buffett, where long-term commitment to improvement yields the biggest dividends.
Success doesn’t happen overnight. Gabriel shared how companies like StrikePoint Media (where he helped drive $25 million in revenue) started small, building on early wins with consistency and determination. Similarly, Amanda noted that many coaches quit too soon when things don’t work out immediately. The key is staying the course and making adjustments as needed.
3. The Danger of "Shelf Solutions"
Gabriel cautioned against relying on pre-packaged solutions or copying strategies from others without understanding your own business’s unique challenges. Many coaches fall into the trap of thinking that a specific tool or strategy will magically solve all their problems, only to discover that it’s a poor fit for their needs.
Instead, he recommends spending time identifying the root problems in your business. Whether it’s a lack of lead flow, inefficient systems, or unclear messaging, solving the right problem first can unlock massive growth. As Gabriel humorously put it, “More problems, more money.”
4. Leverage Automation and AI Thoughtfully
Automation and AI are hot topics in today’s business world, and Gabriel is an expert in using these tools to scale effectively. However, he emphasized that automation should be implemented with intention.
“You should not automate what can be systematized,” Gabriel said. By focusing on building strong systems first, businesses can then layer automation in ways that enhance, rather than dilute, the customer experience.
For example, Gabriel shared a story about a dog trainer client who used AI to handle initial lead interactions. By creating a seamless, human-like experience for prospects, the business was able to respond faster and book appointments more effectively. However, the personal touch was maintained for deeper client interactions, ensuring the business’s values weren’t lost in the process.
5. Stay Adaptable and Keep Solving Puzzles
Both Amanda and Gabriel highlighted the importance of adaptability in business. Strategies that work well at one stage may not be effective as your business grows or as market conditions change.
Amanda shared her experience using AI-driven tools to welcome new members to a Facebook group. While it worked well initially, the strategy became less effective over time as the quality of leads shifted. Recognizing this, her team pivoted to a different approach that better aligned with their goals.
Gabriel’s advice? Treat every problem as a puzzle to be solved. This mindset not only makes challenges more manageable but also helps uncover creative, impactful solutions.
6. The Essentials for Coaches: Learn, Practice, and Commit
One of the most memorable parts of the episode was when Gabriel shared advice from his early business mentor: “Take 100,000 photos and read The E-Myth Revisited.” This simple but powerful guidance highlights the importance of mastery.
For coaches, this means getting deeply involved in your craft. Work with as many clients as possible, learn from every experience, and continue honing your skills. Gabriel also recommended Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell as another excellent resource for thinking systematically about business growth.
Key Takeaways for Coaches and Entrepreneurs
The conversation with Gabriel Ryan was packed with practical advice and insights for anyone looking to scale their coaching or service-based business. Here’s what you can take away:
Focus on your Next Best Action (NBA) and don’t overcomplicate your strategy.
Commit to consistent, steady progress rather than chasing trends.
Identify and solve the right problems in your business for maximum impact.
Use automation and AI as tools to enhance—not replace—strong systems.
Stay adaptable and embrace problem-solving as an ongoing process.
Continuously learn and improve your craft.
Connect with Gabriel and Amanda
If you enjoyed these insights, make sure to follow Gabriel Ryan:
Stay connected with Amanda Kaufman for more expert advice and resources:
Ready to level up? Don’t forget to share this blog with a friend who could benefit from Gabriel’s game-changing advice!
Episode Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Coaching Success
04:02 The Importance of Clarity and Consistency
06:39 Common Mistakes in Service-Based Businesses
09:50 The Role of Automation and AI in Business
12:31 Understanding Systems vs. Automation
15:45 Key Principles for Coaches to Succeed
Full Transcript
Gabriel Ryan (00:00)
I think that a lot of coaches and business owners in general tend to over complicate
things. They think way too far ahead when really you certainly need to have your goal and your vision for where you want to go with your business when you're starting out or when you are kind of in the middle of it. But once you have that set, don't worry about all the plans along the way. You really just need to worry about that next step. And the ones that are the most clear on that, that can really like crystallize where they are headed and then quickly decide on like what is the next step.
Amanda Kaufman (00:06)
Mm.
Well, hello and welcome back to the Amanda Kaufman show and we are continuing our series on the coaches that don't suck. And I'm so excited to have you here, Gabriel. Welcome to the show.
Gabriel Ryan (01:06)
Thanks for having me, stoked to be here. Hopefully this week we can make this the most valuable 20 minutes you're watching, watching this right now.
Amanda Kaufman (01:09)
Amazing.
Yes, absolutely. So for those that don't know yet, Gabriel is an entrepreneur and growth strategist helping service-based businesses boost sales with automation and AI. my gosh, some of my favorite topics right now. I've also stepped in as an entrepreneur, including six years at StrikePoint Media, where he helped drive revenue past $25 million and landing the company on the Inc. 5000. Wow, okay.
That's amazing. We're so excited to have you here. So Gabriel, what do you feel is so important for coaches to know if they want to be successful? Maybe they're thinking about, want to go all the way up to that Inc 5000 level. Or maybe they're just kind of having a hard time starting up. What would be the one piece of advice you want to make sure that they hear today?
Gabriel Ryan (02:04)
Yeah, absolutely. No, I think that's a great question. And I found that all my most successful clients ask themselves that question and they don't just ask themselves, but they'll ask a lot of people to see kind of, okay, other peers in our industry, what are they doing? What are they focused on? Those six years I spent at StrikePoint Media, actually, a lot of our clients were coaches specifically in the financial publishing space. So they were teaching people how to trade or invest in kind of like financial publishing. So all from, you
Amanda Kaufman (02:20)
I love that.
Gabriel Ryan (02:33)
Morning Brew or Agorafinancial, Motley Fool, you name it, a lot of these kind of big time characters down to people that were just getting started that were like, I've worked on Wall Street. I know I have some really good information that I could share with folks. just like, I don't have anything. I'm just starting my business, right? So I've seen the whole gamut and I think it's kind of two sides of the same coin. On one side, I think that a lot of coaches and business owners in general tend to over complicate
things. They think way too far ahead when really you certainly need to have your goal and your vision for where you want to go with your business when you're starting out or when you are kind of in the middle of it. But once you have that set, don't worry about all the plans along the way. You really just need to worry about that next step. And the ones that are the most clear on that, that can really like crystallize where they are headed and then quickly decide on like what is the next step.
Amanda Kaufman (03:03)
Mm.
Gabriel Ryan (03:32)
found to be most, most successful. And then kind of like pairing with that is a, a, a consistency, almost kind of like a Warren Buffett of investing, like treating their business in that, that, that way, where they're not just looking for a strategy. Strategies are good, but strategies are not usually the answer. Solutions are in fact, not usually even the answer. It's, it's more about the spirit behind what you're actually implementing. And if you can be consistent over
long period of time. That's how companies like Motley Fool, Integora, like the $2 billion companies become $2 billion companies. And even, you know, some of the coaches that we look at who might have, you know, a $2 $3 million business or a strike point that had a $25 million business, it did not start there overnight. It started with building websites for financial advisors for $2,000, but doing a really good job at that and being kind of like consistent over time, extracting those lessons to find, right, like how can
serve people the best and really like that makes the most profit like who's the most profitable person that I can serve and get them the biggest impact and you usually don't figure that out until you actually get into doing the work.
Amanda Kaufman (04:45)
You know, I love that, you know, I'm in my eighth year of business as a coach and that's like not common. But everything you just said, I would have said the same thing. You know, there's this, you know, if I was to like say, what does it take to get to eight years? What does it take to get to, you know, even a few million dollars over that time? Like it.
Wasn't because I was the the sexiest model on the Instagram, you know, definitely It wasn't because I had this offer that was so sensational and irresistible It wasn't because I picked the best niche it was
getting in the game and choosing to play. And I call it the NBA, the next best action, you know, because very often I don't know where exactly I'm going to go. And I've invested a ton in like masterminds, coaching courses. You know, I think there's a certain amount of technical aptitude that will help you, you know, and build the skills. But there was never like this one answer that was going to have alignment for me.
alignment to that future vision, alignment to the capacity that I actually had in the moment. Like if there's a mistake, one of those girls that makes mistakes a couple of times just to make sure it's a mistake. And you know, the mistake that I made was like choosing a strategy or choosing a method that was beyond the current capacity of supporting the business. So, you know, we've done like a steady growth, but it's been a forced steadying because there were times we were overextended and then we had to kind of like,
dial it back in and so many people quit at that point. And I'm like, nah, you know, it's just that I've got to identify that leakage. What do you see as being some of the biggest mistakes that people are making in service-based businesses right now in 2024? Like, what do you think is something that they're not doing?
Gabriel Ryan (06:37)
Mmm.
Yeah, absolutely. think again, a lot of it goes back to the trying to just grab a strategy off the shelf thinking, you know, we get a lot of clients that come to us where they, they bought somebody's program. They've read a book, they're trying to apply a strategy, but they haven't adapted it to their business. and the smart ones will, will look at a strategy and be like, okay, but that's not how my business works. And they might, you know, even, to a fault.
Come up with reasons why that strategy wouldn't work and you could name it it could be doing challenges webinars It could be the way that you do your group coaching or your individual coaching calls Like it doesn't matter like what the the modality is like there's all these different strategies And I think that the biggest problem or yeah, the biggest mistake that I see often made is those jumping to those strategies Making excuses as to why they won't work or just assuming you can pull them off the shelf When what what we really need to do is actually get clear
on the problem first. And I work with my team on this all the time. When I say like 80 % of our time should actually be spent understanding the problem we're trying to solve or, you know, as like our coach likes to say the puzzles. So we've adopted that, that, that, that, that verbiage of like solving puzzles. In fact, I always flip it around. You know, there's the old rap lyric that says more money, more problems. And I say more problems, more money. I'm like, bring on the problems because that I tell my team every day, like we need to embrace the
Amanda Kaufman (07:52)
Yes.
Gabriel Ryan (08:08)
those problems, those puzzles, because that's actually the thing that allows us to serve. It's the thing that allows us to make money, to make profit. And so I think if coaches could actually take time understanding all different kinds of problems and puzzles, what is the biggest problem in my business right now that if I solved it would unlock new levels of growth for my business? What's the biggest problem that I could solve for a client? I that's what we do as coaches. It's why even though my company is not a coaching company, we actually have coaching
calls that are part of the fulfillment of what we deliver because I see how important it is to help my clients not just implement the tech they need in their business, but actually understand what is the problem that we're solving when we add an AI sales assistant to your business. It's like, you're used to having to respond to leads. Yeah, you got to understand the problem.
Amanda Kaufman (08:56)
See, that's what I'm seeing. That's what I'm seeing so much in this
space is like, first everybody was like.
So memberships and monthly recurring revenue is all the rage right now in the coaching industry. it was so funny because Circle was doing a really good job of their promotional activities. And so was like there was a huge amount of the market that was just like, ooh, I'm going to start a Circle community. But then school came on the scene, and it's like, ooh, I'm going to trade that.
Gabriel Ryan (09:07)
Mm-hmm.
Amanda Kaufman (09:25)
almost identical software, to go over to school because that's gonna solve my problem. And when I actually get into the conversation with most of the coaches that are migrating between all these different tech solutions, they're not solving the core solution, like the core issue, or even really having a high awareness that they could, which is they don't have lead flow. So because they don't have lead flow, qualified lead flow and a sales process plugged
Gabriel Ryan (09:50)
Yeah.
Amen.
Amanda Kaufman (09:55)
into
that lead flow, it's like you're solving literally the wrong problem. it's like what everybody is running to because that's where the big advertising campaigns are.
Gabriel Ryan (10:06)
Yeah. And the tech is not going to save you. The tool is not going to save you. And that's the easy knee jerk. If we were look at the kind of weight loss or fitness industry, that'd be the same thing of thinking like, I can just go under the knife and I'm going to get plastic surgery versus I'm going to put the time into the gym. In that scenario, yes, you can get the results. It doesn't work that way in business. Like you said, you have to that understanding of what the problem
is even is that we need to be solving and then let's go attack that problem with the right solution. But if you go too quick to the solution, you're going to, you you're probably going down the wrong path.
Amanda Kaufman (10:47)
Yeah, I love it. I would love to just hear your take on automation and AI at this point of things, because I see that as like another area that is extremely like it is exploding with activity and it's.
Gabriel Ryan (10:53)
Mmm.
Amanda Kaufman (11:05)
I think one of the outcomes that I've been seeing that sort of surprised me and I'm like, that kind of makes sense, is that with so much like rapid adoption of these technologies, the, again, thoughtfulness about what is the problem that you're solving with the technology is often not there. And so like there's, I've noticed like there's just this crazy proliferation of like, it was bad content before and now you're posting it 10 times as often and it's still bad.
Right? You know, it was an ineffective sales process before, and now you've put this Ferrari engine behind it and it's still not working. So like, what would be your biggest advice for somebody who is like wanting to take their hands off the keyboard, wanting to have all the conveniences that automation and AI can absolutely bring us? What would you say are some principles to help make sure that that investment of time and energy creates great experiences or great outcomes in general?
Gabriel Ryan (11:34)
Yeah.
Yeah, no, it's a great question because you're right. don't want to put a megaphone behind bad marketing. And that's what happens when if you just go, now I'm going to have AI help me spit out all this content or I'm going to automate all these things. And as someone who really studies, implements, and sells automation, I will tell everybody out there and I will scream from the rooftops, you should not automate what can be systematized. And I know you're a lover of systems. There's a great book out there.
Amanda Kaufman (12:09)
Right.
Ooh, say more about that.
Gabriel Ryan (12:31)
If you've not read it, it's Thinking in Systems by Donnella Meadows. Highly recommend for anybody that's listening or watching this. It's really kind of a little bit of a nerdy read, but the author goes through how we actually think of systems. And what I think is great about it, especially for entrepreneurs, especially for coaches, is she has some metaphors to
systems that are not at all business related to thinking of like a forest or a nature preserve as a system which really allows you to D Excuse me really allows you to detach the The ideas and principles behind it so when it comes to things like AI
I have for, I've asked, I don't know how many years have said we have a, we have a hybrid team at growth map. That means we've got remote folks who are overseas and we have folks who are here, stateside. And now I've added to that state. also have AI team members as well. And I think that's going to become more and more common, but we have to understand, okay, what are the problems that each one of these folks are going to solve? I don't want to automate what should be systematized. And in order to know what things should be
Automated what things should not what should be handled by AI what should not I have to have a very clear understanding of the jobs to be done when Somebody even discovers me on Instagram and shoots me a DM. What do I want to have happen next? What is like the first most important thing? So for a lot of our clients I'll give you a really practical example a lot of our clients are used to having to Respond to leads when leads come in somebody fills out a form online somebody sends a DM through
Instagram and that's great because that's high personal touch the problem with that is It may take them a long time. They may have a we you know, call it a slow speed to lead It may take them four hours. It may take them 12 hours if it's over the weekend It might take them longer than that to get back to that lead. That's not good. Okay, we could automate that We could create an automation that sends a canned response Most people can see and feel when there's a canned response There's tools out there like many chat things where you could kind of try to like create these chat flows before
But it was very difficult to think of creating a conversational human-like experience for your potential customer using tools like that. Now with AI, we can do that. We can create the human-like experience. So we've got a client, for example, who is a dog trainer, and they had someone who had inquired. The message goes out within 60 seconds, hey, this is Ava from Sit Meets It. Just saw that you inquired about dog training. Or did you just fill out a form about dog training?
She says, yes, that engages the AI. They're going now back and forth. that prospect is trying to book a time to come in for a free evaluation with her and her dog. And the AI keeps giving up times that don't work. And the person goes, I'm so sorry. I'm an emergency responder. My schedule's crazy. A chat flow, an automation would not be able to handle that. But AI can interpret that context and go, hey, thank you so much for your service as a first responder.
worry, we'll get you taken care of." And with a couple of back and forths, actually found a time that worked. And then that prospect became a client. That person showed up on the sales calendar before that trainer, that dog training coach could ever, like would have even seen, would have seen that lead. But just because we do that there, we're not outsourcing all of the other communication to the AI. Just that initial like, okay, when the lead comes in, we want that human-like experience and we want to get them
on the calendar ASAP. But then as soon as we do that, we want to pass the baton to Susie in the franchise there who's actually going to work one-on-one with that client. So it's understanding what do we want automation to do and kind of like nurture type sequences. Where do we need that human-like response? And what are the things that we absolutely want to, it's worth doing what doesn't scale. It's worth doing putting in the human touch element because we know that's where we're going to get the greatest impact for our clients and the greatest results.
Amanda Kaufman (16:26)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Gabriel Ryan (16:45)
in terms of like profitability for the business.
Amanda Kaufman (16:48)
Yeah, I love that. It's so good and we've tested in our own business, we're not using it anymore, but we were using a very similar tool, AI driven for scheduling because we were running a strategy at the time and this is why we no longer use AI. At the time we had a really active Facebook group and as people were coming into the Facebook group, our AI...
Gabriel Ryan (17:01)
Mm-hmm.
Amanda Kaufman (17:12)
setters would basically say, welcome to the group. So glad you're here. Let's book your welcome call.
And that worked actually really, really well. And I think this is a really good example of what you were saying earlier about how a strategy is not necessarily going to always be the solution. It worked really well until it didn't. And it stopped working when, you know, Facebook groups got pretty saturated and like the quality of the lead that we were getting through that process was no longer the high quality that it was when we very first started. And so then we decided to
Gabriel Ryan (17:19)
Mm-hmm.
Amanda Kaufman (17:48)
you know, get rid of the cost of having that technology and that particular way of going about the process and tried something new that was working better. So, you know, I think like these solutions are just so powerful, but I think the other piece of it is that as a business owner, you need to stay on top of what is the outcome or the result. I love your distinction of like, don't just automate for
the sake of automating or believe that like the tech or the tool is the solution. The tech or the tool empowers the solution. So if you're no longer using a solution like we are no longer doing the welcome call, then don't just like leave the tech there. You know, you've got to you got to care about your people.
Gabriel Ryan (18:19)
100%.
Yeah. And what I love about what, like,
what I love about that for you is that the underlying problem you're trying to solve there, a puzzle is this, is the same, right? So it is, we have someone new in our community. We want to welcome them and we want to fast track them to, you know, ascending to becoming a client ultimately. Like we want to make them feel warm and fuzzy. We want to truly welcome them. And the best way we're going to be able to serve them is if they become a client, how do we fast track that? And so that problem doesn't go away, but how you solve that problem might
Amanda Kaufman (18:43)
Right.
Gabriel Ryan (18:54)
Like right where you said, we're originally anybody coming into the Facebook group was a perfect fit. So yes, we want to spend the time hopping on the call. And this is a really great way of us being able to do that, to able to fast track that. But okay, when things change as they always do as entrepreneurs, we have to adapt and go, okay, well, the problem's still there, but now I need a different system. Like what does that look like? Maybe I need a triage people coming into the group before I offer the call. Maybe there's some ways to automate that. Maybe I have some team members that come in.
Amanda Kaufman (18:55)
A thousand percent.
Gabriel Ryan (19:24)
So it's just coming up now with a new solution.
Amanda Kaufman (19:28)
Yeah, exactly, I love it. So Gabriel, I love asking people, you know, what are three things that a coach should make sure they do to not suck?
Gabriel Ryan (19:36)
Mmm.
Yes, the three things you should do to not not suck.
I'll share with you what one of my first mentors shared with me. started my first photography business, or my first business, was a photography business 18 years ago, I think. And I remember sitting down with my mentor at El Pollo Loco, because that was the only thing I could afford at the time. I couldn't afford a coach, but I could afford a $2 BRC bean rice cheese burrito. So was like, hey, Dane, you're a successful photographer. You're an author. You've done all these things. Like I want to get started in business. What in the heck am I supposed to do? Do I need to start my LLC?
like buy these courses like what do I do and he's like whoa Gabriel he's like slow down and he gave me two things so I'm gonna give you two things he said you need to go take a hundred thousand photos and you need to read this book and he gave me the E-Myth Revisited
And I said, okay, all right, I can do those two things. And I did those two things that year. And within a year, I actually ended up hiring an EMETH coach. So I went through the EMETH Business Mastery coaching program back then. That was my first kind of significant investment. They caused a lot of turmoil and discussion between me and my newlywed wife who's like, why are we going to be spending so much money on this thing? And you're not making money in the business yet. But it turned out, you know, within a year is making six figures in that photography business. And really the idea behind
Amanda Kaufman (20:47)
You
Gabriel Ryan (20:53)
I do think should read the E-Myth. Whether it's E-Myth or not, do think Dan Martell's Buy Back Your Time for me probably has kind of like actually surpassed E-Myth. So I would put them neck and neck, but I would say like one of those two books, because it really gives you an understanding, like a systematic way of thinking about business, which is important because the entrepreneurial myth, the E-Myth is this, is that you're good at doing a thing. You're good at coaching people. You're good at helping them navigate through problems.
problems,
so I should start a coaching business. That is the myth because the reality is there's a lot of other things like marketing and getting leads and finding clients and operations and growing team that's also required. And so you just need to have that knowledge and understanding, which even when you first read it, isn't going to make a whole lot of sense until you actually get into action, but it helped me a ton. And then the second piece was you need to get really freaking good at your craft. Like you need to go take a hundred thousand photos. Like if you're going to be selling photography, you need to go do this.
Amanda Kaufman (21:44)
I love that.
Gabriel Ryan (21:53)
a lot. So if you're a coach, you need to go help a bunch of people. You know, one of our clients is one of the top coaches in the music industry. He's worked with Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Paramore, like all these, right? And Brett's been doing that for over 25 years. he like, he's, he didn't start with those folks. And even when he first worked with Taylor was before, you know, she was dating Travis Kelsey and where she's at now is a long, time ago. Like he's been putting in the time, not just honing his craft, but the
craft of actually being able to develop other vocal artists. And because he's done that for so long, he's got a group now with thousands of students who go through his programs, who, work with his co, you he's developed other coaches under him. So you gotta get really good at your craft and, for coach, for most coaches that is getting, you know, helping their clients get really clear on the problems that they're solving. Like if you did nothing else than that, and you got really good at being able to actually identify the biggest constraint, the biggest problem.
in somebody's life, you're going be an excellent coach.
Amanda Kaufman (22:56)
I love it. like, yes, yes, absolutely. All of those things. Gabriel, what's the best way for people to follow you?
Gabriel Ryan (23:04)
Yeah, hit me up on Instagram. It's just at Gabriel Ryan on Instagram. And if there's anything I can do to serve you, just shoot me a DM.
Amanda Kaufman (23:12)
Amazing and we'll make sure that we have the the books you referenced and everything in the show notes and Hey listener, don't forget to leave a five-star review and subscribe to the show so that others will be able to find it and I am certain that Gabriel shared something here today that you've got three friends who would really benefit from hearing it so go ahead and Send a link to this episode to them through the DM or send them a text message so that they can get the benefit of this really powerful conversation and we will see you
guys next time!
