Real Client Success Stories: How an Online Business Coach Transformed These Businesses
As someone who has worked with coaches on and off for 20 years, I’m living proof of the lasting and transformative impact coaching can have not only in one’s personal life but also on the growth potential of a business.
In this article, I’m going to share some of those real success stories with you.
In this blog post, you’ll learn:
1. Why Real Client Success Stories Matter
2. From Stuck to Scaling: How Brian Increased Revenue by 150%
3. Breaking Free from Overwhelm: How Janice Reclaimed Time and Focus
4. The Confidence Shift: How Courtney Stepped into Leadership and Made Bold Moves
5. Scaling with Systems: How Bridget Built a Business That Runs Without Her
6. Lessons from These Transformations: What You Can Apply to Your Own Business
7. Ready for Your Own Success Story? Here’s How to Take the First Step
I’m excited to dive right in and share these transformational stories with you.
1. Why Real Client Success Stories Matter
When looking for the right business coach to help you attain your desired outcomes, it’s very important to also look at the coach’s case studies and testimonials.
Understanding and seeing the results that others have experienced while working with the coach will help you get a better grip on the following:
the types of results you can expect
the types of businesses the coach has worked with
the challenges the coach can solve for you
the likelihood of your success
It’s also crucial to see testimonials and case studies to further trust that the coach will be able to help you attain your goals. Seeing others’ success stories shows you what’s possible, and also showcases the coach’s abilities and skills.
2. From Stuck to Scaling: How Brian Milauskas (Milton) Increased Revenue by 150%
When Brian, the owner of Kidstock! Creative Theater, and I first started working together, he was stuck in the day-to-day and lacked the capacity to effectively lead his team while also focusing on longer-term growth opportunities.
Brian was feeling stuck, and he worried about the frustration his team was experiencing.
Within 18 months of working with me, Brian increased his revenue by 150%.
During our time together, I helped Brian identify:
where he was overspending his time and energy
what systems were missing to help him get out of the day-to-day
what strategies were missing to make effective hires
We also worked on clarifying his longer-term growth vision, and what would have to be in place to attain those goals.
During our co-creative sessions, we also worked on developing Brian’s leadership skills, and helped him create better delegation strategies to free up more of his time and bandwidth.
By keeping him focused and accountable to the goals we laid out, Brian was able to increase his revenue by 150% in only 18 months.
3. Breaking Free from Overwhelm: How Janice Reclaimed Time and Focus
“I hired Hanneke Hugo Antonelli right before the pandemic (because I was overwhelmed and in tears) and went from five employees in Boston to 25 in five cities, and I’m doing it Like. A. Boss. Call her!”
When Janice hired me in 2019 her company was doing under a million in revenue, and she had four staff members.
And she found herself where so many business owners find themselves at this level of business: overwhelmed and overworked.
She had a very hard time stepping out of the day-to-day. And while looking at her entrepreneurial friends who were enjoying themselves on fun trips, she realized that there must be a better way to do things than how she was doing them.
After interviewing a variety of coaches, Janice hired me because of my qualifications, experience, and no-BS attitude.
I immediately helped Janice release some of the guilt she was feeling about not working side-by-side with her employees.
We spent lots of time working on upleveling her leadership skills and providing a space for her to verbally process and soundboard growth ideas.
Honoring who she was as a person and leader, we were able to create a growth strategy that was both sustainable and also massively scalable.
I also helped Janice spot easier ways to scale her company. In the last five years since we started working together, Janice has scaled her company from one city to 100 cities. (This was the number as of January 2025 - Tiny Spoon Chef continues to expand rapidly.)
4. The Confidence Shift: How Courtney Stepped into Leadership and Made Bold Moves
“Hanneke helped me to define what a leader truly is; one that is caring AND has high standards and boundaries. Personally, she’s helped me get through so much self-doubt that I didn’t even know I was harboring.”
When Courtney first reached out to work with me, she was experiencing the very familiar challenges that all business owners face when starting to expand their team:
Lacking confidence in her ability to lead a bigger team.
Where to draw the line between being a friend and being a business owner to employees.
How to effectively communicate expectations (and not come across as a mean girl – yes, this is a real thing, it’s not just you!).
By helping Courtney clearly define her definition of bold leadership, along with the strategy to step into that role, she was able to expand her business to multiple locations while working with me the first time around.
Years later, Courtney returned to working with me, and this time it was to help her set the business up to run more independently.
In 2024, Courtney had to step away from the business unexpectedly due to a family emergency, and as a result of the work she did with me, her team was able to seamlessly run the business without her involvement for several months.
I helped Courtney build an ownership-thinking team by:
clearly defining roles within the company
setting up company-specific systems and procedures
focusing on key revenue indicators that the team could manage in Courtney’s absence
building a qualified leadership team that can manage staff directly
5. Scaling with Systems: How Bridget Built a Business That Runs Without Her
“Hanneke is a straight shooter, which is exactly what I needed. As a business owner, sometimes there are small details you miss or procedures that need to be redefined. And having someone like Hanneke that will tell you exactly what to do and how to make those changes despite hurting your ego is refreshing.”
When Bridget enrolled to work with me, it was clear that she needed more standardized systems and procedures to help her company work more efficiently and free up time.
So we got right to work, and by working together, Bridget was able to accomplish the following:
Clearly identify an assistant role with interviewing, hiring, and training documentation.
I provided templates to create SOPs easily, along with employee review templates to manage employees seamlessly.
Clarity on consultation session pricing.
More tailored marketing materials geared to attract higher-end clients.
A deeper understanding of business finances with a clear strategy to manage cash flow and funds better.
I also suggested a better CRM system that Bridget implemented to help onboard clients faster and get contracts signed quicker.
Bridget is now more organized and poised to attract higher-paying clients, with strategic systems and marketing materials in place to support the growth of her business.
6. Lessons from These Transformations: What You Can Apply to Your Own Business
Here are some takeaways from these client transformations that you can immediately apply to your business:
Clarify company roles clearly for every employee, including the business owner.
Standardize all procedures for the business, for example, hiring, pricing, and client onboarding, and document it all.
Delegate as much and as often as possible.
Develop leadership skills across the board.
Bring more focus and accountability to ensure next-level growth.
It’s 100% possible for business owners to create and attain the above on their own but when you enroll a third-party accountability partner and business expert, it becomes easier to reach these outcomes faster and with less hassle.
7. Ready for Your Own Success Story? Here’s How to Take the First Step
If you’re ready to reach your full potential as an entrepreneur while also scaling your business to the next level, let’s hop on a call to discuss how I can help you more quickly and easily create sustainable growth.
If you liked what you read here, here’s how you can get more support from me to become the best entrepreneur you can be:
accelerate your growth with my free Business Acceleration Assessment
read my bestselling book, The Up Level Project
work with me: book a 1:1 consultation with me here
here’s another useful article that you may enjoy: Wanted: Business Coach, Boston
