To think that digital creators and business coaches are not proper jobs?

[Peekaboooooo]

An old school friend has a fitness business and is also a business coach. She shares a lot about this on social media which I find intriguing. Before I get slated for this, I admit, this isn't a world I'm familiar with. However, through looking at her content and that of the ladies she associates with who are also business coaches, there's a large amount of posing for social media posts, making reels about growth mindset and using attention grabbing promotions with mildly aggressive sounding wording. Do you know the sort of thing I mean? The common theme seems to be, how to be a 'hard arse' to make money off people, whilst taking lots of selfies. Is this a proper job? Why are so many people doing this now? Having worked in the NHS with mental health and now in schools with a similar role, I can't relate to how being a digital creator or business coach is a real world job. I'm sure I'll be corrected on this but any thoughts one way or the other?

An old colleague of mine changed career a few years ago, has kind of floated about doing vague sounding jobs for a while but is now a “business coach for tech start ups”. Talks about how she worked for tech start ups and increased her salary to over 6 figures in less than a year, then doubled it a year later.

I was never quite sure how she could “coach” people into doing similar - surely it’s about qualifications and skills?

Anyway, her and her partner have just moved house. We were catching up and she was cagey about telling me where. So I didn’t probe, she obviously didn’t want to say.

…..mutual friend then revealed where it was. It’s a small, unattractive flat, in a bad area. There’s no way she’s earning 6 figures, let alone double that.

It’s all smoke and mirrors and I can’t pretend to understand it.

I used to take this view about “influencing” but I’ve changed my tune.

Bottom line - if they make an income from it, then it’s a job.

I also think influencers and content creators are under a lot of pressure to keep the content coming, keep it fresh, and standing out in a crowded market place. It’s stressful, I expect, and wouldn’t be for me.

Yeah, is not what you’d traditionally deem a job. And yes, it’s uncertain - but so is acting, and no one argues that isn’t a job.

I also expect most of them earn fuck all and it’s a bit of a side hustle (a term I hate).

@SENsupportplease I’m not talking about executive coaches who are accredited with the International Coaching Federation or similar

I didn’t think much of that lady’s page, it seemed quite vague meaningless language. She seems to sell a course called explode and talks a lot about people’s identity and brands and the benefits aren’t that obvious or information on the clients problems that she solves. I didn’t read it in depth but then the key messages weren’t exactly jumping out at me.

i do follow some content creators but it tends to be those where you can see what they do I like a few comedians, Adrian Biss does historic jokes that I share with dc, there’s a guy with a philosophy channel that I share with dd2, various historians (I think Alice Lockley is one). There are also a couple of gardeners I like eg gardening with Ish, people who do DIY, cooking, some stylists. These are talented people who are good at what they do and communicate well on subjects I’m interested in.

ha ha it sounds like I’m permanently on instagram and tik tok.

I wish I had of had a Business Coach when I was younger. I feel like somebody stating the bloody obvious to me could’ve saved me years of wasting time and energy and not being directed.
Everyone needs a cheer squad and not everybody has that in their family

even onlyfans is just a modern version of basically being in a certain magazine only you choose your style etc

i think roles change , yes there are some that think retail, factory, finance, law the traditional roles yes i may be missing some but the point is if you can do a role and your getting double, triple, etc the nmw then why would you take nmw in retail roles etc, ?

when I first came across coaches they were generally those that had industry experience and much knowledge to impart. One of my friends is a coach but has decades of experience in a particular industry and a first class degree from Cambridge. Despite my introduction to serious coaches it’s very hard not to think of a coach as some Law of Attraction ex-MLM loon, simply because they have flooded social media. Now when someone says ‘I’m a coach’ I’m suspicious.

This unfortunate highjacking of the term has a lot to do with the declining MLM “industry”. Lots of formally successful Huns (successful largely due to joining MLM in the boom years, having other sources of cash or happy to bully downlines) can no longer make it work. They’re unwilling to return to the NMW jobs they criticised and slated others for hanging on to. So they decide to coach people, telling them they have the secret to success in MLM. Many of them know absolutely nothing outside MLM.

There are a lot of coaches selling coaching packages with big promises behind them, expensive back up training and dodgy certificates; coaches coaching other coaches to be coaches who coach other coaches. Mostly they coach each other. Occasionally they reach into clinical areas where useful vulnerabilities can be found - take former Apprentice runner up Jessica Cunningham’s Belief Coding which offers endless training to be a six figure entrepreneur and also an “evidence based” one session cure for dementia and lots of “facilitators” prepared to tackle anything from a vague sense of unease to psychiatric illnesses (see the Advertising Standards Authority ruling on 1st October 2025 re BCCR Ltd, not that this has stopped her).

coaching is the perfect MLM product. No need to bring in white label make up from China, just create a woo based system then take photos of yourself using other people’s expensive props and create an illusion of success, then tell people it’s down to finding the secret of success and selling them coaching programmes to have the same glamorous life themselves. If a few people lose their friends, jobs, marriages and mental good health along the way, well, they just had the wrong mindset.

A lot of MLMs are hiding behind coaching, whether that be business coaching or fitness/wellness coaching. Herbalife is a good example.

I have my own business and I have used a business coach. She is brilliant.
she has come up with ideas that I haven’t thought of and helped me brain storm things.
she is not an influencer in that sense tho

It isn’t a proper job. Husbands niece earns around 70k year as one of the top insta food influencers. She just copies other influencers. Shes actually quite isolated now.

I mean she’s winning. 70k a year so fair play to her, but it’s not a proper job.

I agree. I think they put in tremendous effort but it’s a bit of a new version of a MLM. A lot of hustle and noise but little behind it.

I do a job that could be seen as similar but to me it really isnt. I do marketing (build websites, set up email, social, booking systems) for small business owners. But I have done this profession for 15 years. I don’t brand myself as a business coach though I do teach these skills. I am a qualified marketer with a lot of experience and skills. I definitely don’t just post about mindset. I work 1:1 or do small group training. It’s a good job for me and I generate about £3-4,500 per month across all my projects.

I expect those careers have become less aspirational as (for the degree ones anyway) you get in 70k of debt funding your own training, and then (if you are lucky and can get a job at all) you work bloody hard and can fund a lifestyle very similar to someone who has a few kids and works part time on universal credit.

As for jobs that contribute to society do you judge working in alcohol/junk food industries (contributing to alcoholism/obesity), cosmetic industries?
I worked in a small shop for a while - I mostly sold pop and sweets to teenagers, scratch cards/alcohol to twenty somethingsand fags to older people. Was that a real job? It was hardly helping society.

This is bloody awesome. Well done him!