Some business owners work very hard and still feel they are not getting where they want to go. Others are doing well but have lost sight of why they started. Performance on Purpose is the coaching approach we use with both groups. It aims for high performance that serves a purpose you care about.
The person, the leader and the business
Performance on Purpose works on three connected levels. A tired, unfocused owner finds it hard to lead well, and a leader who cannot delegate or make decisions limits how far the business can grow. We work on the person first, then the leader, then the business.
The Performance on Purpose quadrant
We usually start with an honest diagnostic across two axes — how you're performing, and how much purpose you feel. It puts you in one of four places:
- Drifting — low performance, low purpose. The work here is clarity and a first small win.
- The Treadmill — high performance, low purpose. You are busy and capable, but working toward something that no longer feels worth it. The work is stepping back and redefining what success means.
- Unfulfilled potential — low performance, high purpose. You care deeply but aren't yet getting there. The work is focus, habits and accountability.
- Performance on Purpose — high performance and high purpose. The work here is keeping both high.
The three freedoms
Most owners want three kinds of freedom: financial freedom (enough profit and cash that money pressure stops distorting your decisions), time freedom (a business that doesn't need you for everything), and mind freedom (headspace — being able to switch off and think clearly). We explore these more in a separate piece on the three freedoms.
A worked example: putting numbers on time freedom
The figures below are illustrative. Any owner can do the same calculation from their own accounts in about ten minutes.
An owner takes £30,000 in salary and dividends, and the business makes £45,000 of net profit on top. So £75,000 a year is the return on their effort. They work 55 hours a week, 46 weeks a year: 2,530 hours. That puts an hour of the owner's time at just under £30.
Say 18 of those 55 hours go on bookkeeping, scheduling, chasing suppliers and rebuilding the same spreadsheet every month — work that could be bought in at around £16 an hour. Across 46 weeks that is 828 hours, and buying it costs roughly £13,250 a year. The owner has to decide whether 828 hours of their own time is worth more than £13,250. On a 40% gross margin, covering that cost takes £33,120 of additional sales, which on a £400,000 turnover is a little over 8%.
Decisions like this often go unmade for years, either because nobody has done the sum or because handing the work over feels riskier than carrying on. Advisory work identifies the decision, and coaching helps the owner make it. Our guide explains the difference between coaching and advisory work.
The three pillars and how they are scored
From there, the work is structured around three pillars — becoming a high-performance person, a high-performance leader, and running a high-performance business — each scored honestly out of ten so you can see where the gaps are, pick the priorities that matter most, and turn them into concrete 90-day outcomes with real milestones.
Who it is for
Performance on Purpose runs alongside our accounting and advisory work. It suits owners who are working hard but feel stuck, or who are successful but no longer find the work fulfilling. To find out more, see how Buzz coaching works or book a call and we'll talk about where you are now.
