When you’re growing quickly, chaos can quietly become normal.
You move fast.
You solve problems on the fly. Decisions happen in corridors, over coffee or driving between meetings. Everyone works hard. Everyone cares.
And for a while, that energy helps the business grow.
But eventually the pace catches up with you.
Meetings get missed. Reporting becomes inconsistent. Leaders stay reactive. Owners spend all day inside the operation instead of shaping the future of the business.
That’s where Jonathan Potter and the leadership team at DIFG found themselves.
The company had already made strong commercial progress in recent years. Sales and profitability were improving. The business was growing in a fast-moving, demanding sector.
But growth without structure creates pressure.
As Jonathan explained:
“We were 150% in the business.”
That’s a phrase many business owners will instantly recognise.
Because when you’re too deep in the day-to-day, there’s very little space left for strategic thinking.
The challenge many growing businesses face
Growth creates complexity.
The bigger the business becomes, the harder it is to run purely on instinct, energy and hard work alone.
At some stage, businesses need systems. Structure. Leadership accountability.
Otherwise the owners stay trapped in operational detail.
Here’s what that often looks like:
- You spend most of your time reacting — solving operational issues rather than shaping long-term direction.
- Leadership meetings become inconsistent — because day-to-day pressures always feel more urgent.
- KPIs exist loosely, if at all — making it difficult to measure performance properly across teams.
- Owners stay buried in the detail — checking figures, orders and operational metrics personally every day.
- The business becomes dependent on the founders’ energy — rather than scalable systems and leadership capability.
- Strategic projects get delayed — because nobody has enough headspace to focus on them consistently.
That’s exhausting.
And it limits growth.
Why Jonathan and the team wanted support
Jonathan spoke openly about something many owners experience but rarely admit.
Business leadership can feel lonely.
Especially in family-run businesses.
He explained:
“Like many entrepreneurs, it can be a lonely job sometimes.”
That’s important.
Because business owners often carry pressure privately. Decisions feel heavy. Responsibility sits with a small number of people. And when you’re constantly inside the business, perspective becomes difficult.
Jonathan and Emma had already discussed bringing in trusted advisers over several years because they recognised the value of an external sounding board.
Not someone to run the business for them.
Someone to challenge thinking.
Someone to ask better questions.
Someone capable of planting ideas that changed the way they approached problems.
Jonathan described it perfectly:
“It might be completely something out of the blue that Dan has mentioned… and you think, I’ve never thought about that.”
That external perspective is often where the breakthrough starts.
The shift from hectic to structured
One word came up repeatedly throughout Jonathan’s testimonial.
Structure.
Not bureaucracy.
Not endless meetings.
Useful structure.
The kind that allows businesses to scale more effectively and leaders to think more clearly.
Jonathan explained:
“Dan’s without shadow of doubt brought some structure to the business.”
That structure showed up in practical ways:
- Monthly leadership meetings
- Clear reporting
- Measured KPIs
- Leadership accountability
- Strategic planning
- Defined business values
- Better communication across teams
Previously, the business was moving at “100 miles an hour.”
Now there was a clearer rhythm and direction.
That changes the culture of a business significantly.
Because structure creates consistency.
And consistency creates confidence.
What changed operationally
One of the biggest improvements was the development of the senior leadership team.
Instead of Jonathan and Emma being involved in every operational detail, leadership responsibility became more distributed across the business.
Jonathan explained:
“We’ve got a leadership team there that are measuring their staff… so when they report on it, we’re getting all the figures that we need instead of us being in on it every day.”
That’s a critical shift.
Because scalable businesses rely on systems and leadership layers — not owners personally checking everything themselves.
The business also introduced clearer KPIs and accountability measures.
Jonathan highlighted the importance of:
- Measured performance indicators
- Regular reporting
- Defined company values
- Leadership ownership
- Consistent meetings
- Structured planning
Those changes sound simple.
But implemented consistently, they transform how businesses operate.
The business results
The commercial momentum was already strong before coaching began.
But the introduction of greater structure helped the business grow more sustainably and strategically.
Jonathan shared that the company achieved:
- 18% year-on-year growth last year
- 16% year-on-year growth currently
- Strong improvements in profitability
- Greater leadership accountability
- Better reporting systems
- Increased time away from day-to-day operations
That matters.
Because growth is one thing.
Sustainable growth is another.
Many businesses grow revenue while simultaneously increasing stress, chaos and founder dependency.
This was different.
The business became calmer, more organised and more strategically focused at the same time.
That’s the real achievement.
Beyond the numbers
Perhaps the biggest theme in Jonathan’s testimonial was space.
Space to think.
Space to step back.
Space to spend more time with family.
Jonathan explained:
“We’re spending more time away from the business being able to think where we need to be.”
That’s a huge mindset shift for many founders.
Because stepping away from the operation often feels uncomfortable at first. Owners worry things won’t happen properly without them.
But the opposite is usually true.
When leadership teams become stronger and systems improve, owners can focus on higher-value thinking instead of constant operational involvement.
Jonathan also spoke about the wider personal benefits:
“It gives us more time to spend with the family and more other projects that we’re looking at.”
That’s important.
Because ultimately most owners don’t build businesses just to create themselves another stressful full-time job.
They want options. Freedom. Opportunity.
What business coaching actually looked like
No gimmicks.
No motivational theatre.
No vague “mindset” conversations with no practical follow-through.
Instead, the coaching focused on real business fundamentals:
- Leadership accountability
- KPI tracking
- Strategic planning
- Organisational structure
- Meeting discipline
- Team development
- Business values
- Long-term planning
One particularly important area was helping the business create a clearer multi-year vision.
Jonathan explained:
“He helped us put a plan together of where we wanted to see ourselves in one year, two years, three years’ time.”
That clarity matters enormously.
Because businesses without a clear direction tend to stay reactive.
The real question
Is your business still relying too heavily on you?
Are you spending most of your time reacting instead of leading?
Do meetings get postponed because operational pressures always take priority?
Are your KPIs measured properly? Is accountability genuinely embedded in the leadership team?
You can keep operating at 100 miles an hour.
Many businesses do.
Or you can build the structure, leadership capability and systems needed to scale more sustainably.
That’s the opportunity.
Jonathan described the outcome best:
“Mission accomplished.”
Not because the business slowed down.
Because it became more focused, more organised and less dependent on constant founder involvement.
That’s what structure does.
And that’s what allows businesses to grow properly.
ActionCOACH - Peterborough, Nassington, Peterborough, PE8 6EP
07766 131694 dananslow@actioncoach.co.uk