Business Mentor vs Business Coach: What's the Difference?
A client I'll call Sophie spent £18,000 on business coaching over two years.
Three different coaches. Beautiful questions. Deep insights about her relationship with visibility. Goals she never hit.
If you've spent thousands on coaching and your business still isn't where you want it to be, this will sound familiar.
"I know exactly what's wrong with my business," she told me on our first call. "I just need someone to tell me what to do about it."
Here's what those coaching sessions looked like:
Sophie spent an hour each week talking about why she wasn't posting on social media consistently. Her coach asked thoughtful questions. "What's stopping you from posting?" "How does that make you feel?" "What would happen if you posted every day?"
Sophie left each session feeling heard. Understood. She had new awareness about her visibility fears. She set intentions to post three times a week.
Then she posted twice in the following month.
This is the pattern I see constantly.
When every problem becomes a mindset problem
Don't get me wrong – mindset work matters. Some of my clients have genuine visibility blocks. Others have money beliefs so tangled they've spent £15K on courses they haven't finished while telling themselves it's "investment."
But here's what I notice: a lot of coaches treat every business problem as a psychological problem.
Your email open rates aren't low because of childhood trauma. They're low because your subject lines are terrible.
Your sales calls aren't converting because of imposter syndrome. They're not converting because you never actually ask for the sale.
Your content isn't landing because you're afraid of being seen. It's not landing because you're posting motivational quotes instead of case studies.
Sometimes the problem is tactical. And no amount of exploring your relationship with money will fix a confusing pricing page.
The difference isn't strategy vs psychology
It's knowing which tool to use when.
A business coach asks: "What do you think might be causing your low conversion rate?"
A business mentor says: "Your conversion rate is low because your pricing page has seventeen options and no clear call-to-action. Here's what to change."
Then adds: "Also, I noticed you mentioned deleting half your social posts before publishing. That's not a strategy problem. Let's talk about what's actually happening there."
That's the work. Spotting which problem you're actually solving.
When mindset actually matters (and when it's just expensive procrastination)
Sometimes the block is real.
The client who built a brilliant course but won't promote it because showing up online makes her physically sick. That's not a tactics problem.
The entrepreneur who's spent £20K on business coaches in two years while his actual business makes £800 a month. That's not investment – that's self-development addiction.
The founder who's spent six months building marketing plans in ChatGPT, refining her brand positioning with Claude, getting content strategies from Gemini – but hasn't posted anything because she's still "getting it right."
The founder who knows exactly what content to create but keeps sabotaging herself by deleting posts, missing deadlines, creating problems that don't exist. Pure strategy won't touch that.
But most business owners I work with aren't drowning in psychological blocks.
They're drowning in tactical confusion.
They don't need to explore why they're afraid of charging more. They need someone to look at their pricing and explain why it's confusing clients.
They don't need to discover their authentic voice through journaling. They need someone to read their website copy and point out where it stops making sense.
They don't need to set intentions around consistency. They need a content plan and accountability.
What actually happened with Sophie
When we started working together, I audited her business. Not her mindset. Her actual business.
Website. Pricing. Client onboarding. Marketing.
Then I gave her a list:
Rewrite your homepage headline – it's about you, not your client's problem.
Add testimonials to your pricing page – you have none.
Create a welcome sequence for new subscribers – yours is one generic email.
Stop posting quotes. Start sharing case studies.
No deep dive into her fear of success. No exploration of her relationship with self-promotion.
Just specific changes that would improve specific outcomes.
She implemented everything in two weeks. Website conversion doubled. Email list grew 40%.
Then she hit a wall.
She knew what content to create. But she kept deleting posts before publishing them. That's when we shifted – helping her understand why she was sabotaging her own progress.
Good mentoring isn't just strategy OR just coaching. It's knowing which problem you're solving and using the right tool for it.
Here's what I actually do
I'll tell you to fix your sales page AND help you work through why you're sabotaging every sales call.
I'll give you a content strategy AND help you understand why you keep deleting posts.
I'll spot the tactical problems you can't see because you're too close to them.
And I'll spot the behavioural patterns you can't see because you've normalised them.
ChatGPT will give you a brilliant content strategy. So will I. The difference is I'll also spot that you're using strategy-building as procrastination, and we'll deal with that.
When you need a coach:
You need help figuring out what you want and why you're not going after it.
You want support setting goals and exploring what's blocking you.
You're stuck in patterns you don't understand and need someone to help you see them.
When you need a mentor:
You know what you want but don't know how to get there.
You need someone to look at your business and tell you what's broken.
You want direct solutions based on someone else's experience, not just better questions.
When you need both (which is most of the time):
You've tried implementing advice before and it didn't stick.
You know what to do but keep sabotaging yourself.
You need someone who can spot both tactical problems and behavioural ones.
Someone who'll give you the strategy AND hold you accountable when your brain gets in the way.
The uncomfortable questions
Before you hire anyone – coach, mentor, consultant – ask yourself:
Do you actually know what's wrong with your business, or are you avoiding finding out?
When someone gives you direct advice, do you implement it or explain why it won't work for you?
Are you using coaching sessions to feel better about your problems instead of solving them?
Are you building plans in AI that you never implement, telling yourself you're "being strategic"?
How much have you spent on courses and coaching versus how much your business has grown?
Do you need someone to help you figure out what to do, or do you need accountability for doing what you already know?
Are you sabotaging your progress? And if so, do you want to understand why or just push through it?
If you're still reading, you probably know you need someone to look at your business and tell you what's broken.
Not someone to spend six months helping you explore your feelings about what might be broken.
But you also know that sometimes what's broken is your behaviour. And you need someone who can work with both.
If you're reading this and thinking "I've been hiring coaches when I needed a mentor" – or worse, "I've been hiring mentors when the real problem is me" – here's what working together looks like:
One-off mentoring session (£325): 90 minutes where I audit your business, identify what's holding you back, and give you a specific action plan. If what's holding you back is psychological, we'll address that too. Book a session
Ongoing mentorship: Monthly containers for founders who need consistent pattern-spotting, accountability, and someone who'll tell you the uncomfortable truth when you're recreating the exact problem you're trying to solve. Learn more about mentorship
Because sometimes the most powerful thing isn't "What do you think you should do?"
It's "Here's what you need to do – and here's why you're not doing it. Let's fix both."
