Chris Miles was a financial advisor until his brother-in-law asked him a question he couldn't answer. He left, built enough passive income to retire at 28, then watched the 2008 crash take the house, the Mercedes, and the retirement — and leave him on food stamps with over a million dollars in debt.What he built after that is the reason he's on the show.Chris is the founder of Money Ripples and the host of the Money Ripples Podcast. He's been running a high-ticket coaching business for over a decade — through a firing, a non-compete, a divorce that gutted his best year, and a 2025 that forced him to rebuild his entire team. He's never run the business on paid ads.This conversation is about the operating decisions, not the philosophy:- Why he took his top 20% of clients and cut it to the top 4% — and what those clients had in common- The year revenue only doubled but profit went up 8x, and what he stopped doing to get there- The event where he invited four people instead of forty, rented a $200 hotel room, and closed $30,000- Why his first hire was a commission-only closer instead of a VA- How a mishandled email blast took his open rate from 30% to under 10% and knocked out his organic search traffic for two months- Replacing a full-time CMO with three fractional specialists for the same monthly spend- Why his podcast still outperforms paid ads — including clients who followed him for three years before they ever booked a call- What he thinks is actually killing coaching businesses right now, and why "guide, not guru" is the positioning that's workingIf you're a coach who's built something real and is now hitting the ceiling of your own capacity, this one is worth the hour.SEE HOW AI DESCRIBES YOUR COACHING BUSINESS Run the free AEO audit. It shows you exactly what ChatGPT, Claude, and Google's AI answers say about you when a buyer asks for a coach in your niche. https://audit.piqued.consulting/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=episode_description&utm_campaign=spotify_videos&utm_content=boc_ep_002WANT TO BE A GUEST ON THE SHOW We interview coaches doing $150K+ a year with $3K+ offers. https://apply.piqued.consulting/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=episode_description&utm_campaign=spotify_videos&utm_content=boc_ep_002CONNECT WITH CHRIS MILESWebsite: https://moneyripples.comMoney Ripples Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@moneyrippleswithchrismilesCHAPTERS 0:00 — Introduction0:44 — The anti-financial advisor: retiring at 287:02 — From financially free to food stamps8:04 — The pivot that led to a $5M coaching year11:15 — Fired from the business he built: $1,000 and a non-compete13:06 — Rebuilding from zero: lunches instead of pitches24:33 — Why his first hire was a closer, not a VA28:18 — Cutting the client list down to the top 4%32:27 — Revenue doubled, profit went up 8x38:25 — Why live speaking works again and gurus don't45:16 — The leadership reset: firing family, going fractional48:51 — The email blast that destroyed deliverability51:06 — Why organic still beats paid59:22 — For coaches who never wanted to run a businessABOUT THE SHOW The Business of High-Ticket Coaching is hosted by Richard Hickman, founder of Piqued Consulting. Every episode takes apart the business behind a coaching business: how they get clients, what they charge, how the offer is built, who does the work, and what they would do differently. Not the craft of coaching. The machine underneath it.New episodes weekly. Subscribe so you don't miss the next one.

January Donovan grew The Woman School from zero to 40+ countries in under three years. Then she told me the coaching bubble has already popped.January is the founder of The Woman School and The Wholeness Coaching School, a #1 bestselling author, and a mother of eight who runs the entire company alongside her husband, Ryan. Most interviews with her are about her message. This one is about her machine.We take apart the licensing model that turns her own students into her paid coaches, the exact math one of them used to make $6,000 in her first month and $15,000 three months later, why paid ads have been the least successful channel they have ever run, and why one of her top coaches has signed nearly 300 women without a single social media post.If you are a coach watching the industry get harder to sell into, this is the conversation about what still works.WHAT WE COVER- Why "agreeable" content stopped converting, and what replaced it- The course + community + coaching model, and why all three are required- How a licensed coach earns from an 8-month curriculum she did not have to build- The real client-acquisition path: one-to-one, then B2B, then paid leverage- Why cold traffic is their weakest channel and what they run instead- When a book is worth writing, and what it is actually for- Why the influencer play is finished and what replaces it- The long-form-first content strategy, and why she would start on YouTube today- Building a company with your spouse without burning down either oneSEE HOW AI DESCRIBES YOUR COACHING BUSINESS Run the free AEO audit. It shows you exactly what ChatGPT, Claude, and Google's AI answers say about you when a buyer asks for a coach in your niche. https://audit.piqued.consulting/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=episode_description&utm_campaign=spotify_videos&utm_content=boc_ep_001WANT TO BE A GUEST ON THE SHOW We interview coaches doing $150K+ a year with $3K+ offers. https://apply.piqued.consulting/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=episode_description&utm_campaign=spotify_videos&utm_content=boc_ep_001CONNECT WITH JANUARY DONOVAN The Woman School: https://thewomanschool.com January Donovan / Feminine Revival: https://januarydonovan.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/january.donovan_ Book — Redefine Success For Women: https://www.amazon.com/Redefine-Success-Women-Blueprint-Fulfilling/dp/B0BSNXP853CHAPTERS 0:00 Introduction0:29 Who January Donovan is and what The Woman School actually does1:27 The coaching bubble popped: why "agreeable" content stopped working3:36 Zero to 40+ countries: the licensed coach model behind the growth9:40 Fifteen years coaching for free, and running a company with eight kids13:11 $6,000 in month one, $15,000 by month four14:42 Getting your first ten clients with zero social media17:58 Scaling past 100: B2B outreach and why cold ads fail20:41 AI, the gold rush, and why coaches have to polarize23:21 Books, lead magnets, and the end of the influencer play29:09 Start on YouTube: long form, consistency, and the shakeout31:35 Building a business with your spouseABOUT THE SHOW The Business of High-Ticket Coaching is hosted by Richard Hickman, founder of Piqued Consulting. Every episode takes apart the business behind a coaching business: how they get clients, what they charge, how the offer is built, who does the work, and what they would do differently. Not the craft of coaching. The machine underneath it.New episodes weekly. Subscribe so you don't miss the next one.

Welcome to The Business of High-Ticket Coaching — a Piqued Consulting podcast.

In this short intro episode, host Richard Hickman shares who he is, why he started the show, and what to expect from future episodes.

Richard is the founder of Piqued Consulting, a marketing agency serving high-ticket coaches. Before coaching, he ran a cybersecurity and digital forensics firm, which he successfully exited before shifting into marketing and CRM work. The pivot came after becoming a husband to Marianne Hickman — an international speaker and speaker coach — and a dad to six kids, a life that didn't mesh well with being on-call for hacked clients at 2 a.m.

Today, Richard works with coaches of every kind — business coaches, mindset coaches, life coaches, financial advisor coaches — helping them install the marketing and CRM systems that let them grow without burning out.

Why this show exists:

Most high-ticket coaches have to figure out the business side on their own. There's no shortage of podcasts teaching coaching as a craft, but very few that break down the business of coaching — the offers, the pricing, the client acquisition, the systems that separate a sustainable business from a hustle.

That's the gap this show fills.

What to expect:

Every week, Richard sits down with coaches who've built real businesses — $150K, $500K, $1M+ in annual revenue, consistently delivering $5,000+ offers as their primary income — and pulls back the curtain on exactly how they did it.

This is a tactical show. No mindset fluff. No "just hustle harder." Real conversations about:

— How guests built and priced their signature offers— Where they found clients after tapping their referral networks— What they did to scale past their own capacity— When they made their first hires (VAs, OBMs, sales reps) and what they'd do differently— The mistakes that cost them six figures to learn

Whether you're an established coach trying to break through your next revenue ceiling, or you're earlier in the journey figuring out the fundamentals, this show is your tactical playbook.

New episodes every week.

Want to be a guest? Apply at apply.piqued.consulting