A Facilitator's Journey: Real Life Stories
Hosted by Kirsty Lewis, founder of the School of Facilitation, this podcast explores what it takes to run a business as a facilitator or trainer. Each episode features interviews with trainers and facilitators about the practical realities of managing their work. Conversations cover topics such as finances, pricing, scaling up or down, retirement, marketing, and client management. It is aimed at people who want to turn their passion for training into a sustainable business.
Episodes
Episode 49: From Newsrooms to Workshops: Jo Cook's purposeful facilitator's path
This episode is about decision-making in our businesses, the frameworks we use to say yes or no to work and how becoming more conscious in our decision-making is important to cultivate.In this engaging conversation, Jo Cook shares with Kirsty her journey from being a trainee journalist to having a multi-income stream business. Jo shares her experiences transitioning from journalism to self-employm
Episode 48: The Importance of Community, Connection and Collaboration
In this engaging conversation, Kirsty Lewis and Chad Littlefield explore the evolving landscape of facilitation, the impact of AI, and the importance of community and collaboration.They discuss the challenges faced by facilitators in a changing business environment, the significance of positioning and value, and actionable advice for those starting out in the field.The conversation also highlights
Episode 47: The brutal truth: My first five years as a freelance facilitator
This episode is about decision-making in our businesses, the frameworks we use to say yes or no to work and how becoming more conscious in our decision-making is important to cultivate.In this conversation, Kirsty Lewis and Dave Freeman discuss the journey of transitioning from the corporate world to becoming a freelance facilitator and trainer. They explore the challenges faced in the early stage
Episode 46: Summer Reflections: My Facilitator's Journey!
Join me, Kirsty Lewis, founder of the School of Facilitation, as I reflect on my summer of 2025. From facilitating summits in London and Manila to traveling across Australia and New Zealand, I share my experiences, lessons learned, and insights into the world of facilitation. Discover the highlights of SoFest, the challenges of balancing work and travel, and the exciting plans for the fu
Episode 45: Navigating Neurodiversity in Business
In this conversation, Kirsty Lewis and Tamzin Hall explore the themes of neurodiversity, the journey of entrepreneurship, and the importance of self-awareness in client relationships. Tamsin shares her personal experiences with neurodiversity and how it shaped her career as a consultant. They discuss the challenges of building a business, the significance of choosing clients wisely, and
Episode 44: Re-evaluating Success: From corporate to creative to scaling back
In this conversation, Mok reflects on his journey from corporate consulting to founding the Innovation Beehive, a company focused on unlocking creative potential in organisations. He shares personal experiences of loss, the impact of COVID-19 on his business, and the decision to scale back rather than grow. Mok emphasizes the importance of reevaluating success, prioritizing health, and making
Episode 43: The Power of an Endurance Mindset in Business
In this episode, Kirsty Lewis interviews Clare Walkeden, a consultant, coach, and endurance athlete, about her journey in business and the importance of wellbeing. They discuss the transition from marketing to a focus on wellbeing, the foundations of personal and professional health, and the significance of community and connection. Clare shares her insights on maintaining balance as a b
Episode 42: Websites and SEO - What Every Freelancer and Facilitator Needs to Know
Is your website really working for you - or is it quietly gathering dust?In this episode, I’m joined by Barb Davids, a website and SEO strategist who helps business owners grow their organic traffic and make their websites work harder (without all the tech overwhelm). Together, we dive into why your website still matters - even in the age of social media - and what simple changes you can make to b
Episode 41: Navigating the Legal Side of Business with Lucy Wheeler
In this episode, we dive into all things legal - what it is we need in our businesses as solopreneurs, through to partnerships or big entities. Trust me when I recommend you get the legal side of your business in order early on.My guest is Lucy Wheeler, also known as Lucy Legal. She is a lawyer who shares legal information and tips through her social media accounts and has two businesses: Lucy Leg
Episode 40: Me, my business and Neurodiversity
Kirsty and Hayley explore Hayley's journey into neuro-inclusion consulting, discussing the challenges and triumphs of running a business as a neurodivergent individual.They delve into the importance of community support, the complexities of pricing strategies, and the impact of self-worth on business decisions.The discussion highlights the multifaceted nature of entrepreneurship and the value of b
Episode 39: Balancing Being Yourself and Business
This episode is about kindness. Firstly to ourselves as facilitators and then to our businesses. How we navigate leaving the world of corporate to go it alone and be ok to create the life we want vs the imagined 'business' life of others.Em Stroud is a comic coach, professional clown, facilitator and entrepreneur, who shares her journey through the world of business and creativity. She discusses h
Episode 38: The Importance of Streamlining Operations and Processes in a Small Business
This episode is all about the importance of having your business processes streamlined and documented, whatever your size!Sneha Morjaria is the founder of The Growth Chain and School of Operations. She helps founders stop doing it all ie she shows us how to operationalise our businesses so that we have time and space to do the work we love - facilitate, train or coach.In this conversation, Kirsty
SOFest: Behind the scenes
Join me, Kirsty, as I share insights into the planning and financial aspects of SoFest.I share the exact costs of running the festival, how much money we have raised to date (4th April 2025) and how much of a financial hole there is.I also share my excitement for the festival, the success of the impact tickets, who some of the sponsors are and the importance of community support.I talk about value
Episode 37: Common Challenges Faced by Entrepreneurs and the importance of community
As business owners there are many common challenges we encounter, such as time management, financial planning, and the importance of having a clear vision and strategy. Working these out on our own can be lonely and quite frankly boring, with little fun.Enter Ed Reid the MD of The Alternative Board, UK. This is a community aimed at alleviating the loneliness faced by SME owners and is in over
Episode 36: Saying No, Finding Balance after Burnout & Redefining Success in our Business
As facilitators, trainers, and business owners, we often find ourselves saying “yes” too much, overworking, and stretching our own boundaries—sometimes to the point of burnout. In this episode, I sit down with Beth Cougler Blom, learning designer, facilitator, and podcast host, to have an honest conversation about what it means to run a business without running ourselves into the ground.We discuss
Episode 35: Strategy, Facilitation & Finding Clients – A Real Talk with Faris Aranki
This episode is a live getting to know you session. Faris and I didn't meet until I hit record and this is very much a raw conversation as we talk about our businesses, the challenges of loneliness in facilitation, the impact of social media, and the importance of emotional intelligence in business.Faris Aranki is a consultant, a facilitator, a strategist, an economist and the founder of Shiatego.
Episode 34: Money is Sexy: The Pricing Conversation
This episode is all about money and pricing. Listen if you want to stretch your thinking!Laura Payne-Stanley is a Success Management Consultant and a Coach. She works with private individuals as well as corporates and small businesses to enable them to create and live the life they want.In this conversation, Kirsty and Laura delve into the intricacies of business success management, focusing on th
Episode 33: Navigating the Business of Facilitation and Training
This episode is about the pro's and con's of being an associate/sub-contractor vs having your own clients, pricing, and the power of niching.Murray Cowell is a man on a mission to support facilitators, trainers, and coaches in developing themselves and their businesses. He has years of real-life experience of running training and facilitation businesses, accidentally created an email marketing bus
Episode 32: Consultant or Facilitator? The impact of our language and words
Chris Taylor is a serial entrepreneur, who in his own words, is not known as a facilitator or a trainer, yet finds himself working with this community time and again.He is the founder of Actionable.co which supports training companies with the tools to prove their impact on behaviour change and stand out in a crowded market.In this conversation, Kirsty and Chris delve into the intricacies of habit
Episode 31: The power of persistence during times of change
This episode is about Annette's journey from being a corporate trainer to establishing her own business in facilitation and training during the pandemic. We talk about the challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic, the importance of networking, and the personal growth that comes from stepping out of one's comfort zone.Annette is a trainer facilitator, lover of Insights Discovery, wear
Episode 30: Developing a Positive and Confident Mindset in a Freelance World
This episode covers a multitude of topics from being self-employed to doing business in America, highlighting the importance of setting clear expectations and boundaries with clients.Zita Tulyahikayo is a hypnotherapist, Systemic Constellator, coach, and facilitator. She has always been self-employed which I found fascinating as so many of us start in an organisation. Zita openly talks about her e
SOFest: November Update
Welcome to this short episode of A facilitator's Journey. Today is a SOFest update covering how the early bird launch went, some thank yous, and future plans.Let us know if you are coming to SOFest, I can't wait to meet you in the field____A Facilitator's Journey is the podcast that looks at how you run your business as a facilitator or trainer.You started this work because you have a passion
Episode 29: Building a Business Through Connection and Curiosity
This episode is about the importance of our network as we develop and grow our businesses, finding people who we connect with in an authentic way and who we want to spend time with talking about our business, our deepest thoughts and ideas.Lisa Partridge is a communication skills specialist with a passion for walking. Based in Singapore she is a facilitator, podcast host and is building a thriving
Episode 28: The Challenges and Rewards of Building a Business
This episode is about running our own businesses, redefining success, being a solo mum, asking for help and what IS the difference between a B2C and B2B business model??Carla Miller is a women's leadership coach, creator of the podcast Influence & Impact for female leaders, author, and trainer. Kirsty talks to Carla about her journey of leaving the charity sector and starting her own busi
Episode 27: Two heads are better than one: why run a business with a partner?
This episode is about how to work in partnership, creating clear ways of working from the start and aligning on values and work ethics.Chris Locke and Alex O'Rourke are the founders of Locksmith. They help marketeers improve their marketing skills, capabilities, and leadership abilities. The partnership started in 2019 after a conversation at a friend's birthday party. They initially planned to st
Episode 26: Defining my Version of Success as a Freelancer
This episode is a story about discovering your passion for learning, working out how you can leave the organisation you work for, become a freelancer and work as an associate delivering workshops for others and then testing the idea of finding your own clients.Karen Sargent is an occupational psychologist who is passionate about helping leaders and employees create results and not burn out.Join Ki
Episode 25: From Peacecorp to Corporate; The story of an international facilitator
This episode is about what it is like to be a facilitator who travels the world, who works and has lived in multiple countries, experienced the nonprofit and education sectors through to corporate organizations.Romy Alexandra is a learning experience designer and facilitator. She has been in the world of facilitation for over 19 years and has visited over 80 countries.Kirsty and Romy explore what
SOFest: The Why, The What (and the worries)?
In this impromptu episode, I share an exciting announcement—SoFest, a festival for facilitators, trainers, and coaches, is happening Summer 2025.Join me as I dive into the story behind this bold idea, the challenges I'm facing, and my hopes for creating a vibrant space where our community can connect, learn, and grow in 'real life'.If you've ever dreamed of taking your facilitation skills out of t
Episode 24: The accidental profession: How DO we become facilitators?
This episode is about how we find our way into the world of facilitation and training, what it means to have a co-founder walk by your side, and how you build a brand people recognise.Marcus is a facilitator and co-founder of a facilitation and training business, based in Australia. He has been in the industry for over 23 years, has grown and sold one learning business, and is building another thr
Episode 23: Lights, Camera, Facilitate: The transition from Model and Actor to Facilitator
This episode is about becoming a facilitator and trainer later in life, how your previous life experiences can set you up for success, and what you can do to find your first gig.Dani Blue is a facilitator, trainer, actor, model, musician, and swimming coach. A woman who has lived many lives, experienced a rollercoaster ride with a chronic health illness, started over multiple times, and is now acc
Episode 22: The Birth of School of Facilitation
Kirsty shares her personal journey from leaving the corporate world in 2008 to the establishment of School of Facilitation in 2014.This solo episode looks at personal and professional challenges, growth, and the birth of her business idea. It's a story of resilience, self-discovery, and the evolution of a successful venture (got to love AI for bigging you up!)In this episode I talk about what happ
Episode 21: Navigating Growth from start-up to scale-back
In this episode of the SOF Podcast, host Kirsty welcomes Mark Walsh, an embodiment teacher, and business entrepreneur, to discuss his fascinating journey from running a small business to a multimillion-pound business and back to a medium-sized business.. Mark shares his insights on the nature of connection and the lessons he learned from scaling his business. This conversation is packed with valua
Episode 20: Prosperity Over Profit: Redefining our definition of Success
Join Kirsty and Kurt Lindley as they dive into the life of running a business as a facilitator, trainer, coach, and consultant. They chat about everything from juggling workloads and managing diaries to the ups and downs of cash flow. It’s a candid discussion about the importance of finding balance in both your professional and personal lives, packed with practical tips for building strong client
Episode 19: The Journey and Evolution of being an associate
This episode with Caroline Boyd is about being an Associate (Sub-contractor) in the training industry. The benefits, the challenges, the dynamics of the associate-training company relationship, the transition from corporate to freelance, and importantly the journey an associate goes through. The conversation is backed by Caroline's thesis she wrote for her Occupational Psychology Masters.Caroline
Episode 18: The power of niching and how to do it
To Niche or Not to Niche - That is the question!Many are told early on in their foray into freelancing that niching is a good idea. whilst logical it can still leave us scratching our heads about how to start, where to start, how to do it and maybe even asking if it is worth it.In this episode, Cat Hase and I talk about finding our niches and how to discover and refine your niche. We share the val
Episode 17: The evolving journey of a freelancer
In today's episode, Kirsty and Claire Vintiner discuss various aspects of freelancing, including valuing oneself and one's work, reframing budgets, setting boundaries, and having great client conversations.Claire Vintiner is a coach, a facilitator, and someone who isn't afraid to bring leaders and organisations together to play a transformative role in addressing people, planetary and systems chal
Episode 16: If you build it, they will come: Creating a business on a solid pipeline (and PR)
In this conversation, Ged shares with me his journey of leaving the world of retail and starting his own business. We discuss the challenges he faced in his early years and how he managed to overcome them. Ged emphasizes the importance of accountability and external motivation in driving his success. He also talks about his strategies to expand his reach and find new opportunities. Ged's story hi
Episode 15: Are you a business or a project shop?
James Gairdner started out in the corporate world in a variety of roles from commercial to marketing for a well known drinks brand and then diving into Banking in 2007 as that world started to collapse. He chose to leave corporate life to help a coach build their business and from there joined Heresy Consulting.In this episode two parts of the conversation with James jumped out at me.The first is
Episode 14: I left because of a sandwich: from corporate to associate to B:Corp business
This episode is about moving from working in-house to becoming a B:Corp business, how associate relationships benefit from transparency and communication and how niching is beneficial.Phil Walsh is a man with a big heart who works with purpose-led organisations as a facilitator.The conversation in todays podcast follows the natural curve of Phil's career. We cover a multitude of topics:How to grow
Episode 13: The trials and tribulations of freelance life.
Kate Jones was a consultant with PA Consulting until she realised she needed to make a change and get out. For the last 11 years she has run Neon a boutique consultancy which aims to help leaders create more deeply human organisations.In this episode, Kate and I discuss why she chose to leave the corporate world and how she thought she had associate work lined up, but it was retracted. What to do?
Episode 12: Master the art of negotiating: essential skills and tactics for trainers and facilitators.
This episode explores what negotiation is and how we can have better negotiation conversations. I noticed that sometimes selling and negotiation do not come easily to facilitators and trainers hence my desire to talk to Mark. I want to start to share what you can do when you find yourself in these situations.Mark Davis is known as the Cultural Navigator. He weaves negotiation and cultural intellig
Episode 11: The power of two: creating good partnerships
In this episode, Richard Bellars and Darren Hilton join us in a captivating exploration of partnership dynamics as they unveil the intricacies of their collaboration through The Sourcery Project. Let’s embark on a journey exploring the essence of fruitful partnerships, learning from the experiences and insights of these seasoned professionals. Through candid conversat
Episode 10: The parallels between a romantic relationship and a business break-up! With Meg Bolger
This episode talks about the different relationships we have within our businesses - working with a sibling, our relationship with ourselves, leaving a business partnership that no longer works, and our relationship with goal setting and systems.Meg Bolger is a facilitator, author, and creator of The Facilitator Cards.Meg and I have a candid conversation aboutWhat it's like to work with your siste
Episode 09: Best we know the stuff we fail to notice! With Simon Kettleborough
This episode explores how the inner world of the business leader creates the shape and flow of the business they lead. Our values, beliefs, experiences, thoughts and emotions all lend themselves to the structure, behaviours and outputs of our business.Dr. Simon Kettleborough is the founding partner of Aephoria, an organisation that helps humans flourish. We speak about the four different brains
Episode 08: 10 Days That Changed Everything With Leanne Hughes
Where does the decision to leave the corporate world come from?How do you know when the time is right?And what are the first few steps you can take as you set up your business?Leanne Hughes is a consultant, facilitator, speaker, and enigmatic human-being. She hosts a brilliant podcast called First Time Facilitator which I highly recommend.In this episode, we talk about:How Leanne decided to quit t
Episode 07: The mindset of scaling a training business with Mark Cranstoun
Mark and Mark started Total Negotiation as a lifestyle business that was meant to give them time to enjoy their golf, horses, and family. What happened in the last 15 years surpassed even their imaginations and today they have a global business, 30 employees and a 100 associates.In this episode, Mark Cranstoun, the CEO and co-founder, and I discuss how they grew the business from a lifestyle busi
Episode 06: Competition, Collaboration and Community With Myriam Hadness
Dr Myriam Hadnes is a skilled and passionate facilitator. During the pandemic she wanted to create a space for facilitators and trainers to come together and learn from one another. What started as a collaboration between 30+ people in 2020 has now turned into a global community in 2023.In this episode we talk about:what collaboration means in business,how important it is to be clear about what yo
Episode 05: How it all began! With Kirsty Lewis
How exactly did I, Kirsty Lewis, end up running a boutique training business?This solo episode shares how I accidentally came upon the idea to leave the corporate world.Setting up a business was never in my plans, but here we are 16 years on and School of Facilitation is thriving.So what happened on 7th April 2007 that changed the course of my life?Have a listen and let me know your story of origi
Episode 04: How we scaled our Duck factory! With Catherine & John Nicholson
Scaling your business can be exciting and daunting, for you or not for you.Catherine and John Nicholson, founders of The Virtual Training Team, have gone from 2 - 15 people, and a 7 figure turnover in 8 years. They openly admit it started as a lifestyle business and then questions like "what could we create?" started to pop up as their curiosity grew.The episode title references a duck factory as
Episode 03: It's all about the money! With Rob Geraghty
Rob Geraghty is the owner of Presenting Virtually. A business that focuses on helping people design and deliver presentations brilliantly. Rob left Vodaphone in 2000 and started working as an associate. By 2000 he had decided to work with his own clients when he realised the financials were more favourable.In this conversation, Rob and I talk about our business finances, pricing, and what investme
Episode 02: Moving Towards Retirement With Meriel Swain
In this episode, we discuss the different thresholds we cross in our Facilitator and Trainer journey - the beginning, the finding of associate work and retirement.I was curious to understand how do we know when to retire?Join Kirsty and Meriel Swain in this conversation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 01: Conscious Decision-Making With Richard Stokes
This episode is about decision-making in our businesses, the frameworks we use to say yes or no to work and how becoming more conscious in our decision-making is important to cultivate.Richard Stokes is a leadership coach, facilitator, and creator of the Mojo Podcast. He has been in this world of facilitation and coaching for five years, works with his own clients as well as being an associate.Kir
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