what coaches & private equity have in common

/Yesterday, I listened to a fascinating podcast on Culture Study about someone who lost their dream job after the media company she worked for was bought out by private equity.

They were told it would help grow more revenue in areas that needed it. And that “nothing would change”.

And it turned out to be the complete opposite, of course.

There were budget cuts and people urging them to create content more efficiently (aka cut corners). They also hired employees who were trained to do just that.

But with the economy the way it is, they turned to something more profitable: “recession proof” businesses…. think dentists, vets, hospitals 🤨…

I knew private-equity healthcare was bad already, I had a terrible experience at a local dentist when I didn’t know their business model (it was nearby and had a LOT of reviews that were pretty good).

They scheduled lots of appointments on the same day - so when they told me an hour, it almost always turned into 3-4. And of course, they were unecessarily aggressive on treatments, like teeth whitening, crowns, and root canals.

Why? Because the firm that owned them needed to siphon as much money as possible… so that means they don’t actually care if the office is profitable since they’re just trying to keep most of it for themselves.

It made me think of coaches now, years after the 4‑Hour Work Week craze. You know - scale fast, hire cheap overseas, and you’re a fool if you work on things in your own business.

Coaches are teaching some dangerous tactics: how to make as much money as possible doing as little as possible. While charging thousands of dollars, of course.

We’ve demonized services and traded them in for consulting and passive income since you supposedly NEVER get burned out offering those 🫠.

Learning to delegate and use processes is a wonderful thing, and it’s not what I’m talking about. It’s the fact that some people learn how to scale and hire out before they know how to properly run their own businesses.

Not just courses/digital products, it’s also agency models offering services with little expertise, planning to hand the work off to someone cheap right away.

I’ve said it before, but it makes it feel like the craft is gone because the process is valued more than the skill.

Who are the ones doing really well? The quiet ones. Who run lean without lowballing their employees and contractors and put out quality stuff.

And “quiet” doesn’t mean no marketing, by the way, but they did business well before ads, courses, programs, etc. Can you imagine if every single business that had success all changed their models to just teaching?

So before you give it all up, here’s the thing: As AI and tools become more accessible, highly specialized services are only going to be in higher demand. Well actually, it’s not in the future. We’re seeing it now.

Everything is a cycle in that sense. We’re going to see shifts, and when everyone is doing the same thing one way, you can expect a counter shift to follow.

That’s right, you’ll start to feel appreciated again 🥰.

This week: showing something new

How to use these as inspo:

*Note: Remember to find a method - rather than copy-pasting.

1. Flyer carousel: Ah finally, you don’t have to squeeze in all the copy on a small graphic that people will squint to see on their phones. Give it a styled theme, like a poster style, and let the info breathe with a carousel format - people are more likely to read the details this way!

2. Product launch pins: No, you don’t have to be Emma Chamberlain with an official Pinterest collab. Let people into your process by showing them your mood board for the latest launch.

3. Customized inspo: Break up your feed (that has the same fonts and color palettes) with something designed for one purpose. You can make it seasonal or just tailored to a segment of your audience.

4. Design meme timeline: If you recently rebranded or updated something notable and wanted to display it in a “new me/old me” way, memes are always a welcomed way to break the monotony.

Here’s a little tidbit of a hand lettering project I’ve been doing. Bubble letters are much more forgiving than serifs. Love me some playful little blobs of joy 😍

What I’m working on:

• Finishing up brand strategy for a SaaS brand - which has been so challenging + fun in an industry with so many players, regulations, and complex situations

• An amazing new branding project, targeting a young audience and very y2k-esque

• Trying to master more advanced Framer features and testing new styles for web

Hire me for brand, web or marketing design - my summer retainer slots are fully booked but one-time projects or fall retainers are available.

Hit reply & let’s chat, or go to my page and see more.