I’ve had coaches my entire life.

Baseball. Basketball. Football. You name it, I’ve had a coach for it.

I even have a running coach now.

For years, I didn’t think much about why. That’s just what athletes do. You find someone who knows the game better than you, and you let them help you get somewhere you couldn’t reach alone.

Then I started a business.

And I realized I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. (Most days, I still don’t.)

But somewhere in building Next-Level Tableau, I started thinking about what coaches actually do. Not in a textbook way. In a real way.

My baseball coach didn’t just teach me how to swing. He helped me get better faster than I ever would have on my own.

That’s it. That’s the whole job.

Better. Faster.

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There was a time in my life when I really needed that.

And I didn’t know it until it was too late.

In 2019, I left my marriage. It was the hardest decision I had ever made. In hindsight, it was the best one.

At first, it was amicable. My ex and I had worked out an agreement between ourselves. Then the solicitors got involved.

And everything fell apart.

I thought my solicitor was doing right by me. But things weren’t moving. And they definitely weren’t moving in my direction.

Four years and £75,000 later, the divorce was finally done.

£75,000.

That’s my kids’ education. A downpayment on a house. Years of savings.

Gone. Straight to solicitors who never once helped me understand what was actually happening.

When I moved up north, something had to change. The agreement no longer felt fair. Life had changed for both of us. So I hired a new lawyer.

And she was different from the moment we sat down.

She didn’t skim the file and start issuing instructions. She wanted to understand everything. How things had unfolded. How I felt about it. What mattered most to me.

Then she said something I wasn’t expecting.

She told me the solicitor I had used in London had done a terrible job.

That stung. But what came next changed how I think about almost everything.

She coached me through the entire process.

Not just telling me what to do and sending invoices. She helped me understand every step. Every decision. She pushed me toward what was fair without ever taking the wheel from me. The choices were always mine. The outcome was always mine.

She made me better at navigating something impossibly hard, faster than I ever could have done alone.

Better. Faster.

Sound familiar?

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That’s what a great coach does.

They don’t make the decisions for you. They help you understand what you’re dealing with, show you what good looks like, and push you toward it without doing it for you.

That’s how I think about what I do with Tableau.

I don’t see myself as an instructor. I see myself as someone who helps ambitious analysts get better, faster than they ever could on their own. Like a baseball coach who knows exactly which part of your swing is holding you back.

You already have the drive. You just need someone who’s been there, who knows where the traps are, and who won’t let you settle for where you are right now.

If you’re trying to level up and you’re doing it alone, ask yourself one question: would you train for your sport without a coach?

If the answer is no, let’s have a chat.

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One more thing.

I’d love to know who one great coach has been in your life.

Could be a sport. Could be business. Could be someone who helped you through something hard.

Hit reply and tell me. Who are they? And what made them great?

Andy

P.S. If you’re serious about becoming the Tableau analyst people come to when things need to be right, NLT Membership is where that happens. Expert coaching, real feedback, and a community of people who hold the same standard you do. Join us here.