Summary5 min read

The Doula Darcy Podcast

Episode: Coaching Isn't Just for Athletes – It's a Business Game-Changer
Host: Darcy Sauers
Date: November 11, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Darcy Sauers explores the powerful role of coaching in business and explains why it’s not just for athletes. Drawing from her personal experiences as a gymnast, diver, and now a business coach for doulas, Darcy discusses the transformative impact a coach can have—both as a source of practical advice and as a confidence booster. The episode uses vivid sports analogies to illustrate how coaching can accelerate growth, prevent common pitfalls, and foster the mindset needed for a flourishing doula business.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Redefining Coaching for Business

Darcy recounts a family conversation about her own business coach, Amber, highlighting how coaching is often misunderstood outside of sports ([00:43]).
She emphasizes that hiring a coach is standard in many areas of life (sports, diet, personal development) and asks why it’s any different for business.
- Quote: “Whenever you want to go do something new, you hire a coach… So why wouldn’t you have a business coach if… you’re trying to design a business to give you the life you want?” — Darcy ([01:58])

2. Coaching in Sports: Lessons for Business

Darcy shares stories from her youth as a gymnast and later a diver to show how essential coaches are for both skill acquisition and safety ([03:00]–[06:10]).
- Gymnastics: Coaches provide physical spotting, step-by-step skill progression, and constant feedback.
- Diving: Coaching shifts to verbal guidance and presence rather than direct physical support, highlighting how proximity, belief, and encouragement drive confidence.
- Quote: “Having her right there made it better, made it easier. And at the end of the day, what it did gave me the confidence to go for it. And that is the best analogy that I have for my coaching with Amber.” — Darcy ([07:48])

3. The “Spotter” Analogy in Business Coaching

Even when coaches aren’t physically “doing the work” with you, their presence (real or virtual) is a powerful motivator and safety net ([08:00]).
Business coaches don’t do the tasks but provide guidance, encouragement, accountability, and belief in your potential.
- Quote: “I’m not out there spotting you… but I’m right there… It’s like she’s right down there at the bottom of the diving board. I know she’s there. I know she’s got my back.” — Darcy ([08:48])
The trust between coach and client is crucial—they won’t push you into something you’re not ready for ([09:40]).

4. You Still Need to Do the Work

Hiring a coach is not a shortcut to perfection. Effort, repetition, and failing (and recovering) are part of the journey for both athletes and business owners ([10:20]).
- Quote: “Having a coach doesn’t mean you’re always going to be perfect. You’re still going to make mistakes. But you have a coach to… debrief with, talk through what happened, realize what you maybe did wrong, realize what you can work on to get better next time.” — Darcy ([11:05])

5. Building Business “Muscle Memory”

Like in sports, consistent practice is key. Coaches help ingrain good habits early and prevent “bad form” that could set your business back ([12:40]).
Darcy’s golf lesson story illustrates how starting with proper technique—and guidance—prevents hard-to-unlearn mistakes later.
- Quote: “I don’t want to learn bad habits that I have to unlearn. I want to learn the best way to do this from the get go so I build up the proper muscle memory. And that is another huge thing that a coach can do.” — Darcy ([14:50])

6. The Power of Community and Support

If one-on-one coaching isn’t accessible, peer support is invaluable. Darcy highlights her “Doula Village” and the importance of being surrounded by supportive peers who understand your specific challenges ([11:50]; [13:20]).
Seek out people in your industry—online or in-person—who can encourage, “debrief,” and celebrate your progress.
- Quote: “You have to have some people around you that believe in you. That’s what it comes down to.” — Darcy ([13:41])

Memorable Quotes & Moments

Explaining coaching to her parents:
“If you get diagnosed with type 2 diabetes… you hire a dietitian who's like a dieting nutrition coach. If you want to learn how to play soccer, you join a team. And that team has a coach… they teach you how to do this without getting hurt and to get there faster, better, easier.” ([01:18])
On visible vs. invisible support:
“There was nothing [my diving coach] could do. I was on my own. But having her right there made it better, made it easier… gave me the confidence to go for it.” ([07:48])
On “smacking” in diving and making mistakes in business:
“You’re still gonna go fall. Yes, you’re still gonna go smack… Having a coach doesn’t mean you’re always going to be perfect.” ([10:21])
On muscle memory in business:
“Once you learned a new skill, you had to go do it a hundred times and then do it a hundred times tomorrow to get that muscle memory ingrained into your body, into your brain…” ([12:26])
On peer support and community:
“Put yourself in the rooms… where these people are hanging out that are doing what you want to do, that are going to be that support… cheer you on, debrief with you when you smack and fail and fall.” ([13:21])

Important Segment Timestamps

00:43 – Introducing the main premise: Why have a business coach?
03:00–06:10 – Sports coaching analogies: Gymnastics and diving stories.
07:48 – The impact of a coach’s presence on confidence.
08:48 – Darcy’s metaphor for business coaching support.
10:21 – You have to put in the work; making mistakes is part of the process.
11:50 – Community and peer support as alternative forms of coaching.
12:26–14:50 – Muscle memory, golf coaching, and forming good habits in business.
13:21 – Seeking out supportive communities (“put yourself in the rooms”).

Episode Takeaways

Coaching isn’t just for sports; it’s a vital tool for building a resilient, successful business.
A coach accelerates your learning, prevents common mistakes, and gives you the confidence to try new things—much like a spotter or supportive presence in athletics.
Growth requires practice and resilience even when working with a coach.
Surround yourself with people who believe in you, whether it’s a coach, a peer, or a community.
Investing in guidance early on builds the right “muscle memory” for lasting success.

Darcy’s closing wish: “I hope you enjoyed this episode… Go out and have a great day—and make sure you know there are people in your corner, cheering you on.” ([15:54])

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Transcript5 lines

[00:00]
A
You.
[00:06]
B
Welcome to the Doula Darcy Podcast. I'm your host, Darcy, a business coach for doulas. And I love helping my fellow doulas master the art of marketing so that they can grow their businesses and help more families. On the podcast, I combine my decade of experience in Advertising with 14 years as a doula to empower other doulas with the marketing strategies and mindset shifts, gifts they need to attract more clients and create successful, fulfilling doula careers. Whether you're just starting out as a doula or you're looking to take your doula business to the next level, you're in the right place. Let's go.
[00:44]
A
Hey, everybody. I wanted to do an episode this week about what exactly a business coach is and why you need one. And this came up because over the weekend I was with my parents and somehow I don't know what story I was telling, but I mentioned Amber and they were like, who is she again? I'm like, she's my business coach. And my mom was like, now, and what does she help you with? Again, what I know you've told me. What does she do? And I'm like, you guys met her. So I would work with Amber even if she lived on the moon, but she just so happens to live five miles from me. So she came to my 50th Saturday Night Live birthday party, and my parents did, too. And I introduced them, and my dad said to her face, now what do you do? What do you help her with? And so over the weekend, in trying to explain it to them for the 50th time, I was like, listen, whenever you want to go do something new, you hire a coach. If you get diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or celiac disease or you want to lose weight, like you hire a dietitian who's like a dieting nutrition coach. If you want to learn how to play soccer, you join a team. And that team has a coach, any sport, like, you have a coach to teach you how to do this without getting hurt, without trying to get hurt and to get there faster, better, easier. And so why wouldn't you have a business coach if this is how you are, if you're taking your. Let's get back to the last podcast episode. If you're trying to design a business to give you the life you want to live, why wouldn't you put someone in your pocket that knows what they're doing, that has done it before, that went before you, that can help you get there faster and easier? That is what a business coach is. And Then this evolved to a whole conversation about like my sports career. I wouldn't call it a career, but I was a competitive gymnast for 10 years when I was a kid from like age 6 to 16. And I had a coach and he, I could do a whole podcast episode about him, but he would, he taught us how to go from just walking across a room to flipping across a room and flipping on a 4 inch beam. Like, I could have figured it out myself, but having a coach made it a lot easier. So one and another thing is, especially in gymnastics, part, a huge part of what our coach was a spotter. When you were going to learn a new skill, like, he would hold your body, he would prop you up, he would hold your body as you did the first skill, learned it until you could do it on your own. So let's say backflip. He would like, he was a man. We were nine years old. He would take our waist and you can't see me if you're listening to the podcast, but he would flip us and then it got to like where he would just have a hand on the small of our back as we flipped. And then as we got comfortable with that, he would step there, stand there, and only put his hand in if we needed it, if we were going to fall. You guys have, you've watched gymnastics on the Olympics. You watch Simone Biles, she's doing, she's whipping around there doing her, her bar routine. Sometimes you know how her coach just comes in to underneath the bars. He doesn't touch her, but he comes in case he needs to catch her and prevent her from breaking her neck. That's spotting. That is a big part of coaching gymnastics. And coaches also yell across the gym at you to point your toes and straighten your legs and do all the things and mindset and strengthening all that other stuff, but one thing. So I did gymnastics for 10 years. I wrecked my knees. And then my best friend and I switched over to diving because we knew how to flip and we could just couldn't land on the floor anymore. We needed to hit water. So we had a coach. And the weird thing about switching from gymnastics to diving, the weirdest thing was in gymnastics when you flip, you always have to land on your feet. In diving, when you flip, sometimes you go in feet first, sometimes you have to over flip and go in hands first. That was very weird to get over that muscle memory. And my coach helped me with that. But in diving, you're up on a 1 meter springboard or the 3 meter springboard is what we did. And your coach, like her arms weren't long enough to touch us. So we had to learn new skills solely based on her words and her coaching with us. So it was very hard. I remember it so vividly. I have to learn how to do this flip one and a half times into the water and like just winging it. No, no spotting. And so particularly the 3 meter board which is 10ft above the water. I don't even know how I did it. Like looking at it now, I can't even believe I used to flip off that thing, but. But I would. As I was like attempting new skills, my coach usually stood on the side of the pool so she could see straight on our form as we came off the diving board. And she would yell at us to point our toes and straighten our legs. But when I was doing a new skill, I'd be like, Amy, can you come over? And I would want her to stand down at the base of the diving board so that as I walked down the diving board doing my little three step approach, I could see her out of the, my peripheral vision, down out of the corner of my eye. I just, I knew she was down there, right on the deck. Now that really did nothing. Yeah, she was maybe three feet closer to jumping into the pool to drag me out if I became a paraplegic. But there was nothing she could do. I was on my own. But having her right there made it better, made it easier. And at the end of the day, what it did gave me the confidence to go for it. And that is the best analogy that I have for my coaching with Amber. And then the coaching I provide to the doulas and sleep consultants that I'm with, working with. I'm not out there spotting you. I'm not get in there getting into your website or your email list and actually doing the stuff for you, but I'm right there. And so I always think of Amber. Like every month I do a call with Amber. We communicate on Voxer as much as we need to, but a lot of the times we'll talk about something on a call and then I'll go do it. And even though she's not sitting, sitting next to me as I do it, like in, it's like she's right down there at the bottom of the diving board. I know she's there. I know she's got my back, I know that she believes in me. One thing about both my gymnastics coach and my diving coach, I always knew whether they could hands on me, spot me or not. I had absolute trust they would not let me go out onto the apparatus and try a skill I was not ready for. That is trust that you have in your coach. They are not going to let you go out there and do something that will embarrass you or hurt you. And. And that is huge. That is why it was like, physically, I needed my diving coach right there just to, like, really emphasize and drill into my psyche that I've got this. Like, if Amy's standing down there, like, she thinks I can do this, and if she thinks I can do this, I can do this. Same goes for having a business coach. Then, in continuing the analogy with the diving coach and gymnastics coach, this doesn't mean I signed on with a coach and then was instantly amazing. You still have to do the work, you still have to put in the reps, you still have to put in the training. And yes, you're still gonna go fall. Yes, you're still gonna go smack. In diving, that's what we call when you over flip and smack your face or smack your back. Speaking of which, my college that I went to where I was a diver, they not luckily, Instagram didn't exist when I was in college, but now they have. It's called a SMACKS account. It's just reels of them in practice smacking. And it's hilarious and makes me question why I ever did that sport. So my coach. Having a coach doesn't mean you're always going to be perfect. You're still going to make mistakes. But you have a coach to get out of the pool, get finish your launch and then go debrief with, talk through what happened, realize what you maybe did wrong, realize what you can work on to get better. Next time you have someone to help you, you're not just out here on your own winging it. So I hope that these analogies are coming through to you even if you never did sports. But it's so important that you have this in your business. And whether or not you hire a business coach, there's other ways to get this support. For instance, my Doula Village is the most affordable way to work with me as your coach. But you still have me there. You still have our Facebook group to pop into when you need it. And that's a lot. Lot of doulas are using that, oh, my God, I posted this reel and this happened. Or oh, my God, I tried to launch a new childbirth ed class in my community and it flopped. And what should I do? Or you have your doula besties like you have to have some people around you that believe in you. That's what it comes down to. Maybe it's your partner, maybe it's your mom, maybe it's your sister, maybe it's. But it's even better when it's someone in the doula world or in whatever world you're trying to excel in. If it's online business, I've been talking a lot about this lately. Put yourself in the rooms, meaning the actual physical rooms or the virtual rooms where these people are hanging out that are doing what you want to do, that are going to be that support for you, that are going to cheer you on, that are going to debrief with you when you smack and fail and fall. Hiring a coach is like just taking that to the next level because it's one on one support. It's dialed in, it's you're collapsing time, you're going to get there faster, you're going to get there better. And just to really go all in on the sports metaphor with this is, you know, muscle memory, which was a huge piece of gymnastics you had. Once you learned a new skill, you had to go do it a hundred times and then do it a hundred times tomorrow to get that muscle memory in ingrained into your body, into your brain so that you could do your routines, like without thinking. And it's funny, it's so powerful. Just the other day I was at. And you all know, or maybe you don't, I also love skiing and I was in yoga a couple weeks ago and the teacher, it's so quiet and we're doing the flow and the teacher's, okay, now come into chair pose. And I don't know what went happened with my brain, but I tuck my butt down, bend my knees, coming into chair pose. And I just tucked my arms up underneath my body like I had ski poles. And I was heading down the mountain. It just. And I started laughing and she saw me and she started laughing. It was so weird. It was without even thinking, like my. I bent my knees and crouched forward. My brain was like, oh, let's tuck and head into the lodge for apra. So I say the thing about muscle memory because a couple summers ago my friends were like, let's all learn how to golf. So we joined a golf league. And I'm like, I am, I'm not. They were like, we should go practice a little bit first and just play around. I was like, I'm not even messing around with that. I want the coach, I want the golf pro. I Want to learn. I knew golf was about the physics of your swing and was so important. I'm like, I don't want to learn bad habits that I have to unlearn. I want to learn the best way to do this from the get go so I build up the proper muscle memory. And that is another huge thing that a coach can do is save you from making mistakes that are going to six months down the road. Take a lot for you to unpack, unwind, undo. So I think that is one of the in taking this from the sports to the business world. One of the best reasons to hire a business coach is to start you out on the right path, doing things in the best and easiest way for you. So I would really love to know if this landed for you, even if you're not an athlete, if you're understanding what I'm saying. And then I hope it inspires you to go out and yes, work with me. I would love to be your business coach. I would love to have you join my Doula village. I'd love to have you come to the birth worker retreat, but I'd also really love for you to find someone in your community, in your town. Another it could be just one other doula that you guys could do this for each other. You could coach each other and really make a difference and be that person that is cheering the other person on so that person knows when they go out and start networking in the community, when they go out and they're on an interview for the first time with a prospective client couple, like they know they have someone in their corner cheering them on. That is my hope for you. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you go out there and have a great day.
[16:20]
B
Thank you for tuning in to the Doula Darcy podcast. I hope you found this episode valuable and I'd love for you to join me on the next one. Let's keep the conversation going. Show Shoot me a DM on Instagram Hedula Darcy or join my free Facebook community, the Doula Marketing Group, where we dive deeper into growing your doula business. If you enjoyed the episode, please take a moment to rate and review the podcast on your favorite platform. Your feedback will help more doulas discover the show, which in turn helps more families find the doula support that they need. And I believe that that is how we save the world.
[16:55]
A
Sam.