After 15 years in corporate retail (marketing, HR, business development) – managing teams, running big budgets, and climbing the ladder – I left a career I was great at… to build something that felt more like me.
That “something” was a successful marketing consultancy, which evolved into a small business cooperative – where I helped founders grow their visibility, reach and revenue through a one-stop shop of experts.
But even with all that success, something felt… off.
I kept seeing clients not follow through. Not because they didn’t care, but because something deeper was in the way.
So in 2019, I paused everything, retrained in life coaching, NLP and positive psychology – and came back with a whole new approach. In 2025 I distilled everything I know about founders and how they work into The Pattern Method.
Hi, I’m Sam Burgess
Business Mentor, Life Coach & your go-to when you’re stuck in your own head.
I help founders who feel overloaded and stuck in their own head take control of their business again – without sacrificing their actual life.
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I help founders who feel overloaded and stuck in their own head take control of their business again – without sacrificing their actual life. 〰️
What working with me feels like:
Direct, practical and kind.
I’ll challenge your assumptions, gently call you out on what you’re avoiding, and hold space when doubt creeps in. This isn’t cheerleading. It’s about building real momentum, together.
I won’t offer fluff or generic advice. You’ll get practical strategy alongside thoughtful support – because when the stakes feel personal, you need both.
In my experience, most business problems aren’t really strategy problems. They’re confidence problems. Clarity problems. The quiet “what if I mess this up?” questions that keep everything stuck.
Why clients come back:
Because I don’t do one-size-fits-all.
I see the patterns underneath the stuckness.
And I’m not afraid to go off-script to get you the breakthrough you actually need.
The credentials bit:
13 years in corporate retail (Swarovski, Topshop, Arcadia, Alexon Group) – so I understand business from the inside out.
Built and ran a marketing consultancy & small business cooperative before pivoting into coaching/mentoring full-time.
Over a decade mentoring more than 100 small business owners across industries and have clocked up over 1000 coaching hours.
Featured on BBC Breakfast, Channel 5 News, in The Telegraph, METRO, Psychologies, Stylist, and many more – because people trust my take.
Fully qualified in Positive Psychology, NLP, Life Coaching, Sales and Consumer Psychology (and still learning).
My now archived podcast “ Small and Mighty Conversations) where I chatted to small business owners about their story, and was the first small business podcast of it’s kind when I launched in early 2017. When it ended in December 2019 it had over 1 million downloads.
And finally, my clients return again and again. Some stay for years. Some drop in when they’re stuck. Because the support works – and they trust me to tell them the truth.
When I’m not working:
You’ll often find me by the sea with my family – my partner, toddler son and mini dachshund – hunting for sea glass, or shopping the way I live: small, sustainable and second-hand.
I work three days a week, by choice. Family comes first, and the rest fits around that.
Hove is home. Supporting small businesses isn’t just my job – it’s my way of life.
