FAQs

Absolutely. In fact, this is one of the strongest applications of a hybrid coaching and mentorship model.

A business leader often needs support in two interconnected areas:

1. Their personal leadership (coaching).
2. Their business strategy and growth (mentorship).

Running these alongside one another allows you to address both the person and the business, because the success of one often influences the other. By developing both the leader and the business, you'll be better equipped to make confident decisions, lead your team effectively, and build a resilient organisation.

We work with ambitious individuals and organisations who are committed to building, growing, and leading successful businesses. Whether you're an entrepreneur with a new business idea, a startup founder seeking sustainable growth, a business owner looking to scale, or an organisation developing its leadership capability, our hybrid business coaching and mentorship provides the strategic guidance and practical support needed to achieve your goals.

We work with:

• Aspiring entrepreneurs
• Startup founders
• Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs)
• Founder-led businesses
• Scaling organisations
• Business leaders and executives
• Leadership teamsI am a business leader. Can I have individual business coaching and mentorship sessions running alongside one another?

1. Complimentary 20-minute discovery session

We begin with a free 20-minute discovery session to get to know each other and explore your business. During this conversation, we'll discuss:

• Your business and current challenges.
• Your goals and aspirations.
• What you want to achieve through coaching and mentorship.
• Whether we're the right fit to work together.

Following the discovery session, we'll recommend a tailored coaching and mentorship programme based on your needs.

2. Coaching and mentorship sessions (minimum 60 minutes)

Each coaching and mentorship session lasts a minimum of 60 minutes, giving us the time to explore your priorities, address challenges, and create practical actions that move your business forward.

Sessions may include:

• Strategic business planning.
• Leadership development.
• Problem-solving and decision-making.
• Accountability and progress reviews.
• Practical business mentoring based on experience.
• Support with business growth, scaling, or overcoming specific challenges.
• Every session is focused on delivering practical outcomes, ensuring you leave with greater clarity, confidence, and clear next steps.

3. Ongoing Support

As your business evolves, so will our focus. Together, we'll review your progress, celebrate achievements, overcome new challenges, and adapt your strategy as your business grows. Our aim is not only to help you solve today's challenges but also to develop the confidence, leadership, and capability to make informed decisions and build a resilient, sustainable business for the future.

This can be done as sessions one-to-one or within your organisation. 

Alchemize coaching and mentorship programmes are designed to provide the right level of support for where you are in your business and life  journey. Every engagement is tailored to your goals, challenges, and stage of growth.

Hybrid business coaching and mentorship helps clients by combining the development of their own leadership and decision-making skills with practical guidance informed by business experience. Rather than simply giving advice or only asking questions, it provides the right type of tailored support at the right time, focusing on accountability to stay on track and drive measurable results. 

Expected outcomes:

1. Greater clarity and confidence
2. Better decision-making
3. Faster progress
4. Stronger leadership capability
5. Improved business performance
6. Increased accountability
7. Tailored/Bespoke support
8. Long-term capability

Hybrid business coaching and mentorship is particularly well suited to people, and organisations that need both capability development and experienced strategic guidance for growth and scale. The balance between coaching and mentoring often shifts depending on the stage of the business. This hybrid model works well for: 

• Aspiring entrepreneurs turning an idea into a viable business
• Startup founders building a sustainable and investable company
• Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) seeking consistent growth
• Scale-ups preparing for rapid expansion, new markets, or investment
• Founder/CEOs transitioning from 'doing everything' to leading a management team
• Leadership teams aligning around strategy, culture, and execution
• Family businesses navigating succession, governance, or modernisation.
• Social enterprises and nonprofits balancing mission impact with financial sustainability.

A hybrid business coaching and mentorship approach means combining two distinct types of support. The coaching element helps you improve your performance by asking questions, setting goals, focusing on accountability, and developing your own solutions. Whereas business mentorship draws on the experience of our mentor(s), bringing in real-world insights, learnings and driving change through direct advice, guidance, and practical recommendations from lived experience. Your approach may involve more of one than the other depending on your needs, challenges and goals at that time.

Every business is unique and there is no one size solution when we're working to meet your specific needs. The investment required depends on several factors, including your stage of business, your objectives, the level of support you need, and whether you're seeking short or long-term support. From validating a new business idea, to developing teams and navigating significant change, we will tailor a programme to your needs and provide a transparent price. 

Following a discovery call, we will make sure you receive the right combination of coaching, mentoring, accountability, and practical guidance to deliver meaningful and sustainable results for you and your business.

A Non-Executive Director (NED) is an independent voice sitting on your on a company's board - but NEDs do not get involved in the day-to-day management and running of the company. Lots of people find that this kind of outside experience and objective judgement are helpful to challenge existing strategy, support good decision-making and help hold teams to account. As well as this, as your NED, Stephen will ask the questions a founder or leadership team may be too close to ask themselves, drawing on pattern recognition from his decades of experience in order to help you spot potential risks and opportunities earlier. Appointing a NED is a great way to access senior-level guidance and governance without the cost or commitment of a full-time executive hire.

There are lots of variables when it comes to NED pay. This is because the level of work and involvement can vary significantly based on the size and stage of the business, the time commitment, and the sector. If you're a in the early stages of your organisation, or you run a small, private company, then it's common to agree a modest retainer, this can be paired with equity, but not always. Larger organisations may want to retain these services longer term for greater impact and fees vary. We will work with you to ascertain the best route to supporting your business and meeting your longer-term aims, and much like with our coaching and mentoring services, these are bespoke so we do not have a price list. If you're interested in NED support, we would be happy to discuss your needs.

As a NED, we will bring you decades of experience and objectivity that can be hard to generate from inside your business.  In this role, it becomes our job to challenge your thinking and decisions without the blind spots that come from being immersed in day-to-day operations. This means we can help you form sharper strategy and avoid costly mistakes. As your NED, Steve will open doors through his experiences to networks, investors and partners you may not have access to. Having an experienced outsider on the board also strengthens governance and credibility, which matters when raising investment, preparing for a sale, or simply reassuring stakeholders that decisions are being properly scrutinised. Ultimately, as NED, Steve will be the ultimate sounding board: someone who has faced similar challenges before and can help your team avoid learning hard lessons the expensive way.

A guest speaker is someone businesses invite to share their experience and insight with an audience at an event, conference, or away day. Steve is the ideal speaker for your event if you are seeking real, lived experience and someone who can speak credibly on topics like leadership, growth, culture, or resilience, offering practical lessons, relatable insights and go beyond theory! His outside perspective and fresh energy will engage the room, whether through a structured keynote or a more conversational fireside chat. Each event leaves audiences with something they can genuinely take away and apply.

As your guest speaker Steve will work with you to tailor his content to your event style and type. Usually the topics are focused on leadership and management, communication, culture and team dynamics, resilience and overcoming setbacks, growth and scaling a business, and change or transformation. The best sessions are those focused on a team's specific challenge, and we will always be sure to include practical takeaways you can apply straight away.

Organisations typically bring in a guest speaker to achieve something they can't easily generate internally: fresh perspective, credibility, and energy. The right speaker can inspire and re-motivate a team, challenge established thinking, mark a significant moment such as a conference or away day, or bring external validation to a message that might land differently coming from someone outside the organisation. Steve will draw on real experience rather than internal politics or familiar messaging, helping to engage, shift mindset or spark action. 

Guest speakers can be invited to a wide range of business events. We are available for leadership and management away days, team off-sites, annual conferences and industry summits, sales kick-offs, client or investor events, panel discussions, and award ceremonies. If you have something smaller in mind, Steve would be very happy to help with a more intimate format such as a fireside chat, breakfast briefing, or internal "lunch and learn" session, where the setting is more conversational than a traditional keynote. We can work with you to devise the right format and approach for your event and team. 

Nothing we do is one size fits all - it's all bespoke, so we don't have a fixed price list. If you have an event in mind, please get in touch and we will work with you to quote for the content and outcomes you're hoping for.