How Did She Grow Her EF Coaching Biz THIS Fast?!

Podcasts & Interviews
Written By Gretchen Wegner

The Academic Coaching Podcast | Episode 10

What happens when a young entrepreneur with ADHD starts an executive function coaching business—and fills her practice within three months?

In this episode of The Academic Coaching Podcast, I talk with Jordyn Shapiro, founder of Just Start LA, about growing from solo coach to business owner—and how she now uses the Anti-Boring Learning Lab to help train the new coaches she hires.

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As her business has grown, Jordyn hasn’t had to invent every piece of professional development from scratch. Her coaches can learn the brain science, practical learning strategies, and coaching tools we practice in the Lab, while Jordyn focuses on what is specific to Just Start LA.

That’s one of the things I want the Lab to make possible: not only helping individual coaches get better at their work, but giving growing coaching practices a shared foundation for doing this work well.

Explore the Learning Lab →

Questions This Episode Answers

How did Jordyn grow her executive function coaching business so quickly?

Jordyn launched Just Start LA in 2023 and filled her own coaching practice within three months. In the episode, she talks about the combination of referrals, relationship-building, responsiveness, and a willingness to start before she had every part of the business figured out.

As demand grew, the question changed from How do I find clients? to How do I build a business that can serve more of them?

How does Just Start LA train new executive function coaches?

As Just Start LA has grown, Jordyn has needed to hire and prepare new coaches without personally creating every piece of their professional development.

She uses the Anti-Boring Learning Lab as part of her new-coach training, giving her team a shared foundation in learning science, practical learning and study strategies, and coaching tools. Jordyn can then focus her own training on the clients, systems, and approaches specific to Just Start LA.

How does Just Start LA decide whether a family is a good fit?

Jordyn talks about what she looks for during intake, why the relationship between coach and student matters so much, and how she thinks about matching students with the right coach rather than assuming every student is right for every practice.

What does it look like to grow from solo coach to business owner?

Once Jordyn’s own coaching schedule filled, growing Just Start LA required a completely different set of skills: hiring and training coaches, developing systems, managing intake, and deciding which parts of the business still needed her attention.

We talk about the difference between working in your coaching business and working on it—and what happens when the thing you were good at suddenly becomes an organization you have to run.

How does ADHD affect the way Jordyn runs her business?

Jordyn talks openly about having ADHD herself, including the ways her brain contributes to her energy and willingness to jump into new ideas—and the systems and support she needs to manage a growing company.

We also talk about what happens when someone who spends her professional life helping other people with executive function has to build structures for her own executive functioning as a business owner.

How do you know when it’s time to hire help?

As Just Start LA grew, the administrative side of the business began taking up more and more of Jordyn’s time. She talks about hiring administrative support, building systems for intake and training, and figuring out what work actually needs to be done by her.

What role does community play when you run an academic or executive function coaching practice?

Running a coaching practice can be surprisingly isolating. Jordyn talks about the importance of having other people in the field to learn from, trade ideas with, and refer students to.

That’s also one reason the Anti-Boring Learning Lab isn’t simply a collection of courses. Coaches need opportunities to keep learning and colleagues with whom they can keep figuring out the work.

About Jordyn Shapiro

Jordyn Shapiro is the founder of Just Start LA, an executive function coaching company supporting students and young adults with planning, organization, time management, and follow-through.

She started the company in 2023 and quickly grew from a solo coaching practice into a team-based business. Her work is informed both by her own experience with ADHD and by years of working with young people.

Links + Resources

Gretchen Wegner
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