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Short answer: ActionCOACH's story shows that a useful idea does not have to start in your market to win in it. It began in Brisbane, Australia, and the company now says it has more than 1,000 coaches in over 70 countries. The lesson for you as a US owner: good ideas travel, and the best new ones often come from outside your industry or your country. Staying with the same few sources keeps you solving today's problem with yesterday's answers.
Most advice you hear as a US business owner comes from the same few places: the same conferences, the same books and the same franchise playbooks. This guide uses one well-documented origin story to ask a practical question: where could your next growth idea come from, and how do you test it before you bet on it? Every fact below links to its source, and where sources disagree, you will see it flagged.
According to ActionCOACH's own account, founder Brad Sugars was a young Australian entrepreneur who spoke to a small group of business owners in Brisbane in 1993. He saw that they needed guidance, education and accountability, not just one-off advice, and that led him to start regular weekly sessions.
As demand grew beyond what one person could deliver, the company franchised the model. Its website now describes more than 1,000 coaches in over 70 countries. A December 2007 press release reported that its global team had moved into new corporate offices in Las Vegas, Nevada, so the idea that began in Brisbane ended up with a base in the US.
One caution on the record: a 2018 trade article gives Adelaide as the starting point in one passage and Brisbane in another. This guide uses ActionCOACH's own account, which says Brisbane.
Be careful here. One company's growth does not prove that outside ideas always win. But the story does show three patterns you can borrow.
None of this is specific to coaching. It applies to any idea you might import into your own business, whether that is a pricing model, a follow-up routine or a way of looking after customers.
No. Xero is another. Its Wikipedia entry says it was founded on July 6, 2006, in Wellington, New Zealand, by Rod Drury and Hamish Edwards, and that its headquarters are still in Wellington. It also lists offices in the United States, and reports that Xero completed the acquisition of Melio, a New York-based payments company, on October 15, 2025. The deal was announced at US$2.5 billion in cash and stock.
Survivor stories can mislead, because you rarely hear about the ideas that did not travel. The takeaway is modest: being outside the crowd did not stop either company from building a real presence in the US, and a fresh starting point can be an advantage when it forces a business to be clear about the problem it solves.
You do not need a global company to do this. Run this five-step test on one part of your business this quarter.
The hard part is step two. When everyone around you shares the same habits, it takes effort to look elsewhere. That is where a person with experience across many industries helps you most.
ActionCOACH offers a structured franchise system delivered by local coaches, which some owners value. Other owners prefer a coach who builds the approach around one business rather than a standard curriculum. Neither is right for everyone, and some owners combine a system with an outside perspective.
Kevin D'Ambros-Smith works the second way. His focus is finding the real constraint in your business first, then fixing it, before you spend another dollar. He brings ideas from outside your sector, drawn from big-brand work and from founding and coaching across many industries. That is not a claim that an outside coach is better than a US one. It is a different vantage point.
Kevin D'Ambros-Smith is a business coach and advisor who has coached 200+ businesses one-on-one across 30+ industries, after a career at DDB, Ogilvy and Saatchi and Saatchi and founding nine companies. He works with US owners online.
"Get company started — now selling in USA, Australia, NZ."
William Pike, William Pike Challenge and PRO ARMOUR
Individual results vary and depend on the business and the work the owner puts in.
According to ActionCOACH's own website and founder article, it began in Brisbane, Australia, in 1993, started by Brad Sugars. It later franchised and now says it has more than 1,000 coaches in over 70 countries.
It can, if it solves a problem US owners also have. Test it on a small scale first: run one 30-day experiment with a single measure, then keep it or drop it based on the numbers.
Industry experience helps with technical detail. A coach from outside your industry helps you question the assumptions everyone in it shares. Many owners want both.
Neither is better for everyone. A franchise system offers a structured curriculum and local coaches. An independent coach can build the work around your specific constraint. Ask each how they would approach your business, and check references.
Yes, if they take the time to understand your customers and market, and work online in your time zone. Kevin runs sessions online across US time zones.
Take your next step: a free 30-minute call with Kevin, someone with no stake in your industry. It runs online and works across US time zones.
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Simple-Growth publishes this guide and Kevin D'Ambros-Smith is one of the coaches discussed. The criteria are listed above so you can apply them to anyone.
Kevin and The Simple-Growth Team
Ready to put an outside idea to work in your own business?