From Monastery to Main Street: How a Former Monk Is Revolutionizing Executive Coaching for Tiny Businesses

Imagine bootstrapping a business from your garage, hitting that sweet spot of steady growth, only to slam into a wall of chaos, juggling finances, teams, and family life while wondering if burnout is inevitable. For owners of very small businesses with 2-10 employees, this isn’t a hypothetical; it’s a reality. 

Executive coaching would be an easy answer to that chaos. Yet it largely remains the elite tool for Fortune 500 leaders, far out of reach for small businesses. 

Enter Colin Davis, a Richmond, VA-based entrepreneur who’s flipping the script, bringing high-level business coaching and leadership strategies to the underdogs who power America’s economy.

Davis, now 43, didn’t arrive at this mission via a traditional MBA path. His story begins in childhood, watching his father in Richmond navigate the brutal highs and lows of small business ownership. “I saw him build it, lose everything to bankruptcy, then rebuild and thrive,” Davis recalls. That raw exposure planted a seed: businesses aren’t just economic engines; they make a powerful impact in the lives of families, their owners and the communities in which they operate. It’s why Davis focuses laser-sharp on very small operations, whose owners bootstrapped their way to success and have now outgrown hustle and need structure to be able to scale. The business needs to reinvent itself, which means the business owner needs to reinvent himself or herself. And that is another reason he connects with the lives of small business owners: his own journey is a masterclass in reinvention. 

From ages 18 to 27, Davis lived first as a monk and then as a missionary, working with faith-based organizations and immersing himself in habits of mindfulness, purpose-driven living, and disciplined time management while at the same time building leadership and team-building skills. He helped churches, ministries, and nonprofits boost membership and “revenue” through donations by fostering alignment among teams, ensuring everyone pulled in the same direction. “The common denominator was always alignment,” he says, “helping organizations and people integrate their core identity with what they do.”

By his late 20s to 39, Davis pursued university studies and took on leadership roles in church ministries, organizing nonprofits internally to enhance effectiveness. Membership grew as a byproduct, but the real win was deeper: stronger communities through purpose-driven organizations. 

Then, at 39, a convergence of passions, proficiencies and profit sparked First Principles Coaching. Passions for aiding small business owners like his dad, witnessing lives change for the better, and his proficiencies in teaching and coaching met the practical need for profit to sustain his family and contribute to social good. Encouragement from a mentor-coach, coupled with his own discernment of entrepreneurial desires and character, turned the idea into reality. From the moment he discerned a calling in that direction, he never looked back, he notes.

Founded in 2022, First Principles Coaching’s mission is bold: to support small business owners in discovering their true selves and living lives of deep meaning while also building profitable businesses. The model? A blend of philosophical wisdom, timeless insights, and cutting-edge coaching methods focused on the areas of mindset, time management, business systems, and team building. “We de-compartmentalize,” Davis explains, “aligning personal goals with business goals for sustainable, fulfilling growth.”

Results are noteworthy. One current client, an owner of a larger company, quadrupled revenue in just two and a half years, and another client, owner of a smaller company, tripled revenue; both report greater satisfaction and confidence in their lives and in their roles as leaders. Overall, clients average 40% growth while also gaining important leadership skills for long-term growth. Remarkably, the recession hasn’t touched his brand, as clients seek his grounded approach amid uncertainty. 

What sets Davis apart from competitors? Five key differentiators: 

1. First Principles focus, digging down to the roots of problems. 
2. Holistic systems thinking, uncovering interconnected issues
3. Hybrid method: systematic while remaining responsive to immediate needs
4. Integration of business systems and leadership psychology, harnessing external tools and internal dynamics
5. Emotional intelligence edge, acknowledging that decisions are ultimately emotional.

At one point, Colin Davis fell in love with ancient philosophy and found deep inspiration from the likes of Socrates (“How can a man who’s ignorant of himself understand others?”), Plato (“First, know thyself”), and Aristotle (“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”; “In every systematic inquiry where there are first principles, certainty results from acquiring knowledge of these”, Thomas Aquinas (“Above all, seek to understand… and to understand is to know what the first principles are and what are the causes that arise from them”), Seneca (“If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable”), Plutarch (“What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality”), and Epictetus (“Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems”; “No man is free who is not master of himself”).

In all that he does, Davis hopes to inspire others to live lives of purpose, continual growth, and freedom to make an impact. His definition of success? “Find your purpose, find the vehicles to fulfill that purpose, and become the person your purpose requires.”

Looking ahead, Davis envisions growing a coaching firm thoughtfully, small enough to retain the intimacy and immediacy of a very small business, while being able to serve many clients and provide multiple service offerings to owners, executives, and teams, creating ripple effects: lives of greater fulfillment, deeper relationships, and happiness for leaders, employees, customers, and communities.

In an era of flashy AI startups, Davis proves monk-like wisdom can fuel Main Street success. As he transitioned from helping churches to small businesses, driven by the conviction that commerce changes lives, he’s democratizing executive coaching.