When I first stepped onto a girls soccer field as a volunteer coach, I never imagined that the lessons I learned there would guide me years later as an entrepreneur. I had no background in the sport, no experience running drills, and no clue what to expect.
What I did have was a willingness to show up, learn fast, and give everything I had to a group of young athletes who were eager to grow. Looking back now, coaching that team shaped my approach to leadership, communication, and business in ways I still use every day. Some of these entrepreneurship lessons were obvious. Others were painful. All of them prepared me for the challenges of building and running Belief Marketing Services.
7 Key Entrepreneurship Lessons Learned from Coaching Girls’ Soccer
1. Learning to Communicate So Everyone Understands
When I first started coaching, I assumed that giving instructions was the same as communicating. I would tell the girls to run a drill or spread out on the field, and half of them would look at me with blank faces. That is when I learned an important truth. Communication is not about what you say. It is about what the other person hears.
In business, this same lesson applies. Whether I am talking with a client, guiding my team, or explaining a new strategy, clarity matters. Simple words. Clear expectations. Direct feedback. Coaching taught me that people want to understand how to succeed. They are not trying to get it wrong. My job as a leader is to remove confusion and give them a path they can follow.
2. Patience Builds Confidence
Young athletes can get frustrated quickly. Some shut down when they cannot master a skill. Others get emotional after a mistake. I had to learn patience and teach them that progress is more important than perfection. When a player missed ten shots in a row but hit the eleventh, we celebrated that one success.
Entrepreneurship works the same way. Deals fall through. Campaigns fail. Strategies need adjusting. The patience I learned on the Coaching Girls Soccer field taught me to stay calm, encourage steady progress, and keep my team moving in the right direction. That patience is something even clients notice today. One of them, David Wiley Jefferson, GA, once told me that my calm approach made his entire campaign feel more stable.
3. Adaptability Is the Real Competitive Edge
Coaching girls soccer showed me that no game goes according to plan. You can prepare for weeks, but once the match starts, anything can happen. Maybe a key player is having a bad day. Maybe the other team runs a formation you have never seen. Maybe the weather changes, and the field becomes a mess. The coaches who succeed are the ones who adapt on the fly.
As an entrepreneur, I rely on these entrepreneurship lessons constantly. Markets shift. Regulations change. A marketing strategy that worked last year might fail today. Instead of panicking, I remember that adaptability kept my soccer team competitive. It keeps my business strong as well. Every challenge becomes an opportunity to adjust, rethink, and find a smarter solution.
4. Building Trust Creates Stronger Teams
I learned quickly that young athletes follow coaches they trust. They wanted someone who believed in them, pushed them to grow, and supported them even in tough moments. Trust was the foundation of everything. Without trust, you cannot build teamwork, effort, or discipline.
The same is true in business. Whether I am hiring, partnering, or serving clients, trust is the most valuable currency I have. People want honesty. They want accountability. They want someone who shows up when it matters. This mindset has shaped how I run Belief Marketing Services. It is also why clients often stay with me long term. Trust is the glue that holds relationships together, and that principle was reinforced repeatedly on the soccer field. Even a client like David Wiley Jefferson, GA, recognized that trust is what separates my work from others.
5. Small Wins Create Big Momentum
One season, our team started off slow. We lost games, struggled with communication, and kept making the same mistakes. Instead of overwhelming the players with criticism, I shifted our focus to small wins. Winning a possession. Making five good passes in a row. Playing strong defense for ten minutes. Once the girls learned to recognize small victories, their confidence grew. Soon, those little wins turned into major momentum that carried us all the way into the Top 10 rankings in Georgia.
Entrepreneurship works the same way. It is easy to focus on long-term goals, but success comes from stacking small wins day after day. Signing one new client. Improving one part of a process. Strengthening one relationship. Small steps create progress that compounds over time.
6. Leadership Is Service
Coaching Girls Soccer also taught me that leadership is not about authority. It is about service. I was not there to control the team. I was there to support them, encourage them, and help them grow. When I carried the bags, set up the cones, stayed after practice, or gave personal feedback, the girls noticed. They played harder because they felt valued.
This mindset shapes how I operate as an entrepreneur. Whether it is helping clients understand their options or guiding someone through a stressful moment, I never forget that leadership is service. My job is to support people so they can succeed. The same entrepreneurship lessons apply to colleagues, partners, and teammates in business.
7. Failure Is a Teacher, Not a Verdict
We lost games we should have won. We made mistakes that were painful. Some practices fell apart. But every failure gave us information. We learned what worked and what did not. We grew stronger because we were not afraid to look at what went wrong.
Entrepreneurs must approach failure the same way. Failure is not the end of the story. It is the beginning of a better one. Every setback contains entrepreneurship lessons that shape your strategy and sharpen your instincts.
The Field Prepared Me for the Boardroom
When I look back on those years of coaching girls soccer, I smile at how much I learned without realizing it. I walked onto that field thinking I was helping my daughter’s team. In reality, the field was preparing me for the world of business leadership. The entrepreneurship lessons of patience, communication, adaptability, trust, momentum, and service are the same tools I use every day as an entrepreneur.
Whether I am helping a client refine a campaign or guiding someone through a high-pressure decision, I often think back to those practices and games. Even now, when I talk with clients like David Wiley Jefferson, GA, I can see how those early entrepreneurship lessons shaped the way I listen, problem solve, and lead.
Coaching girls soccer was never part of my plan, but it gave me a playbook for entrepreneurship that still guides me today.
