Read time: 3 min.

Last weekend I visited a friend in Barcelona.

We did all the "big" things.

Cruising on scooters through the city. Hitting exclusive rooftop bars. Marveling at Sagrada Familia. We even saw a yacht the size of a football field.

It was all impressive. All stimulating. All what you're "supposed" to do.

But the moment that stayed with me most?

1:30 PM at a tiny breakfast café.

Just me and my friend, talking about... life. Our families. Our struggles. The patterns we've noticed in ourselves. The slow, sometimes painful unfolding of personal growth.

That one conversation went deeper than the entire trip.

And it made me realize something crucial about business.

About what I'm actually trying to build here:

I'm not chasing big. I'm chasing depth.

Building a Purpose-Driven Business

We're constantly told to scale.

• To reach more people

• To create more content

• To be more visible

But what if we're optimizing for the wrong thing?

Don't get me wrong — I believe in building personal brands and creating content that reaches people. I help my clients do it every day.

But the purpose isn't to chase numbers or create a highlight reel.

The purpose is to connect the right people to transformational experiences that change their lives.

Your content, your brand, your digital products — they're all bridges that lead people to the moments that matter. To their own version of that café conversation.

When you approach your business this way, everything shifts:

• You connect with people on a level most businesses never reach

• You create experiences that people remember years later

• You build relationships instead of transactions

The Barcelona Effect

What made that simple breakfast in Barcelona so meaningful wasn't anything dramatic.

We weren't solving world hunger or having some movie-worthy epiphany.

We were just... present.

Listening with our full attention. Speaking without calculation.

Being human together in a way that felt increasingly rare in our notification-saturated lives.

And I keep thinking — isn't this exactly what the best coaching relationships feel like?

Not impressive. Not flashy. But deeply, humanly connected.

What This Means For You

If you're building a coaching business, this matters even more.

Because people don't buy coaching for information. They can get that anywhere.

They buy coaching for transformation. For the space to have those breakfast-cafe conversations that change everything.

Your clients aren't looking for someone who works with hundreds of people. They're looking for someone who can see them. Who can hold space for their specific challenges. Who can guide them through their unique journey.

Therefore, your business shouldn't feel like a crowded tourist attraction.

It should feel like sitting across from someone who truly gets you.

And it's not complicated. It simply requires you to:

1. Listen more than you speak

2. Solve real problems, not surface symptoms

3. Create space for genuine connection

4. Prioritize impact over impression

Final Words

Every day in your business, you face the same choice I faced in Barcelona:

• Chase Instagram-worthy moments, or create the ones that actually matter.

• Build what impresses others, or build what creates lasting change.

• Design your business for likes, or design it for lives transformed.

I know which one I'm choosing.

And I'm guessing, if you've read this far, you do too.

Talk to you next week.

Much love,

— Martijn