In this installment of our Success Stories series, we interview Haley and Justin Brown-Woods, a husband-wife financial coaching duo. The Brown-Woodses transformed their own financial struggles into a thriving coaching business, helping clients tackle millions in debt. Their journey from being $220,000 in debt to successful financial coaches offers valuable insights for aspiring coaches and those looking to improve their financial situations.
Haley and Justin began their debt-free journey in 2019 after blowing through a $600,000 lawsuit payout and accumulating over $220,000 in debt in just three and a half years. Within 18 months, they had paid off over $132,000 of debt and restarted their wealth-building journey. During this period, they launched their podcast, Price of Avocado Toast, focusing on open and honest money conversations. In 2021, Haley started the financial coaching branch of their business, with Justin joining the team in 2023. Together, they’ve helped clients tackle over $2.5 million in debt.
HALEY: We’re parents of three very young kids – four and a half, three, and a one-year-old. That’s a big part of who we are. We’re both former elementary school educators and natural coaches. We spent a lot of time coaching sports, so the flow into financial coaching felt natural. I sometimes have a hard time answering this question without just saying “I’m a financial coach,” but there’s more to us than that.
JUSTIN: Haley summed it up well. We’re in this season of life where we get to be the parents we want to be, the partners we want to be to one another, and the coaches we want to be for our clients. It’s wild and bananas every day, but we’re enjoying it.
HALEY: Success for us right now is being able to spend time with our kids at home. As we’re recording this, we’re one week away from no longer having preschool-age kids. Our daughter starts school next week for the first time. Being able to pour into family time while running the business has been the biggest gift, and that to us is the most successful part of what we’re doing.
JUSTIN: Beyond that, we’re part of some really big moments in our clients’ lives, and their success feels like our success too. It feels good to walk alongside somebody while they’re tackling debt or saving for their first home. We get these little dopamine drops of success every time a client takes a step forward on their journey.
HALEY: We work with millennials, particularly millennial parents that resemble us. They’ve got young kids, and they’re really just trying to be adults for the first time. They’re thinking, “Okay, I’m making the most money I’ve ever made. I have these kids I have to keep alive alongside myself. How do I do that and manage my money?” Our clients typically have a substantial amount of debt. They really do resemble us a few years ago, when we were freshly married with young kids and very much in debt.
JUSTIN: As for our programs, we have a one-to-one coaching program that’s about six months. We also built a 14-month program because we found a lot of clients wanted to go through a yearly cycle with us to hit all these big yearly milestones. That’s been really successful. We enjoy it because we get to be part of the journey longer, and it feels like we can get some real momentum going. We’re also working on group offerings to provide more accessibility, though that’s still in the works.
JUSTIN: We don’t really coach together, and it’s fascinating. I think a lot of people would assume a couple would coach couples together, but we’ve found that some couples have different needs and financial hangups. As we’re going through the application and consultation process, we feel out whether they might benefit more from a vulnerable guy like me, or from Haley, who’s really organizationally strong and has been doing this longer. We do have group meetings for all our clients, so I’ll get to meet Haley’s clients and maybe bounce some ideas around. But for one-on-one coaching, we’re strictly one coach per couple or individual.
HALEY: Our primary client acquisition comes from social media, specifically Instagram. We have our podcast, which is very successful, and I thought people were coming from there. But when I added a question to our coaching application asking where they actually decided to get coaching, it turned out to be primarily Instagram. As we just passed the three-year anniversary of our business, we’re seeing more and more word-of-mouth referrals too.
HALEY: I honestly couldn’t tell you. I think it goes back and forth quite a bit. Instagram followers will check out the podcast, or they found the podcast and then follow our social media. But I rarely get clients who only listen to the podcast and don’t follow our social media.
HALEY: Our pricing is on the lower end, primarily because the people we’re working with are in such substantial debt. A lot of our clients have to put coaching on a credit card initially. This was a mindset thing I really had to work through when I first started coaching, because it didn’t feel right to have someone go into debt to get out of debt. But once I saw the level of success these clients were experiencing, I realized it pays off. Within six months, they’re not using a credit card at all, and in a year, they’ve often paid off $10,000 of their debt. We want to remain accessible while also feeling fairly compensated.
JUSTIN: People have to feel a bit uncomfortable when investing in something if they’re going to take it seriously. So we’ve had to test out what that number feels like for our clients. If they’re not bought in on the price, they’re not going to take it seriously.
HALEY: Pre-FCA is a very short period of time, because that was the first thing I did when I started – I signed up for Financial Coach Academy® and got the ball rolling. But one of the biggest blocks I struggled with early on was imposter syndrome. When you look at our background, we came from so much debt and so many financial mess-ups, one after another. That’s what our entire brand has been founded on – the transparency of “Okay, we messed up, we grew, and here’s where we are now.” I struggled with thinking, “We’ve made so many financial mistakes. How am I going to help someone on their financial journey when I didn’t even know what I was doing?” That imposter syndrome was really loud initially, and Justin helped me out with that.
JUSTIN: I’m always impressed by Haley. She’s such a brilliant human being, and when she puts her mind to something, she really dives in full steam. Hearing her have those internal battles made me pause. I thought, “Wait a minute, I’ve seen you do incredible things.” We’re both former educators, and I believe that by seeking out education like Haley did with FCA, she was qualifying herself. She was saying, “I’m going to find somebody who’s doing this in the way that I want to, with the value system I believe in, and I’m going to get the training I need to support and serve others.”
You had a great episode recently, Kelsa, that summed it up well. You talked about how coaches don’t have to know everything instantly when a client asks. What’s important is a willingness to explore alongside the client, and the self-assurance to say, “I’m not sure of that answer. Let’s figure it out together.” Because often, people are just looking for a soundboard and a conversation to help explore and figure things out.
Seeing Haley go through the FCA process, and the little things like calling people “Coach” – that’s how you approach people. I kept thinking, “Haley, you’re talking to somebody who’s already identifying you as a coach. You shouldn’t be the one holding yourself back from greatness.” Seeing her sit in those communities more naturally got her out of that imposter syndrome.
As for me, joining the coaching profession was a comparison issue. I was constantly thinking, “I need to be the next male Haley. I need to serve just as Haley’s serving.” It took time for me to realize I’m a totally different coach. There are things I do really well that Haley has asked for support on, and things she does really well that I need support on. Getting out of that “we’re all the same coach” mindframe was key. Now I’m finding confidence in my own coaching voice within Price of Avocado Toast, but it’s a totally different client experience at times.
HALEY: I want to mention something quickly. I was constantly telling Justin, “You need to come be a financial coach. You need to do this.” And he was like, “Yeah, whatever.” He just wasn’t bought into the idea of this working full-time for both of us, because he hadn’t stepped into that business owner, entrepreneurial mindset yet.
We moved away from where we live currently during our debt-free journey. We sold our house and moved to a lower cost of living area for a couple years. Then Justin’s mom passed away unexpectedly, and during that grieving process, we decided to move back here. That was an extreme expense increase, coming back to the high cost of living area.
But now I was self-employed, and I was in such a stage of doubt. I was thinking, “I don’t know if we can do this Justin, this is going to be so much money. I don’t know if we can afford to live here while you’re teaching and I’m running a business.” And he came home one day and said, “You know what? I think we need to do this, and I want to come coach with you.” Immediately my mindset switched. I thought, “Oh, we’ve got this.” Because if we’re both building this, we can take it to the moon, but if it’s just me, I can only go so far. If you’re a teacher, you can only make so much money, and we’d be stuck. But with the two of us, all of a sudden, I thought, “Okay, game over. We’ve got this, we’re good to go.”
HALEY: Initially, when I first started coaching, I just did a six-month program. I met with everybody twice a month for six months. But at the end of six months, people weren’t ready to fly solo. That wasn’t anyone’s fault, they simply needed more support. Our clients were in such substantial debt, it was taking four or five months until people were moving forward with good momentum on their action plan. We had so much to do with breaking cycles and true habit change that it was going to take a long time.
So I thought, “Okay, maybe I need to add some sort of ongoing coaching option.” I’m a member of the financial coach mastermind, so I’ve talked with you and other coaches about this. I implemented options for ongoing coaching, where I could meet with people monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly.
Last year, in 2023, I did an audit of all my clients, and I realized they were hanging out for about a year and a half. I thought, “Wait, how long are they really staying?” I dove into the flow people were signing up for. They’d do the initial six months twice a month, then go down to meeting once a month for three to six months. Then they’d meet every other month or quarterly, and just chill there for a while. Because if it was working, why would they stop?
So I started thinking, “People are already on a long journey. Maybe I could make this more financially accessible on a monthly basis, but they get to stay longer.” We actually lowered the monthly income. Our current plan is $297 a month for 12 months. If you sign up for our six-month plan now, it’s close to $400 a month. So it made things cheaper initially, but stretched it out.
The 14-month plan is now structured with six months of twice-monthly meetings, then three to four months of monthly meetings, and then every other month for the remaining portion. My income stays consistent the entire year. We get more money for a whole year, but it’s less on a monthly basis. Towards the end, when they’ve tapered down to less frequent meetings, we’re still making the same amount and can take on more clients.
It was a strategic business decision for consistent income, but also making what we’re doing more accessible. This was the natural flow that about 80% of our clients were going through anyway.
I thought, “Who’s going to commit to 14 months? That’s such a long time. Who wants to commit to a 12-month payment plan for something this big?” But it has knocked my expectations out of the park. People see, “Oh, I have a lot of debt, and this is going to take a while. This plan gives me support through my whole journey. I’m not just going through a little coaching and flying solo, hoping I don’t sink. I have hand-holding the entire time.” That’s the evolution of it all.
JUSTIN: Through your mentorship, Kelsa, in coaching Haley as a business leader, we were aware that with a new coach coming on board, there might be a dip as we start to grow and see things change. We were wondering, “With Justin coming on, what is this going to look like with new clients and onboarding?”
I think within the months of the client creator challenge, I had maybe six or seven new clients, and six of them were 14-month programs. Right at the start of the new year, you’re thinking, “Holy smokes. I’ll be with you all till Christmas. I’ll see you next year.” It was absolutely wild how many people were like, “Yep, we’re in for the 14 months.”
Kelsa: I feel like you did, but I can’t remember. I think Haley was already enrolled. And then you were like, “Hey, I’m gonna tap into it” kind of thing. And I’m curious what that was like for you.
JUSTIN: Yeah, I started to tap into a lot of it that wasn’t business building related. It was more about the coaching practices and figuring those things out. Haley and I would have conversations about how each activity relates to who we are as coaches and our different skills. I like to think I’m an emotionally in-touch man, so it’s been cool doing some of these activities and finding ways to tweak them from a male perspective and voice.
That’s how it’s been so far – just kind of dipping my toes into the coaching aspects of FCA, rather than the business structure. The coolest thing about FCA was when Haley was going through it. She’d walk out after doing a three-hour session of learning and be like, “Hey, I actually have the business basically set up, ready to go.” And I was like, “Wow, that’s really fast. That’s impressive.” So that was my experience with it. I didn’t have to build a business from the ground up. I got to just step in and become a better coach.
HALEY: Oh, man, just do it. That’s basically it. Just do something to move the needle forward, whether that means telling people you’re a financial coach and trying to embody that, or starting to meet with people and talk with them. But you’re going to feel super uncomfortable and sit in that imposter syndrome for a very long time, unless you do something about making forward movement in creating your business. It’s hard, that mental block piece is really, really hard, but it is so worth it once you’re over the hump. So you’ve gotta just get started.
JUSTIN: I would say just consume content of people that are doing it right, like your weekly podcast. It has been really great to tie in themes that we’ve seen through the financial coach mastermind and being in the Financial Coaches Unite Facebook group. Having those nurture opportunities that are totally free value learning is wild. The little things you can pick up from moment to moment, even in your show, that provide value for a client three hours later when you meet with them, it’s really convenient. Modern social media and internet connections have made that possible. So that’s what I’d say: consume the content of people doing what you want to do, because you’ll probably get a ton of free value.
About Haley and Justin:
Haley and Justin Brown-Woods are a married, millennial couple that began their debt free journey in the Fall of 2019.
After blowing through a $600,000 lawsuit payout and racking up over $220,000 worth of debt in three and a half years, Haley and Justin got serious about changing the narrative they had created for their lives. Within 18 months, they had paid off over $132,000 of debt and restarted their wealth journey.
During this period, they began their podcast, Price of Avocado Toast. Their focus has been on having open and honest money conversations with others to help remove the stigmas and shame around finances. The hope is that these conversations enlighten the younger versions of themselves and save them from the pitfalls Haley and Justin fell into.
In 2021, Haley began the financial coaching branch of Price of Avocado Toast. She brought Justin onto the team in 2023 and together they have helped clients tackle over $2.7M of non-mortgage debt. Now their family is working towards generational wealth building and a future of outrageous generosity.
