HI, I’M JOHN
I've been a professional business coach since 2004, and I've helped over 400 business owners develop the business and leadership skills they need to become a better boss in their company.
Before becoming a coach, I spent over two decades in the corporate world - from the "fix-it guy" who got parachuted into underperforming retail stores to turn them around, all the way to the president's office at BC Liquor Stores, a $3 billion operation with 200 locations and thousands of employees.
Here's what that experience taught me: the leadership skills that make large organizations work — delegation, communication, setting priorities, holding people accountable — are the exact same skills that most business owners have never been trained in.
And it's the absence of those skills that keeps them stuck, overwhelmed, and trapped at the centre of everything.
My job as a coach is to give you the executive-level leadership tools and thinking that you didn't get while building your business, so you can stop running your business like a one-person show and start leading it like the boss it needs.
In many cases, my clients have doubled, tripled, or even 10xed their businesses — and I'd love to help you do the same.
CAREER BACKGROUND AND EXPERTISE
RETAIL CAREER
1970s
Tip Top Tailors — Area Director & Executive Committee
John spent 17 years at Tip Top Tailors, rising from the sales floor to Area Director — one of only six members on the company's Executive Committee.
Known as the "fix-it guy," John frequently parachuted into underperforming stores to turn them around — attributing this to strong delegation and leadership systems he learned and applied before most of his peers.
By his mid-20s he was managing veteran teams decades older than himself, building a foundation in performance management, people leadership, and operational efficiency — skills he continues to teach today.
Leadership systems
Performance management
Culture change
1991
BC Liquor Stores (LDB) — President & CEO
After a decade in private retail, John joined BC Liquor Stores as Executive Director of Retail, responsible for operations, merchandising, product, and real estate — later becoming President and CEO.
He led the shift toward a more commercially oriented, customer-focused retail model inside a unionized workforce with multiple competing stakeholders — including navigating major strike negotiations.
Managing hundreds of stores and billions in revenue, this role required balancing strategic, political, and human dynamics at scale.
Commercial transformation
Operations
Labour relations
1997
Retail Consulting — National & International Brands
After leaving government, John spent several years as a retail consultant on short-term contracts — typically six months to a year — helping companies improve sales, systems, and staff performance.
Clients included Spence Diamonds (sales training and data-driven marketing), Alders Duty Free (high-volume international retail operations), and E&J Gallo Wines (retail and distribution performance).
This phase was "boots on the ground" work — hands-on operational improvement that gave John practical experience across multiple sectors.
Team training
Turnaround management
Multi-sector
COACHING CAREER
2004
ActionCOACH
In 2004, John joined ActionCOACH where he quickly ranked among the top 10–20% of coaches in North America. He developed expertise in small-business growth systems, sales psychology, and professional service marketing.
This period gave John a proven, structured framework for business coaching — one he would go on to build on and adapt when he launched his own independent practice.
Growth systems
Sales psychology
Service marketing
2009 – now
W5 Coaching — Founder
In 2010, John founded W5 Coaching, an independent practice based in Vancouver. Since then he has worked with over 400 clients, specializing in helping owners of 5–20 person firms in professional services, construction, and trades move from overworked to in control.
He helps owners create a self-managing business through systems, leadership development, and profitability focus.
His coaching model combines transactional tools (systems, financial dashboards, hiring frameworks), transformational coaching (mindset and leadership shifts), and accountability structures (ensuring consistent execution).
Leadership development
Systems
Mindset
Accountability
CERTIFICATIONS
John continues to invest in his own learning and professional growth. His credentials include:
RECOGNITION
Speaker — advocating for mental health awareness among entrepreneurs
🎙️
Featured Speaker
Podcasts and events on business growth and leadership
WHAT I BELIEVE IN
WHAT IS JOHN LIKE TO
WORK WITH?
I’ll let my clients answer this one!
ON A PERSONAL NOTE, I BELIEVE I WAS BORN TO COACH
In about 2004 just after I started my coaching practice, I had an epiphany: I was born to coach.
I’ve been coaching all my life. Until that moment I hadn’t been able to label it. Now I had crystal clear insight.
I now understood what Steve Jobs meant in this quote: That only after you’re there, can you then connect the dots.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.
So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.
You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.”
~ Steve Jobs
I’M AN ADVOCATE FOR DESTIGMATIZING
DEPRESSION AND SUICIDE
I believe that leadership requires us to stand up for what we believe is right and good - even if it means taking a personal risk.
In recent years, I have become an advocate for positive social change around destigmatizing depression and suicide - especially in men.
Entrepreneurs and company founders are often isolated, under a lot of stress and prone to depression.
Because depression is often seen as a character flaw in our culture, many of them don’t seek help and some turn to suicide as an answer.
I am intimately acquainted with this subject. In 2011, I suffered from depression and attempted to take my own life. I told my personal story in my 2015 TEDx talk on destigmatizing depression and suicide.
I’ve since been interviewed for ManTalks.com and appeared in a TV commercial to promote www.HeadsUpGuys.org, an online resource for men who struggle with depression.
Doing this changed how I interact in the world and in my business. I learned that vulnerability is something to be embraced - a sign of strength, not weakness - and it is how I endeavour to show up every day.
“THE RISK OF A WRONG DECISION IS PREFERABLE TO THE TERROR OF INDECISION.”
This is a great quote from Maimonides.
Seems you read to the bottom of this page, you’re probably wondering if it’s a good idea to connect with me, you might want to consider the quote...then call me!
John Nieuwenburg is a seasoned business coach and entrepreneur mentor who has been coaching professionally since 2004. Before founding W5 Coaching, John built a robust corporate career – he started on the store floor at a men’s retailer (Tip Top Tailors) and rose to executive positions. He later became President and CEO of BC Liquor Stores, a $3 billion enterprise, where he learned invaluable lessons about leadership and running a successful business. In 2019, John was honored with Canada’s CEO Trusted Advisor Award (Small Business category) for his outstanding coaching work. Since becoming a coach, John has worked with over 350 business owners, guiding them through a systematic process that gives them the tools and structure to feel organized, confident, and in control of their companies. In many cases, his clients have doubled, tripled, or even 10× their businesses – and John is passionate about helping every client achieve remarkable results.