Business By Design Review 2026 - A Clinical Psychologist's Honest Take After Years Inside BBD

By Dr Tracy Thorns | Clinical Psychologist | Digital Creator | Host of The BBD VIP Launch Studio

Partner disclosure: I am a proud affiliate for Business By Design. If you join through my link and free bonuses, I may earn a commission. As a registered, certified and ethical clinician I only review or recommend programmes I have personally experienced & genuinely believe in.

I Didn't Go Looking for a Business Programme. I Went Looking for Motivation.

In 2022, I was already exploring online business. Things were going ‘okay’ but not great!

I'd done other programmes. Quite a few of them, actually. I had ideas. I had expertise - nearly two decades of it as a Clinical Psychologist. What I didn't have was a clear path forward.

Every course I'd taken told me what to do. None of them showed me how to do it. Each step led to another wormhole of things to learn, platforms to figure out, and decisions to make with no real guidance. I kept moving forward but wasn't getting anywhere fast.

And those programmes weren't cheap either.

By the time I found James Wedmore, I had invested over £20,000 in online business education. I had knowledge coming out of my ears but results that didn't match. So when I heard about James's free three-day live event – (the Business Breakthrough Experience) - I signed up with one eyebrow raised and my expectations firmly managed!

I needed motivation to keep going.

What I found was something entirely different.

I found the map I needed.

What Is Business By Design? (And What It Is NOT)

Let me be clear about something from the outset: Business By Design is not a course.

It is an ecosystem. A complete, interconnected system of everything you need to build a sustainable online business around your expertise - from your very first idea all the way through to scaling a business that runs without you working around the clock.

James Wedmore created BBD after building his own business from scratch to over $9 million per year. He has spent nearly two decades figuring out what works, refining every process, and packaging those systems so that you don't have to spend years piecing it together yourself.

Or £20,000 on programmes that show you what to do but leave you staring at a blank screen wondering how 🤯

At its core, BBD is built on a simple idea: that nearly every step of building an online business can be designed - with tested, proven methods - rather than figured out through exhausting trial and error.

How Much Does Business By Design Cost?

BBD is priced at $2,997. Payment plans are available.

This is not a cheap investment - and it is not designed to be. It is a complete business ecosystem, not a single-topic course. When you compare the depth of what is included with what you would pay for individual coaching, multiple courses and business consulting, the investment looks very different.

I spent over £20,000 before I found BBD. I say that so you understand the full weight of what I mean when I tell you this is the only programme I would spend that money on again without hesitation.

The Moment That Changed Everything For Me

I remember the exact moment I knew BBD was different from everything else I had tried.

I was inside the portal for the first time. I clicked on the launch type that matched where I was in my business. And there, in front of me, was every single step I needed to take - laid out in sequence, with clear instructions for how to complete each one. 🪜

Not "build your email list." But here is exactly how to build your email list, step by step, with the template, the sequence and the process.

The relief I felt in that moment was difficult to describe.

After months of feeling like I was trying to assemble flat-pack furniture without the instructions, I finally had the manual.

James describes BBD as a Lego instruction manual. That is exactly what it is. And if you’ve ever sat in front of a pile of Lego pieces with no idea where to start - you will understand exactly why that matters.

What's Inside Business By Design? The Full Breakdown

BBD is built around seven modules (including a foundations module), each covering a distinct dimension of your online business. What follows is the most detailed breakdown you will find anywhere - because I’ve been inside this programme and used these modules in all sorts of launches of my own course.

Module 0 - Getting Started: BBD Foundations

Before anything else, James sets the foundation. This includes the BBD Strategy overview, understanding The 3 Phases to YOUR Business By Design, building your Digital CEO Dashboard, and orienting yourself within the BBD community. This module alone reframes how you think about your business before you have written a single piece of content.

Module 1 - Building Your Business By Design

This is where James helps you think like a Digital CEO rather than an exhausted solopreneur. The Three Levers of Growth, the 5% Activities (the handful of things that actually drive results), the 90-Day Roadmap for hitting specific revenue goals, and the three pillars of business structure - Projects, Processes and Workflows. For helping professionals who have spent their careers doing everything themselves, this module is quietly revolutionary.

Module 2 - Working By Design

How to actually get things done sustainably without burning out. James covers improving workability and performance, the Mount Everest Exercise for 90-Day planning cycles, the Ascension Model (answering the question every person eventually asks: "what do I offer next?"), Direct Response principles, and his seven timeless Principles of Marketing. As someone who now runs a six-figure business alongside one clinical day per week, this module was foundational for me.

Module 3 - Offer By Design

How to craft an offer people actually want to buy. This goes far deeper than "here is my course, click add to cart." James covers the Core Ingredients of an Irresistible Offer, Nailing the Promise, the Pricing Framework (how to set a price that reflects your value AND sells), Risk Reversal, and – critically Scarcity and Urgency done ethically, and a module called A Conversation Around Money that addresses the complicated relationship many of us have with charging for our expertise.

That last one surprised me more than I expected. More on that shortly!

Module 4 - Sales By Design

The complete sales and messaging system. Messaging Framework, Your Ideal Customer, The Transformation, handling Objections, your Origin Story, Content That Sells, and how to identify the right launch type for your specific situation. For helping professionals like me, who feel genuinely uncomfortable with selling, this module is quietly life-changing - because it reframes selling not as something you do TO people, but something you do FOR them.

Module 5 - Team By Design

How to build and lead a team even when you are just starting out. Most business programmes never mention hiring. BBD does - and it includes exactly who to hire, when, how to hire a VA, and how to run a local hiring process. It changes how you think about your business from the very beginning.

I followed the process exactly as laid out (including his wording for the job ad) and boom, 200 people applied for my small VA role. His process showed me exactly how to identify the top 5% and interview 3. I found the most amazing VA who has helped me grow my business to 6 figures. A complete unicorn I have no doubt I would have missed without the walk-through process James gave us.

James calls this the most overlooked but most essential module in the entire programme. Having worked through it, I understand why.

Module 6 - Scale By Design

How to grow your results without working harder. The Post-Launch Process (where James emphasises that the real magic happens after the launch ends - something most entrepreneurs completely miss), When a Launch ‘Fails’ (one of the most emotionally honest modules in the programme), Increasing Promotion Performance, growing your Launch List, and Automation. This is where the business becomes something that works for your life rather than consuming it. As a parent of 3 young children this is more important to me than ever.

The Launch Execution Guides - The Part Nobody Talks About

This is where BBD genuinely separates itself from every other business programme I have encountered.

BBD includes 16+ complete Launch Execution Guides - step-by-step processes for every type of launch imaginable. Each one walks you through every single step from beginning to end. When I clicked into my first guide, the relief I felt was physical.

The 16 guides include:

• Monetize Before You Make It
• Ninja Survey Pre-Release
• The BetaMAXX
• Quick Cart-Close Promo
• Webinar Launch
• Video Series Launch
• Live Launch Process
• Two-Day Profit Formula
• Membership Launch - directly relevant for those building communities
• Challenge Launch 2.0
• Sell It With Email Mini Training
• Get Coaching Clients - specifically for professionals offering 1:1 work
• Fill Your Mastermind - for those building group programmes
• Paid Masterclass Process
• 29 Advanced Launch Enhancements
• Absolute Automation- taking it evergreen!

For me, the Live Launch Process, Get Coaching Clients and Fill Your Mastermind guides alone are worth the investment and enabled me to recover my BBD investment.  

The Live Coaching Calls - James's Stamina Is Unrivalled

The live coaching calls with James Wedmore are genuinely live. Not pre-recorded, not templated.

James shows up with a stamina that is, frankly, unrivalled. No stone is left unturned. No question goes unanswered. Every call continues until every hand has been seen and every question addressed. I would argue that anyone who can genuinely outlast James on a coaching call deserves some kind of award. Possibly a trophy. Certainly, a lie-down to absorb all the gold fizzing in your brain 🧠

Beyond the live calls, BBD also includes office hours with certified BBD coaches, an active community, and - new for 2026 - BBD-trained AI tools to support your implementation. Like having James in your pocket 24/7!

What I Didn't Expect - Even as a Psychologist

Here is something I want to be honest about, because I think it will resonate with many helping professionals reading this. Or if you are someone, like me who thought “I’m good already on the mindset thanks, just show me the funnels”!

I’m a Clinical Psychologist. I have spent my career studying the human mind - cognitive patterns, limiting beliefs, psychological barriers and the stories we tell ourselves that keep us stuck.

And yet.

When I started working through BBD - particularly the mindset content woven through the early modules and the deeply personal ‘A Conversation Around Money’ module - I was genuinely surprised by how much my own psychology was holding me back.

Beliefs I had not even consciously recognised:

• That charging well for my expertise felt uncomfortable
• That selling felt ‘manipulative’ and a bit icky
• That marketing myself felt at odds with my professional identity
• That building a business was somehow in conflict with being a caring practitioner
• That an introvert had ‘no business being in business’

These are not unusual beliefs for helping professionals. In fact, they are almost universal in our sector.

But here is the thing - they were costing me. Not just financially. They were quietly limiting the number of people I could reach and help.

The fact that I - someone whose entire career is built on understanding the human mind - was still surprised by my own blocks? That tells you something important about how deeply these beliefs are embedded in us and the pure freedom of working past them.

BBD gave me a framework for examining and shifting those beliefs in a way that felt entirely consistent with my clinical understanding of psychology. Not toxic positivity. Not "just believe in yourself." A genuine, structured approach to the psychology of building a business.

Staying Grounded and Calm Throughout - Why That Matters

One of the things that concerned me most before joining BBD was whether the business-building process would feel at odds with who I am professionally.

I did not want to become someone who used high-pressure tactics or manufactured urgency. I did not want to feel like I was compromising my professional integrity to make sales.

What I found was the opposite.

BBD's approach to selling, launching and marketing is fundamentally ethical. James himself is transparent about what he does and why. The programme specifically addresses ethical scarcity and urgency. The messaging framework is built around genuinely serving your ideal customer rather than sleezy sales tactics.

For helping professionals who carry the weight of professional ethics codes – these matter enormously. And that applies to anyone who comes into online business with a good heart and deep values.

You can build a thriving digital business and remain completely grounded, calm and true to your professional values throughout. BBD showed me how.

My Journey - From BBD to a Six-Figure Business

After discovering BBD in 2022, I built what is now a six-figure business - combining digital products with one clinical day per week doing the direct client work I love.

That model - one day in the consulting room, and an online business - was something I had to deliberately design. BBD gave me the framework to build it.

My results through BBD eventually led me to James Wedmore's Next Level programme - his advanced mastermind for established BBD members who are growing and scaling their businesses. Being part of Next Level deepened both my business strategy and my understanding of what sustainable, ethical growth looks like for helping professionals.

With my newfound passion, and over the past six years, I have built a community of over 800 psychologists, therapists, counsellor, helping professions and coaches - all exploring how to take their expertise online. Many have gone from having no idea where to start, to successfully launching their first digital programmes.

Is Business By Design Worth It in 2026? Honest Pros and Cons

What I Love About BBD

✅ The most complete business ecosystem I have found - not just in terms of what is covered, but the depth of implementation support. The 16+ launch execution guides alone are worth the investment.

✅ It works particularly well- the principles James teaches translate directly to the challenges psychologists, helping professions, therapists and coaches face.

✅ The mindset work is genuinely transformative - particularly for those of us who have complicated feelings about selling, charging and marketing ourselves.

✅ The community is exceptional - you are surrounded by serious, but big-hearted, committed people who are actually building things.

✅ Lifetime access with regular updates - James updates BBD every year. New for 2026: BBD-trained AI tools have been added. You are not buying a static course but an evolving eco system. James also loves to add new gifts without a big announcement- like a scavenger hunt where a new gift has been left for you to discover!

✅ The live coaching calls are genuinely live - James shows up with extraordinary stamina and keeps going until every question has been answered.

✅ If you have spent money on programmes that told you WHAT to do but never showed you HOW - BBD is the one that finally hands you the instruction manual. Every step. Every template. Every process.

✅ Ethical sales and marketing approach - you will never feel like you are compromising your professional integrity.

The Honest Considerations...

✨The investment is significant - at $2,997, this is a meaningful financial commitment. It is not an impulse purchase. But having spent £20,000 on other programmes before finding BBD, I can tell you with complete confidence that this is worth more than all of them combined. It is the only portal I return to every time I am making a change in my business.

✨It can feel overwhelming at first - there is a lot inside BBD. The key is to start at the beginning or go directly to the launch execution guide that matches your current situation, rather than trying to consume everything before taking action.

✨It is not for quick cash - BBD is for building a real, sustainable business. If you are looking for a shortcut to fast money, this is not that. It is not a bro-marketing “sell 20 PDF’s a day” internet rubbish. This is about creating a sustainable life you love.

✨BBD does not cover Facebook Ads - If paid traffic is part of your plan, you will a little additional support. This is specifically why I include a Facebook Ads bonus for those who join through my link.

✨All Good Things Come to an End - The Honest Bit

There is a moment every year in BBD that deserves a mention - because nobody talks about it, and I think it matters.

The live calls with James end.

And honestly? There is a quiet sadness to that. You have been inside this incredible, energising container with James and your cohort, building momentum, asking questions, getting breakthroughs - and then the live calls conclude. (Well eventually, but he keeps adding extra’s, because he is that kind of guy!)

The good news is that it does not all disappear. The BBD Facebook community continues, and James's certified coaches remain available through ongoing support. The ecosystem does not vanish - the intensive live phase simply transitions into something more self-directed.

But here is what I noticed - in my own experience and from the hundreds of helping professionals I have spoken with since: the work does not stop when the calls end. You are still implementing. Still processing. Still launching. Still hitting challenges that need a thoughtful, knowledgeable human in your corner.

That is precisely why my bonus package includes six months of continued monthly support through my VIP Launch Studio - because I want to be there with you, walking alongside you, long after the live phase ends.

Who Is BBD For?

BBD is an excellent fit for you if:

✅ You are a coach, therapist, counsellor, psychologist, or helping professional with expertise that could help more people if packaged into a digital programme

✅ You have tried other programmes and walked away frustrated because they told you what to do but never showed you how - and you are not willing to keep spending money on that experience

✅ You want to build a sustainable, ethical business without burning out or compromising your professional values

✅ You are ready to invest in something comprehensive, rather than cobbling together pieces from multiple sources

✅ You want to work fewer hours with greater impact and income

✅ You are serious about building a real business, not just experimenting

✅ You want to stay grounded, calm and true to your values throughout the process

BBD May Not Be Right For You If:

❌ You are looking for a quick income fix

❌ You are not yet clear on whether you want an online business  

❌ You want someone to do everything for you

❌ You are not ready to invest meaningfully in your business or yourself

🎁What You Get FREE When You Join Through Me

When you join Business By Design through my link at drthorns.com/bbd, you get access to my exclusive bonus package - designed by a Clinical Psychologist who has been inside BBD, inside Next Level, and has spent six years supporting hundreds of coaches, therapists, psychologists and helping professionals through this exact process.

These are not AI-generated templates or impersonal digital downloads. They are a deliberately designed, personalised set of additions that plug the specific gaps I know you will wish were filled - because I wished they were filled too.

Bonus 1 - Six Months in VIP Launch Studio- A smaller, personal container where I walk alongside you monthly as you implement BBD strategy. These calls are specifically for people applying what BBD teaches to their unique professional context. This directly addresses the biggest challenge most BBD members face - keeping momentum after the live calls end. My results speak for themselves: a six-figure business, one clinical day per week, and a community of over 800 professionals built using exactly what BBD teaches.

Bonus 2 - Facebook Ads Mini Course The piece BBD does not cover. A complete, practical guide to getting started with Facebook Ads - from a guest expert BBD member who specialises in paid traffic and knows how it integrates with everything you are building inside BBD.

Bonus 3 - Done-With-You Kajabi Setup Workshop A walkthrough workshop where we set up your Kajabi website and first funnel together from scratch. No more disappearing down tech rabbit holes alone- As a Kajabi partner, you also have access to a discounted or free trial of Kajabi if this is the platform you would like to try.

Bonus 4 – ‘Automate Your Business With Playbooks’ Workshop For the time-poor professional - how to build the systems and automations that let your business run without requiring your constant presence. Because your time is your most precious resource.

Full bonus details, including testimonials from professionals I have supported through BBD, revealed at drthorns.com/bbd from 19th June 2026.

Final Thoughts - Is Business By Design Worth It?

I invested over £20,000 in online business education before I found James Wedmore.

I say that not to make you wince - though I appreciate you might! - but because I want you to understand the weight of what I am saying when I tell you that BBD has been genuinely transformative. I shudder to think where my business would be if I had walked away from that three-day event in 2022.

For coaches, therapists, counsellors, psychologists and helping professionals with expertise to share and people to reach - BBD is, in my honest clinical and professional opinion, the most comprehensive, ethical and genuinely supportive business programme available.

You can build a thriving digital business. You can do it calmly, grounded in your professional values. You can reach more people than you ever could before. And you can do it without burning out, compromising your ethics, or losing yourself or your life in the process.

BBD shows you exactly how.

The question is not really whether BBD works.

The question is whether you are ready to finally have the instruction manual 💜

👉 See my full BBD 2026 bonus package at drthorns.com/bbd (Bonuses revealed 19^th June 2026 - cart closes 25^th June 2026)

About Dr Tracy Thorns

Dr Tracy Thorns is a Clinical Psychologist, digital course creator and host of The BBD VIP Launch Studio. She runs a six-figure digital business alongside one clinical day per week, and has spent six years supporting coaches, psychologists, therapists, counsellors and helping professionals to build online businesses around their expertise. She is a member of the BBD affiliate community and has personal experience of both Business By Design and James Wedmore's Next Level programme. www.drthorns.com/bbd