Jacob Hokanson, Builder, Operator, ICF-Credentialed Coach
Download PDFProfessional Summary
This year I designed, coded, and shipped CoachTide, a commercial practice-management SaaS, working alone with AI-assisted tooling. Somewhere between the first database schema and the private beta, a lifelong pattern finally got its name: I am happiest when I am building something concrete with a finish line on it. Deliverables are my drug of choice.
Once I saw it, my own history read differently. The remote camps feeding 500 oil and gas workers were a build: systems, staffing, and logistics stood up in hard places. The restaurant I owned for fifteen years was a build that had to keep working every single day. So were the nonprofit's paper books turned into clean cloud accounting, and the coaching practice assembled from zero, credential and software included. Different materials, same act.
I bring people with me too. I am an ICF-credentialed coach and a trained facilitator, and the teams I run tend to stay: my restaurant kept staff seven to fifteen years in an industry that measures tenure in months. What I want now is a team with more finish lines than finishers.
Recently Shipped
CoachTide
2026
Commercial practice-management SaaS for independent coaches, in private beta. Grew out of the CRM I built to run my own practice: pipeline, session prep and capture, client portal, calendar sync. Designed, built, and operated solo. https://coachtide.com
jlh.ca
2025
Custom Next.js platform with a block-based CMS built from scratch. Every page of this site is editable from an admin panel I designed. https://jlh.ca
ICF ACC Credential
2026
Accredited training, verified client hours, and the credentialing exam, completed while running the practice that generated the hours.
Professional Experience
Owner & Coach
Hokanson Coaching & Consulting
Built a coaching practice from zero: the client base, the credential, the systems, and the software it runs on.
- Coach business owners, managers, and professionals, many of them ADHD, AuDHD, or autistic, on delegation, systems that survive real life, leadership communication, and the beliefs underneath the stuck spots. Every session ends with commitments, and the next one starts by reviewing them.
- Earned the ICF ACC credential (2026) on top of NLP Master Practitioner training and specialized ADHD and neurodiversity certifications.
- Built the practice's own CRM and client portal rather than renting one, then turned it into a commercial product: CoachTide.
Full-Stack Developer & Designer
Independent
Twenty-five years of design and web work, now focused on AI-assisted full-stack development. I ship production software solo at a scope that used to require a team, with my own architecture, standards, and review at every step.
- CoachTide (coachtide.com): multi-tenant practice-management SaaS. Booking pages, drag-and-drop client pipeline with automations, session prep and capture, invoicing with card, PayPal, and e-Transfer, automatic ICF hour tracking, secure client portal, group coaching cohorts, email campaigns, and a built-in AI assistant. Next.js and Supabase, a 100-plus table Postgres schema with row-level security throughout, Google Calendar two-way sync. One person, idea to private beta.
- jlh.ca (2025): this site. Custom block CMS with drag-to-reorder admin editing, an image crop and framing pipeline that bakes uploads to WebP, structured SEO data, and role-gated auth. No templates, no site builder, no agency.
- Design foundation: brand, layout, and typography roots going back to art school and two decades of graphic design work, which is why the software I build looks designed on purpose.
Board Member, Treasurer, Facilitator
Mankind Project of BC
Ten years on the board of a nonprofit men's development organization, eight as Treasurer, alongside regular leadership roles in experiential training weekends since 2012.
- Moved all financial record keeping from paper to a digital cloud system and rewrote the Chart of Accounts for accurate, redundancy-free reporting.
- Developed the food production protocol and culture for flagship events of up to 120 participants.
- Received the Manny-Allenby award for outstanding contribution. Over 5,000 volunteer hours.
Facilitator & Program Lead
YMAW - Young Men's Adventure Weekend
Volunteer leadership for a young men's wellness nonprofit: second-in-command program lead for the 2025 event, head chef and kitchen lead for events of up to 100 participants, over 600 volunteer hours.
Owner & General Manager
The Rock Cod Cafe
Fifteen years running a high-volume sustainable seafood restaurant taught me most of what I now coach and build: standards, staffing, cash flow, and keeping people for the long haul.
- Grew annual revenues to $1.5 million.
- Pioneered a 100% sustainable seafood menu in partnership with Ocean Wise, fully certified by 2015.
- Kept 15 staff members employed from 7 to 15 years, in an industry that measures tenure in months.
- Maintained an industry-leading WorkSafeBC risk rating with one or fewer incidents per year.
- Featured on Food Network's You Gotta Eat Here (episode aired 2012).
Operations & Project Management
CIVEO / Horizon North / PTI
Progressive management roles running turnkey camp and catering operations for up to 500 workers across 22 remote oil and gas sites.
- Developed cost-analysis and grocery ordering systems that cut waste and saved over $100,000 annually.
- Managed one of the company's first major Husky Energy contracts, groundwork for a multi-million dollar partnership.
- Played a key strategic planning role behind over $10 million in new investment in the Open Camp division.
- Designed and implemented the Detail Profile System for asset tracking across the Alberta and BC oilfields.
Education & Certifications
Associate Certified Coach (ACC)
2026
International Coaching Federation (ICF)
The ICF's globally recognized credential: verified client hours, a passed competency exam, and a code of ethics I am accountable to.
Leadership Training 3
2026
Mankind Project of Canada
Advanced group facilitation: direct feedback, conflict navigation and repair, leading through ambiguity.
Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Master Practitioner Certification
2024-2025
INLP Center
200 hours in behavior change and communication frameworks, including anchoring, reframing, and the Meta-Model.
Neurodiversity Coach Certification
2025
Naturalistico Executive Training
Strengths-based coaching for ADHD, autistic, and AuDHD clients: executive function, regulation, self-advocacy.
ADHD Coaching Certification
2025
Naturalistico Executive Training
Neuroscience-grounded ADHD coaching across the lifespan.
Unpacking Power, Privilege, and Difference
2025
Mankind Project USA
Eight-week intercultural competency program: allyship, intersectionality, inclusive practice.
Leadership Trainings 1 & 2
2016 - 2017
Mankind Project of Canada
Experiential training in building teams and facilitating accountable, emotionally safe group work.
Dale Carnegie Training
2003
Dale Carnegie
Communication, public speaking, and human relations.
Foundation Studies
1993-1994
Alberta University of the Arts
Studio fundamentals: drawing, 2D and 3D design, visual communication.
Core Competencies
Technical & Soft Skills
Building & Shipping
Operations
People
Have a finish line that needs an owner?
I take on coaching clients, contract builds, and the right full-time work. The first conversation is free and there is no script. Tell me what you are trying to get done, and I will tell you honestly whether I am the right person for it.