Yes, all you need to do King is examine your own games. Also, I would advise not playing quick games. Play 15 min to 30min games and examine why you lost. The name of the game is to see which errors, especially game-losing errors, you make and eliminate them from your game. Hope that helps.
Chess coaches?
Hey @mjharris, I noticed you have a diamond. That means you have access to videos here on chess.com. If book work isn't your thing, maybe try watching some videos, see how that goes. I know some will say it's too passive, but until you can afford a coach, it may be a good substitute.
I started with the chess.com video study plan. You can find it here:
https://www.chess.com/videos/study-plan
You can also click on videos in the main menu, and then on your right there will be a link to the study plan.
There are 30 videos in the list. But some are sort of gateways, part 1 of a series of 4 or whatever (you'll see what I mean). The plan covers all the basics and then openings, tactics, strategy, endgames, and finally looks at some GM games. Some of the videos are longer than others, but I watched one a day and got through the whole plan in a month.
Just an idea, as you are already paying for the access. Good luck with whatever you decide, and good luck with your chess journey.
If you learn better by being motivated by others, then get some teacher, someone stronger than your rating but not too strong. However, there is a lot you can do for yourself by looking at your own games. A coach or teacher or grandmaster will all say the same thing: do not hang your pieces; do not move onto unsafe squares; do not undefend pieces and pawns. Defend against mate in one. But you can do this yourself, just by looking at your games. What other mistakes can you spot without any teacher. Once you can do this for yourself, you are ready to benefit from any teacher. Hope that helps.
Weird question but what exactly do chess coaches do to help their students? Obviously it's a lot different teaching a newcomer than someone like me who is about 1100, to a grand master. So each lesson needs to cater to the student. I'm just kind of curious as to what I'd expect as an advanced beginner (is that correct)? Chess doesn't seem to me like teaching maths or similar, there's not a syllabus exactly, or is there? And how effective is it to learn via Skype over in person like a private tutor?
Are you talking about me?