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Coaching Is A Very Personal Process 
and Every Coach Has Different Skills To Offer

In the 'New Normal' a coach can help you make the most of your experience

Reset your approach to get the work you need in the new Technological Age

Post-Covid, the ‘New Normal’ doesn’t favour those of us in a certain age bracket and with the government’s focus on employment and apprenticeships for the young, where should you focus your attention? If you’ve lost your ‘normal’ source of income and are seeing little prospect of finding reliable employment, as is clear for the majority of the post-50 age group, based on figures from the recruitment industry, we have to accept that there are difficult times a head for those who need a regular income. Pension funds are the obvious fall back position but this is not the solution when you know you’re valuable to many different organisations still operating in a wide range of market sectors and there are opportunities to serve their needs. 

You’ve been there and done it and have the technical skills to be a great asset to someone somewhere. But hold it right there. Most of the companies you might fit into like a hand in a glove aren’t employing anyone right now. Some have already decided they can manage with a smaller staff and others simply can’t afford more people on the payroll. And yet, they still need the work doing, so they’re looking for people they can rely on, people with the experience and the skills already in the can. They don’t want to take a chance on young wannabes and therein lies your opportunity. But instead of continuing to think like an employee, (as I say, the jobs aren’t there any longer) you need to change your mental approach and start thinking differently Yes, you need to be an entrepreneur, a freelancer, a temporary solution, a ‘go-to-guy’ for that service you know inside out and can deliver efficiently and reliably. The world of work still needs you but you’re going to have to shift your way of thinking. And for most of us, that’s not as easy as it sounds.

That’s where you may be best served by someone who has also ‘been there and done it’ and has come to terms with being past the point of employability but knows the ins and outs of resetting the mind to see possibilities and potential. In normal times, you’d register with a recruitment agency and they would interview you and help find a suitable position. What they don’t seem to recognise is that the world HAS changed (many actively deny this to encourage more people to sign up with them) and this new world requires a new approach to finding work - not employment, but WORK. The difference is clear but the approaches are not so clearly understood by traditional recruitment companies. Some call themselves ‘work coaches’ but, rather than helping you find YOUR ideal position they are simply plugging holes with people who fit a specific criteria for their clients which is not helpful to you. And the positions just aren’t there any longer. You need to spend time with a work coach who will see you as an individual and, rather than hone you for ONE job (which may not even exist now), will help you work towards providing your skills to several ‘clients’ (not employers) who all need something you have. This is all about developing a new approach to work, changing the way you think about work (and life in general) and establishing a mindset that serves YOU first and foremost.

What kind of coach can help you best?

Many coaches offer a general approach to supporting their clients whilst others are much more specialised in the areas of expertise they have developed through experience as well as through organised courses. My main interests (and experience) are in communication, technology, education and psychology - I define myself as a mindset coach because this is where all our decisions are made - how we think is more important than what we think and when we need to change our thinking it’s important to understand where we are coming from - our starting point from which we can set out on our journey together. 

There is no one ‘ideal’ coach for anyone; everyone has to find the right relationship that works for them and meets their expectations. In your position (and I know, I’ve been there and taken jobs that just weren’t right for me) it is vital not to panic, but to plan ahead to a time when you will have enough income to maintain your lifestyle (and cut back in the interim if necessary) by branding yourself, putting yourself ‘out there’ and being seen as a specialist in your field. There will be enough clients out there. You just need to pitch yourself to them but first you need to find them. Or rather, you need to find yourself first!

You can’t just start finding new clients in conventional ways - some of those ‘ways’ have fallen by the wayside. Things have moved on while you’ve been gainfully employed and the world of work and finding work has changed. There are new methods at your disposal that can work to your advantage and help you find the right clients, rather than just any clients. You may feel that desperate times call for desperate measures, but the desperate tend to repeat their mistakes over and over again. Take a breath. Organise yourself. Look at your skill set and start listing the kind of clients you WANT to work for - just don’t think about positions in a company. ANY work may sound better than none and I’m not saying don’t do work that doesn’t pay a realistic rate (because sometimes it’s a good way to get your foot in the door) but you need to be clear with yourself as much as with the client that your own value cannot be comprised - that slippery slope can become very steep, very quickly; I KNOW this from painful experience and will do everything I can to prevent you under-valuing yourself.

Same Old Methods, Same Old Results

Or, to paraphrase the old saying, ‘Why would anyone think that doing the same old thing will produce a different result?’ Everyone recognises that some things don’t work, but few try to effect change in their thinking in order to achieve a particular goal. It is important to address the mindset that things will get back to normal. I’m telling you right now in black and white; They WON’T! The changes going on this year have been brought about as a result of erroneous belief (on the part of everyone of us) in a system that has been on the edge of faltering since the mid-eighties and has been propped up time and again (the banking collapse being the most recent) by successive governments who haven’t got the will or the sense to recognise the futility of the perpetual growth economic model we have relied on since the world wars - this IS a worldwide resetting of things and if we continue as we were, this will happen again and again. It’s not within my power to convince our leaders of the errors of their ways, but I can help my clients adopt a new approach to THEIR businesses to cope with what may lie ahead. It starts with a change of mind and if you can accommodate that then the world is still your oyster and there are pearls-a-plenty if you know where (and how) to look for them. Your future is in your hands and not some employer who may be being forced by circumstances to adopt a much more ruthless approach to employment. 

Your first question that you need to answer is; WHY do you do what you do and why should anyone choose you over someone else providing a similar service. We shall discuss these subjects from the outset should you decide to open a dialogue with me about improving your prospects for a successful and fulfilling future.

I hope you recognise that there is an alternative to being employed in order to make good use of your skills and that, with help, you can change your approach to using those skills to generate a satisfactory income and a satisfying work:life balance.  Together we can make that change as productive as possible.


Ships are safest in the harbour, but they are designed to sail the seas.


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What can you expect from a coach like me?

First and foremost, I’m here to support you on a one-to-one basis whether that be in terms of personal growth or professional development - the two go hand-in-hand. Forty years of working with (mainly) independently owned and managed businesses has given me an excellent grounding in both fundamental business acumen and more nuanced personal development, helping people find their focus, reassess their objectives or branch out into areas they may never have contemplated previously - and in today’s ever-shifting economic, commercial and industrial landscape, there’s a lot of that going on at both the personal and professional level. I can help you answer many of the inevitable questions by exploring and refining them to the core criteria and then using your own answers to navigate through the choppy waters to reach your destination.

A designer, by training, I became more of a marketing and advertising practitioner during the eighties when clients began asking questions I hadn’t really considered as a young creative and this inspired me to take courses in business management, coaching and psychology. As a natural philosopher and having an enquiring mind, it was inevitable that I began questioning the questioners in an attempt to discover what they really meant when they talked about finding a better work-life balance or looking for something more purposeful in their work. For most people, it all came down to a simpler question, albeit a much more profound one; what do I really want from my life?

I’ve asked the same kinds of questions and found some (but not all) of the answers, which, for each of us, can be very different. To help you discover YOUR answers, I will engage with you in a confidential conversation that will produce answers from a series of challenges that I have myself worked through in order to discover whether i was even asking the right questions, leading to an understanding of why they needed to be asked and what I could do to make the most of the answers. In short, I am your sounding board, your listening ear and your monkey on the shoulder, ready to challenge, support and direct you towards your own solutions. I DON’T have all the answers, but I CAN help you find yours more easily (by learning more) than trying to go-it-alone - all you have to do is ASK - “Always Seek Knowledge” because decisions made with knowledge can enrich you; decisions made by guesswork can impoverish you.

I’m a designer, I think visually - I like to ‘picture’ a situation - and process problems creatively, often finding different approaches to problems, but I’m also pragmatic and I know we all need more than just helpful words. We need supporting mechanisms, practical plans and accountability in order to make the kind of progress necessary to effect change. That’s where I can provide the kind of support you won’t commonly find amongst your fellow business counterparts - They’re all going through THEIR issues and you cannot assume they relate to your own. You NEED a stand-alone ‘professional friend’ to help you find the right path on your particular journey. Where I do not feel I have the necessary skills or information (and no one knows everything), I will introduce you to fellow professionals with whom I have worked to provide specific advice and support. You may well need more than just one voice to help you make the right decisions for your particular situation and with forty years of connections to draw on, I can help you short-cut that process.

I’m a disruptor, in that, whilst we all have to operate within the socially-accepted system (whether we like the system or not), I try not to follow the norms or accept things at face value - I question EVERYTHING and you should be ready for this. If you’re not, I’ll help you get ready and find the responses that will help you grow because if you follow the herd you may find that you cannot grow beyond the accepted norms! I offer a whole raft of insights into the way others have reached their objectives, some of which will be extremely valuable to your situation - and they are not all success stories, that would be too easy. Most successful people have gone through troughs as well as peaks and learnt lessons and become resilient along the way. I have my own ‘counsellors’ who I use to challenge me on how to best help you - making sure I’m accountable to them! No accountability usually means no progress. YOU want to achieve your objectives; you want to be successful; you want to look back and know that you made the right decisions. You will be more successful if you have someone you can be accountable to. I will not rest until you are successful, and even then I’ll keep pushing, supporting and encouraging you as much as you need.

I’m a neurology ‘nut’ - keenly interested in the way the human brain works and have spent a great deal of time researching neurology and finding out how we can ‘help it along’. Our brains are far more powerful than we are taught and we can train them to be even better. In my explorations I have discovered a relatively new area of neurological technology which I have benefited from myself and which promises to be a significant breakthrough in how people treat their own physical and mental issues. I am making this a focus of my work going forward as I know it will help anyone I work with in many different ways. For example; it will help you develop clarity of thought, improve your decision-making and boost both physical and mental energy (as well as alleviating pain for those with chronic conditions). It really has the potential to help millions of people in different ways and I can offer a personal guarantee that despite any scepticism you may have (as I did myself initially), you will find it as impressive and effective as I have myself. I recommend you consider using this technology to sharpen your mind, reduce anxiety and help improve many aspects of your life and of those you love. 


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Neurology - A Quiet Revolution

Your brain is far more powerful than you think. So powerful, you don't even HAVE to think....

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The Plastic Brain

Your brain can learn new things and you can develop it to increase your chances of success in work and life. 

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Optimise Your Mindset

Your mindset dictates how you operate in the world and whether you can be as successful as you might like.

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What's Stopping You?

Is the way you think stopping you reaching your goals? You might be surprised to learn that you can change how you think.

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A Personal Approach to Coaching

Working with a coach is a one-to-one relationship that can help you become a better, more successful you.

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It's A Technological World

Effective use of technology is one of the key ways of achieving your goals in any business

More articles will appear here from time to time so pop back soon or contact me to let me know what you might be interested in reading about. 
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Phone: 07771 914216