Lucky to Be Shy…

I was lucky as a youngster, because I was very shy.

Too shy to open conversations easily - so I watched instead. I took note of the hesitation before someone speaks, what a pause really means, everything that's said without words... Without realising it I was learning to read people.

And when we finally did talk, we went deep, fast.

First Lessons in People

My paper round at eleven taught me about morning routines and expectations. Working in a bar taught me more, what people wanted, often before they'd said a word.

Then came the big one...

My first full-time job took me into people's private sanctuaries, installing and repairing their phones. Six or more homes a day, seeing how people actually lived from the inside.

Boy, did that teach me about people. It was an education and a half - far better than any university degree.

Africa Calling

Later, I drove overland from South Africa back to the UK - 6 months camping in the wilds every night. That was eye-opening in every way. Beyond understanding the people I met and how they overcame the challenges they faced, I discovered the true meaning of resilience and possibility.

2003

The Classroom Puzzle

I moved to the south of China to teach English, and something odd happened: I had the highest student retention rates, highest scores and exceptional engagement in every class, and I didn't fully understand why.

2012

The Penny Drops

I flew to London to study NLP with John Grinder, then to Amsterdam to study Ericksonian Conversational Hypnosis.

Suddenly, the penny dropped. Now I understood what I'd been doing all along, and that I could do it with intention.

It Was Always the Women

My private classes quietly turned into coaching sessions. And I noticed something: it was always the women who were the keenest.

Women in midlife, or approaching it, often carry questions their busy lives have never given them space to ask.

Their willingness to go deep and be honest with themselves (in a way the men rarely do) is why helping them find their answers became my work.

Solutions Within

And, when I saw smiles rise from their hearts to their faces as they discovered the solutions they already held, I knew this was what I was supposed to be doing.

Not long afterwards, I started my coaching practice full-time and I've been helping women find answers they didn't know they had ever since.