What has led you to coaching?
I was in the right place at the right time.
When I was on holiday in Brazil in 2017, I was feeling really frustrated to come back to London to the same unfulfilling job I had at the time. I was lacking motivation and direction. I found a leaflet in the letterbox about coaching and I decided to try it out. It caused a massive impact in my life as I realised that I had to take ownership of my situation instead of blaming my circumstances.
Since then, I am a different person. I focus on the solution and take action.
In 2018, I’ve received an invitation by email to attend The Coaching Academy's Introduction to Life Coaching course, I registered there and then. I absolutely loved the course and wanted to learn more. During the 2 days, I realised that coaching offered everything I wanted as a career. Fortunately, I found the career I was longing for for so many years.
"My relationship with family and friends have improved because now I am a better listener and don’t give advice."
Most people become a coach to change the lives of others… How has coaching benefited your own life?
Coaching helped me become a much more confident person and now I love myself more than ever. I had a mindset shift and became aware of my limiting beliefs and how to eliminate them.
I feel empowered and confident to make hard decisions. I learned the importance of self-care and how to set firmer boundaries.
Even though I recognise myself as a doer, I lacked a vision for my future. I was drifting into different things and not getting anywhere. I’ve learned how to create a plan, set goals, keep track of them and celebrate when I reach milestones.
My relationship with family and friends have improved because now I am a better listener and don’t give advice.
How did the qualification slot in with your busy life?
I’ve always been very good with self-studying and deadlines. However, with TCA you study at your own pace and you don’t have deadlines. So, I have set a deadline for myself to complete the course within 18 months. This way I had a date to focus on.
I created an Excel template that helped me visualise how many books to read, how many assessments and sessions to complete a month. I allocated time to do the work and revised the spreadsheet every week. This was very important, so I could keep track of my progress and that motivated me.
I’ve finished the PPD training within 12 months and coached more than 100 hours during that period.
"I am passionate about helping women restore their self-confidence, re-claim their identity and reconnect with their true selves"
What was the most rewarding part of your Coaching journey?
It is difficult to pinpoint the most rewarding part; as there were so many. Improving my listening skills was very rewarding. I thought I was a good listener until I learned through the course what a good listener actually is.
I was far from that, but with practice, I am proud to say that now, when I am talking to someone I can focus 100% on what they are saying (not saying). The other rewarding experience is to have met so many like-minded people and befriend some of them.
Tell us about the work you do! How are you using your coaching skills?
As a confidence and empowerment coach, I work with women who have reached crossroads in their midlife and are feeling frustrated or lacking a vision to the next stage in their lives. I am passionate about helping women restore their self-confidence, re-claim their identity and reconnect with their true selves. I help my clients to gain clarity of what they really want, not what is expected from them.
I bring a combination of life-coaching skills with NLP and Hypnosis techniques to help my clients let go of self-limiting beliefs and self-sabotaging behaviours that are holding them back so they can transform their lives.
I run workshops: “increase your confidence – be a happier you”, one-on-one coaching programmes and now that the lockdown is coming to an end I will be delivering live workshops on goal setting, confidence and performance.
What’s the biggest area in coaching you are curious about and why?
The area in coaching that most excites me is the fact that you can solve so many personal conflicts in a relatively short time. From the beginning, you are the captain of your ship. You are not told what do to; instead, you have someone guiding you to find your own solutions. This is very empowering. Also, the techniques and skills you’ve learned when being coached can be applied to all areas of your life. A coach does not create dependency but helps people find ways to find their own answers and solutions. This fascinates me.
What advice would you give someone wanting to pursue a life coaching career?
If you feel compelled to pursue a career as a life coach, just do it. It’s very rewarding and you will learn so much about yourself as well as how to guide other people to achieve their success.
It is so worthwhile to witness the transformation you help create in other people’s lives. Even during a session when someone come feeling stressed and low and they leave feeling uplifted and full of motivation to take action. It is an amazing feeling.
What are the best resources that have helped you along your coach training?
I love reading and this was an invaluable resource through my training. Of course, the best way to learn something is to put it into practice. So, the more you coach the better coach you will become.
The TCA mentors helped when I need some clarification and it is invaluable to connect with some colleagues who are on the same path; so you can motivate and collaborate with each other.
Would you like to have a coaching business you can run from the comfort of your own home? The free Introduction to Life Coaching training sessions are available for you to join. They are interactive, informative and designed to help you understand if training to be a life coach is for you.
Take positive action, project forward and plan for a year to remember for all the right reasons. Choose from available dates here.
The Coaching Academy was established in 1999, and is now the world's largest coaching school.
In that time we have trained over 14,000 people to become life coaches.
We are accredited by the International Coach Federation and the Association for Coaching, and we're rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot.
