Individuals normally approach a life or personal coach because they seek help in tackling a particular issue, or have a more general feeling that things are not as they should be and want to make a change.

Areas where life or personal coaches often work include: 

  • Relationships at home, at work, or both
  • Communication
  • Change and transition
  • Professional development
  • Balance
  • Personal development/growth
  • Overwhelm/not enough time
  • Desire for greater fulfilment and satisfaction.

Some of the earlier coaching sessions will help clarify what the key issues are for the coachee. Different coaches will have different approaches. Some will use a specific set of models and tools where others will be more free-ranging. But whatever the reason for hiring a coach, you can be sure that the focus will not be on what is ‘wrong' but on what you can do to make it ‘right'. 

Nikki's Story

My very first client, Nikki, came to me feeling very frustrated and wanting to make major changes in her life. As the manager and fitness instructor of a busy gym she felt that she was putting in long hours for not much reward. Nikki desperately wanted to get her own personal training business up and running, but was finding it difficult to make meaningful progress given her time commitments at work and at home.

The first thing we did was for Nikki to define her short- and medium-term goals: to keep a regular income stream in the immediate, while reducing her job to part-time hours to allow her to work on her business. The timeframe for this second goal was three months.

Next we looked at what would have to change between ‘now’ and ‘then’ to allow Nikki to fulfil these objectives. This allowed Nikki to come up with a plan for getting there, that was realistic and achievable without leaving her with no time to herself. We also addressed some work-life balance issues to ensure she didn’t burn out, and established some ways she could reward herself for the effort she was putting in. This way, Nikki was able to keep herself motivated to do what she needed to do, because she could see that she was making progress and it never became an all-consuming chore.

Using her spare time more efficiently and teaching classes at the weekend helped raise her profile and start bringing in extra money. She hit on the idea of promoting herself on social networking sites and so instead of simply using Facebook to chat, she started to treat it more like a shop window for her business. Once she was challenged to think about exactly how she was going to do it and by when, the ideas and enthusiasm just poured out of her – in fact it was more a case of reining her in from time to time rather than having to push her forward. At the end of three months, Nikki cut her job at the gym down to ten hours per week – a big cut in salary. However, the work she had done in the meantime meant that she had enough business coming in to make up the shortfall.

And now? Nikki is 100% self-employed and her business is gathering strength – she’s even thinking about taking someone on to teach the classes she can’t fit in! Her enthusiasm and willingness to innovate and try a variety of ways of reaching new customers are really paying off. What she didn’t have, in those early days, was someone to help her organise her approach and to offer a perspective on how realistic her plans were. And that’s where I came in and made a crucial difference. In Nikki’s own words:

“Dave has helped me focus on things and project more clearly, and I find I've been much more productive since starting coaching – and I don’t think I’d have had the guts to quit my full-time job in October and go freelance, without Dave’s support.”

That same support is there for you too; call me now for a FREE taster session and experience what coaching can do for you.

Andrew's Story

Working with Dave freed IT support consultant Andrew from his shackles and put him right in the driving seat of his life and career. As a franchisee for a national IT support network, Andrew had become frustrated at the lack of backup from the franchisor, while also feeling that their level of service to the customer had seriously declined. In short, he thought he could do a far better job on his own - unfortunately, fear of the unknown and a hectic schedule made it almost impossible for him to make the break. Andrew himself takes up the story:

"Dave has been working with me to help drive through a significant change in my business. Through Dave's coaching I have become more focussed, decisive, and I now feel that I am in control of the business, rather than the business controlling me. When we started the coaching I just felt swamped, there was so much to do. Now I can see clearly what needs to be done and I know what the priorities are.

"Taking time out of the business for the coaching sessions has helped me to focus on particular areas that required attention. With Dave asking questions in the right way I was able to work through a problem and come up with either a solution or know where to go for that solution. Dave's use of examples helped the thought juices flow when my ideas had dried up. I am amazed how much we were able to achieve in a 30- or 45-minute session, and I am now well on the way to completing the changes in my business.

"I have found that my confidence has increased, I am more decisive and Dave has helped me out of the business swamp and onto solid foundations. I have no hesitation in recommending Dave and WY-Coaching to anyone who needs help with decision-making in their business and personal life."

In addition to all of the above, Andrew also says that he is simply happier than he was at the start of our coaching relationship; above all he craved control over his life and that is exactly what he achieved through working with me.