Give, Give, Give and Then You’ll Receive

My first training at TCI was the intake weekend of January 2014. I was so excited it was impossible to be nervous, but it’s funny, I quickly realised I was holding back - at what many would call a self-development program

Nick KnowlesCredentialed Master Practitioner of Coaching

I caught myself out, and pushed some limits. I made it my mission to talk to as many people and introduce and link as many of the people as I could together. I was a little afraid I’d run into a HUGE bunch of homogenous, middle-aged new-age crazies, but instead, I ran into a like-minded group of people ranging in culture, beliefs, and age!

I came to TCI while finishing off my psychology degree, and teaching martial arts as well. While I love uni and I am a bookworm, I disliked the fact I did absolutely no practical work, even in my final year of a psychology degree. I also was passionate about my part-time instructor job, however, in all jobs, I’ve found I disliked one of three things: the work, the clients, or the boss… and by extension, the money. At my job, I connected well with the kids, I enjoyed the work, and though my boss and I butted heads, I liked the environment. But few hours meant even as a well-paid position, I earned a third of the money my friends did.

This next bit is hard to put down on paper, because I really don’t like to be center-stage. However:

“On the first day of the intake, I completed a pro bono session. On the last, I had been paid for my first paid session with a client.”

Nick KnowlesCredentialed Master Practitioner of Coaching

Within two days of finishing the intake weekend, I had been offered a place at a night at my old highschool, to talk to VCE students finishing their secondary education, and their parents. My evil plan involves (other than world domination) using some material from intake weekend – gasp – and edit it slightly towards VCE students considering their post-school pathways. I’ve managed to get a solid client base now and have locked in my first paid workshop!

My coaching business is called “Atlas Life Coaching” and I’m currently doing general one-on-ones and group presentations. It was hard for me to find a name, and I felt like whenever I received a tip, I heard the opposite to that same tip within the day. So I chose something symbolic – I’m a big fan of symbols – and something that held personal significance. The object, an “atlas”, is a collection of maps.

In architecture, it is a male statue that is used as a pillar of support. It really spoke to me and it wasn’t yet registered as a business name, so I jumped on it immediately.

My vision – my why – stretches into the next five years. My first real home in Australia was on a vineyard farm. It was where a lot of key experiences and growth happened for me as a child. I really attribute it to a place of belonging, legacy, and home – however, it was lost to my family because my dad, 30 years old and financially stable, tried to escape the 9-5 by creating his own wine business. But traveling an hour in, an hour back, to a job you hate, 9-5, and then getting home to a wife and 3 very young children, only to work and toil on a vineyard – it was all too much. One day, and I am CERTAIN, I will give my parents back that dream, and retire them. TCI has given me a vehicle to the future that I CHOOSE.

What I attribute most to my success – and it’s still early days – is getting over myself and my drive for ‘getting’ things. If you refer other people pro bonos, they remember you when that friend of theirs that they cannot coach needs a life coach. If you just have an acquaintance who opens up to you about their family, their job, their friends, you don’t even need to speak. Not many people have listening ears pointed at them, and funnily enough, you come to be seen as a good ‘talker’. The referrals is where the activity is! So give, give, give, and THEN, you’ll receive. The last thing to impress into anyone reading – LINE UP WORK mercilessly with yourself, and just work out how. Don’t hold back!

Nick KnowlesCredentialed Master Practitioner of Coaching