A Listening Life

I’ve been following the progress of Toby Mildon since before he took the plunge and started to build his diversity and inclusion consultancy in 2019. Prior to that he held roles at the BBC and Deloitte, so it was fascinating to follow his journey. Speaking to him recently though, I learned so much more about the complexity of his choices. Toby talks in the podcast about the scripts, fears and expectations that added so many layers to his decision to leave the big successful roles. 

Toby trained as a coach and used his coaching in his employed roles. Initially he found it difficult to establish a commercially sound business based on this generalised coaching approach alone, and decided to niche down further as a Diversity and Inclusion Architect. Since then, he has never looked back.

Toby is now a key note speaker, an author and a consultant who works with businesses to devise diversity and inclusion strategies. I felt so privileged to hear the story directly from Toby and hope we share lots of practical tips and ideas that anyone starting a consultancy can lift and use.

Read more about Toby here - https://www.mildon.co.uk/

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Jo Wright is co-founder and CEO of Coaching Culture, based in the UK. Helping organisations build a coaching culture is her mission and passion.

She knew early on in her career as a coach that she wanted to go big: to spread the benefit of coaching to more people more quickly. Hearing her describe the way this purpose has informed and inspired her business creation, is fascinating, and I hope really helpful to anyone thinking about their own coaching business. 

How can we let our passions really flow, to the extent that they help us form our business structure and purpose? Jo was always going to need a team, to achieve what she had in mind. She’s not a solo freelance coach, she’s a CEO, and this is great reflection for others. What are you trying to cause?

Jo now spends much of her time public speaking about the benefits of coaching and interviewing industry leaders for the Coaching Culture magazine and podcast series. I’m so grateful for Jo’s generosity with her time, and am delighted to share our conversation. Enoy!

 Find out more about Jo Wright here - https://www.jowright.com/

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I’m delighted to share my conversation with Obi Abuchi who is the CEO of CORE Leaders International and author of Leading from Your Core. He is an NLP Practitioner, resilience coach, and a transformational speaker.

Obi talks in his upbeat style, about the path he’s taken from solo coach: evangelical about the wonders of coaching (but with a coaching practice that was sparse for clients..) to a successful business owner who communicates values and mastery in ways that mean people can understand what he does, and the value of working with him.

Obi has written several books, but the latest, Leading From Your Core was written in a way that purposely serves his business growth. Clients can work alone with the book, or engage with Obi inside their business. Interesting and helpful for any coach who’s growing a practice, to hear Obi's story and ponder on what they can learn from his process of writing that book. His step back into employment to hone the craft of consulting, before relaunching, is food for thought for anyone struggling to get their balance in freelancing.

Obi has coached, trained, and worked with leaders in corporate giants like Shell, Deutsche Post DHL, and Tesco. He says he uses his research to help leaders develop a stronger connection to their core, so they can "lead powerfully from the inside out".

We hope you gain lots from this conversation. Inspiration, ideas and practical examples that you can try out in your own coaching business.

Introducing the fabulous Obi Abuchi.

You can follow more on Obi here - https://www.obiabuchi.com/

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I’m pleased to share my conversation with fellow Executive Coach Ginny Baillie. She’s one of Europe’s first Master Certified Coaches. With over 20 years’ experience as a full-time, qualified, professional coach and culture consultant, Ginny has coached over 2000 individuals, designed over 500 coaching programmes and mentored over 100 coaches. She’s played with having several business structures, from freelance solo, to early tech platforms and learned stacks of lessons on the way.

With a background in property and stockbroking Ginny always gives us a masterclass in authenticity, with a forthright and clear style which I appreciate so much. She talks straight; says things as they are. “You need to love the business of coaching as much as you love coaching” she says, as she generously shares experiences, tips and things to avoid.

Ginny tells the story of a business she grew with a friend, full of ideas and excitement – only to find it wasn’t actually cracking the market, and needed to stop. And she has some rich advice for coaches feeling lost for what to do next.

Ginny is a seasoned coach with a client base that spans pharma, finance, logistics ,tech, publishing, media, health and education and she now leads Drum, which brings groups of leaders together in collaborative coaching conversations. We hope our chat sparks some new thoughts for you in your coaching business. Please rate and subscribe to the podcast, to help more coaches find us too.

You can read more about Ginnie through her website - https://www.coachingfederation.org.uk/

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Pete Mosley is a postgraduate-qualified Coach and Coach Tutor whom I’ve known and admired for years. He’s the author of the wonderful books The Art of Shouting Quietly (2015) and A Quiet Person's Guide to Life & Work (2022).

Pete is someone who really walks the talk in finding his own strengths, purpose and sweet spots, and then building “a listening life” out of those. He combines his creativity with his coaching at every opportunity, and so has a reputation for doing authentic work of integrity. 

Pete chats with me about what it’s like to work with great clarity (including a specialist niche with personal significance) and how to gently test small ideas before putting great effort and budget behind them. 

Pete says his books are “aimed at those who are quiet themselves or who know quiet people, love them, and/or work with or manage them”. He identifies as a quiet person, here to support others that identify as quiet. He is an advocate for quiet inclusion and runs workshops to bring quiet people and those who lead/manage them into alignment. You can purchase Pete's books here - https://www.petemosley.com/shop-1

By noticing that there are so many people who tick (quietly) just like he does, Pete has been able to offer coaching services that are specialist and tailored; both to individuals and to their places of work. His insights are useful to any coach who’s thinking about their own speciality and unique offer for clients. 

I hope you enjoy this podcast and get lots of tips from Pete’s wisdom and warmth.

With my best,

Aly

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A welcome to the podcast from creator Aly King-Smith who describes why she felt compelled to create A Listening Life, as she heads into her fifties, and her ninth year of self-employment. Time to start passing it on.

If you’re feeling worn out building your coaching business, or you’re starting to think you should return to employment, this podcast was created just for you.

Many coaches enjoy helping more than they like selling. Making friends with some of the skills of ethical selling, marketing and account development can feel like a big stretch.

Aly King-Smith is an Executive Coach and finally, a successful business owner with a background in sales. After many years of scrambling to find the confidence and skills to build a coaching business that is commercially sound, she's finally enjoying the process having learned some lessons along the way, that may be helpful to others.

In this podcast she invites successful peers, colleagues, friends and competitors to spill the beans on their top tips to a sustainable income from coaching.

Please follow the show - we hope you really find lots of gems and helpful tips to run your coaching practice.

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