Coalface Stories

Permjeet Kainth was a quiet lad at school in Nottingham. Today, he is comfortable starting a conversation almost anywhere.

In this 60 for 60 conversation with Ian Wilson, the founder of Rough Diamond looks back at how that confidence developed and how helping people make connections eventually became a business. Stories from his salon, a wine recommendation and an encounter with a persistent salesman bring his approach to relationships into focus.

They explore trust, empathy, the boundaries around giving away ideas and why personal contact still matters alongside AI. Permjeet also reflects on marriage, family and the people who supported him through difficult times.

Content note: Contains occasional strong language and personal discussion of bereavement, depression and suicide.

Episode Highlights

• 00:30 Introduction
• 01:02 Who is Permjeet today?
• 01:56 What do you most enjoy about networking?
• 03:57 Young Permjeet
• 05:49 What did you think you'd be doing?
• 06:33 Where did your ability to connect come from?
• 07:53 Relationships vs transactions
• 12:02 What do people get wrong with networking?
• 12:40 Can relationship building be taught?
• 15:03 Overlooking opportunities in your network?
• 15:35 Are people overcomplicating business growth?
• 17:09 Commoditized industries
• 18:32 What makes someone memorable?
• 19:45 Why do people find selling uncomfortable?
• 25:12 Can selling and integrity coexist?
• 25:30 Lessons about human nature
• 27:26 What surprises you about human nature?
• 30:38 How has networking changed?
• 32:58 Has technology helped networking?
• 35:07 Human connection in an AI world
• 38:45 Will trust become more valuable?
• 40:43 Relationship lessons you wish you'd known
• 41:43 Was that a hard lesson to learn?
• 43:57 Advice for young Permjeet
• 44:59 One lesson everyone should know
• 45:32 Quick Fire Questions
• 45:45 Quick Fire: Your Superpower
• 46:21 Quick Fire: Three People from History
• 46:50 Quick Fire: The Conversation
• 47:13 Quick Fire: The Menu
• 47:37 Quick Fire: Changed Your Mind
• 48:29 Quick Fire: Biggest Impact Habit
• 49:39 Quick Fire: Most Grateful For
• 50:45 Quick Fire: Question Never Asked
• 50:55 Quick Fire: The Answer
• 52:04 What would your legacy be?
• 52:22 What does working the coalface mean?
• 53:05 How can listeners connect with you?

Connect with Permjeet
Rough Diamond: https://roughdiamond.biz/
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/permjeetkainth

Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a child, Anida Westlake remembers a time of glass syringes, rigid routines and language built around what she could not do. What began as fear and restriction gradually became knowledge, choice and personal power.

Anida joins Ian Wilson to share the story of her diagnosis, explain Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes in accessible terms, and explore why health cannot be reduced to weight, calories or a quick fix. She also discusses sustainable lifestyle change, processed food, the marketing surrounding protein and the different roles of medical treatment and day-to-day support.

The conversation returns repeatedly to a simple principle: people need useful knowledge and realistic choices that work within their own lives.

### Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:16 Turning a sense of lack into personal power

00:02:35 Helping people find success on their own terms

00:07:04 Moving from fear and powerlessness towards hope

00:09:13 Young Anida and a life-changing diagnosis

00:25:25 Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes explained

00:31:14 How modern life has changed the way we eat

00:38:02 The global rise in Type 2 diabetes

00:41:04 Weight-loss injections and lasting lifestyle change

00:44:33 Challenging the myths surrounding diabetes

00:48:18 The different roles of doctors, dieticians and lifestyle support

00:51:36 Looking beyond calories to understand food

00:56:18 What is really inside processed food?

00:58:47 The truth behind the marketing of protein

01:01:51 Balancing your health hat and your sugar hat

01:04:50 What Anida learnt from her grandmother

01:09:59 Writing Disrupting Diabetes

01:12:44 Quick-fire questions

01:16:36 What would a cure for Type 1 really mean?

01:18:20 What does working at the coalface mean to Anida?

01:19:59 How to connect with Anida

### Where to find Anida

Website: https://alwhealth.com/

Navigating Diabetes Pitfalls: https://navigatingdiabetespitfalls.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anida-westlake-66ba53b/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anidawestlake_healthychoices/

Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/diabeteswellnessthriveandprevent

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Disrupting-Diabetes-Prevention-Reversal-Beyond/dp/B0DHCL5V3N

Business coach, mentor and advanced Meta ads strategist Gwen Baird has spent more than 20 years helping business owners find clarity and create businesses that fit the lives they want to lead. Her own path to that work, however, was shaped by family, devastating loss, serious illness and a determination to keep choosing what came next.

Gwen talks with Ian about the childhood ambition dismissed by a careers officer, the freedom she found working for herself, and how a diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy brought her travelling sales career to an end. She explains how discovering social media opened another path, eventually leading her from social media management into business coaching and Meta ads.

Along the way, Gwen shares direct advice about asking for the sale, finding the real reason behind a business, creating a practical 90-day plan and implementing what you learn. She also challenges the idea that marketing begins and ends with social media—and explains why a business should be built around your health, energy and needs.

### Chapters

00:01:05 Who is Gwen today?

00:04:54 Young Gwen

00:08:09 Childhood dreams

00:09:59 Entrepreneurial nature

00:13:05 What is law accountancy?

00:15:21 Becoming a business coach

00:24:45 Who does Gwen help?

00:25:16 Why Gwen resonates with her audience

00:26:09 Common client struggles

00:40:01 What clients think their problem is

00:42:06 Are people surprised by this?

00:44:09 Mindset vs marketing

00:45:26 Marketing themselves consistently

00:49:46 Common marketing mistakes

00:52:50 Why business feels complicated

00:53:55 What separates success from stagnation

00:54:54 Advice to her younger self

00:56:37 One lesson everyone should know

00:57:15 What life has been teaching her

00:57:32 Quick fire questions

00:57:43 Superpower question

00:58:19 Dinner with three historical figures

01:00:00 What's on the menu

01:00:50 Changed her mind about

01:01:06 Most impactful habit

01:02:07 Common misconceptions about her

01:02:51 What she's most grateful for

01:03:27 Question she wishes she'd been asked

01:04:07 How she wants to be remembered

01:05:07 Meaning of working at the coalface

### Connect with Gwen

Website: https://gwenbaird.com/

The Align Method with Gwen: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thealignmethodwithgwen

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/G.I.Baird/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gwenbairdonline/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gwenbaird/

Paraag Amin spent much of his life moving from one goal to the next. Academic achievement led to investment banking, senior leadership and the appearance of success—but the feelings he expected to come with those milestones gradually disappeared.

In this episode of Coalface Stories: 60 for 60, Paraag talks about growing up as the mature child who felt he had to work harder, the pressure to follow a secure and successful path, and the personal cost of losing himself in work and expectation.

A health crisis on his 40th birthday became a wake-up call. Paraag began rebuilding his life around freedom, peace, connection and choice. He and Ian discuss why people can outgrow the lives they created, how work becomes an escape nobody questions, why freedom needs structure and what it means to live without masks.

The conversation also turns to AI, human connection and the need to protect our humanity in a rapidly changing world.

00:00 Coalface Stories - 60 for 60 Series: Paraag Amin

00:30 Intro & Welcome

01:00 Who Are You Today?

08:13 Childhood

14:49 Career in Business & Finance

20:50 Defining Moments in Banking Career

30:45 Turning Point & Escaping the Corporate World

53:36 Helping Others Escape the Programming

57:43 Quick Fire Round

01:03:23 Working at the Coalface

01:05:18 Closing & Where to Find Paraag

Website: https://alifethatfits.today

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/paraagamin/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_paraag/

What if the book that changes your life is not the one you read, but the one you write?

Jonathan Clark is a bestselling author coach and small business marketing adviser whose career has taken him from NLP and hypnotherapy to training, digital marketing and helping experts turn their knowledge into books.

In this open and energetic conversation, Jonathan talks about growing up shy, introverted and frightened of people; discovering confidence through martial arts and personal development; and building a career around helping people solve problems.

He explains how he uses AI to research books without allowing it to replace the author’s voice, why the 2008 recession forced him to reinvent himself, and how the loss of an early publishing venture became fuel rather than a reason to stop.

Jonathan also explores what people misunderstand about success, why action matters more than promises, and why meaningful relationships and good health matter as much as money.

Chapters / Highlights

• 00:00 CFS- 60 for 60 -Jonathan Clark
• 02:02 Who is Jonathan Clark today?
• 12:34 Tell us a little bit about young Jonathan. What sort of kid were you?
• 24:54 Reinventing the wheel vs. modelling success?
• 32:13 Toughest chapter in your business journey?
• 46:13 A client success story that makes you smile?
• 50:16 What do most people get wrong about success
• 51:56 Has your definition of success changed?
• 52:59 One lesson everyone should know?
• 54:55 Quick fire: superpower?
• 55:30 Quick fire: three people to dinner?
• 56:25 Quick fire: changed your mind about?
• 56:56 Quick fire: what people assume wrongly?
• 57:20 Quick fire: most grateful for?
• 57:45 Quick fire: unanswered question?
• 58:19 Quick fire: How do you want to be remembered
• 58:55 Quick fire: What does 'working at the coalface' mean to you?
• 59:56 How can people find you?

How to find and connect with Jonathan Clark

Fully Booked Thought Leaders: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fullybookedthoughtleaders/
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/thejonathanclark
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thejonathanclark/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejonathanclark/

What does working at the coalface mean to you?

It is the question at the heart of Coalface Stories — and one Ian Wilson has asked every guest taking part in the 60 for 60 series.

In this special pre-launch preview, the first guests offer their own interpretations. For some, it means showing up, getting their hands dirty and being close to the work. For others, it is about understanding people, facing the realities of life and choosing to live with purpose.

Different lives. Different perspectives. No single answer - but each one offers a glimpse of the conversations to come in Coalface Stories: 60 for 60.

Episode Highlights

• 00:00 Ian Wilson | Introduction
• 01:09 Jonathan Clark | Showing up and using your time well
• 01:52 Jonathan Clark | Getting your hands dirty and learning the work
• 02:20 Paraag Amin | Getting into the weeds and supporting others
• 02:56 Gwen Baird | Memories of a coal-mining family
• 03:20 Anida Westlake | The untold lives behind the coalface
• 04:13 Permjeet Kainth | Understanding people and helping them move forward
• 04:52 Anke Herrmann | Being in the thick of it
• 05:08 Melinda Abbott | Living the life that lights you up
• 05:59 Michael Laws | Working with the nuts and bolts of people’s lives
• 06:50 Bogna Zofia | Every person has a journey and a story
• 08:25 Margaret Sinclair | Being upfront, exposed and close to the action
• 08:41 Lianne Byrne | Meeting people where they are
• 09:05 Charlotte Elliott | Finding purpose beyond the graft

Our guest today on the Coal Face Stories Podcast, left his dream job, working with a great team of people he loved, making great money with great job security. In order to create his vision and start his own business at the sametime as moving his family to a new country. So it gives me […]

The post Marcus Murphy appeared first on Coal Face Stories.

Our special guest today Tony Vee, spent 30 years drifting along running the family business.

Before he had a life changing realisation that there was so much more to life.

The post Tony Vee appeared first on Coal Face Stories.

In today’s Coal Face Stories podcast we chat with digital nomad and online marketing expert Dylan Ogline. Who dropped out of high school and started his first business at the age of 14. Then, four years ago, he scrapped over 10 business projects and decided to focus on just one thing. Since then, Dylan has […]

The post Dylan Ogline appeared first on Coal Face Stories.

Alan Roberts is Author, Coach, speaker,mentor, charity fundraiser, was well as being an inspiration. He’s always looking at the bright side of life. He refuses to let the curve balls life throws his way, get him down. He just keeps getting back up and not just getting back up, but it keeps coming back stronger […]

The post Allan Roberts appeared first on Coal Face Stories.