2000-2008

I didn’t have much money while growing up. So from the age of 14, through school and university, I worked many part-time jobs. I was a: pot washer, cleaner, shop assistant, babysitter, baker, Avon lady, Kumon teaching assistant, sandwich maker and more. I also sold things on eBay and Amazon and built PCs to earn extra money.

Before university, I used the money to pay for video games (I was so proud when I bought my PlayStation2)! During university, I used the money to buy food!

2008-2014

After graduating with an English degree from The University of Sheffield, I worked for an agency as a lead learning designer on award-winning training programmes for huge organizations like the NHS and British Airways.

I specialized in leadership development. After work, I mentored students from a local university something which I did for the next 10 years!

I’ve always loved self-improvement and behavioural science. Working alongside business leaders, organizational psychologists and executive coaches, introduced me to vast amount of exciting research, theories and models which I taught to others.

2014-2015

When the agency I worked for was sold to a learning technology firm, I took an opportunity to try out middle management and ran the Learning & Development department.

After 12 months, I wanted to try working for myself, so I left to be a freelance learning consultant.

2015-2018

After freelancing for 6 months, I missed the feel of working as part of a creative agency. I’d always wanted to run a business with an office and a team, so when an old colleague of mine bought up the idea of starting our own agency I got excited.

We co-founded a bootstrapped B2B e-learning agency and grew a team with our own city centre office.

But working 60 hour weeks for years under huge stress caused me to get ill, depressed, and burnt out. I started to get numbness on the left hand side of my face and family were massively concerned for my health.

During a very rare week’s vacation, I finally had some time and space to think.

When I came back, I had a very difficult conversation with my business partner that I couldn’t do this anymore. She was hugely p**sed off and it put a huge strain on our relationship from that point onward.

We told the team we’d be closing the business in 9 months when our current contracts ended. Because I had savings to live off after the business closed, but my business partner didn’t have such savings, she started freelancing so I wrapped up the project work myself. Knowing there was an end in sight was the final boost I needed to get me through.

When the work was finally finished 12 months later, I expected to feel relieved and excited. But instead I felt like I had a lump in my throat all the time.

I went to the doctors who diagnosed me with globus sensation caused by stress. How could I be more stressed now than I was before?!

I realised I’d put a lot of pressure on myself to find the perfect thing to do next. I believed this was my one opportunity to something I wanted to do with my life. I needed to get it right because I’d never have the chance again. That’s a lot of pressure!

I decided to stop overthinking, leave the decision until after Christmas and just give myself a proper break.

It worked. I finally got clear on what I wanted to do.

2019-2023

I wanted to do something fun that wasn’t client based and work on my own from home. Ideally, build a business that could make passive income, in a subject I was passionate about, that allowed me to be creative and make digital content. So I started a website about one of my hobbies – tabletop games.

I had 18 months worth of savings, so I invested in myself and bought an online course showing me how to make money from a blog. This gave me the confidence to do something I’d wanted since I was a teenager – I dyed my hair blue.

After working full time for 7 months, I earnt $10! But after that, the business grew quickly and in two years I was earning more than I did in my corporate job.

Because I could work from home full time I fulfilled another childhood dream and got a dog!

After writing about games for 3 years, I started to feel unfulfilled and wanted to have a bigger positive impact with my work. I didn’t want to be remembered as a tabletop gaming content creator, so I sold the website.

2024

While figuring out what to do next, there were two paths that I liked the most. The first was to learn how to create and release music and teach others what I learnt along the way.

I started YouTube channel about music. (So I needed to learn how to do YouTube too!) But after 6 months, I realised that while I enjoy making music, the business wasn’t going to have a big enough positive impact on others. So I decided to follow the second path.

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2024-Now

After all those years working on my own at home, I missed connecting with people. I also had notebooks full of psychology-based activities I’d designed for myself every time I felt stuck in my work life. I knew they could help people. I just needed to get them out in the world.

So I decided to dust off my skills and knowledge in coaching, course design, and psychology, and go for it.

I want to be the person I wish was there for me when I was stuck, burned out and lost.

I want to help you get clear on what meaningful work means to you and take action to make it happen.