Author curly

Author curly

curly
June 15, 2016

Promotional gifts – Should I?

Tags: , , , Business, Coaching, Colin Edwards Cafe
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COLIN’S COLUMN

I am a man of many talents. One of these is the ability to recognise areas where I haven’t any talent. Like plastering for example.

So when a part of our apartment, located in a 200 year old house, needed some major cosmetic surgery, it was time to break open the piggy bank and get a professional in.

Our man kept to his appointment and did a great job at a fair price. Then he announced that he’d see us a week later to make sure it had all dried out alright and to give us a present.

He kept that appointment too and presented us with square white box containing a good quality china mug. It featured his logo of a flying plasterers’ trowel. His unexpected gift made us feel good even while promoting his brand and mugs are always handy anyway.

Of course coaches are all familiar with the beneficial effects of keeping journals in general and gratitude journals in particular. But these can be inward looking, so how about showing gratitude in a tangible form as our plasterer did? Read More

curly
June 2, 2016

New Book Imminent

Tags: , , , Book Extracts, Health
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I am pleased to be telling you about my fledgling new book which will be available in July.

“A lovely inspiring, uplifting and funny read. Reaffirms to seize the day, every day!” Prue Gent

This book is very different from my Coaching Handbook Series and yet it also has some familiar aspects, such as, a summary at the end of each chapter for quick reference.

The book provides a combination of storytelling and facts mingled together to entertain and educate at the same time. I understand this mingling of fact and fiction is now often known as a portmanteau edutainment. Whatever next? It makes the process sound like some syndrome, not the fun and excitement I like to combine.

In 1992 I was told I had breast cancer and an aggressive lymphatic cancer with nine months left to live. This book is the story of my journey. I give you some of the strategies I used to overcome the cancer and how I created an outstanding life. None of this would have happened had I not been diagnosed with cancer. I am not saying this to impress you; I am saying this to impress upon you, that cancer can be the most powerful catalyst of change.

If you want to register your interest or to pre-order your copy simply send me an email or visit http://www.achievementspecialists.co.uk/life_coaching/books fill in the information request form and I will let you know the moment I put the book up for sale.
“A very interesting, amusing, and thought provoking book. A good, easy read. I love the fact that the author did not accredit her health and recovery to any one thing – but all the ‘little steps.” Jackie Hammans

curly
May 7, 2016

Colin Edwards wants you to stop what you are doing, especially if it isn’t working for you right now.

Tags: Coaching, Colin Edwards Cafe
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Sometimes stuff happens. Like it’s Thursday and you still have that Monday Morning Feeling.

Guess what? Work-Life balance? No! More like zero balance and you really do need to shape up big time. Sorry to be so blunt, but this isn’t normal, it isn’t good and if it has been going on very  long you need to make a fundamental shift of the dynamic.

I have an easy start for you and it is free. All it takes is two hours a week. Two hours all in one go and if you cannot even fit that into your schedule you need serious professional help to realise that you are not really as important as you imagine.

For these two hours you will be alone. Just some  ‘you with you’ time. No spouse, lover, kids, dogs, best buddy or forever friend. Believe me; you will appreciate them more as a result. Sound like a recipe for selfishness? Too damned right it is because, out of selfishness comes selflessness and that’s where you can favourably impact on others as well as yourself. You need to get your head together.

How you use those 120 minutes is up to you as long as you do something you have never done before, or at least not for a long time. You must get out of the house. If you normally drive take a walk, a taxi, train or bus … to anywhere new; Town, country, shop, beach, cinema, gallery, archaeology dig, radio studio. Come on! I cannot do it all for you.

You set off with no agenda and no expectations thus you cannot possibly fail. The hardest part of this time out period is making a date with yourself and sticking to it. That is so important that Read More

curly
April 19, 2016

Limited Offer Earn £300 Easily

Tags: , , , , , , Business, Coaching, Offers, Training, Wealth Generation

People at flip chart
International Fully Accredited Coaching Diploma Level 7
I no longer publish the Special Achievement Newsletter and as a farewell gift I have a great offer for all my readers as a huge thank you for taking your valuable time to read the newsletter and my blog and for your interest in life coaching. I promote referral systems as one of the many ways of building your coaching business and I walk my talk. So here is the offer:
If you refer someone to the Silver or Gold Option Diploma and they purchase a Silver or Gold Option place on any course date this year, you will be awarded £150, on the condition that you send an email to the office with the person’s name along with their email address and this is received prior to the person booking the course with us. ON TOP of this we will give the referee (person you recommend) £150 OFF their course providing they state that they were referred by you either on registering with us or when booking their course with us. This offer ends on close of business June 30th 2016, is subject to our T&C’s and is not available on the Distance Learning Diploma.

curly
April 12, 2016

HMRC quarterly digital tax reporting – Coaches you need to know this.

Coaching, News, Tips

HMRC are planning to bring in the requirement for all small businesses and self-employed workers to submit quarterly digital tax updates. I have already written to my MP expressing my concerns about the extra burdens this will put on my business as my accounts are prepared by an independent bookkeeper. More news on the subject – the Administrative Burdens Advisory Board (ABAB), has refused to support the Government’s plans.

Here is the extract from my March/April newsletter.http://www.achievementspecialists.co.uk/freebie/newsletter

The local Federation of Small Businesses is concerned (as am I) about the Government’s plans to require all self-employed and small businesses to provide mandatory quarterly Digital Tax Reporting by 2020. They are asking members to write to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, outlining the impact that the change will have on you and your business. I think that all coaches need to take action now to prevent massive workloads in the future. The FSB are recommending that you include in your letter, the impact that mandatory (rather than voluntary) Quarterly Tax Reporting will mean to you and your business and ask within the letter that the Government will ensure any decision to proceed with Quarterly Tax Reporting is on a voluntary basis only.

Send a copy of your letter to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ and send a copy to your local MP.

Apparently, there is an Independent HMRC overseeing body, called the Administrative Burdens Advisory Board (ABAB), and it has refused to support the Government’s plans to force small businesses to submit quarterly digital tax reporting, according to the Federation of Small Businesses – which I recommend all coaches join: Apparently the ABAB are saying, “compulsory digital record keeping and quarterly online updates is not an approach we can endorse.”

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said that the ABAB has used its annual report to underline Read More

curly
February 23, 2016

Spring and Life Coaching

Tags: , , , , , Coaching
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Spring
I love spring as for me it represents all the aspects of Life Coaching at its best. Spring delivers sunshine and showers, the yin and yang of life. It is the sunshine combined with the showers which create the environment for new growth and because of all this new growth the animals start reproducing to maximise the opportunities of great abundance of food.

This has for me, huge resemblance to life coaching; Spring and Life Coaching are full of energy, opportunities and new growth. Most people are excited when Spring arrives as it brings with it new life in all its forms and I always feel the same excitement when I am coaching my clients. Usually when a client comes to me for coaching they are stuck and lacking in energy or direction. Just like being at the end of winter, the joys and excitement of Christmas and New Year are long gone and the days are still short, grey and cold.

Spring sunshine brings out the best in people, it invigorates, it warms, it lifts human spirits and provides the energy and impetus to take action. Life coaching does the same, it brings out the best in people, it energises clients, it lifts their spirits and confidence and it gives them the impetus to take action. It warms both he client’s and the coach’s hearts.

Spring also brings Read More

curly
January 11, 2016

Extract From New Cancer Book – Chapter 1 I Am Scared

Tags: , , , , Book Extracts
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I have completed many chapters of my new book which is about my cancer journey and how I have lived a happy and successful life since the diagnosis way back in 1992. I will be releasing small extracts from the book in this blog and I hope you enjoy reading them. I have as yet not settled on a title and this part of the process seems to be much harder than writing the actual book which is in its final reading stage.
Here is a small extract from the first chapter and to put you in the picture, the story so far – I had moved to Spain to live, found a small lump in my breast in the September and had been told by a consultant there was nothing to worry about. Then a doctor friend of mine came to visit. I asked him to examined me (in a purely professional way) as I had found lumps under my arm and he recommended I visit another doctor within the Spanish system to get a second opinion.
Chapter 1 – I Am Scared EXTRACT
On the 22nd December, after finding that the lumps had increased in size, I remembered that I should make an appointment with another doctor. I went to see an English doctor (who was charming as well as good looking) in San Pedro De Alcántara (picture of surgery entrance). He briefly Read More

curly
December 22, 2015

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my readers

Tags: , , , , , Health, Uncategorized
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I love this time of the year as for me it incorporates a review of the previous year and all the achievements, learning and challenges followed by the excitement of all the new ventures, goals and challenges I will face in the coming 12 months.
2016 has greater links with the previous year than any of the recent New Year periods. During 2015, I spent my free time writing a new book all about the 20 years plus of living since the cancer diagnosis. The book takes the reader from the moment of terminal diagnosis through the operation, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and the many alternative therapies which have helped me to survive and thrive since. There are some very funny bits in the book and as you will imagine because of Read More

curly
November 23, 2015

The More The Merrier!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , Health, Tips, Uncategorized
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I was contacted by Sarah Maber a journalist as she was preparing an article for the Boots Health and Beauty magazine (November and December issue). The article is along the lines of how to reduce stress and delegate at Christmas and is called The More the Merrier!
Unfortunately, you cannot read the article on-line which means a trip to Boots to collect your copy. The good news is that the magazine is free.
In the article she says that you need to silence Read More

curly
November 17, 2015

Cartesian Questions For Confusion

Tags: , , , , , Coaching, Training
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On my Life Coaching diploma level 7 course I demonstrate and the delegates practice many useful tools and techniques. These tools and techniques range from how to convert an inquiry into a paying client to how to use NLP when coaching. One of the easiest to use and most effective tools covered on the life coaching course, Cartesian Questions, can be used when a client is unsure or shows hesitancy in describing a goal or course of action.
When a client is confused or unsure of the next step, an average coach will run roughshod or skim over any doubts and go straight for actions. This is a natural response for non-trained coaches and sometimes
Read More