I remember Thomas had gone on a longish vacation in 2002 and when he returned he sent a note to the R&D group (of which I was a member). I don’t recall if it was specifically about edginess or not but my immediate response was, “Dude, man did I miss you!!” I wasn’t even aware how much I loved Thomas and his edgy, spot-on radar for the Truth until I didn’t have it for a while.

Yeah, I would love to see more coaches take more risks with clients (as well as how they show up in public) and stop being so “nicey nice.”

The interesting irony is that to be truly edgy it requires us as coaches to be real and to be vulnerable. When I can be comfortable around sharing my imperfections it seems to give my clients “permission” to be human and real too and the coaching process goes a lot more quickly.

Thanks for the lovely reminder of T, Andrea!

Warmly
Judy

Warmly,
Caron

Love,
Angela

I strongly believe in his theory and when I first started coaching I tried so hard to be my perception of what a coach should be, and it was only when I decided to stop B S’ing myself and to be myself – Edgy and all- that I really began to enjoy coaching and clients got the real deal which resulted in a win-win all round.

I actually lost two clients from this approach and I was so glad I did. I couldn’t offer what they thought they wanted and wasn’t about to compromise.

I changed my lifestyle too, 20 odd years ago and am practically self sufficient so needing clients is never an issue for me. Seeing them become their very best selves IS and I will do whatever it takes. I now screen clients very well and judging from recent testimonials I am doing OK.

Thomas was way ahead of his time.

Joan

Thomas was gone before I had a chance to hear much from him, but this makes very clear why had so many loving and vocal fans…

But I must say, next to choice, timing really is everything.

If I’d read this 4 years ago, I’d have flat-out balked at the 50% reserve bit. My wee brain would have cramped at the thought!

What’s interesting is that around four years ago, my husband (a fellow coach)and I felt enormously called to move ourselves out of our beyond-our-means suburban lifestyle and into a ‘LOVE THIS!’ lake-side rural cottage life. The reason? Our hearts melted and lifted the moment we stepped on the property.

We love it here so much, and knew we were supposed to be here so clearly, that doing what we needed to was never all that much in question. Granted, there was stress, fear, discomfort, etc – and it did feel more than a little nutty at times to go from big to small in a world that often uses bigger as evidence of success. Choosing a smaller life in an a profession that often prompts us to ‘play big’ is a little hard to explain, even to yourself, sometimes.

But thanks to technology and a life with 1/5 the expenses, life here is ideal for many of the reasons Thomas mentions and more.

The one thing Thomas doesn’t mention here is that its actually easier to make money from here and feel GOOD about it. It’s also easier to think bigger,to get the true value and impact of your work and innovate ways to deliver it. To shift positions and take action. I find I’m able to ‘show up’ everywhere less hampered by the interference of need, fear, greed and (frankly) embarassement & shame.

You know, I’m starting to wonder if we’re either coaching (or living) from the edge or with the edge.

Huh.