Wonder Woman Wednesday - Kate Taylor

louisehewison
Jun 17, 2015
9 min read

I am so excited to share this interview with you...

Meet Kate Taylor from Up Coaching.

I know you're going to love her as much as I do.

Kate talks NLP, celebrating creativity and shares her journey so far, from a successful career in advertising to life coach & entrepreneur.

When you were a little girl, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Well, at first I wanted to be a princess, basically because I loved the uniform; big flouncy dress and diamond tiara (I am magpie for shiny things!). I went through various incarnations of ‘grown up’ career choices before I landed at wanting to be a solicitor, which suited my Libran sense of justice, but underlying it all was a desire to work with people; to write and be creative.

What do you do now? For work? For fun?

I’m a life coach and Neuro Linguistic Programmer (NLP) working with women in creative industries to help them work their ‘why’ so that can create and design the life they really want in order to live with purpose through their passions. When not working one-to-one with clients I write extensively, and organise events and do speaking gigs around the subject of making positive changes. I also keep my toes dipped in the water of my ‘grown up’ career as a digital marketing specialist working for a couple of high profile brands.

When I am not doing all of this I spend as much time soaking in the energy of the seaside on the coast where I live with my wonderful partner Si and my favourite animal in the world; our Bedlington Terrier, Bertie. I am a devoted fur mama! Time spent with them and friends is what makes life rich for me.

How did you get into your area of expertise?

There came a time in my mid-thirties where things kind of reached crisis point for me in my head and I just couldn’t hold a thought together. I didn’t trust my decisions and judgment anymore and it was having a hugely detrimental affect on how I was living. Life had been a rollercoaster leading up to that point - I had been both in love and out of love with myself (particularly out of love with myself in my early 20s); I had done many things in my working life (including 4 incredibly fun years with Bestival); I had a successful career working for advertising agencies in London, but didn’t know how, or if, I wanted to sustain it; I had lost both of my parents earlier in my thirties which had completely flipped my perspective on life upside down and led me to question everything; I had got married to my partner of 8 years, but something just wasn’t right; I thought I wanted kids, but I wasn’t sure, and I certainly wasn’t sure if the marriage was a place where a family could be built. There was all of this and more, but ultimately I kept envisaging myself sitting in my rocking chair and regretting, regretting, regretting. It left me unable to sleep, stressed and seasick with the constant barrage of unanswered questions and a lack of trust in my ability to take action on any of it for the fear of f*cking up – yet again!

It was following a conversation with a friend on what was going on for me that she mentioned the idea of a life coach. I knew that I didn’t need counseling necessarily as I needed forward-focus, so I gave it a go and worked with a great guy called Matt who helped me to get all of those swirling thoughts out of my head and out in front of me so I could make sense of what I truly wanted and made plans on how to get it.

So profound was the impact that I realised that coaching was what I wanted to do with my life, and for the rest of my life; helping other people to get their paths set for a happier, more purpose-driven life. Finding my niche was pretty easy; I worked with incredibly talented women in my industry but I kept coming across the same issues; some much like my own; where a lot of the time women feel like imposters in their work, not having the confidence to own their space and being the real them in a very male-dominated world. Working in creative industries can be incredibly rewarding, but also incredibly tough; every time something is created a little bit of your soul is woven into it, so it can be hard to be objective to criticism. There can also be the over-whelming desire to do your own thing but being held back by fear or the unknown.

What obstacles have you faced in following your dreams and how have you overcome them?

My main obstacles have been around adjusting to jumping out of a full time well-rewarded career into working for myself. Working and being paid well at the end of each month puts you into a comfort zone which is really difficult to move away from, but for me it was something that my soul kept calling me to do, so I took the leap and left my job in agency world in November 2013. My intuition was shouting loud and clear to be safe in the knowledge that by jumping off the cliff there would be a safety net that I could use as a trampoline!

It hasn’t been easy financially, and I had to do a lot of work to clarify my finances and get clear about what I wanted to achieve and by when. In order to sustain building the coaching business I still have a couple of bridge jobs in the digital world which help to support me as the business develops, which certainly helps to keep the roof over our heads. I also work with a coach myself to ensure that I the business and my plans to develop the business (and myself within it) are going in the right direction.

What’s the best part of what you do?

Hands down it’s seeing the transformation in the clients I work with. That moment when they move from ‘I can’t’ and fearing the unknown and the overwhelming to ‘I am and nothing’s going to stop me!’ is like nothing else. I always always learn something that I needed to learn from my clients - without fail – there will be a challenge that they are faced with that echoes my life entirely, and something I need to take notice of. It’s like a little reminder from the universe to take more care of myself, or pay attention to a particular area of my life.

I also really love being totally intuitive to what’s going on underneath the surface for my clients. They can be talking about something and I will hear something in the way they talk, or pick up on their body language which is totally out of whack with their words and intentions, doing a little more digging around allows us to get to the nub of what’s really going on and how we can work together to work on that in order to tool them up from the inside out to create positive long-lasting change. With NLP exercises this can sometimes be instant! It’s so powerful.

What advice do you have for other women who might want to follow suit?

I’ve got three key pieces of advice I would give to anyone looking to change their profession in the way that I have:

1. Start by getting into the core of your ‘why’; what lights you up? What would you spend everyday doing until the end of time? What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? Stephen Covey in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People call this ‘leaning your ladder against the right wall'. You’re going to work damn hard to get what you want so you might as well love what you do, and make sure you’re doing it because it makes sense to you and your life.

2. Tune in to your intuition; there’s a difference between that niggling voice that tells you that you can’t be, you can’t have and you can’t do. Some will call this voice the inner critic, some will call it the Protector; this is different from your intuition. Your intuition is the voice that guides you towards your dreams and plans. It’s that inner sense of knowing, call it your ‘gut instinct’, call it guiding voice; it’s that one that if you actively ask for the answers will be the voice that speaks louder than any others, and will keep you going even though at times you might feel like giving up.

3. Find your tribe. Going out on your own can be a scary and intimidating place and it’s incredibly easy to want out and go back to a 9-5 with the safety net of the monthly wage, so spend time people who are like you and on the same journey. Find and be around those amazing women whose energy lifts you up, with whom you can learn and grow together, and who will empower you on this wonderful journey and will keep you going when times feel really tough. Do it for you, and do it for them.

What’s your morning routine?

If I am travelling into London then my alarm goes off at 5:30am. Whilst in bed I will get Bertie up on the bed for a cuddle, drink a glass of water and go through a mindful routine where I set intentions for the day ahead and give gratitude for the energy and love that flows through me. I will then plan out my day in the shower, get ready (whilst having more Bertie cuddles) before heading off for my morning train into London. Some people ask how I can do so much travelling up and down in between the south coast and London, but I find early mornings are the best time for me to write. I write a fortnightly blog for Up Coaching and I’m also planning a book so I use the train time to maximum effect.

3 things that are on your ‘to do’ list today?

Work on this interview
Finish up this week’s Celebrating Creativity interview and newsletter
Print out and work on timings for some speaking events I have coming up next week

What are you working on at the moment? Next project?

I run monthly Making Positive Changes events in Brighton in which I invite women in creativity to come and share their specialisms and stories. I am currently extending these out to London from July starting with my own talk called The Confidence Kick [http://www.meetup.com/Making-Positive-Changes-London/events/222728144/]. I’m also developing course materials for a Make a Change Programme that I am looking to launch this year. Oh, and the book, which I am super-excited about. It’s going to be a guide to making and empowering positive change, and I can’t wait to get started on it properly.

One woman you admire and why?

My mum, without a shadow of a doubt. Both she and dad had incredible work ethics which they have instilled in me. It’s mum’s determination to build a career for herself despite all the odds that resonates with me most. As a role model she taught me the importance of never giving up and doing what you can while you can; she loved nothing more than getting involved with every social activity she could right up until she was no longer able to. She also had an incredible sense of fun, a cheeky glint in her eye and a potty mouth – all of which I have definitely inherited!

Three wishes?

Health and happiness for my friends, family and treasured loved ones (including Bertie!),
The continued freedom to do what I love most in the world
A house overlooking the sea where I can write and work with lovely clients

Who do you turn to for advice?

I’m not particularly good at taking advice, as I have an incredibly stubborn streak which doesn’t like being told what to do – ha! However, I am getting better at it when it comes to the business. My partner Si is great for practical advice and a tower of support, and the wonderful Louise Androlia has been a fantastic source of advice and inspiration on empowering this journey and how to hold hands with destiny.

Who do you turn to for a shoulder to cry on?

Si has had his shoulder covered in mascara and snot on many occasions. I also have an incredibly strong friend network who have seen me through thick and thin. I know they’re there whenever I might need them – they are as family to me as my flesh and blood.

Favourite book?

100 Years of Solitude by Garbriel García Márquez. I love to get lost in his ethereal worlds of delicate prose and mysticism. He makes me want to be a better creative writer and to bring my readers into the story with me.

Favourite movie?

Depending on the time of year, it’s either Stardust - I always cry and sing at the top of my voice at the Take That outro track (Rule the World)

If it’s Christmas then it’s Elf; hands down.

Favourite childhood game?

My best friend Jen and I used to collect sweet-smelling, pastel-coloured writing paper. We would spend every evening writing pages and pages of letters to each other; we would try and out-write each other each day. They were letters about the things that had happened that day, funny things that had happened to us on our respective walks home from school, or just plain nonsense. We still have some of the catchphrases from those letters that we use to this day!

Fantasy career? Why?

My secret desire is to be a singer belting out a big voice on stage with awesome musicians. Music is definitely something, which makes me feel alive, and has a profound effect on me emotionally and spirituality (hence the reason I cry at Stardust)!

Words for Monday motivation?

“More of you every day is a great thing.”

#FeelGoodFriday song?

Romeo & Juliet (The Killers version)

Favourite quote?

“Life is: Someone to love, something to do and something to look forward to.”

Thanks so much Kate!

x Louise

Contact Kate:

Email: kate@upcoaching.co.uk

Web: www.upcoaching.co.uk

Twitter: www.twitter.com/kateisgreatyeh