I started my career in Australia in the late 80’s after having, at a very young age, set up & run a couple of businesses in the UK.
On reflection I fell into Financial Services, initially as a Life Insurance Salesman (they didn’t have a name for females then!). Some would say that’s the toughest of occupation, however I loved the experience. The training was amazing and we were taught so much about human behaviour and the ‘psychology of sales’, which was a perfect grounding for any work that involved dealing with people. It also meant I learned resilience early in my career.
In order to expand my skills and have more to offer clients I then studied Financial Planning and gained my Advanced Diploma – the highest qualification you could get back then when Financial Advising was in it’s infancy.
Once again, I really enjoyed learning all the ‘soft skills’ and was very successful in attracting and retaining a substantial client base, all of whom were wonderful referrers.
Whilst I appreciated many of the advantages of being Self Employed, when I was approached by a large institution to work for them as a Training and Development Manager, the prospect of regular income and being part of a team really appealed to me.
In this capacity I had the great privilege of completing:
- Advance Management Training Studies
- Analysed Investments Study Programme
- Associate Financial Planner (AFP)
- Accredited International Trainer in Communication
Later I was offered the opportunity of opening the offices in WA for a large national Financial Services Dealership. These were exciting times as I was given great flexibility to recruit and coach what became an amazing network of people. I was responsible for training and developing our management team as well as consulting to and business coaching our 120 licenced representatives. During this time I studied and became a:
- Train the Trainer Facilitator
- Business & Personal Coach (through the Institute of Coaching)
I also completed courses to enable me to deliver workshops on creating Values & Culture within organisations.
My journey then took me on the path of working in a similar capacity within the Institutional space delivering services and products to a network of aligned professionals. This enabled me to further develop skills in Business Management, Consulting and Mergers and Acquisitions.
I then felt compelled to take all this learning and experience and add to it in the areas that I felt would assist those I worked with to make meaningful, permanent changes in their lives and businesses.
I had always been interested in how the mind body connection worked and as almost an aside had qualified as:
- Reiki Master
- Certified Counsellor
- Certified Consultant in Transition Planning
Amongst other things that really fascinated and interested me.
This then, through a series of life changing moments took me on the path of studying the following:
- Emotional Freedom Technique Practitioner (EFT)
- Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
- Kinesiology
- Neuro-Training
- Forensic Healing
Which ultimately all came together to become ICU!
Why is all this relevant? Well I believe the skills and experience gained across a range of areas has put me in the position of truly understanding clients situations in order to be able to best support them.
In saying this, my greatest role model and teacher was without doubt my Dad. His philosophy was ‘Treat everyone fairly, find something you feel passionate about and give it your all. That way it will never seem like work and you can make every day enjoyable’
……..so if you’re looking down Dad, I’m giving it my best shot!
