Lili Unwin – Singer, Songwriter and Producer
“If I hadn’t worked with Nicky this year, there’s no way I would have had the success I’ve had.
When I first started coaching, I was working for other people and my own creative work was taking a backseat. The initial session was transformational. Nicky has a way of asking questions that peal back the layers and helped me learn what was most important in my life.
She gave me the confidence to plan and launch my own projects, including an EP and she encouraged me to increase my prices. I now do much more meaningful work and always prioritise my own creative work. I have more time to express myself and feel more at ease making money.
She knows exactly how to guide creatives and I sometimes think she knows me better than I know myself.”
Aaron Wheeler, Music Composer
I decided to have coaching while recovering from a back operation, which was a result of working in a studio for 12 years making music for the media. I was looking for a new direction. Now I’m performing live music, I’ve set up a creative workspace and my life changed from an isolated one-man mission to an exciting new, socially interesting world. A big thing was developing the confidence to be a leader and set up my own projects. In one coaching session, we wrote goals linked to my values and one month later, I’d bought the premises for a creative workshop and played a gig at the BBC club. It’s powerful because someone is rooting for you – it’s an alternative to the stupid voice that says ‘you can’t do that’ when I’m left to my own devices. It poses an alternative, positive view of what’s possible for myself’. I feel like I have the confidence to go ahead and be brave in situations where I might have struggled before. I would describe Nicky as my mojo guardian. She reminds me of what is important to me. She challenges me, asks really useful questions and holds me to account on what I really want to do. It’s turbo booster for my proactivity level. I’m more focused, assertive, confident and I make things happen that are important to me.
Greg Haiste, Actor and award winning comedian
One of my goals for coaching was to create my own work and sketches to raise my profile. Now, one of my sketches, ‘Les Chuckle Brothers’ has been unanimously voted ‘Sketch of the Year’ by a panel of industry professionals in the London SketchFest. So I am now part of an award-winning double act! Lots of profile with all the right people . To view – scroll down the playlist here and you’ll see it – Haiste and Lawrence ‘Les Chuckle Brothers’ www.londonsketchfest.com/news/sketch-screen-2015-film-selection/ Nicky is Excellent. Insightful and intuitive with a real ear for where to focus. Efficient too – wouldn’t take any unproductive wandering off topic and would laser in on the issue that needed tackling – meant that I felt very productive. She also zoned in precisely on my own personal desires. A bespoke audit of me, haha! Nicky is incredibly easy to get along with. Very charming and personable. What is great too is that it becomes clear that the thing that really inspires her is how she loves her clients to have the best life possible. This enthusiasm is contagious. We laughed a lot.
Guenther Albert Rohde – Artist and Writer
I had just published a book, but I was unsure of my direction and wondered what to do next. I knew I wanted to go in the direction of the arts and to find something that would be more in tune with my personality. Meeting Nicky has helped me realise my potential. Her open and honest approach has helped me to direct my life with accuracy, rocketing me forward. I did my first art exhibition this week and I’m writing my second book. It’s all gun’s blazing for the future. I am growing daily and I now know where I want to go in life. I didn’t really know what coaching was at first; but it has given me both practical tools and a greater awareness of myself. My greatest revelation was an exercise about the discovery of being powerfully present which brought tears to my eyes. I am very grateful as it has helped me considerably to be fearless and courageous. I was also pretty reluctant to enter the world of social media, but Nicky advised me that it is important to raise my profile as an artist. I have since joined face book and twitter and it has enabled me to broaden my scope of contact with the world. I also struggled with saying no and feelings of overwhelm trying to please everyone. Nicky helped me to me listen to my feelings and to recognise that I can say no; this has freed up my time of other’s demands. Nicky is a wonderful, powerful, good person who has the ability to guide me towards what I want, but also senses when other things need to be addressed. She is gentle, strong, firm, kind, loving, questioning, intuitive and helps me to think more clearly. Nicky has great intuition and great wisdom. She is a gem and is catapulting me forward in the direction I want to go.
Clare Samuels – Actor, Presenter, Director – Green Room Training
I was at a place in my career where I was trundling along nicely, but very aware that my potential was by no means being fulfilled. This was frustrating me at times, and I wanted some guidance as to how to move forward and become more successful. Having met Nicky through work, I felt we immediately connected, and I felt she understood me, my values and where my place was in the World It’s been an extremely positive and insightful experience. Her style is warm, engaging, highly motivational, innovative, unassuming and enables me to achieve huge results.She is very insightful and a master at recognising and responding to different human behaviours”. The benefits and results are endless. My attitude to my life has changed in a very positive way. I have a better understanding of who I am as a person, what works for me and why I behave in the way that I do. Also – not only have I had more acting and presenting jobs, I have been offered my own radio show! My business has taken off in ways I didn’t think were possible – I have had more direct work with clients and I am now able to obtain a very sustainable and enjoyable work, life balance. I have never been so motivated and “raring to go!
Ella Achola, Ain’t I A Woman Collective Founder/Editor
Nicky helped me with my talk for TEDxCoventGardenWomen. Her ability to listen, grasp and help me convey what I wanted to say proved invaluable and I couldn’t have done it without her. Previously, I had only experience speaking on academic panels but had never done a TED-style talk before. We worked together on honing in on one clear idea and Nicky helped me to come up with engaging stories and back up my facts in a way that engaged the audience. Nicky stayed by my side through the entire process, providing reassurance and encouragement whenever I needed. She is truly inspirational and amazing at what she does!
Andy Johnson, Photographer
I hired Nicky because I wanted some coaching as I was very nervous about a presentation that I had to give to a networking group. I had two sessions with Nicky and it made a profound difference. Through Nicky’s advice and guidance, I gained so much confidence. Best of all, the pitch couldn’t have gone better. It’s really put me on the map with my client group and I am even looking forward to the next presentation.
Cristina Van Horck Cimpeanu, Event Manager
I hired Nicky because I wanted some coaching as I was very nervous about a presentation that I had to give to a networking group. I had two sessions with Nicky and it made a profound difference. Through Nicky’s advice and guidance, I gained so much confidence. Best of all, the pitch couldn’t have gone better. It’s really put me on the map with my client group and I am even looking forward to the next presentation.
Tim Sims, Director, Total Improvement Process
I find Nicky’s coaching to be really energising. I always end a session with her excited about possibilities, with challenging food for thought and things I want to do. She is skilled at being both responsive to what is happening for me in the moment and also making connections with themes and patterns that I need to take account of if I am to make wise decisions for myself. She brings great warmth, enthusiasm and skill to her work with me. As an experienced coach myself I find that her attentive coaching sessions not only help me make better choices but lift my heart and bring me new insights.
Barney Bryant – Director of Bright Green Brands
“In only one session I felt my energy and passion returned that had got lost in the everyday trudge of working on my own. I feel a bit like King Theodon from Lord of the Rings when the curse was lifted! ”
Toby Hadoke – Actor, Writer, Comedian
I wasn’t sure about needing anybody, so when Nicky was first suggested I was dubious to say the least, but she is fabulous. Her motivation and insight were vital in helping to get me to be honest about what I should and shouldn’t be doing, how I felt about myself and my work, and how to act upon those conclusions and use my time better. A born cynic, I was dubious about motivational techniques, but all they are really is common sense – and Nicky is an expert in highlighting those things staring us in the face that we might not be willing to acknowledge, and at coming up with methods to stop them getting in the way of getting the job done. An eye opener, and an experience from which I have definitely benefited.
Rachel Brooker, Voice-over artist
Nicky really inspired me to get out there and grab opportunities when they come along, and made me realise things about myself that I never knew existed. I will be using her expert advice again in the future!
Jon Hill, Blueprint Coaching
As a coach-in-training myself, I had been thinking about finding my own coach for a long time, but never taken action. Looking back I think that I stayed in that place of procrastination for a long time out of fear – fear that I would be called forward to start translating the stuff I was talking about doing into action, fear that I would fail. My dream was (and still is) to build a thriving, successful coaching practice and to make a living working with people and doing something I love – I wanted it so much that the thought of taking step towards it felt overwhelming. One thing I immediately appreciated with Nicky was her faith in me, which made it that much more easy to have faith in myself. And even when the stuff that we were talking about was quite ‘high stakes’ it always felt safe and manageable. More than anything, working with Nicky was the catalyst for me to start taking myself more seriously and working more consistently and mindfully towards my goals. Having a space to sort through the fog of conflicting thoughts and feelings that came along with the journey of building my own coaching practice – and a sensitive and intuitive person to explore them with – was invaluable. Not only am I much further down the road towards the goals I have set for myself in life, I now feel so much more equipped to keep traveling, as well as able to enjoy the journey as I go… I am now an accredited Co-Active Life Coach, I have more clients than I have ever had before, and I feel that I have an understanding about the steps that I need to take to keep this momentum going. I know it won’t always be easy and that sometimes I’ll feel stuck. But I know that I can unstick myself, and cope with whatever life throws at me, good or bad. Thanks for everything Nicky.
Lena Edlund Vocalist, TV Journalist and Presenter
Nicky’s enthusiasm and encouragement is so energising. She really helps me to shift gear when my mind just keeps spinning and I’m getting nowhere. She gives me the kind of confidence boost I should have gotten from my parents and teachers but didn’t. And it’s never too late!
Layla Moran, Parliamentary Candidate, Liberal Democrate
I had to give a really important speech to win the contest to run as Parliamentary candidate. I hired Nicky because I didn’t want my nerves to impact on my performance. Nicky took me through a visualisation process was such a vivid experience that left me feeling both confident and inspired. I did the speech the next day and I won. I cannot recommend this session highly enough.
Vânea Cera, Service Designer
When I arrived in England I spent one year without a job.The culture is really different, especially in business. Here the market is very competitive and goal focused, and in my country it is exactly the opposite. I got a job, but it was so exhausting and everything was so new. I felt I needed someone to guide me, and also boost my confidence. I had to give presentations as part of my role, but found it unbearable. I needed to do it a minimum of one a week. The stress of having everybody looking at me – I panicked! And now it’s the opposite. I feel super confident, I feel very comfortable. I was also able to ask for and got a raise! I chose Nicky because I could feel her energy and personality on her website. I wasn’t expecting to have such an amazing coach. I don’t see her as a coach, I see her as a person. She is a very human, nice and fun, and that makes all the difference. Nicky helped me to think about values; how to see myself as an individual. I think the most important thing she taught me was to change my beliefs; not about other people, but about myself. To see all the things I achieved. And she also made me see all the different steps in my career. She taught me to see that it’s not luck – it’s talent. It was because of me. My hard work.
Elliot Wilson, Freelance Business Writer
Without Nicky Moran, I would not have had the confidence to stand on stage and speak eloquently and fluently in front of a packed audience of my peers. She has helped me to unlock the creative reaches of my mind, then to coordinate and to fulfill my thoughts and feelings and ambitions. I think, act, and speak more clearly – both in public and in private with friends – now than I ever did before, and that is down to Nicky and her magical way of putting you in touch with yourself and your inner creative mind. She is a listener, a thinker and a wonderful sounding board – rare and precious attributes in this loud, busy and crowded world. I cannot rate Nicky’s style, method and manner highly enough.
Sarah Power, Opera Singer
When I first to coaching, I felt disorganised, confused, overwhelmed by administration, unmotivated (sometimes), I wasn’t doing the things on my long-term ‘To Do’ list. After nine months, I have a new website, a blog, a mailing list, a newsletter, and a new album. I feel like I run a proper business now. I am better at prioritising what I need to do, I have cut down unnecessary texts and e-mails, I have delegated more, I tweet and I have lots of new followers. Nicky is like a friend, caring, concerned, motivating, won’t take any excuses, therefore tough (in a tough love kind of way), excited, genuinely interested and enthusiastic. The best thing about Nicky’s style is that she does not take any excuses, which meant that I just had to do it, or to look for an alternative way to achieve something rather than giving up before I got started. I also responded well to her encouragement, excitement and enthusiasm – it makes me feel the same way.
Andy Hix, Director of Hix Media
Mick Hoffe, Coach and small business owner
I really benefited from Nicky’s direct, no nonsense approach and the clarity of her feedback delivered with insight and compassion. She highlighted my strengths and weaknesses and identified the strategies I use to prevent myself maximising my potential and achieving my goals. In one session in particular, I realised that my judgemental attitude to others and myself was not serving me well. I realised that the life choices I made and continue to make determine where I am and what I am today. It’s empowered me to take my career in a different direction and set up a new business doing something more practical, rather than academic. She’s helped me to appreciate that I am a fortunate individual with much capability. It is up to me to make the best use of my talents to create the life I want but seem resistant to embark on.
Leena Bhatti, Founder of Disco Love Dirt – Personal Styling Agency, Ibiza
Before I met Nicky I was very sceptical about how a life coach could help me. I mean I knew what i needed to do, I just had to do it! I had decided to leave my job, change career direction completely, set up a business oh and move to another country and without Nicky’s patience and guidance I think I would have given up at the first small hurdle! Nicky not only helped me to deal with the logistics, but supported me to move through the emotions it brought up too – all in a pragmatic but compassionate and sincere manner. I always left our sessions feeling re-energised, full of hope and confidence and most of all excited about my new life! Using Nicky was the best decision I made and I wouldn’t be sitting in a cafe on a beach right now writing this testimonial if it weren’t for her!
Christine Ware, Director – High 10 Accessories
I worked with Nicky while setting up a coaching and accessories business. Overall I found the sessions extremely useful and they certainly helped me move forward much more quickly that I would have done so myself. Through talking to her I realised that although I enjoy meeting and talking with new people, I didn’t take “rejection” particularly well. What I had to overcome was not to take things personally, and just because someone did not show the same enthusiasm as me, it didn’t mean that they were not enthusiastic! Duringmy time with Nicky I had two instances that brought this home – one client who I did not feel got anything from our sessions, was suddenly recommending me to others! A second client who promised to ring me but didn’t, had not done so because of a trauma at home. She rang later to tell me all about it and booked a further session. Nicky also helped me “prepare” for networking events by focussing on what I wanted to get out of them before the event. I found this extremely useful. Now, I put more action into finding out more about the other person rather than trying to tell them all about me. We also identified other avenues to advertise my business that would not cost anything and I pursued all of these and had success. I also took to giving presentations, realising that I would a) have a captive audience and b) would be able to get the same message over to a group of people without loosing my personality. This has worked very well for me and it is something that I continually do – at every opportunity I volunteer to give talks. I learnt a lot about myself along the way and Nicky helped me to see things from other people’s perspective. She also got me to do various exercises which made me look at old problems in a new light. Nicky also took my mind forward to my business in the future, and helped me imagine what that would look like, so I could continually to work towards it. I benefited enormously throughout my coaching sessions with Nicky, and would not hesitate to recommend her skills to others.
Cameron, London Based Photographer
Nicky’s coaching has been the catalyst for many positive changes in my life. I came to Nicky at a time when my photography career was going well. I had already been successful but I had plateaued for a while, and I wanted to make the next leap up the career ladder. One of the most impressive things about the sessions, and one of Nicky’s great talents is her way of communicating and getting a new way of thinking locked in my mind. She helped me to learn a lot about what drove me, my core values, the reason I was doing what I was doing. This really helped me focus on what I wanted, why and how to get there. The sessions really helped me to become much clearer on what my brand stood for, how I was different from other photographers and this helped me to take bolder risks on fashion shoots and in meetings with possible clients. I became much clearer when articulating my vision to stylists, magazine editors and agents. I became much more passionate and was able to describe the stories behind my photos. People were more inspired as a result. One of the tangible results from the coaching is that it led to me getting offers from several photographic agents in the industry. I was able to choose an agent that best understood my approach and my brand. This has led me to being more creative in shoots and I have developed a reputation for having a distinctive photographic style. I regularly get requests because people have heard about my approach and I am doing a much higher level of work than I was before. I have recommended colleagues and friends to see Nicky, anyone in the freelance world that I work in. We don’t have a team supporting us. Everyone who works as a freelancer would benefit from Nicky’s coaching.
