COACHES

Dec. 22, 2006

One wonderful thing about Saint John, is although it is small, it has a wonderful creative arts scene?we also have great restaurants, Indian, Japanese, Thai, Martini Bars, Microbrewery, Old English / Irish pubs, AND a Wine bar named Happinez. My friends Peter and Judith own this incredible heritage building that Judith runs her event management company out of, my friends the Nadeau brothers have an incredible internet solutions company called Evolving Solutions that is based there, there is a great Thai restaurant and bar called Lemongrass, and in the basement, a brick walled cellar called ?Happinez?, this is my hang out of choice. Peter and Judith own this little gem and have really created a European atmosphere where people like myself can sit and sip on affordable fine wines?what a life.

 

Judith and Peter invited many friends over for their Christmas party, their house is a beautiful old home complete with an outdoor hot tub. Yes, some friends of mine Monica, Steve, Jenn, Tidby and my brother Mark and I spent the bulk of the night in the hot tub as the cold -20 degree air froze our hair, but the hot water in the tub along with the red wine and fireball whiskey kept us nice and cozy! During a drink re fill in the farm house kitchen a fellow I met at a trade mission to Bangor a couple of years previous came up to me and we started to catch up. Dave Veale is his name and back in the day of the trade mission he was working for a very successful IT company. I spoke to him back then in confidence about the direction of my career and how I thought that it might be time to leave my partnership with HIT! Media. He asked me what was holding me back?I had no answer. Every time I saw Dave after that I would give him updates as to where I was with my career choices and he was always opened eared with great advise, I truly saw Dave as a mentor?even though I hardly even knew him. Sometimes you can just trust people, you know they are genuine and that they are actually interested in you so you are free to open up to them. In fact one night I was honored with a very prestigious award presented by the Saint John Board of Trade?I was honored with the ?Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award?. It truly came as a surprise to me because I was always under the assumption that I was a horrible business person, what with my financial books in such disorder and my lack of certain business skills?why was I nominated? Well for whatever reason I was, and I was truly honored and am forever grateful to Enterprise Saint John and the Saint John Board of Trade, and of course my partners at the time in HIT! Media, Tidby and Glenn for helping me get to this great milestone.

 

After the awards ceremony I ended up at the Saint John Alehouse (a great tap pub owned by 2 of my friends Pete and Trevor?also recipients of an award that night). I noticed that Chris Nadeau from Evolving Solutions and Dave Veale where there as well so I joined them for a beer and the 3 of us talked about business, potential, weaknesses and strengths, it was truly an inspiring night. I think it was that night that inspired me to take action to start a new career on my own, which in the end has proven very successful for all three of us, Glenn is doing great at HIT! Media, Andrew managed to get Planet Luxury on the go (Which I partnered in) and I started on my way to becoming a full time television producer. Anyhow, my discussions with Chris and Dave truly inspired me and realized the value of getting real honest feedback from peers, and that the concept of being coached by peers, family, friends etc. is the only way to really realize your fullest potential.

 

Fast Forward to the night at Judith?s last Christmas and the great hot tub?Dave asked me if I would be interested in talking to him about filming a corporate video for his new company, VISION COACHING?yes Dave left his secure job with the ?Anyware Group? to follow his passion of?you guessed it...executive coaching! I will be the first to say that Dave is the man for this sort of job. He ended up, along with my sister in law?s cousin / friend of mine Marilyn Sing, going to Royal Roads University to learn the true art and philosophy of coaching?who would have thought that even exists?

 

I told Dave that instead of a corporate video, why don?t we look into producing a documentary about executive coaching that would feature his company, therefore be a great marketing tool, but would be subtle enough that it would make for a sellable broadcast documentary. Dave was sold?as was I. The 2 of us have decided to go full force with this project and have acquired sponsorship from a couple different sources to raise some money to produce it, after it is done I intend to find an interested broadcaster to license it so the whole world can learn about the new generation of coaching!

 

My concept was to film myself and my journey as Dave coaches me to become a better business person?which in my opinion is exactly what I need. Throughout the filming of my ?refinement? I will also be traveling the globe interviewing coaches of different types from sports, to music, to spiritual, to art and dance. I intend to define the true philosophy of coaching in all its forms throughout this documentary.

 

I have a real desire to succeed in my career as a television producer. Admittedly my finances are a mess, I am currently being audited for HST and I owe a lot of money to the ?man?. I am completely responsible for this, but it was truly out of ignorance and lack of business skills that I messed up. 2007 is going to be my year. Being coached by Dave is one step to reaching my goal.

Italian co-pro

Nov – Dec, 2006

After I came back to Saint John Federica and I developed a bunch of show ideas together. 2 of the best shows we came up with where “Cooking in the Past” (a historic cooking show that takes place in Italy) and “Weather Bomb” a very timely doc series about the global issues surrounding climate change. Federica and I share creative vision and I’m so glad that she ended up staying with us for a few months, we now have a lasting friendship and we are both very excited to work together very soon. In fact we just sent our friend Dave Miller over to Italy to act as the young host for the Cooking in the Past pilot episode. Miller was a friend of Tidby's from Vancouver who was a co-host of our first television attempt, a show called the “Useless Facts Travel Show” where we traveled the Atlantic Provinces filming interesting facts (like the ironing board was invented in Liverpool, the ice cream cone as we now know it was invented in Sussex). The pilot turned out really well, now we have something to pitch. Federica and I flew to Toronto to meet with Alliance Atlantis for the Food Channel, History Channel, CTV for Travel+Escape, Discover and CHUM International to pitch out ideas. It is quite an experience trying to prove to these cats that your idea is better than the next guy. We came out of that with a mid level amount of success, no signed offers yet, but at least a solid first contact has been made with these broadcasters. It WILL come in handy soon enough! Christmas marked the end of Federica’s stay at Acamac, so we through a party for her and decided to continue our projects together through Skype…these days you can partner with anyone from anywhere…love the video phone!

 

A Great Loss

 

Sadly a very dear friend of mine Leslie Bruce was killed a few days before Federica left, Leslie was hit by a car and it really shook a lot of us up, so sad to loose such a wonderful friend, especially someone who was so accomplished and so traveled. On a positive note I must say that Leslie lived more of a life in 16 years than many have in 80 years. She will be missed. Because Leslie was such a part of our lives I want to add this to my journal. This was an article dedicated to her life written in Maclean’s magazine. To be written about in the magazine truly tells the impact Leslie had on everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

Tidby and I where honored to be asked by Michael Bruce (Leslie’s dad) to be honorary Paul Bearers. What a heavy experience, I was so glad that I was considered close enough to her that the family wanted me to be part of their grievance. The funeral was conducted as Leslie would have wanted it, light and a celebration of life, so many friends and family where reunited and everyone was reminded to not take life for granted. It was a real sad way to start the Christmas holidays.

 

We all love you Leslie and are encouraged to live a fuller life by your example.