Latest coaching news:

Aug 2010: I have 3 or 4 new coaching spots opening, starting in the next week or two. Email me or purchase a package of sessions if you’d like to secure a spot before I fill up again.

If you’d like to save money on one-to-one coaching with me and have access to great DIY coaching resources to take the learning even deeper, then consider signing up for the Bottom-line Bookclub Gold Membership. Gold Members of the Bottom-line Bookclub get 30% off one-to-one coaching with me.

Your work is a big part of your life and you’ve always been fairly ambitious and had high hopes for your career. But you’ve found yourself in a work situation where it just feels like an uphill struggle and a big source of stress…

Maybe the work isn’t a good fit for you, perhaps you’re struggling with confidence, clarity or motivation, maybe you’re needing to have some tough conversations, or maybe you realize now that you had no idea who you were when you first chose your career direction and now that you have a better idea, you want to change your work but you don’t know how…

• Are you unsure what your natural strengths are and feeling like you still haven’t found work that’s a good fit for you?
• Do you want to be more confident, motivated, creative or productive, so that you can make a bigger impact in your work or be better at dealing with difficult situations at work?
• Are you wanting to change your work, but scared about the risk of making changes in this economy and unsure where to start?

Well, I’d love to help you with that. As a qualified and experienced Social Worker, Neuro-linguistic Psychology Master Practitioner and Martha Beck Coach, I’ve been working in various professional capacities to help people to create better quality lives for themselves since I first qualified in 2000.

Here’s what one of my clients has to say about working with me…

“I have worked with other life coaches before but they didn’t come close to covering all the real issues that we have or providing the shifts and mental clarity I got from working with Cath.”

I have had 5 sessions with Cath and cannot recommend her highly enough. She has the knack of getting right to the root of any issues and helps you to see things in a new and empowering light. I have looked forward to each session so much and each one has revealed something new and important. The work we did around identifying core values and making decisions based on these really personalized the process and will stay with me. I never felt rushed in a session and Cath gave me the feeling that she was focused on working with me 100%. She is energetic, sensitive, calm, purposeful, totally present and extremely professional.

I can honestly say that going through this process with Cath has been life changing and I will continue to use the tools she has given me. This doesn’t strike me as just a fleeting thing; you will learn how to deal with future issues yourself confidently and whilst focusing on your highest values. I have worked with other life coaches before but they didn’t come close to covering all the real issues that we have or providing the shifts and mental clarity I got from working with Cath. This has resulted in me feeling so much freer, peaceful and more confident.

If you are thinking about coaching, do it – just make sure it’s with this woman!”

Kelly, UK

Who I work with

I work really well with people who’s work is important to them: people who are wanting more of the 4 M’s from their work; motivation, mastery, meaning, money. Of course, the increased money comes from having at the other 3 Ms, and the people I work best with typically already know that. If you think that work is just a job you have to do to pay the bills and having these 4 Ms in your work isn’t important to you, then we’re probably not a good fit.

As a Renaissance Soul myself, I work particularly well with other Renaissance Souls. Renaissance Souls are people who love doing lots of different things and find it hard to focus themselves or choose a career direction because they love variety and novelty. Because you’re so multi-dimensional and flexible and can slip easily into many different roles, you’ll often find it hard to identify your strengths or choose a career path. And then you get bored quickly or feel restricted in narrowly-focused roles that aren’t expanding, and need to keep moving and growing and learning new things. Yup, I know all about those troubles and I love working with folks like you.

Folks I work well with are also usually pretty good at the left-brain stuff (planning, analyzing, measuring, getting stuff done), but you’re wanting or needing to develop your right-brain capabilities more: your people skills, your creativity, your ability to relax, your sense of balance, your emotional intelligence and your ability to deal with change and uncertainty. So folks I work well with are often working in business process, business analysis and development, software development, financial management or IT. You don’t have to work in those arenas to work with me, but I do seem to attract folks from these arenas and work particularly well with them.

Finally, the people I work well with already know how to set goals and get stuff done, so you’re not looking for someone to show you those basics. You’re proactive and action-oriented, but sometimes your efficiency and need to control can be the very strategy that’s getting in your way, and you’re wanting to learn how to be the person you want to be and feel the way you want to feel, regardless of how much you’ve gotten done, how to feel more comfortable going into situations that you can’t entirely control, how to make more progress without having to keep doing more and more, and how to be more people-focused and expansive in your relationships, because you’re realizing that life isn’t all about the doing – it’s about the being and the connecting too.

How I can help You

1. I can help you to figure out what your natural strengths are, so you can align your work with them
And I don’t just mean the stuff you’re good at but the thinking styles, modes of learning and acting, and roles that come naturally to you. When you’re doing this stuff, you’ll enjoy your work and life more, you’ll be more motivated, creative and productive, you’ll learn faster and you’ll make more progress, so I’ll also help you to create a low-risk change strategy that will help you to bring more of this stuff into the work you do or to move into work that will allow you to do more of this stuff.

2. I can help you to discover exactly what’s demotivating you, so that you change the right thing
Demotivation can quickly spread to all areas of your life and leave you confused about the original cause of your demotivation. If you’re feeling demotivated in your life and work, you probably don’t have to chuck it all in and change everything (even if it feels that way!). I can help you to figure out exactly what’s demotivating you so that you can change the right things in your life or work to get motivated again. This way you don’t waste time, energy and stress on changing stuff that wasn’t the problem in the first place.

3. I can help you to recover from stress and burnout and restore the quality of your thinking
Stress and exhaustion causes biological changes in the brain, which dramatically affects the quality of our thinking. By helping your to identify and deal with your stressors and teaching you skills to make yourself more resilient in stressful situations, I can help you to restore the quality of your thinking and return to your clear, creative, productive and happy self at work and home.

4. I can help you to take steps and make progress that you’ve previously been too scared to make.
If you know what you want in work, but you’re worried about what people will think if you move into that line of work, or perhaps you want to step up and lead in a bigger way, but that’s really scary, I can help you to take those scary steps. And I’ll teach you how to get out of stress and fear (and the confusion it causes) so that you can take your steps with clarity and move forward with good quality thinking.

5. I can help you to handle tough conversations and intimidating people
If you feel like your work happiness and progress is being restricted by your desire to please everyone and avoid conflict, I can help you to get more comfortable with having tough conversations and dealing with conflict with confidence, so that you can be a more impactful leader.

6. I can help you to drive your career forward, rather than waiting for your boss to mentor you
These days the most successful people are those who behave like entrepreneurs, even if they’re employed. Gone are the days of getting promoted for your loyalty. I can help you to create a self-directed learning program, develop your network, find and work well with inspiring mentors in your field and plan your next moves so that you drive your career in the direction you want, rather than being dependent on a distracted boss or a fragile economy.

Coaching Packages

Sessions are 60 to 90mins long (in other words, they’re usually 60mins long, but if we’re kickin’ it and in the zone on something important, I’m not watching the clock… I want you to get your changes.) All session packages include email support between sessions. With the session packages, we’ll choose a schedule that suits you and the type of change you want to make – somewhere between weekly and monthly sessions.

Session packages include email access between calls.

Curious what coaching with me is like? Watch this video of me in action…

Just kidding!

If you’re looking for a coach who’s

• doing their own work on themselves and comes to your sessions clear and clean and able to focus on you…
• highly professional and will keep the sessions focused on your changes, so that you don’t spend unnecessary time and money talking about nonsense…
• going to help you face up honestly to reality and will give you practical tools and ideas that you can use to change your reality, rather than giving you endless empty platitudes, hype and fluff and cheering you on to set your sights on ridiculous dreams that you’ll never make a reality…
• work is based in solid research, training and experience, and isn’t just some woo woo stuff they picked up on the Oprah show or in the movie, The Secret (I’m a qualified and experienced Social Worker with a Major in Psychology, a Certified Master Practitioner of NLP, a Certified Martha Beck Coach and I’ve been practicing and reading widely in the field of personal development and psychology for 10 years)…
• going to prioritize helping you get your needs and changes in the shortest time possible, rather than watching the clock and cutting you off or trying to get you to sign up for endless sessions and programs that will fund their lavish lifestyle…

Well then, I may just be the coach and Resource Miner that you’re looking for. Keep reading to find out more about what I can help you with and the different options for working together…

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s your refund policy?
If you don’t feel that we’re a good fit, didn’t get anything useful, or if you’re dissatisfied for any reason after our first session, we’ll quit there and I’ll return 100% of your investment to you, no quibbles.

I don’t live near to you. Can we still work together?
Yes! I’ve worked with people in South Africa, Canada, The USA and the UK. I use phone or Skype for our coaching sessions and we’ll just find a time that suits both our time zones. If you have Skype, then the call is free, otherwise I can call you on your landline using Skype and this costs just a few cents a minute, which I’ll ask you to cover.

Do you offer sessions over the weekend?
Sorry, I don’t. But, I do work 9am to 6pm MST and, depending on where you are in the world, you may be able to secure a session that is after work hours for you.

Why are you so inexpensive/ expensive?
There are a lot of brand-new life coaches common on the scene, charging little to nothing so that they can get their practice started, so I might seem expensive to these coaches. I’ve had a good look around and, considering the paid coaching hours and formal qualifications I have under my belt, I think the prices I’ve settled on are fair. I’m charging less than many coaches with less experience than me, but I don’t see the sense in charging as much as they do ($300 to $500 per session and up!)

Coaching isn’t a monitored field and anyone can call themselves a coach and stick up a professional-looking website. In considering who to hire as a coach, to ensure that you’re paying for solid experience and sensibility, find out:

• What their qualification involved (some coaches just did a weekend course!)
• How many paid coaching hours they have under the belt.
• What their other clients are saying about working with them.

If you’d like to save on the cost of coaching, then consider signing up as a Gold Member at my Bottom-line Bookclub. I give my Gold Members 30% off all of my other offerings, including coaching.

Do I need to prepare anything before we speak?
When you sign up for your coaching sessions, you’ll be emailed a welcome pack with some basic information forms to fill out and some pre-work to prepare for our first session. I’ll ask you to fill out these forms and send them back to me 24 hours before our fist session.

You do need to know what you want to use the coaching sessions for (why did you sign up and what do you hope to get out of it), because I’ll design our coaching program around that. Having said that, you don’t have to know exactly what changes you want to make… this is often the reason why people sign up for coaching – they’re dissatisfied with their life or work and what to make changes but aren’t really sure what they want to change yet. Our coaching sessions can help you to figure that out.

How do I get started?

• Pick a coaching package, order it and make your payment.
• You’ll receive an email within 30mins, thanking you for your payment and giving you details to download your welcome pack.
• I’ll email you within 24hrs to set up a time for our first session.
• You’ll send me your completed welcome pack 24 hours before our first session and during the first session we’ll get straight to work on the changes you want to make.

Any other questions?
Drop me an email and I’ll be happy to answer any further questions to have or help you decide what package would be best for you. You can email me using the contact form below or at cath (at) mineyourresources (dot) com.

“If you have high goals for your life, and want someone who can help you achieve them with joy and grace, hire Cath.”

Cath Duncan is as original, insightful, and powerful a coach as you’ll find anywhere in the world. Her specialty is teaching people to navigate high-pressure, rapidly changing situations while feeling calm and performing at high levels of competence–something Cath has mastered personally, and can teach exceptionally well. If you have high goals for your life, and want someone who can help you achieve them with joy and grace, hire Cath. She’s a perfect coach for the twenty-first century.

Dr Martha Beck, Ph D – Life Coach to the Oprah Show, Speaker, & Author

“Our sessions have been fun, rewarding and something that I look forward to on a weekly basis. I can’t wait to discover what great things the next few sessions will bring!”

Before working with Cath I was afraid. I was afraid of saying no to people. Afraid of change. You name it – I was afraid of it! My health was very poor and I was lost. Cath has taught me some fantastic techniques to get back in touch with my essential self which in turn has given me the confidence to pursue things that I had always dreamt of doing but had been too scared to undertake. Our sessions have been fun, rewarding and something that I look forward to on a weekly basis. I can’t wait to discover what great things the next few sessions will bring! Cath has become a great friend and is someone you instantly warm to. I would recommend sessions with Cath to anyone. I know no better guide through the cycle of change!

Matthew Burrow

“I highly recommend Cath to anyone wanting to rediscover the true meaning and significance of their life. She coaches with energy, enthusiasm and love.”

I decided to see Cath for life coaching because I was feeling very stuck in my career and personal life. I just wasn’t finding life satisfying or enjoyable, and I wanted to reconnect with my strengths I had seen before. I felt I was not living up to my potential. Working with her through her “Success to Significance” program guided me into new areas of growth. Cath’s skill in teaching me how to break down my old, self-destructive stories, and turn them around to make them self-creative, has helped me find new ways of living and thinking. There are many life-changing take-home messages that I discovered with her guidance, and her consistently caring approach helped me through the initial pains of implementing change.

Cath’s coaching program has helped me make a fresh start, and the turn-around methods and insights I learned will continue to boost me along in this great adventure. I highly recommend Cath to anyone wanting to rediscover the true meaning and significance of their life. She coaches with energy, enthusiasm and love.
Marc Burman, Technical Writer

“I appreciate your understanding and logical approach to problems and our sessions have given me more confidence in my ability to affect change in my life.”

I found our discussions to be very helpful in clarifying the choices in my life and becoming aware of the hurdles I place in front of myself. The methods we discussed around decision making were particularly helpful to me. I appreciate your understanding and logical approach to problems and our sessions have given me more confidence in my ability to affect change in my life.
James Moolenschot, South Africa

“There is absolutely nothing small or petite about her when this lady takes you by the hand, walks you through your own mind and gently introduces you to yourself. “

Not much bigger than an Umpalumpa’ is how Jeannie D described herself on Top Billing one night. A very apt description for Cath as well. However, you soon realize that the only time she is small is when you stand right next to her. There is absolutely nothing small or petite about her when this lady takes you by the hand, walks you through your own mind and gently introduces you to yourself. Her generous spirit and love of people is larger than life, as is her ability to use her knowledge effectively.

When I first met with her, I was as tense about life and everything else as a string on Nianelle’s guitar. The first session already brought about a measure of calm. After the second session I was able to get through the holidays more relaxed and had a lot more fun than I did in a long time. The works not finished yet, but the progress is steady and effective.

Though qualified as a Social Worker and HNLP Master Practitioner, I find her work to be very much on the same level as that of the Psychologists I have seen previously. Other social workers had to refer me to a Psychologist, where as Cath was able to deal with everything herself. A lady in our office who also used the service, commented that the previous Psychologist she saw did not give her half the clarity and understanding that she got from Cath in her very first session.

Another colleague had such an interesting journey and was so happy with the results that she referred her elderly mother to Cath. This ‘very old school lady’ has also had major results and wants to continue her sessions. Whether you are dealing with a minor upset or the biggest thing since 9/11, Cath’s caring professionalism can be counted on to help you deal with it effectively. Our heartfelt thanks goes to Cath and to OC2 management for putting her right on our doorstep.
Alta Robert, Contact Centre Consultant

“My confidence increased because I am more focused, I reach my goals and this also increase my image as people saw me in a different light and their attitude towards me changed. With my positive attitude and their positive attitude we get along much better.”

I learned to prioritize and to accept that it is not possible to do everything crossing my path. I now focus on my goal and don’t look for someone to blame. I am now handing over work to my colleagues in a structured manner and trusting them to complete the task given to them. I learned to assess deadlines and pressure crossing my path, and to set goals, focus and ask for help if needed. I now accept that it is okay to decline and say No to requests in my circle of influence. I am no longer getting involved in something that is not part of my area unless I really have the spare capacity or the knowledge to make a difference. I improved on my performance appraisal by 13% from June to December 2007. My confidence increased because I am more focused, I reach my goals and this also increase my image as people saw me in a different light and their attitude towards me changed. With my positive attitude and their positive attitude we get along much better. I got offered a different position at work which I don’t think I would even consider if I did not do this course. I get more compliments on my quality of work. My relationship with other parties in the company improved and with that we are reaching more of our goals and targets and so improving the live of our fellow colleagues even more. More people see the benefit of my knowledge now that my attitude has changed therefore our combined goals is now reached and not individual goals anymore. I have a more positive attitude. I also have my frustration and anger under control. This has improved my relationship with fellow colleagues and other business partners and therefore I get more support and less resistance. To get something done now is a pleasure and not a pain and I get more done. I learned to be patient. I found a balance between work and home. I still work overtime etc but it does not rule my life anymore. I spend more quality time with family and friends and my relationship with them has improved.
Naomi Groenewald, Manager, Santam

“The weirdest thing is that every problem / issue / secret that I had difficulties dealing with, she facilitated me in getting in touch with all the tools I already had to solve my problems.”

I heard about Cath in a meeting we had at work, but was not really interested because its at work and I was scared others would learn my deepest issues. Initially I signed up because I thought Okay cool I could treat this like my personal shrink and just dump a whole lot of issues on her and she would just be somebody I could chat to about surface level issues like money and love. I did not see myself as the person who needed counseling. Much to my surprise what I got out of the sessions were totally the opposite. The first time we talked I was very shielded and at first try to sugar coat my issues because I was scared of her going Dr. Phil on me and make me realize how messed up I really am.

Soon Cath made me feel right at ease and I felt comfortable enough to talk about those skeletons that we all try to forget about. She maintained confidentiality which is of utmost importance when talking about problems. The weirdest thing is that every problem / issue / secret that I had difficulties dealing with, she facilitated me in getting in touch with all the tools I already had to solve my problems. Since seeing her I have made changes to my life that I could not do before but now that she helped me realize my true worth and now the sky is the limits for me.

In short, Cath was very professional, never judged, gave me insight and a totally fresh and dynamic approach to problem solving that will rival the likes of Dr. Phil. I do believe that everybody can benefit from sessions with Cath as it was truly life changing for me. Even if you like me don’t believe that you have problems you will be surprised what lies beneath. Only if you deal with the underlying issues will you truly grow and Cath just leads you on that path. Try it YOU’LL LOVE IT.
Quality Assessor, OC2