The most likely reason you’ve come to this page is to find out who I am, what I’m about and what might qualify me to be giving you advice. For me, the coaching relationship is a personal one so it’s important you know something about me to give you some idea of my background in the same way I’ll take the time to learn about you when we start working together. This is my story…
The basics start with receiving my Batchelor degree in Business Management from the University of Manchester in the UK in 2001. It is one of the leading business schools in the country and regularly ranked in the top ten in Europe for many of its programmes.
In 2002 I saw the potential market for people in residential developments renting out their unused parking spaces, it was the start of the “sharing economy” long before anyone came up with that phrase or thought about wider applications. Founding my business, Parking Space Rentals, I launched the first professional agency and marketplace in the country dedicated to the rental and management of parking spaces and car parks. Before this, there had been no way of advertising you had a parking space you weren’t using to a wider market beyond sticking bits of paper up on your building notice board and hoping you found someone within the narrow pool of residents to rent it from you.
The business has gone from strength to strength since then using self-developed processes to help maximise customer satisfaction whilst also minimising staffing needs through technology, training and forward thinking. Parking Space Rentals has allowed thousands of customers to find better, safer parking for their own needs whilst generating millions of pounds for landlords. I continue to be closely involved in business strategy and team motivation but the business has developed to a point where it now runs successfully without my daily involvement.
Moving to Australia in 2013 I went through the ActionCOACH business coach training programme and qualified to work as a business coach within one of their franchises in Sydney in 2014. To be totally honest with readers, which is always my preferred approach as those who work with me learn, the particular role I had was more sales-orientated than coaching-focussed which isn’t how I wanted to spend the majority of my time. Helping and supporting other business owners and managers has always been a passion as my successful coaching clients from my ActionCOACH time and Coaching with Stephen can attest.
In 2015 I started Sydney Holiday Rentals which has since grown and expanded to become Holiday Rentals Australia. A family member owned a holiday property on the beach in Manly, New South Wales, and was having difficulty in finding a competent managing agent to handle everything involved in making the property available for holiday rentals. Many were interviewed but there was a shocking lack of professionalism, knowledge, prompt attention and no one seemed on the ball or to have any kind of attention to detail. My experience in Australia is these problems in businesses are quite commonplace; it wasn’t good enough for us at the time and should never been enough for you or anyone! This experience led me to launching my short term holiday rental and Airbnb management company which has been referred over and over again by owners to other owners who value the high level of service the business offers and has received thousand of positive reviews from guests. Holiday Rentals Australia now covers New South Wales and Victoria with intentions to expand further into Australia’s tourist and holiday hotspots.
Coaching with Stephen was formalised in 2021 but I have been informally coaching friends and business contacts for a number of years. The Covid-19 pandemic that ravaged Australia from early 2020 has shown small business owners and managers need help and support like never before and it is my mission to make sure that help is readily available, friendly, understanding, non-judgemental and focussed on helping you get over the little things that may be holding you back so you can make big progress.