Testimonials

Alison is many things: fun, passionate, supportive, credible, enthusiastic... I could go on. She is also a life-changer (and I say this with no exaggeration). Alison has a focused approach, which for me was looking at my career. I wasn't unhappy, but knew that what I was currently doing wasn't what I wanted to be doing forever. But I had no idea what I did want to do. Through clear exercises, the strands and themes are pulled together - with Alison as the expert guide. I can honestly say that through it all - and where it took me - felt like 'coming home'. She helped me to understand my skills, values and passions and understand that there is always a way to achieve more from what makes you happy, and what makes you tick. I am one of the last people to believe that you really can 'make a change' or 'find your passion and go for it' but Alison has made me see that I can. It's the start of the journey for me but without Alison I wouldn't have even realised that I could begin to make it. I am so excited! Thank you, Alison - I genuinely could not have done this without you. All I can say is: if you get the opportunity to work with Alison, grab it! You'll be glad you did.

Anna Perkins

After a 30-year career as a tax accountant, I was thinking about making a career change, but at 50 years old, if I was going to make a leap, I had to make sure it was to the right place. Alison’s Work Wonderland course helped me get 100% clear on the right path to choose. With lots of different angles to it, the programme brought me to a considered, scientific decision that gave me the confidence to go for it and turn my relatively new hobby as a stand-up comedienne into a real job. I now earn a living from comedy and I love my new life.

Samantha Day

A couple of years ago I worked with Alison using the Work Wonderland process. I can say without exaggeration her work changed my life in so many positive ways. If you feel lost about your career or the direction your life is heading, talk to Alison about coaching or have a look at Work Wonderland. It is not what you expect. It is not self-help vagueness. Alison’s approach is very practical, straightforward and step driven. I can attest that if you follow the steps through to the end you will gain clarity about what you want and how to make it a reality. I can’t stress how much of a positive impact Alison has had on my sense of self and my happiness.

Rachel Moorhead

Alison is brilliant. She helped me navigate a career change, get my CV in order, and was a valuable sounding board amid uncertainty. Get involved!

Scott Walker

After working with Alison to build my confidence, understand and articulate my value, and update my CV, I secured a £15,000 pay rise, a £6,000 car allowance and a bonus increase from 10 to 15%!

Michelle Jones

Alison has provided me guidance that has resulted in a significant series of breakthroughs – more than any counsellor, coach, or mentor to date – aside from my parents. I was so damn close to figuring out what my actual vision was for my life, and cultivating the blueprint that would take me to the 51-year-old version of myself – deliberately. But I couldn’t quite nail it. Alison provided the single biggest freeing question and piece of advice that I have received in a long time that gave me my Clarity Bomb. Instead of driving a car in stick shift, which is what it felt like I’d been doing, I was given a sail boat, a map, and a nuclear power based engine that was fully stocked. If you are in need of some executive polish in your life, Alison can help you. If you are in need of some clarity in your career, she can help you. If you are in need of some alignment in your life, she can help you. If you want to have fun along the way, and break through some white knuckled frustrations along any of those lines mentioned above, I bet she can help you.

Mark Badeau

Working with Alison was hugely worthwhile and valuable for me. I’d already made the decision to resign from a senior leadership position in a company I’d been with for 8 years as I knew that was no longer right for me, but the question I was really struggling with was: what next? Alison provided me with a framework which was immediately useful to help me marshal and analyse my thoughts. But perhaps even more importantly, during our conversations Alison provided me with incisive and frank feedback – she was not afraid to call me out when I gave a too-glib response, and she challenged me to think harder. The results for me were nothing short of remarkable. In just a few short weeks I reached some conclusions that I knew – in my gut – were right for me. And I feel a confidence in myself that I have simply not felt in years.

Kaye Sycamore

When I met Alison I was at a crossroads. I wasn't unhappy, but I had lost direction in my career. I was a small business owner and felt I had taken it as far as I could and it was no longer fulfilling me. Alison worked with me to unlock my passion and drive and give me the focus to move forward. Six months on I'm in a new job, in a new industry and I couldn't be happier! Thanks for everything Alison!

Dan B

Work was at a crossroads and I knew self-confidence was holding me back. I was struggling to compete with louder voices in the room and had no idea what I brought to the team. Alison helped me understand my core strengths and the importance of playing to them. This fundamentally changed my approach to work situations and has brought the perceived difficulty of those situations right down. Within just a couple of sessions the change in my demeanour was noticeable to others and I am establishing the voice, and importantly confidence, I always wanted but could never find. Thank you.

Caroline O'Neill

I won't lie, I had no idea that career coaches existed, but from the minute I met Alison, I am so pleased they do! I had decided to leave my career after 25 years - a vocation that I had fallen out of love with, but couldn't understand why. With Alison's insight, encouragement and support, I found answers, reassurance and a few surprise insights! And then came the “what next?” Through her carefully structured programme, she helps you to discover your skills, strengths and interests. These quickly become identifiable as transferrable skills and the basis of the future career/job role. I am sure with the right training anyone can do that bit. However, what makes Alison so special is the warmth and the laughs. She cares and she adapts the course to your needs, your individual journey and your timetable. I have to be honest, at a time when a drop in salary seemed likely, it did seem an expense. I thought I would need that money to retrain, however what actually transpired was the 'usual recommended career alternatives' given were quickly identified by Alison and myself as being completely unsuitable, so I actually saved £4,000 that I had earmarked for a training course. I could wax lyrical for pages, but as they say, the proof is in the pudding and I am happily settled in my new career, with no regrets about my old one. Thank you, Alison!

Elissa Gillies

As someone who has always struggled with confidence both in my personal life and professional career, I made no secret of the fact I was a little sceptical that I would see much change in myself in just five sessions of Alison’s Raise Your Confidence programme. My goodness I was wrong! I found the session’s deeply helpful, eye-opening and really good fun. Beyond the rational and thought-provoking discussions and brilliant tactics taught by Alison, I found her bubbly personality such a breath of fresh air – and a welcome break from a busy day working remotely. It has been a few months since my sessions ended and I have continued to use the exercises Alison taught me. I have truly noticed a positive difference in my thought processes and approach to situations that pre-Alison I would’ve tried everything to run a mile from or worked myself up about for hours or even days before. Thank you Alison!

Chloe Hodson

Working with Alison has had a transformative impact on my career. She has helped me to recognise and appreciate my own strengths and how to articulate them. She has been an invaluable sounding board when dealing with specific challenges in the workplace and has given me tools and techniques to manage these situations. I trust her judgement implicitly. During the time I’ve been working with Alison I have been promoted to a senior manager role and, with her continued coaching, I am confident of continuing on this upward trajectory. I’d thoroughly recommend her to anyone looking to evaluate or change their career.

Emily Lumsden

My sessions with Alison were invaluable in helping me to work out what the next step in my career would be. Despite a career change a couple of years earlier, I wasn’t feeling fulfilled at work. I had lots of conflicting thoughts and feelings about whether the change was right for me, but I couldn’t really articulate exactly what was wrong. I worked with Alison to define my core values and identify what was truly important in order for me to live a happy life. We then identified my natural abilities and the key strengths I could bring to a role. This came entirely from me. Through scientific based questionnaires, and Alison’s incredible skill at questioning and listening she was able to draw out the relevant information and guide me to make my own conclusions. The sessions were totally individual and bespoke to me. I had worked with a coach before who I felt forced a certain way of thinking upon me, but with Alison it was totally different. Alison won’t tell you what to do or dominate the conversation. She acts as a guide and works with what you already have. I would highly recommend working with Alison. As well as her professionalism and expertise, she has an infectious positive energy which really put me at ease and enabled me to relax and enjoy the whole experience.

Libby Cook

I had the pleasure of working with Alison on actioning some career development goals that I’d been a bit stuck with. After some thorough identification and discussion around some of my professional traits, we produced an action plan of how I could move forward with my goals – and I’m pleased to say that it’s already starting to pay off. Alison has really given me the confidence and push I needed to appreciate my self-worth, alongside helping me to identify and better utilise my strengths. I wholeheartedly recommend her as a career coach. Thank you, Alison!

Tom Hunt

Alison is an incredible coach and I have personally worked with her for the last few years. If you are looking to re-evaluate life during these interesting times, I highly recommend you get in touch with her!

Samia Rauf

I’ve found the whole coaching process with Alison extremely insightful and rewarding. As well as helping to identify my key strengths, our sessions have enabled me to regain my confidence and trust my gut instinct, which has always been a key driver in my career. To have that back is empowering and has reset my entire perspective and outlook. Alison helped me to understand my own anxieties, manage them and dissolve learned behaviours, while also teaching me how to channel my strengths effectively – the result is that I feel 100% back on track and clear on what I want from my career. I’ve had a lot of training over the years and this has been the most rewarding, by far. One of the best parts of my coaching was the fact that I always thoroughly enjoyed our sessions! They felt positive, natural and great fun. I never felt ‘exposed’ or uncomfortable, which is quite remarkable given the areas we covered. This was 100% down to Alison’s approach and natural ability to make people feel at ease.

Michelle Smithson

I cannot recommend Alison’s Work Wonderland programme highly enough. It really steered my freelance career in the right direction. Alison’s ‘Map of You’ is an incredible invention, something that you won’t just use during the programme, but will be with you every time you have questions about yourself and your skills! If you want to invest in some self-discovery to determine the career and life choices that are ideal for you, look no further.

Francesca Manca

I was in a classic mid-life crisis situation when I was introduced to Alison by a friend of mine. I was stuck in a job that I didn’t have any affinity with and was beginning to doubt that I was even capable of doing it – I wanted to change but had no idea of what to do next. Alison led me through a series of simple exercises that got to the heart of what I really like to do, what transferrable skills and identifed job options that would give me the work life balance that I craved. The end result has helped me tremendously in two ways, firstly by identifying a path that I can follow to change my career and secondly to help me rediscover my own self confidence to help me formulate the best decision career-wise going forward. I couldn’t have done this without Alison’s help and she has been with me every step of the way. In a few short months I feel far more empowered and confident going forward and I know now that with her as my guide I will find a job that I can happily finsh my working life doing. I would recommend anyone who is in the same situation I was in to use Alison to help them out – she is that good!

Ian Russell

As I weathered a long and challenging period in my career, I began to ask myself many existential questions about my future professional trajectory. Was it time for me to hit “reset” and try my hand at something completely different? Was it time to walk along a new path? I reached out to Alison to help guide me though and make sense of who I am and how I tick. Without a doubt, it was one of the most worthwhile and valuable journeys I have embarked on.

Marie Cranston

Alison has helped me to become more self-aware and truly understand my strengths and innate skills, how I best champion them in my role and apply them for the benefit of the team and our business. She is a natural motivator, relatable and easy to communicate with, and this style paired with her experience and use of theory has really helped me to trust her from day one. Overcoming an underlying imposter syndrome that has plagued me for years, and realising my strengths are my superpowers has been the biggest outcome for me from the sessions we have had together. She is a pleasure to work with and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her as a coach and mentor.

Hannah Lloyd

I’ve done Alison’s Work Wonderland course as I found myself at a career crossroads. It helped me not only to reconfirm my values, passions and skills and where best to use them, but to nut out down to the finer details, just what kind of environment and people I want to work with. More importantly to blend my career plan seamlessly with my life plan to achieve my ultimate dreams!

Lorna Jackson

Over the past year, Alison has helped me to challenge and overcome the real and perceived barriers to my career development. Her practical and personalised advice has been pivotal in helping me to get on the right track and secure a new opportunity to further my career. I continue to find Alison’s support really valuable and thoroughly recommend her to anyone looking to develop or change their career.

Chris White

I was already in the middle of making a career pivot as I’m a “problem solver” and “doer” by nature but I enlisted Alison’s support to help me step back and see the bigger picture before charging forwards any further. She came to me highly recommended by two ex-colleagues/friends and I’m really glad I followed their lead. Thanks to the methodical process we worked through together I am now the happiest I’ve been at work for years. I’m in a role that matches my newly recognised values and I have a much clearer idea of where I want to head in the future. I’m also much more aware of the superpowers I have in the workplace that I took for granted because they came so naturally to me. The whole experience has been incredibly valuable and I can’t wait to see how things continue to unfold.

Sarah Ryan

Before working with Alison I felt at a complete loss with my career path, doubted my own abilities and even doubted my capability to make a decision that would be right for me. Alison helped me realise that I had my own unique strengths and values that until now, I hadn’t even really acknowledged on a conscious level. Uncovering these and being able to discuss them with someone as patient, understanding and supportive as Alison really helped bring these to the forefront of my mind. I found that I could make decisions with more confidence and really begin to understand why I make the choices I make. Alison helped me challenge my own negative ways of thinking and to realise that even a failure can be a success. Thank you Alison!

Natalie Fry

I’ve gone through a life-changing career transformation since November and I honestly couldn’t have done it without coaching. Luckily for me serendipity delivered Alison O’Leary into my world at just the right time. If you’re going through a life or career change then I believe you’ll benefit from the guidance of a life coach. The value will astound you and help you evolve and emerge. Be good to yourself 🙂

Al Tepper

For me Alison is the best kind of fairy godmother. She won’t wave a magic wand and give you an impractical pair of glass slippers. Instead she will give you the tools to create and build your own path to your own happiness. Working with Alison really helped me to explore how I think and how I can create a happy future for myself. It’s an exciting and challenging process that can have fabulous outcomes.

Hannah Fletcher

Alison coached me through a period where I was considering a major career change. In my view, Alison’s greatest assets are her empathy and her intelligence supported by an endlessly upbeat, engaging and positive personality. All of these enabled her to quickly and succinctly understand the opportunities and challenges around my specific situation. Alison’s considerable ‘real world’ commercial experience means she can also offer a sensible and pragmatic approach to career coaching, including helping to set genuinely realistic and achievable goals from the outset. She’s been a huge help to me and a real superstar with her support. I have no hesitation in recommending Alison to anyone looking for a great life coach. A very real and rare find in the coaching world.

Paul Spiers

After two disastrous career decisions and a major accident that left me laid up for three months I was at a low ebb to say the least. Then a dear friend introduced me to Alison. Using Alison as a life coach was the best decision I’ve made in years! It’s strange to work and focus on ‘me’ but through a number of exercises, tests and homework (it’s nothing like school – it was all fun!) I now have a much clearer picture of where I should be and what I should be doing. It’s a huge leap forward for me and I couldn’t have done it without Alison’s help gently and patiently allowing me to come to the right conclusions on my next move. I couldn’t recommend her highly enough.

Chris Eaton

Alison worked with me when I felt stuck in a rut, frustrated and couldn’t see a path for my future career. Over a number of weeks, we worked through some tools to help me recognise, understand and deal with every day stresses and anxieties at work and in life. This not only helped put perspective on and minimise these stresses, but, importantly, gave me the mind space to focus on the things that are really valuable to me. Alison helped me identify the manageable steps to switch my path. Now I am continuing to discover new opportunities and have the courage to pursue new challenges. Alison is a delight to work with – she is enthusiastic and brilliantly insightful.

Sian Aherne

It is a beautiful autumn day and I’m walking along the beach with my family and friends. I’m at the back, grumpy. Work issues from last week and others anticipated for next week are going round and round in my head. My friend said “You should talk to Alison, I’ll introduce you”. I found Alison’s coaching enlightening. The exercises brought out the key issues and then her clearly articulated, precisely targeted and deceptively simple questions allowed me to make sense of my own behaviours and actions. My circumstances may not yet have changed but my attitude and responses have. Moreover I have regained a lost sense of direction. Thank you Alison.

Tim Edwin

I can honestly say without hyperbole that having Alison as my life coach has been a turning point in my life. She has helped me realise the importance of following a path of my choosing and more importantly, has guided rather than pushed me to this realisation. I would highly recommend Alison to anyone who is a little lost in life or just needs to evaluate what makes them happy. Alison is the very epitome of a true professional with a heart of gold.

Elijah Lawal

Working with Alison has been a life changing experience. I worked on personal issues with her and she’s done a great job in helping me. She always put me in the driver’s seat while pointing me in the right direction. The whole coaching process went at my own pace; some topics needed more time to work on than others. Alison’s human qualities and the energy she infuses put me at ease immediately. I cannot recommend her enough.

Guillaume M

I am so grateful to have had Alison as a coach. I didn’t really know what to expect with a coach, but she was so caring, understanding and helpful. She really put me at ease straightaway and I was really able to open up to her. My experience with her was life changing and even months later I am still reflecting back on what she taught me and still learning and evolving. She gave me the tools to better understand myself, and taught me how to unlock the habits I thought I couldn’t change. She made me realise my dreams and everything I wanted was completely realistic and I am now following the path in life I have always wanted.

Trisha Rosso

I found working with Alison so worthwhile; she helped keep me focused but was responsive and adapted to my needs. I love her knack of making sense of things and she is so easy to talk to and trust. A lot of what she said will stay with me and I know I will continue to draw on my experience of working with her.

Lynne Carter

Alison understood my needs from the off. She is both personable and professional and I felt immediately at ease with her. I started with low professional self-confidence – even after 12 years of working – with only an idea of what I felt I could be good at, but Alison pointed me effectively and confidently in the right direction.

Allie Howard

Case Studies

Jeremy Jackson

Following 32 years in IT, became a director of a children’s hospice and realised the lifestyle he’d always dreamed of

Elijah Lawal

Determined his dream path as a writer, took action, and had his inaugural book published by Hodder & Stoughton

Samantha Day

Found clarity on the right career change and swapped tax accountancy for comedy

Megi Braholli

Found the clarity and confidence to secure the job of her dreams straight out of university

Natasha Holloway

Whilst remaining in marketing, identified and pivoted to an entirely different role, maximising her skills, passions and knowledge

Damii Leach

Went from anxious and confused about her study and career path direction, to inspired, clear and confident

Claire Frances

Had a burning desire to write great books and overcame several blocks to complete her 80,000 word novel

Kathryn Jellis

Re-found her passion to start enjoying running her business again, while turning a hobby into a potential parallel career

Austin Brailey

Took the opportunity to understand his own values and motivations before he made some big life and career changes

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