Episode Transcript
Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorced mother. She is really my superhero. That's why it's important for me to support women to share their uniqueness, their personalities, perspectives, and emotions about life. Too many women in this world feel alone. They worry about the judgment of others and they struggle with their mental health but when they listen to the Rare Girls podcast where empowered women share their voices and tell their stories, many women will feel inspired to live a life of freedom and overcome all insecurities. They will feel it is a safe space to find their confidence, to remember their unique beauty and to feel their self worth and they will connect with the sisterhood of rare girls who encourage their success and support their dreams. That's what this podcast is all about. My guest today is Coach K. Coach K is a performance coach specialized in the positive connection between mind, body and health. Her promise is she will help you lose 1 kilo a week and keep it off. She is British with Asian heritage living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She is a former high-ranking corporate executive who worked in the largest advertising agency network globally. One of 10 siblings, Coach K always fixed and rescued people. She is highly intuitive, smart. She thinks on her feet and is business and people focused. Coach K always found fitness and health shapes her best energy so she created a business out of these principles. She joined the 5am club under a year ago and went through a personal and professional transformation at first losing 10 kilos in 10 weeks. This transformation turned her into a real boss mindset, more confident, self-assured, stronger both physically and mentally and now she is helping women to transform into their best versions through her programs. Coach K, how are you today? Wow, that was quite an introduction. Thank you. I feel humbled. I'm good. I'm good. Thanks for having me. I'm happy. I'm honored, lucky and looking forward to know much, much more about you and your insight through your journey and how you help women. But first, tell me a bit more about you in the sense that if your friends could describe your personality, what would they say about you? - They would say that I'm smart, funny, warm, humorous, organized, efficient. I say what I'm going to do and then I do it. So I practice what I preach. And community-led, I think those are some of the things would say I make a good friend and a very business focused and people focused. I think those are some of the things that would be used to describe me. Perfect. And I'm curious about something else. You were usually and for a long time an executive in a corporation or in a large business. So you always had the safety of knowing that you'll get a paycheck at the end of the month but when you became your own boss it comes with the risk that if you don't create something that makes your business work it doesn't. I'm just thinking about women who are dreaming about becoming their own bosses. How is that experience? Is it useful? Like some people will say, well if you work in a corporation you're not really focused on the things that are related to exactly being a business person. Do you find that it's actually useful to start the corporate route before becoming a business owner or it's a different skill. Tell me a bit more about this. Yeah. So mine has been, I guess it's been a progressive journey. So from a young age, as you've described, I'm one of 10 siblings. So I helped my mum around the house and I became very responsible from a young age. I was second eldest and she expected me to help her around the house. And when I was 14, 15, I was helping pay the utilities bills because she didn't speak English. She was one of the first immigrants into the UK from Pakistan. I assumed responsibility of helping her run the house and I sort of became a little boss from a very young age. And then throughout life, throughout my higher education and then through my jobs and traveling the world. I've always come across as somebody who's organized and very quick to fix others, rescue others, think on my feed, what do they need, what do they want, and become very intuitive, understanding people, and understanding people in seconds, not even in minutes, and become a very good judge of character. And I think this fixing, rescuing, helping people, nurturing people has become part of me because of my childhood, and then I've taken into my adulthood. And then when I worked with large corporations, I've run teams, I've assembled teams, and then I've taken on remade. That's not just head of sales in the UK, head of global sales, head of EMEA, the big markets, big territories. And I've had the opportunity to engage with different cultures, travel around the world. And then And I think throughout all this journey, I've realized that the corporate world, and I've always dipped in and out of the corporate world. There are times where I've gone in as a consultant, freelance, and I sort of am a risk taker, because I think with risks give me the adrenaline, and I thrive under pressure. While a lot of people, majority of people, they like security, they like safety nets. And I've gone through some lack of stability that comes with the corporate world. When I said goodbye to the corporate world back in January this year, you know, I run into some cashflow issues when I was stabilizing my coaching business a few months ago. And it did make me think, oh my God, I had the comfort of a paycheck, a very large paycheck at the end of each month. That's no longer there. And now I have to make things fly myself. I have to run a profit and loss. I have to make sure my teams are paid, gotta make sure the clients are signing up, gotta make sure the clients are transforming, and I've gotta make sure that I've got everything I need in order to run a successful business. And the pressure that comes with that, the risk that comes with that, it's phenomenal, it's huge. You can't, you know, you have to sort of go through it and come out bulletproof. And having been through a transformation myself when I joined the 5 a.m. Club back in September last year, just under a year ago, what that taught me is the early hours in the morning when there's not many notifications coming through and you're distraction free, you get the opportunity to connect with your mind. You wake up, do a meditation, journaling, visualize the future that you want, and then what's the goals in order to manifest the feature one-once. It started off with losing one kilo a week. I wanted to know that I could do it. I lost 10 kilos in 10 weeks, and when I came out of the program after 12 weeks, I was not only physically strong, I became mentally stronger than ever before, and I thought I was mentally strong before. But the resilience that I had built up through training, through getting up early, even on the mornings when I didn't want to get up, it was pitch black outside. I went to the gym, I got a workout in and then I reported for duty, you know, my office job, 8 a.m., 8.30 a.m. And I used to leave the office late and I put myself through this grueling schedule and it was the making of my better version, my future version. And when I got to do Christmas and I took a break to Bali for a couple of weeks with my partner, I remember thinking that I don't want to go back into the corporate world. I've got clients I'm transforming on the side with my coaching business and I want to give the coaching business my hundred and 10, 15% and more. I want to put my whole passion into it and unless I make that leap and really invest in it because I always drive things with absolute certainty and before I always thought, okay, I have the corporate job, then I have my investment portfolio on the side and let's have a look at this. But when I picked up the coaching business last year, I knew when I started investing money into it and became a performance coach and got my accreditations, I knew that that that was my purpose calling. I knew that that's what I was meant to do, leave a legacy of a coach that brings mind, body and health transformations together holistically and creates bulletproof versions of women and men. I have men on my program also, but it's the power of becoming physically stronger, being in tune with your body, becoming intentional about what you're eating and then what that does to your mindset, it turns you into a boss little by little, little by little. And once you come out, after your transformation, you realize the journey's never ending and you are, you know, you've come out, you can't believe the place you were, you were the before version once you've reached your after version. I know that's a really long, we did answer, but I hope that's answered your question. Yes, it did. That was very, very well said. And it makes me also wonder, nowadays as a performance coach, what do you find that other people and other women are struggling with? What are some of the things you help them with that might be your favorite thing to watch them transform through? Share a bit more about that, please. Yes, I would love to. So what I realized is there's a lot of coaches out there, some great ones and women when they sign up to a program they don't just want a PDF and say do this and check in in a week's time or be given food diaries that are impossible to manage during with busy schedules. I work with core product execs, high ranking execs, I know what they're going through, CEOs, business owners because I've been through it myself right. So It's about prioritization, helping them organize how they set up their day, take an hour out, for a movement, get a workout in just one hour, you know, you owe it to yourself before the day takes over. Because what the corporate world does, it takes everything out of you, sweat, blood, and tears, right? Then people end up in the space where they think they don't have time. The truth is we all have an extra hour, it's how you structure the day, how you organize yourself. And once you have got a workout in, you need to know on a nutritional level what you need to eat, how much you need to eat, in which order you should eat the foods to make sure that you have the right fuel to do a really good workout so you're full of energy and power, and then the right foods, post-workout throughout the day if you're in the office or you know wherever, make sure that you're in control of what you're eating and not just grabbing food on the go, convenience food, which, you know, adds weight. So becoming intentional by eating. So what I tend to do with my clients is I am with them every step of the way. I take on 10 new clients a month, so I don't take on everyone. I only work with clients after a consultation with each one of them and that to determine if they're coachable, if they will do the work, whatever it takes to lose one kilo a week, if they want to lose one kilo a week. And if they are happy being held accountable. And the accountability is key because when you're driving a transformation, you need the client to become accountable. You need them to do the work. I come in, I support them. I answer their questions about nutrition, about the training. I will tell them today you're behind your target. So today you need to burn 700 calories. On the food diary, we're gonna take one or two things out. Everything else remains the same. So I drive the training plans and the nutrition, the food diaries with precision down to the smallest detail. For example, I have a client who's getting ready for a wedding and it's not too far away and she needs to get into the wedding dress. I am working with her every single day and making sure that she's not, she doesn't go over the food diary. She gets the right amounts of exercise in. For this level of detail, this level of deep personalization and every client is unique, that is what sets me apart from other coaches. It's an online program, but it's not an online program that is just handed out and then the clients are left with their own devices. The onboarding process is very detailed. I explain how the food dairies work. I make changes every week when the clients check in. I check their stats. their body, how it looks, and then if I can see that they are performing, they are hitting their target, and I will make adjustments to make sure that the program is engaging, they are having fun with it, and I will make changes to drive better performance every week. So I elevate their journey every week, and the more I push them, the more I support them the more I'm there on their side by side coach the better they perform and I've heard my clients tell me time after time finally I found a coach who is with me by my side. So I think that's the difference it's quality over quantity I'm not interested in having lots of cards I'm interested in having 10 clients a month that I can onboard get them on their transformation journey before I take the next wave of 10. My programs are designed for busy lifestyles. So my programs fit into busy lifestyles. They don't take over a person's life. And also I coach people how they can fit their body and health goals in. It doesn't have to be all about work. It doesn't have to be all about the family. It can be about the work, the family, the friendships and your health and your fitness. Every component has a part to play in your life, it's just a matter of priorities and how you balance it out in your day. So yeah, I mean, that's how I run my programmes and I think that's why I guarantee clients they can lose a kilo a week because I drive them. I drive the clients to their targets. If they ever resist or cheat, sometimes it happens. They can have a bad week or a bad day. I just have to remind them that's fine. We go through ups and downs. It's how you bounce back. That's important. It's a very supportive coach. I come with empathy, but I'm also a results driven coach. And so they get the firm firmness, the direction, the support and the empathy to ensure that they transform. And when they transform, my God, you know, what I see is different women coming out of the program. Oh my God, I've been doing things this way all my life in my job and I'll need to do things differently. I've been running my business like this, small thinking, but now I've had, I've got no brain fog, I've got no anxiety, I've got no stress, I've eliminated all these symptoms through the weight loss. Now I can think clearly and now I want to scale up my business. So it starts with the weight loss but where it ends up is truly transformational. Women are either leaving their jobs to pursue their own ambitions and dreams set by setting up the business, new businesses, or they're scaling up their existing businesses, or they've been in toxic relationships and didn't have the confidence to leave the relationship but once they feel good, look good and feel good from the inside, they then have this newfound bulletproof confidence to then drive their own decisions like bosses and they're not at the mercy of anyone else in front of them telling them what to do. So instead of being reactive they then turn into practice and I think that's the best example when you're ultimately in control and in charge of your life and your destiny. Thank you, I love that. that was so thorough and sounds so inspiring and nowadays you live in Dubai currently and you're an online coach. So the question has like two parts. One, are most of your clients people within the UAE or are they international and you who has lived in the UK, in Bali, in so many places, how are the clients that you have in Dubai different or similar to others? Are the people more dynamically engaged? Are they more like that they are more committed? Are they more interested, for example, in weight loss compared to some other places where they might be interested in other goals? Tell me a bit more how it is and your story as well, of course, of relocating to Dubai. So the relocation was, I think it was meant to be, I didn't come here with the intention of moving out here. I left UK to celebrate my birthday and there was a second lockdown in the UK. I came here for three weeks and in those three weeks, and I'm a great believer, we always manifest what we want to manifest. In lockdown one, there was a lot of, a big long period of reflection and I remember saying to myself, I don't like the routine that I'm in. I used to do early morning workouts. My balance is off, my energy is off, and I need to bring it back. And the only thing that brings me back into alignment and a place of happiness is when I'm eating good foods, organic, wholesome foods, balanced nutrition, and doing workouts in the morning. And I want to do it in blue skies. Blue skies was a wishful thinking, but it wasn't really. I've worked, I've lived abroad previously, you know? And so when I came to Dubai, I got up early every morning and I was staying in the marina at a friend's place. I used to go for runs in the marina every morning. It was November, the weather was beautiful. And three weeks later, I thought, "Do you know what? I really like this lifestyle. I like the old version of me that I so long into bring back that I've lost in the last few years for one reason or another. This is her, I need to bring her back. And it's gonna be my greatest comeback." So I went back to London, it's kind of long story short. They announced that they were going back into the British government, going into a lock, another lockdown, very long, cold winter lockdown. You know what, I packed up my house, put things into storage, booked a one way ticket to Dubai, and I came back out in January. I lived in a hotel for seven months. They joked I was the longest resident. And yeah, I started my morning rituals, my meditation, going to the gym, eating healthy. And you know what, I was happier than I have ever been in years, it's safe to say. So Dubai was my calling. My purpose was tapping me on my right shoulder saying you need to do the coaching. I set up an Instagram page, CoachK. And I did it to document my journey, to hold myself accountable. I'm going to the gym, this is what I'm doing. So that journey started, then I got headhunted, and I had left my old job in London because of the time difference. I was always on Zoom calls till nine, 10 o'clock at night and there was no work-life balance. I had mornings to myself, but then I was online until late. So I left that job and I moved to Dubai after the summer, first summer, and I got headhunted by a big advertising agency, Global Network, to head up their growth. And I reluctantly said yes, because at the same time, I had set up, I had invested quite a lot of money in setting up Coach K properly and going through a business coaching school and learning how it's all done. And whilst I was not new to digital marketing, social media, it was kind of new from setting up your own business and making a success online. So that's kind of how I ended up into buy and how Coach K started out. So clients-wise, then my client base is international, so not online coaching business, and it was set up for that very reason that I don't just work with one market, I work internationally. And I worked with international markets before, so I wanted to see how my program resonates with the different markets. The Brits, they just kind of get on with it. They ask the least amount of questions. They ask lots of questions at the beginning, and then they go quiet and do the work, or they come back and say, "I didn't have a good week." Dubai clients, and I think it's because I'm based in Dubai, they ask a lot more questions, they come across a lot more knowledgeable when it comes to fitness in terms of their goals, what they want to achieve, very clear about those. And in terms of nutrition, it's an educational thing 'cause there's clients that are quite confused between what's healthy and what's not. And it's not their fault because there's a lot of information out there to try and dissect from what's healthy, what's not, what's going in your food, how conscious should you be, how intentional should you be, it's a learning curve. So I always find that with all clients, Dubai and the rest of the world. The bonus with Dubai clients is that I meet some of my clients. So there's three tiers to the program. There's the Body and Health Transformation Program, there's a VIP program. So some of the high ranking execs and the CEOs, the business owners, they sign up for the VIP program that delivers a lot more than the entry-level program. And they prefer to meet with me. Some of them, once a month, once a fortnight, because the level of personalization for the VIP program is quite extensive. It gets designed food menus that change weekly recipes that are created by me and filmed in my kitchen for a share. And then the training, sometimes I end up training my clients to show them the technique, the posture, the range, the movement and really how you drive the best performance out of a session, especially if you're pushed for time. So some of those clients, they come to me at 5am or 6am or 7am and they want me to show them how things are done in the gym. So it depends, you know, different clients want different things. Some clients Arabic clients, some of them they'll ask lots of questions in the beginning and then they will just say "Nazi, I'm having a bad week, help!" and then I will get involved and make sure that the motivation's back and that they push through. The key things about my program is discipline and consistency. If you can get used to the discipline, you know, push yourself and there's consistency involved, they will never ever ever fail anyone because they will always deliver results, discipline and consistency. So every client, when they join the program, they're under no illusion that the program isn't easy. If you're looking for an easy ride, it's not. Transformations are not easy. If they were, everybody would be transformed. It requires efforts, growth requires a little bit of pain and discomfort. Otherwise, we don't grow, we don't learn. and also once you build a really great body not just in physique condition you then value how much you have to train to get that body to you know to achieve your dream body how much education is involved in nutrition in knowing what to eat and what not to eat and what's harmful to the body and what's good for the body so yeah I mean Dubai clients they're special for me because they're local and they hear me on the radio and they see me in the press and you know so they're more familiar with me as a as a as a figurehead. So yeah I I guess they're special to me because divides my home but then every client is special in different ways you know they all bring different personality different and I learn from my clients you know they teach me all the time as well because my programs have to be dynamic they have to fit in with my current lifestyles so I I have to sort of adopt as well constantly. This client wants this, that doesn't work for this client, this client needs this. So that's why I work with fewer clients. My program's very high level and I deliver exceptional performance for my clients in terms of growing their mindset and becoming super confident, self-assured with a beautiful body. Having a beautiful body is great to look at. beautiful mind is just next level. And when you have the two together, it's just such a powerful combination. - I agree 100%. And if there is someone listening who is curious and wants to know the first steps to start working with you, where can they find you? What are the next steps? - So my Instagram page is @coachcan with two ends. So you can follow me there and reach out to me there, I will personally respond. I have a website which is www.coach-can.com. I have TikTok @coachcan, YouTube @coachk001. So I'm across all social channels. So anyone who's looking for a transformation, anyone who's looking to lose weight and keep the weight off without extreme or yo-yo dieting, then my program is definitely, definitely for you. And it's life-changing. You walk away with a completely upgraded, better version of yourself. A version that you will fall in love with over and over again. Because love starts with self-care, self-value, self-respect and the work starts within us. So if we can look after our body, look after our nutrition, fill our mind with positive self-talk and become really confident in who we are and stand on our own two feet and say, "Do you know what? This is me." There's something so attractive about that. Energy is really contagious and when you're confident, the confident oozes out of you and then everybody wants to be around that energy. So I'm a great believer, you know, what we give out to the universe is what we get back, what we think we create, you know. So it's that notion of come out with a positive mindset, Bulletproof confidence, amazing body and a body that's healthy with really good nutrition. I love that so, so much. Thank you so much, Coach K. Keep doing this great work you're doing. I wish you to inspire even more people and to continue your work with your high-level clients and live your best life and let people live their best lives with the right mindset forever. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. It's been great. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
