Clients’ Success Quotes
“Coaching? Well, I was pretty unsure about all this before I started. The cost, the time, the real results…etc. But it has been both easy to do and enjoyable. I have been involved in coaching with Karen Skehel for 10 years, simply because coaching with Karen works. I focus pretty exclusively on the results which is why I have stayed loyal to her. Karen is a steady hand on the tiller and I would recommend her as a coach to anyone.”
Paul Miller – Chairman, Intranet Benchmarking Forum and Digital Workplace Group
“I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Karen. She has stimulated my thinking and helped me to keep focused on overcoming issues. She has opened my mind to new ways of thinking about myself and I have changed my behaviour considerably as a result. I also feel that I am closer to achieving my goals (which were stretching) than I have been for years. Thank you for all the help.”
Mark Wickens, Chairman and Creative Partner, Brandhouse Design Agency
“I have experienced for myself the power of life coaching and been rewarded by the achievement of my goals.
Karen helped me to identify my true values in life and I am now living my life according to these values.
Karen is very encouraging and her beliefs that I could achieve my goals made me determined to succeed. Having had an illness for 7 years taking medication, I am now completely free of the symptoms thanks to Karen’s beliefs, her wonderful exercises that allowed me to focus on the causes of the illness and my own determination to get a result.
I have enjoyed working with such an extraordinary coach and feel rewarded by our success.”
Lisa Bailey, Consultant – Leading Marketing Recruitment Firm
“So many valuable things across the board came out of the coaching I did with Karen. I developed a closer and more bonded relationship with my 10 year old son than I have ever had before. I learnt to really value my free time, to live in the moment and to slow down. My impatience has largely become a thing of the past. I can also say that my intuition is serving me extremely well in all areas of my life.
As Alliances Director Europe for a software company, I have certainly achieved my goal of feeling happy, proud and fulfilled earning the six figure salary I wanted.”
Alliances Director Europe, Major Software Company
“I have raved about how wonderful I’ve found the coaching process so far and I will pass on your contact details to my boss as she may be interested.”
Senior Marketer – Major Healthcare Company
“Karen Skehel has enabled me take the steps to make my dreams come true.
Together we pin point the missing links between my actions and my success and by identifying them, I can take action to bridge the gap and move on towards my goals. I have come far since making her acquaintance. Her background in marketing and her generous spirit have guided me to a more confident and powerful position in life. Although we have focused on business matters, I have noticed that my personal and home life have also improved. Everything in my life is poised on the edge of success and I can only see success ahead.”
Renee Edwards – Film Maker
“Well I guess you can add me to your list of success stories. I took away a couple of the things you said and worked on those……….”
Helen Ratcliffe – KPMG
“The coaching I had with Karen was in many ways life changing for me. Karen helped me to see things in a different way and boost my satisfaction with my life and work immeasurably. In many ways my life and work didn’t change but my approach and attitudes had a complete paradigm shift. Karen helped me achieve this by her astute questioning and objectively clarifying what the real situation was. By building a good rapport and being very perceptive I felt a huge positive change when she focused on a negative habit which has held me back in a number of situations and coached me to a more positive approach – I am overwhelmed by the difference that has made to me personally and professionally – thank you.
Ruth Smith, Managing Director, P M Management, HR and Marketing Consultancy
“I have really benefited from coaching in that I have a much stronger company, and now have a much better idea of my own strengths and how to use them effectively. I have learnt about my fear and how to overcome it and Karen has been really helpful in this area as she has helped me to look at the fear directly and see it as the sham that it is. She has also helped me to see that it is the excuse for not being my successful self. Karen has also helped to put me in touch with my creativity and see how to use it practically. I now feel much more confident abut the future.
Thank you for the coaching over the six months which was very helpful, life changing and life enhancing.”
Maggie Banks – Managing Director, Co create
www.co-create.ltd.uk
“I was pretty sceptical about the value of coaching before I started with Karen. Now I am a firm believer in its value and I have seen real benefits. Not only have I realised that I have the power to achieve my business and personal goals, but I have also learnt how to self-coach in the process”.
Chris Ellis – Managing Director, Netspace Kingston
“The coaching boosted my self-esteem, confidence and consequently changed my life.”
SF- Part ownerof a major international retailer
“Coaching provided me with the right motivation to make the changes I wanted to make and enabled me to tackle issues one
by one.”
Bill Downing – formerly VP, TK Max
“Karen is an outstanding coach who has an innate ability to empower people to reach new goals, maximise their potential and live life to the full.”
James Drury – Market Intelligence Manager, Interdec Working Spaces
“Wanted to say your coaching session was great, I have taken on board so much of what came out and now following my true passion….Thankyou!!”
Jennifer M. Fall – Business Development Manager, Business Intelligence, IBM
“The experience was valuable. Coaching was an effective means of achieving things I knew were within my grasp but needed a little discipline in achieving. The coach was very effective in providing this discipline and helping to form strategies to achieve the goals.”
City Fund Manager
“Working with Karen has been very helpful in several areas of my life. She has helped me to focus, break problems down and be more methodical in how I resolve them. I have carved out a lot of time to really think some things through. More over, regular sessions with Karen have helped to ‘hold my feet to the fire’… I’ve got on and done things I would otherwise have put off, knowing that I had a follow-up session in a few days. And that is incredibly valuable..”
Stuart Jackson – Management Consultant
“I have found the experience of coaching to be valuable and to have developed certain skills that I hope will benefit
me in my future life. I have more focus, positivity, acknowledgement of myself, my achievement and my capabilities. The key is how to continue these.”
Grant Calton – Entrepreneur
“I began my coaching fairly sceptical about the process, I didn’t really believe I needed it or that it would be of any use. How wrong I was! My coaching experience has been invaluable. I didn’t realise until I began the process, how unhappy I was with parts of my life, or that the parts I thought were a disaster area could be easily rectified. By looking at things differently and by being open minded I began to discover that my life really was in my own hands. I have achieved a different way of life, a happier existence and an improved mentality. It has been a learning curve which I would recommend to anyone. My coaching experience has purely been a positive one.”
Louise Graham – AA
“Karen is both intuitive and practical in her coaching, providing not only plenty of opportunities for valuable insight but also a good sounding board for ways to move forward. As well as her great motivation skills I found Karen’s constant enthusiasm a great lift and always felt focused and ready to go after a session with her!”
Bridget Adams – Marketing Manager, Lycos
“Karen applied all the relevant skills of a Life Coach in a wonderfully
professional and empathetic way. She knew just when to encourage me, nudge me along, challenge me or help me be more kind to myself. I felt empowered to make the changes I wanted to my life and supported on the journey. Karen’s intuition and integrity helped me uncover many true insights about myself during our coaching relationship, which I have been able to learn from and use to my advantage. After every session with Karen, I felt inspired to take control of my life and move forward in a direction which would ultimately end in real achievement and happiness.
I highly recommend Karen as a Life Coach for anyone who truly wants to live that life they’ve always dreamt of.”
P.S. “Thanks SO much for working with me over the past few months. It’s been a wonderful experience and an enormously positive influence on my life.”
Deena Khodeir- Marketing Consultant
“When I first met Karen, I had just been diagnosed with secondary cancer and was in the ‘oh my God, how long have I got to live’ state of tears, anger, resentment and victimisation.
Over the past 6 months, Karen has worked with me, enabling me to regain control of my outcome.
I have found new positivity that gets stronger by the day; I have realised that my personal mind, body, spirit connection is so strong that what I believe, decide or trust can effect me within 24 hours. I have learned to appreciate all the wonderful things that nature has to offer and in doing so, heal myself. I truly believe that I will be free of cancer again and continue to live a healthy, happy life.”
SK – London
The following are featured on Linked In
“I have been going through a business coaching process with Karen for a couple of months now and, although we are only half way through the agreed timescale, the amount of creative change Karen has helped unlock is quite remarkable. We are implementing significant changes in the business which will not only increase profitablility but significantly inmprove my quality of life. Karen’s patient, methodical, sympathetic and encouraging approach is something I would recommend to anyone seeking change in their business and personal life.”
Ian Marlow – Managing Director, HfM Tax & AccountsSolving the Business, Tax & Accounting Problems of Individuals and Small Businesses
“I found my sessions with Karen helped me through what was a very challenging time both at work and in my social life. She opened my eyes to a different approach to tackle those challenges and helped me remain focus. I may well be in touch again in the future to start on a new programme with her. I enjoyed my sessinos and appreciated her help in organizing myself and remotivating myself.”
Danny Habel, Owner of Habels
“I am happy to recommend Karen Skehel – founder of Walk on Waves Coaching – for her enthusiasm, insight, good ideas and ability to get our company motivated. Thank you, Karen, for all of your help in getting us motivated!”
Marcy Dorfman – Retreat Coordinator, Oxon Hoath
“Karen is an excellent coach, insightful, motivational with an abundance of tools and strategies. She focuses on what’s most important to facilitating progress on any goal or issue and the result is always a move forward with an energy boost and plenty of insightful ah ha moments along the way. I would definitely recommend Karen.”
Claire Taylor – International Healthcare Marketing Consultant, Writer & Storyeller
“I used Karen to help me with business planning and personal issues. In just two sessions she coached me to achieve valuable results which have helped me immensely in all areas. I don’t know how she did it, but amongst other things, she somehow subtly broke down mental barriers I had built for myself. I recommend Karen as someone who will get you where you want to go.”
Raz Khan – Owner, Cobalt Sky
“When I met Karen Skehel, my approach to coaching was tinged with sceptism – is this going to be another waste of time and money? My concerns were unfounded. Karen helped me take my current thinking and enabled me to create a very tangible, inspirational goal.
The pace of the sessions was fast and the sessions were always full. One of the most valuable aspects was the need to do a small amount of “homework”, which again simply by committing things to paper helped crystalise the thinking and “forced the issue”. Having an independent coach to work with served as a very valuable external sounding board that helps to keep you focused on achieving your goals.”
Shaun Orpen – Consultant Marketing Director
“Being coached by Karen has allowed me to see my business from a completely different perspective than the normal ‘business’ workshops I have attended in the past. With her coaching, my business is improving not just for my clients and the bottom line, but also for my personal job satisfaction too.”
Valerie Etemadi – Managing Director at The UK Field Company
“Through coaching with Karen Skehel of Walk on Waves Coaching, I’ve re-organised my head, brought things into perspective, achieved defined objectives and sharpened my focus. It’s been enlightening!”
Mark Herman – Experienced Caterer
Wow what a journey I have had this last year. To be honest it has been life changing. My approach to both 
business and personal issues is now very structured and objective
Thank you for taking me through this journey and I look forward to our meeting in September.”
Kevin Godden – Director at FMG Consulting Ltd
“I have found that Karen’s coaching has helped me enormously. It’s as if she has helped me to unlock a key inside which has allowed me to react to the world in a new way. The effects of this on my home life, my mood, and my business have been spectacular.”
Chris King – Owner, Kb49 Ltd
“The coaching experience with Karen helped me re-focus on what was important in my life, and helped me work through a number of key life decisions, including going into business with a partner. I found Karen to be a stimulating, thought provoking partner who understood me well and so was able to offer practical advice.”
David Taylor, Brand Coach, writer and speaker. Founder & Managing Partner, the brandgym
“I did nearly a year of Business coaching with Karen , and I’ve reflected a lot about coaching and how it affected me. Overall it was an excellent experience and resulted in some very powerful action in my business.
I gave four people Karens’ number and raved about how positive the experience was for me. Karen is both intuitive and very experienced as a coach and I would recommend her to anyone.”
Brett Schlesinger – Director at Drumcafe UK and Owner, Drumcafe
“Karen advised me as a career and personal coach a few years ago, and I was impressed by her professionalism and client care, as well as the methods/process used. She has been helping me re-focus my goals and ambitions in a very effective manner.”
Philippe Ruttens- Marketing & Communications Manager (BeLux) at Accenture
“Coaching has given me the ability to get from where I was to where I am now. I have experienced the power and value of the coaching tools in assisting me to get where I wanted to go. I’m happier in my business and personal life – doing more of the things I love and less of the things I don’t. Coaching has given me the opportunity to think more empowering and useful thoughts than I have ever done before. I now see the bigger picture. My commitment to coaching has enabled me to make time to reap the benefits. Karen is a non-judgemental and encouraging coach, whose skills have helped me reframe the negative into the positive (with results to match). If you are thinking of trying coaching, I say “Do it. There’s a lot to gain.”
Don Leslie – Director, Management Consultancy Recruitment at BLT (Beament Lesile Thomas) – dfl(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)bit.co.uk
“Karen was excellent at making me sort out the Important from the Urgent, setting correct priorities and holding me to account for following through on the tasks we set. I would highly recommend Karen to anyone who is thinking about using a business coach.”
Nigel Lambe – Sussex based entrepreneur and business advisor. Food & Drink, Retail, Leisure, Logistics
What coaches say on Linked In about my work as a Coaching Supervisor
“As a professional coach myself I have a very clear idea of what I am looking for from my supervisor – someone who is expert, creative and confident. Karen fits this description brilliantly. I am particularly grateful to her for her ability to flex with my thinking and bold enough to challenge and to stretch. Working with Karen has really helped me to develop as a coach and I know my clients have benefited significantly from our work.”
Simon Crowe – Executive coach, facilitator and trainer
“Karen challenges a coach to become even better and achieve even higher standards of performance with their clients. She has the ability not only to ask the most appropriate and searching questions, but also to bring her intuition to bear and sense the underlying emotion related to an issue. I have found her approach to supervision most useful in gaining clarity over client facing issues and situations. Supervision is a useful coaching tool and Karen an excellent example of the value an effective supervisor can add to a coaching practice.”
Martin Goodyer – Expert Business Coach & Coach Trainer
What other coach clients say about Karen’s coaching:
“This coaching did change my life. I now totally believe in myself – your encouragement helped me enormously, I think you are brilliant. I am energised and on my way. Thank you very much for unblocking me and empowering me to be the me I always knew I could be.”
Shirley Caldwell – Motivational Speaker and Life Coach
“Karen is a great coach and I have recommended her to one of my dearest friends… She is flexible, practical and a great facilitator of insights. I always change more than I thought possible as we
talk! I leave sessions light, energetic and proud of what is happening. She has accelerated my life process and I am grateful for this relationship and having Karen as my coach.”
Dr. Harry Waters – Medical Doctor and Business Coach
“Having been her client, I can honestly say that Karen Skehel is a great life coach. I chose her having contacted 14 other potential life coaches, including some of the most famous in their field. Karen’s consistent and forceful support was tangible and spurred me on to achieve a great deal more than I would have done on my own. Karen is wise, gentle, caring, adaptable and has much experience in this field. I recommend her.”
P.S. “The benefits of your coaching will no doubt keep flowing through my practice for many years to come. Thank you.”
Sam Deane – Life Coach
“I’ve noticed your immense generosity towards the coaching community
and obvious professionalism- what a great role model you are!
Marion Ryan – Life and Business Coach
“Karen, thanks to your coaching I have the health and energy I have always wanted to live my life to the full, together with balance in my working and personal life. Your intuition and encouragement has set me firmly on the pathway to success and fulfilment emotionally and physically.” “One year later, my overall health continues to improve, and I’m a lot more relaxed than I’ve ever been”
Joanne Philip – HR Director and Executive Coach
“Karen has challenged me to take a long hard look at what I really want from my work and where I really want to go with my business. This was an important objective to me. I’ve always felt both supported, encouraged and accepted by Karen and she has the knack for quickly getting to the heart of the matter.”
David Simmons – Corporate and Executive Coach turned Financial Coach
“From our first session Karen created an atmosphere of trust and understanding that enabled me to fully embrace our coaching sessions. Her empathy was unconditional and genuine without being indulgent, ensuring I stayed focused on achieving my goals. Karen’s focus was entirely on me: who I really was, what mattered to me and how I could create the life that would bring me the greatest joy and fulfilment. This entirely non-judgemental approach was liberating, for the first time in my life, only my voice mattered, it was OK to listen to only my voice, my heart. She gently supported me to learn how to listen to this voice and discover what I really wanted and, even better, that if I listened to myself I would discover what I really wanted in my life.
In working towards my goals we covered a wide range of issues. Karen’s experience and intuitive style enabled her to adapt to how I was feeling that day – sometimes I needed a lot of support, other times we could have fun, either way making progress. Perhaps the most powerful aspect of my coaching partnership with Karen was the confidence I gained from knowing that through her coaching there was no problem or opportunity that I couldn’t face and deal with. Issues that in the past would have stumped and troubled me for days, weeks or much longer were worked through in a matter of minutes with Karen’s guidance and support. I always left each session feeling empowered and encouraged, knowing what I was going to do next to create more happiness and peace in my life.
By way of another “mini reference” for you I have found that I’m still learning from the work with did together. In the same way that you learn as much in the year after you pass your driving test as you did when you were with your instructor, I can still hear your voice in my head when I’m in certain situations and I just feel (generally!) so much calmer and more capable than I did before our coaching. I’ve definitely now found my voice and I’m really enjoying listening to it and using it to guide me, rather than looking elsewhere. The way I’ve summarised the experience to friends is that I knew that I came across as a very capable, determined, confident person, but like most people I rarely felt that that way inside. Now what’s going on inside matches what I project to a much greater degree.”
Katherine Leedham – Marketing Consultant, Life Coach