Between Your Old Story and the One You Haven't Told Yet
My goal in writing this is to offer you some insight into how I see the world, demystify what coaching can do, and extend an open hand to anyone…especially fellow LGBTQ+, HSPs, and those facing financial challenges.
I didn’t set out to be a coach. And if you’re reading this, maybe you didn’t set out to search for one, either. But here you are, quietly curious about something bigger for yourself, for your relationships, and for what it really means to live as fully as you can. That curiosity—sometimes a whisper, sometimes a knock to the head—is where every transformation begins.
I coach to inspire, support, and partner with clients until they glimpse possibilities they’d never permitted themselves to imagine. And to do that well you have to build trust—layer by layer, question by question—because without trust, nothing real can take root. When the work lands, the reward isn’t just a richer inner life for my clients — it’s a more prosperous, purposeful life for both of us. It is an awesome feeling.
I’ve known this drive for as long as I can remember. Even before I had words for it, I was a natural behind-the-scenes facilitator, an excellent active listener, and a talented interpreter of non-verbal cues. Now I understand much of this to be a reflection of my HSP trait.
Here’s what grounds my coaching, drawing inspiration from Michael Bungay Stanier and Simon Sinek:
Like Michael Bungay Stanier, I don’t coach by marching you through a prescribed program. I believe in asking questions that interrupt your autopilot and create space to think—what Stanier calls "staying curious a bit longer, rushing to action and advice a little more slowly." Change happens in the doorway between your old story and the one you haven’t quite dared to voice. That’s the conversational sweet spot where breakthrough questions live.
Simon Sinek always starts with why. Why do I coach? Because I believe everyone deserves to feel seen, supported, and challenged to grow, especially those of us who’ve hungered for more but hesitated to ask. This includes the LGBTQ+ community, highly sensitive people discovering their strengths, and anyone navigating financial challenges—groups that know what it's like to want more but wonder if it's okay to reach for it and who they can trust.
Coaching is my way of championing your story, not to “fix” you but to help you bring the strongest, most astonishing version of yourself into the open.
My clients are ready, in their own way, to stop performing and start living. They’re done with “supposed to”; they want “what if.” Together, we do real work:
- Examining old patterns.
- Embracing self-inquiry.
- Putting both feet into who you could become, not who you used to be.
My coaching is practical and personal. It’s a blend of radical honesty, deep listening, and a commitment to holding you in your highest potential, even when you’re struggling to see it for yourself.
We don’t do “surface fixes.” We go wherever breakthroughs happen.
-Derek