Do what you love.

Before I became a self-defence coach. I had a career in advertising. An unusual switch you may think, upon closer inspection, there are similarities. I decided to investigate.

Good communication skills to convey a message to the target audience.

As an art director, communication is focused on selling stuff to people.

Whilst teaching self-defence, communication is focused on educating individuals about techniques and strategies for self-protection.

Creativity is key. Although it may seem bleedin' obvious that creativity is essential for an art director, it is also good for a self-defence coach for creating training programmes that keep the learner engaged.

Knowing that people learn in different ways, a coach must be able to recognise and adapt to help the student learn in the best way for them.

Having a few extra ideas up your sleeve helps for both.

Problem solving. If a student is struggling in class, you need to be able to think on your feet and adapt the training to help them learn. Similarly in advertising, unexpected problems can arise. All need to be resolved and possibly when you are up against the clock.

Remaining calm under stress.

Both professions require a cool head. For those who teach, know you are also a diplomat and a psychologist as well as a coach.

Relevantly, we are teaching our students to solve problems whilst under stress.

Trust. Both fields require building trust.

Advertisers: when making claims about products.

Self-defence trainers: earn trust by providing learners with practical skills and techniques and of course creating a safe, supportive place to learn.

While teaching self-defence versus being creative may seem like vastly different professions, there is indeed a fair bit in the venn diagram intersection. I'm not going back!

#theselfdefencecoach