ABOUT ME

"The best day and experience of my life was also the worst." 

A phrase that I have used for many years to explain my almost constant positivity and the origin of it. 

I will explain this situation and concept when we talk.

I was born in Zambia, Africa. My secondary education was in southern England, then I went to the north west for University. I have also lived in Somalia, Malawi, the USA, Dubai and Australia, amongst others. I have been fortunate enough to travel to over 100 countries for both business and pleasure.

My first career was in hospitality, my second was in recruitment and the third in sales. Although I enjoyed them all, I knew that I wanted to be my own boss, do something important, set my own hours and have the freedom to travel the world whenever I wanted, not just whilst on annual leave from a job. I have been in Malaria control (selling and helping to develop more effective mosquito nets), for over 20 years now. 

This business is very rewarding, as I know that I have helped "push the needle" with the rollout of newer and better ways to protect people from a terrible disease. I am fortunate enough to have had a few other revenue streams over the years. Some were very profitable, such as "flipping" property, and others were more just for the enjoyment of it, such as teaching English as a foreign language, online.

This last job, (which I still do), I don't really count as such, because I get to speak to very educated and fantastic adults, all with interesting stories, from across the globe (but mainly Japanese and Korean). I only do a few hours a week and the money from it goes into the restaurant, entertainment and drinks "kitty". 

So many of the conversations with my students (through their imploring), became about helping them to change their mindset and enjoy their lives more. I was amazed at how many very intelligent and successful people shared the same dilemmas and issues. They were talking to a man (me) that in some cases earned less than 20% of their annual income, but were consistently using phrases like "I am so jealous of your life" and "I wish that I could be as positive and happy as you". Finally, one of them told me that I should be a life coach and that seed of an idea, has led me to where I am today.

I have owned a house for about 10 years on the southern coast of England, in a beautiful seaside town. I am a tax paying UK resident and my business is also registered there. Because I abhor the grey, wet and windy winters, I decided many years ago to spend a few months every year, somewhere warm. After trying out other countries, in 2014, I thought that I would check out Thailand, as I had been here before on business and liked it.

One of the first people that I met on my first extended trip to Thailand was my future wife. She was a caddy at a golf club in Chiang Mai. There were 350 caddies at her club, so it was pure luck that we met. We were friends for my first 2 trips here and then things became more serious. We married in November 2019, at her parents house, up in the mountains.

She was born in a small village very near the Myanmar border in northern Thailand. Life was very hard for her, as her family moved around a lot, working on farms or building sites. If they did not work that day, they did not eat much that night. Because of this, she never got the chance to go to school and that hurt at the time, seeing some of her friends go every day, when she had to work (from a very early age). So she too, has many data points to give her perspective on life and gratitude for the good things.

I was definitely not looking for a relationship, hence the reason why we were just friends for a few years. Not long after we started to be romantically involved, I was hospitalized for a week with Typhus and she stayed at my bedside, all day, every day. This further highlighted what an incredible person she was and obviously flicked a switch in me. 

Many people in relationships will scoff at the following, but bear with me. We are both independent people, with our own interests, ideas, attitudes and circles of friends. We only have a few months together a year and even then, we are certainly not an average couple that spend a lot of their spare time together. We share some key, core values about life and some hobbies (golf and food amongst them), but are polar opposites in other areas. Our differences and our time apart have made us stronger as a couple, not weaker and we thoroughly enjoy our time together. Would this model work for most? No, probably not, but it works for us and I genuinely believe that it could work for others too.