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Talk With Me – I’m A Life Coach

Published on: 2 May, 2017
Updated on: 4 Apr, 2017

By Megan Wilman

Can you imagine talking about your problems to a complete stranger on the street?

Professional life coach Lee Cuddis wants people to do just that. This month (April 2017) he will be roaming around Guildford High Street offering free personal coaching sessions for people that approach him. This is part of his short tour around Surrey and Sussex encouraging people to be more open.

Lee plans to stand around Guildford with a small board and T-shirt simply bearing the slogan “Talk With Me.” He is hoping this open invite will attract participants. He explains, “I’m not approaching people, because if you hand out leaflets or lucky heather people run a mile. With my mannerisms and my energy I’m trying to attract people and draw a crowd.”

Inspired by street magicians, Lee thinks this is the first experiment of its kind. Having been a hairdresser for over 15 years, he is used to people being comfortable talking to him.

“I’m used that one on one interaction. People automatically want to talk to you when they’re in the hairdressers. Then they walk out onto the street, out of the salon, and their mindset changes. I want to bring that out onto the street, to challenge people to talk to a complete stranger, because that’s what I’m used to.”

This talent enabled Lee to leave hairdressing and begin his life coaching practice two years ago, something he wants to be very hands on with. “My training is in mindfulness and life coaching. So many life coachers out there are trying to advertise on social media. To me that’s frustrating, it’s not the real world. I want to go out where the world is and see what comes my way. It’s going to be fun!

Keen to get his name on the map, he explains what inspired this unusual challenge. “I wanted to connect with people more, the idea came to me when I was in the garden centre with everybody around me. Everybody needs help, in one way or another, about life, including myself. So, what I wanted to do was help bridge the missing connection between the two and go to ground zero, ground zero being the high street.”

Of course, with something that’s never been done before the experiment is not without uncertainty. “It’s hard to say how it’s going to go down, it’s going to be funny as people are looking at me. There’s no telling how people are going to react, if they’re going to react at all.”

To combat shyness, Lee says he has been practising inviting sentences and phrases in the hope of inspiring people that approach him to talk about their problems.

People who find the street sessions useful will be able to see Lee for further private sessions at his practice. The life coach has his sights set high, “I’m really excited, I’m hoping to get a television programme out of it. I’d like to do a column, I don’t like the idea of ‘Agony Uncle’ because I don’t like the word ‘agony.” He adds he’s “champing at the bit” to get started.

Lee will be in Guildford town centre between 2pm and 4pm, Thursday, May 18.

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