Tim Brownson isn't your typical life coach.

With more than a decade of experience under his belt, nine books written and over 1,500 self-development articles penned, Tim has learned how to effectively help his clients without beating around the bush. He says it like it is, and his blog is evidence that this is often achieved through sarcasm and even profanity.

In a world filled with "woo-woo" life coaches, his opinionated and direct approach is refreshing.

Tim tells us about his journey from a successful career in sales to becoming a full-time life coach, what separates him from others in his field, and who inspires him.

He even lets us know what he really thinks about Trump getting elected.

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20 questions with Tim Brownson

1 - How would you describe yourself in one sentence?

Tim - A witty, opinionated, moody, caring, fun-loving, Liberal.

2 - I understand you had a successful 20-year career in sales and marketing; however, you've said you felt unfulfilled and even "stuck." Why do you think you felt this way?

Tim - Because I value integrity highly and it’s difficult (although not impossible) to be successful in sales and operate with integrity.

3 - What caused you to step away from the sales and marketing world and take the path to become a life coach?

Tim - I was burned out. I’d had enough of the lies, the bullshit, the constant drive for revenue irrespective of how it was acquired. I loved the team element and the money was excellent, but no matter how well I performed it was never enough. The more revenue you generate, the more they expect and the opportunity to take a breather never arises.

4 - What is your advice for those who are chasing wealth and success in business?

Tim - Good luck! If your superficial desires aren’t aligned with your core values you are going to be left empty and with a feeling of disenchantment and anti-climax. So people in such situations then think they need to set another bigger and better goal because the last one wasn’t fulfilling. They buy more nice stuff, a bigger house and have a nicer office, but this stuff only offers temporary pleasure and it soon wears off. This approach is known as the hedonic treadmill as we constantly chase "things" to make us happy. It can be exhausting and is ultimately fruitless.

5 - What sets you apart from other life coaches?

Tim - Apart from the fact I’ve been a full-time coach for 11 years, which is rare in such a fledgling industry, I’m also a certified hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner, so I have more tools at my disposal to help clients. I’m an insatiable learner and always looking to incorporate new techniques from fields like neuroscience and positive psychology to help me be a more effective coach. On top of that, I train other Life Coaches so I am constantly being tested and have to be on my game. Finally, I work very quickly with clients. I’m not into trying to get clients to spend as much money as possible with me, I want to get them in, on the right path and out again.

6 - What is the most rewarding aspect about your job?

Tim - Positive feedback from a client. A client simply saying, "I never thought of it like that," tells me I am doing my job because I have shifted their thinking and that is awesome. Also, away from actual coaching, being able to work when I want to is indispensable. For example, I will rarely see clients mid to late morning midweek as that is my dog walking time and I want to retain a good balance in my life: Something that was sadly lacking when I was in sales.

7 - You're a Master Practitioner of Hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming. What would you say to those who may be wary or skeptical about Hypnotherapy or NLP?

Tim - Do your research with hypnotherapy because there is a mountain of evidence going back almost a century. NLP is trickier because even I think some of it is nonsense and many NLP Practitioners don’t do themselves any favors by making all sorts of ridiculous claims regarding its efficacy. NLP is really an umbrella term for literally hundreds of patterns. As such, there really is no thing called NLP, it’s like open source coding in so much as it’s constantly being refined and improved. However, the language side of it is amazing and I think that is way more valuable to a coach than some of the flash-bang patterns. They can and do work, and a lot of therapists now use processes like The Fast Phobia Cure, but in my opinion only about half a dozen have significant value. Having said that, I probably don’t know at least half of them.

8 - Your writing takes a say-it-like-it-is approach and your Twitter bio confesses "sarcasm and profanity will be used freely." Your blog is written proof of this. Do your phone conversations with clients take a similar tone?

Tim - No. I never swear in front of my clients unless they do first just as a matter of respect. Having said that, I know if they have come to me through my blog or newsletter then I pretty much know we’ll work together great and have fun. My writing and use of social media is deliberate. I know that I piss some people off and others in my industry think I’m unprofessional. But I don’t care because it polarizes people and the clients who come to me have no illusions to what they are getting. I can’t appeal to everybody and this approach, to paraphrase John Lennon, doesn’t get me the most clients, but it gets me the best ones. Also, it’s so easy to just be me, I don’t have to wear a mask, filter myself or worry about other people not liking me. That would be exhausting.

9 - Many of your recent posts focused on the presidential election. It was clear you weren't thrilled with the result. Was it difficult to try to see the positive side of things following Trump's victory?

Tim - Yes and no. I actually wrote a post in which I listed some reframes on the situation. For example, this election has brought a lot of racism and xenophobia to the surface, and I’m generalizing here not pointing my finger at any one person. That was always there, but it was bubbling under the surface, so maybe it’s a good thing that as a society we can recognize we may not be as evolved as we like to think, and we can actually start to address these issues. Somebody said to me the other day, "You do realize as a white guy who works for himself, this will have little impact on you. Plus you can always go back to England." It’s not about me, though. I don’t want to see minorities marginalized, climate change ignored as a hoax or any more slaughter of citizens in places like Syria and Iraq in the name of peace. This election will affect us all. Maybe not in obvious ways like lower taxes or employment, but in 1,000 more subtle ways.

10 - Have you ever been guilty of not being able to follow your own advice that you pass on to clients?

Tim - Well first of all, I rarely advise clients as coaching isn’t about offering advice. It’s about asking the right questions to help the client to think differently and come to their own conclusions. Science has conclusively proven that we are much more likely to implement changes if they are our own and not forced upon us. But if you mean: Do I ever do dumbass stuff that would have me (secretly) rolling my eyes if it were a client? Yeh, all the time. I have my own coach and have worked with five others over the last decade. We all have our own blind spots and that’s why coaching (if the coach is competent that is) can be so effective. I’m a Human Being and I do stupid stuff.

11 - You've said you're not a "woo-woo" life coach. Why not?

Tim - Because I want my clients' buy-in on an intellectual level and not just at a level of belief (even though that is important). Most woo-woo stuff isn’t proven. It achieves hit and miss results because it relies on belief, which is shaky. If you use a process like Reiki, for example, and it doesn’t work (I had it 15+ years ago for stress and it had zero effect) then you not only look a bit stupid, but you also run the risk of the client thinking there is something wrong with them or thinking all coaches are quacks. The best example is the Law of Attraction: It’s total bollocks. I know plenty of LoA "experts" who have few clients, no social media following and a struggling practice. If you’re an expert in manifesting, surely acquiring clients is the least of your worries? Last year I had the pleasure of interviewing a quantum physicist. He totally ridiculed the ideas of people like Deepak Chopra who insist (even though his scientific knowledge is in endocrine medicine and he’s never been a research scientist) that quantum mechanics explains the Law of Attraction. It doesn’t, but people don’t know it doesn’t because they have no clue what quantum mechanics is. They believe people like Chopra, Joe Vitale, John Assaraf, et al because they speak with authority, and more importantly, they want to believe it because it gives them hope

12 - What's your biggest pet peeve?

Tim - LOL, well probably the Law of Attraction because I see it as a big problem in the self development field by making unsubstantial claims and giving false hope. But also bad coaches who refuse to continue to learn and post bullshit blog posts that offer either useless, or more worryingly, dangerous advice to people who know no different. Even though I rarely link to sources because of time constraints, I do a lot of research for my posts (presuming they’re not just opinion posts) because I think I have a duty of care to ensure I don’t misinform people.

13 - Who inspires you?

Tim - Obama inspired me. So do obvious people like the Dalai Lama, MLK, Mandela etc. But at a more mundane level, anybody who makes a stand against discrimination or the raping of our planet inspire me. At the moment, the native American protesters at Standing Rock inspire me.

14 - What's your greatest fear?

Tim - Dying before my wife. We don’t have kids and her family are all back in the UK and I hate the thought of her being alone.

15 - Do you have any regrets in life?

Tim - Not looking after my teeth as a kid!

16 - Outside of life coaching, what are you passionate about?

Tim - Minority rights in all their forms. And comedy. I love going to see stand-up and watching comedy on TV. I love to laugh. Also, my soccer team in the UK, Derby County, and the Los Angeles Rams, who I have supported since 1984. And of course my wife and 3 Dobermans.

17 - What would your advice be to someone who is looking at becoming a life coach as a career option?

Tim - Be prepared to learn marketing or you are dead in the water. Training and developing coaching skills are obviously important, but the marketplace is saturated and most coaches are struggling. A poor coach who knows marketing will kick the ass of a brilliant coach who doesn’t.

18 - What's your favorite quote?

Tim - Shakespeare’s "There is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so," brilliantly describes how the labels we attach to things are what either give us happiness or make us sad.

19 - You get to have dinner with three people, living or dead. Who are you eating with?

Tim - Other than my dad who passed away, I’m going to take Donald Trump, the most bad-ass Muslim dude who isn’t a terrorist but highly intelligent and tough as hell and some lunatic Mexican cage fighter. I’d sit down and say, ‘There you go Donald, tell us all again about Mexicans being rapists and banning Muslims." Then I’d pull out my camera and film the ensuing mayhem and send it viral on YouTube.

20 - What is one thing very few people know about you?

Tim - I left school at 15 with almost zero qualifications, but I was also a member of Mensa with an IQ of 149. I also suffer from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), which with the help of meditation and exercise is largely under control, but can flare up if I let my guard down.

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Cheers to Tim for answering these 20 questions with his candid, say-it-like-it-is approach. It made for an interesting read!

As always, thanks to all of you for taking the time to read.

Who would you like to see me throw 20 questions at? Drop me a comment below and I'll work on setting up the interview.

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