The truth is that I never thought through how falling in love with a farmer might impact my whole life. He was such a kind man and I'd been a bit shattered by some less than nice men so at 25 all I could see was the benefits of life with a kind man PLUS there was a cute little cottage on a small farm he had purchased so when he proposed, I accepted and moved to the middle of nowhere with my kind farmer.
The farmer didn't need me on the farm, I helped out "occasionally" but there wasn't a job for me and even if there had been, I hadn't signed up to be a farmer myself. So I looked at all my options.
Commuting is something that people all over the world do and I was willing to join them, but there was no public transport so it was a 3 hour return trip by car to Christchurch. I negotiated with my employer at the time to work from home 1 day a week, I stayed in town 1 or 2 nights per week but then everyone else wanted to work from home too so - working from home was stopped for everyone. Thirty years ago working from home was seen as a luxury perk not a given just because you chose to live far away from your job.
With a degree behind me and an entrepreneurial spirit I took up the challenge of self employment from the farm, this included the following ventures which all occured at similar times and were often overlapping. Each of these businesses operated while we raised our 3 children together.
A very small garden centre - Waiau Woodland World
An olive venture (they all died 2 years in a row)
A hazelnut venture (they weren't for us, but we put a lot into them)
A B&B called Spring Cottage which ran until the earthquake damaged it
An online Rhododendron nursery called RhodoDirect - 20 years!
Maison (homewares at fetes) such a lot of fun, zero profit
Chocolate Brownie recipe and mixes which I sold on to The Nuthouse.
The Shearers wool - a great idea but my social media accounts got scammed and hacked and that ended that!
Throughout the 25 years of raising our children I also contracted to organisations around our region providing training and development services on an as needed basis to The Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa, Polkadots and Tree Bears Preschools, The Hurunui District Council and others.
In 2018 our last 2 children (twins) went off to boarding school and I could see the potential of returning to the career I had before they came along. Only one of the businesses mentioned above was still active in 2018 and we secured a buyer for it and RhodoDirect moved into Christchurch leaving me available to go back to what I really really loved full time.
I'd just completed two additional qualifications one through SIT the Diploma of Professional Coaching and one through HR Profiling Australasia, Extended DISC Certification. With these two qualifications added to my degree in psychology I launched my brand new business PROFILE Coaching Ltd.
I had worked for some well known organisations in the past, companies like Ravensdown Fertiliser, The George Hotel, Carters Building Company, SouthPower, MainPower, WestpacTrust, The ChCh City Council and many more so I was sure that I could re-establish myself in the professional development arena in NZ. A few curve balls came my way that made this business grow in a way I never expected.
Covid Lockdowns
The coaching industry boom
International networks
Zoom became an acceptable way of engaging with people and face to face training changed opening a pathway for me to work from home for the first time in my career. Since the lockdowns my work has moved from 10% at home to 80% from home, something I'm enormously grateful for. I have so much more energy when the commute is from my bedroom to the dining room table where I work from. I absolutely love working from home and am grateful every day of my working week that I'm not driving 3 hours each day.
Coaching has really got exciting in New Zealand and I've had the privledge of training 50 coaches on their journey using Extended DISC profiling. After gaining the certification myself and working with 100 clients over my first year I was privledged to be invited by HR profiling Australasia to join them as a Master Trainer. This has meant that I've been able to support emerging coaches in their own business development. In a bold move I tapped my Tutor from the Dipolma programme on the shoulder and invited her to join me in the world of Extended DISC and she agreed. Thank you Nicole Coyne for being part of this journey.
In 2023 I was invited to attend an online event run out of Pakistan, I had no idea how that event would impact me and my business but the next 12 months became a roller coaster of exciting opportunities as I got to work with coaches in Dubai, Saudi, Pakistan, Indonesia and India thanks to an amazing woman Khadija Usman and the invitation extended to me by my friend Prajesh Chhanabhai. I could never have imagined how doors could open for me outside of NZ the way that they have.
In 2024 I was invited to join Blanchard Aotearoa New Zealand as an affiliate and this is a new part of my journey providing Leadership Development through this incredible organisation. A fellow student from the Diploma programme and I stayed connected and Tim Waite opened the opportunity for me to meet the Directors of Blanchard Robert Bryce and Dave Cordery.
Women are making opportunities for themselves up and down the country and I'm passionate about supporting those who would like to explore a coaching or professional development career. If you would like to talk to me about your situation please feel free to reach out to me via email info@profilecoaching.co.nz
To find out more about Extended DISC please feel free to request my free EBOOK here.
DIRECTOR PROFILE Coaching
BSc.psychology
Diploma Professional Coaching
Certified Practitioner and Accreditation Coach Extended DISC ®
Blanchard Aotearoa NZ Affiliate
Marina is a coach, professional development expert, and facilitator who specialises in helping people and teams develop themselves so they can be the best version of themselves and conduct their personal and professional lives more effectively. Marina is based in Waiau, North Canterbury where she lives with her sheep and beef farmer husband and family.
Learn more about her HEREÂ
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