Eight or more hours a day of dread, grind and no motivation is toxic

Striking a balance between work and life, or just getting a life, are modern-day clichés - easy to say and hard to achieve. For some people, work is a means to an end: you have to earn money to do, be or get what you want. For the rest of us it's more complicated. Work is part of who we are, and sometimes it defines us. Most people spend more time working than doing anything else. Which is why, when it stops, changes or becomes literally dread-full, your whole life is affected.

Work is familiar. Enjoy it or not, when it stops, you're face to face with yourself

Even if you've been longing for retirement or planning what you will do when your redundancy is final, making the transition is not always as easy as it seems. If it comes as a shock, it's even more difficult. You don't have to do it alone.

Each session lasts for ninety minutes and I charge £65 per session for private clients after the first free assessment.

• Work life balance
• Stress and distress at work
• Career development
• Changing career
• Finding a new job to suit you
• Putting a CV together
• Preparing for an interview
• Redundancy, retirement and after

Contact me on 01943 468799 or email your enquiry to talk@melanieallen.co.uk.

Career and business coaching for sole traders

You can feel isolated, working on your own, even if you're constantly in contact with clients and associates - and more so if you aren't. You set your career or business direction, make decisions, balance your life with your work and deal with day to day issues on your own. One by one, these issues don't normally pose a problem, but as they build up you can feel overwhelmed and isolated. There's no-one to talk them over with. That's one good reason for hiring a coach.

The second good reason is to keep your work and your business on track. Your overall purpose and direction can get lost in the busy-ness of the day to day or in the scary times when business is slow. Coaching can help you to set goals and objectives for your work and develop a strategy - however loose - to keep you focused when things are busy. It can also help you keep your nerve and make the most of your time when they're not.

The third good reason is to help you develop your political or people management skills - with clients, employees or other relationships.

- and it's tax deductible!

Career and Business Coaching can help you to:

• Stay motivated
• Keep focused
• Sound out ideas
• Look ahead and set vision and strategy
• Review your business direction
• Think through work-related issues
• Make considered decisions
• Balance one kind of work with another - and with the rest of your life
• Manage your relationships at work, at home or both.