Meet life coach Sam Hook, our newest Expert in Residence

Sam Hook, owner of Uniquethinking, has been in business for more than 20 years and helps women maximise their potential through coaching.

We’re really pleased to be working with you – can you give us an overview of what you’ll be bringing HLN readers?

As the Life Coach expert, I’ll be sharing some of the mindset tools that I teach in my coaching sessions, which are aimed at helping you to feel happier and more successful at home and at work.

Each month, I’ll be covering topics such as: how to reduce negative self-talk, improving self-confidence, rewiring your belief system, tackling impostor syndrome, dealing with challenging relationships, and finding a career that’s right for you.

What do you put your success down to?

I was introduced to coaching in my late 20s, when I was working in PR, and it encouraged me to set up my own PR company, which I ran successfully for 18 years. Working with a coach helped me to move out of my comfort zone and challenged my beliefs about what I thought I could achieve.

I think when you have your own business, having a life coach to meet with every few months is really helpful, as they work on your mindset, offer new perspectives, keep you focused, set new goals and help you to achieve a work-life balance. Equally, having a coach at work can help you to progress in your chosen career. Coaching plus accountability definitely equals success.

Finally, if you’re lucky enough to find something that you love doing and that’s aligned to your values, this can contribute towards a happier career. I work with a lot of women who feel unfulfilled at work and, once we’ve identified their strengths, core values, passions and purpose and have worked through their limiting beliefs and what they’d really love to do, it all becomes clearer. We then work on the steps they need to take to get them there.

Can you tell us about your business ethos?

Uniquethinking helps women to achieve success and overcome challenging issues, using a mix of Mindset Coaching, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques.

I offer programmes including Unique You and Unique Business, either in-person or virtually. I also run workshops and coaching sessions with individuals and groups on specific issues, including career coaching, self-confidence, impostor syndrome and goal setting for small businesses.

My ethos is that coaching is accessible, relaxed and fun. Realising someone’s potential is at the heart of what I do. I would love for everyone to have access to a life coach, someone to meet with every few months to progress their goals and overcome any blocks that might be preventing them from progressing in life, such as low self-confidence or self-belief.

What have been some of your biggest professional achievements so far?

Setting up my PR company would be one of my achievements, and receiving Best Small PR Agency and Best PR Campaign awards from the CIPR. Over the years, we have worked with some amazing clients – from holiday resorts in the Caribbean, to Camelot (we promoted National Lottery winners), which was a lot of fun.

I also co-own three restaurants in Newcastle: Blackfriars, Dobson & Parnell and Hinnies. We’ve had Blackfriars for 20 years this month, so it’s been great to be part of that success and I’m really proud of what the team has achieved. I know I’m biased, but I really do love eating there!

I’m also pleased that I’ve set up my coaching business. It’s been a big identity shift and has taken a lot of re-training, but you don’t have to stay in one career all your life. I think coaching is a real growth area, especially after lockdown, and the clients I have worked with have found it to be invaluable. It’s really rewarding to see them achieve what they want to in life. I have lots of exciting plans in the future to develop the business so that I can support even more women to be more, do more and have more!

Fancy finding out more about how Sam’s life coaching courses could help you? Visit her website or follow her on Facebook and Instagram

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