About me

My name is Jeremy Deedes. I am a life coach. I specialise in helping the confused and disappointed to become change makers who find fulfilment, purpose and meaning in their lives by making a difference to others.

If this pushes buttons, I invite you to join my programme of courses, group coaching and supportive community at My Crazy for Change.

I publish articles on Medium that give insights into my five stage process, based on the Transtheoretical Model of Change, comprising mindset, wisdom, resilience, wealth and contribution. Please let me know in the comments section if the articles are of help.

Home and work

I live and work in North Yorkshire in the UK. I am married with one son, now independent. I have turned 65 and enjoy walking, running, cycling, reading and writing. We live with a dog and two cats. Covid permitting, I spend two inspirational and uplifting weeks each year in Lourdes, France, providing help and care to sick and disabled pilgrims who visit the shrine.

I occasionally write about life in Yorkshire or elsewhere on my personal site at wordsnotdeeds.co.uk.

In 2016 I withdrew from financial services after 30 years, during which I became a Certified Financial Planner and qualified as the UK’s first Kinder Institute Registered Life Planner.

I became Fellow of the Institute of Financial Planning and served on the Board from 2006 to 2012.

However, I found that my clients valued my experience and help to achieve their life aspirations ranked far above financial advice.

So, my role gradually evolved into a life coach. I trained formally as a coach and established Project Sophia Ltd and the Crazy for Change platform of courses, a community and coaching.

My mission

If you think living life to the full is just about personal satisfaction you have probably missed the point.

As a life coach, I help you understand that meaning arises from making a difference to others and coach you to recover or renew the sense of purpose in your life.

I am becoming known as the coach who puts meaning back into life. My mission is to build a community of change-makers dedicated to leading meaningful lives by making a difference for others.

Brief CV

• Educated at Ampleforth College and the Universities of Reading (BSc), Aston (MBA) and Chester (PG Cert) • Received a commission in the British Army and served in BAOR and Northern Ireland • Qualified as a Certified Financial Planner, Fellow of the Institute of Financial Planning and the UK’s first Kinder Institute Registered Life Planner • Set up, grew and sold Planning for Life, a financial planning firm • Served on the Board of the Institute of Financial Planning • Gained a Post-graduate Certificate in Personal and Business Coaching and established Project Sophia Ltd, a coaching and training business. • Launched Crazy for Change to provide courses, group and personal coaching and a community to help people become change makers who find meaning by making a difference.

Publications

• Published Right Money, Right Place, Right Time (January 2015), a book that focusses on how focussing on investment returns misses the point of money and proposing instead that the role of money is as a means to an end, a resource to help us achieve our life goals

• Contributed a chapter to Retire Inspire (February 2019), an anthology of work by specialists in the field of retirement, which considered how to live a meaningful life in retirement free from futility and pointlessness.

• Led a global collaborative book project to write and publish Enough: Unlock a life of abundance starting right where you are (October 2021), a collection of personal and often deeply moving stories about what it means to be and have enough from sixteen entrepreneurs from around the world.

• Wrote and published Crazy for Change: How to find meaning by making a difference in five challenging steps (3rd edition, September 2022), an ebook describing the Crazy for Change process. The book includes descriptions of each stage and exercises to give you a taste of your journey.

Personal brochure

For further information, please download my personal brochure.