Episode #10: Marianne Craig - Founding Firework Coaching, Questioning Everything and Where Were the Coaches When the Banks Went Down?

Marianne Craig is a master coach and the co-founder of Firework Coaching Company, home of the renowned and proven Firework framework for helping people change career. From a young age, Marianne realised the value of questioning everything, but that only started to become her profession in the midst of what Marianne calls a fulfillment crisis. She was listening to BBC Woman’s Hour in 1999 when she heard a coach speaking. By the end of the programme she was already calling the helpline: she knew it was what she wanted to do for a living.

Since then, she has racked up thousands of hours of coaching, founding Firework in 2003, becoming an ICF accredited Master Coach in 2005 and forming many other collaborations including Mirus Coaching for Social Change, Mentor Coaches International and a new project providing pro bono coaching to Extinction Rebellion activists.

With 25 years' experience as a business owner, coach and consultant she works with people who are at a life or career crossroads. Her specialism is supporting clients to find meaningful and fulfilling work.

In this episode, we talk about:

How, as a working class little girl on a council estate near Glasgow, she first learned about her sense of agency in the world.

How she created the renowned Firework Career Coaching Framework, started Firework Coaching Company and later sold it.

Why she has never got bored of her work with people changing careers.

What she thinks makes a great website for a coach (as one of the first people to have a coaching website) and how to launch it.

How she tried every kind of marketing in existence and what she learned from that experimentation (and what she recommends you do so you don’t have to experiment with everything).

Plus, starting from Marianne’s bugbears about the coaching industry, we get into a fascinating conversation about the morals and ethics of coaching, and ask questions like, is the end is near for ‘the client’s agenda’ and ‘where were the coaches when the banks went down’?

For more information about Marianne, visit: https://www.coachlifeandcareer.com/ or http://www.mentor-coach.com/

For information about Robbie’s wider work and writing, visit www.robbieswalecoaching.com.

Music by My Good Man William: listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4KmeQUcTbeE31uFynHQLQg

Things and people we mentioned (that you might be interested in):

~4: James Bianco and the Coach’s Journey episode with James: https://www.thecoachsjourney.com/podcast/episode-5-james-bianco-beware-your-simple-stories-about-coaching-success

~5: Laura Berman Fortgang: https://laurabermanfortgang.com/

~10: Coach U: https://www.coachu.com/

~30 and ~37: Firework: https://www.fireworkcoaching.com/

~38: Kate Edmunds: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/kate-edmonds-5aa25516

~39: CTI: https://coactive.com/

~40: Careershifters: http://www.careershifters.org/

~40: My temping colleague, Amy, and her awesome vintage dress company, Clarence and Alabama: https://www.clarenceandalabama.co.uk/

~41: Richard Alderson: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/richardalderson

~54: Marianne’s ebook, So You Want To Become A Coach - A Guide to Training and Skills for Life and Business Coaching: http://www.mentor-coach.com/become_a_life_coach.htm

~55: The ICF (International Coaching Federation) and their levels of credential, ACC, PCC and MCC: https://www.coachfederation.org.uk/credentialing/credential_path

~56: Academy of Coaching Supervision: https://coachingsupervisionacademy.com/

~58: ICF International events: