Jo Hampson & Georgina Perkins

Stepping Off into a Unique Experience!

Six years ago Jo Hampson and Georgina Perkins were fast-track senior Police Officers headed for the top of their profession. Then they gave it all up and downshifted to the country.  Now they are offering a unique service to others who want to do the same.

From their Cumbria retreat, at the top of Crosby Ravensworth Fell, Jo Hampson and Georgina Perkins ponder upon life as they gaze out to wonderful views overlooking the Lakeland Fells and the Pennines. In 2001, they gave up successful careers in the Police and bought a small business smoking food and making chocolates at The Old Smokehouse and Truffles. Following extraordinary success with this venture, they have drawn upon their skills and experience to launch a unique experience called ‘Stepping Off’.  Here they provide specialist courses for people wanting to change their lives for the better or downshift.

Stepping Off

“The mission of Stepping Off is to help those wanting to escape the rat race to make sure that they do not leap from the frying pan into the fire. There are complex motivators that steer people towards any major life change, and we have developed some simple tools to help people understand these and plan a new lifestyle that suits them better”.

“We offer relaxing day and weekend courses in a beautiful converted Westmorland barn where people can come and escape the pressures of everyday living and sort out their future. We specialise in helping people work out what they really want out of life, where they want to be and how to get there. We help with every aspect of changing your life, from simple time management to complete downshifting.  We even help people work through what stops them doing and being what they really want “

Clients of Stepping Off enjoy time in a wonderful country house environment where the focus is on the individual and their future.  They also enjoy great local food, will have time out to walk on the fells or just simply relax in front of a log fire and will come away revitalized with an action plan on how to achieve their new life.

The reality of change

The company motto at Stepping Off is - “You hold on to your dream, while we help you live through the reality.”

Jo and Georgina certainly know about the dream and the reality. Escaping the rat race doesn't always come easy when you have had a rewarding, successful career.   They found that there was lack of any specific advice available to help them achieve their ambitions.  They made some mistakes and there are a lot of things they could have done differently to make the transition easier.

As Jo reflects “Embarking on this sort of life change is momentous, yet people can do it without really thinking it through. “For every happy story of people successfully downshifting there is a sorrier tale of those who get it wrong” (Red Magazine) We were lucky.  Living through a life change is not easy.  There are many and varied issues to be tackled and overcome, emotions run high and it takes a long time to settle into a new life”.

Downshifting in one way or another is becoming more and more fashionable – as much on TV as in reality!  How many people do you know that have been saying for years "One of these days I'll leave"  "I wish I could give it all up" "I'm hoping for redundancy" "I always wanted to be...". "Next year I won't work so hard" ... 

The ethos of Stepping Off - and one they instill with huge enthusiasm is that there really is no time like the present to begin to enjoy what you want to do.   What better way to start a new chapter in your life that a relaxing weekend away where the focus is completely on you, and what you want to do, with people there to help you get it right?

The course offered by Stepping Off is unique and reflects the increase in the trend to downshift.  However the success of the courses is also being recognised by those who are facing redundancy or approaching retirement.

To consolidate their success in Stepping Off courses Jo Hampson has written a guide to downshifting called ‘Life Swap’.  This book takes the reader through a series of tasks to help them answer fundamental questions about their life, their lifestyle and helps them make sound decisions about their future.

Frank Boddy - Institutionalised Career Slave to Freedom of Being My Own Boss

Last year I was looking for ideas about how to change my life. I knew I needed to do something, but didn't know what. Having been “institutionalised” for over 20 years working for a multi-national company, where I was paid well but never felt what I was doing was really important enough for me, the biggest hurdle was changing my mind set to believe I could really do something completely different.

One Life gave me a lot of inspiration. The motivational speakers, especially Steve Parks, gave me the encouragement I needed to make a change. Then there was the sheer range of options available to me. But most of all, the number of people there who were either looking to do what I was wanting to do, or willing to help me do it.

I came away from the event with a massive confidence boost and the belief that I could make the leap I longed for. And sure enough, when the right idea came to me one day in the summer of 2006, I just knew this was it. Six months on I have reduced my working hours, set up my own company, and have recruited a number of enthusiastic friends to help me plan the launch of my environmental website.

So I will be back this year, bringing various friends and colleagues with me, but this time with an eye not only to getting that massive confidence boost again, but also to start talking to people and companies who I think I can do business with.

Fiona - aged 27

Case study from Dee Shipman of New Oceans - a One Life Live exhibitor

Fiona was an events organiser, who was, she said, “Desperate” to change her job.  She felt that her senior line manager wasn’t allowing her to express her creativity, but said “I don’t see a way round this, and anyway, I just don’t feel I have the energy to demand more”.  

As a Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Master Coach, I am trained to understand a client’s internal sensory preferences  -  which influence how they think  -  from what are called ‘sensory predicates’, the words they use to express what’s happening in their heads.

Fiona was using phrases like “see a way round this”, and “don’t feel I have the energy.”, which told me she  had Visual/Kinesthetic preferences.  And these were not being honoured by her line manager.

She also didn’t know how to say ‘No’, and coupled with her “not knowing what else I can do”, also showed me her ‘Away From’ preference  -  for Fiona  the cup was usually ‘half empty’ rather than ‘half full’. She lacked self-esteem, confidence, and the realisation that actually, she already had all the resources  -  previous experiences  -  she needed to be able to do what she wanted.

My job was just to help her access these; to reframe her language, to herself and others, to become more ‘Towards’, solution rather than problem based:  to get her to say what she wanted, not what she didn’t want.

Two 1 hour coaching sessions resulted in her saying ‘Yes’ to herself more, and ‘No’ more to others.  She then changed to a senior executive creative role in another company as well as getting married and having a baby!

'Dee Shipman, is a partner in New Oceans, is an NLP Trainer, Master Coach, and Master Coach Trainer.  New Oceans is one of a very few NLP Training Organisations who are certified by the International NLP Trainers Association  -  INLPTA  -   to train Coach Practitioners and Master Coaches. 

New Oceans are on Stand R56 at the One Life Exhibition, and will be giving free 20 minute coaching sessions there. You can book when you get there or on line at info@new-oceans.co.uk.

Jennifer - early 50s

Case study from Dee Shipman of New Oceans - a One Life Live exhibitor

Jennifer is an impeccably well-groomed lady in her early fifties, was, reluctantly, running her own small publishing company.  It was a family business, which she’d taken over when her father had retired.

She came to me for what she originally referred to as ‘business’coaching, because she needed help to build up the company to a point where it was financially viable enough to sell it.  Like Fiona, Jennifer too had a very ‘Away From’ preference  -  she wasn’t sure what she wanted, so much as knowing what she didn’t want….  responsibility she didn’t enjoy, and the business itself!  In fact the only time her language was about wanting something it was still ‘Away From’…… “I want to get rid of the company”;  “I want to get out!”

She did all the writing of articles in their magazines, and let her brother do the sales, “Because I can’t”, she told me.  Working with her in three coaching sessions, we reorganised the structure of the company, helping her to reframe her responsibility to it and to the family members.  She had hated what she’d been doing, but had still been what she herself called a ‘control freak’!

Together we got her to choose to step back, and encourage the family to take on different roles:  she let her son do the writing and editing, her brother was allowed to take the retirement to Spain he’d thought impossible, and Jennifer took over his sales role.

She found that not only did she love selling, she was also really good at it! 

Jennifer e-mailed me some time later to say that she and the business were doing so well, the company was financially viable at last, and she was enjoying it so much, that she’d decided not to sell it after all!   

'Dee Shipman, is a partner in New Oceans, is an NLP Trainer, Master Coach, and Master Coach Trainer.  New Oceans is one of a very few NLP Training Organisations who are certified by the International NLP Trainers Association  -  INLPTA  -   to train Coach Practitioners and Master Coaches.

New Oceans are on Stand R56 at the One Life Exhibition, and will be giving free 20 minute coaching sessions there. You can book when you get there or on line at info@new-oceans.co.uk.