About Jim

My amazing parents came to Canada in the mid 1960’s to begin a better life than they thought possible in their home country of Portugal.

A few years later, I was born in a great little town called Oakville, Ontario.

I grew up in Oakville all my life.

Fast forward eighteen years, I was in grade 12 not really knowing what I wanted to do with my life going forward.

Throughout my five years of high school, I worked in a lumber yard with my dad.

Although I learned a strong work ethic and essential customer service skills working with my dad, I knew I didn’t want to work there the rest of my life.

In high school, I enjoyed math and science, namely chemistry, but didn’t know what I wanted to do in University.

In Grade 12, my counselor suggested I look into Engineering.

I had no clue what engineering was, however was told engineers were really smart, created things, and made lots of money.

Sounded good to me, I thought I was smart, I liked creating things, and the idea of making lots of money was admittedly attractive!

I also realized engineering was a well respected profession. I valued respect then, and now.

After some research, I decided I wanted to go to McMaster University because they had the best Chemical Engineering program in the country at the time.

One problem – I needed an 80% academic average to get into the McMaster Engineering Program when all I had throughout high school was a 75% average.

This was much harder to do than I thought.

However, after getting clear on my outcome – getting into McMaster’s Engineering program, I worked really, really hard in my final year of high school.

My final high school average… 80.1%!  I got into the McMaster Engineering program!

I remember opening my acceptance letter as my dad pulled into the driveway from work.  I was so excited that I had got into the school of my choice after so much hard work.

My dad gets out of his car and says “what’s up?”

I was jumping up and down and said “I got into McMaster, I’m so excited!”

Out of the corner of his mouth he was trying to hide his grin of excitement and he responded, “Great, now think about the money we are going to spend!”  Priceless coming from my dad. :o)

I learned from that experience that knowing what I valued, goal setting, knowing my outcome, and hard work, got me the results I wanted.

Four years later, I proudly graduated!

Next obstacle, getting a “job”.

One year, thirty three interviews, and some persuasion later, I got my first job – a 4 month Process Engineering and Project Management contract with a beverage alcohol company, which turned in to several extensions over the next two years.

I ended up leaving that company because I wasn’t growing anymore and I really loved learning and making a difference in others and in myself.

I joined my next employer for over thirteen years as the Sales Engineer/Manager looking after businesses in the metal and plastic pre-treatment industries.

For the first 8 years, business was good and I enjoyed the flexibility I had in my schedule and working with many different individuals and teams in many different companies to assist them in achieving their financial, quality, and business goals.

The recession hit us really hard in 2008-2010 as customers closed their Canadian operations and moved to the USA and China.

During that period, I was cut down to 2-3 days/week for 18 months and then 4 days/week for the next 12 months.

This obviously affected my income and I realized that I couldn’t depend on someone else to give me work or income stability.

In those 13 years, I learned a lot about how to connect, build rapport, communicate better, and most importantly, how to empower people and teams around achieving results.

I resigned in July 2013 from that employer to begin my own business and career as a Co-Active Life Coach & NLP – Neuro Linguistics Programming Practitioner.

Leaving to begin a new career was a bold move, yes, however, I’ve learned that without bold moves, nothing worthwhile ever seems to get accomplished!

I looked at what I was passionate about and what else I could do for others and myself.

I’ve always loved learning and sharing personal development material with others.

A friend of mine, knowing the position I was in, suggested I go see Tony Robbins, Personal Development Guru, live.

So, I did, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, in November 2007.  The event was incredible, Tony was amazing, and my growth that weekend was outstanding.

Among many things, I also learned that weekend that I could learn personal development and share that learning with others as a life coach!

In October 2008, I decided and began my Certified Professional Co-Active Coach training with one of the lead coach schools in the world, The Coaches Training Institute, in California, USA.

I completed my Certified Professional Co-Active Coach training in March 2010.

At the same time that I finished my coaching certification, my commitment to my employer took over as we came through the recession and I therefore took a hiatus from coaching individuals.

As of July 2013, I am back coaching people that that want more balance, fulfillment, and exciting changes in their lives.

Becoming a coach has allowed me to do what I love!

The gratification I get in working with people that truly want to make a difference in their lives is phenomenal!

I currently incorporate all my skills and tools from engineering, personal development, co-active coaching certification, and most recently, the addition of incredible cutting edge Neuro Linguistic Programming Certification skills and tools for assisting people making rapid changes in their lives.

Outside work and coaching, my interests are Latin dancing, playing volleyball, golfing, skiing, hot yoga, motorcycle riding, and Bodybuilding Competitions!

I know I’m not a big guy, but that doesn’t matter as there are different weight classes!

Please see Jim’s Bodybuilding Story for an in depth look at what is possible when I set my mind to achieving a goal and taking action.

Click here to do your Free Wheel of Life Exercise: ‘Where are you now?’

Click here to download your Future Self Visualization: Where do You Want to Be?’

Click here to book your Free Powerful Coaching Session / NLP Coaching Session or to answer any questions you have about what I can assist you with.

Live with Passion,

Jim Ribau