Yesterday afternoon, I met up two friends, Sol and Mik, at my local coffee shop, Richoux, in St Johns Wood. As usual, the staff were very friendly to me and we were given a table upstairs even though the area was closed for the day. Like I have said before, it is all about treating others the way you want to be treated.

Firstly, it was great to be working on a project together with other like-minded people. Thank you Sol and Mik for making the time to meet me and for presenting your great ideas for the way forward to promote my book, Get the Life you Love and Live it.

Sitting in Richoux reminded me of how my book came about. I shared my story of giving and receiving and how the very reason we were even meeting was due to something that happened in that very same coffee shop almost 4 years ago.

In March 2003, I dressed up with a red wig at Richoux in order to raise money for Red Nose and Comic Relief. The plan was that I would give people a short coaching session in return for some donations.

So to promote my fundraising, I sent a press release to my local newspaper and a journalist came to my office to interview me and for a complimentary coaching session. He had never even heard of coaching and he was so pleased with his session, he sent a photographer around the same afternoon. As a result, I was featured in his paper for two weeks running wearing a silly red wig, and I raised £800 for Red Nose and Comic Relief.

To me this was an example of freely giving – and getting much more back.

However the story didn’t end there. A week later I called the journalist to thank him for his coverage and offered to write a coaching column in his paper. To cut a long story short, I then wrote a regular column in my local paper for the following nine months, in a prime positioning on the same page as the editor’s comments and letters from readers. Another example of freely giving – and getting much more back.

The story still doesn’t end there. Six months after the Red Nose day, I realised I had enough material for a book. So in just five weeks in time for Christmas 2003, I put together my first book – “Get a Life”

Another example of freely giving and getting much more back.

But the story still does not end there. In late 2005, based on the learnings from my first book, I wrote my second book – “Get the Life you Love and Live it” . Writing this book was very much a labour of love and I feel it closely summarises my learnings and philosophy for living a life of contribution, connection and celebration.

So there we are, when you give a little, you get so much back. And every time I go past Richoux, I look back on that fateful day in March 2003, when I put on my red wig and literally turned my life around.

From now onwards, I suggest you too look for ways of giving – you will get so much more back.

And if anyone ever asks you to put on a funny red wig, or any wig for that matter, do not hesitate – just do it.

Your life may never be the same again!