Personal Coaching
Let's find your best self.
Maybe you already have a picture of that person. Maybe you don't yet. Either way, they're in there. I'll help you see it, name it, and start living like it.
It's better to feel something than nothing.
I'll be honest. I'm not a guru. I'm a person who spent 25+ years building companies, raising two kids, and working through my own stuff along the way. Somewhere in there I figured out what I'm actually good at. Seeing what someone is capable of before they see it, and helping them get there.
Personal coaching is where we work on the life in front of you: the rut, the relationship, the decision you keep circling, the confidence you can't quite hold onto, the conversation you know you need to have. I help you see what's really going on, figure out who you want to be in it, and make the next move.
I'm not a therapist. Therapy is the right place for trauma, diagnosis, and anything clinical. My lane is where you are now, where you want to go, what's in the way, and what you're going to do next. If what you're dealing with belongs somewhere else, I'll tell you.
If you're restless, frustrated, or just hungry for something better, good. It's better to feel something than nothing. That's usually where the work starts.
Is this for you?
This is for you if...
If you nodded at any of these, keep reading.
- You're doing fine on paper and you know you're built for more.
- You want to advance in your career and aren't sure what's holding you back.
- You can't quite picture a better version of yourself yet. You just know this one isn't the final draft.
- You've got a big decision sitting on your chest and you're ready to stop circling it.
- The same feeling keeps getting in your way. Fear. Jealousy. Doubt.
- You're in a relationship or friendship that takes more than it gives, and you're done calling that normal.
- There's a conversation you've been putting off, and you'd feel ten pounds lighter if it were done.
- You've got a problem with no clean answer, and you're ready to move anyway.
- You've been on autopilot, and you'd like to drive again.
What I can help with
What we can work on together
Everyone's list is different. Here's what usually shows up.
A lot of people can't. Not because it isn't there, but because nobody ever pointed at it. I have a knack for this. It's the part of the job I'd do for free.
If you don't believe you can do it, nothing else matters. I'll believe in you before you do. Not as a tactic. It's just how I'm wired, and it tends to rub off.
The fine job, the fine routine, the fine life that's quietly costing you. You don't have to blow it all up. You just have to stop settling.
Restlessness, frustration, envy, excitement, dread. These aren't noise. They're information. I pick up what you're feeling fast, and we use it to figure out where you actually want to go.
The promotion you keep getting passed over for. The role you want but haven't asked for. The thing about how you show up that nobody's been honest with you about. I will be.
From a rut, a role, a relationship, or a version of yourself that stopped fitting.
The ones that drain you, guilt you, or keep you small. Figuring out what to fix, where to draw a line, and what to walk away from. Then making room for the people who bring out your best.
The voice that says you're not enough, you're disappointing someone, you don't belong in the room. I know that voice personally. It still visits.
Anxiety, jealousy, anger, apathy. We don't erase them. We learn to run them instead of letting them run you. Every one of them can become a strength. Mine did, eventually.
A big part of what I do. Some problems don't have a clean solution. Aging parents, money, a marriage, a career that boxed you in. I help you find the next move that's manageable and still moves you forward. Progress beats perfect.
What you did yesterday is done. What can you do today?
With a partner, a parent, a boss, a friend. We prepare, then you have it, then you wonder why you waited so long.
A move, a career change, a leap. Know what you're risking, know what you're gaining, know why.
Work, family, aging parents, money, friendships. Being your best self across every part of life is hard. Some days it's impossible. We work on it anyway.
How you take care of yourself shows up in every room you walk into. We'll talk about it.
I don't have a framework with a trademark on it. I have one belief and a handful of principles.
The belief: your best self is an outcome you control. Happiness comes and goes. Being the best version of yourself is in your hands, every single day. And if you can't see that version yet, that's not a dead end. That's where we start.
The part that's just me: I feel what you feel. On a deep level, sometimes deeper than I'd like. For a long time that was a curse. Now it's one of the most useful things I bring to the room. Your excitement tells us where to go. Your dread tells us what to face. I get invested in your outcome, while staying far enough outside it to see what you can't.
The principles: figure out who you're capable of being. Deal with what's in the way. Stop living in yesterday. Have the conversations you've been avoiding. Take smart risks. Take care of your body so your mind can do its job. And when the problem has no clean answer, find the move that's manageable and still moves you forward. Standing still is the only real failure.
I'm blunt in a nice way. I'll tell you the truth, and I'll call you out when you need it, because I care, not to prove a point.
How it works
What this looks like
We talk.
A complimentary 15-minute conversation to see if we're a good match. You tell me what's going on, I tell you honestly whether I'm the right person to help. This works when it's a partnership, so we both need to feel it.
We assess.
Where are you, really? Not the version you tell people at parties. The real one. What's working, what's draining you, what you've been accepting that you shouldn't. And what you feel when you say it out loud, because that tells us more than the facts do.
We identify.
Your best self. The strengths you wave off and the ones nobody's named yet. The feelings and habits standing in the way. The problem underneath the problem. And the next move that's actually manageable. Not the perfect move. The one you'll take.
We achieve.
Regular sessions, real accountability. You leave every conversation with something to do and the belief that you can do it. I follow up. I remember. I'll ask. Then you do the thing, and we go again. Achievement stacks. Each win makes the next one easier, and each one is yours to keep.
Helping other people achieve is how I found my own way. I don't just like this. I need it.
I'm a two-time founder who built companies from nothing and sold both. I've coached people from their first job into the C-suite and sat across from executives who needed a straight answer. I've also carried social anxiety and a raw sensitivity to negativity my whole life. On my worst days they still show up, mess with the papers on my desk, and run away laughing.
Read my story →A few honest things
I won't tell you what you want to hear.
I won't promise this fixes your relationships or your bank account. Being your best self doesn't guarantee anything. It puts you in position. What you do from there is up to you.
At a glance
Andrew Kolidas offers personal coaching to individuals, in person or virtually, nationwide, from his base in Newton, Massachusetts. Common focus areas include career advancement, confidence and self-doubt, hard conversations, big decisions, getting unstuck, and managing the feelings that hold people back. He is a coach, not a therapist. The first 15-minute conversation is free.
Let's talk
Ready to talk? Pick a time that works.
A complimentary 15-minute conversation. No pitch, no prep.