Ten years ago I felt stuck.
I wasn't sure what I wanted. Start a business? Go back to work? Do something completely different?
All I knew was that I felt like I should be doing more.
The strange thing was, I wasn't short of ideas. I just couldn't figure out what I actually wanted. My thoughts kept going round and round in circles.
Life had been intense. Years abroad, family upheaval, grief. I knew I needed to move forward, but I couldn't figure out what was holding me back.
I booked a coaching session with a friend, to find out what was keeping me stuck.
My coach spread out a deck of picture coaching cards. “Pick ten images that reflect your aspirations.”
I chose my images. As I talked through each one, something unexpected tumbled out.
What came out wasn't ambition, business goals or things to achieve. It was that I wanted to enjoy my life again.
The images gave me clarity and the permission I needed to pause and focus on other parts of my life. I wasn't ready for a business, to restart a career and that was okay.
That single session changed everything. Not because of what my coach said, but because those images helped me access something I couldn't quite reach through conversation alone.
Fast forward a few years. I'm training as a coach. I know I want to include coaching cards in my practice, as I know firsthand how powerful they are.
But since covid, over 70% of coaching has moved online. Suddenly those powerful coaching cards are now impossible to use over Zoom.
My brother had been living with us since covid. He's a software developer. One evening over dinner, I asked him if it would be possible to create something like that digitally.
“We can do anything,” he said.
Six months later, we had a clunky MVP. I tested it with friends. They were kind. “It works, but...”
Then I asked a friend who's a headteacher at a primary school and a big advocate for coaching. He loved it. Within a few months I was training twenty of his staff to use that MVP version of ImageInsight.
The feedback was brilliant. Sometimes brutal, but always helpful.
We brought in a designer. Refined the experience. Made it beautiful. Continued to test and get feedback.
Now, we've got a product that's simple and intuitive to use. I'm really proud of what we have built.
