Paulien Kok – ACC

From corporate jobs to a coaching academy

Together with my sister Marian, I have taken over the ownership of the ACC in 2018. I used to work in legal and corporate jobs for many years, both in the Netherlands and abroad. Along the way, it took me two serious physical warnings to accept that I was walking the wrong path. Something had to change.

 

I started my career-switch in early 2018,  by re-schooling to become a coach/counsellor. I had wanted to pursue that path for many years, but had constantly resisted the urge, mainly due to the idea that so many other people had already chosen this direction. What did I still have to offer that did not exist already? I now know that this worry was unfounded: everyone can contribute something special with his or her unique skills and talents. Coaching and counselling can be applied in many different ways and in a wide variety of professions. And above all that, you enrich yourself in an invaluable way with everything you learn in the process. So I could not have made a better decision. 

 

I was in the process of setting up a coaching practice, partly together with Marian, when the ACC crossed our paths. In the 22 years prior, the previous owner had built the academy into a wonderful and successful institute, but now he found it was time for a change – a breath of fresh air, under the leadership of new owners. Marian and I decided to take on this challenge. That is how the universe works in the end, you cannot plan everything beforehand. And who would want that anyway, when such great things can appear…