How Andy Gained Back Self Trust
Client Story: How Andy Rebuilt His Trust, Energy and Direction with The Mind Mentor
“I was a person whose glass was always at least half full, but what happened to me made me lose most of my faith in other human beings and my self-confidence.”
Meet Andy Goff
Andy Goff is the founder of Interactive Opportunities (IO), based in Shrewsbury, a successful company with a solid reputation for helping schools, businesses and brands create new learning opportunities for children.
After 15 years as a teacher, including time as a deputy head, Andy moved into a range of eclectic, mostly ed-tech businesses before setting up his IO consultancy. His work starts with ideas and research, then follows a process that turns those ideas into viable initiatives and businesses.
It was during one such project that Andy experienced a major setback. A five-year partnership soured to the point where he was effectively pushed out. The impact on his energy, positivity and creativity was significant, leaving him, in his own words, feeling as though he had:
“Lost most of my faith in other human beings.”
For someone used to being optimistic, energetic and in control, this shift was profound. Andy knew he needed to understand what had happened, rebuild his self-belief and find a way to move forward with clarity again.
Meeting Marcus
“I’ve worked all over the world with my businesses and decided to go back to what I knew best, which is under-the-bonnet business in schools,” Andy explains.
“I joined Shropshire Chamber of Commerce in order to network and get to know other businesses and it was at one of the breakfast meetings where Marcus gave a presentation.
I loved what he said about his journey and having to build himself back up. I’ve been a teacher coach, I recognise the importance of coaching and I have never really come across anyone like Marcus.
It was something that appealed to me and I wanted to learn more. We had a further chat and his energy and enthusiasm, not just for being in business but also for his desire to actually help other human beings was infectious.
📌 Key Takeaway: Many high-functioning professionals seek more than generic support. They look for someone who understands business, lived experience and human behaviour – and can connect the dots between all three.
The challenge
“I had worked with another business and had a rough ride. It didn’t end well and that’s why I went to Marcus, for his support. I recognised that I needed to square the circle of what had gone on for the previous five years,” Andy says.
“I had founded a business based on my ideas and research, developed it with the other business which then became the main investor and technology provider. There was a huge investment in it and my aim was for it to grow and provide a great income for my children when I’m not here.
But over the last two years of the relationship I was being distanced and ostracised. I think I was too honest, too vocal. They wanted me to say everything was great and wonderful but it wasn’t, and it was only something that could be sorted out by being honest, so that led to the point where I was pushed out.
“I thought I was building to achieve security for my family but it quickly became obvious that I wasn’t. I was a person whose glass was always at least half full but what happened to me made me lose most of my faith in other human beings and my self-confidence.
I needed to get some mentoring which crossed business and personal and would help me say: OK, put the building blocks back in this order and let’s go forward again.”
💡 Pro Tip: When a professional setback shakes your trust, the work is rarely just about strategy. It’s about understanding what the experience has done to your self-belief, your nervous system and the way you now see other people.
The solution
Andy has had around half a dozen coaching and mentoring sessions with The Mind Mentor over three to four months and the benefits became clear quickly.
“The sessions were really insightful and several things came to light which cumulatively could have potentially been quite disastrous. It’s not so much about explaining and detangling those, it’s more about highlighting the positives, stopping beating yourself up and being so self-critical.
Realise you are really doing a good job, so give yourself a pat on the back.
“I wouldn’t want to label it in terms of tension, worry or anxiety, I was just keen to get back to where I was before. I wanted to re-discover my self-esteem, positivity and get back to being a happier person.
The help from Marcus has mainly been the conversation and the sharing of example, those bits and pieces in conversations which are usually too fast and too full to remember much of.”
Marcus would say: “Where are you going to concentrate your energy? It’s not about what is on your to-do list, it’s not about how you construct your day, it’s about what you are going to give your energy to.” And that was something he was able to nurture out.
It’s not how many times you get knocked down that counts, it’s about how many times you stand up again and Marcus helped me stand up!
📌 Key Takeaway: Marcus's work as The Mind Mentor work isn’t about keeping you dependent on sessions. It’s about helping you understand what happened, reclaim your energy and rebuild your own internal compass so you can move forward with confidence.
The transformation
Andy describes the outcome as feeling “reinvigorated”, like pressing a reset button. He is now back to his energetic self with around half a dozen projects on the go, two of which are in the process of being spun out as separate business entities.
“Meeting Marcus has helped me re-establish my creativity and my energy. I am back working in very senior circles talking about the education of our future generations of children… and I’m being listened to!
Every day is much more positive for me, I have a spring in my step again and am back to being passionate about what I do. The bad experience of what happened to me has added more positivity to where I’m going, it’s helped me learn and add to what I do in the future. Marcus has got me back on track to what I want to do.”
Marcus has a dynamic toolbox of skills, personality and academic knowledge which can help people back on the road to achieving their potential.
Andy sums up the shift with a recent encounter:
“I met another Chamber member, who said: ‘Andy, you’ve only been around here for about three months but boy have you come at us with energy!’”
📌 Key Takeaway: Mind Mentoring doesn’t just change how you feel internally. The ripple effect touches your work, your relationships and the way other people experience you, often more than you realise.
This work can have a powerful impact on you personally, but it’s the wider ripple effect on your family, colleagues, clients and community that often becomes the most meaningful part of the transformation.
If, like Andy, you appear calm and capable on the outside but know something underneath needs to change, you do not have to wait until everything feels like it is falling apart. The first step is understanding what is really happening beneath the surface.
