aBOUT mE

Hello, My name is Jake or you can call me Griggsy. 

I'm a Gen Y and conveniently positioned in the middle between the Gen Y and Gen Z  age range.

I'm a business professional and entrepreneur with a burning passion to help other gen Y and Z's navigate their way to career success and personal  fulfillment.

I decided to set up Grigg-ZY-Coaching to help individuals who are searching for clarity with their current career situation, want to build confidence in making their next career move and who are seeking guidance to achieve their career goals. 

Whilst trying to conquer the many challenges I faced in my working life, I have been lucky enough to have fantastic mentors, family and friends around me to give me solid advice and instill the self confidence to continuously improve and develop. In addition, I am incredibly driven and have been quoted as a 'grafter' by many of my peers in the past. Nowadays, I prefer to adopt the 'work smarter, not harder' approach but it all depends on the challenge ahead.

However, I fully appreciate that others may not be in the same fortunate position, might be going through a tough patch or are struggling to see light at the end of the tunnel. If that's the case, then I've bought enough of those t-shirts and I would like to help you!

My career journey to date..

I began my career with multiple part time jobs simultaneously whilst finishing my school exams and dreaded the thought of going to university. So I stepped out into the big wide world and got my first full time job at the age of 18 and haven't looked back since.

I have worked in various industries including Retail, Sports and Leisure, Hospitality, FMCG and Automotive. Throughout my career, I have had my fair share of career experiences, positive and negative but all have shaped me to the person I am today. 

I've been able to work alongside a real mixture of cultures and people, travelling whilst working across multiple countries.

I realised early in my career that I was not like most of my peers, I was hungry to learn and wanted to absorb as much information as I could. Always inquisitive, having a close attention to detail and keen to pick up the 'tricks of the trade' . I also felt great satisfaction in helping others and succeeded in creating healthy, positive relationships at work.

I began making my way up the career ladder quickly, from working on a shop floor then to a commercial office filled with 100 people in the space of 8 months, building rapports with senior management, meeting my first mentor (who still is to this day), taking on additional responsibility, being seconded onto strategic projects and importantly, being financially rewarded for the value I was adding. 

After 2 years in the role, I then decided to make my first jump to a new firm and it felt like I jumped straight into the deep end. After interviewing successfully, I now had my first management title, business cards, a company credit card and full autonomy in a role with significant responsibility. Gulp. Nevertheless, I managed to keep my head above water and soon began to swim again. I experienced a similar pattern as before, with swiftly gaining recognition and the rewards to match. Bosh!

I did hit a stumble in the road with enduring a fully ruptured ACL, which of course put me out of sporting action for a while but also for the first time, I was struggling with my mental health. Being restricted with movement and being laid up in pain hit me hard. Fortunately, it wasn't all doom and gloom as shortly after my recovery, I was in a decent financial position (after 7 years of  hard saving). Which enabled me to get my first mortgage, travel on some nice holidays abroad and enjoy the good things in life!

A couple of years had passed, keeping my head down and I thought I was destined for my next climb up the career ladder. Managing to continue my solid performance and exceeding personal targets, the penny soon dropped ,when I realized my boss at the time was not on the same path as me. 

After some toing and froing, I knew I needed to change tact again and a few months later and I secured my next challenge with a new employer. Fastrack another 12 months after hitting the ground running. I achieved company record breaking growth within my categories, enrolled onto some word class training courses and  was smashing the goals I had set. 

In the year of 2020.. COVID-19 flipped the world upside down and gave me a completely new perspective on life. It made me re-evaluate my priorities, to think about what I 'actually' wanted to do in the next 5 years both personally and professionally and finally, it afforded me time to think about my next move.

January 2022 - I left my day job and managed to secure investment to began a start-up venture in the Automotive industry to fulfill a passion project with the aim to disrupt the aftermarket sector.  

January 2023 - To begin helping others fulfill their passions, goals and ambitions. Let's go!