Ready to leave school, the police force were the only ones offering Dominique Ventura a career and a ticket out of home.  He soon found his creative spirit stifled by an environment of military uniformity.  It seemed as though he had fallen into a trap.

An unlikely path opened to him where he least expected it. He was able to earn a living and branch out into new areas by pursuing several areas of study within the force.  He trained as a weapons instructor, gaining martial arts degrees and a paramedics instructor diploma, and found time to learn both Spanish and Italian.

The completion of his studies allowed him to become a bodyguard – a far cry from his eventual coaching career, but this would enable him to start meeting interesting people leading interesting lives.

The police uniform was replaced by a smart suit as he entered civilian life.  The next 15 years would see Dominique protect some of the most influential people in the political, religious and aristocratic world, visiting 162 countries in all. His extensive travels comprised 52 countries in Africa during a 2 year trip, 27 US states, 11 Chinese provinces, the whole of South America and almost the entire continent of Asia.

Wars, conflicts, misery, famine and corruption mixed with beauty, magnificent buildings and 5 star palaces. Says Dominique, “I experienced a humbling and dazzling world by turns, which led me to become more understanding about my own destiny and realise how lucky I was to have grown up in a relatively civilised country, despite less-than-ideal circumstances”.

Dominique went on to work in the music and movie industries, and take part in international events.  He has given his expertise to such stars as Michael Caine, Lennox Lewis, David Beckham, New Kids on the Block, and Whitney Houston. He was part of an elite security team in Istanbul for the first ever Spice Girls’ live gig, and sent as a coordinator facilitator to the Sydney Olympics. Not only that, he has performed stunts in two James Bond movies.  To say Dominique has led a life less ordinary would be a gross understatement.

Dominique now resides in the UK and has discovered a passion for working with individuals as a personal coach.  We had an opportunity to interview Dominique to get his unique perspective as an expatriate:

Why did you decide to leave your home country of France?

It was an opportunity really. I was working with Princess Stephanie of Monaco. Her management (Music), proposed to me to leave the police force and go and work in music management in the UK.

What were some of the main challenges you faced settling in a new country as a foreigner?  How did you overcome them?

The language of course. I did not speak a word of English. Neither did I know anything about music management. It was a long 2 year struggle to adapt to both challenges. Also, I really had a problem adapting to the customs in UK. My coffee in the morning, my newspaper, things like that and also crazy people driving on the left hand-side of the road. But I had no choice. I had to adapt as I had made an important decision to leave France and also a very well secured job in the police force.

Do you have any plans to move back to your home country one day?

No, my wife is English and very successful here. We have tried to work in France together. We realised that UK was much better despite several negative points. So no plan to go back. I have a house in south of France though, so we go down there for pleasure and are happy to be back in the UK.

What are the three things you like most about England?

People are much more “on board”, active, more aware of the impact of the Internet. I also like the countryside and pubs with good food, but not horrible pubs stinking beer, dull and lifeless. I adore Oxford where I live. It is completely my wife and me – culture, architecture, great scenery.

Being a professional personal coach, what advise would you give to other expats who want to develop themselves and achieve the dreams they came to London with?

A coach is not an advisor. I think a lot of people do not understand what a coach is. A coach is taking you from where you are now and help you to go where you want to go. Therefore a coach enables people to find inside them the resources they have without knowing it. You can only achieve your dream if you have a clear vision of what you really want. Lots of people can’t visualize their dreams and a coach is there to help them to see it. Outside coaching I also say to people to stop saying “I wish” or “I need” and instead saying “I will”. It makes all the difference.

We would like to thank Dominique for sharing his amazing personal story.  If you are interested in getting to know Dominique as a coach, please visit his website.

The creator explains the process of designing our logo in a short video.

Visit Jan’s website:

www.janchmielewski.com

You’ve been here for 15 years now, right? Why did you come here?
To learn English. I planned to stay here for a minimum of one year.

Where did you work at the beginning?
I didn’t work, I was studying full time. I was just doing small jobs from time to time.

Why did you want to come here in first place?
After finishing secondary school I wanted to study by I couldn’t afford the university fees. My father suggested that he could get me a ticket to London where my cousin already lived.

What was your first impression? Were you partying a lot, enjoying busy London?
I really enjoyed it but I wasn’t partying that much, I never drink too much. I like meeting new people from different countries. I actually learned Spanish before I learned English because I had lots of Spanish speaking friends.

When coming here did you feel this ‘language barrier’? Could you speak any English when you came here? Did you have any problems with understanding?
It was difficult but I didn’t feel it this way. When you learn a new language I find it quite funny because you need to use so much body language to be understood. I had one situation when asked for some tees I instead got some cheese but we had lots of laughs after that.

Do you think it is easy to make friends in London when you come here?
Yes, sure.

How do you do it?
I think in general, people come here because they’re more open and alone. Once you’re here for longer, you already have your friends so you are not that open to meet new people. The best way? To listen to people. People like talking so if you’re a good listener you’re going to have many friends.

How did you get into this fitness business?
I was an amateur dancer in Brazil. I always liked physical activity. When I came to London I stopped for a year, and put on 10kg. Because I wasn’t active with my body, I didn’t feel good and I now I was little bit depressed. But the important thing at that moment was not to stop but keep looking for things that can lighten up your spirit. Then I started going to Brazilian places which I wasn’t doing at the beginning because I knew it would stop me from learning, experiencing the English language. I started to dance Brazilian dance, I was doing it professionally, and gradually I came back to fitness.

Do you have any qualification in this field?
I have a degree in Sports Therapy. It is for rehabilitation of sports injuries. I also studied pilates and exercises to music.

You’ve been in this business for a while now. Do you have any further plans for your career, anything to achieve or develop?
In fitness you need to keep learning. I want to do my second pilates course and a master degree. I just need to organize my finances because I want to do some traveling first before doing any more courses.

Is there anyone who inspires you?
I meet people everyday who inspire me. On every course I get inspired, by anything, any person who does the job with joy.

Are you planning to go back to Brazil one day?
Not now. I need to stay here for at least five years for my studying. I think I’d rather go to live in Barcelona. But I’m really not sure yet. For now I enjoy London very much.

What do you do in your free time?
I like to train. I do astanga yoga, and climbing which I recently picked up. I love going to see dance in Sadler’s Wells.

Do you have any favourite places in London?
I love Hampstead Heath and Kenwood House – they have great cream and jam scones. Tate Modern, canals in Camden, walking along the river. I also buy Time Out to find out about any events. My favourite place at the moment is Double Club – it’s an art project. It’s like a club but half of the place is in Western tradition, half in Congolese, with bar and restaurant.

What does ‘success’ or ‘successful person’ mean?
Someone who is happy whatever he/she does. Who has expertise in their own area so they can truly help other people.

Do you think you are successful?
Hmmm… I feel happy but I want more, there is lots of space for improvement.

Any tips for newcomers to London?
Drop your judgments. Don’t expect London to be something you imagined, experience it for what it is, then you will integrate better and discover the beauty of this place.

How long have you been in London for?
Six years and a month.

So it’s quite a while. Why did you make a decision about leaving your homeland? Why didn’t you want to stay in Poland?
At the beginning it was supposed to be just a year of break during studying and an opportunity to improve my English. I wasn’t thinking about earning good money, maybe just a little bit for my summer holidays. It turned into six years.

What was your first job here?
I couldn‘t find a job easily, no one told me what’s the best way of doing it here. I was doing it in a bit of a chaotic way with no proper plan, so it total in took me about a month to find a job.

Poland wasn’t in the European Union that time, right?
Exactly, so I didn’t have a working permit. I started from working on the sports stadium, through to restaurant, to a bar where I stayed for two years.

How was the beginning of your life here, and your accommodation situation? Did you have lots of fun, parties or was it rather depressing and difficult?
During the first month I run out of all my money so then it was bit hard. But later on it was great, the job in the bar was good, I felt good there. The time was passing on really quickly and I stayed there two years. I lived above the bar, we had parties, we were drinking lots of alcohol and some other stuff…

That job – were you doing something similar to it back in Poland?
No. In Poland I was studying and doing work at high altitude. During summer I worked as a climbing instructor.

What are you doing now for a living?
Climbing. All the money I earn here is connected to my climbing.

So you really live in your passion, don’t you?
Indeed.

Why you don’t work in a bar anymore? What happened that you decided to finish working there? Was there any breakthrough moment you thought you needed a change?

Well, I wanted to work on high altitude in London to earn good money. But it required firstly £700 investment in a course and certificates. Then somehow an idea about working in a climbing wall came up. I thought about not teaching but a kind of duty manager or and assistant. I wasn’t confident enough with my English, I was speaking quite good English but I wasn’t sure of that’s enough for teaching. I also didn’t have any qualifications for teaching. And stories like those were coming into my mind.

But after a while I, firstly, realized that my English is good enough to communicate with people easily. Secondly, there were lots of people already working at the wall, and in general the climbing business mother tongue is not English, so it gave me some more self-confidence. It appeared that many years of climbing and teaching in Poland gave me some very good experience and great prospects for work.

There was one moment which changed my way of thinking about work in the climbing industry. I bought a climbing magazine and there was an article about all sort of jobs in climbing, from taking movies about climbing through instructing jobs to high altitude jobs.

After reading that I tried to find out what I need to do to work in this industry. It took me a year doing qualifications. And since then I’m working here, at the climbing wall.

Did you climb while you were employed at the bar?
I had a break for a year. Now it’s difficult for me and my friends to believe in this. Since coming to London in October till late summer time I didn’t do any climbing. I was quite busy, also I sank into this bar life starting from work ending on partying. I never worked in Poland in this kind of environment so it was really interesting, I learned a lot about life, about social life, something I didn’t know when living in Poland. Also, there is no point of training just once a week, it would have taken me lots of time on travelling and money was an issue, too.

Do you do anything else other than climbing in your free time? Do you have any other hobbies?
No. Firstly, work at the wall is time consuming. If I don’t work I simply climb. So I really can’t find time for anything else.

Have you had any moments when you were considering going back home? Are you planning to go to Poland for good?
Not really. Whatever I would do here, whatever qualification I would gain, career or business I would have, it’s just easier to live in London, from an economical point of view. As I don’t have an great education which would allow me to have a career in Poland it’s better for me to live here. Very rarely I think that maybe, in future… Moreover, all my friends from Poland have gone all over the world, I don’t miss my family too much.

What do you like about London?
Variety. Lots of different, interesting people. Even here, at the wall you can talk to so many different people, sometimes for five minutes, for few weeks, sometimes you stay friends for good. You can get from them a good word, an interesting thought or advice which stays with you. So firstly people, then places, then events, e.g. concerts, exhibitions, mass-meetings, tour the France…

Do you have one specific place you like going back to, you would recommend, or something everyone should experience?
It’s difficult to recommend one. I like Camden, Covent Garden and Greenwich during summer.

The best climbing place in England?
Every place has its own beauty and it’s difficult to compare to each other. Especially that climbing on limestone is completely different from sandstone, it can’t be worse or better. Peak District, Portland, Dorset. Thanks to cheap flights I have easy access to great places in all Europe.

You know the name of this website so I’m going to ask you about ‘success’, ’successful’ people. What does it mean for you?
Success can be when I do what I like, I’m happy and my work is my hobby.

I also want to ask you about your hobby. You’ve been climbing for so many years. How do you do this so that you still want to, you don’t get bored with it? I suppose you’ve achieved so much in climbing that there is not much more you can do. Are you still developing? Where does your energy come from?
I started climbing 15 years ago. There are so many different types of climbing [then he specified - loads!]. I still have a lot to cover and experience in climbing. It’s never too much of climbing, it’s always too little.

Are there any people you look at, someone who inspires you?
In climbing it’s more struggling with your own weakness, that you can’t do a specific move or even more important, struggling with your mind and with fear. Of course, there are great climbers you admire for what they’ve achieved. But they are not great stars. You respect them, watch them, to use their experience but they are not gods. Nevertheless, you struggle just like them.

Coming back to this question about living in London. Here I had a chance to meet some climber I knew before from watching them in movies or on the internet and it was amazing to see them in real life, in London.

Last question, what are your plans for the next few years?
Next year I’m doing another level of qualification in outdoor climbing. And then third level, I suppose for the following year. Another option I consider is to get some experience or qualification not linked to climbing, in case I couldn’t do climbing.  Maybe an Apple engineer.

Thanks.

Voytek’s website

Climbing Masterclass