Humble Beginnings – Proud Endings – Darren Christopher Rowland was born in November 1972 to an English mother and an Indian father, one grandfather was Irish, and one grandmother was Portuguese. He grew up just outside of London in a place called Middlesex.
Being the youngest of 5 and beginning Life in a rented council flat, DCR had a tough impoverished upbringing. He left school at age 16 with no qualifications, no role models, no confidence, no money, and no future. It was 1989, and he was lost in Life. He decided to put all his efforts into improving himself and his Life and envisioned a way to help others do the same day quicker and easier than he did.
From his middle teens, DCR immersed himself in the study of Personal Development. He experienced a lot of ridicule for doing this, yet he ignored the criticism and kept his vision. Also, his only passion in Life was physical Health. He had got hooked on lifting weights from about 12 and only knew about that, so he chose that as his Career.
There were no college courses he could turn to. No Career adviser was able to guide or help. He searched the newspapers and magazines – the internet was barely around then, and he had no access to an expensive computer. This took time, but he stuck at it and eventually found a course that he could do from home.
At age 16, DCR applied for a course, and in 1990, at age 17, he started his studies. He began an International Health and Fitness Diploma that lasted 2 years. He funded this by working part-time for a Home Improvement Company called Meltonvale Ltd in Edgware, North London. It started as a mere door-to-door canvasser and worked his way up to the office manager, helping to raise over £1 Million in business during the 2 years there.
Humble Beginnings – Proud Endings
As part of his studies and as self-desired experience, DCR began designing Nutritional and Exercise programs for anyone that would listen to him! He Successfully obtained his International accreditation in 1992 and started his career.
Things did not go well again at this point. He could not find a job anywhere. He even looked at cruise ships away from home. Even there, he had no luck. DCR eventually had to get a dead-end job again to survive. He also began as a freelance Personal Trainer at this time in an attempt to kickstart his career. He got his first PT client in 1993 but only managed to get sporadic clients.
For 4 long and painful years, he continued to look for an opening and was lost in Life again. It was not until July 1996 that he got his lucky break – he replied to an advert for David Lloyd Leisure in Finchley, North London, and was given an interview.
DCR says…
“I had the interview at their Bushey club with an ex-marine gym manager – you talk about nervous… I went for the interview in my shirt, tie, and trousers, not the traditional tracksuit type clothing. I could hear the manager chirp to the receptionist as they both looked at me wearing inappropriate clothing for such a small job position, but I tried to ignore it.
After the interview and leaving the club, I felt a sense of dread that I had screwed up the interview. My only chance. 2 weeks later, I received a letter through the post from David Lloyd Leisure, and to my absolute amazement – they had offered me a part-time job as a fitness instructor at their Finchley club, earning a whopping £4.50 per hour!!”
DCR began as a part-time gym instructor in 1996 and became an in-house, Personal Trainer in 1997. He eventually went on to achieve the highest possible qualification in the industry at that time, called the N.A.S.M ( National Academy of Sports Medicine ) in 2004.
After around 10 years of experience working with individuals directly and personally, he decided to expand and start Life Coaching in 2001 for several reasons. First, he genuinely loved working with people and wanted to give more. His natural listening skill-set and sincere empathy were natural prerequisites for this new avenue.
Also, he noticed he was limited as a PT because he had only ever been taught about people’s physical side and that some clients had sabotaged their own success and gone back to being overweight or unfit after finishing with him. He was perplexed by this. Even though he had been producing successful results in the physical plane, he was dissatisfied and wanted to take good and make it great.
And so he began for free, with a few local clients and built this up over the subsequent years separately, to his ongoing personal training business. He called his Life Coaching business “Life’s a Game… It’s not all black and white.”
It’s not all black & white!
In 2004 DCR began working with various Charities, including Befriending the BHF, and over 3 years at the Samaritans, where he both volunteered and Coached people on their phone line service.
In 2006, after 13 years of experience in Personal Training and 5 years of experience in Life Coaching, DCR started a company in the Health arena to Coach individuals on improving Health ( not fitness ) called ‘Easy Health.’ This was part PT and part Life Coaching in origin.
Easy Health worked with the Harrow Summer University programs to help raise Health awareness in youngsters living in the Harrow area. Easy Health also worked at the corporate level and ran, Charity funded programs from London to Birmingham for individuals wanting Health improvements.
After the Success of his niche ‘Easy Health’ company, DCR then expanded into the area of Weight Loss / Weight Management in 2007 with his next company, ‘Easy Weight Management,’ and subsequently retired from the PT industry.
In one particular demonstration, 12 women were chosen from over 50 original candidates to participate in an 8 week Charity funded – Weight Management program involving no dieting and no supplements to show the human body’s capability to maintain, even increase Health during weight loss. The result was over 100 Kilo / 220 Lb loss across the group.
In 2007 DCR also set up his own Registered Charity with the English and Welsh Charity Commission called S.O.U.P ( Sincere Offerings for Unappreciated Persons ). The Charity reaches out to neglected and forgotten elderly in communities around the Country. He is still the Chairperson to this day and regularly contributes to its cause.
In 2008 DCR opened a membership-based club in St Albans Hertfordshire based on his Easy Weight Management company. Here he amalgamated his skills from his Health and Weight Loss Coaching with his Life Coaching. At this facility, DCR implemented ‘Emotional Coaching’ with the 500 members to ensure success in managing their body weight. Nutrition was heavily discussed through his Food Doctor brand.
As a result of his success as a Coach, he created a Private Property Portfolio worth £1.5 Million by 2008. After the Weight Management club’s success, DCR left in late 2010 to progress his Life Coaching career. In 2011 DCR became a private consultant in the public arena for both Health Coaching and Weight Loss Coaching.
In 2012 he progressed again into the private arena and realm of VIP, where he mostly Coaches to this day Nationally and Internationally under his Life Coaching Identity. International Coaching was added in 2014. Amongst many acknowledgments and accolades over the years, DCR’s most recent awards are:
- Best London Life Coach 2018
- Best UK Life Coach 2019
- Best International Life Coach 2020 & 2021
- Leading Specialist in Weight Loss & Management 2020
In 2019 DCR wrote a book called “Only for the Serious – Permanent Weight Loss” based on his almost decade-long VIP Coaching in the Weight Loss context and models the top 5% Permanently Lose Weight so that anybody could copy this result.
As of 2020, DCR still Coaches VIPs, CEOs, and Entrepreneurs around the World, primarily in Permanent Weight Loss, and holds regular online Masterclasses and offline.
Seminars. He also continues to Coach in all life areas, including Business & Executive Coaching, Emotional Coaching, Relationship Coaching, Financial Coaching & Health Coaching.
He also Co-Authored “Cracking The Rich Code” with Jim Britt. Tony Robbins endorses a book based on Success in Life. It provides strategies to give the reader the resources to excel in all areas of Life and achieve ‘Wealth & Abundance’ not just financially but also emotionally.
In 2021 DCR will be opening its Mentoring Program to teach other Life Coaches who wish to progress from being standard – to being superior in the Life Coaching industry.
DCR’s work has been featured on CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX news, he has reached over 100,000 people, and DCR still gives his time for free to worthy organizations such as UK Police forces, UK prison services, Oxfam Head office, Cancer Research UK, Nottingham Forest Football club, etc.…
Other:
DCR works from Central London but also travels to see International clients. He has Coached on 5 continents, including Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Africa, Russia, Europe, and the USA.
DCR has over 30 years of experience in the Health & Weight Loss Coaching industry. Having been financially broke, he was able to turn himself into a self-made Millionaire. He has had 3 Successful Careers involving over half a dozen Businesses. He claims he could not have done any of this without first and foremost mastering himself’s emotional side.
DCR believes that Life IS experience. Not just existence. That too many people spend too much of their lives in a constant state of distraction and never get around to taking control and determining the direction they want to go. He believes that having been at both ends of Life’s experiences, he can offer practical help and strategies to guide people to start taking control back!
On a personal level, Darren Christopher Rowland describes himself as ‘eager to learn, committed, selfless, caring, confident, humble and a happy individual who achieves great pleasure in Life by assisting other people to achieve better in their own Life’ …
I am, in reality, just a very ordinary guy who had a tough upbringing and vowed at a very early age to better my Life’s conditions. I then pledged I would help other people – whoever they were – to have more be more and experience more too.
I strive every day to fulfill that vow – and I will not stop till mother nature comes and takes me. I believe in and live by 1 simple philosophy of Life:
THE SECRET TO LIVING IS IN THE GIVING…
IT’S THROUGH THE GIVING THAT…
“WE OURSELVES” GIVE OUR OWN LIVES, – THE MEANING
– WE ALL SEARCH – SO SECRETLY FOR…
DCR is aged 48 and semi-retired. He lives just outside London. In-between juggling his Coaching and traveling Internationally. He spends his time between his passions of Scuba diving, Charity work, and Astronomy.
Also read Career Advice and success tips from Franz Escolastico
