Testimonials

The program is empowering and has encouraged us to take control of all areas of life and be wise in the decisions we make for now and the future. 

Stu and Katie Brown
Australia

As a family [with four kids] we always had the focus on building great relationships and we invested a lot into creating memories with each other. During the years we had some huge challenges to overcome [that] provided an awareness that it is important to have a balanced life – but we were still exhausted, because we neglected to take good care of our time and health. A very good friend introduced us to the founder of Design a Decade, Chris Freeman who presented the Design a Decade program to us. We knew that a balanced life is important, but we did not know how to implement it into our lives. By means of the program our quality of life is ever-expanding. The program provides methods and motivation on how to deal with all the important areas of our life in a simple and effective step-by-step way, which is accompanied by a fantastic, encouraging coaching team. The program has inspired us and brought back our hope that one day our dreams will come true.

Siegfried and Claudia Haas
Germany

It seems a strange part of human nature that you can know something, understand it, recommend it to clients and provide advice in respect of it, but fail to apply it to your own circumstances. A bit like mechanics having broken down cars, plumbers having leaking taps etc. By starting the Design a Decade programme, it has, on more than one occasion, forced me to be honest with myself and realise that it is important to practice what you preach and apply those principles to your own circumstances, regardless of your level of expertise, education or income.

Sean Shotter
Australia

Design a Decade has been life-changing to us as a couple in more ways than one. Our mentoring meetings are always so encouraging and helpful to keep us on track in areas where we’ve drifted. We’ve made great strides in our finances in learning how to plan and manage our money in a way that is simple and effective. We are grateful to the Design a Decade team for equipping us with tools to invest in our future.

Scot and Sarah Eibel
Texas, USA

Design a Decade has transformed the way we approach relationships, business, parenting and dreaming about our future! We knew we needed wisdom, insight and practical tools to get our life to click into positive momentum – but we didn’t know where to look for it. Design a Decade has far exceeded our expectations. An all-encompassing lifestyle, personal, professional and entrepreneurial road map that will gently push you out of your comfort zone and into your genius zone, and have you believing that you were made for more than you have been settling for. It has been interesting to realize that we both have similar goals but different approaches to reaching our goals, and that can seem to cause tension. Using the Design a Decade curriculum, and inviting a third party into our big projects and decision-making, has made all the difference in the world. We would be the first to admit it takes vulnerability and work to move forward, but the result has been better communication, clearer vision and a desire to keep going to set up our future and the future we hope to pass on through generations. We can’t thank Chris, Heather, Beren and the whole team at Design a Decade enough for inviting us into way more than a curriculum... It is a lifestyle. It is a family. It is hope for our future!

Randy and Tara Griffin
USA

We have really benefitted from the support that we have received from Chris and the Design a Decade team. The program has helped with getting back on track in many areas of business and life. We really appreciate the genuine care from Chris and the team.

Matthew and Terese Wright
Australia

Before the Design a Decade program our lives were less focused – sometimes even a little out of control. It was hard to catch up in areas like debt, health, relationship intentionality, etc. Not many people around us talked about managing finances, let alone the other eleven areas on which Design a Decade focus. The program has helped give us a framework to discover our WHY! And has provided us support through our journey from a redundant role to a new career. We've also been able to focus on specific areas, get rid of credit card debt, and live life with a bit more meaning and vision. It's been amazing having a community of support and connections with professionals who are specialised across multiple spheres of life.

We are more intentional now, full of excitement for new adventures and purposeful connections. And as we are moving from Australia to the USA, we are also excited about being a part of this community of support in an international capacity!

Matt and Mary Capper
Australia/USA

We have been working with Design a Decade for over ten years now. The program, with the support of our coach Chris, has had a profound influence on how we as a family consider and plan our future. Cristen and I have both enjoyed and benefited from being part of the Design a Decade program, and we would not hesitate to recommend it to others.

Martin and Cristen Driene
Australia

I began a journey of seeking to improve myself – to set and achieve goals during my time at university. This journey through my 20s was mostly self-guided. The Design a Decade program has formalised my life-planning approach, encouraged diversity in this approach through a trove of wisdom within the course, and developed discipline in desired habits – from the everyday to the big goals of life. My future is defined, yet flexible. I’m excited about it! I love the peace of mind I have knowing aspects of my life are being tracked, whilst my goals will be adjusted as life changes.

Mark Wojcik
Australia

This is my third year on the Design a Decade program and I highly recommend it! I heard about the program directly from Chris and Heather Freeman as they were already friends of mine and knew about my life and the goals I wanted to achieve.

 

I had been working freelance contracts in film and TV post production for about five years before I started the Design a Decade program. This sometimes meant relocating for work, having busy overlaps where I was trying to finish one job and start another, or periods of time without work. While I was managing ok, I see now that I was living in the moment and not looking forward to my future or being held accountable in my finances.

One main benefit of the Design a Decade program for me has been shifting my focus from just surviving, to planning and implementing what I can do now to set up my future well. This is still a tricky concept for me due to the demanding nature of my work, but my designated Design a Decade coach really helps to keep me on track.

Being a single person I would say another major benefit of the program is having a coach. I've realised how important it is for me to be held accountable to things, especially in the area of finances. When you don't have a partner or children to consider it is very easy to justify spending to yourself!

I have also found Design a Decade to be incredibly helpful when considering big life decisions and this program recently allowed me to make a significant career decision that required relocating, with certainty and clarity.

Looking forward I know my next decade will be better than my current one because of this program. Life will always be unpredictable, but knowing I have done what I can to help my future self is a great feeling and the Design a Decade program makes it easy to have that peace of mind.

Kathy Freeman
Australia

It quickly became clear to us that we really needed something like this so that we could approach our lives in a more structured and goal-oriented way. Thus, we decided to invest one year into Design a Decade.

We can no longer imagine not being part of Design a Decade. We talk about areas of our lives we wouldn't even have thought of talking about otherwise, and we get to know each other even better and talk about them every week. The main advantage we have gained from Design a Decade is the structure of our cash flow. We know where which amount of money is going. We now have financial peace by building a clear structure around our bank accounts. Our future looks great, because through Design a Decade we are able to keep our lives on course and are reminded every week to continue on that journey.

Jonathan and Tabea Grimm
Germany

Since starting on the Design a Decade program we are making better decisions together. Our planning and actions are far more intentional in taking us toward our ten, twenty and thirty-year goals. It amazes us when we review our goals together, how much progress we are able to achieve, all while still having fun along the way!

John and Sharon Smith
Australia

My biggest wake-up call was looking at 'the inevitable next ten years'. I didn’t want to be doing the same things at 53! 

Jennylee Taylor
Australia

When I started with Design a Decade I thought that most of the information was fairly straight forward and I struggled to understand the benefits. It was only after I gave it a real go for a while that I realised that I was looking at a lot of areas of my life with the wrong context. The Design a Decade program has taught me a lot about how to prioritise, communicate with my wife about investing and think more clearly about where I want to be in the future.

Hamish Ferguson
Australia

We highly recommend the Design a Decade program. Before being introduced to the fundamentals of this program, we believed that we were doing just fine. We were a young couple with no kids, double income and we were enjoying life! Design a Decade showed us what we were not doing, and how not taking action immediately to secure our future would lead to disaster. We have now successfully navigated our first ten years, which included moving countries, the arrival of three kids and the launching of a new business. Our view of life has been greatly expanded... the Design a Decade program has helped us to stay on course. 

Grant and Angela Mascini
South Africa & Australia

As is often the case, one does not seek help until a crisis is upon them. In my case I was heavily in debt on a dual occupancy development that was going south very quickly, it was my first attempt at property development and of course I was lacking some of the necessary skills, knowledge and connections. Thankfully my mortgage broker recognised my predicament and organised a meeting with the Design a Decade team. That is when it all changed and the situation started to rapidly improve! Although I had to extract myself from the development and in the process cop a reasonable loss, the coaching ensured that I not only survived but came out in good shape; and has also helped lay a foundation on which my partner and I can forge ahead into a bright future. It is just over two years since the 'world came tumbling down', yet we are already looking at our next investment or development opportunity and I have never felt more in control.

Geoff Yeatman
Australia

I started the Design a Decade school because I wanted to take responsibility for my life. I knew there were a lot of things I just wasn’t thinking about and I realised that no one else was going to be more invested in shaping my life than me. It hasn’t been easy, but with the support and structure provided I’ve made some huge changes. Design a Decade’s holistic approach has forced me to confront the way I handle almost every area of my life. It has helped me go from passively navigating through life, to taking ownership of what my life looks like now, and what it will look like in the future. I definitely wish I had started this in my early twenties. I still have a long way to go but Design a Decade has truly opened up my world to possibilities that I believed were beyond my reach – that freedom has been priceless and I am so grateful for it.

Fiona Hull
NSW, Australia

We are so thankful that we discovered the Design a Decade program at the time we did. We originally needed to concentrate on time management issues, but an unexpected financial crisis occurred and this revealed both the flexibility and holistic nature of the coaching program. We are now mostly through the crisis and are feeling confident about the future. The program itself is only one contributing factor to the overall success experienced. The personal trust that quickly developed in the growing friendship provided much needed emotional support during testing times. I have recommended the 'Design a Decade' program to others who have similarly benefited. Thank you Chris, Heather and the Design a Decade Support Team!

David & Tuula Schaeffer
Australia

I believe that we can all individually achieve a certain level of success. I also believe that this level of success will be significantly improved when we have a guide, a mentor, a coach that walks alongside us. Design a Decade is much more than an effective coaching program, it provides access to a team of professional services for additional support when needed.

David Tomkinson
Newcastle, Australia

We are well into our second decade now with the Design a Decade program. The principles we have learned over the years have become so much a part of who we are and how we think now that it is hard to remember what we were like before meeting Chris and the team. All we know is that without them, their support and wisdom, we would most certainly not be where we are today. The opportunities they have helped us grab a hold of and the dreams they have helped us realise mean that we are so much closer to living the life we want and have designed for ourselves. We continue to grow and develop in family and lifestyle and business, owing much to the solid input and investment of Chris and his team. Grateful.

Danny and Shana McKibben
Australia

We can now tangibly see a platform for our life to flourish. The Design a Decade program has been an important tool for our dreams to materialise. 

Craig and Michelle Sparrow
Australia

Before the Design a Decade program, we had just been married and life was good. We did not choose the program because we were in a crisis; we were not looking for a solution to a current problem, but for a practical, trustworthy and developed tool that would help us to manage life and purposefully build the future.

Having discovered that the reason for my parents' peace and confidence in their future, despite facing some big challenges, was because of Chris and the Design a Decade program I flew back to Sydney and called Chris right away. "Hello, Chris. This is Ben Haas, I am the son of Siegfried and Claudia. I have no idea what you've done to my parents, but I want the same thing." We got together for coffee and I quickly realised this program is a solid tool and it could really help us manage our lives well.

We now know that life is too short to make all the mistakes ourselves, but we can benefit from the experience and wisdom of others. In our case, it is the Design a Decade program that helps us avoid mistakes and make wise decisions. We can now look at the days to come with confidence and are even looking forward to getting older!

Bekky and Ben
Konstanz, Germany

I first heard about the Design a Decade program from my “boss” (leader and mentor) who has been a part of the program for many years and I have had the honour of becoming a trusted advisor of many other program participants. This allowed me to see firsthand the positive impact the program had on our mutual clients and therefore I was very eager to take part in the program for myself. 

I fast learned that so many important life and work skills that I had previously already learned from my boss over the years were indeed Design a Decade skills and ideas. I feel I became part of the program at the perfect stage of life. I was in my late 20’s, an employee, recently married, recently built our first home and it was before the beautiful chaos of children; the calm before the storm.

The biggest benefit for me was the integration of how to balance all facets of a balanced life. I had the financial/investment side mostly under control being an accountant but never really thought about how that integrates with the other facets such as time and relationships. My biggest challenge was time, as I was always busy and definitely struggled with time that was not booked into my calendar and committed to other people; like time for me, time for my health, time for by husband (and now family). I learned how to communicate investment ideas with my partner who views investment very differently to myself. The time and relationships learning has proved its weight in gold now that we have had a child and life is very different to before.

I am now in my 30s, a partner and owner in the business I was an employee at, in the process of building an investment property and a mother to a gorgeous small human who likes to party at 1am. And I am loving every bit of the beautiful Design a Decade organised chaos that is my life.

Ashley Middleton
Australia

Design a Decade has given us the tools we were missing to move forward together in our relationship; with our family [of seven kids]; and in our three businesses. Without Chris and the Design a Decade program we would not be in the contented place we are today. Thank you Chris! 

Annalise and Stephen Logan
Australia