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Meet Paul Cooper of Transformation Agency in Boulder

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Cooper.

Paul, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was raised in Rwanda, a country in East Africa, for the first nine years of my life. After that, we moved to a small town in Michigan where I finished elementary school and high school. I was always curious, active, and adventurous. I loved riding my bike, playing outside, and being with friends. I also loved computers and building things.

During high school, I struggled to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, at least in the traditional sense. I didn’t know what degree I wanted to get or what career path I wanted to go down. I was more focused on what kind of person I would need to become in order to have the kind of life I wanted. As soon as I was old enough to get a job I went out looking for work. I looked for jobs where I would learn a life skill that I believed would support me in the future. I worked for a Cafe at the local University, and for the grounds crew maintaining the campus, then at an auto body shop. After high school, I went to Tennessee for College. I studied Economics and Psychology in College before deciding to drop out. I wanted to do something different.

The reason I was in college back then was to increase the chances that I’d get a job that paid me enough to live comfortably long enough to start my own business. The more I talked to people who were graduating with their undergrad the less promising the college path seemed to me. I figured that I could find work that paid me enough to get by till I knew what I wanted to do without finishing college.

I got married young and spent most of my twenties in the service industry, a lot of that was in Denver. I learned a lot during that time. I learned how to think quickly on my feet. I learned to read people and adapt to different contexts quickly and with ease. I learned about relationships and how different cultures form based on personality and leadership style. I learned to appreciate nuances and subtleties in communication and experiences.

In 2010 my whole life started to change. My wife and I separated and later divorced. My life started to fall apart financially. And I was really starting to take a deeper look at myself and at life. Life was teaching me to let go. I ended up selling all my things and going to Bali in search of purpose. During my time there I gained some profound insight into myself and how to actively engage my personal growth process. I learned to interact with life in a different way that sent me down a path that I could never have imagined. It was the path that led me to where I am now.

I had come to a place where I was no longer willing to do anything for money that I wouldn’t be willing to do for free in the first place. I wanted to see what life had in store for me if I chose to only come from a place of flow and inspiration. I know a lot of you are probably starting to think this is getting a little woo woo. So when I tell you that the next place I ended up was back in my mom’s basement you’ll probably be thinking, “I knew it!!” Through all the change and upheaval in my life, it became clear to me that I had early life trauma that needed my attention. Going home was the best place for me at the time. I went back to school for a year and took the space I needed to feel through my feelings and rebuild my sense of self.

After a year at my parent’s house, I left with a backpack and a few changes of clothes and a laptop once again determined to see what the world had in store for me. My first stop was Nashville to stay with a friend I’d made on Facebook. From there I caught a ride across the country with someone I met in Nashville. I went to Southern California for a few months then to Boulder Colorado. By that time my life was so different that it was unrecognizable to the life I was living before. And in many ways getting to Boulder was just the beginning. By that time I was making a living online working remotely.

Over the next few years, I met people who were committed, as I was, to make the world a better place. When I met the people who would eventually become my business partners we became very focused on integrating the intention of making the world a better place into our business model and systems. That process led to the formation of Transformation Agency.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, in many ways it has not been a smooth road. I think some of that is just part of the territory starting a business and some of it is a result of choosing a particularly difficult goal. We were really focused on how we wanted to work together. None of us wanted to adopt a traditional top-down hierarchy so we had to find another way to structure the organization. That’s been one of the big challenges.

I could go on and on about the challenges that we’ve faced. A lot of them have been interpersonal, learning to deal with conflict, learning what kinds of leadership actually work and what don’t. And learning how to stay sensitive to the feedback that life is giving me. You’ve always got to be paying attention, learn to deal with uncertainty and make the best of it.

We’d love to hear more about your organization.
As an organization, we are focused on evolving human consciousness. We operate as a training company and a consulting firm. As a training company, we hold quarterly leadership retreats based on our IP developed over the last four years. As a consulting firm, we advise organizations regarding organizational strategy and installing an innovative and creative culture.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite memory from childhood was of building treehouses. We would pick a tree that we wanted to build a treehouse in and then start nailing boards to the side of the tree. We would add boards as we climbed until we reached the lowest branches then carry boards up the tree to build the platform. I loved being outside, the thrill of climbing, and the view from up high.

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