Is this career counselling?

No, and the difference matters. Counselling and career assessment in the clinical sense are regulated, and Nick is not a registered counsellor, psychologist or therapist. This is practical career exploration and coaching: conversations, research, introductions to people doing real jobs, and a written plan. If a young person needs mental-health support, we will say so and point you to the right people rather than pretend we are them.

Does my teenager have to want to start a business?

No. Launch League is known for entrepreneurship, and it is one of the paths we cover honestly — including the parts that are hard. But most of the teenagers we work with are heading toward a trade, a college program, university, an apprenticeship or a job, and the coaching is built for that.

Grades 7 to 12, which is ages 12 to 17. Grade 8 and 9 tend to be about course selection and widening what they think exists. Grades 10 to 12 get more concrete: co-op, summer work, applications, apprenticeship routes and what happens after graduation. If your teenager has already turned 18 the online part isn't built for them, because it runs on parental authorization — get in touch anyway and we'll work out what makes sense.

What does it cost, and when do I pay?

The Future Ready Sprint — six weeks, everything listed on this page — is $1,295 plus HST at the Founding Family Rate, for the first ten Chatham-Kent families. The twenty-minute parent call is free and decides whether it's a fit. If it is, you enrol and pay in full, and the work starts that week: the profile, the research and the first introductions all begin once you're enrolled, which is why they wait for it. Nothing is invoiced later and there's no hourly rate to watch. Finish the six weeks and, if you don't think it was worth it, we refund the fee.

Where does it happen?

This page is the Chatham-Kent hybrid: sessions in person in and around Chatham where that helps, video where it doesn't, with families across Chatham-Kent — Wallaceburg, Blenheim, Tilbury, Ridgetown, Dresden, Thamesville and Wheatley included, and local legwork on workplace visits. Elsewhere in Ontario the same six weeks runs over video, with the introductions coming from our Ontario network so a teenager in Ottawa talks to someone in Ottawa.

Are you involved as a parent?

Yes. We start with a conversation with you before we meet your teenager. After that you see their progress, a summary after each session, the plan, and the written report at the end. What you won’t see is the raw answers they type into the questionnaire, and that is deliberate: a fifteen-year-old writes a different answer when they know a parent is reading every word, and the honest version is worth more to both of you. It is the same line a tutor or a doctor draws. If anything comes up that you need to know about, you hear it from me.

Does anything continue after the six weeks?

Yes. When a family finishes a Sprint they stay on the invitation list, and the young person is welcome at whatever we run next — career days, webinars, short classes, a trades bootcamp, a Meet a Realtor afternoon, a small-group Zoom with an accountant — plus somewhere to put a question to a trusted industry professional instead of to the internet. Being honest about where this is today: the network behind it is being recruited now and nothing is scheduled yet, so we are not going to name a date we do not have. As sessions are booked, the families we have worked with hear about them first, invitations are always optional, and for anyone under 18 they go to the parent.

Will my teenager actually get a job shadow?

Every Sprint includes at least two conversations with people actually working in the fields your teenager is considering. Where it is practical and appropriate, we also work toward a workplace visit, a job shadow or other hands-on exposure — and we say what is confirmed rather than what we hope for.

Can you guarantee my teenager gets a job or gets into a program?

No, and be careful of anyone who does. What we can do is make sure they know what exists, have talked to people doing it, understand the entry route, and have taken the next step rather than waiting for certainty to arrive.

Is the free Launch League program different?

Completely, and it stays free. Business 101, the business plan work and the province-wide competition are free for every young person in Ontario and always will be. Career coaching is a separate, paid, local service. Buying it gives your teenager no advantage whatsoever in the competition — entries are judged by volunteers who don't know who paid for anything.

Chatham-Kent · One-to-one · Ages 12–17

Six weeks from “I dunno” to a plan they chose.

Your teenager doesn't need their whole life figured out, and no questionnaire is going to tell them. What helps is getting in front of people who do the work, trying something real, and finding out — including finding out what they don't want.

Book the free parent call What's in the six weeks

6 private sessions
Career Discovery Brief
2 real career conversations
Real-world exposure where practical
30/60/90-day plan
Parent wrap-up
90-day check-in

The Future Ready Sprint — Chatham-Kent hybrid · 6 weeks

From “I dunno” to a plan they chose, in six weeks.

Six weeks of small, real-world experiments — people interviewed, a workplace seen where that is practical, something tried — and a written record of what each one taught them. One package, priced once, with everything in it written down.

What's in it

1A parent conversation and a private setupTwenty minutes with you first. Then the Career Discovery Profile: you read what is collected, your teenager answers in their own words, and you answer separately.
2A written brief before the first sessionWhere you and your teenager agree, where you see them differently, and which career families are worth exploring — with the answers that put them there.
36 weekly one-to-one sessionsCareers that fit what we heard, the honest route into each, and homework that involves the real world.
4At least two conversations with people who do the workFound through Launch League's Ontario network, wherever your teenager lives. We teach the asking, make the introduction, and confirm each one with you before anything identifying is shared.
5Real-world exposure where it is practicalA workplace visit, a job shadow or another way of getting close to the work. Named as confirmed only when it is, and we tell you what is realistic for their interests before you commit.
6A written 30/60/90-day plan, in their wordsWhat they're testing and how they'll know. Short enough to use.
7A family report and a 90-day check-inA written summary for you at the end, and we check back at the 90-day mark to adjust the plan rather than file it.
8The free program, either wayBusiness 101, the one-page plan and the provincial competition are free for every young person in Ontario. Coaching changes nothing about that and gives no advantage in it.

Founding Family Rate

$1,295 + HST

In and around Chatham, plus everything in the Ontario Sprint

The hybrid at the Ontario price, for the first ten Chatham-Kent families who are helping shape how this runs. It goes up after that, and the founding families keep what they paid.

Paid at enrolment

The parent call is free and decides whether this is a fit. If it is, you enrol and pay in full, and the work starts the same week. Nothing is invoiced later and there is no hourly rate to watch.

Completion guarantee

Finish the six weeks and, if you don't think it was worth it, we refund the fee. In writing, before you pay.

Book the free parent call

Twenty minutes, no charge, nothing booked until you decide. Guaranteed admission or a job is not on offer, from us or from anyone honest.

What you end up holding

Four things, in writing

Not a slide deck at the end. Documents you keep, that say where the conclusions came from.

Before session one

The Career Discovery Brief

Built from both questionnaires: where you and your teenager already agree, where you see them differently, and which career families are worth a look — each one shown with the answers that put it there.

What seems to energize you
Strengths we saw
Environments you may enjoy
Careers worth exploring
Areas of alignment
Areas worth exploring

Every week

A short parent update

What we covered, what they took away to do, and whether the last one happened. Two minutes to read; no jargon and no scores.

Week 6

A 30/60/90-day plan, in their words

What they are testing next and how they will know, short enough to actually use. Written by your teenager rather than handed to them, which is the difference between a plan that survives and a document that gets filed.

People to talk to
Experiences to try
Your next 90 days

Week 6, then again at 90 days

The family wrap-up

A written summary for you at the end of the six weeks, and a check-in at the 90-day mark to see what actually happened and adjust — because plans go stale and nobody reads the ones nobody revisits.

The headings above are the real ones the brief and the plan are built from. What goes under them is your teenager's, so there is no sample family to show you — the first one we write is theirs.

After week six

They stay on the list

Finishing the Sprint does not end it. Your teenager keeps getting invited to whatever we run next, with the same people the introductions come from.

Somewhere to put a question to a trusted industry professional, rather than to the internet — group sessions run by Launch League, never private contact between an adult and a young person.

Honestly, where this is today: the network behind it is being recruited now and nothing is scheduled yet, so we are not naming a date we do not have. Families we have worked with hear first, invitations are optional, and for anyone under 18 they go to the parent.

Meet a realtor day
An afternoon with someone who actually does it — how the money works, what the week looks like, how they got in.
Trades bootcamps
Short, hands-on sessions with tradespeople: what an apprenticeship really asks of you, and a go at the work.
A Zoom call with an accountant
Half an hour, small group, questions from teenagers rather than a presentation at them.
Career days, webinars and short classes
Run with the same people the introductions come from — nurses, engineers, machinists, marketers, owners.

The problem

“I don't know, I haven't really thought about it.”

It's the answer most parents get, and it isn't laziness. A fifteen-year-old is being asked to choose from a list they've never seen. They can name the jobs they've watched someone do — teacher, nurse, police officer, whatever their parents do — and that's roughly it.

Meanwhile the decisions start arriving early. Course selection in Grade 8 and 9 quietly closes doors three years later. Co-op has to be planned. Apprenticeship routes look confusing from the outside. And the standard advice — “follow your passion” — is useless to someone who hasn't met enough of the world to have one yet.

The fix isn't a better quiz.It's exposure: more conversations, more real workplaces, more small experiments, earlier. That's what this is.

What they actually do

Less advice. More contact with the real world.

Six things that run through the coaching, in roughly this order.

Work out what they're actually good at
Not a personality quiz that hands back three job titles. Conversations about what they lose track of time doing, what people ask them for help with, and what they've already done that they underrate.
See jobs that aren't on their radar
Most teenagers can name about a dozen jobs. There are thousands. A lot of the good ones in Chatham-Kent are invisible from a classroom — millwright, controls technician, ag equipment, logistics, dental hygiene, insurance, water treatment.
Talk to someone who does the work
A career is much easier to judge after twenty minutes with a person doing it than after an afternoon of reading. We teach them how to ask, then help arrange it where we can.
Understand the route in
College, university, apprenticeship, direct entry, military, starting something. What each one actually costs, how long it takes, what it demands in Grade 11 and 12, and what it's like to change your mind partway.
Take one real step
A shift, a shadow day, a volunteer role, a summer application, a conversation with a shop owner, a first résumé. Something that happened, not something that was decided.
Leave with a plan they chose
A written 30/60/90-day plan in their words, with what they're testing and how they'll know. Not a printout of what an adult thinks they should be.

Every route, honestly

University is one path. It is not the only good one.

We cover all of these the same way: what the work is really like, what it takes to get in, what it costs, and who to talk to.

Skilled trades and apprenticeship

College programs and diplomas

University

Direct entry to work

Healthcare

Technology

Agriculture and food

Government and public service

Military

Business, finance and office work

Starting something of their own

Changing course later

Entrepreneurship is on that list, not at the top of it. Launch League is known for teaching young people how business works — but pushing every teenager toward starting one would be the same mistake as pushing every teenager toward university.

How it works

What the process looks like

A conversation with you first
Twenty minutes, no charge. What you're seeing at home, what you've already tried, what would make this worth it. We'll tell you honestly if we're not the right thing.
You enrol, and the work starts
If we both think it's a fit, you enrol and pay the Founding Family Rate in full. Nothing before that point costs you anything — and nothing after it is invoiced later. The profile, the research and the first introductions all begin once you're enrolled, which is why they wait for it.
You set things up, privately
If we both think it's a fit, I send you an invitation link. You read exactly what we collect before any account exists, tell me about your teenager, and choose what you're comfortable with — documents, introductions and updates are each a separate yes or no. Then a short questionnaire, ten to fifteen minutes, about what you see in them.
Your teenager does theirs, in their own words
You hand them an eight-character code. They set their own password, read a short plain-English notice about what I do and don't pass on, and work through eleven short sections — about twenty-five minutes, and they can stop and come back. You see their progress and the summaries, not the raw answers.
I read both sides before we meet
The two questionnaires produce a brief: where you and your teenager already agree, where you see them differently, and which career families are worth exploring — each shown with the actual answers that produced it, so none of it is a black box.
Sessions, research and real-world exposure
Careers that fit what we heard, and the homework that comes with it. Interviews with people doing the job, and a job shadow or site visit when an employer has capacity. We name what's confirmed and what isn't.
A written plan, then follow-up
30/60/90 days, specific, theirs, and short enough to use. Plans go stale, so we check back and adjust rather than filing it.

Job shadows, site visits and employer introductions depend on who has capacity at the time. We'll tell you what's realistic for your teenager's interests before you commit to anything, and we don't describe a visit as available until an employer has actually said yes. Nothing your family writes is sent to any AI service. Exactly what is collected, who reads it and how long it is kept is set out in the Career Discovery section of our Privacy Policy.

Who it's for

It fits some families and not others.

A good fit if…

They genuinely don't know what they want, and the conversation at home has stalled.
They have an idea but no sense of how anyone actually gets there.
They're bright and capable but drifting, and school isn't reaching them.
They're choosing courses, co-op or a post-secondary route soon.
They're interested in a trade and nobody has walked them through what that means.

Not the right thing if…

What's really going on is anxiety, depression or something clinical. That needs a professional, and we'll say so.
You want someone to talk them into a specific career. We won't.
You're looking for guaranteed admission, placement or a job. Nobody can sell you that honestly.
Your teenager is dead set against it. Coerced coaching doesn't work.

About the coach

Who your teenager would actually be talking to

Launch League is run by Nick Gonzalez, who lives and works in Chatham-Kent. He spent ten years in the United States Air Force in financial management and eight years running operations at a skilled-trades business — hiring people, training them, watching who thrived and who was in the wrong seat. He founded Launch League to teach young people how business and work actually function.

What he is not:a registered career counsellor, a psychologist or a therapist. He won't claim otherwise, and he won't administer clinical assessments. What he brings instead is having hired people, run teams, built businesses, and knowing a lot of employers here by name.

The coaching philosophy is simple and slightly unfashionable: a fourteen-year-old cannot be sorted into a career by a questionnaire. They can be given enough contact with the real world to start working it out themselves — which is a different job, and a better one.

More about Launch League

Where this sits

What your teenager can do for free, either way

Coaching is the paid, local, one-to-one layer. It is not the only thing on offer, and for a lot of families the free program is enough.

Career coach · career counsellor · career planning · Chatham-Kent

Searching for a career coach in Chatham, Ontario?

A few different things get searched under similar names. Here's which one this is.

Teen career coach, Chatham-Kent

This page. One-to-one, in person in and around Chatham, for Grades 7–12 across Chatham-Kent — Wallaceburg, Blenheim, Tilbury, Ridgetown, Dresden, Thamesville, Wheatley. Practical exploration, real conversations with people who do the work, a plan they chose. What coaching is and isn't, for any family in Ontario: career coaching for teens.

Career counselling, Chatham

In the clinical sense — a registered counsellor, psychologist or psychotherapist — that isn't us, and we say so. If your teenager needs that, we'll tell you on the first call and point you to the right place rather than sell you this.

Career planning help, free

Every school in the Lambton Kent and St. Clair Catholic boards has guidance and co-op staff, and OYAP for the trades. Before paying anyone, use them — and use our free Future Finder and careers guides.

Start here

Let's talk about your teenager.

Tell me a little and I'll come back to you within two business days to set up a short call. No charge for that conversation, and no obligation after it.

Want to try something first? Future Finder is the free, public half of this — a ten-minute snapshot your teenager can do right now, with no account and nothing stored. It is the same set of questions the coaching starts from. If it gives you nothing useful, that is worth knowing before you pay for anything.

One thing before you write. This form goes to me, not to your teenager. Please leave their name and contact details out of it — we only need enough to have a first conversation with you.

Prefer email? nick@launchleague.ca. Coaching is a paid service and is entirely separate from the free Launch League program — see the parents page for how consent, privacy and safety work for anyone under 18, and the Career Discovery privacy section for what the coaching itself collects.

Questions

Things parents ask first

Is this career counselling?: No, and the difference matters. Counselling and career assessment in the clinical sense are regulated, and Nick is not a registered counsellor, psychologist or therapist. This is practical career exploration and coaching: conversations, research, introductions to people doing real jobs, and a written plan. If a young person needs mental-health support, we will say so and point you to the right people rather than pretend we are them.
Does my teenager have to want to start a business?: No. Launch League is known for entrepreneurship, and it is one of the paths we cover honestly — including the parts that are hard. But most of the teenagers we work with are heading toward a trade, a college program, university, an apprenticeship or a job, and the coaching is built for that.
What ages is it for?: Grades 7 to 12, which is ages 12 to 17. Grade 8 and 9 tend to be about course selection and widening what they think exists. Grades 10 to 12 get more concrete: co-op, summer work, applications, apprenticeship routes and what happens after graduation. If your teenager has already turned 18 the online part isn't built for them, because it runs on parental authorization — get in touch anyway and we'll work out what makes sense.
What does it cost, and when do I pay?: The Future Ready Sprint — six weeks, everything listed on this page — is $1,295 plus HST at the Founding Family Rate, for the first ten Chatham-Kent families. The twenty-minute parent call is free and decides whether it's a fit. If it is, you enrol and pay in full, and the work starts that week: the profile, the research and the first introductions all begin once you're enrolled, which is why they wait for it. Nothing is invoiced later and there's no hourly rate to watch. Finish the six weeks and, if you don't think it was worth it, we refund the fee.
Where does it happen?: This page is the Chatham-Kent hybrid: sessions in person in and around Chatham where that helps, video where it doesn't, with families across Chatham-Kent — Wallaceburg, Blenheim, Tilbury, Ridgetown, Dresden, Thamesville and Wheatley included, and local legwork on workplace visits. Elsewhere in Ontario the same six weeks runs over video, with the introductions coming from our Ontario network so a teenager in Ottawa talks to someone in Ottawa.
Are you involved as a parent?: Yes. We start with a conversation with you before we meet your teenager. After that you see their progress, a summary after each session, the plan, and the written report at the end. What you won’t see is the raw answers they type into the questionnaire, and that is deliberate: a fifteen-year-old writes a different answer when they know a parent is reading every word, and the honest version is worth more to both of you. It is the same line a tutor or a doctor draws. If anything comes up that you need to know about, you hear it from me.
Does anything continue after the six weeks?: Yes. When a family finishes a Sprint they stay on the invitation list, and the young person is welcome at whatever we run next — career days, webinars, short classes, a trades bootcamp, a Meet a Realtor afternoon, a small-group Zoom with an accountant — plus somewhere to put a question to a trusted industry professional instead of to the internet. Being honest about where this is today: the network behind it is being recruited now and nothing is scheduled yet, so we are not going to name a date we do not have. As sessions are booked, the families we have worked with hear about them first, invitations are always optional, and for anyone under 18 they go to the parent.
Will my teenager actually get a job shadow?: Every Sprint includes at least two conversations with people actually working in the fields your teenager is considering. Where it is practical and appropriate, we also work toward a workplace visit, a job shadow or other hands-on exposure — and we say what is confirmed rather than what we hope for.
Can you guarantee my teenager gets a job or gets into a program?: No, and be careful of anyone who does. What we can do is make sure they know what exists, have talked to people doing it, understand the entry route, and have taken the next step rather than waiting for certainty to arrive.
Is the free Launch League program different?: Completely, and it stays free. Business 101, the business plan work and the province-wide competition are free for every young person in Ontario and always will be. Career coaching is a separate, paid, local service. Buying it gives your teenager no advantage whatsoever in the competition — entries are judged by volunteers who don't know who paid for anything.