First and foremost, I listen.  I listen to what you are telling me or not telling me.  I don’t let you ramble off but rather gently guide you through curious questions to help you reach your own conclusions.  I’m not going to tell you what to do.

 

A natural progression has been to provide a mentoring role to others starting up their own creative businesses, be it in the art and design field, writing or travel. From talking through your ideas right up to how to put practical administration processes in place. Most importantly I want to take away the fear that so many people seem to associate with running a business.

I’ll help to you to just get started. To put yourself or your product out there and discuss the channels that you can do this via.

What do I do?

I have a diverse range of experience in the creative arts, business ownership, project management and working with people.

I’m an artist and business development consultant.  I’ve run my own creative business called Simple Intrigue since 2011.  This business has three points of focus; a commercial product range, artwork and installation.  I’ve evolved in recent years to more of focus on my artworks while still retaining the production of a selection of commercial artworks.  I’ve had two shops in the past and taken part in various trade shows including Maison de Object in Paris.

In my other life I’ve been involved in the travel industry in a product development role for a selection of tour operators focusing on the high end market in southern and east Africa since 2004.  I currently consult to a Safari lodge group and manage a membership program for them.

Additionally, I’m extremely passionate about the ocean and am actively involved with opening up spaces for everyone to experience the marine world.  This has been done through a small project called Cape Town Tidal Pools.  My own personal project is called ‘Plastic Beach’ and is something I’ve been working on for the past 10 years.  I collect plastic and create site specific installations and other artworks.

On a more personal note, I have burnt out in the past and come back from that. I’ve reinvented myself and had a range of different careers.  I’m passionate about my free-diving hobby and am extremely interested in the connection between nature and creativity.

When delving into this type of work it can bring up a range of other things.  I will then always refer you to a mental health professional if the need arises.

What is my coaching style?

First and foremost, I listen.  I listen to what you are telling me or not telling me.  I don’t let you ramble off but rather gently guide you through curious questions to help you reach your own conclusions.

I’m not going to tell you what to do.

This is probably the most important thing for you as the client to realise.  I can’t give you the answers, but I can help you to find them.  Alongside this I can also offer you practical advice about the nitty gritty of running a business.

If this sounds a bit airy fairy, it’s not. I am outcomes driven and will help you to ensure that you get a return on your investment.  Not only in these coaching sessions but also from your creative business.

What happens in a coaching session with you?

I’ve tried to adopt a style where you come first. I like to establish an overall picture of where you are at, not only in your creative business pursuits, but in your life as well.  Unfortunately, we can’t compartmentalise our lives, everything is connected and very often there are a number of deep-rooted personal beliefs that come into play as we start to delve into your creative journey and business development. 

Once we’ve established an overall picture, we’ll look at what your big, messy and maybe slightly crazy dream is, this applies even if you’ve been running your business for a while.  If you don’t feel clear on this I can help you.  Often people have stopped allowing themselves to dream, we feel the need to be practical all the time and most dangerously, keeping busy all the time or on the flip side, procrastinating.

We trip ourselves up in a multitude of ways and often it just takes a bit of help to recognise what we are doing.  From here we put some practical steps in place and find ways to work what your challenges are.  These probably come from a deep-rooted place and I believe it’s important to embrace these beliefs and treat them with compassion.  We’ll find ways to accept them and gently make them more manageable.

Once we’ve got that in place the practical steps will follow.  Breaking up these steps into manageable junks and setting reachable small goals I often find is very helpful.  

For example, it’s extremely daunting to look at a list that’s mile long and think I must get in touch with 20 possible galleries for my work today or write that book, rather just aim for 1 thing a day.  Also acknowledge that sometimes you just aren’t in the right headspace and that it’s okay to shelve it until you are.  Different days bring different strengths and some days one just needs to rest.  Self-compassion is something we all need to learn.

What benefits do you as the client get?

Hopefully a better sense of where you are at in your creative business journey and what the next steps are.

I’d really like for someone to come away with a deeper sense of what their strengths and weaknesses are.  We are all simply humans with plenty of weird and wonderful quirks and life often throws up huge challenges.  My aim is to help you build resilience and the quiet confidence to run a successful business. 

We’ll put practical steps in place around what comes up in our sessions.  I don’t believe that there is a hard and fast formula to building a business, things change, and we need to be flexible to ensure success and longevity.  What worked 2 years ago, may not work anymore. 

Practical steps and systems will be developed, and I can refer you to other professionals if you need.  Often the hardest part is just getting started.  People get stuck on trying to create brand identities, websites and all sorts of external things. I want you to get going with your product, your writing or artwork, everything else will come from that.