It’s a phrase that’s uttered a lot: "Diversifying Income" but it is often shrouded in business talk which turns most of the creative sector (myself included) right off.  But, when you move away from the exclusionary jargon, it is absolutely key to building a thriving creative business.

When done ri...

It was the 27th January last year when a roomful of fabulous women, my hairdresser and my lovely kids joined me for my Brave Shave party.  Over 70% of my hair had gone so it was the swiftest and, in some ways, easiest haircut Paolo had ever given me.  It was certainly the cheapest!

But it was also ...

Let’s start at the beginning in defining what I mean by a glimmer.

The term “glimmer” was first coined by social worker Deb Dana in 2018 in her book The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy.  Her work centres around complex trauma and glimmer was a term she created to reflect the opposite of a trigger.

It’...

Growing up I was a very creative kid, always making something or other.  But it was a continual exercise in frustration as the ideas in my head never quite matched up to what I made in reality.  Undeterred, I continued to make stuff until I had a bit of a crisis of confidence and felt like it was al...

I still catch a reflection of myself and have a moment of surprise.

It happens every morning when I briefly glance in the mirror.  I immediately think "oh! I'm bald! I forgot that" and then I smile and say (often out loud) to myself "hello baldy!"

I feel extremely lucky those moments of surprise a...

“Thank you so much for your honesty, your vulnerability and your practical advice”

This was one of the many very lovely bits of feedback I received last week from one of my free How to Make an Online Course webinars.  It wasn’t the only comment about my honesty, which has led, through various ponde...

This is a sentence opener I’ve found to be super useful when I get asked “so what is it you do?”.

That question used to freeze me in fear, especially when asked by someone who wasn’t in the creative sector.  “Well, I do a few things…” I’d mumble.

Fast forward a few years and I now confidently say,...

When you’re freelance or self employed, properly going on holiday is a hard thing to do.  There’s a worry that, as you do everything in your business, things might fall apart if you’re not keeping on top of messages and emails.  There’s also the more uncomfortable thing that you get validation and a...

I often catch people staring when I’m out and about without a wig.  I don’t mind it at all - I’d stare too; it’s just human to be curious about difference and diversity.  On the whole, I find that humans are lovely and they don’t want people to get upset by knowing they are being stared at, so when ...

Tricky question right?

If you follow me on Instagram or LinkedIn, you'll have seen that I've been musing on that a bit recently, especially in relation to creativity.

There are, what I would consider to be, healthy distractions and unhealthy ones.

Healthy distractions would include reflective tim...

So many days asking “Why is my hair falling out” have come to an end.

Yesterday was the first day in nearly 4000 days when my hair didn’t fall out.  I didn’t check the bald patches to see what was worse, what was growing back, what was turning pure white.  I didn’t sigh as a handful of hair came ou...

In one of the last face to face meetings I had just before the pandemic massively changed our lives, someone said to me “the only way forward is through radical generosity”.

We were talking about the arts sector and how it could withstand the year on year eroding of funding and support.  But the ph...

Let me put my cards on the table (next to a chai latte and a bit of baking goodness): I blooming love Christmas!

This isn't because every Christmas I've ever had has been idyllic.  Far from it.  10 years ago, my brother passed away suddenly right before Christmas day.  Then we had that incredibly d...

“What, in this situation, can you control?”

That question comes up a lot in coaching.  As a client tries to untangle something they feel unclear about which is complicated by lots of external factors: other people’s behaviour and choices, society at large, the weather, etc.  There’s a common thread...