With twenty years experience to draw upon, I offer support to small businesses and artist/makers developing their commercial brand. I can offer my experiences and help you awaken to potential opportunities.
Whether you need a one off session to kick start a new project or ongoing support to keep you on track, I can give support with:
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Brand development & design
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Licensing designs for products
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Social media support and blogging
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Planning and sustaining your business
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Motivational support
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Pricing
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Managing your creative flow
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Cash flow and self employment
Sessions can be 1:1 in person or online. Group mentoring available. Price per session. You'll get a 45 mins - 1 hour session face-to-face and a follow up email to check in with you.
See below for package options.
Please use the contact page to discuss your requirements.
Proud to have been selected as a Mentor for the Webinart Professional Development Programme 2020/2021
In 2021 I am working with Derbyshire Open Arts as a 'Social Media Guru' supporting their board of volunteers and their wider community of artists and makers to make the most of social media avenues for promoting and selling work.
You can check out the video we made for their member artists here.
I am a Fellow of The Royal Society of the Arts. As a student I won a travel bursary from the RSA Design Awards. Now I am proud to help support their work in how we shape our society to respond to the complex challenges of our time.
Mentoring allows you to work alongside someone who has experience of many of the highs, lows and hard work of running a business. I have been self employed, as a designer and then an artist, for over twenty years! Running a creative business creatively is, as you know, hard work and sometimes we need support in that.
As I became established I found that sustaining my business became more challenging. As a creative I wanted to always try new things but my business head said I should stick with one thing. Sometimes it helps to have someone else look into our head, see all the swirling creativity and help us to decide where are energies should be put and see the potential of opportunities. It is as much about knowing what to say ‘no’ to as to say ‘yes’ to. Running a creative business is often about confidence and having someone to advocate for us, and build our confidence can be very helpful for achieving long term goals. Finding ways of working on long term ambitions, whilst maintaining the day to day of running a business can be challenging and having someone to guide our plans and offer support can lead to results. Life isn’t just about running a business, I’m so much happier now that I have a balanced life. I have found a way for me to run my business that suits my lifestyle, ambitions and talents.
Most of us in the arts work in isolation, behind closed doors. My door is open and I bring my experience to help and guide you. You might want a regular session to ‘check-in’ and set goals. You may have a project that you know won’t get off the ground without setting aside specific time for it and having some extra input. I can help with planning, prioritising and support you as an advisor. I work in a holistic way, balancing head and heart to satisfy your creativity and your business needs.
I would like to encourage and motivate you to put your plans into action. If you would like to talk about how we can implement that, you can get in touch here.
Mentoring Terms and Conditions:
The Mentor/Mentee relationship is one of support and guidance. It is not coaching or teaching. I offer up my experiences to support and help you in the decisions that you need to make about your business.
As Mentor, I am not responsible for what you do with that advice - this includes any legal decisions made.
As Mentee you will need to be open-minded, reflective, and be responsible for deciding upon your actions (with my help in goal setting) to move forwards.
I will respect your views, your experiences, background, race, gender and sexuality.
All information is shared in confidence and I will respect your privacy. I will not discuss our relationship with anybody unless it is for legal reasons.
Both Mentor and Mentee must respect professional, commercial and artistic ethics.
As Mentor, it is my role to listen to you, share my experiences, challenge preconceptions, clarify the possibilities and affirm suggested routes forwards. This will be done in the spirit of positive affirmation and validation.
(updated June 2020)