My Journey to Coaching
July 29, 2020Reflecting Back
I was just like you once. I struggled with pricing my work, finding clients, knowing what my style was, and getting invoices paid.
I earned six figures my second full year in my design and mural business taking on every project possible. But I felt exhausted. I was stressed, would frequently lash out at my partner and pups (I know! awful), and I wasn’t energized or excited about all the projects I was bringing on.
So, I started saying no.
Wow was that empowering. I increased my prices and set real minimums on projects. I started to create better boundaries within my business. And it worked! The power of saying yes to the right projects sparked something in me. The realization that quality was better than quantity. I could take on higher paying projects and do less hours in a day for my business. This is everyone’s goal, right?
But most designers are scared to believe in themselves and their success. This starving artist stereotype runs deep. We’ve been conditioned to require critiques and compete with our peers and think we can’t earn a great living creating. We don’t put ourselves first because we aren’t taught to. We think we have to work for someone else, put in a crazy amount of hours, and then hope for a promotion and a smidge more pay. When we get out on our own, we repeat these patterns. That shit is nonsense.
I’m ready for a change. How about you?
Not Feeling Enough
I have a few questions for you. Do you feel imposter syndrome often? Do you scroll through Instagram, and it makes you feel awful and like your work sucks? Or even worse, are you judging others’ work and thinking you could do it better? I think it happens to the best of us. Social media is an amazing tool but sometimes it can make you feel less than.
I’m going to guess you feel you always need to work and be productive. That you have to be perfect at all times, so that you can be better than everyone else — because if you’re not, no one notices you. Have you been doing this your whole life? Probably. Were you the honor roll student, the overachiever, and the one your family “never had to worry about”?
Me too.
So, what is this idea, this concept that our businesses (and lives) are missing?
I call it enoughness, but it also goes by the name of love. Yeah, I said it. It’s cheesy but very true!
Not feeling enough is my biggest core wound, and I can now recognize it in so many other designers. It’s the one thing I come back to time and time again to validate this state of stress and lack of self-care. It’s how I justify overworking. It’s essentially that I don’t love myself enough, so I overcompensate through working and running my business. Can you relate?
But, of course, I have some good news too! It gets easier, with time and the right tools. Do you believe that you can feel calmer and more confident? That you don’t have to run a business constantly stressed the way I did but you can still make a shit ton of money? In fact, I bet you can make even more money than me (more quickly too).
Even though discovering this about myself was painful, I am unlearning these patterns so I can accept and grow from this limiting belief. This allows me to do design better. I get to heal my perfectionism and not enoughness. I get to do what I love with more acceptance and ease.
Big Changes
I hired my first life and business coach this year who specifically works with trauma-informed artists who want to be coaches. When I started, I didn’t even know I had childhood trauma but soon came to realize that I had more than I cared to admit.
Unpacking my trauma was a big part of my healing journey.
A lot of life’s issues go back to your childhood because it's where you learned how to exist.
Mine was full of chaos and emotional neglect. It was subtle at points and raging at other moments. I rarely felt seen, heard, or respected. I was the smart one and was rewarded for my consistent good grades, but that was the extent of praise I received. So I learned that overachieving, being quiet, putting others first, and not asking for help would lead me to success. But that isn’t healthy now, is it?
Business problems are life problems in disguise.
When I first started my business, I took on as many clients as possible, I didn’t speak up when projects went over budget, and I had no idea what I wanted to do or who I wanted to work with. Some of this is part of growing a business. But most I kept allowing to happen because I didn’t realize I was repeating patterns I had experienced as a kid. I had very little boundaries. My to do list was always miles long, and I was full of new ideas that were half-assed and never came to fruition. Long story short, I was struggling, like a lot.
What I came to realize is that by not feeling enough internally, I wasn’t at my true potential. I created a lot of cool designs, but I wasn’t happy. These business problems — overachieving, constantly stressed, adding on extra work and to do’s to feel busy and worthy — were really life problems in disguise. I’ve had so many lightbulb moments this year all while managing through a pandemic, participating in the BLM movement, and running my business.
This is a journey in progress, but I only started it because I asked for help, and that is an achievement in itself.
Since hiring my life and biz coach, I have:
🎨 Scaled by hiring design and painting assistants, an OBM, and a VA!
🤑 Raised my minimums, and now require a 75% deposit on all new projects (because boundaries right?!).
🤩 Identified and found my ideal clients so I do more of what I love to do for those I enjoy working with the most.
In a nutshell, I asked for help. I was on my way to a nervous breakdown and knew that I needed something or someone else to guide me through.
You can ask for help too, I promise. It’s safe and so empowering. It will make your design business ten times better, and that will of course make your life more balanced.
Does this all sound like you? Are you a perfectionist, overachieving, and overworking creative business owner on your way to making six figures? Are you ready to commit to your healing journey so you can get paid to do what you love with more acceptance and ease?
I invite you to check out my coaching program: Burnout to Balance for Business Badasses. In 90 days, we’ll use mindset tools and pricing strategy to get you on the path to working less and making more!
A few journal prompts for you:
If you own a creative service-based business but haven’t made 6 figures yet:
What limiting beliefs are you telling yourself?
Do you let clients frequently extend the scope of the project without additional payment?
Are you constantly feeling not good enough?
Are you comparing yourself to others in the design industry?
Do you feel overwhelmed and like you’re burning the midnight oil?
How do these questions make you feel? DM me on Instagram if you want to chat about it!
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