BUSINESS COACHING: REAL RESULTS
— Rauni Higson, MBE, silversmith
“I'm stunned by how much has changed. I feel like a grub that has turned into a dragonfly.”
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CASE STUDIES
After years of financial instability, she rebuilt her business around her actual life — not the other way around.
Creative autonomy—tick!
I feel more secure than I ever have. I have a solid business and ways to work that are dependable and properly paid—AND I’m doing more of the creative work I want to be doing.
The shape of my business is so simple now: commission me or train with me. That’s all my income covered. And then I can make my art without feeling desperate about sales. That freedom actually liberates everything.
I’ve proved that being a self-employed artist does not necessarily mean sacrificing oneself at the altar of creative suffering. F*** that.
Rauni Higson
MBE, silversmith
Since completing the Incubator program, Rauni has been awarded an MBE for services to Silversmithing, creates commissioned pieces for royalty, and takes climbing trips between major projects—all while earning more than ever from doing less. “I feel like a grub that has turned into a dragonfly,” she says.
They couldn't imagine anyone would pay for their brain. They landed a $15,000 contract — and made more that quarter than in the previous two years combined.
I couldn’t imagine someone would pay me for my brain. But I’ve gotten some evidence to the contrary since then. I landed a $15,000 contract… I made more in that quarter than I had made in the past two years combined.
[The program] just gave me not just the business foundation, but lifelong business relationships. It gave me a really rich Rolodex of supportive colleagues… I’m really grateful for not just the business foundation, but the relationships that came from that space. It’s priceless.
As a neurodivergent person who had worked in a lot of hostile work environments, working for myself seemed like the safest option. But I knew I needed structure around that… I wanted the structured guidance of ‘here’s what the engine room, here’s what the mechanical room of running a business looks like.’
I just hosted a successful networking lunch for high school students to meet award winning biomedical researchers for the Gairdner Foundation. And now I’m off to a black tie gala for this year’s Gairdner Award Laureates.
What is this life?!? It’s a dream, but it’s real life.
Braeden Doane
founder of Landline Radio
She knows exactly when her next paycheck is coming.
I had the highest proposal, and they picked me. I was able to secure my biggest contract ever of $26,000, which is fantastic. And, in a couple of weeks, we’ll begin the next round, so it has legs longer than just like a one off which is really nice to have that repeat business.
I felt confident in asking for what I’m worth. I was scared, but I knew that if I didn’t approach them and ask for what I was worth, then I was going to be resentful if I did get the job.
Now, I’m consistently making money and able to pay my bills. Beforehand it was not that way…I have a two month runway right now.
I’m not as scared to look at my bank account…Stability was a really big concern of mine. The anxiousness of, ‘When’s my next paycheck gonna come in?’ has been scary. Now, that’s more solid. I know that I’m going to pay myself in two weeks.
Sarah Flood-Baumann
Book and Magazine Designer
“The first discovery call I had turned into my first client. And my second call turned into my second client.”
This was a bigger financial commitment than I’ve made before for my business. I wondered, is that feasible? Is that smart?
It’s been absolutely smart. It’s been a game changer. If I had just quit and given it a shot I probably wouldn’t still be freelancing right now.
The structure, the preparation, the work of gathering data, and then from that developing a plan, really changed my perspective about how to do this going forward.
Immediately, even weeks later, I was getting leads. This was a new thing to me, to get leads…
The first discovery call I had turned into my first client. And my second call turned into my second client.
Todd Rains
web designer and developer
Design your business to serve your creative life, not the other way around.
With Finish Line Coaching, find the profitable throughline in your work so you can get back to what matters most.
Burnt out after twenty-five years in academia to working one day a week with clients she loves.
I was looking to cut out the middle man. I’d developed my own teaching, coaching, and mentoring service, working with artists and writers to offer them a space to reflect on their work in depth with someone.
I’m really enjoying the work that I’m doing. I get some really interesting clients. It’s like having all the good bits of teaching and none of the bad bits.
I would recommend this program to anyone, like me, who is feeling stuck in an academic job that isn’t giving them any joy and satisfaction anymore and is making them wonder why they ever got into teaching.
Because when you get to a certain level in your career, the things that you love to do are not the things that you get to spend your time doing anymore. And that may be a time to reevaluate and have a rethink about how you use your skills and how you get paid for them.
If somebody was hesitating about a level of investment, I’d suggest they just do some sums….I paid back the investment of the Incubator before the end of the six months. And I really, really, really, wanted to do that.
Samantha Clark
visual artist, writer, and mentor
Samantha’s most meaningful goal for her business was to earn enough in little enough time that she could put the majority of her energy into her studio practice. Since completing the Incubator, Samantha has produced new work and exhibited at a blistering pace, and been awarded the inaugural Royal Scottish Academy MacRobert Trust Art Award for Painting.
She doubled her revenue in eight months and landed her first $10,000 portrait commission.
What kept happening is that I’d finish a project and think, Oh cool. I paid myself $10 an hour after expenses.
That’s not a long term plan. But I really struggled with the confidence to feel like I had the chops, I had the reputation to actually walk up to someone and say, Look, I’m worth this many thousands of dollars. That is just what my services cost.
Your background made me feel like ‘Here is someone who understands both the art world and the business world.’ I can come with my specific set of problems and not have to explain all of the backstory of what the art world is like and why your nice tidy solution won’t work.
After the Incubator, I now have a six month waiting list. I have a waiting list for the first time ever. That feels huge.
Sarah Marie Lacy
portrait painter
Read Sarah’s full story.
She started the program struggling with two family health crises. She finished with two clients and her studio rent paid for the year.
I was caught in this hamster wheel of doing things that I thought would earn me an income, only to come up empty-handed or underpaid…
This offer has been just so much easier than I thought it would be. That was shocking to me […] Just doing the work that I had offered was surprisingly satisfying, and just so enriching and really enjoyable…
I have two new clients […] and my studio rent will be paid right through the end of this year, which is just mind-blowing for me. My revenue has really increased and become a proper income. I have gone from this slightly humiliating position of having to ask my husband to put money in my business account to a business account that actually has funds coming directly from my clients! It sounds silly, but that’s never been the case for me before, so it feels really good.
Deirdre Colgan Jones
artist, architect, and teacher
Read Deirdre’s full story.
“My goal was always creative freedom”
I honestly think that Jessica is the one who finally made me realize that I was never going to fix the problem by just keeping on pushing. I really believed, up until last year, if I keep doing this, eventually it will fall into place. And I’ll be the kind of chilled out happy artist mom I always imagined I would be.
And then one day I realised this is not going to happen. I could keep working myself into the ground and I might still never push past £12,000 a year.
My goal was always creative freedom, and selling more was what I thought had to do to have that. …
I can see five years into the future now. I can see how I can consistently show up for this business and grow it and do work that I actually feel super passionate about and excited about. And I haven’t had that for a long time.
Eleanor Chaney
artist and creative coach
Read Eleanor’s full story.
Her Netflix deal was stuck in “development hell.” Four weeks after joining, she had her first client.
When my client saw the first video I made for him, he loved it. He was totally blown away. I’ve worked so hard my whole life, and now I’m working not so hard and everyone’s happy. It just seems too good to be true!
I was feeling very guilty about not being able to bring in what I felt was really just my market rate. I’m not even asking for a lot. I just wanted to be paid for the skills that I had. And even that was not happening. Now I’m at a place where I can very easily see that by the end of the year, I should be able to pull in enough to run the house on just my money.
Avantika Hari Agrawal
filmmaker and founder of Filmy Brands
Since completing the Incubator program, Avantika has turned her marketing company into a robust funding source for her filmmaking, returning to producing with the Bollywood feature, Abir Gulaal.
Design your business to serve your creative life, not the other way around.
With Finish Line Coaching, find the profitable throughline in your work so you can get back to what matters most.