Welcome, 21st Century Creative listener!
If you’ve listened to the podcast and you’re curious about getting my help as a private coaching client, this page will tell you about my coaching service.
You can apply for a coaching place by answering the questions further down the page.
As well as producing the podcast and writing poetry, I spend my days coaching inspiring creative professionals to achieve their full potential.
I help my clients in many areas, including their creativity, productivity, communication and presentation skills, writing, branding and marketing, sales, networking, money, strategy, business models and leadership.
But most of all I help them show up as their most creative, courageous, and resilient selves—at their desks, in the studio, on stage, with their own clients, or in front of the cameras.
And behind the scenes, I help them handle the pressure, make the big decisions, and have the difficult conversations that are unavoidable on the road to success.
I do this because I know what it’s like to be the odd one out, the one with the crazy vision, the one who feels compelled to do things his or her way.
I do it because I know how lonely it can feel on those days when you have to make a big decision, or deal with a big unexpected problem, or hold true to your vision when the people around you don’t get what you’re trying to do, or why.
And I do it because I know what it’s like to have someone in my life who really understands me and my vision, who will support and encourage me to be my best self—and who won’t accept anything less than my best.
I want to be that person for them. Maybe I could be that person for you.
I have limited places available
There is only one of me, and coaching is intensive work. So these days, after 22+ years of coaching, I deliberately limit the number of coaching clients I take on, in order to give them as much time, attention and creativity as their ambitions require.
This means I need to be selective, and only take on the kind of clients who will benefit the most from my kind of coaching. My clients typically have at least 5-10 years experience in their creative field.
So if you are new to your field, or working to establish yourself in the first part of your career, you will likely benefit more from taking training courses that are specific to your art or creative industry, or working with a specialist advisor or mentor. Then maybe you and I can work together in a few years’ time. 🙂
Does this sound like you?
Most importantly: You are engaged in meaningful creative work, and you want to achieve something extraordinary in the course of your career.
You are a creative professional with at least 5 years’ experience, and quite likely a decade or more.
You have a dream big enough to give you the shivers – of excitement tinged with fear – each time you think about it.
A dream that keeps you up at night.
A dream that will transform your work as a creative – and take your career or business into an exciting new phase.
You want to work with someone who ‘gets’ you as a creative, and who won’t steer you towards the conventional path.
You are prepared to work on yourself, by letting go of the beliefs and behaviours that have been holding you back, and experimenting with new ways of doing things.
You aren’t looking for cookie-cutter solutions – you’re past the stage of wanting someone to tell you what to do.
You’re ready to play full out and take bold action in pursuit of your dreams.
If that sounds like you, then let’s talk.
Making 100% sure we are the right fit
Your first step is to answer the questions below.
I will contact you once I have reviewed your answers. If I think we could be a good fit for working together, I will invite you to a coaching session (via Skype or FaceTime) where we will get right down to work on your current challenges and goals.
There is no fee for this session and no obligation to book any further coaching. There is also no guarantee I will offer you a coaching place afterwards.
Because coaching is such a personal process, this is the only way we can be sure if we are a good fit for working together. Once you have experienced working with me, you will know whether I can help you, before you decide whether to commit to coaching.
Ready to get started?
Then answer the questions below. I will treat your answers, like any coaching conversation, as strictly confidential.
Once I receive your application I will review it and respond within 3 working days.
Looking forward to reading your answers…
Mark
What my clients say about our work together
For years I had worked on a huge number of creative projects, usually one at a time, and because they were usually my babies, usually I worked from start to finish on each one. But it meant that I never seemed to move forward. Each thing was fun and exhausting. But each time I had to start from scratch, often broke (because I’d poured everything into getting the previous thing done), and having to do most of the heavy lifting on my own.
Mark clearly ‘got it’, and from day one, he has helped me to build a portfolio of creative assets, and reorganise my way of working so that a number of teams effectively (as Mark puts it) ‘work for me while I sleep’. I have more time for the kind of creativity I enjoy, and my career has taken flight.
When friends and colleagues ask, ‘How do you do it all?’ I refer them to Mark. And they’ve benefitted as well.
But that’s just the stuff on the tin.
Mark has been my support through the best and worst of times.
Both in my business life as a creative professional, and in my personal life, Mark has variously been my mentor, guide, cheerleader, sounding-board, counsellor, brainstorm partner, editor, financial planner, meeting strategist, ‘the adult in the conversation’ (although I’m not sure he particularly welcomes that role!), and friend.
Mark has helped me change my life.
Ian Poitier, Writer, Director, Producer & Consultant
Mark helped me understand where I need to focus my time in order to become more successful as a creative. He challenged me on some of my assumptions, as well as the language I have been using. He helped me to acknowledge what my true aim as a dark fiction author is, and where I was falling too far into the Shadow Career.
Mark’s unique skill is being able to empathize as a creative professional, but also challenge as an ambitious entrepreneur.
J.F.Penn, New York Times & USA Today bestselling author, JFPenn.com
Mark helped me examine my motivations – especially my need for freedom, fun and purpose. He helped me clarify what I do for clients, what makes it different and special, and how to communicate this to them and get them on board for amazing (and profitable) adventures.
Results – my income has more than quadrupled, my creativity has soared, and I get to use my quirky little clever ideas for achieving my purpose.
Aileen Bennett, Roaming Creative Director / Idea thinker upper, CreatingClever.com
When a publisher commissioned me to write my first book about the work I did, I wanted to work with a coach who was a writer, someone who had already been on the journey and could share their learning, their experience and could help me discover, learn and adopt the most useful ways to get better at writing. I wanted to work with a coach who had a focus on results and action.
I found Mark.
Mark helped me become clearer and more confident as a writer. As well as sharing his own experience, lessons and insights, he guided me to look at other writers’ work too. I became much more aware of the discipline I needed for my creativity to thrive.
The result was achieved. I completed my first book: The SHED Method: How to Make Better Choices When It Matters.
Sara Milne Rowe, Performance Coach, Founder of Coaching Impact, and Author of The SHED Method
My results after working with Mark a little bit over 3 months were tremendous! I can now negotiate contracts with new clients that I would have not dared ask for. And I am now also at the helm of a new entrepreneurial venture – Outshinery – that came to fruition in record time with Mark’s encouragement and guidance.
What I like the most about Mark’s coaching style, on top of the British accent (!), is how he is a creative himself. While I’m in visual design and not petty, it felts we really had a common ground, an understanding of the not-so-black-and-white world of creativity. We were speaking the same language.
I truly highly recommend working with Mark to bring your A-game!
Laurie Millotte, Designer and Founder, Outshinery.com
I heard about Mark from a poet friend and thought he sounded like exactly what I needed. I had had coaching before, but was struggling with the balance of my ‘portfolio life’ and wanted support from someone who was an expert in this area.
Mark has been superb. He has been sensitive, thoughtful, wise and asked the right questions at the right time. I now feel much more confident about where to focus my energies in the next few years, and what to cut out. I can’t recommend him highly enough.
Christina Patterson, Writer and Broadcaster, Author of The Art of Not Falling Apart
When I approached Mark for coaching I was in a place of emotional turmoil, stuck in my career, and needed help to find a way to create a life that would give me joy. I thought I had the plan and simply needed support in the execution of my goals as an artist. In fact what happened in my year’s work with Mark is that he supported me to look deeper at who I am and what I truly need and want. The result has been a transformative shift.
The coaching gave me confidence and self-awareness and enabled me to find and commit to a true life purpose. Buried talents in writing and coaching were unearthed and enlivened and I found an arena where my passion for service could flourish. Already within the year with Mark I exceeded my own expectations of myself by setting up a company, writing six e-books to be self published, embarked on new qualifications, trialed my dream of living and working abroad as a writer and coach and found a way to find new passion within my legal career.
The vision I am currently working on for the future is so much more impactful and audacious than I would have anticipated.
Helen Conway, Senior Lawyer, Artist and Coach, StudioConway.com
As a result of working with Mark, I’ve embarked on a completely new adventure! In 3 months, my email list has grown from 0 to over 800 and counting… My YouTube channel has 1,600 subscribers and 50,000+ views and is growing every day.
I’m creating new relationships around a totally new paradigm, based on openness to others, and I’m opening new channels of income. I never dreamt this could have been possible before!
Mark is non-intrusive, stimulating and inspiring. He gently guides you towards your purpose whilst keeping you accountable to guarantee progress and eventually success.
Fabrice Bourrelly, Artist, Architect and Virtual Reality (VR) Designer, FabriceBourrelly.com
As a coach, Mark is extremely kind while being direct. Really wise while being modest. Incredibly smart, sensitive, intuitive and clear in his thinking. I really felt he had my back.
Something that was really important to me personally is that Mark is a serious, practicing poet. That meant that he was not coaching from an abstract perspective. What’s more he had a poet’s fine sensibility. He recognized and encouraged mine. This turned out to be a profound comfort. He took care of my inner artist. And I felt very safe under his guidance.
Jeanne Denney, Somatic Psychotherapist, Teacher and Founder of The School of Unusual Life Learning (SoULL), JeanneDenney.com
I knew a standard business coach wouldn’t give me the guidance I needed, so I spent some time researching the right coach for me. I found Mark after reading some of his work in the 99U books; after our initial consultation prior to beginning the coaching, I had little doubt by the time we actually started work together.
Helen Hughes, Owner, Helen Hughes Design Studio