For Professional Artists and Creatives
with Mark McGuinness – Coaching Creative Professionals since 1996
Does this describe you?
You are a creative professional, such as:
- An artist
- An author
- A commercial creative – e.g. designer, copywriter, web developer
- A performer – e.g. actor, musician, dancer, TV/radio presenter
- A Creative Director or VP
- A TV/film director or producer
- A coach, consultant, or other creative service provider
- An agency or studio owner
- An entrepreneur
You are not a beginner – you have at least 10 years’ experience behind you.
You may have achieved a certain level of success – creative, professional and/or commercial. But you are not one for looking back. You want your next chapter to be the best yet.
You want to make big changes in your working life. And you want something more than conventional career or business advice.
Because when you travel an original path, a lot of the usual rules don’t apply.
You’re not looking for someone to spoon-feed you ‘the answer’. You’d rather have someone ask the kind of questions that help you find your own answers.
You want to work with someone who ‘gets’ you, your creative passion and your professional ambitions.
Someone who walks the talk as a creative artist himself, and doesn’t just tell others how to create.
Someone who won’t flinch from challenging your fears and Resistance. Yet who will do so with compassion and humour.
You want to (finally) play full out in pursuing your ambitions.
You are prepared to work hard, face your fears, and to have fun on the journey.
You also want to be able to discuss these issues with absolute trust and discretion.
This is where I can help
I’m an award-winning poet and Creative Career Coach. I work exclusively with high-performing creative professionals like you. I’m approaching my 30th anniversary as a coach, so I’ve learned a lot about the very specific challenges you face.
I can help you with all aspects of your creative career – from making life-changing decisions, to deciding how to manage your diary and structure your day, to rehearsing for a big public performance, or approaching crucial conversations with people in your working life.
Whatever your creative discipline, I will encourage you to apply your creativity to every aspect of your life and work. You can achieve extraordinary things when you start treating your life, career and/or business as canvases for your creativity.
I work internationally, so most of my coaching is via secure video calls, with phone and email support between sessions. Some clients travel to Bristol, UK, to work with me in person. I occasionally provide coaching and retreats on location.
Coaching places are allocated by invitation after an initial session. To apply for coaching, answer the questions on this page.
Meeting and working with Mark was one of the most significant pivotal moments in my career. He helped me not only to bring my business to the next level but also to balance success and well being at the same time.
Holger Nils Pohl, Visual Strategist
Typical Creative Career Coaching goals
Here are some of the big themes of my work with creatives on their careers:
A wide-angle look at your career
You’ve been working hard for years. Now it’s time to ‘stop the world and get off’ and take a look at the big picture. To get clarity on what you really want to achieve in your career. And to devise a strategy that can guide your decisions and actions going forward.
Play to your strengths
For a creator, there is no value in being ‘pretty good’ at too many tasks. There are things you can do that no one else can do. When you focus relentlessly on them, they become superpowers. You stand out by being outstanding at a few things, or even one big thing.
Focus and flow
Each working day is a microcosm of your life. I can help you structure your day, your week and your year, so that you put your creativity first and work on your most important strategic priorities. I’ll help you find a time and a place for everything that matters in your professional life, so that whatever the time of day, you can be present and focused on the task in hand.
Crucial conversations, big decisions
There are times when the next phase of your career comes down to a big decision, or a crunch conversation. How you make that decision, or approach that conversation, is pivotal to your future. I can help you devote the time and attention to get clarity on what you really want – and to communicate it to others.
Profile and authority
A stellar professional reputation attracts opportunities to you like a magnet. The bedrock of your reputation is always your work – and it’s also important to speak up and show up in public if you want to be noticed. I can help you identify and execute the kind of project that will do this – such as a book, a podcast or a keynote. As part of the process, I’ll share what I’ve learned from building my own profile via four books and two acclaimed podcasts.
Increase your income
The value you create via your work should be reflected in your income, whether you are employed, self-employed or a business owner. Coaching can help you get clarity on the true value of your work, and how to raise your income accordingly, whether via a better salary, raising your prices or growing your business.
Build better relationships
No creator is an island. Even if you spend most of your time alone in the studio, there are people who are vital to your success. And if you’re in a busier environment, navigating professional relationships is a large part of your daily work. I can help you improve your communication skills, to build stronger relationships and become more influential – whether that means prepping for a crucial meeting or finessing the wording of an email when there’s a lot at stake.
Find and serve your ideal clients
If you are in the business of serving clients, I can help you get clarity on your ideal client – the kind of person for whom you do your best work, who is a joy to work with, and who happily pays your fees. I can help you find and enrol that kind of client, consistently, and bring your A-game to providing them with outstanding service.
Speaking and performance
Whether you are new to public speaking or an experienced performer, an authentic connection with your audience is priceless. As an introverted British poet who has delivered international conference speeches and bared my soul on stage at poetry readings, I’m a self-made man when it comes to performing in public. I can help you take your skills to the next level, and prepare for a career-defining performance.
Resilience in the face of adversity
You didn’t get this far without your share of hard knocks. So you’ve likely already built a lot of resilience. And you’re still human. It still hurts when you experience rejection, criticism and other setbacks. So it helps to talk things through with someone who understands what you’re going through – especially if you’re a senior or well-known person, who can’t have this conversation with just anyone. I provide a confidential space to help you deal with to whatever life throws at you.
I could go on, but hopefully the above gives you some idea of the possibilities of coaching for your career. If something is pivotal to your success, the chances are we can have a conversation about it that will make a big difference.
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
I am now at the helm of a new entrepreneurial venture – Outshinery – that came to fruition in record time with Mark’s encouragement and guidance.
Laurie Millotte, Designer and Founder, Outshinery
I more than doubled my income, established my business as a coach working with creatives of all kinds, and published two books (one of them, my UK club history Adventures In Wonderland, has been nominated for the 2021 Penderyn Prize for music books).
Sheryl Garratt, Writer and Coach
Mark brings to the table an incredible range of skills – he could meet me on the deepest level spiritually and psychologically and half an hour later, give me actionable, detailed business coaching that never failed to help me execute the next step in my business – whether it be long term planning, curriculum design, marketing, preparing for a difficult conversation, or determining a new vision.
Laura Davis, Best-Selling Author
AI and your creative career
AI is already reshaping parts of the creative industries, and it’s natural to wonder what it means for your livelihood and your next move.
I see it as part of my job to understand the impact of AI on the creative economy, and the emerging constraints and opportunities for creative professionals. You can read my thoughts about this in the series I’m currently writing, AI for Creative Professionals.
With career coaching clients I’m working on questions such as: where you are most irreplaceable; how to position your skills and experience in an AI-influenced market; how to extend your abilities and create new opportunities; and most of all, how to make thoughtful decisions rather than reactive ones.
So who am I to help you with your creative career?
I know what it’s like
As a teenager, I knew I wanted to devote my life to poetry. Which gave me the challenge of figuring out how to balance my pursuit of my art with making a living. Not many of my clients are poets, but they all face this same tension in some shape or form: how to make room for the free play of creativity, while navigating external demands and financial pressures?
In my case, it led to me being self-employed for practically my whole career, and exploring many different types of work, alongside coaching, including psychotherapy, training, copywriting, book publishing, e-learning and conference speaking. So I know what it’s like to be the odd one out, and to be pulled in different directions and wonder whether it will all add up to anything meaningful.
It took me a while, but I figured out my own unique blend of creativity, service and prosperity. Some of the most rewarding work I do is when I help other creatives, often with multiple talents, to find their own uniquely rewarding blend of different elements in their work and career.
I can help you with the emotional journey
At the beginning of my work with every client, I tell them that the biggest thing we work on is you.
For a creator, personal development and professional success are deeply intertwined. You put your heart and soul into your work, so sometimes it helps to work on your heart and soul.
I spent 19 years as a psychotherapist, which gave me an in-depth understanding of human psychology and a lot of experience at helping people develop their emotional intelligence.
It’s important to emphasise that my coaching is not therapy. My clients are high-performing professionals, not people suffering from mental health issues. But my background in therapy means we can ‘go deep’ on the emotional issues at the core of the creative life.
And sometimes life intervenes and you’re faced with challenges in your personal life in the midst of working on your professional challenges. My clients tell me they value the fact that they can talk about anything in our sessions, including personal issues that threaten to interfere with their professional work.
I’ve studied the creative industries at Master’s level
Back in 2005 I was one of the first students to enrol on the innovative MA in Creative and Media Enterprises at Warwick University. I took the course because knew I was good in a room with creatives, but I wanted a wider understanding of the world they operate in.
The course was a bit like an MBA for the creative industries: we studied, the creative economy, intellectual property law, the different theories of creativity, and many aspects of creativity in business, including managing creativity, marketing for creative businesses, and organisation theory and creativity.
I graduated with a distinction and a greatly expanded understanding of my clients’ world. They tell me it’s great not having to explain the basics about their industry. And to work with someone who understands the unspoken but powerful codes that operate in their particular creative field.
I’ve worked with hundreds of creatives like you
Yes, I know you’re an unusual type. And I’ve made it my life’s work to provide a specialist coaching service for people like you – high-achieving creative professionals.
I started in the nineties, so at this point I’ve worked with hundreds of talented creatives 1-2-1, and spent many thousands of hours helping them with their creative work. Whatever you’re struggling with, or whatever you want to achieve, chances are I’ve helped many clients with a version of it.
Working with so many people over almost three decades, I have spotted recurring patterns – the unique challenges facing creative professionals, typical ways they get stuck or hold themselves back, and how to help them with these challenges.
Clients are often surprised to find that what they thought was a personal failing was actually just an occupational hazard for people in their line of work. Which makes it easier to stop beating themselves up over it, and get to work on a solution.
You can read about my clients’ experience of working with me on my testimonials page.
Based on my experience as a coach, I’ve written four books for creatives, two of which have been translated into Russian. I also contributed to two international best sellers from 99U, Manage Your Day-to-Day and Maximize Your Potential.
My work has been featured in media including Creative Review, Vogue US, The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal.
So these are four big reasons why I’ve been able to help so many clients over the years, and why I believe it’s likely I can help you. But I don’t expect you to take my word for it…
Would you like to find out for real?
If you are serious about taking your creative work to the next level, the first step is to answer the coaching questions on this page.
Once I review your answers, if I think we may be a good fit for working together, then I will invite you to a coaching session (at no charge or obligation) where we’ll start working on your challenges and goals for real.
Creative Career Coaching is such a personal process that the only way to know whether the magic is there for you, is to actually do a session. So you will experience my coaching, and have concrete evidence that I can help you, before deciding whether to work with me.
I have limited coaching places, and there is always demand for them, so when you answer my questions, be sure to dream big, speak from the heart and tell me what you really want to achieve in your career!
Important:
I spent 19 years as a psychotherapist, and my background in therapy means I can ‘go deep’ with clients and address the emotional truth of their creative work and their career decisions. But my coaching is not therapy. My coaching clients are high-performing creators who engage me to help them realise their full potential – creative, personal and professional.
I take confidentiality very seriously for every client, and I am used to working with clients who have a public profile, for whom discretion is essential.
Sessions take place via secure video call or in person, with no recording or AI transcription. Confidentiality and other terms of engagement are covered by a written coaching agreement.
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
Is Career Coaching all you are looking for?
Creative Career Coaching is one strand of my work with creatives. I also help them with Creativity Coaching and Creative Leadership Coaching.
Some clients focus on a single strand, but others find that their goals and challenges are intertwined, so it makes sense for us to work on two or three strands together.
So if you think you may need help with your creative work or your role as a leader, have a look at those pages before you answer the questions and apply for a coaching place.
