“I never thought I’d be featured in a magazine like that,” she said, her voice a mixture of surprise and quiet pride. “When I started, I just wanted to make enough to replace my corporate salary.”
This interior designer’s words stayed with me long after our conversation. Six years into her business, she’d recently been featured in a multi-page spread in a leading interiors magazine and secured a permanent studio space in London—achievements that seemed a rare possibility when she first began.
What changed wasn’t just her skills or portfolio, though both had certainly developed. The fundamental shift happened when she began to recognise and build around her exceptional strengths—particularly her unique ability to create eco-conscious designs that enhanced mental wellbeing and connected people with nature. As this clarity emerged, so did her ambition.
I’ve witnessed this pattern repeatedly while developing The Base Notes handbook I mentioned recently (which I’m thrilled to say will be available on May 29th). Through countless conversations with creative entrepreneurs, I’ve observed something I’ve think of as “the ripple of ambition”—the way our vision naturally expands when we build from what we do best.
Hidden Ambition
Most creative entrepreneurs begin with relatively modest goals. You might have simply wanted to make a living doing what you love. Perhaps you were seeking more flexibility for family or other priorities. Or maybe you wanted to create work that felt more meaningful than your previous path.
These initial aims are perfectly valid, and for some, they remain the right focus. But what fascinates me is how often these ambitions naturally evolve when creative business owners align their work with their true strengths.
I remember this vividly in my own first creative business. What began with the hope of securing a weekly flower contract with a local restaurant gradually expanded to designing for magazines, collaborating with fashion brands, securing a concession in a large department store, taking on international projects with multiple six-figure budgets, and eventually creating designs for some of the world’s most known people.
From the outside, this growth might look like a dramatic transformation of ambition. But from the inside, each step felt like a natural evolution—each new goal just as challenging and exciting as the first restaurant contract had been.
Why We Hesitate to Dream Bigger
Despite this natural progression, many of us have a complicated relationship with ambition. There’s often an underlying belief that being too ambitious might somehow compromise our creativity or authenticity—that wanting significant growth means becoming more “corporate” or less true to our values.
There’s also the very real fear of judgment. I learned quickly to keep my evolving ambitions quiet. Early on, when I would excitedly share new goals, I was often met with confused looks or subtle dismissals. According to Forbes, 70% of people experience imposter syndrome at some point, with that fear of overreaching or aiming too high feeling especially daunting for creative entrepreneurs.
We worry that if we voice our true ambitions, people might think “who does she think she is?” or we might fall flat on our faces. So instead, we play it safe, keep our dreams modest, and sometimes don’t even admit them to ourselves.
There’s also the protective instinct to shield ourselves from potential disappointment. If we keep our ambitions modest, we limit the possibility of failure or judgment. It feels safer.
I see this pattern playing out in family life too, not just in business. My daughter recently joined her school’s first cricket team—an achievement she worked incredibly hard for. Her next dream is to be selected as team captain. My husband and I approach this possibility quite differently. I encourage her to embrace her goal fully, recognising that while it’s a long shot, there’s value in pursuing what matters deeply to her. If it doesn’t work out, she’ll be disappointed but will develop resilience alongside the knowledge that she gave it her all.
My husband, in contrast, is more protective. He downplays the possibility to shield her from potential disappointment. Neither approach is wrong—they simply reflect different ways of relating to ambition and potential disappointment.
Similarly in business, we often unconsciously absorb messages about what’s “realistic” for creative businesses. We look around at what others in our field are doing and set our own expectations to match, rarely considering that we might be capable of creating something exceptional in our own unique way.
But what if those limitations aren’t serving us? What if by building from our natural strengths, we could create something more significant than we initially imagined—without compromising who we are or what matters to us?
The Natural Evolution of Ambition
This brings me to what I’ve observed across so many creative businesses: when you build from what you naturally do best, your vision tends to expand organically. This is the ripple of ambition—the way clarity and confidence in your exceptional strengths naturally leads to bigger possibilities.
Importantly, this isn’t about pushing yourself to want more or chasing someone else’s definition of success. It’s about allowing yourself to recognise what might be possible when you’re truly working from your strengths and creating distinctive value that others can’t easily replicate.
Permission to Want More
One of the most powerful shifts I see in creative entrepreneurs is when they give themselves permission to want more—not because they should, but because they genuinely do. When they stop limiting their vision based on what seems reasonable or what others in their field are doing, and instead allow themselves to imagine what might be possible when building from their unique strengths.
This isn’t about creating pressure or setting unrealistic expectations. It’s about removing arbitrary limitations and allowing your ambition to evolve naturally as your confidence and clarity grow.
What would you create if you truly believed in the distinctive value you bring? How might your business look if you built it entirely around what you do exceptionally well, rather than trying to fit into existing models or expectations?
These questions aren’t meant to push you toward a specific vision of success, but rather to open up possibilities you might not have considered before.
Building from Strengths, Not Shoulds
The key distinction I want to emphasize is that this expansion of ambition comes from alignment, not pressure. It emerges naturally when you build from your strengths rather than being driven by external “shoulds” or comparison.
When your business is centered around what you naturally do best, growth feels different. It doesn’t require you to become someone else or compromise your values. In fact, it often feels like becoming more authentically yourself—just operating at a scale or level you hadn’t previously imagined.
This is what makes strength-based business growth so compelling. It’s not about pushing harder or working more hours to achieve someone else’s definition of success. It’s about creating something that could only exist because of your particular combination of strengths, perspectives, and values—and allowing that uniqueness to reach its natural potential.
Small Shifts, Significant Impact
What’s powerful about this approach is that it often starts with relatively small shifts that create ripple effects throughout your business. When you gain clarity about your exceptional strength and begin to build around it, you’ll likely find:
- Your offerings become more focused and distinctive, naturally attracting clients who value your specific approach
- Your pricing conversations become easier because you’re clear about the unique value you create
- Your marketing feels more authentic because you’re simply sharing what you naturally do best rather than trying to be everything to everyone
- Your client relationships improve because you’re working in areas where you truly excel
As these elements align, your business starts to flow more naturally. The work becomes more energizing because it’s centered around what you do best. Clients become easier to attract because your distinctiveness is clear. Growth becomes more sustainable because it’s built on your natural strengths rather than forced effort.
This is the positive cycle that often leads to that expansion of vision and ambition—not because you’re pushing yourself to want more, but because you’re recognizing what’s naturally possible when working from alignment.
A Question to Consider
As we wrap up today’s post, I’d like to leave you with a question to reflect on: What would your creative business look like if you built it entirely around your exceptional strength, without limiting your vision based on what seems “realistic” or what others in your field are doing?
We are not talking about pressure to grow bigger or faster. Instead, it’s about giving yourself permission to imagine what might be possible when you fully embrace what makes you exceptional.
I’ve seen time and again how creative entrepreneurs can create truly remarkable businesses when they build from their natural strengths without artificially limiting their ambition. And I believe the same possibility exists for you, whatever your particular strengths might be.
I’d love to hear your thoughts about this topic. How does ambition show up in your creative business? Have you experienced that natural expansion of vision as you’ve gained clarity about your strengths? Share your reflections with me in the comments below or join the conversation over on Instagram—I always love hearing from you.
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