If you’ve come to your creative business from a previous career… especially one in a completely different field, this is for you. Because I’m seeing a pattern that I think is helpful to address… so many talented creative entrepreneurs think they need to leave their “serious” professional self behind. And that might be the biggest missed opportunity I see.
The False Choice
There’s this unspoken assumption that many creative entrepreneurs carry:
“I used to be serious and professional. Now I’m creative. Those are two different people, two different lives. I need to leave that serious background behind to be authentic in this creative business.”
Maybe you spent years in corporate and now think, “That was then, this is now.” Or perhaps you finally feel like you’ve found the real you in your creative work, and your previous career feels like someone else’s life.
But if you’re treating your professional background as completely separate from your creative business, that might be costing you your most distinctive positioning.
The Pattern
I so often see creative entrepreneurs thinking they have to choose. Serious professional OR creative entrepreneur. Corporate background OR artistic business. Strategic mind OR creative heart.
But that’s such a false choice.
You spent years (maybe decades) developing extraordinary skills in your previous career. Skills that don’t just disappear because you’ve moved into creative work. Those capabilities are very much part of who you are. Part of what makes you exceptional.
And your creative business needs those skills.
Real Stories from The Base Notes
During the six weeks I’ve just spent with an incredible community of creatives inside the Base Notes programme, I saw this pattern clearly.
One woman had this extraordinary background supporting heads of state and writing as a financial journalist. High-profile, strategic work. But she’d always felt this other side… the gentle, soft, creative side. She thought those two things were contradictory.
When she moved into creative work, she initially left that serious background behind. During The Base Notes, she had this realisation: what if those two sides aren’t contradictory at all? What if they’re actually her unique positioning?
Now she’s created retreats that blend both aspects. The high-level strategic thinking combined with the gentle, creative approach. Something genuinely distinctive that no one else is offering in quite that way.
Another woman came from a legal background, drafting laws in highly pressurised environments. She’d always been devoted to literature and creativity. When she moved into copywriting, web design and branding, she initially thought of it as leaving that legal career behind.
Through our work together, she realised she doesn’t need to leave her legal background behind. The precision thinking from law, the ability to work in pressured environments, the understanding of how to create communication that has real weight… all of that can come into her creative work.
She’s now adding a strand to her business that beautifully brings her previous background and creativity together. She already ranks first on Google for what she does. Imagine how much more distinctive she becomes when she fully integrates that legal background.
How This Works
Here’s how integration works in practice:
From corporate strategy or consulting? You know how to identify patterns, think systemically, and create frameworks. This helps you see opportunities others miss and build models that scale.
From law or finance? You understand precision, risk assessment, and how to communicate with authority. That makes you the creative who can work with high-level clients and command premium pricing.
From healthcare or education? You’ve developed deep empathy and the ability to explain complex concepts clearly. That makes you brilliant at understanding client needs and delivering transformative experiences.
From project management or operations? You know how to deliver consistently and create reliable systems. Which makes you the creative who builds sustainable businesses.
Why This Matters
When you integrate your professional background with your creative work, several things happen:
Your positioning becomes genuinely unique. You’re not just another designer or photographer. You’re the one who brings strategic thinking from consulting. Or precision from law. That’s a category of a tiny minority.
You attract different clients. The ones who need your specific combination. Who want creativity but also need someone who understands their corporate environment.
Your pricing becomes naturally higher. You’re not competing on the same terms as everyone else. You’re offering something genuinely different that commands premium prices.
Your confidence increases. You’re bringing your whole professional history forward. That’s really strong.
You create your own category. A business so unique, based on who you are and your skills, that no one else can replicate it.
My Own Story
When I was in executive search, I spent years developing pattern recognition. Seeing behind what people were saying to what they actually meant. Understanding what someone truly needed, even when they couldn’t articulate it.
I used every bit of that in my floral design business. With brides who couldn’t articulate what they wanted. With corporate clients who had a vision but couldn’t express it.
Today, I use those exact same skills in my coaching work. When someone asks me a question, I can often see behind it to what the real underlying challenge is. I help people understand themselves and then apply methodologies in a way that works uniquely for them.
That’s a completely different form of coaching. And it’s incredibly effective precisely because it draws on years of executive search experience combined with building a creative business.
If I’d hidden that background, I’d be far less distinctive and far less effective.
Your Contradiction Is Your Superpower
The parts of yourself that feel contradictory? Those might just be your superpower.
Serious professional background plus creative heart. Strategic mind plus artistic vision. Corporate experience plus entrepreneurial spirit.
You don’t need to choose between them. You bring all of it forwards, integrate it fully, and build something genuinely unique because of that combination.
One of my core beliefs is that you should build your entire business model on who you are and your unique skills. And it all starts with understanding and owning your whole professional history—not as something separate from your creative work, but as an integral part of what makes you exceptional.
The creative entrepreneurs I see thriving aren’t the ones who’ve left everything behind to start fresh. They’re the ones who’ve brought their whole selves forward and built something that integrates all of their capability.
That’s what creates a business no one else can replicate. That’s what creates a category of one.
You don’t have two separate lives. You have one remarkable journey where you’ve been building an extraordinary and unique skill set.
When you bring all of that forwards… when you integrate rather than separate, that’s when you become genuinely unstoppable.
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