Why you should see your business as a creative project.

I found it a lot easier to be brave and full of ideas when I was working with someone else's big brand.

It's unlikely your new idea for activating the Nike Running Club is going to bring the business down if it misses the mark. "Hey, brand owner, you need to be brave and disruptive, it's how you win big." Goes home, gets salary, pays the mortgage.

A whole different ball game it seems when you're a single parent, building a business and you have an enormous mortgage to pay. Creative risks and bravery feel fool-hardy and like you're potentially also a terrible parent.

iT TURNS OUT THAT PLAYING BY THE SAME RULES AS EVERYONE ELSE IN YOUR CATEGORY, IS ACTUALLY THE BIGGER RISK.

This was very much the first couple of years in my business and despite my credentials, it was a hand to mouth existence that never really got going.

The growth happened when I blocked out the noise (like literally unfollow the 'gurus'), got my positioning absolutely nailed, then allowed myself to play with ideas.

Nothing in my business is conventional, from my business model, to the way I talk about my products and services, the experience of my strategy sessions with clients, my outputs and the way we generate ideas together.

You only get to this when you give yourself the headspace, the divergent inspiration and the permission to break a few rules and create fresh.