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Following up with Claire Venus

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Claire Venus is one of the most generous, supportive and creative people I’ve met through Substack, so when she asked if she could write a follow up piece, I jumped at the chance!

Claire’s interview from last year:

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I asked Keris if I could write again on some changes I’ve made in my business. Some of the changes are conscious and some of the shifts I’ve felt are unexpected. 

I hope you enjoy reading my reflections. I’m always happy to chat scaling on Substack.

How long have you had your own business?

I’ve been self-employed since 2008 but I classed myself as freelancer rather than a business owner until 2017. 

In 2017, I had a spectacular falling out with an organisation that had previously brought me a huge proportion of my annual income. It was irreparable, and I sank into the void of ‘not knowing’ once more. 

Down in the void what I knew to be true is that I’ve always found ways to bring in money. 

I’ve danced with short contracts, walked the tight rope of successful and unsuccessful funding bids. I’ve always been fine. 

What I wanted and I realised I wanted in 2017 was to be valued, to be irreplaceable, to be held and to be able to hold my family too. 

That was never going to come from being freelance and so my business Creatively Conscious was born. 

What’s it like being the main earner in your household?

My work has always paid more than my husband’s. He’s a wellbeing coach. I’ve been able to set my daily rate and write funding applications to cover it so we’ve always brought in between £30- £45k annually between us since we met.¹

We work part time around the school run – it’s real teamwork.

At the start of the pandemic when I was pregnant with my daughter, I fell down a vortex of Instagram posts where women (like me?) were claiming to be turning over six figures in their sleep. 

They were pictured on the beach sharing screen shots of their coaching clients wins and thousands of students on online course platforms.

My first thought was ‘this can’t be real’, my next was ‘what if even a part of this is real?’ It set the cat amongst the pigeons! When I talked to my husband about it, he’d seen the same thing in the fitness and wellness industry too. So, I decided to give one thing a go… to sell one online product and to make the mentoring I offered to artists move visible.

My self-limiting belief was that I would have to have tens of thousands of Instagram followers to be trusted or believed.

I knew in my heart that I’ve served thousands of real life people - maybe tens of thousands - and had epic mentoring training, and so I stayed connected to the truth in that and let the social proof of follower numbers go. 

How did it go?