‘Liberation!’

Claire had been preparing for her exit from her firm and exploring NED and Treasurer Trustee roles.  In the first meeting with the Rutbusters’ consultant, she confided that she in fact loathed accountancy and tax planning which had been her career for more than three decades.  She had always had a deep yearning to be creative and paint ‘with chaos’ (meaning abstract) which she had never had time for; as a young adult she had been dissuaded from choosing that as a career path as ‘it wouldn’t make any money’.

Now considering her next steps, she was torn between playing safe and working with her current expertise and knowledge, or whether she should take a leap and fan her creative urge possibly losing her reputation and putting at risk future earning potential.  After somewhat challenging conversations with her family and amusement from her peers (who thought she was mad as she’d never shown any creative streak).  With an ‘if not now, when?’ attitude, she declined seductive offers from headhunters and immersed herself in her new activity.  Before long she was building a good reputation, generating commissions and earning good money.  Shortly after her first very successful exhibition, she sent a thank you note with the following quote from Anais Nin:

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

Whilst Claire will never know whether she could have made money from art earlier in her career, (and wisely is not looking back with any regret), she told us she is now the happiest she’s even been, doing what she loves and being paid for it.