1-1 Coaching for established creatives re-orientating their professional identity

“I am large, I contain multitudes.”

As creative lives unfold, what used to feel clear can begin to shift. Old ambitions and career lanes that created success start to feel stale or incomplete, and new energy shaped by lived experience asks for consideration.

The lived reality of that shift can be complicated. Questions of how to live, work, and succeed in a different way can feel challenging without a clear framework or strategy to follow.

When trying to make sense of it all, our instinct is often to simplify or reduce. To build a new lane, move to another, or abandon important parts of us to feel able to move forward.

While this response is understandable, it's often ineffective. The choices we make help justify, sustain, and shift, but they don’t resolve the underlying tension of needing to find meaningful alignment.

For many creatives, the answer isn’t complete reinvention or narrowing. It's learning how to hold the full creative scope of who you are now — clearly, sustainably, and without compromise.

— Walt Whitman

Holding the full scope of who you are doesn’t mean forcing everything into a single role, title, or way of working. It means giving yourself permission to create enough internal and external structure for what matters most in your career to coexist, without friction.

If that feels challenging, it’s worth remembering that most creatives were never trained for evolution. They were taught to specialize, focus, and commit to a singular vision, often at the expense of other instincts, interests, or capacities.

That approach can bring success and satisfaction, but can also create a professional identity that eventually feels incomplete. What you’re experiencing now isn’t failure or defeat. It’s the recognition that the way you’ve been working no longer reflects the full reality of who you are, and that you’re tired of that limitation.

This is where building a way of working capable of holding all of you becomes important. One that honors your values, makes sense of your lived experience, and allows your capabilities to work together rather than compete for space.

When that happens, something shifts. Energy returns. New possibilities come into view. Progress feels less forced. The different aspects of who you are begin to align around a direction that feels intentional, sustainable, and unmistakably yours.

Working From All of You

Why I Understand

Creative multiplicity and periods of transition have defined my professional life.

I’ve spent my entire career living between disciplines, roles, and identities that never sat neatly in one category. Broadway music director, West End drummer, educator, agent, live events producer, vocal coach, composer, promoter, entrepreneur, record label manager, author, workshop facilitator, arranger, and keynote speaker are just some of the ‘titles’ I’ve held.

For much of my career, what looked like success on the outside often felt unfulfilling. I moved between roles in an effort to honor different creative parts of myself, trusting that momentum would eventually resolve the question of how it all fit. When paths were successfully combined, they still left me empty — not because the combination was wrong, but because I didn’t have a system capable of holding them coherently or sustainably.

What I hadn’t yet understood was this: it wasn’t my multiplicity or ambition that was holding me back. It was the absence of a system strong enough to support the whole of who I was, and the need to confront my internal narratives that were quietly governing choice, confidence, and follow-through.

Only then could everything be expressed, valued, and sustained within a single, tangible framework.

The work I do now grew out of this realization. Not as a pivot, but as an integration. I learned how to create internal clarity and practical career constructs that could hold complexity without forcing elimination or reduction.

That lived experience now shapes how I work with others. I’m not helping people completely reinvent themselves. I’m simply helping highly capable creatives learn how to hold their full range. Practically, coherently, and with complete permission to be whole.

Why This Work Exists

Across my work with highly capable creatives, one observation has been consistent.

Creatives looking to make sense of new career ambitions rarely struggle because they lack talent, ambition, or drive. They struggle because they don’t yet have a framework capable of holding who they’ve become and where they’re trying to go.

Most were never taught how to think about career development beyond a single lane or phase of success. Others created structures that worked, but have since been outgrown.

What follows is a sense that something essential remains unresolved.

This work exists to meet that moment. To provide the missing framework so direction and career strategy can be shaped intentionally.

The Creative Reorientation Process is a structured, one-to-one system designed to help you slow down, re-examine where you are, and think more clearly about what comes next. It’s built to meet you at a point of transition, when something has begun to shift and the next move feels important enough to approach with care rather than speed.

Rather than pushing quickly toward resolution, the work unfolds as a gradual re-orientation. Time is taken to understand what has led you to this moment, to notice what is shaping your thinking beneath the surface, and to explore what now deserves your attention. From there, direction is shaped carefully, with consideration given to what is meaningful, viable, and sustainable given who you are now. Movement happens in sequence, not by leap, allowing each step to inform the next.

As the work progresses, direction comes into focus and decisions become easier to trust. You gain language for what is changing, perspective on the options in front of you, and a clear basis for choosing a path forward without rushing or second-guessing. By the end of the process, you are grounded in a coherent direction — connected to who you are now, what you want, and how to move forward with confidence.

Phase One

We begin by slowing everything down.

Before any decisions are made or directions are chosen, we take time to see what’s actually here by exploring the full reality of your experience as it now stands.

This phase is about understanding the full landscape you’re working within. Your abilities, values, ambitions, energy, constraints, and curiosities. What feels alive. What feels complete. What feels unresolved. What you’ve been carrying forward out of habit rather than intention.

We’re not yet looking for answers. We’re looking for orientation.

As understanding deepens, tension begins to ease and urgency loosens its grip, allowing the work that follows to be grounded rather than reactive.

For many creatives, this is the first time all of this has been looked at together without pressure to prioritize, justify, or prematurely decide. Nothing is forced into shape, and nothing is dismissed.

Seeing Clearly

Phase Two

Once we can see clearly, a different layer of the work comes into focus.

This phase is about identifying and working with the internal patterns that quietly shape how you make decisions, assess risk, and relate to your own capability. The narratives, assumptions, permissions, and protective strategies that have formed over time and now operate in the background are examined carefully to understand how they’re influencing your choices.

The patterns discovered are rarely obvious. They often show up as self-doubt, overthinking, perfectionism, avoidance, or a sense of being unable to fully commit, even when direction feels close.

Once realized, we bring those dynamics into awareness and examine them without judgment. We look at where they came from, what purpose they once served, and whether they are still aligned with who you are now.

As this interference clears, confidence becomes steadier. Decisions feel cleaner. Energy that was previously tied up in internal negotiation becomes available again.

By the end of this phase, you’re standing on firmer ground, ready to make choices that are actually yours.

Clearing the Interference

Phase Three

With orientation established, the work turns toward forward movement.

This phase is about translating what’s come into focus into a coherent, intentional direction by designing a way of working that aligns with your values, capacities, ambitions, and current stage of life.

Here, we explore which creative strands are asking for commitment, while assessing opportunity, credibility, and sustainability, so choices are made with both intuition and discernment.

Roles, projects, priorities, and structures begin to take shape in a way that feels considered rather than fragmented. The question is no longer “Which part of me do I choose?” but “How does this next chapter want to be shaped?”

The outcome of this phase is not a rigid plan, but a clear strategic framework for moving forward — one that supports momentum, allows for evolution, and gives you a way to make future decisions with confidence.

By the end of the process, you leave with a defined direction and a clear sense of what to commit to next.

Shaping Direction

What Becomes Possible?

What changes first is how you relate to yourself and your work.

Decisions begin to feel lighter. The internal negotiation that once dominated your thinking starts to quiet. Choosing a direction no longer feels like having to betray parts of yourself, or like creating momentum requires leaving something important behind.

As that weight lifts, work begins to feel different. You spend less time circling decisions or managing conflicting priorities, and more time committing your energy to the work you’re ready to focus on. Focus sharpens without narrowing, and ambition feels steadier, less reactive, and more intentional.

You begin to trust your judgment again. Decisions stop feeling tentative and start to feel owned. Choices are made with a clearer sense of direction, timing, and consequence. The path forward becomes clear enough to commit to.

Importantly, you leave with something durable.

A way of thinking and orienting you can return to, even as circumstances change. A sense of direction that holds when new opportunities emerge or priorities shift.

The result is coherence.

Your experience, ambition, and direction working together in a way that finally makes sense.

Q&A's

1. Is this therapy or life coaching?

No, though it may feel familiar to people who have experience with both.

I have long-term personal experience in therapeutic settings and I am formally trained as a coach. The way I work is deliberately structured to hold both psychological depth and practical career decision-making, without being confined to either discipline.

Unlike therapy or life coaching, this is a structured, one-to-one process focused on deep creative self-exploration and evolution, with a clear beginning, middle, and end.

2. Do I have to be stuck or unhappy for this to be relevant?

The work is typically structured as six one-to-one sessions, usually spread over around two to three months.

That pacing allows enough space for reflection, movement, and decisions to take hold, without being rushed. Some people move more quickly, others benefit from more space.

The pace is set in service of the work itself, not a fixed schedule for its own sake.

4. What if my next direction isn't clear yet?

3. How does this differ from other coaching I've tried?

That’s often where the work begins.

You don’t need a defined plan or destination. You just need a genuine sense that something is shifting, and the willingness to stay with it long enough for it to become intelligible rather than rushed.

Direction takes shape through the work itself, not as a prerequisite for starting.

Most people I work with have already done meaningful work. They’ve reflected, developed awareness, and often worked with coaches or therapists before.

What makes this process different is its orientation. This work isn’t about improving performance in a single role or correcting a specific issue. It’s about reorienting how the full scope of who you are now relates to your work, without forcing simplification or narrowing.

For people who’ve outgrown the way they’ve been working, that shift in orientation often makes all the difference.

No.

Some creatives arrive here after long periods of frustration or uncertainty. Others come because things are broadly working, but no longer feel complete, coherent, or sustainable. Many are navigating more than one creative pull, or a shift in direction they haven’t yet fully articulated.

Wherever you are, this work meets you there, and supports you in making sense of what’s asking for attention now, without needing to be stuck, unhappy, or broken first.

6. What happens next?

5. How long does the process take?

We begin with an Orientation Call.

It’s a simple, grounded conversation, where you’ll have space to talk about where you are and what feels unresolved. I’ll ask thoughtful questions, reflect back what I’m hearing, and share how I’d suggest approaching the work together.

I’ll also be honest about whether this feels like the right fit. There’s no obligation to move forward, just a chance to see whether this work makes sense for you at this point in your life and career.

7. Where can I learn more about Joules?

Click HERE for Joules' biography.

Where This Work Begins

If you’ve read this far, something here has stayed with you.

It may not be something you’ve fully articulated yet. You may not know exactly what needs to change. There is simply a sense that the way you’ve been working no longer holds what matters most.

You might be ready to ...

→ Feel less internal friction around decisions, direction, and focus.

→ Make sense of competing creative callings or emerging priorities.

→ Understand how your creative strands can work together.

→ Assess opportunity, viability, and longevity with greater confidence.

→ Explore new directions without abandoning what you’ve already built.

→ Allow your creative work to support you financially, not only emotionally.

If that sounds like you, the next step is a conversation.

We’ll speak openly about where you are, what feels unresolved, and what you’re hoping for. I’ll ask questions, reflect what I hear, and be clear about whether this work feels like the right fit for you.

This Orientation Call is a chance to talk through what you’re navigating with someone who knows this terrain well. You won’t need to translate or justify anything. We’ll take it step by step together.

If that feels valuable, I’d be glad to connect.

What They Say ...

“I'd already had some success in my field, so admitting that something felt off was hard. But I felt like I'd hit a ceiling. I wasn't motivated by what I did anymore, and needed something new. Someone recommended this program, which has made all the difference. I was scared that I'd have to give up everything I'd worked for, but that wasn't the case. I'm calmer about everything now, and the trust I have in myself again has changed how I work day to day.”

- Daniel K.

“I've always struggled with too many ideas and possible directions, but never really made progress with them as I felt like whichever one I chose meant giving something else up. This work removed all that! The level of detail is amazing. I could finally see how the different parts of my work related to each other, and how I could monetize aspects I hadn't thoughts about. Anyone needing a different take and perspective on their situation should at least book a call with Joules. He has amazing insight that I'm very grateful for.”

- Alex M.

“I came across Joules’ website knowing something wasn’t quite right in my career, but unsure of what that was. Within ten minutes during the orientation call he hit the nail on the head, and explained how we could work together to uncover what was next. The program was excellent, and really got to the heart of what I needed to realign to feel successful again.”

- Sophie R.