SF Creative 10 year transformation - Bccj Feature

Earlier this year I was interviewed by Sarah Backley the executive director at British Chamber of Commerce Japan (BCCJ) about my 10 years of transformation since starting my business.

In the interview I shares a bit about what’s in store next under a bold new title, SF Creative. I also reflects on 10 years of coaching, 10 years of transformative journeys, 10 years of indomitable spirit and 10 years of working with absolute ‘Legends’ from a diverse range of backgrounds, all of whom have helped me reach this remarkable milestone.

I am so incredibly humbled to be featured - you can see full version here.

Transitions - we are going through them all the time. The British Chamber of Commerce invited me to talk about my business transition as an entrepreneurial member. Bravo BCCJ for spotlighting small business members - thanks Sarah and Sam and TokyoDex for the opportunity to talk about transitions.

I was lucky enough to have been featured by the British Chamber of Commerce BCCJ as one of their Entrepreneurial Members going through transition and talking about it and the importance of creativity in transition. A little on transition below.

Some transitions are bigger than others, more obvious, announced, celebrated. 

Some are deliberate, like sobriety, getting married, having a baby, country moves, moving house, coming out, changing jobs, children leaving home, taking a stand, becoming and ally or accomplice, moving countries; and all come with unknowns that unfold before us as new information is revealed with each change along the way.

Some are a surprise like unexpected loss or divorce, taking on caring roles, illness, pregnancy, rejection, being cut from a company, winning the lottery, a windfall, changes in friendships. Some are experienced as a collective like war, invasion, a pandemic, AIDS, political shifts, assassinations, a disaster, the death of a public figure or a change in government or religious leader. 

Coaching is an effective way to navigate transitions. Along with strong community, taking care of oneself and allowing yourself and other to be human; humane. Transitions are inevitable. As we transition into differing ages and eras of our lives we slip into differing physical, emotional and spiritual states as our circumstances change. 

I have taken many people through many transitions as a coach, family member, a friend and mentor. One thing I can guarantee is that transitions are coming to all of us. My work with partner Gretchen Miura on grief has taught me the most about that. That is where we have the frankest, deepest, most humane conversations about the human condition. I don’t take that for granted. That is transition bootcamp.

And so last year after I celebrated my ten year business anniversary with a wonderful gathering in Zushi, pulling together beloved friends, clients and collaborators from many walks of life and embracing a change in direction, becoming SF Creative, I added more and more creativity, actual art and creative behaviours into the the business too. Coaching remains steady as I transition into an elder role.  The transition has not been immediate and involved other transitions too; alcohol free, changes in community, quieter and quieter, more nature, fewer people, and it is ongoing. Deeper confidence, deeper connection and deep rest.

I closed lively, lucrative parts of the business down because it ‘felt right’ to do that (call it instinct, intuition, just a general sense of knowing and trust in your smarts).  I decided that, rather than to grow and hustle endlessly, I would pull right back and truly sit in the newness and the restrictions of a lower income; enjoy my home, nature, art, close friendships, fewer clients and see what emerged. 

The British Chamber of Commerce, got curious about this transition. Now, I have to admit, I was not as articulate or as useful as I would have like to have been in this interview and THIS IS NOT A HUMBLE BRAG, I genuinely find humble brags dull and the requirement of them, exclusionary and lacking imagination. It’s just true. You can tell by watching - I was still in the working-it-out phase - and I’m glad to be able to model this kind of genuine, in-between energy and am extremely proud of Sarah Backley and Sam Maddicott of BCCJ for opening space for this, often hidden, side of commerce; for this part of the entrepreneurial journey. Usually we listen to success stories, carefully polished Phoenix-from-the-flames vulnerability marketing stories, but rarely is space given to an enterprise in the middle of a transition. Unfinished, unpolished, and honest. To be fair, all enterprises are in constant transition - ask anyone who’s been ‘restructured’, a supply chain manager who has encountered a natural disaster or any concern during the pandemic or dealing with conflict regions. Humans and enterprises are in a never-ending state of flux and that is why I LOVE coaching so much - stewarding people through the transitions of life.

In the unknown, uncertainty and unfolding.

So bravo to BCCJ for that diversity and inclusion!

Worth mentioning is when this was filmed in early Spring, I had shuffled though frozen snow, slipping and sliding, was very early in alcohol-free life and SF Creative hadn’t really fully revealed itself to me because, you know, a business has a life of its own, when you start making adjustments, other things start to flow too. And I, and my team, are here in service of the business. Thanks to Amazing TokyoDex for the use of their office - it’s a treasure of deep authenticity and I aspire to be like you when I grow up.