Peaceful Profits Podcast Ep. 91 - How to Thrive as a Creativity Coach
Synopsis:
In this inspiring episode, New Zealand-based creativity coach Sharleen Bailey shares how she transformed her personal metamorphosis into a thriving, purpose-led business. After careers in public relations and luxury property management, Sharleen returned home to pursue her passion: helping others rediscover their innate creativity and self-worth.
Sharleen explains why creativity is not just about art, but about tapping into possibility, problem-solving, and identity. Through programs like Unmake Up Your Mind and Recreate: Play / Peace, she guides women—especially those on government benefits or struggling with anxiety and depression—through deep mindset shifts that unlock new paths forward.
This episode explores how she landed unexpected contracts in government, corporate, and community sectors—even with a soft, unconventional offer—and why she believes clarity, specificity, and authenticity are the keys to connection and sales. Sharleen also opens up about her Peaceful Profits journey, the inner work required to own her value, and how she learned to “follow the favor” in business.
If you’re a coach, creative, or heart-centered entrepreneur struggling to articulate your offer—or wondering whether your story can become a business—this conversation will show you what’s possible when you embrace the discomfort and step into who you really are.
Transcript:
Peaceful Profits Review_ How to Thrive as a Creativity Coach
[00:00:00] Chanelle: Hello, Peaceful Profits nation. Chanelle here with an exciting client spotlight episode for you today. So today we are talking to our client, Sharleen Bailey.
[00:00:08] Chanelle: Sharleen, welcome to the podcast.
[00:00:11] Sharleen: Thank you.
[00:00:12] Chanelle: Yeah, we are going to have a great conversation today. So Sharleen says, I believe creativity is a superpower.
[00:00:19] Chanelle: Everyone has, but few harness mostly because we've been educated, shamed or discouraged out of it through my own healing journey. I've discovered how engaging our innate [00:00:30] creativity is essential to knowing who we are. Understanding our value and shifting us out of stuck mindsets into possibilities. So now I help others do the same.
[00:00:40] Chanelle: I love this passion for creativity. And so we're going to talk a bit about creativity today, but to start off with, how do you define creativity?
[00:00:54] Sharleen: It's a good question. I have a very broad understanding of what it is. I think We [00:01:00] limit it often by thinking it's art
[00:01:02] Chanelle: and
[00:01:03] Sharleen: a lot of us discount ourselves and say, Oh, I'm not creative because I can't paint or I can't play an instrument or whatever, however we define that.
[00:01:11] Sharleen: But there's actually some research that was done in the sixties and they define creativity as the ability to come up with new, different and innovative ideas. And I love that broader explanation of what it is because I see it as it's solutions. That's how we get there. And because we all [00:01:30] carry something so unique and different in us, we all potentially carry solutions to, and we need a lot of solutions on this planet.
[00:01:37] Sharleen: I love that there is a much broader. Explanation and use and value to creativity far beyond art. But that's a, the place that we get stuck, I think. Yeah,
[00:01:50] Chanelle: I think you're right. And I love that too. And especially as it relates to Peaceful Profits, Everyone listening is a [00:02:00] creative in some way or another.
[00:02:01] Chanelle: If you are an entrepreneurial minded, you are creative because of this definition you just gave us. Coming up with new and innovative ideas is what it's all about. And yet you're exactly right. Sometimes we say, Oh, I'm not creative because of this one little thing that I don't do. I don't do art.
[00:02:18] Chanelle: I don't compose music. I'm not creative. And yet. We're all of us coming up with new and innovative ideas. So I love that. I love that. And we'll dive into that a little bit deeper. Yeah. [00:02:30] Yeah,
[00:02:30] Sharleen: absolutely. And I think too we see it as a gift that some people have and we don't. And so we just don't even see it because we think, Oh it's not part of who we are.
[00:02:39] Sharleen: And that same bit of research with that great definition did a longitudinal study and at five years old, it discovered like 98 percent of four and five year olds. Are like creative geniuses, but then they tested again at five years old and it went way down to 32%. And then at 10 years old, and it went down to 12%, like it just kept [00:03:00] going down as adults.
[00:03:01] Sharleen: It only rates about 2 percent in that sort of creative genius category. So we're very, that's why I talk about being, educated and shamed, out of our creativity. It's something we unlearn, not something that is a gift or that, we learn as we grow. So like any other muscle, we just have to use it to grow it in us.
[00:03:21] Chanelle: I love that. Okay. Thank you for that. That's so good. Now I'm going to go on with Sharleen's bio so you guys can know more about her. So Sharleen [00:03:30] was born in New Zealand and had a career in public relations and then property management for the rich and famous all over the world, the UK, France, Bahamas, Egypt.
[00:03:40] Chanelle: Recently returned home to New Zealand and chose to pursue her creative convictions. She took a year to figure out who she was and what she had to offer. Peace for Peaceful Profits was a key part of that journey. Now she offers creative mindset, coaching, and mentoring one to one and in groups, and has this year secured contracts in [00:04:00] government, corporate and community sectors, such as.
[00:04:02] Chanelle: And her programs include unmake up your mind, which is a nine week program to help people shift out of limiting beliefs, using creativity priceless, which is a free monthly creative workshop and recreate play slash piece, a grant funded. free public event designed to spark creativity and enhance well being in the community.
[00:04:23] Chanelle: So these are all so fun and exciting and I'm excited to learn more about them. Now as I dove in [00:04:30] and learned more about what you do, I noticed on your website that you have a lot of butterflies. I was really drawn to that. And I found that really interesting because you also went through a metamorphosis talking about creativity is not what you've always done, right?
[00:04:47] Chanelle: From a PR career to property management, to creativity coach and business owner. So what were some keys that allowed you to make those changes and shifts? [00:05:00]
[00:05:00] Sharleen: Yeah, I love the butterfly motif and it's funny how even as my journey carries on it continues to be really key and evolving like that metamorphosis process and I think What I like about it most in terms of change is that it's not something that happens for change sake or like in a self improvement.
[00:05:23] Sharleen: That's not what the caterpillar doesn't go. I'm just going to try harder and, grow wings. It is an identity piece, right? So the [00:05:30] etymology of metamorphosis, there's a Greek word metamorphoo. And it means changing form In keeping with inner reality. And I love that definition because I see change very much, certainly permanent change as an identity piece.
[00:05:46] Sharleen: It's not just about doing something different. It's about becoming who you truly are because the challenge with change isn't that we don't know what to do. Mostly we do. The challenge with change is that we don't know who we are, [00:06:00] and it's those misbeliefs and the lies and the things that are the things that sabotage us and drag us down and stop us achieving the fullness of, of who we are.
[00:06:10] Sharleen: And my Peaceful Profits journey will be an example of that, actually, because I signed up, had access to all this incredible information and all of Mike's genius. And I had all the tools, all the information I needed, but I still had to work out this piece in me that said, do I believe I'm [00:06:30] worthy of the success?
[00:06:31] Sharleen: Do I believe that I have it's that I carry something of value. The other people will even be prepared to pay for it. And until I'd worked that out, all that information. Wasn't really helpful to me because I would have just continued to self sabotage and undermine and hijack all my efforts because of those key beliefs.
[00:06:49] Sharleen: So that's where I see the metamorphosis thing come in, because you have to go through that messy gooey Uzi bit in the middle where everything kind of disintegrates because we've suffered [00:07:00] so long, believed Or doubted our worth. And had doubts about our ability to, I don't know, contribute to the world or have any value.
[00:07:09] Sharleen: And we have to really work through those things to come out the other side with the wings and believe, that we actually have something to offer. So that's the key thing for change. I think for me that it's not so much just a doing piece, it's a becoming piece. And that's what I do in the work that I do.
[00:07:26] Chanelle: I love that. That is so beautiful and such [00:07:30] beautiful imagery. I think it's really powerful because it is something, all those things that you talked about, the self doubt the pieces of, I love the idea of changing form and keeping with inner reality, just that identity piece. Those are all things that as entrepreneurs.
[00:07:51] Chanelle: We have to figure out and we often don't realize, it's looking at. Okay. I'm going to grow this business without actually realizing [00:08:00] that it is going to grow me in the process that I am going to change me. The business owner will change in the process of building a business. And that's a really cool thing.
[00:08:10] Chanelle: Now. One of the things that impressed me in your business was your clarity on your niche. And when we asked who you work with, and I need to read this because it's just so powerful. So it's a little long. Stay with me guys. So this is what Sharleen said when we asked her, who do you work with? She said [00:08:30] women on government benefits.
[00:08:31] Chanelle: Often signed off work with health conditions, including anxiety, depression. They need help to shift out of that stuck place, especially in their thinking and move forward on a path toward employment. I've been relatively quiet online of late, but my people are exhausted. Perfectionist burdened by impossible expectations, mostly self imposed brave faces, masking a brutal inner critic.
[00:08:57] Chanelle: The silenced, unwilling to stay [00:09:00] muted any longer, frustrated, self sabotagers, dizzy from the endless repeating cycles, loyal overstayers, dependable but stagnant and restless and bored, keeping up appearances, over it and ready to risk authenticity, hopeful souls, daring to believe that there must be more.
[00:09:21] Chanelle: Okay, just wow on that is, is what I have to say as I read that I wanted to share that with our audience here because [00:09:30] niche can be really hard. It can be really hard to nail down. So as I read this and hear how you are speaking to someone I know that just hearing that people will raise their hands and say, Oh, that's me.
[00:09:45] Chanelle: Oh, I know exactly what she's talking about. So how did you get to that level of specificity?
[00:09:55] Sharleen: I would have to say self experience, personal experience because that's [00:10:00] my journey. And very much what I speak and how I, the courses I've written and the things I do have come out of, my own pain, my own learning, my own change, and, that's very much driven by all of that.
[00:10:16] Sharleen: And I, those key points, I wrote them a while ago now, I haven't read them recently, but they are key areas of lies, basically, in our lives, the things that say, we have to be perfect to be accepted, approved [00:10:30] of we have to keep the brave face, it's not okay to admit that you're vulnerable, we have to stay quiet, our voice doesn't matter as much as anything else, so all those lies that had kept me small and silent and in the background of my own life for many years, Those are the pain points that led me on my own journey of healing, which has come into this process here.
[00:10:50] Sharleen: So yes, personal experience is what I'd say. That's how I got there. And other people obviously were like. They do definitely. So one interesting [00:11:00] thing that I want to dive into here is often people like you, that's a common thing for entrepreneurs. Like we want to. Teach ourselves 10 years ago or five years ago or wherever, right?
[00:11:14] Chanelle: And yet, when we look at our problems that we had, we sum it up and say, Oh, she's struggling. Oh, she has anxiety and depression. We're very high level in how we describe it. Oh, she's having a rough time. She must have a little bit of anxiety. But [00:11:30] what you've done so well in, in this niche piece is really gotten into their thoughts.
[00:11:37] Chanelle: And so I'm wondering process wise, was there anything that you did to be able to dig that deep and to get to that place where you could really come up with this language that's so potent?
[00:11:54] Sharleen: I guess it is that, back to the metamorphosis piece, it'll come up all the time, probably. It is. It [00:12:00] is that process of undoing.
[00:12:01] Sharleen: And that is, the course I run is called unmake up your mind. It's about challenging those beliefs that we think are true in our life. Cause we've never challenged them. We've never thought about what it is that we think about. And so unwinding that to actually get to the bottom of that, is this actually true about me?
[00:12:18] Sharleen: Is this true? Absolutely true. It might be my experience and it's again, if you think of the caterpillar based on his history, their history, they are, living their best life, but that's not the fullness of who they [00:12:30] are. That's not the real truth of who they are once they've gone through that process.
[00:12:33] Sharleen: And for me it's been, a number of years of personal work and coming to that understanding of myself, seeing those things that were limits that weren't limits in a physical permanent sense, but they were, belief limits that I had to unlearn. And realize that those things don't have to exist as barriers to move forward, they can be overcome because they are not, permanent, they're not something that I [00:13:00] cannot get past.
[00:13:00] Sharleen: It's been a very personal journey. And I think I'm not sure you can really understand other people's pain points. I think there's a. Somebody who talks about, you can only take people as far as you've gone yourself. And that's, I think very true and very much how I see what I offer.
[00:13:18] Sharleen: And as much as anything, I hope my clients outgrow me that they can keep going. But, I'm very willing to bring people along, the journey I've been on because I know it's been transformational for me. So just [00:13:30] want to share it.
[00:13:31] Chanelle: Yeah. Okay. That's beautiful. Now, creativity is something really fun and exciting, but it's also what we'd call a soft offer, right?
[00:13:41] Chanelle: It's. It isn't as tangible as some other things. And so often soft offers can feel a little bit harder to sell for a lot of different reasons. So in having creativity as your offer, how do you help convey to people, the importance, [00:14:00] the urgency of what you're doing and get them to sign on? Yeah, that's definitely been a challenge.
[00:14:08] Sharleen: And I think it's. Partly because as you say, it's a soft offer. It's a bit sort of nebulous, but the other thing too that we touched on before is that a lot of people think. Creativity is a gift. Other people have, and I don't have an end. So they don't even connect with the fact that it's.
[00:14:23] Sharleen: A massive key in their own healing and moving forward and, ability to shift out of the stuck places they find themselves [00:14:30] in. So I think that one of the things is, having been able to identify those pain points to help people connect with the fact that it's not just I'm not being creative and that's my problem.
[00:14:41] Sharleen: People can relate to the fact that I understand it's my thinking that gets me, in trouble sometimes and that's a bit of an area of struggle. But what I can help them do is, bringing creativity into the process. And they realize that's actually a part of themselves, That they haven't, again, the identity piece, a part of themselves that they haven't really [00:15:00] been connected to for a long time and can realize that becomes a place of unlocking all those other things about possibility because creativity a creative mindset is a, mindset of, possibilities of no limitations, whereas most of us have very black and white thinking, it's right, it's wrong, I can do this, I can't do this.
[00:15:18] Sharleen: And, that's why we stay so suck because, we have, we feel we have very few options, whereas just literally tapping into that part of ourselves, potentially that we haven't You know, connected with for a long [00:15:30] time can be a way of, all of a sudden opening up a way of thinking that means that I can look beyond, just where, I am at the moment.
[00:15:39] Sharleen: And again, it's not just about art, not just about painting or being able to, to do a bit of sculpture with clay, but it's about enlisting that different side of yourself that sees in possibilities that season opportunities and being able to tap into that. And it is it has. Not been essentially a very easy process.
[00:15:59] Sharleen: [00:16:00] I'll admit that, but I think more and more people are realizing the value of it and understanding to particularly, for example, with my government work, I was very surprised that they would even consider a program that was heavy on the creativity, but the reality is traditional methods aren't working for people.
[00:16:17] Sharleen: And, there's a lot of us that have tried. Harder and tried the same thing again and nothing ever works for me. And so maybe this is just something a bit different. Maybe I'll give this a go and see if this works this time.
[00:16:28] Chanelle: Yeah. So when you talk [00:16:30] about clients people that you work with, the unlocking possibilities for them and getting unstuck, what does it look like for them on the other side?
[00:16:38] Chanelle: What are some of the results you've seen with people you've worked with? Yeah, for the government work. It is, we call it a slow burn process because, working towards helping people into employment, but for not for everyone is a job, the very next step. And it's the same with any kind of change that, that anyone wants to make in their lives.
[00:16:58] Sharleen: You might want to go from A to [00:17:00] B, but there might be 20 steps between there. So the key issue is. Believing that you can and moving out of the belief that you can't and, starting on that pathway towards where it is that you want to go. So it's, sometimes it's just that sort of moment of shift.
[00:17:16] Sharleen: And my company is actually called Occlusion, which is it's the term for a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. It's that moment of. Hatching. And or emerging. And I love that imagery [00:17:30] again. This is all connected for me because I feel like that is the point that I can help people. I don't want to teach people how to paint.
[00:17:36] Sharleen: I don't want to teach people how to do a creative thing. I want to help them discover it in themselves. And that discovery can help them unlock. Where it is that they need to go and other people can help them with the skills specifically that they need to do to learn to do what it is they want to do.
[00:17:51] Sharleen: But if I can just help them at that point of breakthrough of shifting of moving forward towards where they want to go, then, that [00:18:00] feels like a good place for me.
[00:18:02] Chanelle: Yeah, I love that. Okay. So as far as you and with your business, what are some of the recent successes you've had in your business?
[00:18:13] Sharleen: What I found interesting in pursuing this, because I originally, with the Peaceful Profits, I'm not really a Peaceful Profits poster child, because I haven't operated in all the steps because opportunities have opened up with in person local opportunities, like with government, et cetera, [00:18:30] here.
[00:18:30] Sharleen: And, And those have been surprising. And I guess if I've learned anything around success it's to follow the favor that you're finding and, not get bogged down in, in a particular way of moving. And I think, and the reason, Because success opens success and one door lead to another has lead to another and my little government opportunity lead to, a longer contract with government, which has led to, running that event, which has led to the other community stuff I've been involved in, which has led to, a position on a board of trustees.
[00:18:59] Sharleen: Trustees and [00:19:00] like all these things have opened up as successes, I think, and what I've loved about that journey is just being open to the serendipities and the synchronicities that have just come along as I've gone and I've not really pursued Any of it with intention except to just keep going and then been surprised and open to the things that have come up.
[00:19:21] Sharleen: So I've, all those things have come along in some ways unexpectedly as I've moved forward. And I'd love to, I still follow the I had a [00:19:30] lot of fun with, doing the lessons and, working on some online offerings, that wasn't where the doors had been opening for me.
[00:19:35] Sharleen: And so I had just pursued those avenues where. Favor and opportunity was coming in and that's been great fun.
[00:19:41] Chanelle: Yeah. And it's so cool to see, I think we have lots of people on the podcast who are similar, who start off, they learn certain things and they get going and then something else comes along, just like it has for you.
[00:19:55] Chanelle: Yeah. And they can take what they've learned and do something a [00:20:00] little bit different. So it doesn't mean that everyone who comes here, has written a book or has done some of the things, or there were all at different points in the journey. And yet, learning things about your offer, taking, what you've learned from Mike and applying it in a different way is.
[00:20:17] Chanelle: Amazing to see how that all fits together and can be a catalyst to opening doors as we get those pieces in our business. So I think that's really cool. So to finish up, [00:20:30] let's talk about advice for others. So what is the number one piece of advice you'd like to share with others who are working on their business?
[00:20:40] Sharleen: I think I thought about this question a bit. I think it would be, and this doesn't sound like good advice. That's awful advice. It would be to make friends with discomfort and if it. If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing badly while I get better at it, right? So to be prepared to go through [00:21:00] the gooey messy place of change and challenge the things I believe and be prepared to pivot and not, be stuck in my ways and put myself out there has been so important.
[00:21:10] Sharleen: And And surprising, I think, that little bit of courage to just take a step or say yes. And I've often said to people I said, I can't believe I felt so brave last week. Cause this week I'm like, what on earth did I say yes for? Like, why did I do that? That was a terrible idea, but I've said yes now.
[00:21:26] Sharleen: And so I just have to keep going. And so just learning to [00:21:30] Embrace that feeling of discomfort because, and I know Mike talks about this a lot in his lessons, the only way we gain confidence is to do the thing. The only way we get experience is to do the thing. The only way we can, test and make sure it's working and pivot and change is to get out there and do the thing.
[00:21:45] Sharleen: So to, to make friends with discomfort and just keep going 'cause you'll never feel ready. You'll never, decide you're qualified enough or, prepared enough, just start and keep going.
[00:21:56] Chanelle: Yeah, I think that's fantastic advice. I really do. I [00:22:00] think making friends with discomfort is uncomfortable and wonderful and really a true path to growth.
[00:22:06] Chanelle: So I think that's fantastic. So where can people find more about your work and all these amazing things that you're doing?
[00:22:15] Sharleen: Yep. Like I said, mostly in person and local at the moment. So if you're in New Zealand, reach out for sure. I have a website, which is just www. sharlenebailey. com. And that connects from there to I'm on Facebook and Instagram and [00:22:30] LinkedIn under at I am Sharlene Bailey, I think.
[00:22:33] Sharleen: I feel Those online opportunities will increase as I go. But at the moment I'm doing a little bit more in person and yeah we'll find a right balance at some point.
[00:22:42] Chanelle: Yeah. Perfect. Thank you for the things that you've shared with us today. I know I've been inspired.
[00:22:47] Chanelle: I'm sure our audience has as well. And for listeners, if you want to jump in and work on your offer like Sharleen has, you can go to PeacefulProfits. com/call. And we [00:23:00] thank you all for being here. Bye.
