Creative Enterprise Growth Programme: Sustainable Growth & CEO Mindset

Growth is not about doing more. It is about doing the right things, at the right time, with clarity and confidence.

This full-day, in-person workshop is for creative businesses who want to grow sustainably, without chaos, overwhelm, or burnout. It is designed to help you step back from day-to-day demands and look at your business with fresh eyes.

We are delighted to welcome Karen Williamson, a highly experienced retail expert, coach, and mentor with nearly 40 years of industry experience supporting business owners through growth and change.

Karen brings a rare blend of real-world retail leadership, strategic clarity, and calm, supportive mentoring. Her work helps business owners move away from reactive decision-making and into a clear, grounded CEO mindset, making growth feel achievable rather than overwhelming.

Karen is a Level 7 qualified coach and mentor and a member of the Institute of Leadership. She uses these skills to enhance business thinking, clarity, and confident decision-making.

This full-day session gives you the space to step back from the noise, understand how your business is really performing, and move forward with confidence and intention.

This final workshop is about stepping back and learning how to lead your business, not just work inside it.

Whether you sell products, offer creative services, work on commissions, license your work, wholesale to stockists, or combine multiple income streams, this session helps you understand where your business is now, where growth is possible, and how to focus your time and energy more intentionally.

The day is designed to feel calm, clarifying, and empowering, even if thinking like a CEO feels unfamiliar at the moment.

We begin with a simple, guided diagnostic of your business.

Karen will support you to:

• Understand how your business is performing right now
• Identify what is driving income and pressure
• See what is working and what is not

This creates clarity and sets the focus for the rest of the day.

Next, we step back and examine how your business actually operates.

We will explore:

• How you currently make money
• Product, service, wholesale, or mixed business models
• Where your time and energy are best spent
• What to simplify, strengthen, or stop

This helps you focus on a growth path that fits both your business and your life.

This part of the day helps you look ahead with more confidence.

You will:

• Map out your year at a high level
• Understand when income is higher or quieter
• Identify pressure points before they happen
• Make more intentional decisions about pricing, offers, and workload

This is not about spreadsheets. It is about seeing your year clearly.

We finish by focusing on how you lead your business.

Karen will support you to:

• Step into a CEO mindset, even if you work alone
• Know when to push forward and when to pause
• Reflect without self-criticism
• Build confidence in your decisions

Karen works as a supportive critical friend, helping you challenge assumptions and move forward with clarity.

By the end of the workshop, you will:

• Understand your business more clearly
• Have a simple view of your year ahead
• Feel more confident around money and planning
• Gain clearer priorities and next steps
• Develop a stronger sense of yourself as the CEO of your business

This workshop is designed for:

• Creative businesses
• Product-based and service-based businesses
• Authors, photographers, designers, and branding studios

You will be supported throughout the day by Karen Williamson, whose calm, experienced approach helps business owners feel both challenged and encouraged.

Expect thoughtful discussion, structured reflection, and practical frameworks that support clear thinking and confident decision-making.

If you are unable to attend this session, please get in touch and we will help you explore alternative workshops and ways to engage with the Creative Enterprise Growth Programme.

The Creative Enterprise Growth Programme is a Creative Impact project, part of Creative Central NCL, funded by the North East Combined Authority and Newcastle City Council.

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Host or Publisher Market Collective CIC