About

Welcome!

This website is all about creative transformations in life and business. Here, you’ll find Creative Career Coaching and Consulting to help you rocket-power your creative career.  You’ll also find a wealth of resources to equip you for every step of your journey.

This website is for you if you:

• are passionate about your creative career, but feel stuck and can’t seem to move forward;
• are tired of living like a starving artist and want to let go of the myth and flourish;
• believe that your thoughts and actions shape your future and are willing to question your current patterns;
• know that if nothing changes, nothing changes and are ready to throw yourself in and make it happen.

My goal is to guide and support you as you transform your creative career by sharing information and inspiration, helping you see opportunities, ask better questions and take action on your goals and dreams.

A Bit About Me…

I’m a jewellery + object designer/maker (a mouthful, I know) living and working at beautiful Cronulla Beach, south of Sydney. I’m also a qualified Success Coach, working with creative people to transform their creative careers. Transformation is my mission – becoming the best I can be at what I love to do. For me, that means making thoughtful, expressive work that people love to own, wear and rave about. It also means sharing information and asking questions that make a powerful, lasting impact in the lives and careers of those I coach and teach.

I’ve been called a workaholic, but I prefer ‘professional multi-tasker’. Here’s what I do. Some days I sit in my office in my gorgeous red chair or curl up on the lounge with my laptop and an apple and type. I tap away at blog posts, website updates, emails, coaching courses and presentations and lots of lessons for the days I teach jewellery students at TAFE.

Other days I trot down to my cave-like studio under the stairs and craft clever little pieces of jewellery and petite sculptural objects. There’s no room to make anything big down there. On other days (and nights) I teach jewellery making at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery; lots of sawing, bending and melting with my lovely ladies (and the occasional boy).

I’m resourceful, passionate, and stay up late more often than is good for me. I’m hopelessly addicted to old mystery novels and convinced I would make an excellent spy.

You can find all sorts of other useful information about me in my portfolio.

I’m keen to meet you so if you’d like to find out more about my jewellery + objects, discuss creative career coaching, or just have a creative-type chat, you can email me, follow me on Twitter or find me on facebook. I’d love to hear from you!

Want to know some more? Well, here you go…

My Education and Suchlike…

My formal tertiary education began with all things scientific: a science degree, majoring in marine ecology, followed by a postgraduate diploma in environmental science. Eight years of fish, snails and abalone intervened before an Advanced Diploma of Jewellery + Object Design moved to the top of the list.

I completed Certificates in Small Business Management and Training & Assessment while setting up my own creative business and trained as a Success Coach, gaining expertise and experience to coach other creative entrepreneurs to success in their creative businesses.

I admit to being a learning junkie, a perpetual student at heart. And alongside my formal education, I’ve taken numerous courses in jewellery making, painting, drawing, ceramics, self development, public speaking, writing, investing and marketing. Along the way, this passion has taken me above and beyond and landed me awards for Jewellery + Object Design from the Design Institute of Australia and TAFE NSW.

Why I Became a Coach… and then what happened…

The process of becoming a jewellery designer took a complete career change, three year of full-time study and a massive shift in mindset. It was big! On the way, I knew that I’d done something extraordinary, leaving a successful career as a marine scientist for the uncertainty of running my own creative business.

I knew then that I wanted to help others on a similar journey, but I wanted to do it really well, so, recovering perfectionist that I am, I invested another year, training as a Success Coach. That’s when I realised that the main ingredient in my success to date wasn’t my top notch jewellery design and small business training. The key factor was much less obvious, but just as important.

I had made a transformation. Training to be a coach, it was important that I had a coach myself. As I dug deep to answer his insightful questions, I realised that the things I’d identified as problems in my business, things I wanted to change and limitations I felt I had, all stemmed from me, from the way I thought and felt, and my habits of behaviour, not from things outside of me.

This was a powerful revelation, because it meant, if I created them, I could change them. I could change things in my life and business, real, concrete things, by changing the way I thought and felt. I improved the way I spoke about, marketed, presented and exhibited my work and fantastic exhibition, teaching and speaking opportunities followed, as did lovely increases in my bank balance.

Committed to sharing this life-changing experience, I created a hands-on, practical course in Emotional Mastery, speaking and teaching workshops across Sydney. From then on, transformation in life and creative business has been my passion.

Danielle Butters

I’ve learned that transformation, changing things by changing yourself, is the most essential ingredient in real and lasting success and I’m thankful, every day, for the opportunity I seized and the courage it took to make my career change. Now, I love sharing what I’ve learned through coaching. With priceless tools, valuable insights and a comprehensive and flexible coaching system, I lead, support and encourage passionate, committed creative people through their own transformative journey to an outstanding creative career.

The cool thing about being an artist myself, is that everything I teach, I’m doing for my own business too. It’s an awesome reality check to remember to practice what I preach consistently (I’m not always perfect, people, but I’m getting there!)

I created this blog to share information, inspiration and valuable resources, to connect with motivated, committed coaching clients and to share my expertise through speaking, teaching and workshop opportunities. As I achieve my goals, I help my clients achieve theirs and better understand WHY they are where they are, WHERE they want to be and WHAT to do to get there.

Why I’m Passionate About Jewellery + Objects…

I am absolutely captivated by the life and sense of vibrancy I can create simply by adding a third dimension to an object that I’m making. A pleasing shape or pattern on a flat piece of metal, paper or plastic comes alive the instant I give it depth by bending or hammering. A painter can imitate depth with colour and tone, but I can really make it! I think it’s the almost alchemic sense of drawing preciousness from baseness that feels so powerful.

Perhaps transformation is the best word to describe the monumental change that happens so simply and quietly. I look for glimmers of transformation everywhere; in my students as I teach and in those thrilling moments with coaching clients, the ‘aha’ moments, when something just clicks and I know they’ve moved a mountain with a single thought.

A Bit of History (and the reason I’m a jeweller)

Growing up in a large, creative, noisy family on a hobby farm outside Sydney, every day was an adventure. I developed a thirst for exploration and adventure that has never left me and started me on the road to life as a nomad.

My travels took me around the world, eventually landing me with a thud, about ten years ago, in the north of Ireland. Here, at the lonely and exquisite Malin Head Beach, my passion for jewellery was born. Composed almost entirely of semi-precious stones, tumbled and polished by the frigid waves, the beach was a treasure trove. I couldn’t believe my eyes! I was hooked, and lined my pockets with handfuls of unique treasures that seriously compromised my luggage allowance on my flight home.

Those gemstones haven’t yet found a home but they sparked an interest that grew into a passion that blossomed into a career, designing and making clever treasures – jewellery and objects.

Other random but interesting bit of information…

• I’m a night owl; I love to work or play late into the night.
• I don’t drink coffee.
• So … I drink hot chocolate. Lots.
• My favourite colour is red, but I’m working on introducing green.
• I believe cherries are divine – the world’s most perfect food
• I adore the ocean, live one block from the beach and feel a bit funny if I’m inland for too long.
• I’m a qualified commercial SCUBA diver and used to be a Marine Ecologist.
• I’ve shaved my head twice to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation.
• I have two fish named Bubble and Squeak.
• I grew up on a little farm with goats, chooks, ducks, sheep, a horse, a cow, a rabbit, two guinea pigs and lots of spiders.
• I have a secret passion for action flicks.

And that’s all folks.

If you made it to the end, good for you!! You rock! I’m looking forward to seeing you around the site.

To your smashing success!

Danielle

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