In 2023, I left my legal career to pursue art full-time.
For many people, that probably sounds like a reckless move.
Law is stable, respected and predictable. Building a business around watercolour painting is, on the face of it, none of those things.
But what I have learned since is that building a business, whatever industry you are in, is not simply about talent or hard work.
It is about visibility, connection and the willingness to put yourself in rooms where opportunities can actually find you.
When I first started building Wiktoria Anna Art, I thought the main thing I needed to do was improve my work. Paint more. Create more. Refine my ideas. Make everything better behind the scenes. And of course, the quality of the work matters.
But one of the biggest lessons I have learned is that a business cannot grow if nobody knows you exist.
That may sound obvious, but it is a lesson many of us resist, especially if we are more comfortable focusing on the work itself.
It is much easier to sit at home perfecting ideas than it is to introduce yourself at an event, speak about your business with confidence or follow up after meeting someone new.
Yet those moments have changed my business far more than I expected.
Get out there
The biggest shift came when I started getting out more, attending events, meeting people, having conversations and saying ‘yes’ to opportunities that felt slightly outside my comfort zone.
The growth of my business has not come only from what I have created in isolation. It has come from being visible enough for people to understand who I am, what Wiktoria Anna Art stands for and why my work matters.
In fact, there was a time when the thought of attending a networking event filled me with dread.
Now, I not only go to them regularly, but also run my own creative networking event, Creative Business Social, designed to make connection feel more relaxed and genuine.
That change says a lot about what building a business has taught me.
Visibility does not have to mean becoming the loudest person in the room. It does not have to mean forcing yourself into a version of networking that feels unnatural. It can simply mean finding your own way of connecting with people.
Running watercolour workshops in Newcastle has been a huge part of that. Those sessions have not only allowed me to share painting with beginners but have also helped shape the business itself.
Through teaching, meeting people face-to-face and hearing directly what people are looking for, I have developed new ideas, built confidence in what I offer and created genuine connections in the local community.
I think there is still a tendency to imagine that creative businesses are built mainly through inspiration and making. In reality, they are also built through relationships.
People connect with people before they buy into a business.
They remember the person they spoke to, the story they heard or the energy behind an idea.
Recently, being nominated for Young Entrepreneur of the Year felt like a meaningful milestone, not just because of the recognition, but because it reminded me how much can grow from making one bold decision and then continuing to show up after it.
Leaving law to build Wiktoria Anna Art was the first leap. Going out, meeting people and allowing myself to be seen was what truly began to change things.
I’ve learnt a lot in the last few years. But perhaps the most important is this: building a business is not only about creating something good. It is also having the courage to step forward and let people see it and hear about it.
I walked into building Navigator without truly grasping what it would ask of me