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Making Your Good Ideas happen

Common Exception offers a limited number of one-to-one mentoring sessions each year for creatives, designers, or anyone with an idea in progress. Whether you’re developing a project, preparing a pitch, or just need someone to bounce ideas off, these sessions are here to help you bring it to life.

Mentoring is led by Louisa Tan — artist, facilitator, and founder of Common Exception.

Sessions are designed to:

  • Turn ideas into clear, actionable steps
  • Share practical advice on creative process, collaboration, and community engagement
  • Build confidence to take on bigger, bolder projects
It was the ‘Transforming negativity into creativity' workshop title that got me hooked. After the event, I just had to meet Louisa Tan from Common Exception to hear more about her joyful work, creativity, and changing direction. Last week we had our session with loads of clarity on personal ideas and creativity-nurturing insights that I wanted to share. Have grace for yourself. Be patient with progress. 80% perfect is perfect enough. People come to you because of how you make them feel. Stay on your brand: if you are not walking the walk, how can you teach it? Stay creative, stay joyful.
Jonė GimbutytėFounder & Creative Director
I booked a coaching session as I’d been thinking of running workshops alongside my ceramics practice and I was keen to discuss ideas with Louisa, knowing her expertise, and resonating with her values. The session was so inspiring and I found it the perfect mix of practical ideas and mindset work. I immediately felt at ease and able to talk through any challenges openly. Louisa offered another way of seeing things, along with helping me feel confident and supported in my decisions. The session really set me on the right trajectory to make the plans I needed to. My workshops are now up and running, and getting booked up!
Emily MarstonArtist
I had a fantastic mentoring session with Louisa. She was incredibly friendly, supportive, and full of insightful ideas. I got so much value from our conversation—she not only validated the vision I had, but also offered a wealth of creative strategies to help bring it to life. What really stood out was her follow-through after our call. She sent me resources about other artists that I could gain insight from, as well as a super helpful guide via email on creating an effective pitch deck for clients and brand collaborations. She even offered to review mine and answer any follow-up questions. That kind of support truly felt above and beyond. I highly recommend Louisa to any creative entrepreneur looking for guidance and clarity. I’m already planning to book a follow-up session once I’ve made progress on the action steps we outlined!
Christina JonesArtist
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FAQs

£100 for 60 minutes

Standard sessions are 60 minutes however this can be tailored to suit your needs. 

Everyone is different. We believe in discovering the answers together, rather than providing a non-bespoke blueprint for what you should do. You can expect to have greater clarity about what’s important to you and motivation to achieve your goals.

It’s simple. Just click on ‘Join the Waiting List’ and complete your details. We’ll contact you when we have spaces available. 

A session is great if you’ve got a big idea or an existing creative business but you’re not sure what to do next. You might be feeling overwhelmed, a bit lost or you have a feeling something is holding you back.

Each session is unique and is all about you. We talk through where you’ve come from, how you’re feeling, what you’re finding challenging and where you want to go. Together, we’ll come up with some ideas that work for you.

We may just talk, but we may also get a bit creative, especially if you’re trying to work out what your brand looks and sounds like. We might use writing, drawing or collage — or all three — but we’ll let you know before the session what we think will work for you.

We’ll send you an email with the details about our online meeting. If you need to change the time, get in touch.

After our session, you should feel great. You’ll have clarity about who you are, where you want to go and ideas for how to get there.

Yes, of course! While one session might be enough, you might find in a couple of months that you’ve got more questions or you want to build in accountability. Our first session is always 60 minutes — so we have enough time to get to know each other — but if you want to book another session you can choose from 60 minutes, 45 minutes or 30 minutes.

It’s completely up to you! Some people might want weekly sessions for a month and then book a session when they need to discuss their next challenge. Other people will find one is enough. If you’re looking for accountability to stay on track for a certain project, bid or deadline, you can book some 30-minute sessions in advance.

Each session is with Louisa, founder of Common Exception. Louisa is a strategist and a creative problem solver with a lot of empathy and understanding that everyone, whatever their circumstances, has challenges. She’s worked with businesses and organisations of all sizes, but it’s the creative people doing it on their own that she thinks will change the world.

We understand that life gets complicated! If you need to change your appointment time, contact us 24 hours in advance.