Meeting Sonia van de Haar over a group discussion on ‘women, money, identity, power’ was a good way to gauge a feminist founder. I was leading this discussion at a female entrepreneur circle at the University of Technology Sydney in late 2018 and Sonia and I got on like wildfire.
We’ve been working together, and trading feminist memes on Instagram, ever since.
Sonia is an architectural colour specialist – an occupation I would have loved to do myself, if only I’d known such a thing existed! Sonia’s unique cross-disciplinary approach to colour is sought out by architects, designers and private clients who want to use colour thoughtfully and for maximum impact.
Here’s Sonia’s story.
Launching architectural colour design workshop
I joined the Hustle & Heart program in March 2019 followed by Brook’s Momentum membership in December 2019, just as I was transitioning my business base from Sydney to Canberra. 2020 was a crazy year and it was great having Brook’s insight and leadership in my inbox and on calls during this time.
I decided to join Brook’s Leverage mastermind in September 2023 because I was keen to start teaching my architectural colour design methodology to architects and spatial designers. Leverage supported me throughout the process of setting up my flagship group program, and in November 2023, I ran my first ‘test’ workshop in Tasmania, for the Australian Institute of Architects.
By March 2024 I was promoting workshops to the email list I had grown during the Leverage program. By the end of 2024 I had delivered 13 CPD workshops around the country.
It was an absolute joy talking shop with talented colleagues, and the feedback has been amazing, with 96% of survey respondents giving 4/5 or 5/5 stars to their course experience.
Too many architects rely on the same limited colour palette for every project. They’re not thinking of colour in terms of its spatial effects and its interaction with the environment.
Designers are hungry for the tools to design effectively with colour, and need the language to powerfully communicate context-driven colour concepts with their clients.
30 per cent growth
After completing Leverage mid 2024, I joined Brook’s Audacious mastermind because I was growing rapidly and wanted to have Brook’s coaching and support, and a community of female solo business owners to help me navigate these changes, while continuing to make bold decisions.
In 2024, both revenue and profit margins increased by 30 per cent. I was running courses across Australia, and I needed to build my team and support structures to pick up the slack. I had hired an office admin in 2020, thanks to Brook’s coaching, and in 2024, I have brought on a junior designer to help with client work.
Brook and I identified the stress points in my business, one of which was dealing with inquiries, which was taking up a lot of time, energy and stress. We turned this into a paid endeavour; clients now pay $1500 for a site visit, scope and quotation. If they proceed with the quote, this amount is applied as credit against their fee.
This has successfully turned a time suck into a revenue earner. More than 80% of these paid quotations turn into new jobs.
Another thing I wasn’t adequately charging for is project management, which can be significant for mural projects involving multiple people, intensive planning, additional insurances, and other incidentals. I’ve changed my approach to project management, and having more support has freed up my time to make better decisions and budget more accurately.
”A completely different way of being”
Joining the Audacious mastermind has changed my day to day experience of being in business. The constant stress of making decisions is now shared. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by a never ending to-do list and to clearly see what the priorities are when you’re doing everything solo.
As much as I love my family, they’re often the worst people to talk to for support – a sentiment that’s echoed by other Audacious masterminders! Family and friends may be well meaning, but they often express doubts and advise caution, when what you need is support and a cheer squad, in order to take bold action.
After a massive 2024, this year is about consolidating and leaning into what it’s like to not be constantly stressed or struggling to cope – what does that even look like!?
The Audacious community is about supporting each of us to excel at what we do, and have a damn good time while we do it. Our shared goals are to work the way we want to work, to keep ourselves in excellent health, to stimulate our curiosity and creativity and to own our ambitions.
I’ve done everything on my own for far too long and I’m over it! It’s extremely uplifting to be amongst like-minded owners, swapping book and music recommendations, meeting Brook at the spa when I visit Sydney, and actually enjoying the freedom that working for myself provides.
I’ve travelled to far north Queensland with another Audacious masterminder, to attend Allison’s yoga retreat and Allison is now my yoga teacher, leading me through her online classes; her in Townsville, me in Canberra, or wherever I happen to be working, the yoga comes with me.
My next best step
I started my business Lymesmith in 2011 and I sometimes laugh at myself about being a slow learner, because I still feel I need coaching and support.
If you just sign up for a course, it has a start and a finish date. You implement some of the things you learn, until the next crisis shows the gaps in your business. It’s impossible to implement all that you want to do, all at once.
The accountability and community inside of Audacious keeps me on track to continually implement, experiment and commit to working on my business.
At each stage of business, there are new challenges. With regular coaching support it’s easier to spot patterns of self-sabotage and with Brook’s guidance, to unpick these tendencies and move forward.
The regular check-ins from Brook, our accountability coach Kate, and the Audacious members make this far easier.
I hesitated resigning Audacious after my first six months because of the lingering feeling that I ‘should’ be able to do this all on my own. But fuck that! I juggle a million things every day; I work on multiple projects at a time, I teach, travel, market, manage staff and there’s so many creative projects I want to pursue. I don’t want to simplify or ‘give up’ any of the work I enjoy.
Audacious and Brook allow me to carry my ambitions more lightly and not ‘grind it out’. Audacious is about doing everything I want to do, but as consciously, joyfully and vibrantly as possible. Building my team, and having Audacious as my support crew has grown my capacity to take on more ambitious projects.
Creativity and business
The most difficult thing in running a ‘creative business’ is safeguarding my own creative time. It’s a constant goal, trying to get into a flow state so that I can do the design work I love most, and not get bogged down with admin, emails and to-do lists.
The work of running a business is challenging for a lot of creative people. I hate planning, schedules, Gantt charts, spreadsheets, financial reports, and as an introvert, I really do not enjoy marketing or social media, even though I am competent at all of the above and know that it’s necessary!
The ‘unstructured’ structure of Audacious helps me to prioritise creative work every day and to make good decisions – for example, what’s the best thing I can do right now?’
There’s a lot of noise on the internet and many coaches touting their wares. Brook is different! She’s genuine and unique in what she offers.
She’s also a ball of enthusiasm, and great fun to be with. Her keen intelligence and huge passion for helping female business owners to earn good money doing what they love is infectious.
Brook is continually developing and expanding her thinking and what she offers her clients. Her marketing communication gets better and better as she truly walks her talk.
While she’s witnessed my growth, I’m honoured that I’ve also witnessed her growth as a coach. We’ll be on the wild ride of business together for a while yet, and damn it if she isn’t always just up ahead, gesticulating wildly for me to catch up.
Get in touch with Sonia to discuss an in-house workshop for your design team.
Audacious Mastermind currently has two spots open. Join by March 31 to nab yourself a free spot in Ignite Visibility Accelerator. Apply now.
