Hi, I’m Raphy. Founder of Co-Create Space.

It’s 2020. My brand and design business was booming. So many businesses needed to adapt to this strange new world, and so many new people were setting up shop after being furloughed, and I was getting referral after referral. 

Exciting, right? It should have been…

I remember settling into my desk one morning and seeing an email from a new client I had just met the day before, green-lighting a £15k branding proposal I sent him. Ordinarily, I would have been jumping out of my seat knocking over a few cold cups of tea to do a celebratory dance. 

But that’s not what happened. Instead, I caught myself releasing a little sigh of resignation, and thinking “Ok, here we go. Engage standard operating procedure.” 

Like what? 🙀

Since when did all this get so… ‘standard procedure’? I realised that my business had turned into a job… the exact thing I didn’t want which is why I started my business in the first place! 

And, look… I was excellent at what I did. I could take the wildest, messiest voice note from a client and turn it into an entire design system that was cohesive and beautiful. I also engaged my strategic mind and understanding of systems and human behaviour to build brand strategies, identities and eco-systems that worked. I was fast, skilled and trusted.

And for a long time, I loved it. I worked hard to get there. I was learning, stretching and growing… and I was letting my creativity play. Until I wasn’t anymore. Everything looked great on the outside. Steady clients, good income, strong reputation. But I was quietly burning out (again).

See, after thousands of design assets, I reached a level of mastery that made the work easy. And that ease wasn’t exciting. It was… deadening. Having a business that looked like it was thriving on the outside just wasn’t enough anymore. 

Don’t get me wrong. There was loads of potential to grow… but I didn’t need to. I was comfortable. 

And the thing most people don’t want to admit?

Comfort kills. Not your body… but your spirit. I didn’t need to stretch myself, so I didn’t… and I was bored and unfulfilled as a result of it. 

I totally could have gone deeper into my niche, sharpened my blade, and reimagined my brand. For some people, that kind of reinvention is exactly what brings them back to life. But for me, that road had ended. I needed to pivot.

It was easier said than done because my entire identity was so wrapped up in that business. If I wasn’t Raphy, the Brand Designer that every small-medium engineering consultancy wanted to work with… who the fuck was I?

It took me years (four!) to accept this truth and begin detangling myself from that self-made cage – so I can allow for something new, exciting and fulfilling. Don’t let it take you that long. I wish I’d had a coach like me back then, not just because it would have taken less time, but it wouldn’t have been so… hard. I wouldn’t have felt so alone, scared and vulnerable. All I kept thinking was: 

What if start something new… and nobody wants it? 

What if I regret leaving this business? 

What if this move tarnishes my reputation forever? 

There were endless ‘what-ifs’… but the only other choice was stay feeling the way I was – empty. Honestly? The only thing scarier than all the what-ifs? The prospect of giving my days to churning out work on autopilot, feeling disconnected and unfulfilled by what I was creating. 

I wasn’t living. I was just existing. 

I could have kept hustling for a business and a life that wasn’t really mine… 

Or I could burn down the version of ‘success’ that no longer served me. 

Choosing the latter gave room for Co-Create—this business that feeds my heart and soul AND bank account. It gave me my membership, my coaching practice, my group programmes, my meditation workshops… and a huge space for me to evolve and grow my body of work.

I didn’t just change careers… I said ‘yes’ to embodying a bigger identity. That of an artist – both in my business and in my creative work. Through both, I’m putting everything I’ve ever learned in the service of other people reclaiming their unique path, so they can be seen and loved for their art. 

I didn’t need ‘more exciting creative projects’. I needed more art, more vulnerability. Deeper growth, and more honesty. And that’s what I got.

Now, my life, my work… hits different.

I cook slowly.  I write poems again.  I paint every day.  I walk in nature. I connect deeply with people – beyond words, beyond feelings… right to their spirit.

The artist’s path isn’t easy. But it’s honest. It asks you to be curious, willing, and brave. It asks you to grow and evolve—on and off the stage.

And when you work with me, I hold you accountable to that ask. To your true path. I won’t let you settle for success that looks good but feels dead, and instead empower you to create a life that fulfills you. See… when you stop settling, you start truly living.