From “I should”, to “I am”
Monika was a freelance UX designer whose business rested on one big client. When that ended, so did her direction. Over about a year of 1:1 coaching she stopped trying to niche down a business she didn’t actually want, found a new direction entirely, and launched something she’s genuinely willing to go all in for: Flock & Doodle, art workshops for burned-out professionals, now running with partner venues.
Monika Monko · Flock & Doodle
About a year
of 1:1 coaching, with the frequency adapted to what she needed
UX design → art workshops
a full change of direction, not a tighter niche
Hosted by partner spaces
venues that now have her running workshops for them
Before
Lost a big client, lost her direction too
Monika was a freelance UX designer. Her business was supported by one significant client, and when that relationship ended, suddenly everything felt fragile. She came to coaching feeling lost, in a market that wasn’t making things easier.
What she thought she needed was help with marketing her business, what happened was something else.
What we worked on
Stopping mid-process to ask the real questions
We started where you’d expect, trying to find a tighter niche within her UX work, but something kept feeling off. Whatever we came up with, Monika wasn’t genuinely excited by it.
So I stopped and asked her directly what was going on. It became clear that problem wasn’t her positioning, but that she was trying to build a business around work she no longer felt excited about.
I gave her an exercise to find her edge, adapted from Jim Collins’ Hedgehog Concept, to understand what she genuinely wanted to do and what she was uniquely placed to offer. That conversation is where Flock and Doodle came from.
I don’t run people through the same template. I take frameworks that work and reshape them around the person sitting in front of me, which is the beauty of coaching.
Once the idea had shape, we researched the market properly. Monika learned the method from scratch, tested the demand, and worked out the pricing and the shape of the offer before committing to it. She now knows how to do this independently, for any future offer.
From there: a personal communication style, a first funnel structure, and the foundations to move forward with confidence.
The change
A business she’s ready to go all in for
Monika is now building Flock and Doodle (art workshops for burned out professionals), something born from an honest conversation about what she really wanted. It’s aligned with her values and her interests, she has a clear mission that gives her direction and she’s not afraid to commit to it fully.
She runs workshops regularly now, and she’s landed partnerships with spaces that host her as their workshop host.
She still might come back from time to time, but she knows how to proceed. She has the research skills, the positioning clarity, and the foundations to grow and expand on her own terms.
“Chiara’s 1-on-1 coaching is my best spent money in 2025. She’s given me so much structure and clarity that my new business plan feels viable. She’s challenged my negative thoughts and helped me to reshape them into action; she’s also coached me through the tricky parts of setting up (anything too analytical simply doesn’t do it for my brain). Most importantly, she was 100% on board with me changing my service offering ENTIRELY halfway into the coaching trajectory when I realised I wasn’t going to be happy committing to the original plan. Chiara cares about supporting entrepreneurs, truly. I am positive that I am well-equipped to tackle whatever comes my way.”
Monika Monko
Founder of Flock & Doodle
Wondering what’s actually underneath your idea?
That’s the work I do best. If you’re building something and it doesn’t quite feel like yours yet, let’s talk.
Monika and I worked 1:1, which is the slower route. Most people start with the program instead, and the foundations are the same. If 1:1 turns out to be what you actually need, I’ll tell you.
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