Category: Finance and Accounts

Creativity in Business

In this short video, David Parrish talks about: How Creativity and Business can be combined intelligently and sensitively to achieve business and creative success in a way which is consistent with our values and objectives. Being Creative in Business: How creative people can be creative in the office as well as the studio. In other …

Read more

How to Pay the Rent

In this video, successful creative entrepreneur Sue explains to web designer Jon how to make sure he can pay his rent each month. http://www.xtranormal.com/site_media/players/jwplayer.swf [ Embed this and other videos in your own website from the T-Shirts and Suits channel on YouTube. ] She tells him how to pay the rent and explains how she …

Read more

Raising Finance for Creative Projects by Crowdfunding

This Financial Times article reports on a new initiative to fund arts projects by crowd funding / crowd financing. The ‘We Fund’ website enables individuals to donate small amounts of money to arts related projects in return for credits, perks and other benefits. In return for pledges of amounts of cash between £1 GBP and …

Read more

Raise your Prices!

Thanks to Leslie Burns for highlighting an article in the MIT Sloan Management Review about pricing. All of the issues it raises about pricing strategies and pricing mistakes are relevant to the creative industries, whether you are selling products or services, even though the examples are from big manufacturing firms. I think some of the …

Read more

Design, Pricing and Profitability

Here’s a fascinating article in Wired magazine about the graphic design of restaurant menus. And here’s another menu analysed in terms of design and pricing. These are essential reading not only for graphic designers but for anyone in the creative industries interested in marketing and pricing. So that’s everyone then. Amongst other things it includes …

Read more

New Business Models

Customers are more powerful than ever. Because of changes in technology, particularly the interactive internet (Web 2.0), there has been a fundamental and irreversible shift of power in favour of consumers. Creative business that embrace this change will thrive, by using new business models such as crowd-sourcing, viral marketing, crowd-financing, buzz marketing and plogging. The …

Read more

Don’t discount prices!

Thanks to Natalie Bolton from Lion Eyes Television for telling me about this amusing video. It’s fun to watch – and it raises some important issues about pricing and customers for creative businesses and cultural enterprises. If customers believe you will discount prices, it’s because they think they can go elsewhere and get the same …

Read more

The Creative Business: 12 Modules

The Creative Business is a series of 12 modules of information about developing creative enterprises, written especially for people running businesses in the creative industries. The information is particularly relevant to creative businesses and cultural enterprises in the fields of Advertising, Literature and Publishing, Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Music, Design, Cultural Heritage, and Crafts. Written …

Read more

Raising Finance from Fans

Raising finance from loans or investments can be a major challenge for all types of businesses, and it’s especially difficult when credit is scarce and investors are feeling the pinch. So any alternative ways of raising funds are worth exploring. Enterprises in the creative, cultural and digital sector have creativity at the centre of their …

Read more

Raising finance the AEV way in the cultural sector

Steve Messam is a talented artist – and a shrewd creative entrepreneur. Steve was approached by Cumbria Tourism in the UK to create an art installation to help publicise the launch of their campaign for cultural tourism. The budget offered was modest, so Steve put together a business case for a bigger budget. He knew …

Read more