The Irish Creative Industries are thriving, as this video from County Donegal illustrates. David is working with the Local Enterprise Office Donegal to help businesses to grow and create jobs in the Irish creative industries. The Generate Programme is focusing on small creative and digital businesses with the potential to grow and create jobs. The […]
Archive | Development Strategies
From Mount Errigal to the Blue Ocean
The views from Mount Errigal to the blue ocean were spectacular when I reached the summit. It was a perfect day to climb the highest peak in Ireland’s County Donegal in the Derryveagh mountains. I had stayed overnight in the nearby Errigal Hostel and woke early under a blue sky. Later, some clouds appeared but […]
The Overheads of your Creative Business
Understanding the full overheads of your business is essential for any creative entrepreneur. This article is written particularly with sole traders and self-employed individuals in mind, though its advice applies to any size of business, in any sector. It is especially relevant to designer-makers, artists, photographers, graphic designers, illustrators, writers, musicians and other artistic individuals. […]
Superfans can boost your creative business
Nicolas Lovell calls them “Superfans”. Kevin Kelly has written about “True Fans”. These are the people who love what you do so much that they will buy everything you produce. Too often, creative businesses are obsessed with getting more customers instead of selling more to their best customers. Marketing is too often focused on winning […]
Five Steps to Success as a Creative Entrepreneur
This article ‘Five Steps to Success as a Creative Entrepreneur’ was first published in Spanish in the first edition Bogotá Naranja in August 2017, during the Festival Naranja, entitled: “5 Pasos Para Ser Un Emprendedor Creativo Exitoso”. When I advise creative entrepreneurs on business growth, the first question I ask is this: “Do you want to be […]
Creative Business Formula article now in Belarusian
A Creative Business Formula article has been published in Belarusian to coincide with the Minsk launch of the book ‘T-Shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity’ in Belarusian. The article can be downloaded, printed, and shared on websites and elsewhere. It is online here: Стварыце сваю ўласную бізнэс-формулу The article has been […]
Looking Ahead Strategically
Looking ahead strategically means growing your creative business in the right way by anticipating threats and opportunities. As creative enterprises develop, more opportunities emerge, so it seems that the logical thing to do is to ‘grow the business’. But what does growth mean, exactly? Usually people mean that sales increase and consequently the number of […]
Creative Business Structures
Creative and cultural enterprises can choose from a range of creative business structures, including different legal entities. We need to be aware of the options available and the consequences of each. What’s the best structure: self-employed, not-for-profit company, or commercial enterprise? A creative entrepreneur can operate as a self-employed ‘sole trader’, in a partnership, or […]
Precision Marketing for Creative Businesses
Precision Marketing is all about getting the right messages to the right people in the most effective way possible. The ‘3Ms of Marketing’ technique helps to achieve that precision. The three Ms are: Market, Message, Medium – and it’s important to deal with them in that order. This technique invites us to think things through […]
Choosing Customers
Choosing Customers is all about finding the right customers to fit with your creativity, ambitions and values. Remember: Not all customers are good customers. Oscar Wilde wrote: “The play was a great success but the audience was a total failure”. There was obviously a mis-match between the play and the audience! So what should you […]