Category: Development Strategies

Paul Smith talks business

In a fascinating interview, fashion design guru Paul Smith talked about many aspects of growing a business in the creative industries, including: How he succeeds as a creative entrepreneur by saying no to many potential clients, choosing only those projects which fit his brand and excite his creativity. He has (politely) rejected the opportunity to …

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Social Media – keep it personal!

Keep it personal when using social media. That was one of the key messages from DK of MediaSnackers, who gave a very impressive talk in Aberdeen where we were both keynote speakers at the launch of the Cultivating Creativity project to develop creative businesses in Scotland. I learnt a lot (and yes, still have a …

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Crowd-testing

You can use crowd-funding platforms to test the market for a new product, service or project, in parallel with raising finance to fund new creative initiatives. This was one of the many interesting points made by Slava Rubin, Chief Executive Officer of the crowd-funding platform, Indiegogo where we were both speakers at a creative industries …

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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 …

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How to achieve Business Success in the Creative Sector

David Parrish advises creative entrepreneurs to consider five key points to achieve business success in the creative, digital and cultural industries. This short ‘How to Succeed in Creative Business’ video, summarises David’s advice about how entrepreneurs can make their creative and digital businesses even more successful. Define Success – in your own terms, with your …

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Be your own kind of entrepreneur!

Business doesn’t have to be about being the biggest, fastest or strongest. Entrepreneurs don’t have to be short-sighted, aggressive and unfair. “Entrepreneurialism has nothing to do with hardwired personality traits.” This is what Robert Kelsey says in this article in the journal of the Royal Society of Arts. I agree totally. Unfortunately, the popular image …

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Basque Country Creative Enterprises

The Guggenheim Museum is a symbol of the transformation of Bilbao from an industrial past to a creative future. And throughout the city, less visible but just as important, creative businesses are starting up, growing, creating jobs and transforming the economy. Creative entrepreneurs in the Basque Country are making their businesses even more successful, with …

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Danny Boyle on Inspiration

In this video Danny Boyle talks about certainty, doubt, inspiration – and why it’s important not to be intimidated by your heroes when working in the creative industries. Danny and I were at school together in Bolton many years ago. Since then he’s had a brilliant career in theatre, TV and film, winning an Oscar …

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Freedom, Money, Time

‘Freedom, Money, Time – and the Key to Creative Success’ is the title of an excellent new free eBook from Mark McGuinness. Download this free ebook here. You can also distribute it to friends, colleagues and contacts. Mark reckons that creative people need three things to be happy: Freedom – to do what you want, …

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Creative Barcodes

An excellent new service to help creative individuals and businesses to protect and commercialise their intellectual property has been launched by Creative Barcode. Update: Creative Barcode ceased operation in July 2019. Copyright exists as soon as the creator expresses an idea in tangible form – as a piece of writing, music, design, software etc. Registration …

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