How to get the Important Things done, when there just isn’t enough time? It’s too easy to be busy doing all those smaller and more urgent tasks and never find time to do the big important things. Our excuse is that there just isn’t enough time. “We always have time enough, if we will but …
Category: Recent Posts
Conversations as Market Research
Conversations are one of the most powerful forms of market research in the creative industries. They are a great way to understand customers’ perspectives. The term ‘Market Research’ makes most people think of big, expensive research exercises conducted by large corporations or government agencies. That’s why I prefer not to use that term at all. …
Startup Stress in the Creative and Cultural Industries
Startup Stress is one of the many things I advise on when working with my clients around the world. The creative and cultural industries are often seen as vibrant, innovative, and filled with passion-driven individuals. However, behind the allure of creating fashion, music, videos and cultural experiences lies a less visible reality: Startup Stress. In …
How to Design a Creative Lifestyle Business
A creative lifestyle business is one that uses your creativity to deliver success on two fronts: commercial and lifestyle. The process of ‘Designing Your Creative Business’ is about deliberately designing a business model that will deliver success in multiple ways. If we define success in the broadest of ways, it needs to include not only …
Bundle services into packages to increase prices and profits
There are many way to increase prices and profits – and some techniques involve charging less, not more! At a recent webinar on pricing, I was asked how an enterprise selling services can increase prices. My answer was to say that we can put together different ‘bundles’ or ‘packages’ of services, to suit different price …
This invisible hand controls cultural exports
What’s the connection between the Batman logo and a t-shirt design using clever wordplay in Arabic? These cultural exports are both subject to copyright and can only be reproduced with permission. Hollywood’s creations are recognised worldwide, to the extent that we talk about ‘cultural imperialism’ and the dominant position of western culture in an increasingly …
Work Life Integration
In one of my creative business books, I wrote about the “work life balance”. Since then I’ve travelled one step further. Now I practice “Work Life Integration”… See also Business Design for Lifestyle Success article and blog post on Lifestyle Businesses. I am proud to have deliberately designed my business for lifestyle success. Some people work hard all …
Superfans can boost your creative business
Nicholas 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 …
Free Online Courses for Cultural Entrepreneurs
The EU-Eastern Partnership Culture and Creativity Programme has published two free online courses for cultural and creative entrepreneurs: a strategic planning course online and a marketing course online for cultural and creative entrepreneurs. These courses are free for creative and cultural entrepreneurs world-wide. See David’s Marketing Videos and Strategic Planning Videos used in these online …