What Clients Say

Here are some client testimonials and recommendations from people all around the world who have commissioned David as a keynote speaker, training workshop leader or business adviser.

Below are some client testimonials from professionals in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Chile, Colombia, Curaçao, Czech Republic, Georgia, Indonesia, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lithuania, Malaysia, Moldova, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, USA and the UK.

In these client testimonials, people speak highly about David’s and speaking engagements, training workshops, management consultancy projects and writing.

“David was an inspiring speaker at the Creative Business Summit Africa. Creative entrepreneurs from Kenya and other African countries found the examples from his international experience to be a great motivation in their own endeavours. David participated fully in the events and we consider him to be a partner in our work to empower creative entrepreneurs.”
John Wali. Executive Director. Junior Achievement Kenya / Creative Business Summit Africa

“As we launched our creative incubator Artbox, David Parrish proved to be a powerful ally – working closely with us over several weeks and ultimately bringing his great insights and experience to a very important first session that set the tone for the rest of the incubator. Our 29 creative teams found him to be continuously inspiring, informative, and sensitive to the various needs and concerns of everyone involved.”
Creative Armenia
www.creativearmenia.org

“David was our international speaker at Toolbox Naranja and brought his extensive international experience to the event. As an expert in creative entrepreneurship, and with knowledge of creative districts around the world, we regard David as a partner in our ambitious initiatives in the Orange Economy in Colombia. Moreover it’s easy to work with David because he is a professional; not only as an excellent speaker but also because he co-operates fully with our deadlines, requests for information and videos, and local media interviews.”
Laura Franco. Toolkit Naranja. Coolture Investments, Colombia
www.wearecoolture.com

“David inspired fashion entrepreneurs with his masterclass at the beginning of the 2nd call final assessment event WORTH Weekend in Valencia, inspiring over 220 participants from 27 European countries. His entertaining message was that we can be creative in the way we do business, using creative business models, and he illustrated his points with practice-oriented examples from around the world”.
Zicri A. Montiel. WORTH Partnership Project
www.worthproject.eu

“David’s webinar for Middle East and North Africa (MENA) cultural and creative entrepreneurs was very informative. We are grateful that he shared with us great insights and brought us experiences from other contexts. We will definitely renew the experience.”
Ouafa Belgacem. CEO Culture Funding Watch (CFW). Tunisia
www.culturefundingwatch.com

“Creative Georgia invited David Parrish to participate as main speaker in the online conference of the RE -conception project in the context of the British Council support program ‘Creative Spark: Higher Education Enterprise Program’. His speech bore the title “How to be Successful Creatively AND Commercially”, in which he emphasized the smart sides of being creative and commercial at the same time. He brought in his own life experience, and the way he expressed his ideas was very inspiring for the Georgian audience.”
Tiki Baghashvili. Creative Georgia.
www.creativegeorgia.ge

“It was a pleasure to invite David to give the keynote speech at the Third International Creative Industries Conference in Novi Sad, Serbia. His speech about ‘Creative Business in the Digital Economy’ was enlightening. It was ideal for our audience that included startups, government officials, investors and agencies from Serbia and other countries. David’s speech was also broadcast on TV to reach an even wider audience. We were delighted with the positive impact that David made on the creative industries here in Serbia.”
Tatjana Kalezic. Creative Industries Cluster of Vojvodina KVIK.
http://www.kvik.rs

“At the ANATO Congress, David inspired us with useful business techniques for travel agencies. His speech included interesting examples and stories about creativity and innovation from the Orange Economy and other sectors all around the world”.
Paula Cortés Calle. Presidente Ejecutiva
Asociación Colombiana de Agencias de Viajes y Turismo
www.anato.org

“It was a pleasure having David facilitate the session on ‘The Art of Virtual Pitching’. We believe the insights of his presentation helped the entrepreneurs and participants gain knowledge on how to deliver a good pitch overall. David’s feedback of the entrepreneurs’ presentations further buttressed the points from the presentation. The comments and feedback from the session were positive and we hope to have David again in the near future.”
Halima Rabiu. Enterprise Development Centre, Nigeria
www.edc.edu.ng

“David has been a pleasure to work with since day one when we have approached him. His name was specifically chosen based on his expertise and background as a creative keynote speaker. We are especially appreciating the attention to details given by David and flexibility to fit the conference theme promoting the creative economy in Saudi. Audiences from different backgrounds were highly influenced by the content presented by David throughout his two speeches “Creative Economy Worldwide” and “Combining Business Within Creativity”. Local speakers and guests have approached David in different ways and he was pleasantly attending all requesting. ACE Events as an organizer had a very smooth experience with David until the last day, which we are highly thankful for and this is definitely a presence that we look forward to have in more events to come in future.”
Mais El-Ras. Ejadah Confex. Saudi Arabia

“Inspiration for change! David Parrish helped us to completely reinvent our company’s business model. Deep insight into the company’s needs, strategic thinking, dedication, positivity and laughter. This made every second of our working sessions with David precious. As our mentor and business coach, he helped us change the way we think, become more confident and improve our work with our clients and partners. Thank you David!”
Emil Yordanov, Managing director, Small Theatre Company, Bulgaria
www.smalltheatrecompany.com

“We are glad to have collaborated with David. The webinar David provided was highly insightful and the feedback from participants was excellent. And the free resources that David shared with us was the icing on the cake!. He is patient with kind words and an exceptional business expert.”
Dexy Onu. Dexy Creation. Nigeria
DexyCreation 

“David shared his vast and valuable experience with participants of our educational program in a very practical and understandable way. They appreciated his knowledge very much.”
Michaela Kučová, Project Manager. Trenčín 2026 European Capital of Culture

“I asked David to help me with developing a business plan.  His approach was innovative, moving easily between personal coaching and business analysis. Over the course of two years, meeting perhaps four or five times a year, he succeeded in gently but firmly prising me away from only thinking day to day, making it possible to have a view of the business such as our customers might have.  This was so helpful in understanding what we offer and how to develop better services for our customers.  David’s experience, insight and honesty were invaluable throughout.”
Iain Stewart. Owner. Modalit Ltd. UK
Modalit.com

“David did a really good job of translating his own experience as both a business owner, and as someone used to working in the creative industries, for an audience from another sector.  His honest, real-life examples certainly made the concepts he was introducing easier to apply to our own context. David’s honesty, warmth and plain-talking certainly helped us see what we might do next.”
Gordon Hodge. Head of Conferencing and Events. University of Strathclyde. Scotland.
www.strath.ac.uk/conferencingandevents/

“Enthusiastic, committed, inspiring, good communicator, clear and strategic. David Parrish has all these features. He first analyses carefully and then gives his wise advice guidance to culture and creative professionals to empower them and help them grow in the sector. We contacted him to participate in the Think up Culture! Conferences on Patronage and CCI Funding and it has been a pleasure to work with him, hope we can do it again soon!”
Anna Aguiló. Powerhouse Hub. Mallorca, Spain.
www.powerhousehub.eu

“David Parrish was an inspiration to creative and digital entrepreneurs in Bogotá and made an excellent contribution to The Digital Debate as the international keynote speaker. By bringing his wide international experience and message about combining creative passion with smart business thinking, he helped to accelerate the growth of the digital industries in Colombia.”
Carlos F Ramirez. Managing Director. The Digital Debate, Bogotá. Colombia
www.thedigitaldebate.org

“Donegal Local Enterprise Office engaged David Parrish as a keynote speaker and to deliver a number of one to one mentoring sessions as part of Local enterprise Week 2017. David spent a number of days in Donegal, meeting with creative businesses and engaging with stakeholders interested in the creative sector. During that time his wealth of experience was evident and his insights to the creative industries proved invaluable. Feedback from all those who engaged with David was immensely positive and we were delighted that his input contributed significantly to a very successful Donegal Local Enterprise Week.”
Michael Tunney, Head of Enterprise, Donegal, Ireland
www.localenterprise.ie/Donegal

“David Parrish has unique views and experience in creatively solving business problems, strategic thinking and innovation. His insights and advice are esp. valuable during these times of uncertainty (e.g COVID) and accelerating changes. We were honored to host David in Yerevan for meetings with innovators and future business leaders of Armenia.”
Samvel Movsisyan | founder, Leadership School Armenia
www.leadershipschool.am

“David’s keynote input on “Unlocking the Creative Economy” was simultaneously a fantastic way to finish a week’s worth of invaluable learning, and an inspiring way to kick-start further work in a sector that holds so much promise for the talented and creative youth of Mbombela, Mpumalanga.
David has a knack for storytelling that makes his extensive international experience as an expert in creative entrepreneurship both accessible and engaging.
Our sector stakeholders shared spontaneous post-event voice notes and thank you messages crediting David with opening their eyes to a world of possibilities in the creative industries.
Our aspiring creative entrepreneurs appreciated David’s expertise, his humour and his passion and all expressed that they had gained clarity, knowledge and inspiration from his “dope” experiences and extensive knowledge of the personal and professional journeys of creative entrepreneurs around the globe.
As an organisation, we had the opportunity to unpack and reflect on our business model as a Creative Hub, and with David’s insights and incisive advice, we are poised to take our services and our impact to the next level.”
Catherine Churchill. E3 Youth Development Hub, South Africa.
www.ethree.co.za

“You know the workshop was great when you have to kindly ask people to leave the premises because the building is closing soon. David is the only speaker who managed to evoke such interest in young entrepreneurs, and we had a wide range of international speakers and businessmen visit us. Combination of expert knowledge, enormous experience, and unique eloquence are what make David ‘a must-have’ in every accelerator/organization/event/conference.”
Ajla Fijuljanin. Foundation Networks. Bosnia-Herzegovina
www.networks.ba

“David shared his insights about clusters and hubs worldwide, based on his experience of working with creative entrepreneurs around the world. He also provided inspiration about how we can all be more creative in the way that we organise clusters or do business in the creative sector. The feedback from David’s presentations was very positive and we hope to work with David again.”
Laura Suteu. Northern Transylvania Clusters Consortium
www.transylvanianclusters.ro

“David facilitated 2 workshops – Creative Pricing and Creative Business Strategy – at Porto INDIE WORKERS Bootcamp 2019 and both sessions were much appreciated by the participants. In fact, we received numerous spontaneous feedback notes thanking for the precious and inspiring content that David delivered.
For us, as an organization, it was a pleasure to work with David, always available and easy-going, with a tremendous sense of responsibility and professionalism.
Also, always a nice company and relevant presence in all networking moments, totally engaged in making new contacts, giving attention and time to all the involved in the event.
We surely invite David again to participate as a speaker in our next events!”
Tânia Santos, Indie Workers / CRU Cowork, Porto-Portugal
indieworkers.org

“Working with David has been a great pleasure and a fantastic learning experience, his presentations and workshops full of strategic knowledge and valuable insights plus his warm approach to people left the public tremendously engaged, inspired and eager to follow trough the learnings. I highly appreciate the professionalism and dedication to the project and the quality time spent with David on a personal level, very much recommend his mentoring! Looking forward to work together again in the near future.”
Juan Diego Ortiz – Coolture Investments, Bogota – Colombia
Organisers of Festival Naranja.

“David participated as a speaker in our online Conference for Zlin Design Week 2021. It’s always great to meet people who support and develop creative industries, who are inspiring and open to sharing their knowledge with others. Thank you, David, it was a true pleasure to cooperate with you.”
Vendula Mašláňová. Zlin Design Week, Czech Republic
zlindesignweek.com

“Thank you so much David!  My biggest takeaway from the Botswana Masterclass is on safeguarding our Intellectual Property Rights. It got me to evaluate my approach and showed me how I have been trivialising this issue. David story about his training manual was an eye opener. How he went about cashing in on it was just brilliant. Also, the topics on strategic positioning of your brand, pricing & packaging and conspicuous consumption. Finally, the topic on dealing with your accounting as a creative entrepreneur. Your costings, overheads, asset depreciation, and how you dissect them. David makes me feel like an expert and now I’m helping my cousin who is into photography to get his finances into order. Thank you, thank you. We had a great time. God Bless.”
Martin De Klerk Moatshe. CoFly. www.cofly.ca

“In order to mark 2020 World Arts Day, Foundation 787 launched campaign celebrating women in creative industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina and providing them with content and tools to thrive. One of the important elements of the campaign was webinar held with David Parrish on pricing in this industry. In this interactive session, David elaborated on three important dimensions of pricing while giving a number of relatable examples. Over 50 participants engaged in fruitful discussion, which went significantly over the envisioned time-frame depicting in the best manner sparked interest and relevance of inputs, especially in the times of crisis caused by COVID-19. It was true pleasure collaborate with David in a thorough preparation process and the implementations itself. We are looking forward to collaborating again.”
Dajana Dzindo, Executive Director, Foundation 787, Bosnia and Herzegovina

“David gave a very interesting presentation on ‘a-Creativity and i-Creativity for Business Success’. Everyone agreed that his international examples were inspirational.”
Aynur Kerimova, Baku State University, Azerbaijan Republic
www.bsu.edu.az

“We are very grateful that David could be our Key Note Speaker at our Curacao Creative Economy event. There is a lot of uncertainty for the creative entrepreneurs in Curaçao. A lot of our creatives often worry that they are making the wrong choice to continue working in the creative industry. David’s keynote was an inspiration to many of them, some of them coming up to me afterwards telling me that now they are confident that it is the right choice and that they are now motivated to make it work! Thank you David!”
Eloise van Wickeren. Film Commissioner at the Ministry of Economic Development in Curaçao.

“David Parrish’s presentation was inspirational and educational for all at the Leadership School in Armenia.
It was wonderful working with you and we are incredibly thankful that you were able to join us for your lecture and Q&A. Your remarks were so heartfelt and that standing ovation was well deserved! Thank you.”
Samvel Movsisyan, Founder, Leadership School Armenia
www.leadershipschool.am

“David´s engagement and visit to SPARK business park has been an amazing motivation to our startups (internal workshops) and general audience (open event – “Creative marketing”), with concrete outputs when it comes to them creating new marketing strategies, adapting the existing ones and forming brand new ideas with David. The startups have been talking about David´s amazing advice and encouragement for long after he left SPARK and he certainly made a significant impact on our community – especially through follow ups and being open to further communication and collaboration as a future mentor to our startups. We appreciate the enthusiasm and all the stories that he shared with us. Also, SPARK team had the pleasure to have very interesting conversations with David and his insightful observations improved our perspective on our startups, ourselves as a team and the IT eco-system as a whole.”
Sara Lerota. SPARK Business Park. Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
www.spark.ba

“The workshop was inspiring and practical. David was very precise, insightful, resourceful and professional. Thank you for your time, insights and genuine interest in inspiring and empowering creative entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan.”
Indira Shah. Co-Founder, Impact Hub Almaty. Kazakhstan.

“David is an exceptional mentor. His openness and willingness to share his own life and work experiences inspires me to do my life’s best work. David has in-depth knowledge of multiple industries and has unique ways in which he drives customer centric thinking. This combined with his down to earth communication style means I come away with something new from each mentoring session. David has helped to positively shape my business, ultimately giving me confidence in my own decisions that have driven my business forward.”
Lynn Costello Erskine. The Pear in Paper. Ireland
www.thepearinpaper.ie

“David was totally invaluable to my growth as a leader. His calm and considered approach let me delve right into the core of the issues facing my organization and my own professional development. The feedback that he gave was specific, honest, extremely generous and had a transformative effect on my work. I can’t recommend him highly enough.”
Sam Snedden. The Basement Theatre. Auckland, New Zealand
www.basementtheatre.co.nz

“David was excellent and very engaging. His advice about business development made what seems like a daunting task actually very simple by making you think differently.”
Karen Maxwell. Design Director. Four-by-Two. Edinburgh, Scotland
www.four-by-two.com

“David helped us to devise a marketing strategy which focuses on our competitive strengths and the best market segments. Using effective marketing techniques we have improved the way we connect our creative talents with profitable markets.”
Janina Gaudin. Director. Pepperbot Studios Ltd. New Zealand
www.pepperbot.com

“David’s presentation to Creative Business Cup Namibia was really useful for our creative entrepreneurs. As well as giving examples of different business models, he answered questions from participants and explained how intellectual property rights can be used to generate income streams in different ways. Everyone liked the way David explained his points and answered questions. It was interesting to have him make a presentation online and thus avoid the opportunity cost it involved. Innovative and creative thinking on how to share important resources in our global village is of such essence and we cannot underestimate the value of useful information shared to entrepreneurs in the creative industry. We wish to thank David for the insight and support to Namibian creative entrepreneurs on the 8 March 2019 and hope to see him in person in 2020 in Windhoek. ”
Johanna Cloete. Managing Director
GEN Namibia and Creative Business Cup Namibia

“David was a guest lecture at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University Faculty of Creative Industries. David is a great communicator, clear and inspiring.  We had many questions and even more ideas after the seminar. We still receive a positive feedback from students and lecturers that attended the seminar. David is very professional, busy but always open to the new ideas. Hope to have an opportunity to work together in the very next future. Thank you very much!”
Zivile Sedereviciute-Paciauskiene, Dean of the Faculty of Creative Industries. Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania.
http://ki.vgtu.lt/

“The ‘Creative Talk’ interactive workshop on ‘How to Succeed as a Creative Entrepreneur’ in Bandung was a great success. David shared his international experience of business in the creative industries, and participants engaged with the event, giving us a new energy in the creative industries in Bandung.”
Febby Arhemsyah M. Creative Entrepreneur Network / Bandung Creative City Forum. Indonesia
www.bandungcreativecityforum.wordpress.com

“I was extremely unhappy with my business for years but couldn’t explain why. David gave me a totally new perspective after just one mentoring session. By helping me face those difficult questions, he has given me back my passion and drive that had totally disappeared. I am recommending him to everyone!”
Michelle Mc Carroll, Knitwear Designer, Michi, Ireland.
www.michi.ie

“David Parrish’s unique ability to get groups to think about business in a broad and creative manner is refreshing and stimulating. Our group was inspired by David’s talk which included excellent business examples of how change could trigger new opportunities and helped us to understand and reflect on the power of vary business systems that are currently relevant to any business operations.”
Traci Morachnick, Assistant Professor, Business Administration Faculty, Chiang Mai University, Thailand
www.ba.cmu.ac.th/en/

“The workshop was just perfect. I obtained techniques on strategic thinking that will help me to develop an effective strategic plan and to be more target-oriented. David Parrish was a very interesting speaker, ready to answer all our questions.”
Leyli Salayeva /contemporary writer. Cultural and Creative Leaders. Azerbaijan

“The workshop was enlightening and easy to understand. Hearing David’s presentations and answers brought to my attention new views about my business. David was friendly, direct, easy to listen to, fair and enjoyable. As a result of the workshop I will use this new information to better my business.”
– Michael Smith. PICT Computer Service Company. Namibia

“The workshop was very insightful and far too short as I would love to continue discussions with David for hours. Very honest and authentic experience, without buzzwords. As a result of the workshop I will use these insights in my business strategy to make more calculated decisions about my value.”
Emīl Blūm. Designer.
www.emilblum.com

“As a startup everything we do matters, every choice to do something is a choice not to do another and our survival as a company depends on us making the right choices. The choice to work with David was definitely the right one. We had a limited amount of time working together on our first project for the company and in less than two days time we had crafted a cohesive short term and long term strategy that provides for desired growth, protects our IP, enables investment, and allows us to retain creative control of our technology. David’s ability to listen to your situation, to understand it, and then determine a course of action based on your specific needs and goals is rare and a makes David a joy to work with.”
Aric Wanveer. Zero Gravity Creations LLC, Baltimore, USA
www.zerogravitycreations.com

“People in Saudi were hungry for the workshop given by David Parrish in The 2016 Ejadah Confex. Seats in the “Business Growth Strategies and Marketing” workshop were quickly sold out. Everyone who attended left equipped with creative strategies to implement in their businesses and approaches to a more successful career. The feedback was all pleasant and everyone is looking forward to more of what David has to offer in future events.”
Lobna Hamada. Ejadah Confex. Saudi Arabia
www.ejadahcon.com

“David Parrish was a special guest of Creative Industries Summer School held in Moscow. Creative entrepreneurs from all over Russia said that David’s presentation was very inspiring, entertaining and very useful for them.  His presentation “Creativity and Business: How to Succeed as a Creative Entrepreneur” was amazing and I am sure it will help develop creative entrepreneurship in Russia. We were very pleased to invite David to Moscow to work with us. David is a very bright and powerful expert. Thank you very much for your very interesting speech!”
Olga Kizina. Director. Creative Industries Agency. Moscow. Russia.
www.creativeindustries.ru

“Creative businesses and digital startups found David’s interactive workshop to be interesting, entertaining and inspiring. From my experience as a startup founder I think his knowledge and experience will help the businesses at Biz Labs achieve both creative and commercial success.”
Ivan Dzheferov. Co-Founder at Biz Labs. Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
http://bizlabs.eu/en/

“The workshop was really helpful and relevant to my business. Could have done a whole day! David was engaging and very knowledgeable. The examples used were easy to understand and the interaction was great. Excellent.”
Lisa Gildea. Designer
www.lisagildea.com

“The workshop was useful and beneficial to me. I learned more about strategic planning. David was an asset to this program and an inspiration! I liked the seminar and how he presented the information. It was accessible and exciting. I loved it and enjoyed the seminar a lot.”
Olga Rudak. Cultural and Creative Leaders, Minsk, Belarus.

“The session was very insightful and captivating. It gave clarity to old thoughts and opened new opportunities for growth especially in a rapidly changing industry that we belong to. Thanks David Parrish for those very strong ideas. Also, I liked the fact that you had very interesting personal stories to starting each topic to guide us through the end of the process.”
Joshua Alabi, Creative Director, KiNiNso-koncepts, Lagos, Nigeria
www.kininsokoncepts.com

“David’s ability to communicate complex business approaches in a diligent and engaging manner was much appreciated by all the youth entrepreneurs present at the workshop. His use of examples taken from existing youth businesses represented at the workshop, allowed for better contextualization of how things work on an international level yet from a micro business perspective. This in turn made the workshop participants feel included, inspired & motivated enough to take on new challenges with the newly found knowledge shared by Mr Parrish.”
Kgotla Molefe. Young Africa Botswana. Gaborone, Botswana

“As a public speaker, David softly tells his stories, which keep his audience captivated in the short term and helps them remember the salient points in the long term. So everyone lives happily ever after.”
Michael MacGinty. Meanit Web Partners. Donegal. Ireland
www.meanit.ie

“David has been instrumental in developing our business strategy, and creating a new brand. I have worked with other consultants who facilitate rather than pitch in. David, with his wealth of experience within the creative industries, offered his own ideas and solutions, which was refreshing and hugely beneficial.”
Neil Adams. Managing Director. Powerhouse Digital Photography Ltd
www.phoodstudios.com
www.powerhousephoto.co.uk

“More does not mean better! The rhythm of the Workshop titled “Strategic Marketing” given by David Parrish in Bilbao Ekintza, in which 15 new entrepreneurs attended, has allow them to analyze, understand and use the insights of strategic marketing thanks to examples in a pleasant and illustrative way. Through this workshop we have understand the importance of Strategic Marketing, of listening to the customers and of using of the right message and media for each target of customers. Besides, each participant has been able to establish an action plan to invest in an efficient way the resources. Thanks David.”
Susana Bilbao. Bilbao Ekintza. Bilbao. Spain
www.bilbao.net

“David is a great mentor and business coach. He is very responsive to our needs and understands the complicated business models of the Creative Industries”
Jon Wetherall. Managing Director. Cool Game Arcade Ltd
http://coolgamearcade.com/

“Great talk. David has a special talent to illustrate complex issues in very easy way, which I find very inspiring.”
Katka Letzing. Startup Malaysia
www.startupmalaysia.org

“Having attended his workshops and chewed up both of his books I still can’t believe that I am lucky enough to have access to David Parrish. My work with David on the Generate programme has gone from using business tools for fully reviewing the market, industry and competitors to deeply considering what type of lifestyle I want from being self-employed; whether I want to continue letting a brand control my lifestyle or start letting my lifestyle dictate what projects I take on. He is guiding me through a fully integrative and enlightening process with his naturally caring, holistic approach and instinct for creative business. I can’t recommend him enough. Thanks David!”
Ciaran Boyce. Modern Eire
https://moderneire.ie/

“David helped us to grow our digital business by working with us to clarify our vision and devise a feasible plan of action. He helped us orientate our business towards the best market segments, refine our marketing messages and improve our internal systems. Working with David was both enlightening and profitable.”
Chris Abram. Managing Director. Brighter Design Ltd.
www.brighterdesign.co.uk

“As an economic development agency, we help creative and digital businesses to grow and create jobs. We are judged on results, so we use Dave as a business adviser because he delivers results.”
Kevin McManus. Head of Sector Development: Creative/Digital
Merseyside ACME / Liverpool Vision
www.merseysideacme.com

“At the workshop, Mr. David Parrish exposed us the Businesses which had become real due to his guidance as well as the concept of Latin American “Orange economy”, so that it was an excellent start to thinking of our own new model in Moldova – Sunny Grape Economy clustered in Creative Industries that Mr. Parrish successfully promotes”.
Zorina Shishcan, Associate Professor, Ph.D. Department of International Economic Relations, Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova.
http://www.ase.md/en/

“EXCELLENT was the overwhelming response of delegates about David’s speech on ‘Creativity and Business’ at the Shropshire Creative Business Conference.”
Delia Yapp. Shropshire Council. England
www.shropshire.gov.uk

“I refer to David Parrish as Dr David. I wouldn’t necessarily rush to call him if I had chest pains or a strange rash. But when my business needs a little plaster or even some minor surgery, Dr David is someone I would trust to find a way of making it healthy again. As well as offering practical and common sense advice, he opens the door just enough for me to push it through to solve problems and to sometimes self medicate. I can thoroughly recommend a consultation with him.”
Stephen Maguire. Donegal Daily. Republic of Ireland
www.donegaldaily.com

“David’s workshop in Valdivia really helped creative businesses in the region to focus on their strengths and develop their enterprises with even greater success. It’s a great experience to listen to David and to see how inspiring he is for local entrepreneurs. His book is an essential tool for creative people engaged in doing businesses based on creativity and talent. David’s ideas have been supportive of our work in creative industries in this small, but promising region”
Guillermo Olivares. Lateralis. Chile
www.lateralis.cl

“Working with Dave’s been really great, he sees business as an opportunity to be grasped by creatives and not to be feared.”
Ilsa Parry. 3D Designer. UK
www.ilsaparry.com
www.rethinkthings.co.uk

“David writes about creative business better than anyone I know.”
Wayne Morris. The Creative Edge. New Zealand.
www.thecreative-edge.blogspot.com

“David is a marketing expert who understands and emphasises the importance of strategic marketing when growing a business. It’s really helpful to be able to talk things through with him as we grow.”
Rhiannon Eames-Jones. Milky Tea Ltd. UK
www.milkytea.com

“David’s expertise in the creative, digital and cultural sector is very useful to our clients in Lancashire and they have found his consultancy advice and training workshops very helpful in assisting them to strengthen and grow. David’s international experience is a bonus and he brings a wealth of insights and new approaches to benefit creative and cultural enterprises in our region.”
Ed Matthews-Gentle. Creative Lancashire
www.creativelancashire.org

“David Parrish’s approach to combining business and creativity is invaluable to anyone who flinches at the suggestion of turning their creative talent into a business opportunity. This perennial affliction which leads to the words “selling out” ringing in the ears of artists, musicians and other creatives is adeptly alleviated when David explains that business is merely a tool, like a hammer which can be used for good or bad; depending on who is wielding it. It can be a weapon or an implement to build with. After attending one of David’s presentations and reading his work any creative person should be in no doubt that business and entrepreneurship is a means to an end; the end being to make a living from their creative talent. It is up to the individual to decide how to use that means in a way that best fits with their product/service, artistic sensibilities and ethos. David was the perfect guest speaker to ignite the entrepreneurial spirit among the creative community of Donegal, very down to earth and accessible.”
Camilla Meegan. Partner. DNK Media Productions. Donegal, Ireland.
www.dnkmedia.ie

“International adviser David Parrish was to many of the participants the most interesting speech on the conference, with his new perspectives on creativity and business. He had a clear message and used convenient examples.”
Ingvil Mjøen. Det bobler! Conference Organiser. Norway
www.detbobler.no

“It was a great pleasure to offer this workshop to the creative entrepreneurs. At the end of it all of them had improved their projects and trusted themselves much more. David’s help has been essential for them, now they are ready to enter the market.”
Jone Zubiaga. Creativity Zentrum, Bilbao, Spain
www.creativityzentrum.com

“Workshop participants were very impressed and inspired by David’s speech and book because he avoided using jargon, gave clear illustrations to describe what creative business is about and explained the general principles of running a creative business. He talked about some important issues, such as intellectual property, business formulas, knowing your competitors, knowing your market, and being prepared to say No.”
HsinYi Ku. British Council, Taiwan
www.britishcouncil.org/Taiwan

“The ‘Designing Your Creative Business’ workshop was very good, with lots of important information and new perspectives. David Parrish was great, with a particular sense of humour, and was very good at motivating us.”
Mario Azen. Emporio de Cultura. Brazil.
www.emporiodecultura.com.br

“The workshop was informative and inspirational. David was excellent. Very clear with his ideas and very easy to understand.”
Laura Buchanan. Print Designer. Ireland.
www.laurabuchanan.ie

“David was calmly considered, thoughtful, inspiring, realistic, approachable. As a result of the workshop I feel inspired, clearer about our business, our vision.”
Sasha McLaren Woodcock. Co-Director. Nimbus Media Ltd, New Zealand.
www.nimbusmedia.co.nz

“David worked pro-actively with Culture Liverpool to help make creative and cultural enterprises in the city region stronger as businesses and more economically resilient in the long term.
He understands the sector and is well respected in Liverpool because of his work in the city region over the years.
His ability to establish a rapport with creative and cultural entrepreneurs is second to none.  We’ve received excellent feedback from attendees at all of David’s sessions, his advice and workshops have proven to be stimulating, useful and gratefully received by our clients.”
Sean Durney. Culture Liverpool. Liverpool City Council
www.itsliverpool.com/culture/

“After attending David’s workshop, the creative businesses at Fabrikken are prepared to be more focused, their prices are rising and they are more selective about what kind of customers they want.”
Henning Holmbakken. Fabrikken Manager. Lillehammer. Norway
www.fabrikken.org

“David Parrish is an inspirational and quietly powerful person. His time with the students was very crucial: Reading is one thing, but listening and talking is an entirely different experience. The Portuguese national media also picked up on his visit which was GREAT for Católica University, the Creative Industries Management Masters team and David of course!”
Michael daCosta Babb. Universidade Católica Portuguesa. Porto. Portugal
www.porto.ucp.pt

“Dave was a great sounding board and independent viewpoint we used to develop the overall strategy for the business. The time we spent with Dave was a great way for us to focus on where the business is going over the next year and his facilitation of these discussions was extremely valuable. He made us take a step back and also look at our creative thinking processes which was also useful and better still…good fun!”
Anna Heyes. Managing Director. Active Profile Ltd
www.activeprofile.co.uk

“As an interpreter between creativity and business, international adviser David Parrish has developed a very practical and systematic methodology for guiding creative people to run their business. If you want to become a creative entrepreneur rather than a creative worker, David will help you review yourself, and teach you how you can protect your intellectual property and make money while you sleep.”
Irene Wu. Taiwan Design Center
http://www.tdc.org.tw/

“David’s exposition has been crucial for our small (yet ambitious) program: making this small new region of ours, at the antipodes of commerce and trade, become a world class pole for creative industries. Thanks to David’s clear and powerful ideas and presence, we’ve managed to convince “outsiders”, from traditional industries, to listen carefully to what’s in creative business for them and the regional development strategy. We all now speak a common language of business and creativity.”
Felipe Mujica Cominetti. Creative Industries de los Rios, Valdivia, Chile
www.industriascreativasdelosrios.cl

“David enables you to take a step a back from your business in a relaxed and informal way. He has a unique ability to not only immediately identify the root of a business issue but also the steps needed to address it. You walk away with the feeling that what you thought was a real problem can actually be addressed in quite a simple way – you just need to take that time out to allow David to show you how!”
Michelle Helsby. Evolve
www.evolveproductions.co.uk

“David Parrish is a very inspirational speaker. The way he illustrates his points is excellent. He makes you laugh and instantly you start to think about your own ideas and projects.”
Eli Folkestadaas. British-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce
www.bncc.no

“David has the unique ability to look at your business goals, and help you make decisions to achieve those goals. He guides with his suggestions, without ever trying to tell you what to do and what is best for your company. He’s a great asset to be able to call upon!”
Matthew Houghton. Sauce Multimedia
www.saucemultimedia.co.uk

“David was an inspiring guest speaker at the launch of the Creative Entrepreneurs Network in Beijing. As an experienced creative entrepreneur, business adviser and author of T-Shirts and Suits he was an ideal speaker for our network of creative entrepreneurs.”
Liang Junhong. British Council, Beijing. China
http://www.britishcouncil.org.cn/en/china.htm

“David is such an inspiration! Just when I ask countless questions like: What exactly have I begun? Does it make sense? Am I crazy? Will the forces reach me?… David appears with the right words and gives me enough strength and confidence to continue boldly. I’m happy to have met David and I’m lucky that he’s my mentor. Thank you!”
Sonya Pepelyashkova. The Motley Crow. Donegal, Ireland.
www.motleycrow.ie

“David’s talk at the Creative People Conference was that rare thing, refreshingly open, informative and amusing.  I particularly appreciated his frankness about great failures he has known – not least because they made his comments on how to avoid them more pertinent.  A very engaging speaker”
Jeanne Jenner. Chief Executive. Arts+Media Training
www.amtcc.org.uk

“David’s participation in the second edition of ‘Encuentro de Economía Creativa – Valparaiso 2010’ was very important. His vision expressed both in his conference and workshop with creative project managers was highly valued by the public, who attended in large numbers to hear his presentation and to participate in the workshop. I’m sure his advices will be very useful for the development of creative industries in Valparaiso.”
Jorge Rosenthal Navarro. Creative Industries Valparaiso, Chile
www.industriascreativas.cl

“David created a great atmosphere. Despite being on a competition everyone was feeling very confident and they were all sharing ideas about the different projects. At the end of the two intensive days everyone thought it was a very useful and helpful workshop.”
Elena Ruiz. Creativity Zentrum, Bilbao, Spain
www.creativityzentrum.com

“David led a conversation with some Creative Entrepreneurs and spoke to an audience of Animation professionals and students. He gave an excellent insight into the merits and challenges of working internationally, which was both instructive and inspirational. We would highly recommend David as a motivational speaker and experienced Creative Entrepreneur.”
Nicola Pinder and Simon Preston. Creatives Loop Ltd

“David’s visit to the Impact Hub Pilot Almaty was timely and very important to us, because he knows the ecosystem of creative industries and has enormous practical experience in working with creative businesses. David is a high level professional who speaks the genuine language of creative entrepreneurs. We feel very grateful that David spent one day providing individual consultations to creative entrepreneurs following his training workshop. They got valuable insights and now feel more inspired to continue their journey!”
Gaukhar Kozhasheva. Art2B Lab. Almaty, Kazakhstan
www.art2b.space

“David helped PRANA to consolidate its position as the premier creative industries incubator in Colombia and advised us on our strategy to become even more successful in the future. This was at a very important and critical time for PRANA. There was a risk we might have made the wrong strategic decisions. But with David’s support, PRANA renewed itself within a few months, becoming stronger and very much more useful for our clients.”
Juan Carlos Gaitán. PRANA Creative Industries Incubator. Bogotá. Colombia
www.pranaincubadora.org

“From the very beginnings of my business, David has provided insightful, thoughtful and detailed observations and advice that have helped me to grow both my business and myself as an individual – with the way I think about and act on my business and marketing efforts.” 
Richard Wilde. Artybuzz.com
www.artybuzz.com

“Firstly, David is a great listener. This is a skill which is sometimes overlooked and it provides a great platform, along with his wealth of experience and strategic thinking, to offer great advice. He’s added clarity to the challenges facing our company and given us a clear perspective going forwards.”
Christopher McInerney. CM2 Creative Ltd
www.cm2creative.com

“My meeting with David was like a breath of fresh air.  He allows you to take a step back from the business to see it from a new point of view and appreciate the bigger picture.  He has given me a new sense of confidence to move forward with the business knowing we are firmly on the right path.  Highly Recommended.
Christian Hughes. Curly Productions Ltd
www.curlyproductions.co.uk

“David has helped enormously in focusing me during my company relaunch after 18 years working as a public relations professional.”
Liam Walsh. Ask Me PR
www.askmepr.com

“David has worked with Black and Ginger for three years and in that time has helped us to develop our business and recognise our potential within the creative industry. His advice and guidance is wonderfully concise: David tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear!”
Matt Wardle. Black and Ginger
www.blackandginger.com

“I must say that a nicer, friendlier presentation – I don’t think I’ve ever heard. David managed to communicate important knowledge in a sensitive, friendly and very informative way.”
Sara Lönnroth. Projektledare Mötesplats Mode&Design, MM&D
Konstfack Transit Inkubator. Stockholm
www.modeochdesign.se

“Since attending David’s workshop and then engaging him as an adviser, Sparkle Media has gone from strength to strength. The company now operates on a global level, going head to head with world wide agencies – and beating them. We’ve never looked back and have a lot to thank David for.”
Glenn Maguire. Director. Sparkle Media Ltd
www.sparklemedia.co.uk

“David was an invaluable mentor at a critical stage in the business’s early days. He forced me to think about profit margins and processes and he made me think ahead and consider how we would want to manage the business as it grew. He was also a fantastic sounding board when it came to thinking about how we managed the effective transition from two-man band to corporate entity. And a nice bloke too!”
Jon Brown. Managing Director. Factory Communications
www.factory-pr.co.uk/

“Concrete Films is a video production and multimedia design company based in Liverpool. David Parrish’s support and advice has been a real asset to our creative venture, which has led to our steady growth and helped us win new exciting jobs.”  
Jamie Burns. Concrete Films Ltd
www.concretefilms.co.uk

“David is a marketing expert who understands and emphasises the importance of strategic marketing when growing a business. It’s really helpful to be able to talk things through with him as we grow.”
Rhiannon Eames-Jones. Milky Tea Ltd
www.milkytea.com

“Dave’s knowledge, experience and coaching is highly applicable and relevant to any creative business in the twenty-first century. His advice has opened doors to exciting new opportunities and helped to avoid the many pitfalls along the way.  He is a highly insightful and trustworthy mentor.  It is a sheer pleasure to brainstorm with Dave and he has the ability help you stay focused after inspiring a batch of useful ideas. Whatever your vehicle of creativity is, Dave gives you the keys to make that car move while also providing a reality-based road map to help you get to your destination.”
John Scotland. Multi-Platform Video Production
www.johnscotland.co.uk

“I was lucky to receive advice from Merseyside ACME and this helped me focus on what is important for me and finding ways of earning a living from what I do, and love. Since then, I have seen my business grow and develop in the right direction, and my sessions with David are like milestones for my growth. It helps me set up new objectives and be ambitious with who I am targeting for my next projects. Taking the next steps can be a daunting experience, and having the support and advice from ACME at this critical time is a precious gift.”
Laurence Payot. Artist
www.laurencepayot.com

“Dave draws out the best in us with simplicity and sensitivity.”
– Judy Mazonowicz. The Windows Project.

“David was excellent! I will read both books written by David. It was a great pleasure for me to meet such an expert! Thank you!”
– Barbara “Bari” Zajaček. Culture Management. City of Trenčianske Teplice. Slovakia

“I had much more fun than I thought possible at a finance workshop.”
– Alke Groppel-Wegener. Freelance Artist.

“Great analogies. Dave Parrish has a real knack for making complicated marketing strategy very easy to grasp and remember.”
– Louise Hunt. Desirable Fish Marketing

“Working with David seems to me quite different experience than I would have expected. You imagine working with a business consultant to be an arduous affair. In actual fact it has been quite refreshing. David tends to work with us in a very organic and informal way. You get the feeling he’s working for you and not the other way around. The results though that are being teased out are looking very informative and pertinent to us as an organisation.”
– Lee Taylor. Editor. Flux Magazine.

“David helped us take stock of our situation and re-apply our core principles to changing circumstances. This led to Prescap reorganising for the future and clarifying its strategy. David worked in a skilful and sensitive way making possible the bold changes Prescap needed.”
– Di Cuming. Chief Executive. Prescap.

“Great workshop! Very creative brain. Friendly!”
– Rob Brady. Robert Brady Photography.

“A very knowledgeable, professional and compassionate person who makes you feel at ease and seems to understand your business needs. I would personally recommend David anytime.”
– Peter Burke. Grass Root Network.

“Dave has the ability to hold your hand and lead you through the minefield of business development and evaluation without losing your legs!”
– Dawneey Warren. Latent Productions Ltd.

“The workshop made me think through everything from outside the business and sort ideas and plans in my head and on paper.”
– Kaya Ulrikke Herstad. Aurora Borealis Music.

“Creative Industries Guru.”
– British Council, Lithuania.


Further client testimonials are available on request.

 

David with organiser Olga Kizina at summer school for creative entrepreneurs in Moscow
David with organiser Olga Kizina at summer school for creative entrepreneurs in Moscow

 

One of David's creative business training workshop in Liverpool, UK
One of David’s creative business training workshop in Liverpool, UK

 

British Council creative entrepreneurs in Lithuania with David
British Council creative entrepreneurs in Lithuania with David

 

David's British Council Creative Economy unit workshop for creative entrepreneurs in Harare, Zimbabwe
David’s British Council Creative Economy unit workshop for creative entrepreneurs in Harare, Zimbabwe

 

David Parrish with startup workshop participants in Bilbao, Spain
David Parrish with startup workshop participants in Bilbao, Spain

Additional client testimonials are published on other pages of this website.