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 …
Tag: enterprise
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Features and Benefits: the “So What?!” test
If you are talking to a potential customer and they say (or maybe just think) “So What?!”, then the chances are you are talking about features, not benefits. It’s a trap we can all easily fall into. We are enthusiastic about our creative businesses and want to tell people about what we do and how …
Time Management for Creative People
Time Management is an issue that comes up frequently when I’m advising creative businesses. It seems there’s always too much to do, and not enough time to do it. In my view, time management is both a strategic issue and an operational challenge. If we are unrealistic about what can be achieved with finite resources, …
Free eBooks: T-Shirts and Suits
Download ‘T-Shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity’ by David Parrish as free eBooks in a selection of formats The eBook of T-Shirts and Suits is available as the full-colour version of the book, in interactive PDF format. It is also available as a text only eBook for Kindle and smartphones. We …
New economics of creativity
My keynote speech to film and TV producers in Finland (video below) referred to the changing business environment for creative enterprises. Consumers are now also creators and marketers; technology is advancing and becoming cheaper at the same time; global communication and distribution are easieir than ever before. These new realities bring both threats and opportunities. …