An incident in the the BBC TV programme ‘The Apprentice’ provided an excellent example of a marketing error. It also demonstrated how the term ‘marketing’ is often misunderstood and used simply to mean ‘advertising’ or ‘selling’. In fact the marketing process goes much deeper than selling. In one episode, Sir Alan Sugar sent his teams …
Tag: start-up
Artistic Passion – combined with Business Focus
Rob Kinsey is an artist with a passion for the sport of motocross, defining himself on his website as ‘motocross racer, fan and award-winning artist’. Art and sport have been important to Rob for many years. He qualified as a technical illustrator in the 1970’s and his artwork has developed in parallel with his participation …
Your world-class ‘Hedgehog Strategy’
Many creative enterprises offer a range of goods or services and regard this as a way of maximising their options and income-generating potential. I understand what they are trying to do. They say it’s a case of ‘keeping your options open’ and ‘casting the net widely’ in order to increase the chances of winning new …
Ideas don’t make you rich
“Ideas don’t make you rich. The correct execution of ideas does.” So says Felix Dennis, poet, owner of Dennis Publishing, and one of the wealthiest self-made entrepreneurs in Britain. I met him several years ago when he gave generously to support a project I helped with at the National Library for the Blind, though he …
Let’s license works like George Lucas
We can devise business models in the creative industries by learning how to license works of creativity profitably, following the example of George Lucas – and a self-employed commercial illustrator in a small city in Brazil. In this way a business can be devised to transform the owner from a creative labourer to a true …
Six Leadership Styles for Creative Leaders
Leaders and managers of creative businesses in the media, design and technology sectors can use these six leadership styles to improve the effectiveness of their leadership, their teams and their creative enterprises. According to Daniel Goleman, there are six leadership styles which are associated with the various elements of emotional intelligence in different combinations. The …
Be a Quitter
Forget the adage ‘Never Quit’. Instead, quit often! That’s one of the messages in Seth Godin’s new book ‘The Dip’. It links in to what I often write about ‘Saying No’. In order to focus on becoming highly successful in one field, you have to say no to distractions that don’t help you towards your …
Seven Steps to Business Success
There is a lot written about business success and business strategy, but in essence it can all be boiled down to seven simple steps: Be clear where you want to go – your Vision Know yourself and your current situation – internal analysis Understand customers’ needs, competition and external forces Carefully create your unique Business …
Creative Labourer – or Creative Entrepreneur?
Are you a true entrepreneur – or just a creative labourer? This was the question posed in my article about the E-Myth. Here’s a true story. Robert Altman was paid a cool $70,000 (US dollars) for directing the 1970 hit movie M*A*S*H. They needed a song for the movie so Robert Altman’s 14 year old …