书签 10 steps to starting your own creative business
10 steps to starting your own creative business
Making a success of a new business means combining your creative ability with an entrepreneurial mindset.
Fancy unleashing your inner entrepreneur and setting up your own business? For those with a creative streak, this can be a daunting proposition. You may see yourself as an artist, designer or maker rather than a business manager. But many creative businesses are thriving in the modern economy – such as in fashion and interiors, digital development and graphic design, advertising and marketing – and creative entrepreneurs are flourishing.
If you can combine your creative ability with an entrepreneurial mindset, you could make a healthy living from your talent while retaining a high degree of independence. But competition in the creative industries is massive and fear of failure looms large for many people. So how on earth do you go about making a success of a new venture? Here are the key questions to ask yourself and issues to consider as you ponder starting out on your own.
1. What problem are you solving?
Business advisers say that every business idea should solve somebody’s problem. This may come as a surprise if, for instance, you are setting up a cake business. But since cakes are on sale everywhere, why are yours any different? They may solve the problem for people seeking lower calorie cakes or low-cost party cakes, for instance. Entrepreneurs can succeed by offering novel solutions to old problems.
2. Test your product
Whatever your business idea, it is essential to test that it has a strong appeal and a discernible market. This is the all-important market research stage, where you find out who your potential customers are and how they feel about your product. Only by market testing can you hone the product into something successful. You should be prepared to radically change the idea in response to trials before any wider-scale plans.
3. Identify your customers
Defining your market is a key element of market research. If you’re selling dog baskets then your target market is dog owners. The next stage is finding ways to locate and connect with them. Social media offers effective lifestyle targeting and is relatively cost effective.
4. Research your competitors
Become an expert on your competitors, find out their strengths and weaknesses and look for areas where you can outcompete them.
5. Come up with a business model
The business model is the method and means you use to run the business. Are you selling from a physical shop or via e-commerce? Do you take payment in advance or by subscription? Innovative business models help entrepreneurs thrive in existing industries that are already heavily catered for, as Spotify has in music (through its subscription model) and Uber has in travel (with taxis ordered and paid for via an app). Don’t be put off by having a product that is already widely available, just try and think of a new and interesting angle to market it.
man at the door of pottery studio
Before throwing open your doors, make sure you have a business model and one, three and five-year plans. Photograph: Jordan Siemens/Getty Images
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6. Develop one-year, three-year and five-year plans
Over 90% of new businesses survive their first year, but after five years, almost 60% of them have collapsed, according to the business survival calculator created by consultancy Ormsby Street (with information sourced from the Office of National Statistics). Entrepreneurs should sketch out realistic milestones for sales, profits and expansion over a period of five years. Such calculations need to be based on how many potential customers will be in the market for the product or service, the capacity of the business to fulfil orders and the likelihood of securing finance to expand the business. Make sure you factor in your own living expenses into those plans.
7. Raise finance
The boom in entrepreneurial businesses in recent years has been fuelled by angel investors and venture capitalists. These are talent spotters with the funds to back new ventures they believe in. Banks also lend funds to small businesses, though in the current climate they are highly risk averse. Any serious backer will demand to see a well worked out business plan. This needs to detail market research and present a strong argument about why the product or service will succeed. It needs an informed estimate of the funding needed and a prediction of future sales. Watch The BBC’s Dragons’ Den to see how easily such plans can be pulled apart under rigorous scrutiny. That said, don’t be put off by rejection. Persistence can pay off. And you could always try crowdfunding through Kickstarter, Indiegogo or Crowdfunder.
8. Big bang, slow burn or delayed launch?
If you have a new and exciting offer, a big bang launch can be a great opportunity for maximising publicity and gives a date to work towards. But many creative businesses will build up gradually as they gather a head of steam. It could be worth creating a launch further down the line when you have some business experience to boast about.
9. Cashflow! Cashflow! Cashflow!
Getting paid for your services in a timely fashion is vital to the long-term survival of the business. This may be out of the entrepreneur’s hands, but it is important to understand payment cycles in the industry and factor payments into sales projections.
10. Can you bootstrap?
Bootstrapping – as in pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps – means running your own business, at least initially, without external funding, and ploughing the income from your activities back into the business. For many creatives, this could be quite feasible, if they sell their services on a freelance basis anyway. Once your business idea takes off, the bootstraps can be untied as you start attracting interest and funding from venture capitalists. Fundamental to the successful businesses of the future will be the way in which they adapt; harnessing the power of creative thinking and innovation.
