The Creative's Guide to Starting a Business


Book Description

WINNER OF THE BEST START-UP INSPIRATION BOOK AWARD AT THE 2019 BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 'A book to devour from start to finish - easy to do as it is accessibly-written and oh so fascinating - and then to dip into later for reference.' - Joanna Reeves Do you have a passion for making beautiful objects? Are you wondering whether you can take the next step and turn your creativity into a career? This inspirational guide offers easy-to-follow advice from talented and creative industry experts. There are practical exercises that will help you sell your creations, choose the right time to start your business, and guide you through as you do so. With The Creative's Guide to Starting a Business, you will discover the best way to: Create pieces that sell Write a business plan Identify and reach customers Research the competition Price products and test the market Promote the business successfully Packed with interviews, encouraging real life stories, and tips from successful entrepreneurs who started with a passion and turned it into their own successful, creative business, this practical guide will take you through the very first steps of defining creative and financial success to ultimately establishing a rewarding start-up.




How To Start a Creative Business


Book Description

This book is an invaluable resource for any creative with a great business idea. Starting your own business does not need to be a complicated and daunting process and serial entrepreneur, Dragon's Den investor and business educator Doug Richard, shows you how. He sets out a ten-point plan teaching creatives how to shape their startup business into a success. Written in plain English, without the dense text and technical jargon of other business books, and illustrated with visual cues to help the message stick, Doug's practical advice is accessible to all. Real-life case studies are interspersed throughout from successful creative startups that include, Tatty Devine, Paul Smith, Time Out and LoveFilm, which expand upon the theory and bring it to life. In 10 chapters, Doug asks the fundamental questions any aspiring creative entrepreneur must answer. By following the questions from start to finish, and working through the get your hands dirty activities, you will get the theory first and then apply that theory in a practical way to the real world and your own business. By the time you reach the last question, you will have the foundation of a very solid creative business. You will answer: What do we do or need that people need or want? Who is our customer? Who is our competition? What is our pricing model? And more! Doug walks you through the process for researching, answering and, ultimately, overcoming the challenges posed by these questions for your own business plan. Whether you are passionate about craft, design, advertising, antiques, film and video, music, performing arts, or any other creative field, this fantastic guide will help you start your business today!




Starting a Business QuickStart Guide


Book Description

THE ULTIMATE BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO STARTING A BUSINESS! Have you ever dreamt of starting your own business and living life on your terms? This book shows you EXACTLY what you need to know to stand out from the crowd! Do you have an idea for an amazing product or service but you aren’t sure how to build a business around it? Then you NEED this book. Buy now and start reading today! Are you a current business owner who struggles to identify your customers and deliver true world-class value? Everything you need to know is included in these pages! Do you want to build your hobby business into a fully-fledged venture that will help you build the life you deserve? Then you NEED this book. Buy now and start reading today! The most comprehensive guide ever developed for starting and growing a business! In the highly competitive world of business, what makes or breaks a new entrepreneur? Sourced from over twenty years of firsthand experience working with entrepreneurs, new ventures, and high-growth startups, author Ken Colwell, PHD, MBA has the answers. In his comprehensive Starting a Business QuickStart Guide, Ken Colwell concisely presents the core fundamentals that all new entrepreneurs need to know to get started, find success, and live the life of their dreams. Business and entrepreneurship students, small business owners, managers, and soon-to-be entrepreneurs will all find a wealth of value within the pages of the Starting a Business QuickStart Guide. From the very first steps conceptualizing your venture to winning your first customers, delivering value, and turning a profit, this book acts as an invaluable blueprint for your path to entrepreneurial success. Colwell’s clear voice, extensive experience, and easy-to-understand presentation come together to make this book a must-have resource in the library of every budding entrepreneur! Starting a Business QuickStart Guide is Perfect For: - Would-Be Entrepreneurs With a Ton of Passion! - Entrepreneurial Students of All Ages! - Beginners with Zero Prior Experience! - Managers, Business Owners, and Decisions Makers Growing into a New Role! You'll Discover: - The Difference Between an Idea and an Opportunity! - What Makes an Entrepreneurial Opportunity Great! - The Very First Steps You Need To Take To Get Your Venture Off The Ground! - Pricing, Competition, Customer Identification, Marketing, and Distribution Demystified! - The REAL Components of an Entrepreneurial Mindset! - Exactly How To Craft Your Value Proposition! - How to Write a Comprehensive Business Plan! **LIFETIME ACCESS TO FREE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES **: Each book comes with free lifetime access to tons of exclusive online resources to help you become a better business owner including: - Business Plan Checklist & Presentation Blueprint - Layers of Business Taxation Cheat Sheet - Elevator Pitch Template & Tips - And Many More! *GIVING BACK: * QuickStart Guides proudly supports One Tree Planted as a reforestation partner. *CLASSROOM ADOPTION:* Teachers and professors are encouraged to contact the publisher for test banks and classroom presentation materials.




How to Have Great Ideas


Book Description

How to Have Great Ideas is the essential guide for students and young professionals looking to embrace creative thinking in design, advertising and communications. It provides 53 practical strategies for unlocking innovative ideas. Strategies include improvisation techniques, changing the scenery, finding hidden links, looking to nature for inspiration, combining unusual systems, challenging set boundaries and many more. Each strategy is packed with great examples of successful contemporary and historical designs – from a designer dress made out of an old typewriter to ticket machines powered by recycled bottles in China, via the reimagining of famous brand logos and mis-use of photocopiers. Packed with practical projects to kick-start inventive thought in idea-blocked moments, this book explores creative thinking across all visual arts disciplines.




The Creative Professional's Guide to Money


Book Description

The Creative Professional's Guide to Money teaches creatives everything they need to know about the financial side of running a creative business. Creatives - which include anyone promoting their own creative services (designers, copywriters, photographers, illustrators, interior designers, web designers, and more) - are great at their work, but when it comes to running the financial side of their business, most would rather not talk about it. This book focuses on proven techniques and resources used by a wide range of successful creatives to manage their business finances. Expert advisers are interviewed on topics such as accounting, taxes, contracts and financial planning. Using examples, case studies, and real-life stories from actual creatives, this book addresses: How to build the financial structure of a creative business from the ground up How to set up and achieve long-term financial goals and plan for a prosperous retirement Common financial mistakes small business owners make and how to avoid them How to handle taxes and insurance How to perform day-to-day accounting tasks How to create a budget and adhere to it What to charge for work and how to determine a profit margin How to talk about money with clients and prospects




The Social Entrepreneur’s Guide to Starting a Creative Reuse Center


Book Description

The Social Entrepreneur's Guide to Starting a Creative Reuse Center is the first manual that shows you how to set up your creative reuse center from conception to running full steam ahead. It is an invaluable resource for new and growing creative start-ups. This manual is full of information, activities and exercises to help you create your model, business plan, programs and get community support. According to MaryEllen Etienne, Executive Director of the Reuse Alliance, "If you're thinking about starting a reuse center there's no reason to reinvent the wheel. Learn best practices and top tips from Kelley and Alyssa, seasoned reuse professionals. This book is a phenomenal resource that will help any reuse company grow and thrive."




Make Your Mark


Book Description

"Got an idea that could change the world? Then it's time to start thinking like an entrepreneur. And that means defining your purpose succinctly, iterating on your product relentlessly, and addressing your customer's needs with empathy. Featuring hard-won wisdom from 21 leading entrepreneurs and experts, 99U's Make Your Mark will arm you with practical insights for building a creative business that will make a lasting impact."--Page [4] cover.




Creative Strategy


Book Description

William DugganÕs 2007 book, Strategic Intuition, showed how innovation really happens in business and other fields and how that matches what modern neuroscience tells us about how creative ideas form in the human mind. In his new book, Creative Strategy, Duggan offers a step-by-step guide to help individuals and organizations put that same method to work for their own innovations. DugganÕs book solves the most important problem of how innovation actually happens. Other methods of creativity, strategy, and innovation explain how to research and analyze a situation, but they donÕt guide toward the next step: developing a creative idea for what to do. Or they rely on the magic of ÒbrainstormingÓÑjust tossing out ideas. Instead, Duggan shows how creative strategy follows the natural three-step method of the human brain: breaking down a problem into parts and then searching for past examples to create a new combination to solve the problem. ThatÕs how innovation really happens. Duggan explains how to follow these three steps to innovate in business and any other field as an individual, a team, or a whole company. The crucial middle stepÑthe search for past examplesÑtakes readers beyond their own brain to a Òwhat-works scanÓ of what others have done within and outside of the company, industry, and country. It is a global search for good ideas to combine as a new innovation. Duggan illustrates creative strategy through real-world cases of innovation that use the same method: from Netflix to Edison, from Google to Henry Ford. He also shows how to integrate creative strategy into other methods you might currently use, such as PorterÕs Five Forces or Design Thinking. Creative Strategy takes the mystery out of innovation and puts it within your grasp.




The Creative Business Guide to Running a Graphic Design Business (Updated Edition)


Book Description

The go-to guide for graphic designers who want to run their own shop and improve their bottom line. First published in 2001, The Creative Business Guide to Running a Graphic Design Business set long-needed standards as the first comprehensive management manual for the graphic design industry. Now brought up-to-date, it describes current, best-practice procedures for firms of all sizes operating in an industry that is both fast-evolving and increasingly competitive.




T-Shirts and Suits


Book Description