In 2013, Geoffrey Jaeger enrolled in a three-day course at AFTRS* designed and facilitated by Monica Davidson: Running Your Own Creative Business. Since then, his life has never been quite...
Business Basics
How NOT to S.W.O.T
We highly recommend conducting the S.W.O.T analysis around here, as considering your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is a great planning tool. We also like the imaginative...
The Getting of Wisdom
If it wasn’t for unpaid work experience and interning when I was younger, I don’t think I would have progressed as far as I did in my chosen professions. I wrote words without pay, on the promise of...
What Clients Want
I‘ve been working a lot lately with creative practitioners who are really struggling with client management. They’re either attracting clients that micro-manage, or they’re dealing with clients who...
The Business Plan is Dead
I have been writing and talking about business plans to creative people for a very long time, but recently (with the help of Linda Hailey), I’ve come to understand that the traditional business plan...
Quitting Time
It’s December, a time to look back over the achievements and mistakes of the last twelve months, and vow to make it all different or better or less sucky next year. It’s a time to reflect on the...
Copyright or Wrong?
Copyright or Wrong? You work it out with this short introduction to the rules, by Sharon Givoni*. Content on the internet is not ‘public domain’ and intellectual property rights exist in the...
Admin Tips for Creative Business
I spend a lot of time helping people tackle their admin, and I completely understand that it’s not the most exciting part of a creative day. In fact, most people hate it with a passion...
Adventures in Legal Land
I owe my whole business to a dodgy contract. When I was 23 I directed a telemovie for kids (the name of which I can’t share) which had the potential to become a feature film. It was my first big...
Running Away from Home
Even though it’s an old chestnut, I’m a huge advocate of working on your business rather than in your business. Having said that, I can talk about this stuff all day long but for some people...
Indecision = Cost Benefit Analysis
In the 1930s a French engineer called Jules Dupuit introduced the concept of Cost-Benefit Analysis, and the world of indecision shifted on its axis. It's a nifty and simple process that helps...
Time to Grow? It’s Time to SOP!
Many creative businesses start as freelance adventures. One person, fired up by an imaginative bent and an independent spirit, starts making money from their craft. That’s sometimes the whole...
Creating a Business Name
It’s often the first thing that a new creative business does, but coming up with a business name is probably the most important step you take in the branding process, and needs some time and thought...