Monday, 6 February 2012

Enterprise Lecture 9... How Not to Fail

Running a business is an 'entrepreneur roller coaster'

- Uniformed Optimism - Informed Pessimism - Crisis of confidence - Hopeful Realisation - Successful Entrepreneur
- Pick yourself up and move on
- getontherollercoaster.com



- Smart business people hire people who are cleverer than they are 

Reasons why businesses fail

- Negative messages that they hear about businesses
- If you can't adapt
- If you aren't marketing yourself
- If you aren't seeking professional advice when necessary
- If you have inadequate accounting records
- Misinterpreting financial records

1. Failure to adapt

- Keep up
- Be informed
- Understand your macro and micro environments
- Who can support you?
- Pest analysis - what are your threats? Analyse.
- SWOT your competitors/other practitioners (on a regular basis)
(mention at least 3 in presentation - people who are doing what you want to do - their strengths and weaknesses)

- Look at NESTA website
- Design week
- a-n.org.uk - Artists Newsletter
- Creative choices - subscribe to this

2. Failing to market yourself

- Refer to plan, what would you do to raise awareness, build interest, etc
- Marketing communication mix
- Choose three methods to promote your business

3. Not seeking professional advice when you need it

- If I knew then what I knew now video...
- Its not about you, its about your client
- Collaborate
- Have to give up something, compromise
- Keep working until its a lifestyle not a job
- Believe in your work and be able to defend in
- Develop professional skills
- Worth focusing on how you will organise yourselves and who will take on which role: marketing, advertising, administrative etc

4. Inadequate accounting records
5. Disregarding or misinterpreting financial records

- Need an accountant

Business Plan

- List all of the things you will need resources wise, including the place you will work
- Why will people buy from you? Pest analysis - What can you do better / differently? Look at their strengths and weaknesses - try and have some logic in this, make your argument coherent.
- Include a marketing plan with three effective methods and explain why
- Costs: overheads, direct, start up costs

Presentation

- No more than 10 slides
- Powerpoint only as a visual slide

Interview Skills

- Demonstrate in interviews that you understand some of the issues that concern your employers, look at their competitors, analyse these, etc...
- Say what your skills are and how you can contribute to future plans
- Under promise, over deliever
- Interviewers what to know what makes you different from everyone else, they want to know what your USP is
 - Show an interest in their business
- Advice: read three serious newspapers before interview, see if you can identify any issues that may be affecting their industry at the moment, ask them about the threats they are facing
- What knowledge can you bring to their business?

Possible Spaces in Leeds

Artsmix Leeds - sell work and enterprise mentoring
Factory 4 - screen printing and more
Studio spaces: East Street Arts
Umbrella
Unit at Leeds City College
Roundfoundry Media centre
Old broadcastingg house
Wildfire (online business help)

- Need to say where your studio is in the presentation and how much it is going to cost

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