School for Creative Startups – Entrepreneur me
Did you have a nice weekend?
We did lots of ‘bits’ of things this weekend, it’s very satisfying to get things done, even if it is only starting something!
One of the things that I started on was sorting out our spare room, again this is as part of my 30 by 30 Challenge - No.21 Declutter the whole house. I decided I ought to check through my boxes of craft supplies and found I have got 40 pairs of every coloured sock you can think of stashed away in a box in our spare room (I did have 48 but desperately needed some new socks!). The reason being is that I struck on an idea last summer that I was going to set up a sock creature making company, unfortunately I made about seven creatures and then found something else to occupy my time!
This something else was in the form of a course for creative entrepreneurs, run by Doug Richard through his School for Creative Startups (S4CS). I had been thinking of setting up a business of some sort for a while and saw the Creative Startups course advertised on twitter last August. I saw this on a Friday, the deadline for applications was on the Monday so I spent the weekend frantically writing my application detailing my latest business idea of taking used fabrics and upcycling them into something new and generally useful. This was in line with my Environmental background, my passion for creativity, my love of make-do-and-mend and making something-from-nothing.
After a Skype chat with those organising the course I was thrilled to find out that I had got a place. The course hasn’t been what I expected, to be honest I didn’t know what to expect. For me at the time I just needed something, anything to break the routine of being at home every day with two small children and the course has certainly provided this. I have since had many more business ideas, none of which I have followed through with yet but while I have my kids at home I have the perfect opportunity to think about exactly what I would like to do when they are both at school.
Do you have any aspirations to start up your own creative business? From what I have learned it is hard work but more than worth it in the long run. If you are interested in the Creative Startups course you really ought to have a look at what is on offer. Ours was the first year that the course was run so we were the guinea pigs but the course for the coming year has been streamlined and looks very well structured – S4CS Programme. You will have access to those running the course as well as an amazing group of Titans of Industry including Paul Smith, Oliver Peyton, Lynne Franks, Loyd Grossman and Rhoda Parry to name a few, who will be interacting with you in the following year through talks and for access for specific business help. As well as these Titans you will be on your journey with an amazing group of creatives who you will also learn from as the year progresses.
This post is partly to say thank you to Doug, Chris, Medeia, Nancy and the S4CS crew, as well as a little promotion of the course itself. I hope you have a little look around the School for Creative Startups site. I’ve met some amazing people on the course who have all helped to inspire me to aim higher and bigger and the boost to my confidence has been enormous. I started my blog on advice from Chris and Medeia and I will always be grateful that they gave me the push when I needed it.
Box of socks, stuffing and sock creatures
And, as for the socks….well I think I will make them all into creatures. Any requests welcome and I will sell them for however much you’d like to pay. The materials to make one sock creature cost about £3 and it takes me about 3 hours to make one. I don’t think Doug would be very happy to hear me selling like that but at least I may get some of the money back I spent on all those socks and my spare room will be much more tidy!Hope you had a good weekend and all your business ventures are going well.
As always, any questions just ask and feel free to leave a comment, I will always get back to you.
For now,
Catherine
I did a one day seminar in Leeds with Doug Richard, he is very inspiring isn’t he? I got loads of ideas for improving my website and building the brand. I would definitely recommend his school for startups
Nina
Hi Nina,
Doug is fantastic, it amazes me every time he analyses a new business and can understand it straight away and offer amazing advice. If only I had a better business idea as I know that with help from Doug and the team I would be well on my way to running my own business by now.
Hope business is going well for you,
Catherine
Hiya. Love the sock creatures and so pleased you’ve enjoyed the course so much. I just wondered why you said your upcycling business idea wasn’t good enough? It seems to play on your strengths/what you know and beliefs as well as being creative and productive… I’m just being nosey – I really like the idea myself
Hiya Liz, you are right, the upcycling idea is a good one but for me I have to wait until the kids are in bed after 8 to start but the first part involves extracting my work from where I’ve stashed it and setting myself up then as I’m tired I make silly mistakes and can’t really do more than 2 hours. I made a satchel bag in 7 hours over 4 nights but no one would want to pay the true cost of time put in.
It’s just logistics really, if I had more time + space it would be a good one. For now I am enjoying the blogging and social media side of things and just hope I can remember everything we have been taught when I finally decide what I want to do