Hi, I’m Kate, welcome to my first podcast in my ‘How to launch a creative business in 12 weeks’ a series for readers of my book by the same name.

At the beginning of the book I talk about having the right ideas to begin with, before thinking about building the structure of your business and marketing it effectively. So, I want to help those of you that were at the stage of wondering what to choose as your creative business idea. It may also help those of you that have decided your business idea to really make sure it’s the one for you and to tweak any details before you proceed to launch to make sure you are building not only a business you love but one that works for your lifestyle.

How to choose the right creative business idea

Creative people often excel at a great many things, which is of course wonderful, but can also be confusing and make it difficult to settle on a particular business idea and model. In this podcast I’m going to explore ways you can decide what the best choice is for you, whether you have no idea at all about what to choose, or if you have a couple of strong ideas and can’t pick between them.

What will your working week look like?

Firstly, it helps to imagine what, where and how you might be working as this will immediately rule out some business ideas.

You will need to consider:

1.       When you will work? If you have children or pets or personal health considerations what hours do you need to work around them. eg I need to do the school runs and walk the dog each week day. We do not have family close by to help us, so my work is perfect for our family life. If you currently have a job, be it full or part time or on shifts which days or hours could you devote to your business? Would your potential clients be available at these times too, or does it even matter (eg if you are selling products online it may not, but if you are say styling weddings it may be different)? If there isn’t an alignment there then you may have to think again.

2.       Where will you work? If you are working from home do you have a space that you could dedicate to it? Do you need stock to be stored anywhere? Will you rent office space or storage units? Some of these may have cost implications that will need to be factored into your start up costs.

3.       How will you work? Will it just be you, do you need to employ or outsource to others? Do you want to even be an employer, or would you prefer to be working alone? Do you see yourself in an artist’s space, or at a computer or out in the field creating for people, eg interior decorating. Will you have to spend time doing a lot of admin or packaging orders or speaking with clients? Even in a creative business if you work alone you will have to wear many hats, ensuring the finances get taken care of, that your website, social media, marketing and advertising channels are set up correctly and much much more. The actual time you spend creating will only be a fraction of your full working hours (at least until you can make enough money in your business to outsource all the things you dislike doing the most!).

Creating a day to day life you want to live is really important, there is no point in setting up a business that makes you just as miserable as a job you already have. So think carefully about the time you might have to spend alone, with others, at home, out and about and how much this might take in up front investment.

Next think about the things you love to do and how they might be turned into a profitable business.

What are your absolute passions and innate talents – perhaps its painting, blogging, photography, graphic design, web design, sculpture, ceramics, crafts, writing, stationery, paper making or any other creative pursuit. Next you need to consider whether your chosen favourite(s) are known to be profitable (eg you know that being a photographer is possible because 1000s of people do it). You then need to ask yourself if you could be happy doing it day in day out instead as something you currently do a few hours a week or month. If your heart leaps at the thought, the answer is probably yes!

At this point you may have a million ideas of how you could pursue this new self-employment dream, but the key here is to focus on one core offering to begin with. Plan and execute that well and then think about adding to your core product or service range once you have proven your business concept works.

I hope this is a useful insight into how to go about starting up your own business. I look forward to bringing you more podcasts soon as you progress through the content of the book on your journey to being a successful creative entrepreneur.

If you’d like to work with me on a 1-2-1 basis to work through your business ideas I have a limited number of coaching slots open each month for new clients. You can book your free discovery call on my website at www.katecullen.co.uk/coaching.