Welcome to episode 3 of my podcast. This time we’re looking at what it means to be a multi-passionate creative entrepreneur and changing direction in your business.

Kate talks about how she changed the core directions of her business and busts some commonly held misconceptions about what it means to be a true creative in business.

As it’s coming up for a year since I made a big change in my business (from creating hand dyed silk ribbons to becoming a brand and product photographer alongside my existing business coaching services), I thought I would address some of the misconceptions around what it means to be a creative person in business, and some of the hurdles we have to overcome when we decide to change direction, offer new services or have a switch into something entirely new.

You can book your free discovery call on my website at www.katecullen.co.uk/coaching.

Welcome to episode 2 of my podcast. This time we’re looking at outsourcing in your creative business.

Why you should do it, When to do it, and how to go about it

So, why IS outsourcing such a great idea?

Outsourcing is great for 2 main reasons:

1.       It gives you time back. Time you can spend doing other things that you excel at in your business, like making things or supporting your clients. If you’re operating a business of one especially, then having other people take some of the load off and allow you tie back in your business can be hugely rewarding, it allows you to work on not just in your business.

2.       It allows you to get a specialist on board on the thing or things you’re not good at that might be holding you back from succeeding or scaling your business. As an entrepreneur it can be tempting to try and do all the things and play all the roles in your business, from social media manager to accountant, photographer, stylist, SEO expert, web designer, graphic artist and beyond.

And whilst you might very well be excellent at all these things, it’s unlikely that a specialist couldn’t do it better or more efficiently. This is the cold hard truth – sometimes we need to get over our own egos and accept that we are not always the best person to do everything in our business.

This can be a hurdle that’s difficult to get over, entrepreneurs often like to be the one in charge, to have ultimate control, and letting go of some tasks can be a true mindset problem for some of us (guilty!).

Taking a little time to really be honest with yourself about the things you’re not so good at, as well as the things you are can be really beneficial.

For instance, I have outsourced copywriting and my accounts. I love knowing that some of my critical sales pages are written in my voice, but that they are optimised to really work for me in the best way, something I would not have achieved on my own. And there’s nothing nicer than not having to worry about the tax returns and sinking under piles of accounts, or having to spend hours each month on spreadsheets or accountancy software – I’d much rather be out an about with my camera working for more clients, or being able to support another business through my coaching (both of which also bring me in more money and easily cover the costs and more of the freelancers I employ in these areas).  

Most importantly I don’t have to do the things I don’t love in my business.

When to outsource?

Deciding when to outsource in your business usually is determined by three things:

Time. Money, or Lack of growth.

Perhaps you’re running a business whilst still going to a day job. Perhaps you have young children or need to care for a family member. If your business isn’t getting off the ground, or has stalled because you haven’t got the time to really make it succeed, then outsourcing one or more tasks can be a way to gain back control and move it forward.

Remember, outsourcing shouldn’t be seen as a negative cost, it should mean that you can then earn more than enough money to pay for it and then some. Either because you get back more time, or because you know someone else will do it better and bring you in more clients.

If you aren’t seeing the results you want in your business, why is that? Perhaps you have an amazing product or service, but you’re not good at marketing it, so you’re not getting the sales. Would an ad agency or a social media manager help you gain a bigger audience, or could a creative business coach like me help you devise a marketing and content plan that really worked for you?

Often in our businesses we reach a plateau. A status quo that we might have been happy with for a while, but for some reason you can’t seem to break through that invisible barrier and really take things up a gear.

Sitting down and really analysing what works and what doesn’t can be illuminating, perhaps you need some fresh branding that better attracts and aligns with your ideal clients, or perhaps you need some better photography that really connects with them. Often we do all these tasks ourselves when we start out, but if you really want to scale your business, investing in these professional services can make all the difference.

How to go about it do I learn it or outsource it?

One of the biggest questions we ask ourselves as entrepreneurs is often ‘can I learn how to do this for myself?’. When what we should be asking ourselves is ‘do I WANT to learn how to do this myself?’.

I personally love learning how to do things myself in my business, I’m endlessly curious, especially on the more creative end of the spectrum of business tasks. I love finding an app that saves me time (probably a whole other podcast episode on that alone!), but I also love collaborating and working with others. So finding people I adore working with that can help me in my business has been a revelation.

So think carefully about the things you do enjoy, perhaps you love learning web design and would enjoy creating your own website for example, or perhaps anything technological fills you with horror and you would be overjoyed to pass it off onto someone else.

Of course outsourcing is not without risk, this is why it is so important to do you research, look at examples of these specialists’ work, view their portfolios (does your business fit with the types of clients they’ve worked with before?), are there clear testimonials that speak to their previous good standards of work?

It’s important to set expectations from the start too, timescales and costs are really important to be nailed down so there are no surprises, and you feel you can trust the work to be done on time and on budget. Outsourcing should be reducing your stress and workload, not increasing it after all!

Outsourcing also means you can avoid having employees instead too – if that’s what you want of course! You don’t have to worry about all the extra things that having staff entails, it should make it more affordable and more flexible too, especially if you have peaks and troughs in your income throughout the year.

I hope this has given your food for thought on where to assign some of your business budget in the coming weeks and months. Don’t forget I’m here to help guide you on this journey too. Just get in touch if I can help you with supporting your business grow.

You can book your free discovery call on my website at www.katecullen.co.uk/coaching.

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.