Creative Enterprise: Classroom Course (Module 1)

This programme has been funded with
support from the European Commission
Creative Enterprise
Module 1: Classroom Course

What is enterprise?
The term "enterprise" has two common meanings.
1.Firstly, an enterprise is simply another name for a business or
venture e.g. start-ups and other businesses…"Simon Cowell's
enterprise“.
2.Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the word enterprise is
used in the context of a person i.e. being enterprising.
3.An enterprising person is someone who demonstrates a particular
set of skills and behaviours i.e. creative thinking, determination and
problem solving.

Why start a business?
Not every young person wants to set up
their own business but they do want to
successful in life, and they want to have
opportunities that give them both the
material and personal success be
encouraged and understood that being
“entrepreneurial”, even when you do not
have your own business, can make the
path to success a more guaranteed route.

Many ‘artist-entrepreneurs’ do not
necessarily set out to start a business.
Their main focus may be on developing their own
practice, but they then face a need to come to
terms with a commercial environment in order to be
able to make enough money to continue their
artistic work, or see the commercial market as a
means of communicating with a larger audience -
which then involves developing the necessary
management and organisational skills to faciltate
the performance and promotion of their work (e.g.
organising touring productions/companies and
understanding of copyright and contractual issues.)

Running a business can be both
challenging and rewarding. Starting a new
business can be an exciting and
inspirational endeavour however; like any
new venture it is not without potential
risk.
If you are thinking about starting a new
business, it is important to weigh all the
potential advantages and disadvantages.

 Independence  Capitalise on creative skills
and knowledge
 Personal success  Better work/life balance
 Financial rewards  Opportunity in the
marketplace
 Be your own boss  Creative Freedom
 Do what you are
interested in
 Flexible working hours
 Big dream really can
become reality
Benefits of starting a business

Drawbacks of starting a business
There are a number of advantages and
reasons for starting a business but it is
worthwhile to know the disadvantage at the
initial stage of starting a new business.
Knowing the disadvantages will help you
prepare for remedial actions for problems
that may be encountered.
•Sole Responsibility
•Income not guaranteed
•Financial pressure
•Stress and worry
•Risk of failure
•Long working hours

Barriers to starting a business
There can be many barriers which get in the
way – some are personal such as negative
mind set of fear, whilst others can arise via
other people – being told that an idea won’t
work, that it’s a waste of time, that it won’t
last, it won’t scale or it won’t make money…
you get the drift!
Young entrepreneurs are increasingly defying
the tough economic climate and overcoming
their fear of failure to start their own
businesses. Despite the welcome trend, young
people are more likely to perceive barriers to
starting a new business than the population as
a whole

If entrepreneurship is to be promoted to
young people it is crucial to try to understand
the constraints and challenges these young
people will face when trying to start and
sustain their own business. This will be
essential so that the support you offer can be
tailored.
Whilst the young are a diverse group facing
different challenges, for many there are few
common reasons keeping people from taking
the leap – these include limited work
experience, poor networks, limited knowledge
and skills, and limited access to capital

• Lack of knowledge
• Lack of finance
• Fear of failure
• Limited social networks
• Lack of confidence/low self esteem
• Not having the time

Ideas that were rejected on Dragon’s Den before
they went on to be a huge success…
Shaun Pulfrey Tangel Teezer

Rachel Lowe Destination Game

James Nash Cup ’a’ Wine

Rob Law Trunki

Value failure and create routes back
into projects, business, education…
Dropping in and out of business is part
and parcel of life as an entrepreneur, yet
this is often seen as ‘failure’. Promote the
notion that failure is a necessary building
block for skills development and learning
and this will encourage more young
entrepreneurs who drop out of a project,
education or business to start again.

Inspiring entrepreneurs who
has previously failed…..

Vera Wang failed to make the U.S.
Olympic figure-skating team. Then she
became and editor at Vogue and was
passed over for the editor-in-chief
position.
She began designing wedding gowns at
age 40 and today is one of the premier
designers in the fashion industry, with a
business worth over $1 billion.

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper
editor because he “lacked imagination
and had no good ideas”
Several more of his businesses failed
before the premiere of his movie
“Snow White”. Today, most
childhoods wouldn’t be the same
without his ideas

Steven Spielberg was rejected by
the University of Southern
California School of Cinematic Arts
multiple times.
He went on to create the first
summer blockbuster with “Jaws” in
1975, and has won three Academy
Awards.

Albert Einstein had some difficulty as a
child communication and learning in a
traditional manner.
Of course, Einsten’s communication and
behavioural problems were not
indicative of a lack of intelligence. He
won the Nobel prize in physics for the
discovery of the photoelectric effect,
and his special theory of relativity
theory corrected the deficiencies of
Newtonian physics.

Oprah Winfrey was fired from her
first television job as a TV reporter
because she was ‘unfit for TV’.
But Winfrey rebounded and
became the undisputed queen of
television talk shows before
amassing a media empire. Today
she is worth an estimated $2.9
billion

Thomas Edison’s teachers told him he
was ”too stupid to learn anything”.
Edison went on to hold more than
1,000 patents and invented some
world-changing devices, like the
phonography, practical electrical
lamp, and a movie camera.

Ways to overcome barriers
• Attend creative industry workshops and
networking events
• Join a business or industry support
organisation
• Network/talk to business owners
• Read business/entrepreneur related
publications
• Sign up to relevant social media Networks
• Access online business related
videos/podcasts

How to successfully face your fears
Fears have the power to stop us in our tracks
and prevent us from trying something new or
doing what we really want to do in life. But
there are ways to overcome our fears, accept
them, and get on with reaching our goals.

Overcoming fear of failure
It sounds strange but we learn far more from
our failures than our successes. Mistakes force
us to think again and come up with new and
creative ideas as well as different ways of
tackling a problem. Look at the story of any
successful person. Struggles and setbacks are
key features of their journey.
And it’s because they have remained resilient
and kept perspective, that they have been
able to overcome their fear of failure and
achieve their goals.

“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the
courage to continue that counts”
Winston Churchill, British prime minister
“If you fell down yesterday, stand up today”
H.G. Wells, author

“Anyone who has never made a mistake
has never tried anything new”
Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist
"Before you succeed, you'll get temporary defeat
and sometimes total failure. It's how you cope in
those moments that really sets you apart"
Baroness Karren Brady,
sporting executive, small business ambassador

Overcoming fear of embarrassment
Embarrassment is the fear of looking foolish
or, more accurately, of thinking we look
foolish. We can become convinced that we’ve
made the biggest fool of ourselves even when
that’s not the view of others.
Here are a couple of ways to approach
embarrassment, to either minimise it or
perhaps even get rid of it altogether:

Throw yourself into life
By grabbing opportunities that come your
way, friends and colleagues will admire you
for being brave enough to give things a go –
whatever the outcome. And the more you get
involved, the easier you’ll find it to overcome
any embarrassment.

Put things in perspective
Some people don’t seem to get embarrassed
by anything, when in actual fact they have
probably just adjusted their attitude to those
potentially embarrassing situations. They
understand that people will have different
opinions. You don’t have to stop caring what
others think but you can stop worrying about
it and you can develop these skills over time
when dealing with different situations.

Overcoming fear of rejection
It’s easy to take rejection but, like fear of failure,
you’re far alone in worrying about it. And, like fear of
embarrassment, putting things in perspective and
remaining positive will help.
Don’t miss out
If no one ever tried anything for fear they might be
rejected, the world would grind to a halt. Don’t sell
yourself short or deny yourself opportunities just
because you think it probably won’t work out. Ask for
feedback and understand the reasons why you might
have been rejected for something. Take a positive
approach and you’ll soon find the confidence to keep
moving forward.

Overcoming fear of rejection
’There are plenty more fish in the sea’.
‘When one door closes, another door opens.’
These are well worn cliches, but there’s a lot of
truth in them. And, like failure, rejection gives us a
chance to come back stronger. Why not make a list
of the things you fear and the things they’ve
stopped you doing? Naming and shaming your
fears (not yourself) will help you deal with them
when they try to get the better of you and can
help you identity ways to focus on the positives.

Chose to act courageously
"Do you have the courage to bring forth the
treasures that are hidden within you?"
The hardest part of starting and running your own
enterprise is believing in yourself. Plenty of people
think of ideas, but most never act on them
because they haven't learned to trust their gut.

Many people have failed more times than they’re
succeeded, but over time, they’ve built up the
courage to keep trying. Believing in your ability to
execute on big things, whether that's opening
your own dance studio or developing a new
business strategy from scratch, begins with
believing in your ability to do the small but
sometimes more challenging things.

Gather courage from your smallest
successes, they count! Look for it in the
seemingly mundane moments of your life.
Then take that confidence and act. Speak up,
disagree, ask the question everyone else is
too afraid to. The more you exercise your
courage, the more it will grow.

Put curiosity ahead of fear
We live in a world that tends to measure our
worth by outcomes, which can discourage
process and experimentation. The fear of not
having enough to show for our efforts holds
many of us back from creating anything at all.
Living creatively means living a life that is driven
more strongly by curiosity than by fear. We
typically learn to trust our anxieties early on in
life, as children. For example, in school you may
have learned to play the violin but held back
from indulging your real interest, electric guitar,
because classical music seemed like a safer and
more acceptable environment in your family.

Put curiosity ahead of fear
But as we grow older, we tend to learn the
value of vulnerability. For example, start
learning to play the electric guitar, and it will
be amazing to find a new creative outlet. At
first, it will be hard to fumbler around in a
new discipline.
But being a beginner will remind you what it’s
like to produce without the pressure to excel.
That’s precisely what entrepreneurs need to
allow themselves more of, otherwise they
leave a wellspring of creative energy totally
untapped..

Business Skills and Knowledge
To manage business successfully a range of skills
and knowledge is needed. It is useful to consider
both enterprise skills (see Module 2: Creative me)
and business skills and knowledge (see diagram on
next slide). The main areas of business knowledge
and skills required are:
Product
Marketing
Operations
Legal issues
People
Finance

Business Skills and Knowledge
Research has shown that a young person’s
perceived lack of business skills is one of the main
barriers to starting a business.
However, most of the knowledge and skills
required are learned or gained by experience.

Business
Skills
Finance skills
& knowledge
•Pricing
•Cash flow/managing money
•Book keeping
•Tax and VAT
Product skills & knowledge
•Idea generation
•Product development
•Intellectual Property
Marketing skills
& knowledge
•Market research
•Promotion
•Customer Care
•Selling
Operations/legal skills
& knowledge
•Production
•Sourcing supplies
•Insurance
•Health & safety
•Business planning
People skills
& knowledge
•Recruitment
•Managing staff
•PAYE

Developing skills in business
1. Talk to people in business so you can learn from them
2. Get some training, enrol in a course to study specific
areas you need to improve in
3. Get work as an assistant/ apprentice to a business person
4. Read books that will help you develop your business skills
5. Read articles about businesses in the newspaper and
think about their problems and methods
6. Think about collaborative working - find a partner who
complements your strengths and weakness, instead of
going into business entirely on your own
7. When things go wrong, analyse what happened and
improve your ability to learn from mistakes

Other ways to develop business skills & knowledge:
• Courses
• Online forums
• Business Advertisers
• Support organisations

Courses
You may find that although you have art
qualifications you also have 'skills gaps'.
1. Spend some time deciding what other skills or
qualifications you need. It may be appropriate
to undertake Professional Development
courses in your subject area (for example
learning about arts management or
administration), as this can increase freelance
work opportunities.

Courses
2. You may discover that learning how to
design websites and apps, or use digital
3D modelling software, (rapid
prototyping) 3D printing/sintering, or
animation techniques will be relevant to
your activities. It is an important fact to
remember that updating your
knowledge and skills is an ongoing
process.

Online forums and websites for creative,
performing and digital arts
The new Creative Entrepreneurs initiative is aimed
at inspiring young people to start their own creative
businesses, and offers an online platform full of advice
and resources that are relevant to budding
entrepreneurs across music, TV, design and theatre. The
website brings together and organises, in one place for
the first time, the business resources, advice and
inspiration people need to get their creative ideas off
the ground.
Visit www.creativeentrepreneurs.com

Business Advisors
• Business advisers are often a key component to help
young unemployed people into self-employment and
enterprise and have consistently been found to be a key
factor in the success, or otherwise, of youth start-ups.
• Business advisers will typically coach young people
through developing a business idea (idea to reality),
transfer their business skills, and can open up access to
networks and resources to help them start and grow their
business. They can also provide important sources of
emotional support. Local enterprise agencies or
organisations such as The Prince’s Trust or Unltd have
business advisers that young people can talk to about
exploring enterprise.

Belonging to the so-called
‘digital natives’ generation, digital skills
are perhaps where young entrepreneurs
have an advantage.

Business Factors
It is important to dispel the persistent
myth that entrepreneurial success
is all about innovative thinking and
breakthrough ideas.
A successful business is a mixture of
key factors relating to both the
entrepreneur(s) and the business itself.

The Entrepreneur
It is not possible to expect a person to have
all the characteristics associated with being
an entrepreneur to make them successful.
But, the combination of the most important
factors can help you to build and manage
successful enterprise.
• Determination
• Motivation
• Time Management
• Planning

The Business
• Vision
• Goals
• Market Demand
• Marketing and Promotion
• Profit and cash flow
• Resources
• Team

•.
Values
When you’re running your own
business, you are in control. You
decide what you work on.
You have the opportunity to create a
business that is as you want it to be: a
venture that truly reflects your own
enthusiasm, passion and values.

Values
While profitability is vital for any business to
be able to survive and prosper, it is essential
that you align your business and how you
run it with your personal values.
•Values are what make you feel truly alive
and passionately committed to what you’re
doing. E.g. service to others; creativity or
innovation; travel, adventure or discovery.

Your values will affect a number of areas:
• how you work
• how you wish your work to be
received
• how you interact with customers,
suppliers and funders

Ensuring your business stays true to your values
You will have a greater sense of energy,
commitment and enthusiasm for
starting, developing and running a
business that is aligned with your
values.
It will give you greater determination
and resourcefulness in getting over the
difficulties and challenges of setting up a
business and maintaining it.

Why are values so important?
Think of values as a kind of radar to scan
your work and the other areas of your life,
and notice which things are creating a real
sense of fulfilment and excitement (and
equally, which are not).
They’ll help you to:
1.Assess your business idea in terms of how
it honours your values
2.Stay inspired when dealing with the more
mundane aspects of business or when
things aren’t going smoothly.

Why are values so important?
3. Keep on track when you’re offered
different choices or opportunities. For
example, what happens if you’re short of
cash and are offered some work that
doesn’t really fit in with your plan?
4. Communicate why someone should care
about your business, as your values
often connect with those held by others

Achievement
Freedom
Influencing others
Independence
Honesty
Helping society
Helping other people
Growth
Examples of values:

Your values and your brand image
Your values are also vital in building a brand
and have to be consistent with your
actions.
If you act in a way that conflicts with the
values that your customers understand this
could have significant consequences and
even result in a backlash.

.
It’s possible that there’ll be tension between
your personal values and your business values.
For example:
You may not care about money, but making
a profit is essential to building a sustainable
business. So how do you use your personal
values to inspire, guide and shape your
business? One way is to look at the various
aspects of being in business, and to think
about which of your values is most

.
Congratulations
you have completed Module 1

Creative Enterprise: Classroom Course (Module 1)

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