Don’t wait until the new year to plan your business goals ... Make Tomorrow Today; and do it now!
Here’s a quick approach to planning in your business.
“Our greatest lack is not money for any undertaking, but rather ideas,
If the ideas are good, cash will somehow flow to where it is needed.” Robert H. Schuller
CASH FLOWS: Take some time now to review your current cash flows and make some projections for where you’ll see yourself in three to six months. When we work with our clients we look forward in three month blocks as it keeps us all in touch with the day to day and month to month fluctuations in the business.
SEASONALITY: Understand the nature of your business. Look at how demand and cash flows varied over the course of last year, and think about how this seasonality will play out in the new year. Project your sales and cash flows accordingly.
TIME OUT: When you plan and project your cash flows, map out your “time out “ too. You are a critical part of your business, so it’s important that you’re looking after yourself. By planning ahead and building in some “down-time” you will always be able to afford to take a break knowing your cash flows are still manageable.
“If you want to reach a goal, you must ‘see the reaching’ in your own mind
before you actually arrive at your goal” Zig Ziglar
GOALS: It’s the time to set your goals and business strategies to support your cash flow.
EXISTING CUSTOMERS: Plan your sales strategies. Ask yourself how you can retain your existing customers and come up with new ways to encourage them to spend more with you.
NEW CUSTOMERS: Plan and implement steps to introduce new clients to your business. Focus on your your “competitive niche”. Ask yourself why would someone want to buy your products or services? How can you best communicate with them?
Want to learn more about planning for the new year the Quantum Compass way?
2: Come along to the next “Action Planning” workshop. E-mail Quantum Compass: ActionPlanning@QuantumCompass.com.au for details of the next half day session near you.
Powerhouse Museum is launching an Art & Design competition. Please check out it and you never know. You could be the lucky winner to be featured with other 30 talented artists and designers in July/August 2011.
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/lace/
The International Lace Award seeks to encourage contemporary design and challenge conventional notions of lace and its application in the areas of fashion, the built environment and digital multimedia.
Professional and amateur artists, designers and practitioners around the world are invited to enter for the chance to be exhibited at the Powerhouse Museum and win a share of AU$40,000 in prize money.
The Award defines lace as an openwork structure whose pattern of spaces is as important as the solid areas.
Approximately 30 works will be selected for consideration for exhibition in July 2011. The selected entrants will have time to develop their proposed work from May until November 2010. Prize money winners will be announced at the opening of the exhibition in July 2011. In addition to the overall winner receiving AU$20,000, five winners will receive AU$4,000 each across the following categories:
* Traditional techniques
Category includes needle and bobbin lace, crochet, knitting, knotting, netting and mixed laces.
* Fashion
Category includes garment, jewellery or accessory.
* Built environment
Category includes interior design, product design or architecture.
* Digital multi media
Category includes computer generated virtual lace design.
* Tertiary students in Australia and New Zealand
Category includes all lace techniques.
Each entry submission will be judged with reference to visual impact, originality and creativity, skill in execution and innovation in design, materials and/or technique. The work must be original and reflect the artist’s identity and cultural origins.
29 March 2010
Closing date for Expressions of Interest strictly by 5.00pm AEST.
12 May 2010
Successful finalists announced.
25 November 2010
Finalists’ completed works delivered to the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.
July/August 2011
Exhibition launch as part of the Powerhouse Museum’s international
design festival Sydney Design 2011. Featured Images: Chanel couture silk lace/tulle dress, c.1937. Label: "Chanel" with couture number on the back. Featured in the Chanel exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. http://www.vintagetextile.com Lace Interior:http://es.homesandproperty.co.uk Lace Fence: Artists Demakersvan http://www.demakersvan.com
Last Sunday, My partner Stuart and I attended a preview to celebrate Marie-Nicole's new range of beautiful hand printed linen range for everyday living. The motifs printed onto each piece are hand drawn, cut and printed using eco-friendly printed pastes. The most impressive thing I learnt on the day was any offcuts from the production of each piece are either used as packaging or composted for her home potager. Each of Marie- Nicole 's creation is one of a kind as no two prints ever turn out exactly the same. Her range includes Tea towels,serviettes, mats ,coasters, eco carry bags, recipe journal and many more.
Eveleigh Artisans' Market was hosting an Australian Made Christmas today Sunday 6th December from 10am to 3pm, where kids and parents will be able to make their own Christmas 'Bling', wrappings, decorations and much more.
There were over 70 Artisans stalls showcasing the best in Australian independent design, art and crafts under the heritage listed Blacksmith Workshop. This Artisans' market is gaining a great reputation in Sydney and more artists and designers are now showing their beautiful products here. You will find original and authentic creations in the fields of art, ceramics, sculpture, sustainable design, fashion, jewellery, accessories, home wares, furniture, children’s clothes, toys and many more. These goods are Australian made and another.
So please come and support our Local Artists and designers at Eveleigh Market.
“A brand is a promise, a commitment. You need to know yourself to know your brand” ~Vinh Van Lam
As an up and coming designer how you present yourself, and how you’re perceived, is going to be a critical factor in your success.
Your brand is literally your essence. It builds on who you are and what you stand for.
Rather than pretending to be someone you’re not, or adopting some fake persona, we’d suggest that the easiest way forward is to consider your “Personal Brand” as the promises you make to people... Promises about yourself... Promises about your product... Promises about how people will feel because of you,your product and services.
Making Promises are the keys to build your brand, It keeps you honest because it forces you out of imagination and into action. You become known by the promises you
deliver.
Successful designers make lots of promises. Lots of promises to lots of people. The more promises you make and fulfill, the stronger your personal brand becomes.
Promises and commitments are how we build our identity. We make promises to people every day: We loan them a book, or deliver a job, or a call back.
You are the commitments you make and the promises you keep. That’s how you become known. So, be careful what you promise.
So, now that we’ve established the easiest way to consider our personal brands; how do we go about deciding what our personal brand promises could be?
Let’s look at five key elements that you can use to construct your personal brand in some more detail.
Where do you personally stand in relation to these five key elemental areas? What’s important to you? Who are you? Who do you aspire to be?
Attitude - Understand that you can accomplish virtually anything when you think you can. You will always get what you expect to get. Positive attitude manifests positive attitudes and serves to attract people to your brand. Perhaps you’ve heard of the law of attraction? “Like attracts like”. If you’re a person that keeps their promises; you;re likely to attract others that keep theirs too.
Belief - With faith in yourself and a firm believe in your brand, you can always persevere through all sorts of trials and tribulations. With an outwards showing of sincere confidence and belief you’ll be surprised by synchronicity. Circumstances and people will come to you, like a magnet. A sincere belief in yourself will draw people to your personal brand.
Values - These are the principles that inspire you everyday. Your values are the driving forces that make you want to live your life to the fullest. To have fun, to be authentic, to have lots of energy, to live a life full of joy, and to deliver on your creative promise.
Integrity - This critical element of trust is how you commit yourself to the promises you make to yourself, and the promises you make to others. It’s how you hold yourself accountable to yourself and to others.
Commitment - When you are fully committed to your purpose, to your integrity, and to your values, you take on a sense of urgency that’s hard to beat. When you show a complete and full commitment to what you do, you’ll begin to find that other people start to share your beliefs in your brand.
Want to learn the practical steps to develop your “Personal Brand Promise” the Quantum Compass way?
2: Come along to the next “Personal Brand Promise for Creative Professionals” workshop. E-mail Quantum Compass: PersonalBrandPromise@QuantumCompass.com.au ) for details of the next half day session near you.
Isn’t the notion of the starving artist such a cliche? Yet why does it persist? Why do we have the expectation that artists must "suffer for their art"?
Well, we're here to tell you that it doesn't have to be that way.
You can be an artist and also live well!
The first step along that path is to acknowledge that you're actually deserving of living well. Yes. it's something that seems obvious, but you'd be surprised at how many artists and designers that we've worked with start off with a belief that they can't (or shouldn't!) make money for following their passion and doing what they love.
It's been our experience that the subject of finances and "cash flow" is generally low on the list of priorities, if not avoided altogether.
At Quantum Compass we work through a simple "cash flow concepts" formula to help our clients start on the path of increasing their wealth and generating the incomes that they truly deserve for simply doing what they love.
At the start we work with you to get a clear understanding of your current cash flow. Ask yourself these questions: Where is your money going right now? How do you generate income?
Once you have an understanding of what's happening for you right now, you have the perfect opportunity to make some real decisions.
Are you happy with the ways you spend your money? Is your income sufficient for your current lifestyle? What will you need to sustain the lifestyle you aspire to?
Moving to the next level is all about having a plan, and increasing the number of ways that your art & design practice can be making you money.
We’re very clear that it's certainly not about "selling-out", or making some crass compromises. Many artists & designers assume that they somehow have to change their art to be successful financially.
In fact, we're very clear that the opposite is true. You don’t necessarily need to change your art; you need to get very clear about who you really are, and find those things that are unique to you.
Cash flow is one of the key fundamental elements of a design practice that we focus on during the Quantum Compass ArtShine Coaching Program.
Why?
Because financial stress doesn’t usually enhance creativity. We believe it’s critically important for designers & artists like you to understand the power of financial control.
Financially successful designers & artists focus on what you’re good at; your art and creativity.
Successful designers also understand and use “cash flow concepts” to manage finances and leverage the analytical help of advisors like accountants, agents, business coaches, IP advisors, etc as they're needed along the way.
Want to learn more about “Cash Flow” the Quantum Compass way?
2: Come along to the next “Cash Flow Concepts for Creative Professionals” workshop. E-mail Quantum Compass: CashFlowConcepts@QuantumCompass.com.au ) for details of the next half day session near you.
The 1st Sunday morning of the month from 10am - 3pm, Eveleigh Market hosts an Artisans’ Art and Craft Market showcasing the very best individually designed local art, sculpture, design, ceramics, glass, craft and Indigenous artworks. The Artisan market opened in March 2009 and will continue to evolve as a leading local designers market.
Some of the stallholders include Faint Impressions,Silvermonk, The Near Future, Flatbird Design, Bornagainbooks , The Print Room, and Allegria to name a few.
The Artisan Market is ideally crafted opposite Carriageworks, the bold new art centre dedicated to the development and presentation of the contemporary arts.
Eveleigh Market’s commitment to fostering sustainability and authenticity is attracting stallholders who design using recycled materials and those inspired by the natural materials.
The undercover venue provides the ideal showroom for designers and is destined to grow in popularity based on the success of the weekly Eveleigh Farmers’ Market.
While you’re there, grab a freshly roasted coffee from the cafe,and delecious Turkish gozleme or take away Yum Cha.
Eveleigh Farmers' and Artisans' Market is to open in Historic Sydney Building Inaugural Season Event. Traditional Christmas Farmers’ Market Saturday 13 December 8am – 1.30pm.
Faint Impressions- Beautiful Handbags
Shoppers, farmers and food artisans participating in the Traditional Christmas Farmers’ Market are in for a surprise when they discover Sydney’s best-kept and newest food shopping secret – Eveleigh Market, Sydney’s first undercover city-based community produce market.
In this section you’ll begin to define your target market.
The simple truth is that if you try to be all things to all people, then you’re likely to be nothing to everyone. And you may end up with no customers because of it!
Getting very clear about who you are, and who you appeal to, is probably the most critical step in designing your successful Business LifeStyle.
Why “narrow the market”?
One of the biggest issues we’ve faced with clients is that they want to have the widest market as possible in the belief that if they appeal to the widest possible market then that will generate the greatest interest in their product or service.
We don’t disagree that this strategy has a valid place, it’s just that we’re yet to see it work with clients like you in the context that you live and work in...
What we do see with clients who follow this strategy are people who are constantly flipping their focus, trying to be something they’re not, for people they don’t like, creating work they don’t love, and most sadly; creating work that they feel has compromised their own personal integrity.
We don’t know about you, but that’s not how we want to live and work... What’s important to you?
Being very clear about who you are, what you do, who specifically you appeal to, and who specifically you desire to attract means that you’re only taking action that brings you those things. And you’re not wasting time and energy to bring yourself the people that you don’t really want to work with and serve.
The advantages of further narrowing and re-defining your “Niche”
·Narrowing your market and building genuine expertise in a narrow field means that you can become an expert in what you do, instead of being a “Jack of all trades; Master of none”.
·Deeply researching your particular niche group in order to learn more about what they want and need means that you can also test-market your products or services.
·It makes it easier to communicate with potential clients and customers because you can appeal specifically to this narrow group instead of to everyone. Your target market will be attracted to you instead of pass you by. Your marketing materials can now be targeted and now add very real value to your audience, instead of being “generalised”, and just a little bit useful to everyone.
·Using this “Attraction marketing” method you can set up marketing campaigns purely to target this specific group and communicate directly to them. This means you will attract the right customers and referrals.
·Because your target market is aligned to you, and who you are, you’ll find yourself enjoying networking and ‘hang out’ with them. Your interests are their interests. And it’s a more natural fit.
·You can achieve more credibility than your competitor who appears to handle everything.
·You can create specific products and services that appeal to your niche group.
One of the first and one of the most important promotional tools in your Business LifeStyle is the “profile”, or “personal biography”. You’ll be amazed with the real results a well worded and credible biography can generate for you. And a well structured biography or profile can enable a genuine connection between you and your audience too.
There are some things about you that it’s very important that every prospective client knows. And when you start to prepare your own bio; and write about “YOU”, you’ll discover that you have many life skills and experiences that are valid and relevant to your audience. Perhaps your passions and purpose will even
inspire your audience.
Here is a list of things you might consider including in your biography:
·Your DPP (Desire, Passion & Purpose) and what you love doing.
·Specifically what you bring to your audience, and everything unique about you (your “Quirks”).
·All your relevant successes (career, awards, businesses, exhibitions, designs, relationship).
·All your relevant adventures (e.g. travel to around the world, etc).
·All the relevant challenges that you’ve overcome, and all your relevant life and work experiences
·All your relevant training (design courses, diplomas, qualifications, degrees or certificates that are
relevant or show your accomplishments. And don’t discount and ignore on-the-job training, work
experience training, etc either).
·Membership of any relevant associations (Chambers of Commerce, Networking groups, etc).
·Positions on industry committees, etc.
·Charity groups that you support.
Remember... Keep it simple. Two or three paragraphs should be more than sufficient. Please don’t write
anything that doesn’t give you credibility. Writing something that appeals to your audience and that you have the right product or services that suit their wants and needs.
Because you’re keeping is short every word needs to be relevant, interesting and engaging. Two or three powerful lines are much better than a full page of waffle.
As a creative person you want your bio to be fun and inspirational.
If your background and training are closely aligned to your business you can bring up how it was a natural progression. If they are completely at odds with your business you can point out why you have made such a switch and that you are now doing what you love by following your passion.
Try this exercise:
·List the ‘Top Ten’ reasons someone should buy or hire you. What are your strengths?
·List everything relevant that you can think of that you’ve done in your life.
·Eliminate anything that doesn’t add to your credibility.
·Write a half page biography:
oThen edit it down to two or three paragraphs that really describe you well.
·Search the internet and print off three profiles that sound interesting and attractive to you.
oWithout copying, use these to inspire ideas and refine your own bio.
·Have family members read it and give you feedback.
·Run your bio past at least three friends and your Business Lifestyle coach.
oUse their feedback and suggestions to even further refine and improve.
·Post your bio on your websites and your blogs
·Save it (ideally PDF) and use it regularly for promoting you and your business.
Once you have the bio that you’re happy with, share it with everyone you know; especially your current and past clients... Ask them for feedback about your products & services and what you’ve written about
yourself.
Ask them to be honest with you... If they don’t agree with what you’ve written isn’t it better to know? And if they do agree... Why not as them to share your bio with their networks?
