Are you looking for new income streams to compliment your income? Do you want to extend your creative skills and horizon? It is very hard to earn a decent income from only selling your products or services, and more and more creatives need to look at offering a wider range of products or services to [...] Read more »
Exclusive Design Trust webinar: ‘How to price your work right’ with Sidsel Dorph-Jensen
One of the main aspects you need to get right in your business is your pricing. Without a pricing strategy you’ll risk loosing sales, not making enough money to stay in business, let alone build your business. So many creatives struggle with pricing, and it is a difficult and complex thing to get right, because [...] Read more »
The Design Doctor: How do I negotiate an exclusivity contract?
Dear Design Doctor I’ve been contacted by a web-based company overseas who wish to stock my products, but they have also asked if they can have exclusivity of a specific collection for the whole of the country (Australia). Whilst I am very flattered, I am also very hesitant. Can you give me any advice [...] Read more »
Exclusive Design Trust webinar: ‘Money & Emotions: how feelings & beliefs about money affect the way you do business’ with Pete Mosley
How do you feel about money? Be honest … Do you feel poor or rich? When do you feel particularly poor or rich? Are you comfortable with money, and talk at ease about your income, pricing your work, your hourly rate? Or do you find it hard to put a value on your work, to [...] Read more »
10 real life tips to succeed with your Kickstarter campaign by Kate Pickering of Vanilla Ink
In the last couple of years a lot of creatives have become very interested in a new alternative way of financing their creative projects or businesses: crowd funding. So, what is crowd funding? Crowd funding is a way to raise funding, often online or via the internet, by raising many small amounts of money from [...] Read more »
Book review: Clare Rayner’s ‘How to sell to retailers’ – a must-read for small designers who want to sell to big retailers
Do you want to sell your design products to big retailers such as John Lewis, Liberty’s or Habitat? But do you find it hard to ‘get a foot in the door’? Don’t really know what the best ways are to approach buyers, and how to get pass the buyer’s PA? Do you think you are [...] Read more »
Why ‘turning your passion into a profit’ isn’t necessarily a good thing
I increasingly see books, magazines, blog posts and e-courses that promote ‘turn your passion into profit’. More and more people discover Etsy and other online marketplaces and are encouraged to become crafters. The more I see this idea of ‘turning your passion into profit’ promoted, the more I start to disagree with it, and actually [...] Read more »
Exclusive Design Trust webinar: Self-assessment made less stressful with accountant Dean Shepherd of Tax by Design
Do you find dealing with your tax return difficult? Have you started your tax return yet? Don’t forget that the deadline for your tax return in the UK is 31 January! This practical and friendly Q&A webinar allowed creative professionals to ask (confidential) questions about self-assessment in advance of this session. Expert Dean Shepherd prepared [...] Read more »
Book review: Setting up a jewellery business by Angie Boothroyd
This really is an essential book for people wanting to start a jewellery business. It’s a very practical book that you can read from cover-to-cover (in a couple of hours), or indeed dip in and out for many years to come. If you purchase Setting Up a Successful Jewellery Business (Setting Up Guides) as a [...] Read more »
Ten steps to setting up a jewellery business – jeweller Angie Boothroyd
Originally from California, Angie Boothroyd worked as a graphic designer when she moved to London in 1994. She then retrained in jewellery at London Guildhall University and then at the Royal College of Art where she completed her MA in 2001. Angie set up a workshop at Cockpit Arts with the help of a Cockpit [...] Read more »