5 Minutes on Creative Entrepreneurship

This week we wrap up our Shark Tank series by considering a flaw that the Sharks often point out to founders as they seek an investment—the serious challenge of customer education that can present barriers to effectively marketing their products.

It’s common for partnerships to fail. And so considering the kind of partner you’re looking for, what their buy in costs will be, and working out how you’ll handle a possible future dissolution is critical before you make a deal.

It’s common for partnerships to fail. And so considering the kind of partner you’re looking for, what their buy in costs will be, and working out how you’ll handle a possible future dissolution is critical before you make a deal.

With the investor path closed, creatives sometimes look for help in the form of a business partnership. Not only can a partner provide business or marketing skills that we may be lacking, partnerships often appeal to creatives simply because of the loneliness of being a solo-prenuer—but before you go down that path you might want to think about this major decision like a Shark.   

With the investor path closed, creatives sometimes look for help in the form of a business partnership. Not only can a partner provide business or marketing skills that we may be lacking, partnerships often appeal to creatives simply because of the loneliness of being a solo-prenuer—but before you go down that path you might want to think about this major decision like a Shark.   

Creative entrepreneurs can’t patent their talent. We simply have to contend with the reality that the creative marketplace will always be offering up young new talent that’s willing to work for rates that established creatives can’t match. So how will you protect your creative practice from the competition?

Keeping a careful eye on your burn rate can make the difference between managing growth on your way to success, or crashing spectacularly when you reach the end of your runway, never having gained sufficient momentum to take off.

If you have ambitions to grow your freelance practice into a small firm, or even into a larger agency, then you need to be aware of the costs associated with scaling a creative practice.    

When creatives enter into business they often fail to consider the longer-term soft-costs involved in running their businesses, which can end up dragging them under.

For creatives establishing the value of your business can be quite difficult, especially since the biggest cost center is your own time. And what’s that worth? In today’s episode we’ll consider how to calculate this critical part of the valuation equation—and some of the serious consequences that result from getting it wrong.