News

Starting a New Business - Highlights from Tuesday's event

We’re expecting to see dozens of new businesses springing up in Bath in the next few months! That’s after almost 80 of you turned out on a very cold Tuesday night to hear some insider tips on starting your own business from people who had been there, done that, made the mistakes and lived to tell the tale!

Sponsored by Business Link and held at our regular haunt, the Ustinov Theatre, the event was a great success, with many of the audience asking questions and scribbling notes throughout.

Our expert panel represented a wide array of experience, from Peter Clegg, who set up the architectural practice, Fielden Clegg Bradley, 31 years ago, to Joseph Maxwell, whose TV production company, Burning Blue Media is a relative newcomer, at just 2 years old. Garry Pratt spoke of his experiences as co-founder of Teachit, a digital educational publisher, and interior designer, Claire Collins, told us how she set up her company, Concept Interior, 11 years ago from a greenhouse in her back garden.

Thanks to their honesty and advice, some key points of advice emerged for anyone thinking of taking the plunge.

Firstly, make sure you have a mentor. It could be your business partner, a former colleague, or, in Claire’s case, someone in your family, but make sure you can bounce ideas of someone to help you crystallise your ideas and formulate your strategy.

In the spirit of ideas bouncing, collaboration was another major theme. Competitors don’t always have to be rivals; rather they can be useful sources of industry trends and local news. You might event want to pass some work their way once in a while – and they might pass some back to you.

A business plan is also essential, though as Peter Jennings from Business Link, was keen to point out, this doesn’t have to be a formal tome to present to the bank. A side of A4 paper listing your goals and ideas should keep you on track. You can always revisit and revise as you go.

One subject cropped up several times: work space. Location, flexibility and environment are all hugely important for a small and growing creative business. It’s a subject that’s close to our hearts as we are all too aware that some kind of hot-desking space is well overdue in Bath. We want to hear from you about your work space needs. Drop us a line to info@creativebath.org. Or tell us in person. We’re planning our next social event in March so keep an eye on the website for details of what, where and when.

In the meantime, we’ve posted some pics from Tuesday night on flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/30420545@N07/). All courtesy of Neill Menneer of Spirit Photography – check out his website on www.capturethespirit.co.uk

Posted by:

CreativeBath

Sector:

Other

Tags:

business-advice, business-link, networking, start-ups