“Sharing office space with other businesses isn’t new, but the tanking economy has prompted many small business owners to consider it as they look for any practical way to lower overhead costs. Some providers of co-working space are also offering reduced rates and even giving entrepreneurs opportunities to barter their services in return for paying no rent at all.” Read on

Raymund Flandez Small Business, The Wall Street Journal

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“Novice entrepreneurs should be realistic, prepared and focused on what they can offer, writes Anneli Knight. Starting a small business requires an act of courage at any time and during an economic downturn it’s an even braver leap that should be made with diligence, planning and optimism, experts say. The chief of the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia, Jaye Radisich, says the most important steps in starting a business are to write a thorough business plan and secure funding.”
Read on

Anneli Knight Small Business, The Sydney Morning Herald

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“One of the worst steps you can take in business is attracting and accepting the wrong type of customers. This situation takes me back to one of my previous businesses.” Read on

Paul Groth Australian Anthill

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The 2010 program is currently in the planning. To find out more about the events and workshops we will be holding subscribe to ADU for our monthly e-newsletter that will include updates of the 2010 Springboard details.

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“Whether you’re trying to win some money, gain exposure, or just build out your portfolio, design competitions are a great way for young designers to develop themselves. Over the past few years, I’ve entered many competitions for many reasons. I’ve even won a little bit. From my experience, here are the five keys to winning the next design competition you enter.” Read on

Michael Roller Strategic Aesthetics

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QUT Creative Enterprise Australia has launched a business loan fund to assist Queensland based creative businesses.

The Creative Business Loan Fund (CBLF) can help support qualifying businesses with a short term loan.The CBLF is for supporting the next stage of development and the fund is designed to bridge the gap between ‘proof of concept’ or concept development and business development funding for qualifying creative industries businesses.

The program offers interest free loans of up to A$15,000 per eligible business for a maximum of 12 months, flexible expenditure categories to support both start-up and more established businesses and other benefits.

The areas in which funds can be directed include for:

– Refining business strategy;
– Identifying future investment and funding requirements;
– Supporting product, content, technical and creative development;
– Securing adequate intellectual property rights;
– Defining pathways to market and market evaluation;
– Developing a marketing and communications plan;
– Producing a sales generation plan;
– Review of strategic partnership opportunities for business growth.

Creative businesses eligible for this funding you must be start-ups that have traded for less than five years.

They must have a demonstrable need for loan funding, have a clear plan for the business and the use of the funds and be willing to engage with Creative Launch Pad mentoring program and provide milestone updates.

This is an ongoing opportunity.

CBLF is run as an additional feature of Creative Launch Pad, the specialist mentoring program offered by QUT Creative Enterprise Australia.

To discuss your eligibility for CBLF, contact QUT Creative Enterprise Australia at info@creativeenterprise.qut.com.au. For more information visit here.

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Midland Atelier, FORM

FORM is seeking expressions of interest from skilled and innovative Australian designers interested in becoming future residents at Midland Atelier, Western Australia’s first creative industries centre. Literally meaning ‘workshop’ or ’studio’, Midland Atelier will house a diverse group of artists and designers working within interactive multidisciplinary studios for furniture, metal (including jewellery and sculpture) and glass.

Midland Atelier is the result of a pioneering partnership between FORM and the Midland Redevelopment Authority and is situated in the beautiful Swan Valley region, twenty minutes away from Perth’s CBD.

The centre is located within the Foundry Building and Pattern Shop which once formed part of a series of railway workshops

The Pattern Shop is Midland Atelier’s core wood, furniture and 3D object design practice. It was recently extended and is currently home to ten nationally recognised furniture and object designers including Jon Goulder, Kevin Gordon, Beth Linton and Adam Cruikshank. While the facility is in operation, it is still undergoing construction and will not officially open until January 2010.

The Pattern Shop features a preview exhibition space and due to the extensions can accommodate up to 26 work benches. Bench space will become available in January.

The Foundry building will be fully operational by the end of 2010 and will house two levels of mixed use studio space for glass and jewellery, metal and multimedia design, two retail spaces and a gallery.

Ongoing opportunity.

To find out more email mail@form.net.au or go to www.midlandatelier.com.

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Creative Industries Enterprise Centre, a facility for early stage companies in Brisbane, is offering flexible and cost effective workspace solutions for creative start-ups.

QUT Creative Enterprise Australia is the only business development agency and incubator in Australia designed to assist commercially driven creative industries projects. The agency operates the Creative Industries Enterprise Centre at QUT’s Creative Industries Precinct, Kelvin Grove.

The centre has workspace available for creative businesses and offers:

// Specialist mentoring;
// Flexible ‘ready to go’ workspaces;
// Hot desking;
// Virtual office business facilities.

This is an ongoing opportunity.

Please contact Anna Rooke, Chief Executive Officer, QUT Creative Enterprise Australia for an informal discussion on this opportunity (07) 3337 7803 or email anna.rooke@creativeenterprise.qut.com.au.

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Artisan in Brisbane is calling for submissions from Australian artists, designers and curators interested in exhibiting in the Ivory 24/7 window exhibition space.

They are looking for applicants that demonstrate fresh ideas and an innovative way of approaching the space.

To make the most of this opportunity, it is important for applicants to be familiar with the dimensions of the space and the impact of the work for passing street and pedestrian traffic. Interested applicants are invited to visit the gallery to consider the suitability of their project, and to discuss it with the Artisan exhibitions officer prior to developing their proposal.

The project must demonstrate high standards of excellence in design and production, present original and distinctive work, possess a strong conceptual basis and explore innovative exhibition presentation. This does not preclude small scale works, but such works will require strong installation design to support them.

This is an ongoing opportunity.

For more information and to apply visit here.

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Metalab in Sydney’s Surry Hills is offering professional jewellers the opportunity to have access to a well equipped workshop.

Sessions are offered to those with experience in jewellery making who wish to work on self directed projects.

Successful applicants will be given access to a bench and use of the workshop tools and equipment.

Access will be provided for A$55.00 per session with the studio offering access from 11:00am to 6:00pm with weekly or Saturday sessions available.

This is an ongoing opportunity.

The timetable for sessions is to be negotiated with Metalab. To discuss this opportunity please call (02) 9380 9499 during gallery hours or email info@metalab.com.au.

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Springboard invites designers from across Australia to take up an opportunity to boost their entrepreneurial capabilities via a structured creative entrepreneur-mentoring program. Springboard provides a catalyst to encourage small creative businesses to invest in their own future through strategic workshops, counselling sessions, and an online community portal. Springboard celebrates the benefits of collaboration, enabling design businesses to evolve and transform through a planned business model.

As a national program anchored within an online media context, Springboard aims to work between key institutions and existing initiatives to enable the country’s most promising designers to create a competitive edge, and develop new markets at home and abroad. Springboard is an Australian Design Unit project – a joint venture between Parcel and Studio Propeller. It is supported by the Australia Council, and is an Australian Government funded initiative under the Building Entrepreneurship in Small Business program.

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Craft Victoria has partnered with the City of Melbourne’s City Library to hold Craft Hatch, an incubator market held once a month that showcases the work of student and emerging designers.

Craft Hatch is an opportunity for customers to purchase the freshest, handmade products direct from the designer.

The market features homewares, jewellery, clothing, accessories, stationery and more and is held the second Saturday of every month at the City Library, 253 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, from 11:00am to 4:00pm.

Registrations are now open to students and emerging designers looking to build their market confidence in one of Melbourne’s busiest CBD retail precincts. The City Library is a centre for learning and creativity and on average has more than 3,000 visitors a day.

To be eligible, potential stallholders must be students or emerging craft and design practitioners. All products sold need to be 100% handmade in Australia, demonstrate a high level of creative design, and be of sound quality.

This is an ongoing opportunity.

For further information and to register for Craft Hatch click here.

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InnovationConnect (ICon) is a new Australian Capital Territory Government program for creative innovators and entrepreneurs. It is designed to provide limited funding support that will accelerate the progress of viable, creative ideas along the development and commercialisation pathway.

The program has been designed to assist companies that need relatively early stage support in taking an innovative product or service to investment readiness or commercialisation.

The investment ready of commercialisation pathway can be loosely broken up into three stages:

– Pre start-up
– Start-up
– Growth

ICon has two main funding components that cover these stages.

Proof of Technology Grants are for pre start-up and support the development of:

– Prototypes that prove a concept or;
– A technology plan or business case study that demonstrates whether a concept is commercially viable.

Proof of Technology Grants range from A$5,000 to A$25,000. There may be an opportunity for grants of up to A$50,000 in exceptional circumstances.

Accelerating Innovation Grants support start-up and growth companies with a viable, proven concept or service with funding that will enable:

– Participation in formalised commercialisation training;
– Intellectual property strategies and advice;
– Establishment of advanced business processes;
– Market testing;
– Mentoring; and
– Projects that link the technology and creative industry sectors.

Accelerating Innovation Grants will range from A$5,000 to A$10,000. They are only granted on a dollar-for-dollar basis based on reimbursement.

This is an ongoing opportunity with applications are continuous assessment.

For further information visit here.

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Fabrica Interactive is calling for applications from young artists and designers to join them for a one year residency in Treviso, Italy.

Fabrica is the Benetton Research and Development Communication Centre. Led by an international team, Fabrica is an applied creativity laboratory, a talent incubator, a studio of sorts in which young modern artists come from all over the world to develop innovative projects and explore new directions in a variety of areas including design, music, film, photography, publishing and the Internet.

Fabrica is currently offering residencies to artists, designers and creative engineers under 25 years old. Applicants must be able to conceive, design, prototype and build engaging and innovative experiences.

Successful applicants will work with a multidisciplinary and multinational team of designers in Fabrica’s research centre in Treviso, Italy under the creative direction of Andy Cameron.

Fabrica offers bursaries to successful applicants. The bursary includes travel to Fabrica, as well as accommodation, living expenses and a small grant.

Fabrica does not offer a program of tuition and is appropriate for self motivated artists and designers who have already completed their studies. However, Fabrica holds a number of workshops per year for residents lead by high profile international artists and designers. Previous workshop leaders have included Bruce Sterling, Golan Levin, Yugo Nakamura, Casey Reas and Amy Franceschini.

This is an ongoing opportunity.

To apply for Fabrica Interactive visit here. For more information about their design studios visit here.

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The Clay Studio is one of America and the world’s leading institutions in the field of education and promotion of the ceramic arts. The organisation is based in Philadelphia and runs a series of programs including artist residencies, exhibitions and education and outreach programs.

The studio is currently calling for applications from international artists to take part in their Guest Artist in Residence Program.

The residency is open to any artist whose primary medium is clay. Over the past 17 years the program has hosted artists from over 35 countries including Australia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Taiwan, Mexico, Latvia, Lithuania and others.

Past Australian participants include David Ray (2004), Irianna Kanellopoulou (2005) and Sophie Milne (2007).

Successful applicants to the program will be provided with:

— A 12×12 ft. studio on The Clay Studio’s third floor
— An apartment across the street from The Clay Studio
— A materials and firing stipend of up to US$200.

Residencies vary from four to eight weeks but both shorter and longer residencies have occurred to accommodate an artist’s schedule or to allow for a larger project.

Some technical assistance is provided within the program, but the residency is largely designed for artists to work independently.

This is an ongoing opportunity.

For more information and to apply visit here.

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Business planning

Starting up a business can change the life of the entrepreneur in many ways. In some cases this is even one of the key motivators. Therefore it seems preferable that all efforts should aim to make these changes positive. Without a plan, it is unlikely this will happen consistently on the positive side.

Ideally, your new venture should bring greater personal satisfaction supported by financial, emotional and creative rewards. Compared with the majority of business start-ups, what makes the creative entrepreneur’s journey somewhat unique is the weight placed on these last two expectations.

Typically a business plan is seen as a financially focused document, proving the case to invest money to make money. While to a degree, this is also true of a creative entrepreneur’s business plan. It is important to recognise early the specific nuance of a ‘creative lead’ enterprise, because it will effect almost everything you encounter.

The reason is that business practices in general do not readily accommodate or understand the abstract returns on investment that design delivers, unless a convincing case for financial return is made. Similarly many in the creative community are wary of the seemingly mandatory aspects of business planning, fearing it may restrict the necessary volatility of the inventive process.

There is almost no way of avoiding this dichotomy. ‘Creative led’ enterprises need what the conventional business world has, and vice versa. The creative entrepreneur must learn to package ideas in a way that makes them ‘attractive’ (financial return) and most importantly ‘reasonable’ (viable, demonstrated by convincing assumptions). There is nothing more fearful to a banker than a wild idea without constraint, regardless of how brilliant.

Writing a ‘creative lead’ business plan is quite simple by elaborating on four key attributes;

– Build the case of reason, (the science: market size, volume, value, need);
– For the idea (the art);
– By describing the course to be taken (the business: operations, marketing, distribution);
– That will accomplish the objective (the reward: ‘a better world’, return on investment, business sale).

This model naturally includes a financial component, but most importantly it has the ‘idea’ firmly and centrally placed. It differs to conventional business planning models that may focus more critically on financial aspects. Even though the overriding purpose of all business plans is essentially the same.

The process should be treated with care, patience and self honesty. There is only one person who can write the business plan and that’s you. Don’t be deceived and think that lack of business knowledge is a reason to pass the planning on to someone else. There are many business plan resources on the internet to sufficiently fill the knowledge gap.

The form of a business plan is less critical than a well-articulated idea and the process of writing it. Look at it as your own induction – an opportunity to apply form to the idea and lean quantitative assumptions against it to see how it holds up.

Take time, ponder, visualise, and accumulate the facts to substantiate. In some instances a year would not be a long enough time to consider your plan, but certainly you should take more than a month. Those life changes depend on it.

1 2 3 4

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“Entrepreneurs tend to concentrate on what they love, whether it’s the artist who paints but doesn’t spend any time marketing or the chef who lives in the kitchen and ignores her financials. Every business owner needs to be his or her own CFO. Delegating that task to a bookkeeper or an outside accounting firm means putting your life into their hands. They generally don’t know the ins and outs of your business well enough to make critical decisions.” Read on

Jay Goltz CNNMoney.com

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“A decade ago the ability to generate ideas for businesses was a terrific and unique offering, and often a good business. Many companies and consultants were conducting workshops aimed at coming up with ideas, hundreds of ideas, and getting paid handsomely to do it. Today, it seems most of the businesses I deal with have more than enough ideas, it’s determining the right ones to invest time and energy into that is the trick.” Read on

Mark Dziersk Fast Company

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“Tougher trading conditions and increasing costs are common concerns for many small businesses in today’s economic environment, but it doesn’t mean that you need to resign yourself to tighter margins and declining profits. What it does require is for those businesses to take a closer look at the fundamentals of their operations – inputs, outputs and pricing.” Read on

Simon Brewis Weston Australian Anthill

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“A livelihood for any wholesaler or distributor relies on getting their products into the retail environment… While the time honoured practice of hitting the pavement and selling your goods to as many retailers as possible is still as much a part of the process as ever, there are other channels that can be used to make you and your product stand out. Here are 10 ways you can maximise your wholesale deliveries.” Read on

Cameron Bayley Dynamic Business

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“Success! After gathering up every ounce of confidence, and samples of your work, you finally get a gallery or shop owner to sit down with you. And she wants to sell your work! Suddenly visions of fame, fortune and crafting dance around your head. And then the owner suggests a consignment. But what exactly does consignment mean and how do you know if it’s a good deal for you?” Read on

The Storque, Etsy.com

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“An issue close to the heart (and start) of any creative venture is how to protect your valuable idea or concept if you need to disclose it to others… While there are limits to confidentiality agreements, they do offer a useful way to protect ideas or work, especially if you disclose strategically and work on building trust and respect in the process.” Read on

Michael Tucak Australian Anthill

Tags: Intellectual property

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“Why is finding the right business partner so hard? Why do so many start-up ventures come unstuck because partners cannot get along? And that’s just in good times… Part of the problem is too many start-up entrepreneurs treat going into business like getting married in a Las Vegas chapel with Elvis presiding.” Read on

Tony Featherstone Small Business, The Sydney Morning Herald

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“Sometimes the hardest thing in business is not finding customers; it is being paid for the product or service you provide. As Australia’s economy slows, the average age of accounts receivable is stretching many smaller and emerging businesses to almost breaking point. Before we examine ideas for ensuring fast payment of invoices, it is important to acknowledge that the best defence against unpaid invoices is not giving credit in the first place.” Read on

Mark Neely Australian Anthill

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“Regardless of how exciting your project is and how ‘cutting edge’ your technology may be, it’s still important to pay attention to the most fundamental principle of business – making sure you get paid. The risk of being dudded is reduced by following a few simple rules. It’s surprising how often they’re bypassed or forgotten.” Read on

Mark Toohey Australian Anthill

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“All businesses are about money – how much you have, where it comes from and where it’s going. One of the most important tools to help you succeed is a good bookkeeping system. A good system makes it easier to analyse your business finances.” Read on

State of Victoria, Australia. Business Victoria

Tags: Bookkeeping

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“Spotting signs of business failure is important – not just for your own business but also in your suppliers. If you’re in manufacturing, the loss of a key component, or as a retailer, the collapse of a wholesaler, presents real business risk.” Read on

Julianne Dowling Small Business, The Sydney Morning Herald

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