Start Up Basics
What Will Smith Can Teach Us About Business Strategy
When Will Smith decided to take his fledgling movie career to the next level he didn’t just accept the next film that came his way. He worked out what he wanted to achieve (“to be the biggest movie star in the world”) and researched the industry so he could devise a strategy that worked for him. He didn’t stop at [...]
Happy Start Up Email Series
Last year I started a blog series called the Happy Start-Up. I wanted to show how you can start a business without the stress and ick-iness that is usually associated with taking such a huge leap. That time, my intention was to have you follow along on the blog and learn from my journey starting [...]
Start By Knowing Who You Are
It’s liberating when you finally realise you have the power to decide what to do with your life. But how do you decide what it is you want to do in the first place? Not everyone knows what they want to do right from the get go. You might be conflicted between what you think [...]
Break The Rules + Achieve What You Really Want
Every time I’ve achieved success in my life it’s been when I haven’t followed the rules or conformed to what others expect of me. I started my first business with a 30 cents listing on Etsy, I had no products and no real plan and I just got started because I had to. At university, [...]
The Happy Start-up: Choosing Your Product Range
Welcome to The Happy Start-Up, a blog series following the start-up journey of Happy Piece, a socially minded, ethical jewellery and accessories brand. Past posts can be found here. You can also like Happy Piece on Facebook and Twitter to follow our new business journey. After last weeks post on business models and business plans [...]
The Happy Start-Up: Business Models, Business Plans And How To Do It Your Way
The simplified explanation of a business model is how the business intends to make money. It’s a framework for creating economic value and let’s face it without profit, there is no business so it is imperative you get this part right. When designing your business model there are a number of elements you need to [...]
The Happy Start-Up: Choosing A Business Name
One of the hardest things when starting a business is choosing a name. It always feels like all the best ones are taken and even if you do find one with the domain name available then you discover the Twitter handle you want has already been taken. Usually by someone who has only tweeted once, way [...]
The Happy Start Up: Deciding On A Business Idea
I believe there are two ways to find a business idea. Either you look for one or one finds you. The first one involves looking for a gap in the market and actively searching for one that will work, the second involves getting on with your life until one day an idea presents itself, planting the seeds of possibility [...]
How to Start the Success Your Way Journey- Finding YOU
There is no one way to achieve success. Success is subjective and your idea of success could be very different from someone else’s. But before you can realise success you need to know what it looks like to you. So where do you start? You start with YOU. What do you want to achieve? What [...]
Start Where You Are
{photo credit: Melody Ross} As creative entrepreneurs, we’ve got big dreams. Sometimes though, we’re just not sure where to start. We can imagine the end goal, but the first step is difficult. In fact, starting and growing a small business can be downright intimidating! In my own experience, the beginning of small business-dom felt like [...]
