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The Thriving Creative

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You are here: Home / Archives for Steven Sparling

Does Money Matter?

September 4, 2013 by Steven Sparling 6 Comments

This may seem like a silly question – of course money matters! And yet, how often do our choices, as creative people, put money last?   No one became a creative to get rich. For a very few, this is a side benefit, but for the vast majority of creatives our motivation to pursue this […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Artist, Career, creative, Creative entrepreneur, Creative Entrepreneurship, Money, planning

Recap: How to manage a creative career – it’s possible to do this for a living!

August 31, 2013 by Steven Sparling Leave a Comment

Making art is not the same thing as making a living. Many creative people struggle with this. But there are ways of managing a creative career  to keep yourself fed, happy, solvent and fulfilled without having to ‘sell out.’ It largely comes down to planning. A sustainable, long-term creative career is one that is planned. […]

Filed Under: creative entrepreneurship, Recap Tagged With: Artist, creative business, creative career, Creative entrepreneur, Creative Entrepreneurship, finance, planning

Guest Blog: Is this a Business or a Lifestyle?

August 28, 2013 by Steven Sparling 2 Comments

A. L. Michaels has written another guest blog for us. Welcome back Andi… ——————————————– A friend and I were recently discussing our creative careers. The issue with working in the creative industries is that you can make it sound terribly exciting (‘I’m a studio manager in East London, whilst doing a writing residency, promoting my […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Recap: Selling for Creative People (without feeling icky)

August 24, 2013 by Steven Sparling Leave a Comment

Most creative people love to create – to make things or to provide creative services. Most creative people hate to have to sell their products or their creative services. But if you want to create a sustainable livelihood for yourself from your creative endeavours, then you must learn how to sell. It’s the only way […]

Filed Under: creative entrepreneurship, Recap Tagged With: Artist, business, creative career, Creative entrepreneur, Creative Entrepreneurship, marketing, sales, Selling

Guest Post: The Post University Blogger (P.U.B) is…a Networking Newbie

August 21, 2013 by Steven Sparling 1 Comment

“Take action every day. It doesn’t have to be dramatic action, but every day, stick with it. Spend time on things that make you proud, that stretch and strengthen you.” – Phillip Humbert I’m pretty new to this making-it-alone thing, when you put it into perspective. I’m two years out of university, and while it’s […]

Filed Under: Guest Post Tagged With: Actor, Artist, creative business, creative career, Creative entrepreneur, Creative Entrepreneurship, Networking

Recap: Defining Your Customer – why you don’t want to sell to everyone

August 17, 2013 by Steven Sparling Leave a Comment

Here’s a summary post of week two of the 31 Days to Kick Start Your Creative Business Series focussing on defining your customer. The clearer you can be on who you are trying to sell to, the easier it will be to find them, talk to them, and ultimately convince them that your creative service […]

Filed Under: creative entrepreneurship, Recap Tagged With: Artist, creative business, creative career, Creative entrepreneur, Creative Entrepreneurship, Creative Industries, marketing

33 Things I’ve Never Told You (part 3)

August 15, 2013 by Steven Sparling Leave a Comment

If you’ve missed the first two parts of this post, I encourage you to read those one first in order to understand the context of this list. Basically, I wanted to talk about something other than Marketing and give you a chance to know the windbag behind this blog a bit better. 33 Things I’ve […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Guest Post: The Post-University Blogger (P.U.B) is…a Junior Job-Juggler

August 14, 2013 by Steven Sparling 1 Comment

I’m thrilled to introduce another guest blogger: Annie Harris. I met Annie at the London College of Music, where I teach. By the time we met, she had already graduated and was making her way as a young actor in London – juggling trying to find acting work while keeping body/soul together and keeping the […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Recap: Defining Your Product – what exactly are you selling?

August 10, 2013 by Steven Sparling Leave a Comment

As August is a quiet month, we are going to recap some of our previous posts that maybe you missed or either didn’t get a chance to properly digest. The first recap is about a really important step for all Creative Entrepreneurs: Defining Your Product. The clearer you can get about WHAT your product is […]

Filed Under: creative entrepreneurship, Recap Tagged With: Artist, business, Creative entrepreneur, Creative Entrepreneurship, Product

33 Things I’ve Never Told You (part 2)

August 8, 2013 by Steven Sparling 2 Comments

This is the second in the series 33 Things I’ve Never Told You. If you missed the first instalment, be sure to read it first in order to understand the context of this post. 33 Things I’ve never told you (part two)   12. I drink way too much coffee. I currently drink about 4-5 […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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Recent Posts

  • The Mindful Freelancer: Nine Attitudes for Thriving in the Creative Economy – Part 2 – Patience
  • The Mindful Freelancer: Nine Attitudes for Thriving in the Creative Economy – Part 1 – Non-Judging
  • Pivoting When You Don’t Know Where the Other Foot is Going to Land
  • Help! My Child Wants to Go Into The Arts
  • Confidence Doesn’t Exist. Quit Chasing It.

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Recent Posts

  • The Mindful Freelancer: Nine Attitudes for Thriving in the Creative Economy – Part 2 – Patience
  • The Mindful Freelancer: Nine Attitudes for Thriving in the Creative Economy – Part 1 – Non-Judging
  • Pivoting When You Don’t Know Where the Other Foot is Going to Land
  • Help! My Child Wants to Go Into The Arts
  • Confidence Doesn’t Exist. Quit Chasing It.

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