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The Thriving Creative

Where creativity and business collide

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What We Do

May 23, 2013 by Steven Sparling 6 Comments

So part of keeping your creative mojo flowing is to learn new things, try out new creative avenues and find different ways to express yourself. I am NOT a visual artist. Never have been. And yet I have discovered a couple of iPad drawing apps (notability, 53Paper & brushes) which I love. iPad in hand, […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: creative, Creative entrepreneur, Creative Entrepreneurship, dreams

The Value of Differentiation (and the Added Value of a Sense of Humour)

April 11, 2013 by Steven Sparling 7 Comments

Today I stumbled across this awesome video on Youtube – Rolling Clay With Keith. Check it out: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMzL1T8MjWQ?rel=0] I love this video for all kinds of reasons. Let’s look at some of them… 1. It’s funny Let’s face it, we all take ourselves too seriously sometimes and this seems to often come out when […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Artist, branding, creative, Creative entrepreneur, Creative Entrepreneurship, humour, marketing, potter

What We Can All Learn From Dancers

February 13, 2013 by Steven Sparling 2 Comments

It’s safe to say that that I started my career as a dancer. I started taking ballet lessons at age 7, which lead to lessons later in tap, jazz and modern/contemporary. It was through dance that I got involved in community theatre doing musicals, which lead to doing plays, and opera and eventually moving to […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Career, creative, Creative Entrepreneurship, dance

7 Ways to Still Be Productive When You Really Can’t be F*cked

January 31, 2013 by Steven Sparling Leave a Comment

I’m having one of those days today where I really just feel like shutting off the computer, fishing out the Love Film DVD’s which have been waiting to be watched, putting on my pj’s, making some tea and flaking on the sofa. A proper slobby day. Isn’t that what we think of actors doing a […]

Filed Under: creative entrepreneurship Tagged With: Actor, Artist, creative, Creative entrepreneur, Creative Entrepreneurship, Persistence, planning

Fruit Picking and Business Planning –

January 9, 2013 by Steven Sparling Leave a Comment

Start with the low hanging fruit Photo by Effervescing Elephant It’s January and the Christmas bills are starting to come in. Mother Hubbard’s cupboards are feeling a bit bare so as a freelancer it’s always the time of year where I start to worry about drumming up some more work. Sound familiar? My advice is […]

Filed Under: creative entrepreneurship, Planning Tagged With: creative, Entrepreneur, marketing, planning

Letting Go, Moving On

June 7, 2012 by Steven Sparling Leave a Comment

The whole point of being an artist is to let things go. Our job is to create something and then let it go, send it out into the world and allow it to have a life of its own. This applies whether we make a pot, a play or give a performance. It is something […]

Filed Under: creative entrepreneurship Tagged With: Artist, creative, Creative Entrepreneurship, Letting go, moving on, music, spiritual, teacher, Teaching

Working Hours -vs- Billable Hours

June 1, 2012 by Steven Sparling 1 Comment

Question: What’s the difference between a hobby and a business? Answer: Billable hours! This is a crucial thing to begin to understand if you really want to earn a living from your creative pursuit. I’m quite certain that you love to do what you do, whether that’s paint, sculpt, knit, sing or dance. You can […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Billable hours, creative, earnings, finance

Downward Facing Dog of Shame (Embarrassing Auditions Pt 1)

May 28, 2012 by Steven Sparling 1 Comment

Up and Down, a photo by Nicholas_T on Flickr. (That’s not me in the photo! Some random yogi off Flickr) Last week I had one of those classically embarrassing auditions. I squirmed in agony all weekend remembering butt-clenching details. I had been called to audition for a commercial for a major UK grocery chain. The […]

Filed Under: creative entrepreneurship Tagged With: commercials, creative, embarrassing auditions, forgiveness, let it go, Persistence, planning, yoga

Budgeting for Creative Survival

May 25, 2012 by Steven Sparling Leave a Comment

There are many great things I took away from my MA in Creative Entrepreneurship from UEA (http://www.uea.ac.uk/hum/mace/courses/ma-creative-entrepreneurship). The  course leader, Ian Chance, is a charming man with a lifetime worth of experience in the field. He’s also wickedly funny. One of the things he taught us was to have our cabbages budget.  As well as […]

Filed Under: creative entrepreneurship Tagged With: budgeting, creative, Creative Entrepreneurship, finance, financials, planning

Keeping it Fresh

May 21, 2012 by Steven Sparling Leave a Comment

Daily App Experiment #303: “Chain Reaction”, a photo by docpop on Flickr. When you’ve been practicing your art form for some time it can be hard to keep it fresh. When you are doing the same things over and over again, it’s easy for it all to start feeling a bit…. well like a dayjob. […]

Filed Under: creative entrepreneurship Tagged With: creative, Creative entrepreneur, Creative Entrepreneurship, play, stale

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Recent Posts

  • The Mindful Freelancer: Nine Attitudes for Thriving in the Creative Economy – Part 1 – Non-Judging
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Recent Posts

  • 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.
  • IKIGAI: The Japanese Secret to a Creative Entrepreneur’s Success!

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