Research into the market

I've spent a bit of time over the weekend trawling the internet to get a better understanding of whats already out there.

One website, FreelanceAdvisor.co.uk seems interesting. The website contains advice for freelancers and gives its users the opportunity to work collaboratively through the network. The site seems really useful - lots of info and jobs advertised. It is different from my idea however as it is an 'open' site where any freelancers can join and use the facilities. Initially I would like my business to consist of a small number of freelancers where we all can work together and know each other. I could see this evolving in the future in to becoming a much more open network of freelancers. There are definitely a number of details I need to understand better as I can definitely foresee some future problems. How would I determine who is within the community? Would there be competition between each other for work? Who are my customers? Are they businesses? Freelancers? Or both?

FreelanceAdvisor.co.uk appears to work quite closely with freelancesupermarket.com which works more specifically as a recruitment agency for freelancers. Another interesting site, however again, I feel my business idea is far more contained than this. To someone that came across my site, I would want to give the impression of a close knit team of people that they could potentially work with - I would want my business to contain some of the values of a traditional agency but without the overheads.

bristolcreatives.co.uk, has a Creative Directory, so that members of the site can promote themselves or find others within their field. Something like this (although on a far smaller scale)is what I imagined would be included within my freelance collaboration.

Week 2: Workshop with Percy Emmett

This week we had a really interesting workshop with business 'starter' Percy Emmett. Percy has worked in a number of different creative roles and has set up a number of different businesses. He enjoys setting up businesses but not necessarily running them. During the class we performed a range of different activities that allowed us to dissect our ideas and see where the holes were. We worked in teams on one members idea, so I will now try to apply these same questions to my own idea (that has a billion holes in it!)

What are the values/benefits of my business idea?
Lower costs than a design agency
Working directly with the client
A range of people able to pick up the job should 1 person not be able to complete
Clients knowing more about the creative that is doing the work
Opportunity to win larger clients
Opportunity to have a larger online presence / collaborative marketing of services
Freelancers can still retain some sense of identity - design in accordance with their own values and beliefs

What do I like/admire about my idea?
From a personal perspective I would have to say that 'a sense of identity' and collaboratively working with other creatives is what I most like about my idea. I think going freelance is often quite a scary prospect for many, and this could resolve some of the factors.

Why should people care?
My idea could provide a more affordable service, and more security that the job could be done. It could allow freelancers to work on larger projects to tighter timescales.

5 words that represent my values
I am considering this in terms of my businesses potential identity:
Fun
Affordable
Friendly
Community
Supportive

In 3 years time... (including additions in blue from team members 01/03/10)

What does it make redundant?
Recruitment agencies
Hierarchical structures
Job security
Client uncertainty as to what type of agency to use.
Large specialist agencies.

What does it retrieve?
Independence
Overheads
A sense of belonging for all creatives.
Creatives being involved with work outside of their normal area.

What does it enhance?
Relationships between designers & clients
Bigger contracts
Community spirit within the work area.
Sense of ownership among creatives.
More creative atmosphere in which to work.

What does it become when flipped on its head?
Everyone becomes freelance
Competition amongst each other
Business having to trawl through hundreds of designers in order to pick one
Client unsure of who is handling the job.
Increase in freelance prices as individuals value themselves more than others.
jobs lost due to lack of organisation.

Further consideration of business idea

I've tried to consider some more detailed aspects of setting myself up as a freelancer:

The services I would hope to offer would involve graphic design, web design, development, social networking, e-marketing, photography, illustration, animation, branding & identity - although I wouldn't be able to provide all of these skills, I do have a number of freelance contacts that I could pass work on to. Both parties would benefit - myself through being able to provide a larger range of services, and whom I passed the work onto. Through this I would hope that we could provide more security to the client, e.g. ability to do a number of things, meet tighter timescales, larger range of skills and enable myself to win bigger contracts.

It would be nice if I could somehow integrate my practise into my business idea - 'play'. As my business 'front' would be online, I could possibly integrate the 'play' concept into the brand and identity of the business.

If I were to evolve the idea into a collaboration of freelancers, I could include features on each freelancers practise and inspiration. This could allow for clients to make better informed decisions about who they choose to work with than if they went through a recruitment agency.

My concern for this idea at present is that it seems to be evolving into something else. Initially I was purely concerned with setting myself up as a freelancer. This collaboration idea could result in myself acting as an agency for a number of freelancers? Is that where I would like to go?

I have come across a number of websites discussing the benefits of freelance collaboration including http://www.bytestart.co.uk/content/contractors/contractor-guides/collaborative-freelancing.shtml. It suggests that collaboratively working is an emerging trend amongst freelancers and offers benefits for both freelancers and business. I need to do more research into whats already out there.

Week 1: Creative Enterprise, Adrienne Noonan, Bill Cain

First class of a new semester!

Initially we went over everyone's ideas for enterprise. Some really interesting ideas - it became clear that I hadn't put much thought into mine yet. I hadn't really considered who would be my target market.

Since the class I have considered whom I would aim for my clients to be - the broad categories of entertainment, arts, hospitality and leisure seems to allow for alot of scope and is also an area I have some experience in - this could include smaller companies such as a local wine bar, and potentially evolve to include larger clients. Whilst looking through 'The Guide to Creative Bristol' that was given to us during our first class, it became clear that agencies and freelancers target themselves in quite different ways. Some target themselves quite broadly whilst others are quite specialised such as Enable in Bristol who work with ethical clients.

The article, Starting your own business: The new young entrepreneurs (http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/dec/12/starting-your-own-business) got me thinking that perhaps being a freelancer (with lower prices and overheads) could put me in a good position to work with some 'new young entrepreneurs'. The freelance work I have worked on in the past has been friends or friends of friends asking me to work with them at the launch of their business. This could be one of my targets - with the possibility of growing with my clients as they do. It would also allow me to win more exciting briefs - launching a companies identity.

I watched recently a documentary entitled 'The Virtual Revolution' on BBC four. It discussed social networking, and the 'web generation'. Although at the time I watched it purely out of curiosity, it struck me as possibly having some impact on the type of business I would like to create. My website should reflect the future entrepreneurs and web generation somehow.

Considering Creative Enterprise

During the break between modules I considered my enterprise idea for the upcoming module: a local social networking concept for creative types. Content on the site would include other contacts within the industry, games, downloads, advice, a facility for employers to find out about freelance designers etc. One of my major concerns with this idea, was that I wasn't aware of what was already out there, and would I really want to spend my career managing 1 website? I quickly decided that it would make more sense to apply the course to something I would more likely do - to set myself up as a freelancer. This is something I have considered in the past, but haven't had much time to consider. I do have a few contacts that I work for from time to time, but more often than not, my full-time job and studies have got in the way of making a real go of this.

Introduction to Graphic Arts: Review

So... I've finished my first semester on the course. Its been challenging but interesting and I now have a clearer idea of my practise and how to progress it forward. I also have a clearer idea of the areas I need to improve:
Research - my knowledge of historical precedents and contemporary debates is limited, although much improved from where I was at the beginning of the course
Solving problems - quite often I have found that I have got 'stuck' on an idea. I think this has more to do with anxiety about getting all the work done than my natural style of working. At times I tend to panic and spend a huge amount of time continuing down a path which may not necessarily be the right direction. Taking a step back would allow me to look at the bigger picture.

Its not all bad though! My assessment showed that my work demonstrates a high level of exploration, originality, curiousity and ambition. Of all the criteria, this pleases me the most, as I feel it reflects my enthusiasm.