Happy Christmas to you all!

From all of us at MyCake we hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thank you for a great 2012.

The MyCake office will be closed over Christmas from Friday 21 December.

We will be back in full force to welcome in the new year on 2nd Jan 2013.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

MyCake launches MyCake Inspires

We’re very excited at MyCake to show off our first MyCake Inspires videos. Call it icing or cherry on the cake, this is really about having some useful fun. Our videos are one-take (un)wonders where we talk about subjects that matter to us and we hope to you.

But there won’t be any fun if you don’t join in! What are you most proud in the way you run your business? Tell us about the little things that make your small business look big and run smoothly. We’re interested in how you can make business inspiring because we believe that’s what you’re good at.

The brief is to keep the MyCake community inspired to do serious business and have some fun along the way. So go on watch the video and just talk to us about you.

Some basic rules to make your MyCake Inspires Video:

• use your camera phone
• do it in one take (but do it several time until you’re happy with it)
• keep it short: about 1 minute
• send us a copy or a url to your favorite video channel
• remember it does NOT have to be perfect!
• don’t forget to give us a link to your own website

In our first MyCake Inspires video Marion, who’s MyCake user support Guru, talks about buying products from independant designers in relation to the Source function in Mycake.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Sarah of Arabia – MyCake workshops in the Eastern Provinces of Saudi Arabia

… going where no Creative Industries workshop has gone before! Yes, it’s the first time workshops of this kind have been delivered by the British Council so we are indeed in virgin territory.

Dammam is a city where nobody walks, this is partly the temperature …. we’re only in May and it’s already 40 degrees in the shade … but it’s also partly cultural as the main social activities take place within the home not in public places. This has a knock on effect upon where the creative crowd can be found and how they communicate with each other.

It is pretty challenging to find the creatives if you’re not a local so here’s a few tips for places to start ….

• Desert Designs … in addition to the work sold in their shop these guys run stand up comedy nights on their upper floor and at the moment they have an exhibition of local artists and designers called Loud
• Albaylasan Art runs painting workshops and art exhibitions. The former happen in their studio in Khobar, the latter are periodic and are in hotels
• In addition to her work as a founder of Albaylasan Sameera runs a mentoring programme for artists
• You’ll find a few galleries in places like the Rashid Mall
• If you have friends on the Saudi Aramco compound then you’ll find all manner of creative businesses such as the abaya designer Shaista Qurashi
• There are a couple of magazines to look out for – Oasis and WTD
• In the souk you’ll find shops selling traditional crafts which range from cedarwood furniture to jewellery and textiles
• In the malls you’ll find abaya shops some of which stock locally designed and made pieces
• Hussa is working on a new fashion magazine to complement the work she does as a stylist, it’s online at the moment

Plus of course once you start meeting people you’ll find yourself being introduced to the rest of the folks who make up this seam of creativity in the Eastern Provinces … it’s all about getting inside the walls and meeting the people!

The workshops we’ve been delivering here are the first of their kind in Saudi Arabia and are being provided courtesy of the British Council and their partners. We’ve focussed on marketing and finance though in our usual style of highly participatory activity based learning.

As these workshops are the first of their kind their role in establishing a network between creatives of all flavours has been every bit as important as the knowledge transfer of the content! So we’ve connected jewellers to artists, cake makers to solar technology folks as well as training the participants in the basics of a marketing process and an approach to both pricing and budget and cashflow preparation.  In some  cases we’re working with lifestyle businesses but in others there will certainly be a need for access to investment. There is also a clear need for a programme of ongoing work to support these creatives in their business development, help them grow beyond their local market and start to service clients across KSA and the wider Gulf region.

The Start up to Success workshops that MyCake have run for the British Council have certainly demonstrated the demand and that there is little provision currently .. the workshop doctor prescribes … more workshops, a mentoring programme and connections to local support systems!

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

We can help you stop stressing about your finances

What Sarah knows about making money in the creative sector is highly valuable information. Even those who can afford her consulting services can’t have her in their office all day every day.

No wonder clients sometimes say to her, “I’d be a lot better off if I could just download your brain!“.

You’ll be pleased to know that as this service has not yet been invented, Sarah has teamed up with creative business coach Mark McGuinness to put together the next best thing – a plain-English guide to taking control of your creative business finances. That you can download, digest and refer to whenever you need it.

In a special promotion for you, both the Money for Creative People course AND the ebook version – the Creative Money Manual – are available at a substantial discount from the everyday price.

So why not stop stressing about money and start using it to achieve your creative ambitions.

This discounted offer means if you want to learn how to sort the finances of your creative business – simply and calmly, once and for all – it’s now very affordable for you to do so.

Here is the short version of what the Pack and Manual are about (you can get the full details via the link at the end of this newsletter).

The Money for Creative People Pack is a multimedia course that walks you step-by-step through sorting out your finances and pricing, and comes with audios, non-scary spreadsheets and practical worksheets.

It’s perfect for you if you want to get the most in-depth guidance possible in your journey to stress-free money management and would love a little more hand-holding.

The Creative Money Manual is for those of you who prefer reading to listening and writing. It’s the core curriculum of all the lessons, worksheets and spreadsheets you get in the full version of the course.

It’s perfect for you if you want all the essential information in the simplest format, but still want the benefit of the ideas in the full course.

(Note: The manual is included in the pack.)

That’s the short version – you can click the link below to see all the details, as well as the fun illustrations in store for you as you read through the Creative Money Manual.

Click here for details of the sale.

The sale goes on for the next few days, and we do hope you’ll give it a look.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Walking – now a source of ideas for social innovation

Image: Photo by Pete Ashton, from the Still Walking festival flickr group.

Walking is now a starting point of inspiration for a fair few projects that we’ve come across lately.

There are some great ideas out there, here are a handful below:

Jane’s Walk

Jane Jacobs was an urban theorist who, among other things, advocated for vibrant, walkable, livable cities. When she died a few years ago, a small group of folks decided that the best way to honour her would be to facilitate a number of neighbour-led walks around Toronto, where people would explore their communities and share stories – history, culture, personal, etc. There were 21 walks in Toronto that year.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

How to get free publicity for your business in the media

DIY PR TRAINING FOR LONDON BUSINESSES

Entrepreneurs and small business owners will get the chance to learn DIY PR skills at a workshop this spring.

Award-winning journalist Mary Murtagh will be running her ‘How to Do Your Own PR’ workshop on Thursday, March 29.

The training will help participants generate new customers and business leads by getting coverage in the media.

Each participant will get one-to-one help with coming up with ideas for their own press release and learn simple ways to get the media’s attention and introduce their business to thousands of potential new customers.

The training includes how to spot stories in your day to day work and advice on the best way to approach journalists.

Participants leave with a simple tool kit of PR skills to get the best for their business out of the media.

Mary says: “Businesses can’t afford to miss this workshop. It is a golden opportunity for entrepreneurs to gain a valuable insight into how they can get their company’s name in print and on air.

“This workshop shows you how to get coverage for your business with tips and practical advice from a media insider in everything from speaking to reporters and press release writing.

“This is a great way of putting your business ahead of your competitors in a recession.”

The workshop is useful for any social enterprise, charity, public sector organisation, or business, however big or small. No previous experience of working with the media is required.

The workshop, which costs £125, runs from 10am to 2pm at Derry Hall, Derry House, Penfold Street, Marylebone, London, NW8 8HJ.

To book your place contact mary@marymurtaghmedia.co.uk.

http://www.marymurtaghmedia.co.uk/

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Blogging from Baku

MyCake is abroad this week as Sarah’s delivering workshops for the British Council in Baku … entrepreneurship generally and marketing specifically. So we thought we’d add on a couple of days to see what Baku has in the name of creatives and contemporary culture. Find number one is Ulia Ali’s blog viewfromheels.com which suggests that are vintage delights to be found in the Old Town….good news as that is first on the agenda today and will be reached by a stroll along the Corniche by the Caspian Sea and a detour to the fairground!

Meanwhile Marion, Lauren and Dawn are holding the fort in sunny UK …..

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

2012 – year of opportunity

Let 2012 be the year of opportunity (as well as the year of the dragon, the London Olympics, Alan Turing Year, year of the solar maximum when the Sun’s magnetic poles will reverse and not forgetting it is a Leap Year!)

Here are some of the opportunities we thought you might like to know about:

InBetween Time Productions seek two producers – Bristol based

Fierce Festival call for submissions for Pilot Night – Birmingham

Crafts Council opportunities

Nominations open for Arts & Business award 2012

Grand Union seek new Chair of the Board

Grand Union is an artist-led initiative that supports the development of artists and curators. Based in the Eastside district of Birmingham, it is a unique project that houses eight purpose built artist studios and a project space, providing a platform for a diverse and exciting programme of events and exhibitions and a vibrant working space for the best young contemporary artists in Birmingham.   They are looking for a new Chair for their Board with strong management experience and appreciation of contemporary art and working with young arts professionals.  The board meets once every three months for two hours in Birmingham.

If you would like further information about the vacancy, or would like to express an interest, please contact Cheryl Jones direct on email info@grand-union.org.uk, you can find out more about the organisation here: grand-union.org.uk

Get opportunities straight to your inbox from Arts admin e-digest

a-n: Jobs and opps

Turning Point Network – each region posts on opportunities and signposts to visual arts resources. Turning Point South West currently have a web development opportunity – deadline 30 January.

Artquest – January 2012 opportunities

jotta – opportunities page

We’re sure there are loads more coming up to – please post your links for January 2012 in the comments below.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Merry Christmas Everybody!

The MyCake team wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We’ll be back on 3rd January 2012!

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Visualisation methods for management

I know everyone is starting to wind down for the festive holidays and the last thing you might want to do is give your mind a challenge but check out this periodic table of visualisation methods taken from an e-learning tutorial on visualisation for communication, engineering and business. You can hover over lots of fascinating looking diagrams and techniques for better visualising data – here’s a more traditional looking list of the methods in the table.

Towards a Periodic Table of Visualization Methods for Management was presented by Lengler R., Eppler M. (2007) in IASTED Proceedings at the Conference on Graphics and Visualization in Engineering (GVE 2007), Clearwater, Florida, USA.

‘Being a data detective and seeking out hidden patterns can be lots of fun’ is something that David McCandless mentions in his TED talk of 2010 The beauty of data visualization. It would be great to see these methods used more and more in business discussions and organisational planning as well as market research and project evaluation. Instead of your clients or employees being told what the data is they can see it and get inside the whole picture to see what the causes and effects are. I bet it would be a lot more memorable for them.

‘Data can change your perspective and change your mind midstream’ is another point that David McCandless makes – try it out for your business when you have a spare moment, take some of your data and think about how it might look as a diagram that can encourage a greater understanding of where your business is at the moment. Just don’t try getting your diagrams out at the christmas dinner table others may not be so impressed that you’re not able to leave your mind to rest over a public holiday!

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.