Photo: Vojtech Okenka / Pexels
Are you a creative looking to launch a business? Our techspert Jewell Sparks has a few ideas to get you started.
Many of us are rethinking our careers as things attempt to return to normal after our Covid-19 shock treatment. Have you considered becoming an entrepreneur? If you are a musician, artist, or creator, have you been monetizing your creativity? There are lots of resources in Berlin to help you establish your business and to lay the groundwork for financial stability. As a creator, always think about the who, what and why! Below are a few resources to get you started.
What is your business model?
Establishing a business model is crucial. Business models help you to create a business plan in order to attract the right customers and the right resources. Recently, we have all come to realize how important, entertainment, art, and culture are to our mental and emotional survival. Film and television characters that make us laugh, cry and dream. Music helps us escape from reality, and art is better to look at versus our colleagues on Zoom.
To all of you creators our there, without you, there would be nothing to entertain us. Plug in your business ideas into this simple lean business model canvas. Make sure you are creating what people want. A few months ago, we provided a sample crisis canvas. You should always have a backup plan.
What is your value proposition?
Providing a product or service is great, but if you are to fill the needs of current customers or potential customers, generating a sustainable revenue stream may be difficult. Ask yourself these four questions:
- What is your solution (what do you create, and how does it make something better?)
- How can people hear, see and/or buy your product or solution?
- What value does your product and/or service provide (what pain points or empty gaps does it fill)?
- How are you informing or educating others about your product, service and/or value proposition (why your product versus another product)?
- When you as a creator explore the above, you have now created your S.A.V.E. business model.
Build your brand
Once you think you have figured out what service your creativity can provide, it is time to figure out how to generate money independently alongside your publishers, agents, producers, managers and so on.
The city of Berlin has a startup unit and provides resources to help you establish your business. The network helps you as a creator / founder establish and develop your company, your brand. Resources are available for both German nationals and immigrants.
Want to attract venture dollars?
Earlybird Ventures just announced their support of immigrant founders / creators. The company has realized that one out of five company founders are not from Germany. The solution they created is called Vision Lab. Realizing that German bureaucracy can sometimes get in the way, Earlybird wants to help entrepreneurs overcome the barriers. The program offers six months of training, mentoring and helps align you with potential investment.
BiTHOUSE Venture Group / UNITED17 Ventures, provides a similar service, but caters to women, minorities and startup founders wanting to align with strategic partners, identify market positioning and build advisory and mentoring boards for growth and development. Originating in Silicon Valley, the initiative provides support to entrepreneurs throughout Europe and has established a company in Berlin.
If you are new to Berlin, or new to entrepreneurship, there are resources out there to help you jumpstart a brand new career and strengthen the networks you already have. Just because you are a creative, this does not mean that you should underestimate the value of creating your own brand and forming a company. Hopefully, the resources provided help you think about a better way to monetize your creativity.
That’s all, folks! Until next week….. In the meantime, stay home, happy and healthy. Have a few business ideas you want to shape up? Have some news you want to share? Ping me.
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