a crash course for creative business starters
‘If you ever find yourself in the wrong story, leave’ – Mo Willems
Entrepreneurship is usually aimed at real entrepreneurs—people who don’t care what they sell or trade because they enjoy the process of entrepreneurship itself. Most courses and training in entrepreneurship are aimed at this group.
In the creative sector, you encounter a different kind of entrepreneur: one who does not want to be an entrepreneur but sees no other option. Working in an organization with and for others does not offer enough challenge or feels like a genuflection to one’s ideals. Starting a company is the only way to remain faithful to those ideals. Entrepreneurship is not a goal in itself but a means to become happier.
This crash course is intended for those kinds of people.
PART #1 – IDENTITY
The first part of this crash course aims to reveal your identity as an entrepreneur. This identity is based on your beliefs, values, and personality. It is challenging for creative entrepreneurs to distinguish who they are as a person and who they are as entrepreneurs.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be a challenge. Your idenity as an entrepreneur is closely related to your personal identity.
Best advice? Listen to Rick Rubin or read his book ‘The Creative Act’. Here are some videos
Now, let’s go to work.
In a few steps, we explore your identity and translate it into a vision for your entrepreneurial endeavor.
Step #1 – your life in ten years
Describe your life in ten years in detail. Ask yourself the question: how do I wake up in the morning? What did I dream? What are the first things I feel, think, and do? What does my bedroom look like? Do I even sleep in a bedroom? What do I eat for breakfast? With who? What are my plans for the day?
Focus on your preferred future. How do you want your life to be in ten years? Don’t hold back. You can use words, images, illustrations, or spoken words. Choose the medium you like best.
Step #2- 16 personalities Test
The 16 personalities test is a personality assessment based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) that categorizes individuals into 16 distinct personality types.
The test assigns a four-letter code (e.g., INTJ-A) representing an individual’s preferences in these dimensions. This framework aims to provide insights into how people perceive the world, make decisions, and interact with others. While popular in personal development and some professional settings, psychologists have questioned its validity.
We use the test to make you more aware of ways to explore your identity.
Do the test. It is over here: https://www.16personalities.com
Step #3 – Ikigai
Ikigai (生き甲斐, pronounced “ee-key-guy”) is a westernized – some would say commodified or colonized – Japanese concept that refers to one’s reason for being or that which makes life worth living. Ikigai gives a person a sense of purpose and fulfillment in life. It’s about finding happiness and satisfaction in everyday activities and small moments rather than solely focusing on grand life goals. Ikigai is highly individual and can come from various sources, including relationships, hobbies, work, or personal passions. While often misinterpreted in Western culture as primarily career-focused, true ikigai encompasses all aspects of life that bring value and joy.
Watch the video above and fill in your Ikigai below.
You’ve learned more about your dreams, desires, and personality in three steps. Identities aren’t fixed and are constantly changing. So is yours. The tools offered in this first part help you reflect on your identity more structured. Pick the tools you are in tune with and use them regularly.
PART #2 – STRATEGY
In this second part, you translate your identity into a sustainable business strategy. Sustainable means suitable for the long term and based on your creative goals.
There are two tools that we use to map your strategy: the Golden Cirle and the K-HOLE Anxiety Matrix.
Step #1- The Golden Circle
The main principle of Simon Sinek’s The Golden Circle is to start with why you do what you do, not what you do. This is important because, especially in creative businesses, why you do something is the connection with your target audience.
The Golden Circle consists of three concentric circles:
1. Why – this is why you get up in the morning, your purpose.
2. How – this represents how to achieve the Why.
3. What – this is the tangible product or service you offer.
Watch Simon Sinek’s TEDx Talk below and fill in your Golden Circle. Please note that Sinek is talking about leaders, companies, and brands. Don’t let that confuse you. The model is also extremely suitable for mapping personal business desires.
Like all models, the Golden Circle is just a model. It gives you insights into your feelings, thoughts, desires, and wishes. There is no right way to fill in the model.
Step #2- K-HOLE Brand Anxiety Matrix
The Brand Anxiety Matrix is a conceptual tool created by the trend-forecasting group K-HOLE in 2012. It’s designed to help understand and categorize brands, public figures, artists, and designers based on their perceived anxiety levels. The Brand Anxiety Matrix consists of two axes:
1. Vertical Axis – From Legibility to Illegibility
2. Horizontal Axis – From Chaos to Order
You can plot various entities on this matrix based on how they present themselves or are perceived. The position on the matrix reflects the entity’s level of anxiety and how it manages that anxiety.
The matrix has four quadrants:
1. Legible and Orderly – Entities here are easy to understand and well-organized.
2. Legible and Chaotic – These are clear in their message but unpredictable in their actions.
3. Illegible and Orderly – Difficult to understand but consistent in behavior.
4. Illegible and Chaotic – The most anxiety-inducing quadrant, with confusing and unpredictable entities.
Read the trend K-HOLE report on the Brand Anxiety Matrix here.
Fill in the Matrix for brands, artists, designers, people, and other entities you like, admire, or find interesting. The matrix helps analyze how different entities handle anxiety and how this affects their public perception and strategy. It helps you understand your preferred way of handling anxiety.
PART #3 – STORYSCAPING
In this part, you are turning your strategy into a story—or, even better, a world where you and your audience find each other based on your shared values.
We use the Storyscaping method, a relatively new way of looking at your creative business. The process is based on the notion that your values are the starting point of your business. The right branding of your values and strategy will attract the right audience: people who share your values.
The book about Storyscaping is highly recommended.
Storyscaping is about shared values (what you and your target group find important) and shared experiences (experiences you share with your target group).
We will first work on the strategic pillars. Try to describe the following components as well as possible.
Brand strategy (purpose): why do we exist? You can use the insights gained during step #2 here. Also, think about the visual identity of your brand: do you already have a logo? Which colors and shapes fit the concept?
Product Positioning (product): What is your brand’s positioning? How do you market it, and in relation to which other event? You have also already considered this in the business model canvas.
Consumer Insight (desire): what are the core values of the target group? What does the target group feel? What emotions do they experience? What do they desire?
Consumer Journey (needs): what does the target group need? In which environment and context do they live?
Shared values and experiences (connection): which values and experiences do you (and your event) share with your target group?
This is followed by the new applications component. Here, you convert the strategy into a marketing action.
The core is the organizing idea: one sentence in which you briefly and powerfully explain what you have to offer your target group. An example is ‘Just do it’ by Nike or ‘Red Bull gives you wings’ by Red Bull. Both principles use a metaphor as a comparison. Red Bull does not literally give you wings but gives you the feeling that anything is possible.
Experience space: This is an overview of the environments where and how you encounter your audience. What relationships are there between you and your audience, and where do they meet? The club scene in Berlin is a good example. When you are in Berlin, there is no point in searching online for the best parties. They advertise in the city itself via posters and stickers. If you want a cool party, look for posters on the street.
Fill in your storyscape as completely as possible. This isn’t easy. A storyscape is also never perfect right away. Use the storyscape to force yourself to think about your values and those of your audience and shape your organizing idea.
More about Storyscaping: www.storyscaping.com.
PART #4 – BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS
There is one last step between your strategy and storyscape and a proper business plan: the Business Model Canvas.
The business model canvas is a structured elaboration of all the components that are important when starting an organization. Alexander Osterwalder invented the model, which is suitable for organizations that change frequently (or have to change frequently). Most creative businesses are constantly in flux.
Above, you can see that the business model canvas is structured and open. In the middle is your Value Proposition, which is similar to your organizing idea. Most parts of your Storyscape are also a part of the canvas. The canvas forces you to define those parts better and think about the cost structures.
Watch the video below by Caroline Merckx about the essence of the Business Model Canvas.
The free course below will help you fill in your Business Model Canvas.
Your Business Model Canvas is the foundation for your business plan.
Additional sources
K-HOLE (2016). The K_HOLE Brand Anxiety Matrix. New York: K-HOLE.
Gaston Legorburu and Darren McColl (2014). Storyscaping: Stop Creating Ads, Start Creating Worlds. Hoboken: Wiley. (www.storyscaping.com).
Alexander Ostwalder and Yves Pigneur (2010). Business Model Generation: A Handbook For Visionaries, Game Changers and Challengers. Hoboken: Wiley.
Simon Sinek (2011). Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action. London: Penguin Books.
Eric Ries (2011). The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation To Create Radically Successful Businesses. New York: Currency. (www.theleanstartup.com)
Rick Rubin (2023). The Creative Act: A Way Of Being. Edinburgh: Canongate Books.