WORKSHOP SERIES PROPOSAL

FOR:
MANCHESTER SCHOOL OF ART

Working title: Kickstart your creative career

A workshop programme with Patricia van den Akker – Director of The Design Trust

Do you struggle to identify who you really are as a creative? In a work or business context?
Do you find it hard to know what your real talents are, to find and approach your ideal
clients who would love to pay you, and how to promote yourself to the right people? Do you
want to work for yourself as a creative but don’t know how to get started? How to stand out
from the crowd? How to make a living?

This series of three workshops is for you!

In 3 interlinked sessions of 4 hours Patricia will take you step-by-step from getting to know
yourself in more depth to identifying and approaching the right clients for you, to how to
make a better living.

These sessions are very practical and action-orientated, so you will need to be ready to do
some digging and practical exercises. By yourself, but also with the other participants. This is
a WORKshop series, and you do need to be ready to do the exercises to get the most out of
this series.

At the end of each session you will get practical homework exercises to put your new
knowledge and skills immediately to use, and to get professional feedback and accountability
too at the next session.

Biography
Patricia van den Akker is a well-known creative business adviser, trainer and coach, and the
Director of The Design Trust, the online business school for designers and makers. For more
than 15 years she has worked with 1,000s creative professionals, in particular in craft and
design. She is especially focused on creative business development, and supporting creatives
to make a better living.
She is known for her inspiring, practical and thought-provoking workshops that will help you
to get into action and make improvements in your own creative business.
She is a regular speaker at events and workshops across the UK, including the New
Designers exhibition in London, the Small is Beautiful conference in Scotland, and she was
the business adviser for the Etsy Resolution programme in 2016 working with over 5,000
new Etsy sellers online. For five years she wrote ‘The Design Doctor column’ for Crafts
magazine and she recently published her 2nd business book via Kickstarter called Dream Plan
Do.
Workshop 1: Who are you & how to make the most of what you have got

In this 1st session we will focus on laying the foundations to get to know yourself better and
how to identify your creative skills and talents.

 What is your (business) dream? What do you really want to do and create in the
next 5 – 10 years? A creative icebreaker exercise to get to know the other participants
too.
 What makes you ‘you’? What are your best talents? Your values? Your traits? Your
background? Identify what’s special about you, what to focus on and what you still
need to learn.
 Why do you do what you do? Identify your main motivators and values in this
thought-provoking exercise.
 The 5 main motivators for creatives, and how this exercise can help you to
focus your practice and future more.
 What do you want to be known for? What’s your niche and why is a niche
important?
 Create your own SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and
Threats) and identify what you need to focus on and what needs more work.
 Create your own one year plan: Where do you want to be one year from now,
and what do you need to do, have, create and learn to get there?
 The Creative Ad: Who are you & what do you do? Homework for next time.
 Practical use: As homework you will update your CV or online presence, and
continue to develop your one-year plan.

At the end of this session you will have more clarity on your talents, motivations and what
makes you unique. You will also have created your own one-year plan and have got more
clarity on what you need to focus and work on in the next 12 months.

Workshop 2: Who are your clients, how to identify them and approach them
successfully?

In this 2nd session we will focus on who your ideal clients are exactly, and how to approach
them. Bring your plan from session one to add more practical marketing activities to your list
of things to do this year.

 Review of your creative ad homework.

 So, what do you do? Features and benefits of your creative work. Update your
SWOT analysis and how a weakness can become a strength.
 The Who & What matrix: Find out what you are selling to whom, a powerful
exercise to help you get really clear on your business and potential clients and income
streams.
 Who are your clients? Getting to know them through the Client Persona exercise.
 Your client collage homework.
 How to do practical market research to get the info you need
 ‘People only buy from people they know, like & trust’ or how to build your
profile, credibility and trust.
 5 creative ways to approach your potential clients successfully &
confidentially
 Practical use: Identify your 50 contacts to start your own database. Start engaging
with them on social media. And do you dare to get in touch?
At the end of this session you have got a much clearer idea who your ideal clients is, what
they really want, why they would buy from you. In fact you will have the start of your own
database! Plus the client collage can really help you get under the skin of your ideal clients,
and improve your next new products, your branding and marketing. You will do some
practical market research too and you will get some really practical homework to start
reaching out to your ideal clients.

Workshop 3: How to make a living?

In this 3rd and final session we will focus on how to make it financially work.

 The 3 big financial questions exercise: to help you check if your numbers are
adding up, and where to position yourself in the market. Indeed, you will find out if
your business idea or fledging business is sustainable and ultimately profitable.
 What to do if your numbers don’t stack up? How to make sure that you create a
financially viable career. Do you need to increase your prices, get a part-time job,
promote yourself better or …?
 How to cost your creative products and calculate your hourly rate.
 9 different ways to price your products or services
 The most common pricing mistakes.
 How to change your prices confidently.

At the end of this session you have got a clear financial structure for your business, and you
will know where to position your products or services in the market in terms of your price,
and you will know exactly what to do to change your prices and make your business
sustainable in the next 12 months.

Patricia van den Akker