Selling yourself, Selling Ideas – My Entrepreneurial role.

“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will” – George Bernard Shaw

Creative artists have the ability to debut their work over a variety of websites, blogs, social networks and mobile Applications. Websites such as Flickr, Vimeo and YouTube have made it easier for inspiring Auteurs to showcase their creative work to anyone. The old media economies provided Mass production and stability, yet with the development of Web 2.0 we are now in a ‘Cyberculture’. 

The 'growth of cyberspace is the result of an international movement of younger people eager to experiment collectively with forms of communication other than those provided by traditional media.' (Lévy, 2001)

www.charlottedart.co.uk

The economy is dynamic and fast moving resulting in an increase of competition, and a less stable, cutthroat industry. The industry now is mainly freelance work, hence my urgency to take an entrepreneurial role and create a name for myself before graduating, hoping that this will give me a head start with the competition. After photographing my first wedding at 16 I have built up a brand and image for a business. I created adverts, used social network pages, and built myself a website. I have gain quite a lot of photography work over the years and definitely learnt that the best advertising is word of mouth. To be successful I have discovered that; professionalism, efficiency and personality are key. I have learnt how to formally write emails, invoices, keeping accounts records, and business phone calls, but I have a lot more to learn. In the last year I have diversified myself to filmmaking and have found a market for creating corporate videos for companies that want to pay less. I have made business plans to expand myself further into this specialism. However getting into a niche can also be negative as you can to tie yourself down and would be hard to then adapt to do a different style of filming.

I have pitched to one large Estate Agent and plan to do more pitching to other companies in the near future. I need to put together a strong portfolio and decide upon how I am going to present it, assuring to keep consistency with the rest of my Freelance image. I must focus on what the client wants, and take their company image into consideration. If my work does get more successful over the next few years I will change my company name, and brand to adapt it into a production company, as I feel my current image is a bit restricting, and maybe one day I can employ crew. I have many exciting prospects and determined to be a successful entrepreneur.

Notes 

Pierre Lévy (2001). Cyberculture. Minneapolis: The University of Minneapolis Press. p1-2.