The Creative Thinking Mindset - a Pete Mosley talk

The Creative Thinking Mindset  - Fresh Thinking for Creative People

Pete Mosley, editor of craft&design Magazine and author of Make Your Creativity Pay gave a talk at the Leicester Print Workshop at the end of November which Doug and myself went to.

We had never been to the Print Workshop so it was great to see what it was like and be surrounded by creative people.

Pete is a very interesting and motivating man who provides coaching and training for creative thinkers and businesses.

I first heard of Pete years ago when I was at college and I was aware he had written a book but I hadn't read it or learnt much about him or his processes. I hadn't even realised he was Scottish!

Pete gave us a bit of background into his career, working in a pottery in Govan then moving to go to University in Loughborough, joining a band, becoming a town artist, learning magic and then getting a post graduate certificate in Business and Personal Coaching. 

Handouts were passed around for us to create notes on. 

Pete talked about surrounding ourselves with the right people. People can be radiators or drains and to stay creative we need lots of radiators!

Main points I took away from the evening were - 

Be open to change - don't always make what you like, think about your customers and what they want

Be consistent - in everything from business cards and paperwork to your products and how you present yourself to your customers

Buyers love a story and they love a friendly seller - make friends with your customers and be yourself

Don't be afraid to ask for quotes and testimonials - people love to give feedback

Make a dream list of clients - nothing bad can happen from aspiring to something great!

Befriend your competitors - use the shoe shop theory, you aren't going to only look in one shoe shop when buying a pair of shoes, you will shop around and buy the pair you really want. It's the same for buyers of craft and design.

After this inspiring talk Pete welcomed questions from the audience. Discussions were had about galleries expectations, PR and editorial usefulness amongst other things.

It left the print workshop ready to go straight home and start making lists of things I must do to help my business and my mindset. I am slowly working through these lists!

Thanks to Pete Mosley and the Leicester Print Workshop for a great evening.

I will finish with a statement which I think is very true and worth reminding all creative people of -
'As an artist or designer you occupy the position of being one of the most interesting, absorbing and fascinating people on the planet'

Goodbye 2012

With only 5 days until Christmas Day, Ruth Gordon Jewellery is shutting up shop for the holidays. Normal service will resume in the New Year after we have travelled from Leicester to Perthshire to Leicester to Saltash to Leicester. That is 1228 miles!

This year has been great both in my business and personal life. I have made some great new contacts with galleries and clients, I was featured ion insideKENT Magazine, I have set up the ACJ East Midlands group, I have helped organise the first ever ACJ East Midlands exhibition, I have three new stockists, two new online shops and a brand new rolling mill! There have also been some low points to the year but I'll focus on them in a later post.

This year I have been to some very inspirational places. I have visited France, Spain, Andorra, Czech Republic and many beautiful places in the UK including the wonderful Burgh Island. I have also attended two very motivating talks, one at the LCB (see A helpful evening in Leicester) and the other at the Leicester Print Workshop (look out for a blog post about this talk in the new year).

For a large part of the summer and autumn my attention was turned to organising my wedding so I didn't have as much time for my business as I would have liked but now I no longer need to make endless amounts of paper pom poms and pinwheels or rubber stamp luggage tags to make place settings.

My 'to do' list for January is already massive! I owe this blog about eight posts, four of which are sitting in draft form on my blog menu. I need to pick up the paperwork trail and sort out my inventory and contracts, I will be getting some brand new business cards which is always fun and I need to have a January sale!

But for now I'm going to sit back and relax. That is after my AAT Level 2 Accounting exam tomorrow! Just a small side project I've got going on, I go to college once a week to learn book keeping and accounting skills. Very handy when you are self employed!

Ruth Gordon Jewellery can be found in several galleries over the festive period and I would like to thank these galleries for their continued support over the year. I would also like to thank Amanda Charteris and the Gift Wrapped & Gorgeous team for all their support over the past seven months. They have a wonderful selection of online boutiques and sell gorgeous products.

Focus Gallery in Nottingham are holding an ACJ East Midlands exhibition where my work is featured until 15th January 2013

 

The excellent Peter Potter Gallery in Haddington has a great selection of work from all my ranges for sale.

Hung Gallery in Inverness are stocking my work with everything from cluster rings to acrylic bracelets for sale!

In Leicestershire the wonderful Wistow Gallery is currently stocking my work. They have a great range of my cold enamel pieces from rings to brooches as well as some nylon pieces too!

Thanks to all my customers, suppliers and galleries.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.

See you in 2013!