Week 1

Gem Barton

Be honest with myself but also patient. Make sure what I want is really what I want, not just a fantasy or an idea. This is a great reminder that all jobs will have good and bad sides – I used to dream when I was younger of working for Disney or Pixar, and thought it would be perfect. I imagine even those massive companies have intense times and being in the limelight must mean pressure can be sky-high.

Determine where you place your value. For me it’s the environment, and the future.

• Work hard
• Analyse failures, learn
• Take chances, push boundaries
• Look after myself
• Have meaning and purpose

• Only take the skills you need from others, don’t overindulge and get sidetracked.
• The overall matter is better than the individual pieces.
• Experience. Experience is a key for me, I don’t have enough of it. I need more experience of working in the design world.
• Utitlise technology; this can expand clientele globally. I have experienced this during the lockdown period where working from home has been the alternative to every day working at the office. It’s been incredible how everyone has adapted and the help of Microsoft Teams, Skype, Zoom has encouraged this contact. This links well to the next part where Barton mentions she has been a part of collaboration online. I haven’t collaborated creatively online but I have utilised the skills required to do so – i.e. held meetings, shared my screen/s of work, helped colleagues and vice versa.

Your personal brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room. Reverse engineering – how do I want to be described and thought of in my absence of others? I would love to be known for being determined (knowing I will try and try again), innovative (being unique with inventing my own ideas) and creative (keeping that spark alive).

There are three things that appealed to me when looking at three of the five recommendations of business plans:

Business Model Canvas – the vimeo video which shows how each model block connects with another, and the order in which the business model steps are generated
The Happy Startup School – the ebook and many articles! This website is brilliant.
• The Simple Power of Making a Decision – “Only by cutting down your options, will you start making progress. The best ideas aren’t necessarily new and shiny things, but doing better with less. We’re all overwhelmed with choice.” …. “How can you innovate with the delete key?“
• Why nothing is the hardest thing to do – It’s important to remember that every once in a while we need to slow down and do nothing. This can be valuable for new methods and innovation.
• Just be you, everyone else is taken – This led me to the below video:

“People who are afraid of themselves will work for those who aren’t afraid”

Caroline McHugh

• What do I expect from life? What does life expect from me?
• Impossible or I’mpossible?

My StartUp Plan – the article posing the nine key questions to ask yourself about your business:

My mini business plan:

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T-shaped designer:

I have begun to explore what really makes me the designer I am, and how I can improve going forward:

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