Here’s a new site that should be of interest to any creative professional looking to balance creative enthusiasm with business know-how: Business of Design Online. Created by Cat Morley of Designers Who Blog fame and her colleagues Neil Tortorella and Jay Wickham, it looks set to be a fabulous resource.

Here’s the lowdown:

BoDo blogs about the business of design including: starting your own design business (online or off); marketing; dealing with clients; working with printers, photographers, copywriters and other surrounding industries; pretty much anything to help a design business grow.

I’m delighted to say I will be a visiting author on the site, writing about creative coaching and the ‘people dimension’ of running a design business. If you look at the range and level of expertise amongst the other visiting authors, you’ll see why I’m so pleased to be included in their number.

BoDo is a brilliant idea - given the range of skills that are required to run a design studio or freelance design practice (or come to think of it, any creative enterprise), it makes perfect sense to gather together a set of resources and authors who are focused on helping designers deal with the business of design and get on with the business of designing.

But a brilliant idea is nothing without execution - I know Cat and the team have put a huge amount of work into the project over the past few months, which is why I’m so pleased to see it up and running this morning, and eager to recommend it to you.

Have a look for yourself - don’t worry if you’re not a designer, I’m not and I’m sure I’ll learn plenty from the site.

See you there…

One of my dreams came true the other day. I did my first coaching session via webcam. OK, maybe it’s not what every small boy dreams of when he’s growing up, but I’ve been waiting a long time for the technology to make this possible. It looks like that day has arrived.

As well as using the webcam for coaching, I’ve been talking to friends as far away as Japan and Australia - I’m amazed at the picture quality and there doesn’t seem to be much of a time-lag, even at such a distance.

Nothing beats a face-to-face meeting of course. But having delivered hundreds of coaching sessions by phone, I can say that the webcam beats the phone hands down. Being able to see someone’s changing expressions, their gestures, their whole body language, makes it so much easier to get a sense of their emotional state, and really helps to bring the conversation alive.

I’m excited as this means I can offer coaching to people who are so far away that we wouldn’t normally get the chance to meet up. It also means I can be more flexible in the timing of appointments - it’s much easier to schedule a web appointment than to arrange for us both to be physically in the same place at the same time.

To me this is another example of the potential for technology to bring people closer together - I’ve already met quite a few people in person as a result of this blog, hopefully the web coaching will help me connect with a lot more.

If you fancy trying it, drop me an e-mail.

(This is the kind of thing I do: for freelancers and companies.)

One of the unexpected side-effects of writing this blog has been people asking me for advice on how to use blogging to spread their ideas and build their business. One of these is my friend and long-time colleague John Eaton, the founder of Reverse Therapy.

John is one of the most creative people I’ve ever met, and he has had a profound influence on my coaching and creativity. So I’m introducing his work here partly as a way of ‘quoting my sources’ on some of my writings about creativity and the body, partly to introduce you to an innovative new blog, and partly because he’s doing important work that should be of interest to anyone who wants to live a healthy and balanced life.

Reverse Therapy is a radical new medical treatment based on the concept of ‘Bodymind’ - the natural intelligence in our body, which we frequently ignore in our eagerness to become the purely rational, reasonable, logical beings that are so admired in Western society. In many conditions, the physical symptoms of illness can be seen as Bodymind’s way of signalling to us that there is something wrong with the way we are living our lives, and prompting us to make changes to stay true to our ourselves. Reverse Therapy works by educating individuals in how to tune into these Bodymind messages and act on them by making specific changes in their behaviour - whereupon the physical symptoms reduce or in many cases vanish altogether.

Reverse Therapy has attracted national press attention in the UK because of its success in treating the conditions known variously as M.E., Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and Fibromyalgia. According to the medical establishment, these conditions are currently incurable.

Probably the best known case of recovery from CFS using Reverse Therapy is that of Anna Hemmings, the World and European Champion marathon canoeist. Here is Anna’s account from her website:

Anna thought she would have to retire from the sport when diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in April 2003. Following a series of failed treatments Anna began to think that her hopes of competing again were ebbing further and further away. The illness left her exhausted and aching on a daily basis as well as physically fatigued after basic light exercise. However, Anna refused to give up and in September 2004, Anna learned about ‘reverse therapy’, an innovative and highly successful new treatment. By February 2005 Anna was finally able to resume training again. She went on to win a clean sweep of National, European and World titles.

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OK the secret’s out - Liz at Successful Blog sent me this heads-up re the SOBCon ‘07 Relationship Bloggers’ Conference, which is being simultaneously announced across a number of blogs right now (assuming I’ve got the time difference right).

Looking at the lineup, I’m tempted to go myself, but sadly I’m already booked up that weekend. If your schedule allows and you’re passionate about blogging then it looks like a fantastic event. So I’m posting details up here in case any of you can make it.

Liz’s Successful Blog and David Armano’s Logic + Emotion have been essential reading for me for several months, so I’m envious of those who’ll get to hear them both speak in one morning. I recently discovered Mike Sansome’s Converstations, which had also become a regular read. And Wendy Piersall’s eMomsAtHome is full of good ideas (even for non-Moms like me). I’m not familiar with the other blogs on the list, but will be checking them out. Blog services Technorati and MyBlogLog will also be represented.

Here are the details as sent to me by Liz. No doubt this event will be well covered on numerous blogs, but if any Wishful Thinking readers attend I’d love to hear about your experience - either in the comments or by e-mail.

SOBCon ‘07

Take Your Blogging to the Next Level
A Relationship Bloggers’ Conference and Networking Event

Community, Friday, May 11, 2007, 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Christine Kane, popular guitarist, singer* , blogger LIVE
Open Mic Night Cocktail Party – Live community event (multiple microphones) Take the conversation out of the comment box!

Speakers, Saturday, May 12, 2007, 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM

Phil Gerbyshak, Make It Great! Relationship Geek
Liz Strauss, Successful-Blog SOB and BAD Blogger
David Armano, Logic+Emotion
Terry Starbukcer, Ramblings from a Glass Half Full; Rodney Rumford, PodBlaze; Ben Yoskovitz, Instigator Blog
Mike Sansone, Converstations & Iowa Marketing Bloggers
Chris Cree, Success CREEations; Scott Rafer, MyBlogLog; Janice Myint Technorati
Wendy Piersall, eMomsAtHome

There will be interactive presentations on publishing, design and branding, tools, analytics, social networking, marketing, and coaching — all from the perspectives of the relationship blogger and the audience.

Only 250 attendees will be accepted, and we hope YOU can be one of them!

Introducing the new, slimmed-down, weekly(ish) version of Creative Links…

Hats off to A Consuming Experience for bringing to my attention a series of podcasts of business advice for artists and creatives, produced by the Enterprise Centre for the Creative Arts in London. They include How to Handle Clients and Commissions, How to Make a Name for Yourself and the irresistibly-titled How to Cook the Books.

I’m going to try to resist including Noisy Decent Graphics in every creative links post - basically you should read the whole thing if you’ve got any interest in design, creativity or the business of running a studio. But I’ll just draw your attention to Cruel to be kind? about how to give feedback on terrible creative work - plenty of good suggestions in the comments. And a thought-provoking series about Sustainability in graphic design, where lots of questions are asked and we learn that “wedes don’t really have complicated messages that need to be communicated across several territories”.

The same goes for Creating Passionate Users and Russell Davies - both consistently excellent, so I won’t post every week, just remember that Quantity equals quality and whatever you do Don’t ask employees to be passionate about the company.

I had the pleasure of coffee with Johnnie Moore yesterday - as engaging and inspiring in person as he is on his blog, which is hardly surprising from someone who has written 117 posts about authenticity. He writes about an eclectic mix of interesting things, including More Media and Less Stuff?, Alphabet and Goddess and The Popcorn of Therapy.

Bestseller Interviews has a collection of links entitled How to Conquer Writer’s Block - The Ultimate Guide. I know what you’re thinking - “How can it be the ultimate guide if it doesn’t include Mark’s 10 Tips for Overcoming Writer’s Block?” - but it’s a fantastic collection so let’s not split hairs.

And if you’ve ever wondered How TV shows get made, TV Grouting reveals all.

That’s all folks, have nice weekends. I’ve got a fascinating weekend ahead of me - will tell you about it next week.

Steve Moore at Policy Unplugged has let me know about an event called Uploading Innovation hosted by NESTA in London on 27 February.

The Uploading…Innovation conference has been convened to help us to learn from those people who have been at the forefront of the development of new participatory ways of working, those who have harnessed the network effects of emerging technologies of collaboration to create new business models, new products and services, to bring about culture change within organisations and disruptive innovation to their sectors.

The organisers are looking to bring together “people from a range of backgrounds including social software developers, bloggers, Web 2.0 start ups, people working within private, public and not for profit organisations, communication professionals, writers and journalists”. If that sounds like you and you’re interested in the topic, there are a few places left, at no charge.

I’ll be there - send me an e-mail if you’re going and want to meet up.

Today is Valentine’s Day. It’s also the first anniversary of this blog.

When I wrote my first post last year, I didn’t notice the significance of the date. Serendipity or stupidity? I’m not sure but it’s a nice coincidence.

Hugh at GapingVoid is on a slightly Quixotic Valentine’s Quest. He suggests we shouldn’t just think about Valentine’s Day in terms of “the boy/girl sex thing” - but a bigger idea of love, one that we can all share. I like that idea.

Of course, I don’t just mean romantic, sexual love. I mean human connection. “Agape”. If you don’t have that, like Saint Paul once said, you have nothing. (GapingVoid)

The last 12 months of blogging have been an unexpected adventure to me. The thing I didn’t realise when I started was how great it would be for connecting with and sometimes meeting so many generous, interesting and inspiring people. Thank you to everyone who has read, commented, linked and otherwise inspired Wishful Thinking during the past year.

Spread the love…

Following on from my earlier posts about Enthusiasm v Confidence, Ludivine’s question about How to Maintain Enthusiasm When Things Get Tough and Ways to Stop Worrying When You’re Under Pressure, I’ll finish off this mini-series with a few tips for tapping into your natural enthusiasm.

You’ll be pleased to know that you don’t need to be stressed out to use these tips - they work equally well if you’re just looking for a boost of enthusiasm to get you started (or restarted) on a project that matters to you.

The key to enthusiasm is not to try to force it - I like the phrase ‘tapping into enthusiasm’ as it suggests a natural spring that rises up of its own accord, especially if we don’t block it.

1. Start with curiosity

I once went to a writing class with the poet Craig Raine where he said writing poetry is a bit like stripping wallpaper. Once you’ve started, you end up with little ‘tags’ of wallpaper sticking out, which you start to pull slowly - sometimes the tag breaks off in your hand and you’re left with practically nothing. Other times, you pull on the tag and it gets bigger and bigger, till you’ve got a long strip of wallpaper coming away in your hands. Sometimes the strip goes on and on until you’ve pulled away the paper from a whole section of the wall. If you hadn’t been curious enough to pull the little tag, you’d never have managed such a spectacular achievement (in wallpaper-stripping terms).

Where are the ‘tags’ that are piquing your curiosity? A book you meant to read? A film you meant to watch? Someone you’ve been meaning to call for a while? Something you’ve always wanted to learn? An idea you never got around to trying out? Follow your curiosity wherever it leads you - lots of times it will trickle out, but if you keep trying, sooner or later you’ll feel it swell to a rushing torrent of enthusiasm.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I travelled to Brighton to talk to David Amor, Creative Director at computer games developer Relentless Software, for the latest interview for my research on Perceptions of Coaching in the UK Creative Industries.

In an industry where, according to Gamesindustry.biz, “insane crunch times and endless overtime hours … are considered to be a standard part of working in the development sector”, David and his business partner Andrew Eades are remarkable for having had “the crazy idea of a development studio that works 9 to 5 with no overtime”. Not only that, they strictly limit internet and e-mail access during working hours, and recreational games are banned from the office. Their approach has elicited protests about such ‘draconian’ measures, mixed with incredulity when they explain that in 3 years of production they have never missed a deadline or asked their staff to work evenings or weekends.

David and Andrew founded Relentless Software in 2003 to make Social Games on traditional games consoles such as PlayStation2. Their first product, DJ: Decks & FX, was published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) in September 2004 to critical acclaim and was subsequently nominated for a BAFTA. DJ: Decks & FX is a music-mixing product that gives users a virtual DJ rig and a set of over 100 genuine dance tracks to play. It allows the user to perform live at parties as well as record their perfect mix for later sharing and playback.

In 2004 and 2005, Relentless worked on SCEE’s London Studios titles, EyeToy: Groove, EyeToy: Kinetic and SingStar. PopworldEyeToy and SingStar are SCEE’s internally developed social games that have collectively sold tens of millions of units. SCEE are world-leaders in developing and publishing this genre of products and Relentless is pleased to work closely with SCEE in this increasingly important market segment.

In October 2005, Relentless Software and SCEE released Buzz!: The Music Quiz, a music based quiz game set in a TV studio that includes four bespoke buzzer peripherals. Buzz!: The Big Quiz was released in March 2006 and Relentless continue to develop new Buzz! games for PlayStation platforms including Buzz!: The Schools Quiz and Buzz! The Mega Quiz. The Buzz! franchise has sold 4M units in its first year and continues to be an important brand in the Sony catalogue.

Relentless was honoured with Best New Intellectual Property and Best Innovation in conjunction with SCEE at the 2006 Develop Industry Excellence Awards. Later in 2006 it went on to win a BAFTA for Best Social Game. Relentless was also named 3rd highest UK independent game developer in the recently published Develop 100 which lists the top 100 developers by revenue generated in the UK. At a global ranking of 43 with a single Buzz! product, above Microsoft and Sega, this demonstrates the potential of social games and the ability of Relentless to achieve success in this area.

Relentless continues to make games that everybody can play and has developed considerable expertise in the new Social Games genre that allows people to enjoy video games without having the gamer expertise required by other products.

Talking to David, I was struck by his emphasis on the hard business value of ensuring his staff have a good balance of focused work and time away from the office. In his view this is not just a case of being ‘nice’ to people, but of providing the optimum conditions for efficient work and reducing some of the uncertainty inherent in creative production.

Relentless are currently hiring - e-mail David if you think his approach to making games could be for you.

Click the ‘AUDIO MP3′ icon below to hear the interview.

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The snow we saw together -
has it fallen again
this year?

Via Basho