By Selina Barker, Head Coach at Screw Work Let’s Play Ian was stuck. He knew he didn’t want to carry on in his job in an ad agency, but he had no idea what he wanted to do instead – or even what he could do. Ian was a classic case of a frustrated creative. Bright, [...]
Archive for the ‘Playful businesses’ Category
How to get noticed in a noisy world
Posted by John on November 26th, 2010
We live in a noisy info-overloaded world. Shouting at people about what you do (with traditional, bland, mass-advertising for instance) doesn’t work very well any more. Unless you have Tesco’s marketing budget, you better find a way to stand out and be memorable – to do something differently enough to jar your prospective clients or [...]
5 steps to being brilliant (without being a jerk)
Posted by John on August 8th, 2010
I’m just back from a 5-day break in Sicily at a remarkable boutique hotel. Every so often in our lives we are lucky enough to happen upon something truly brilliant – a restaurant, a hotel, a home. It may be grand or simple, but everything is just right – the food, the decor, the location, [...]
Should I quit my job?
Posted by John on May 11th, 2010
At some point you are going to reach that moment when the business you started in your spare time grows too big to fit into your evenings and weekends. And the question you have to ask yourself is “Should I quit my job?”. How do you decide? The founders of Innocent Drinks made the decision [...]
If you’re looking for a ‘really’ serious job you might be in the wrong place
Posted by John on May 10th, 2010
Poke are a digital agency in London, recently named one of the top 3 most respected agencies in the UK by New Media Age. They’ve done high profile creative projects for Orange, Skype, and French Connection and still found time to build a system for the local bakery to tweet when fresh bread is ready. [...]
CD Baby – the $22 million business Derek Sivers built for fun
Posted by John on April 15th, 2010
Two years ago Derek Sivers sold his business CD Baby for $22 million (most of which he gave to a charitable trust to support music education). How did he start it all? With a grand mission and comprehensive business plan? Nope. He started with the simple aim of solving a problem he had himself – finding [...]
How 3 entrepreneurs turned their passions into successful businesses & had fun doing it
Posted by John on April 2nd, 2010
This recording of three very playful entrepreneurs is utterly brilliant. It will show you how you can find the confidence to follow your dreams, how to start a business without knowing where you’re heading (or how you’re going to get there), how to enlist the help of some of the most important people in the [...]
A comic about a Choc-Mobile
Posted by John on March 8th, 2010
In Screw Work Let’s Play, I open the chapter on “How to work out what you really really want” with a story about Petra Barran. Petra has had several interesting careers and now owns the UK’s only touring choc-mobile, Choc Star. Not only does Petra have a rather unusual business but she also tells its [...]
