{"id":485,"date":"2009-02-26T22:49:24","date_gmt":"2009-02-26T22:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localenterprise.wordpress.com\/?p=485"},"modified":"2009-02-26T22:49:24","modified_gmt":"2009-02-26T22:49:24","slug":"enterprise-lessons-from-frazer-irving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2009\/02\/26\/enterprise-lessons-from-frazer-irving\/","title":{"rendered":"Enterprise Lessons from Frazer Irving"},"content":{"rendered":"

Had the privilege of attending my first Creative Networks<\/a> event at Leeds College of Art.\u00a0 Frazer Irving<\/a> – a wonderful illustrator talked about his career – from which I took the following:<\/p>\n

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  1. the seeds of your (your clients) future are often sown early – go back to the early years to see if the basis for an enterprise were sown then<\/li>\n
  2. just because it sells does not mean it is good – heroin is not better than tofu – even if it does shift more units – selling stuff is not the be all and all – truth and beauty matter too<\/li>\n
  3. provoke, invoke, evoke – apparently John Lennon said that – not a bad JD for an enterprise coach either<\/li>\n
  4. 5 years of crappy jobs and being on the dole – being on the dole were the ‘happy days’<\/li>\n
  5. ‘ideas burning on the inside’<\/li>\n
  6. managers\/editors can leave you with tears streaming down your face and your soul ripped out and thrown on the floor<\/li>\n
  7. the bad times provide the fuel and drive to allow the good<\/li>\n
  8. an incessant streak of optimism helps – on being rejected by judges in a portrait competition Frazer chose to believe it was because he wasn’t important – ‘although it might have been because, then, I wasn’t very good’<\/li>\n
  9. it takes a lot of time, training, passion and life experience to really master your subject<\/li>\n
  10. great technology<\/a> combined with great passion and skills produce remarkable, beautiful and important results<\/li>\n
  11. sometimes you need someone to say ‘chin up – you will be alright’<\/li>\n
  12. sometimes when your art is ripped off it gets you great new gigs – life-changing breaks…<\/li>\n
  13. be a slave to the muse – let the story dictate the style – if the story is trivial don’t expect to get great results<\/li>\n
  14. it is really about finding out who you are and what you can become – enterprise is about the emergence of identity – the process of becoming…<\/li>\n
  15. treat me as a ‘pencil monkey’ and you will get mediocrity<\/li>\n
  16. in the comic world a lot of bad product is there because of poor management – comics and every other industry on the planet – management is perfectly designed to get the results it gets<\/li>\n
  17. if it is bad it is (nearly always) because the managers\/editors have put the wrong people on the job<\/li>\n
  18. if you have recruited the wrong people then forcing them to compromise WILL lead to mediocrity<\/li>\n
  19. recruit great talent carefully and then trust it to deliver on its own terms – not yours<\/li>\n
  20. when your hobby becomes your job – you get another hobby<\/li>\n
  21. musicians jam and sometimes the results are great – what is the jamming equivalent for you?<\/li>\n
  22. be careful about your reputation – one person saying you might not hit a deadline in a public forum can be a killer<\/li>\n
  23. sometimes it is best not to claim the credit for all your ideas<\/li>\n
  24. it really is full of ups and downs – but you come out of the downs with even more resources – psychological and technical if not financial<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This was a great networking event – convivial atmosphere – great facilities – good food – great speakers and good management.<\/p>\n

    If only all networking opportunities were this good!<\/p>\n