LauraWhat would you say if you had five minutes in a room with the biggest businesses in the world?
Real, inspirational, wonderful people?
When you work freelance or with your own business I think it’s probably a combination of a) trying to get as much out about your business and you as fast as possible, risking the gabble and b) hoping that osmosis means that as much of the talent and genius of the person will seep into your own psyche.
Next year Liverpool is hosting the International Festival of Business. It means that there will be some serious business talk going on. Best practice, how to get ahead, how to make the most of your time; there will be topics and ideas that will be as good as any business planning session you can imagine.
Being a person that isn’t too fond of networking I’m excited but I’m also concerned that I want to make the most out of it. I want creatives and sole traders who may not be in newspapers all the time but still have a portfolio of happy clients and innovative work to get a look in.
I also want to be able to get into a room with those clever and talented people I admire.
A lot of the time people assume business is just walking round hoping someone will write you a blank cheque and just bask in your awesome. Well, obviously it IS but it’s also about ideas. Sometimes you’ve had a few thoughts knocking around in the back of your head and it’s only when you hear someone you admire talking about it that you realise you were onto a good idea after all. What I mean is sometimes it takes us to hear something from someone we admire to gain confidence in our own ideas and practice.
So if I’m going to get to be in a room with people I admire I think I need to do some preparation. If that means making a list of all the things I’m good at – even so that when I try to explain to Martha Lane Fox about why she REALLY needs me on her team I do so in a measured manner rather than rambling.
Even if I am a one man creative band the Festival of Business is about showing us all off, not just the people at the top of the tree. We’re all part of the same stream and contribute to the great working environment that’s in Liverpool right now. Bring it on.