- The realities of a creative business (it's not all fashion + glamour!)
- Enthusiasm versus commitment
- Steps to launching your business (determining market opportunity, early strategic considerations, and launching with your MVP)
- When to quit your day job
- Establishing work-life balance
- How to grow quickly
- Fighting the dragon and riding a lion - metaphors you'll soon understand
- Being an entrepreneur
Designing Your Creative Business There’s a clear distinction between creating fashion, art, and creative content, and running a business. This session will introduce you to the necessary ingredients to design a business, including building a team, establishing a distribution strategy, finding manufacturers/partnerships and funding options. Justine Barber is the co-founder of Poppy Barley. Combining the art of traditional shoemaking with advanced pattern technology and e-commerce, Poppy Barley is creating a new standard in the footwear industry, offering limited edition, custom-fit boots and shoes manufactured ethically and transparently. In less than 2-years, Justine and her co-founder and sister, Kendall, built Poppy Barley from scratch. Their direct-to-consumer sales model sells to customers worldwide. The company designs its own product, works directly with all suppliers, and has a manufacturing partnership with a factory in Mexico. In Canada, the company has a team of talented employees; and has successfully financed the company.