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Do you daydream about giving up the day job and turning your creative talent in to a lush business? Setting up your own studio, employing your own creative ideas and becoming master of your own time? If your planning to delve in to this seriously then there is only one question you need to ask yourself: Why do you want to do it? If the main answer is anything along the lines of ‘ I really like creating things’ then do not attempt to navigate the rocky road to building your own creative business. Gordon Cullerne co creator of fashion design partnership MeandYu, took time out of his schedule to reveal the gruesome truth about running a creative business.
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Manchester based MeandYu hand-make and design all their products, from the seemingly simple wallet to the new-rave screen-printed t-shirts. The extensive range of both men and women’s wear are handmade by partners Gordon and Angela Hulme. MeandYu was set up 7 years ago after a year of being based in Australia. The creative couple finally returned to England and successfully started up business in Manchester.
When asked about the best part of owning a creative business, Gordon struggles somewhat and after a long pause asks “is there one?”. He laughs and continues “we kind of do what we want basically, so it’s kind of interesting, we do a lot of different things that you wouldn’t necessarily do if it was just a job.” The liberation of choosing your own projects is sharply contrasted with the fact that the creative process becomes a miniscule element of the creative enterprise, “it’s weird because you think that the creative bit is the bit you would do most, but it’s the bit you do the least and I think the marketing is the bit you should do most” he explains.
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Marketing, Gordon believes, is the key to any creative business, “ market as much as you can, we don't have time to do that much marketing”. The little marketing MeandYu has produced, according to Gordon, is down to luck, “Weirdly we have been quite lucky in that we’ve had some quite good press exposure which has helped, because there’s only two of us it’s difficult to do the marketing side of it.” The infrequent nature of their campaigns means that the duo uses all contacts and resources that ensure impact. The brand has also had celebrity exposure with their products being brandished on cult Tv show The Mighty Boosh and also model Agnes Dean.
A crucial factor that puts people off the idea of running any type of business is the financial ambiguity, being totally dependent on your own business increases stress levels enormously. “There’s a certain amount of stress with any job but you kind of go home and leave it at work but we don’t seem to be able to…. if it’s not a good week and it’s not your business it doesn’t matter because you’ll still get paid where as obviously we might not”. Gordon goes on to reveal that hardest part of the job is not from the finance but the commitment, “The hours, I don’t know if that’s just us we tend to work a lot, it’s hard to switch off. And you have all the stress, “
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If the 24/7 long-term commitments, never ending hours and financial void has not put you off then Gordon gives this advice for any start-ups, “I think just trailing stuff, I mean the Internet is good for that stuff like Facebook. Something like Facebook what ever creative business your doing you can put examples of what your doing and get feedback straight away before you invest massive amounts of time and money, you can get the idea of if people like it or not.” Starting small and growing organically is the best way…we kind of did it gradually, we knew that people quite liked the stuff”.
Running a creative business is chaotic, time consuming and surprisingly uncreative. The rewards of which are not always financially stable (especially in the first few years). But if you think you can brave the drought of financial reward and overcome the tide of long hours and 24/7 commitment, then take the idea, strap in, set off and get others aboard, oh and don’t forget your marketing!
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click here for the MeandYu Website.
Me&Yu's Shop can be found on the 3rd Floor of Afflecks Palace: here's the address
3rd Floor, Afflecks
52 Church Street
Manchester
M4 1PW
0161 839 0399
