Emma Sumner

Todays #IFB50* is Emma Sumner

Website address: www.emmasumner.com    Twitter : @emmasumnerart

Tell us about your business:   Emma Sumner is a freelance artist, writer and curator. I attend the Enterprise Fellowship programme that was run through the Centre for Entrepreneurship at LJMU, this helped me to bring all of the elements of my business together into one clear succinct business plan, which in turn helps me to clearly communicate what and who I am to my customer.

Who are your customers?   art collectors, galleries and arts publications.  

What is the best thing about owning you own business?  Watching it grow and realising that it’s my hard work that has got me this far as well as not having anyone else to take credit for my work

What is your top business tip?  Although it’s imperative to work hard, make sure you give your self-time to breath and don’t expect everything to happen overnight.

Beatbox Agency

Todays #IFB50* is

Business owner: Dash O’Brien
Name of Business: Beatbox Agency

Website address: www.beatboxagency.com Twitter @beatboxagency

 

Tell us about your business:  "I first had my idea of starting a business before going to university.  Whilst I was at LJMU I saw flyers and posters that gave information about the Enterprise Fellowship Programme that was run through the Centre for Entrepreneurship at LJMU. I approached the Centre which led me to attending the EFP programme and by doing this it gave me the stepping stones to starting up my own business. My business Beatbox is providing an integral service to the music and film business with its full range of support including DJ and Live Act Agency, Music Supervision and Consultation, Music Playlists and Branding, Video Filming and Editing and Copywriting and PR."

Who are your customers? Bars, Clubs and North West agencies

What is the best thing about owning your business? Having the freedom to work to the hours you set yourself.

What is your top business tip? Use a trusted accountant!

 

TLC

Today's #IFB50* is

The Touring Local Cinema

Website address: www.thetouringlocalcinema.com

Twitter : @enjoy_tlc

Tell us about your business:   After leaving university I decided to put all of my experience into one company which gave me the opportunity to do something I enjoy. I first met with the Centre for Entrepreneurship team at LJMU, they helped me refine my idea and gave me advice and guidance and prepared me to launch my business. The Touring Local Cinema is focused on providing high-quality service and customer satisfaction - we will do everything we can to meet your expectations.

 

Who are your customers? Care homes, local council and community centres

 Have you employed anybody since starting up? Yes, 2 Staff

What is the best thing about owning your business? Having control and doing something that I really care about

What is your top business tip? "If you really care about something don’t hold back"

 

 

To celebrate the International Festival for Business 2014, the Centre for Entrepreneurship is blogging every day about  graduate businesses that we have supported.

They are our 50 Stars of IFB #IFB50*

Name of Business: Archiphonic www.archiphonic.co.uk Twitter: @archiphonic

Business Owners:  Adam Mokhtar and David Banister

 

Tell us about your business:  

"Archiphonic is an architectural design practice that deals with projects across the UK. I attended a workshop at the Centre for Entrepreneurship called Hunting in Packs and from there I learnt what invaluable services the Centre offered.We then got the support and business advice to helpus start up and grow  our business"

Who are your customers? Private developers

Have you employed anyone since starting up? We contract people when we need to

What is the best thing about owning you own business?  Having full control of the design

What is your top business tip?  Early start and don’t try to cram all work into one day. Leave something for the next day!

John Lewis visits LJMU

Staff from Trafford’s John Lewis Visual Merchandising & Community teams visited the Redmond’s Building recently to lead a cross-curricular visual merchandising workshop with students from the Liverpool Business School and Liverpool School of Art and Design.

Students from the Business & Public Relations, Business Communications and Fashion degree programmes who are participating in two separate Young Enterprise-LJMU programmes came together to attend the workshop. They listened to a fascinating talk about the John Lewis organisation and how the merchandising team coordinate their visual merchandising in store. Students then participated in some activities to try out their own visual merchandising skills, producing a seaonally-themed display for a John Lewis store.

 

Sally Partington, Enterprise Education Officer from LJMU’s Centre for Entrepreneurship said:

“We are very grateful to Carole Hartley and Edd Fearn from the John Lewis team for taking the time to come and share their expertise with our students. Their workshop really got the students thinking about how they can merchandise the products that they are producing for their business and fashion projects to good effect”.

Landbaby entrepreneur shares her expertise with LJMU students

LJMU Fine Art graduate and Liverpool-based independent retailer, Claire Bates, recently visited the Liverpool Business School to share her business and merchandise experience with Business PR and Business Communications students who are currently setting up their own small businesses through the Level 5 Graduate Enterprise module.

Claire graduated from LJMU in 2006 with a degree in Fine Art. Shortly afterwards she started her own business, Landbaby, with support from LJMU’s Centre for Entrepreneurship. Landbaby specialises in selling unique hand-crafted work and one-off pieces by designer-makers and is based at The Bluecoat in Liverpool City Centre.

She told the story of her start-up journey and provided students with a valuable insight into how to merchandise a product effectively and creatively with her first-hand experience of the independent retail sector.

Lynne Robertson, Start-up Manager for the Centre for Entrepreneurship, “We are very grateful to Claire for taking the time to come back to LJMU to talk with our students. The fact that she had students lining up to speak with her at the end of the session about their own ideas demonstrates how positively she was received.”

Any LJMU student with a business idea can receive free business advice and support from the Centre for Entrepreneurship www.ljmu.ac.uk/startup

 

 

Claire Bates from Landbaby meets students from student startup Babynature

 

Students bring the ‘Hammer Down’ at art auction

A group of enterprising students from the Liverpool Business School recently held their inaugural art auction in Liverpool City Centre.

Set up as part of a level 5 module at the Liverpool Business School, and run in conjunction with Young Enterprise & LJMU’s Centre for Entrepreneurship, Hammer Down was set up to represent early career artists by selling their work at invite only auctions.

To develop their auctioneering skills they were coached by local auction house Adam Partridge Auctioneers & Valuers, the Liverpool saleroom based in the Baltic Triangle creative area of the city. Well known for his appearances on Flog It, Adam generously shared his gavel skills with the Hammer Down team, enabling them to work with their buyers and get the best prices on the night for their artists.

Erin Furlong from Hammer Down commented:

“Our first auction was a great success and over 90% of works were sold on the night. We feel that this shows that there is a demand for work by early career artists in the city and our auctions seek to provide a platform for this. We hope that this will be the first event of many.”

Anyone interested in attending future events, should follow Hammer Down on twitter for details @HammerDown7.

Photo: Students from Hammer Down at the auction