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Journal

Behind The Design Podcast Hosted by Tapiwa Matsinde
Journal Podcast

Introducing Behind The Design Podcast

I have started a podcast! This is something that has been on my mind for a long while now, and I’ve finally decided to do something about it. Having worked behind the scenes to put everything place I am delighted to introduce Behind The Design podcast where I will be interviewing some of Africa’s and the diaspora’s established and emerging creatives. Getting them to share their entrepreneurial journeys and inspirations to inspire and motivate you as you build and nurture your own business.

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Entrepreneurship Journal Productivity

Manage Your Energy Levels To Get More Done In Less Time

I have a question for you- Do you make listening to your body during your working day a habit, in particular paying attention to your energy levels? If not here’s why you should be doing this. Structuring your day around your energy levels has the benefit of making you more focused and productive. Meaning you get more done in less time. Who wouldn’t want that!!! It makes sense really, but how many of us do this. I certainly didn’t!

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Business Development Entrepreneurship Journal

A Guide To Turning Your Creative Hobby Into A Thriving Business

You’ve been developing your creative hobby for a while and are now seriously thinking about turning it into a thriving business. Maybe friends and family have been encouraging you to sell your creations. Perhaps you have enquires coming from recommendations. Or you want to create an additional income stream. Whatever the reason turning your hobby into a business is a big step, one that requires a shift in mindset from making for pleasure as and when you feel like it to creating for profit and putting routines in place. Here are the things you will need to consider to get […]

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Entrepreneurship Journal Leadership Productivity

Successful Goal Planning For The Entrepreneur Who Wants To Achieve Their Goals

It is a scientific fact that repetition helps to reinforce things in our minds, in turn influencing our habits and actions. So imagine what you could achieve by regularly writing down your goals and having them to hand as you go about your workday. By constantly having to write out your goals and having them in front of you every day you will start to affirm, and truly believe in them because they will become embedded into your subconsciousness. But in order for goals to work, you need to set the right ones. So how do you set goals that […]

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Business Development Entrepreneurship Journal Leadership Productivity

Hitting the reset button on missed goals to get you back on track

Goals help us bring our dreams to life, but sometimes we can miss the goal deadlines we have set for ourselves. If things have been a bit of a struggle and you have slipped and fallen behind don’t be too hard on yourself. It happens. In life, not everything goes to plan. But it is how you deal with the changes and setbacks that determines how successfully you pick yourself up to have another go. Simply take a deep breath, press pause to reflect on why you missed the achieving goal, then hit the reset button to start from where […]

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Entrepreneurship Journal Leadership Productivity

Creating A Daily / Weekly / Monthly Work Schedule That Works For You

As an entrepreneur, you are in charge of your time and have a responsibility to make sure that you get the most out of your working days. Being your own boss means juggling a lot of hats as you find yourself dealing with lots of different things that demand your attention. Having a daily / weekly / monthly work schedule that works for you will help keep you on track of what you need to get done as you work towards growing your business and achieving your goals.

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Business Development Entrepreneurship Journal

Five Reasons Why People Are Not Buying Your Product And How To Fix This

Paying customers are the lifeline of any business without them you’re simply running a hobby. Every entrepreneur dreams of creating a successful and profitable business, but for many getting those first customers through the door or to click the buy button can be challenging. People buy what they know, like and trust. It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Accept that not everyone is going to buy your product because it could be that it’s the wrong colour, too big, too small and so forth for what they need. The problem though is when nothing at all is happening on the […]

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Business Development Content Creation Entrepreneurship Journal

How To Make Money Blogging

Thinking of monetising your blog? You are not alone. How to make money blogging is a popular search engine topic, as bloggers (and other social media platform owners) from all walks of life seek to leave the 9-5 behind and make a full-time living online. Successful bloggers and social platform owners make it look easy, and graphics popping up in your feed telling you to follow such and such method to earn 5 / 6 figures a month further fuel the dream. But if it was as easy as it is made out to be then every blogger and social […]

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Creative Careers Journal

Designer and Architect Tosin Oshinowo Talks Building Creative Businesses

Bold, vibrant striped fabrics covering minimalist furniture designs announced the arrival of Ilé Ilà onto the contemporary African design scene. Handmade in Lagos, Nigeria the furniture designs echo the architectural designs of the company’s founder Tosin Oshinowo, who also runs her own practice, CM Design Atelier. Tosin chats with me about the inspirations behind her work, building two creative businesses and the lessons she’s learned.

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Business Development Entrepreneurship Journal

How To Get Your First Piece Of Press Coverage

Getting your very first piece of press coverage for your product, service or business is a very exciting moment in your business journey. I still remember my first of press. It marked a pivotal moment in how I saw and felt about my business and my potential. Someone believed in me enough to share my story. But it took me a while to gather up the courage to reach out to press outlets, so I know how daunting the process of getting your first piece of press coverage can be.

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Content Creation Journal

How Much Do Bloggers/Platform Owners Charge On Average Per Post?

There comes a time when you have been blogging for a while that thoughts turn to making some money from your efforts. You’ve seen and heard of other bloggers and platform owners doing it so why can’t you? People turn to monetising their blogs and platforms for different reasons including earning a bit of extra income each month to supplement the one from the day job, whilst others dream of turning their platforms into their full-time job and being paid to do what they love. 

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Business Development Content Creation Entrepreneurship Journal

How do blogs make money?

Who would have thought when the first blog was created in 1994 that blogs would go on to disrupt the way we work and enable millions of people who may never have had the opportunity to do so in a traditional job, earn the types of income that transforms lives. Well they did and two decades later there are still people wondering how do blogs make money, and whenever I mention that I am a blogger one of the first questions I get asked is ‘so how do you make money?’ 

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Creative Careers Journal

Meet the Egyptian Designers Using Design To Create A Better Quality Of Life

Dealing with plastic waste has become a matter of global urgency as the world can no longer afford to ignore the harm the material is having on our world and on our lives. In Egypt, Reform an award-winning product design studio is pioneering the use of discarded plastic bags and upcycling them into sustainable fabrics for interior and lifestyle products. I caught up with the founders to chat about using design to create a better quality of life.

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Journal Well-being

Mental Health – Depression and the Creative Industries

Research points to a higher incidence of depression in the creative industries. As a creative entrepreneur it is important to look after your well-being. I was watching a segment on CNN where Christiane Amanpour was interviewing Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber about his distinguished career in musical theatre. In it Sir Lloyd referred to his struggle with depression, making the statement that every creative gets depression at some point or other. This made me pause. I have heard it said that those in the creative industries are three times more likely to get depressed* (*stats relate to the UK). So why […]

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Branding Journal

Why You Need To Carry Out A Brand Audit

Have you checked the health of your brand lately? In my post What Exactly is a Brand? I explained that a brand is a vehicle that connects your business, product, service or even yourself to your audience. A brand is made up of many things including your logo, the messages you send out, the design of your products, and the experience of your service. A brand, therefore, has great value to your business. It is easy to create a brand, but it needs to be nurtured to make sure it stays relevant in the mind of your existing audience, whilst […]

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Business Development Entrepreneurship Journal Leadership Personal Development

Does Following Your Passion Automatically Lead To Success?

I read this quote the other day “Follow your passion and success will follow”. Not the first I have seen or heard this shared or uttered by various people to motivate their audiences. And whilst in theory its all well and good, I know from personal experience that following your passion can be ridiculously hard, and success elusive. And it is the messy, meandering, hard bit that is missing in between that statement. 

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Branding Journal

Basic Branding Strategy For The Start-Up Creative Entrepreneur

You’ve created a product, picked a business name, had a logo designed, set up a website and maybe have some business cards. This is how many brands typically start out, reacting to what is happening rather than developing from a well-thought-out, or at the very least a basic branding strategy. And whilst this approach will see you through the early start-up days and months there eventually comes a time when you think ‘hang on a second, this is getting very real and I need to get clear on my brand’.

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Entrepreneurship Journal

Does Luck Determine Your Success As An Entrepreneur

I was thinking about the meaning of luck the other day. Frustrated at missing out on an opportunity I pondered the question, ‘Is luck something that just happens to you, or do you create it?’ Does luck determine your success in life and business? I’m sure we’ve all uttered statements like ‘that was lucky’ or ‘you’re so lucky’ when something favourable, leading to success happens to us or others we know. In doing so we affirm our beliefs that luck is this magical thing that chooses who to bless and therefore we have no control over it. But is that […]

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Branding Journal

Tips to Prepare for Your Branding Photoshoot

Creating on-brand images is one of the most fun-filled aspects of building a brand. It can also be one of the most stressful tasks. Having been through a brand refresh that included a branding photoshoot for on-brand images, I thought I would share my experiences of how to prepare and ensure you get the images you want.

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