Task 10: Your creative enterprise [Tasks 1 to 9 relating to my own business]

[UNFINISHED - Posted due to large amount of work already on post]


Part 1 - Business analysis tools

Swot:


PEST(EL) - analysis - what current factors are impacting MY businesses in the UK:'

Political:
- Owning my own business will mean that taxes are more complicated and I will have to learn how to do so

Economic:
- If I begin to do work for online clients overseas, exchange rates are still really low
- Working almost exclusively on technology will lead to expensive electrical bills, especially as time goes on

Social:
- Constant rise in national population means lots of potential customers

Technological:
- Constantly improving, in all areas
- Existence of tutorials and specific teaching websites means that self-teaching myself newer skills or features that a client may want in their video is very achievable

Environmental:
- Energy crises becoming more and more likely to occur soon, potentially being an issue for an all online/electrical business

Legal:
- Have to be careful of copyright laws and not using copyrighted content without proper permissions or legal rights
- Contracts may have to be written between the business and the clients to ensure correct payment is done and that both parties are aware of the purpose of the project being made, so no one is misled


'What does / might Brexit mean for MY creative industry?'
Due to the fact that I already own the hardware I need to run the editing softwares I am good at in a smooth state (this being Premiere Pro), assuming that it does not break or malfunction anytime soon, this will mean that the business will not run into many, if any issues in terms of getting a hold of equipment or tools needed to complete any projects and run the business well. As well as this, with me being the only person running the business and not intending in on hiring any employees, I will not have to worry about paying extra wages as to make up for the the finances people fell victim to due to the economic issues that arose during 2020, such as the national lockdowns and people losing their jobs as a result.


'Cultural policy - what is currently happening in the UK?'
As previously mentioned, a country's 'cultural policy' is the combination of their laws, actions and programs that affect and directly relate to creative and arts sectors, by regulation, protection, encouragement or financial affects. When looking at the recent updates on the governments website that are to do with this cultural policy, or which could be considered as related or important when thinking about my own business, examples such as "better broadband for 500,000 rural homes in gigabit revolution" (perhaps leading to better Wi-Fi and easier transferring of files between me and my clients), and "Minister Lopez speech to the Advertising Standards Authority Parliamentary Breakfast" (could potentially lead to changes in how I can/will advertise my business) may affect my business in some way in the future.


Part 1 References:


Part 2 - Types of business in the UK

The type of business in the UK which relates to MY business:

-- Sole Traders --
I have decided that I will run my business as a 'Sole Trader', as I believe that this business type is the closest and most suitable to the type which I am intending on creating. Being a Sole Trader would mean that I run my business completely as an individual on my own, classing as 'self-employed' and being able to keep all of my company's profits after tax as a result, while also being responsible for any losses. In order to need to set myself up as a Sole Trader, I would first have to earn more than a thousand pounds under my self employment within a year of time (between the sixth of April and fifth of April the following year). Once applying to set up as a Sole Trader by telling HMRC that I pay tax through self assessment, I would then be given more responsibilities that come with the role, such as being required to keep records of all of my business expenses and sales, send a 'Self Assessment tax return' annually, and pay Income Tax on all of my profits, as well as Class 2 &4 National Insurance. Finally, assuming that the business becomes extremely successful, I would have to register for VAT if my turnover raised above eighty-five-thousand pounds.

-- Limited Company --
On the other hand, registering to run your freelance operations through a 'Limited company' is another, albeit more complicated route, which often requires advice from professionals and support from an accountant to be done properly. As a result, this route of running a freelance job is likely something to look into once the career develops and becomes more successful, due to its advantages over sole trading such as it limiting your liability. However, it does still offer disadvantages, such as additional costs and complexity, so it definitely isn't right for everyone.

Part 2 References:

Part 3 - Business plans and models

My Business plan:



My Business model:



Part 4 - The brand

What is MY mission statement?
From my research, I found that a business's 'Mission Statement' should define the company's business, its objectives and its approach to reach those objectives, with a good one also being "emotionally engaging". As a result, after a few rewrites, I settled on my mission statement being as follows: "To assist aspiring filmmakers, online creators and businesses with the post-production aspects of creating the quality video projects they aspire to".


What is MY brand positioning?
The 'brand positioning' I have decided on for my business is to do with the lack of similar businesses currently in the area it is going to be based. Specifically, I intend on the company being based in Norfolk, which in areas like Great Yarmouth and Gorleston-on-Sea, is not known much for having many businesses which revolve around the creative industries based there. As a result of my business's existence, I am hoping to encourage creativity and content creators to go forward with their ideas around this local area.


What are MY business's 'values' and 'drivers'?
When it comes to the personal values I hold as an individual, a lot of them would be relevant to my role as the business runner of this enterprise. For example, with the common communications between me and any clients I would be working with in the job, I would want to run it in a way that kept both parties comfortable throughout the entire process,  in terms of the financial side as well as the 'social', stress and approachable aspect. I'd also like to enable a healthy working environment for myself (and any other employees for the business if it were to become large enough that they were a need), keeping healthy deadlines for each project, enhancing the creativity of both myself and the client with their ideas in the process, as the project would not be rushed or worked on under a stressed mindset. As previously mentioned, due to the type of business this is, creativity is an extremely important value for everyone involved, on top of trying to make the best videos possible and learning new ways to become more efficient and create better results as time goes on more and more.


How can I, as an individual, market my business?
As an individual running a business, there are many ways I could attempt to market myself in an attempt to reach and achieve potential customers. Online marketing will be important for many reasons, such as it being a great way to reach massive amounts of people and the fact that the people making the content I want to target will likely have an online presence of some sort and be more likely to come across our marketing as a result. Types of online marketing which may be of use to the business could include making ads that display on content on YouTube (or google ads in general), or creating some kind of social media presence on sites where video content is often posted (Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, etc) as to reach the kind of creators we are hoping to work for. Also, while physical marketing may not be used as much nowadays as it used to, creating things like fliers to place around local towns and/or cities and buying advertisement spaces may be of use to my company in particular, due to this allowing us to advertise to a more specific area of people and my business being one which focuses on the population of the local area as a target audience.

In business, what is MY blueprint and how would this relate to customers and marketing?


Part 4 References:


Task 5: Legislation related to my creative industry

Intellectual Property
With my business being one which relies on me creating content for others to use, and vice versa, with me creating content out of materials that are supplied to me and created by my clients. Both of these pieces of 'property' (both the final edited product I would send off to the client once completely edited by me and the pieces of footage, audio and so on sent to me by each client) could be considered as each of ours' 'intellectual property'. As a result, we would of course both need to give each other proper permissions and properly communicate with each other what permissions we want to allow the other to have with whatever assets and content we share with each other, perhaps even in a formal, legal form, such as contracts for example.

Copyright (creative pieces, i.e., written work, moving image work, music, etc.)
In the UK, a creator is automatically assigned copyright over their own creations, meaning that whatever that piece of work may be, is then protected from others using it in order to benefit themselves without first being given specific permissions to do so. With the type of business I would be running, this would mean that both the assets that my clients would provide me with to work on their brief, and the final edited video project once the job was complete, would be under the copyright ownership of the client and me respectively. This would mean that we would have to, in some way or another, give each other proper permissions to do what we need/want with said pieces of copyrighted material. For example, the client may give me the permissions to edit and transform the footage they send to me in whatever way I want through an email, while I would have to give them permissions before I start on the project to do whatever they are intending to do with the final edited video project once they receive it, whether this be using it as a piece of marketing, entertainment on social medias, or any other reason they must specify to me within the brief.

Trademarks
With my business obviously being one with its own logo and name, the potential of applying to trademark these aspects of the company is on the table. While the company and asset pack of materials for things such as the business's official social media pages are unique to my company and created by myself, other businesses online do have similar names to my own, such as the "online group maker" called 'Memento' and the "dance show filming company" 'Memento Videos' and the wedding video company 'Memento Video and Design', but none of the exact name that I could find. With this in mind, trademarking the name could be a bit of an issue.

What are talent and location releases?
Since I would not be apart of the filming/production processes of any of the projects I would be paid to work on, instead being solely responsible for the post-production aspects, responsibilities such as talent releases and location releases would not be mine.

What is public liability insurance?
Due to the nature of the business I would be running, public liability insurance would likely be useful to invest in, even if just as a precaution. For example, if a client was to make a false claim that I purposefully completed their brief completely incorrect and to a bad quality, or took their money and completely ended communication once being paid without completing the brief, I would have financial back up and protection to properly and legally fight these claims if need be. 

What is GDPR?
Under the 'General Data Protection Regulation', I would be trusted with certain personal details of the clients who I decide to work for. Whether this be details such as their plans for marketing if they were to hire me to fulfil a promotional video brief, or bigger things like potentially their full names and basic financial situations which I may be told during the discussion phases of the project(s), it would be against the law for me to publicly share this information which I have been trusted with. 

What is The Competition Act 1998 and the Enterprise Act 2002?
In order for me and my business to properly follow the rules set out by 'the Competition Act 1998' and the 'Enterprise Act 2002', there will be certain behaviours and actions that I should never do. For example, if I were to advertise my business in a way that purposefully made other, smaller and similar businesses look worse to hire, or became large enough that I was one of the bigger and more trusted ones in the industry and used that placement as an excuse to up my prices are larger amount, I would be in risk of getting in trouble with these regulations.

Part 5 References: (not in order)

Intellectual Property: https://copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/intellectual_property#:~:text=Intellectual%20property%20(or%20IP)%20refers,trademarks%2C%20design%20rights%20and%20patents.
Copyright: https://copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law
Trademark: https://www.bl.uk/business-and-ip-centre/articles/what-is-a-trade-mark#:~:text=Trademarks%20are%20badges%20of%20origin,individual%20subjects%2C%20known%20as%20classes.
https://www.mementovideos.co.uk/
http://www.mementovideoanddesign.com/about
https://www.memento.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwz7uRBhDRARIsAFqjulnb-w5u4oh2by3WxXGf_3QsTclFAT3t73lvQw8_9LihQBv3OUNNpKQaAoNDEALw_wcB
Competition Act 1998: https://www.delta-net.com/compliance/competition-law/faqs/what-is-the-enterprise-act-2002#:~:text=The%20Enterprise%20Act%202002%20is,Act%202002%20across%20the%20UK.
https://www.orr.gov.uk/monitoring-regulation/rail/competition/competition-act-1998#:~:text=The%20Competition%20Act%201998%20prohibits,a%20way%20that%20harms%20competition.
https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/guides/competition-law---the-basics
Public Liability Insurance: https://www.hiscox.co.uk/business-insurance/public-liability-insurance/faq/what-is-public-liability-insurance
The GDPR: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/principles/


Part 6 - The creative economy

What 'industry' would my business fit into in the creative industries?
Among the many different industries that make up the British 'Creative Industries', as a business which primarily focuses on editing videos, mine would likely fit best into the 'Television & Film' industry (even though some of the videos I would help create would likely be held online).


How many people are employed in that industry in the UK?
Out of the estimated two million and forty-seven-thousand people employed among the creative industries as a whole, the amount of people within this number who specifically work in television and film as a field is surprisingly small. Specifically, in 2019, it was estimated that only eighty-seven thousand people in the United Kingdom were employed in motion picture, video and television program production jobs.


How much does that specific creative industries generate each year?
Despite the slightly low amount of workers within the industry when it is compared to others throughout the country, it is a massive industry for Britain when taking into account the amount of money and profits it brings in. Within the same year, this being 2019, the film industry alone brought in an estimated 3.46 billion pounds in revenue for the country. As for the television side of things, the following year saw a massive 16.27 billion pounds brought in, made up of both traditional and online TV sources.


What is the growth of the creative industries (comparatively)?



Part 6 References:
Industries in the 'creative industries' - https://www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk/facts-figures

Part 7 - Regulatory frameworks

What regulatory framework would MY business follow?


Part 7 References:


Part 8 - Other considerations for businesses

Finance - what sources of funding could help my creative industry?
Due to the nature of my business, the primary source of income I would be getting from running the company would be the direct payments from the clients who I decide to work with. The amount of income gained from each individual piece of client work completed would be varied and based on a few different factors. Specifically, these factors include the length requested of the final product, the estimated amount of hours required to complete it, the amount of requested resubmissions, complexity of edits the client want to be included, and the purpose of the final product which they would receive at the end (for example, whether it would be a video made entertainment or marketing purposes). Based on research I can do into competitor's offers and prices of similar services, I could make an estimate into what some of these project types could cost on average, but since the business's services are so wide, varied and dependant on so many factors, I could not possibly ever give a simple, definitive answer to how much every client would be required to pay me for their brief. If I were to be asked to handle the post-production of a wedding video for example, based off of the prices I have seen a lot of other people in the industry charge their customers in recent times, I would predict that the price of said service would be priced at roughly £175 to £400, depending on things like whether or not the footage is in simpler, standard definition, HD or 4K, whether they want it to last something short like 5 minutes or something much longer like 30, how much footage I am given to go through, and so on. On the cheaper end of the spectrum however, if I was requested to edit the video version of an audio podcast, I may cost this between £75 on the low end and £250 on the higher, depending on factors such as whether it lasted closer to 40 minutes or multiple hours, if they were using one or multiple camera angles, the quality of said cameras, how much was expected to be cut, and if any supplementary, visual edits were requested to go along with the basic footage and audio.

On top of this, there is the possibility that I could gain a small, extra amount of income from running advertisements on the business's official social media posts, on platforms that allow that option, such as YouTube, Facebook or Twitter. For YouTube specifically, the company's page would have to reach a certain size in order for this to be possible (achieving four thousand hours of watch time on the content and one thousand subscribers to the page), but assuming these thresholds were reached, whatever content I decide to post on the pages, (such as updates to the business, examples of skillsets I could offer to clients, videos that may give the business more of a personal feel where I myself appear in them), could have advertisements ran alongside them. As mentioned, this would lead to an extra amount of income gained for the business, even though it would be an admittedly low amount.


Insurance - what types of insurance would be useful for MY creative industry?
Due to the nature of the business I would be running, public liability insurance would likely be useful to invest in, even if just as a precaution. For example, if a client was to make a false claim that I purposefully completed their brief completely incorrect and to a bad quality, or took their money and completely ended communication once being paid without completing the brief, I would have financial back up and protection to properly and legally fight these claims if need be. 
^^ Change wording as is currently from task 5. ^^

- could also add insurance to cover the equipment i use
- mention how potentially car insurance (for transport if i used a car) and home insurance (as i would work from home) are related but not types that would exactly be for the sake of the business



Working from home - what are the considerations?
As an individual creating a primarily digital-work focused business, my company would allow me the opportunity to realistically work from home efficiently. Due to the fact I would be working from home by choice, I would not legally be able to claim any 'tax relief' on the additional household costs like internet and electricity costs though. Also, working from my home the way I would be if I chose to, which would be by using a room as an office or something similar, would mean that I would not have to pay business rates as a result like some other business do.


Geography, transport and accessibility - does it matter where MY company is based?
Due to my company being one which is hoping to help out and target members of the local Norfolk creative community, it will of course have to be located somewhere in Norfolk in order to achieve this the best it can. Specifically, somewhere in Norfolk which is either easily accessible or well known may be the best option, such as Norwich, or potentially Great Yarmouth due to its lack of similar businesses currently. However, this will not be extremely important, due to the fact that while discussions between clients about projects can be done face-to-face, applications such as Discord allow these conversations to be done online too, allowing for easier communication if we cannot meet in person, and also allowing for clients' work from outside the local area in the future too. With me being the only one working for the business, and owning all of the equipment I need to complete the work I would accept, I could even potentially work from home (as long as all of the financial aspects of working from home are properly considered first).


Part 8 References:

Part 9 - Cultural policy

What is the DCMS and what do they do?
The 'DCMS' is short for what is fully known as 'The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport'. This is a government run department in the UK, dealing with responsibilities such as growth, promotion and life enrichment related to the listed sectors above, while supplying protection to lots of artistic and cultural heritage that may be in Britain. With my business being one which can be easily be considered both a 'creative' and 'media' company, this department would be helpful to learn about and keep up with their announcements. In particular, the department claims to also help businesses and related communities growth which they see as worthy for investment, as to highlight how great of a place the UK can be for people from around the world to visit and enjoy, meaning that if I were to keep my company running well in a way that could be considered by the government as "innovative" at all, there would be potential for me to benefit from such investment oppurtunities.

'Cultural policy - what is currently happening in the UK?'
Like already explained previously in this blogpost (check task 1), the 'Cultural Policy' of a country is the term used to combine its actions, laws and programmes that directly relate to and/or affect its creative and arts sectors. These affects can be regulatory, protective, encouraging or financial, and with my company being one which would fall under the term of being within the 'creative' sector, there is always a chance that any new laws or regulations they put in place may affect my business as a result, meaning that it would be beneficial for me to keep up to date with the policy and any changes that may occur to it throughout my business's lifespan. As an example of a few recent changes that would have the potential to affect my company somewhat if it were to already have been created, their website reported not long ago that there would be "better broadband for 500,000 rural homes in gigabit revolution", which has the potential of leading  to better Wi-Fi for myself and the company, resulting in easier online transferring of files between me and my clients. There was also the update of "Minister Lopez speech to the Advertising Standards Authority Parliamentary Breakfast", which would have the potential of causing changes to how I would/could advertise my business and service moving forward from that point.

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