At Hunt & Darton Cafe, Edinburgh
Aug 2012 12

Today, Eilidh was at the Hunt & Darton Cafe. This is a pop-up “fully functioning cafe as an interactive performance installation where engagement, spontaneity and action meet great food and drink.”

www.huntanddartoncafe.com

Eilidh was a guest artist waiter and is using the afternoon for some CPD – Cafe-based Professional Development. She’s received advice ranging from the cliched, to the general, to the sarcastic to the downright insightful and had some very nice chats along the way. She had a delicious bacon and avocado sandwich for her lunch too.

Here’s some of the advice she received – we hope it helps you too:

– Take off your pyjamas and get fully dressed in the morning (if working from home)

– Try the Pomodoro technique of working solidly for 45 minutes then breaking for 15 minutes

– Ignore everything – stick your head in the sand

– Say yes to every thing until you really need to say ‘no’ and you’ll know if that was the right time to say no because it’ll feel right afterwards

– The middle ground is messy  – sometimes success isn’t all that great

– You’ve got to go with what you want [not what other people want of you]

– You never regret making mistakes, you regret what you don’t do

– Don’t be afraid to fail

– Shameless Self-promotion is key

– Try lots of things

– Be flexible [from boy who wanted Coke but had to settle for Capri Sun]

– Every bit of time should be filled with things you’re enthusiastic about

– Advice is always different for each individual – you have to interpret it in your own way

– You need to find something that works for you

– Figure it out as you go along

– Maybe you don’t need a full plan, but you probably could do with an aiming point to move towards

– Ask your future self what you should do

– Be nice to your future self [ie don’t leave them with all the receipts for your tax return]

– Find a way to tell the story of yourself quickly and give an essence of what you do

– You have to let it pan out, while still working on it…

– Work out the ways you work best and then try to replicate that

– Apply for some funding to spend more time on this kind of reflecting/planning thing with professional help

– Sounds like you do need to learn to say no.

– Always do the thing you like doing least first

– If you have no money you may have to say yes to everything

– You need to understand what Cash Flow is – you need working capital, financial liquidity, actual physical money in your hands

– Don’t employ brilliant people – just get good employees who can do what you need them to do

– Do your thing, not their thing

– Business is a creative partnership and that always involves tensions. You need a transparent, comprehensive, financial agreement and clear ground rules from the start

– BUT, Art isn’t a business in itself

– Make your outcomes measurable

– Read the funding application criteria very carefully

– Always check the Macros in your spreadsheet – make sure the budget adds up

– Get the right level of granularity in your spreadsheets

– Performative Research is good

– Set out the time to do things

– Listen to Jay Foreman’s song, The Procrastinator

– Do what makes you happy

– Do more personal professional development – refresh yourself by learning from other people

– Keep learning

– Take/make the time to do the funding application to have the luxury to reflect later

– It’s not natural to be enthusiastic all the time – you’ve got to have a good bitch and a moan

– You could do a clown show

– It’s important to work on the whole show and on your own performance skills to ensure you can express what you want

– Get a Mick Harvey to your Nick Cave

– Get a list man/woman [someone who likes organising things]

– Boredom is very good for you – instead of worrying about things, walk around a city you don’t know

– Take advice from the Saturday supplement

– Eat more cake

– Go somewhere different to do something different

– Find different cafes with different energies to encourage your own different working rhythms

– Plan to do at least three things in a day then anything else you get done is a bonus

– Do what you want to do

– You need to have a business head

– Answer a specific need that’s out there in the world then you can charge a premium for it

 

 

 

 

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