Business Development
“It’s great to have someone to discuss my ideas with and get feedback on how best to achieve my goals. It means I can focus on the bigger picture knowing the detail is all worked out’.
Karen Henriksen, Milliner
Getting Started
Induction & Toolkit
When you join one of our incubators you enter into a process designed to help you develop and grow your creative business. You are firmly in the driving seat and our on-site Business Development Team are on hand to guide you through the journey. The starting point is an induction during which you receive our Tool Kit full of specialist information, contacts, templates and worksheets which are indispensable to a designer-maker business.
Diagnostic & Action Plan
The next step is to meet, discuss your business together and identify your specific needs. Together we then create a personalised action plan to help you move forward.
Areas we can help with include:
Product development & range planning
Marketing and PR strategy
Financial planning, budgeting and pricing
Sales strategy, routes to market and export
Scalability and routes to manufacture
Operational planning and systems
Access to finance
Employing people, contracting and outsourcing
Time, project & people management
Confidence building and motivation
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Moving Forward
On site Coaching
One of the unique services at Cockpit is the on-site, one-to-one support from our SFEDI qualified coaches. We take a co-active approach, working with you to develop the skills and creativity you already possess. Drawing on our industry experience, we help you to identify opportunities for change that are right for you and your business.
Peer-to-Peer Action Learning
One of the great benefits of being at Cockpit is that you are part of a fantastic network of talented designer-makers, often sharing similar experiences to one another. We help facilitate peer-to-peer action learning and group coaching sessions so that you can share this valuable knowledge together in an informal and relaxed way.
Email & Phone
Quick questions always crop up in business and as we are based on-site we can deal with your queries in person or by email and phone. We may also refer you to our network of industry experts including accountants, lawyers, marketers, retailers and IT professionals for specialist support.
Cockpit Arts & Ingenious Growth Loan Fund
If you need an injection of cash to take your business to the next level you can apply for small, low interest loans through this scheme. Cockpit Arts & Ingenious Growth Loan Fund is aimed at ambitious, mid-career makers and provides intensive business planning support and on-going coaching alongside affordable finance.
Making it Programme
Alongside all of this studio holders can tap into our Making It programme which includes workshops, seminars and a blog. More about Making It >
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Taking Stock
Annual Business Review
Each year you complete a business review to reflect on your progress and review your next steps. We collate and analyse the business review data (which is held in the strictest confidence) so we can evaluate and measure the impact of the support we are offering, identify future needs and research trends. More about Impact and Research >
Case Studies
To find out how more about how we support designer-makers we have case studies about a selection of businesses based at Cockpit Arts and a series of Design Shorts films.