I’m just back from Caithness, a stunningly beautiful part of Scotland made all the better by the endless sunshine we enjoyed.  So all the more impressive that a group of local craft practitioners came indoors to Caithness Horizons in Thurso to talk about growing their businesses.  And a wonderfully enthusiastic and responsive group they were too, enjoying the opportunity to share the joys and challenges of being a successful entrepreneur.

What growing your business means is highly individual and in the workshop we discussed the ambitions and challenges of each participant.  We explored the shape of their business and discussed the skills and resources required to realise or change that shape.  In developing their own individual growth plans the participants identified their own next steps. Most popular were the plans to keep a diary of time spent on each business activity and then use a cashflow to explore the financial implications of that activity.  We also discussed a variety of different ways to get help and support to grow.

All our discussions were brought into perfect focus by our guest speaker, Orkney based knitwear designer Hilary Grant, who generously shared her own business journey and offered practical tips on managing the process of growth.

Growing Pains is a workshop developed and delivered by the professional partnership, Sinclair Wilson & Voce.  I am the Sinclair Wilson part and my colleague Helen Voce is the Voce part.  Working with Helen is an absolute joy and we have collaborated for many years on a number of different projects to support creative practitioners and businesses to clarify and achieve their ambitions.  This project was realised and supported by emergents who nurture creative talent and careers in the Highlands.  Many thanks to the wonderful team of Pamela Conacher and Avril Souter, who are also a joy to work with.  Basically this was a dream project !