Yesh.com :: Brian Russell » Business

From Art to Business and back again

BrianR — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 15:45:06 +0000

I knew since sixth grade I wanted to go to art school and never wanted to work in an office. In 1995 I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University. The whole idea of sales and math repulsed me. I was determined to be an Artist, not a business person.

Virginia can get pretty hot. After a few exhausting months of welding steel with a flame, I decided I wasn’t meant to be a physical sculptor, but a conceptual one. Computers are ideal tools for this kind of work. So I spent a significant amount of time working with an Apple Macintosh 8500. It was an odd thing to have a computer amongst sculptors then.

After graduating, I moved to Blacksburg, VA – a college town. I had a room in a poorly-heated warehouse with a bunch of other artists. One day an art professor asked me if I knew how to use a Macintosh. I said yes. He needed help doing layout and color correction for an eighty-page art book. It was my first “real” job after college. I’d never done desktop publishing before.

Before you know it I was a professional graphic designer. VCU has a wonderful School of Graphic Design. But I didn’t go to it. All of the skills I used at work I taught myself. I spent thousands of hours in front of a computer monitor “playing” with Photoshop and hacking HTML. It paid off. But in retrospect what it really did was get me involved in a traditional business.

Fortunately I was at the right place at the right time. The Internet had really just begun and was becoming a multimedia world. Somehow as an adult I have always been a early adopter. A innovator that is a few steps ahead of the mainstream on trends. This included digital art. But because I love to learn and am easily distracted, I moved from one career area to the next. Print design to flash animation to feature film editing to documentary video to web sites. I am a jack of all trades. This used to be a disadvantage. Now in the twenty-first century it’s increasingly an asset.

My dad got a Masters of Business Administration at night school. It took him years. I remember visiting the library with him while he looked for books. Some of that entrepreneurship stuff rubbed off on me. I got interested in stocks briefly and even owned some shares in Best Products when I was a teenager. After a few long shareholder meetings I decided to do normal kid stuff like baseball. The life of Alex P. Keaton was not for me.

By my late thirties I was tired of working for other people, but not satisfied with freelancing either. I discovered coworking in 2007. Folks like Tara Hunt and Chris Messina were building Citizen Space and openly sharing how they did it. It spawned hundreds of imitators. A seriously powerful global meme.

My first step was a comment I left about coworking on a local blog called OrangePolitics. A local elected official praised the idea and connected me with the Town of Carrboro’s Economic Development Director. I met with him and he helped me develop a business plan. I got enrolled in the Town of Carrboro’s revolving loan fund, which included more assistance, especially with my financial plan. Their help has been essential to Carrboro Coworking’s success. The Town later loaned me the money I needed to launch the business. Since Carrboro Creative Coworking opened in October 2008 it’s been one lesson after another.

Now I have a lot of new business skills and an artist’s mind and I want to use them to help other creative people. Here are a few ideas.

You have works of art, also known as products, that you can sell.
You have talents and services that can be sold at a fair rate.
You can find balance between your socialist and capitalist sides.

But first you need to market your art, price your work, tell people about yourself, do gallery shows, and develop a plan. Let’s discover your own path to being a self-supporting artist. Contact me and join my email list and lets talk about it.

Handmade small batch products rock!

BrianR — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:21:16 +0000

A few weeks ago I saw a awesome video about Raleigh Denim. They’re a small company in Raleigh, NC who makes high quality jeans. Even though I haven’t tried on their product, yet, I’m sold. Maybe it was the story telling craft of the short documentary. But it’s also my love of products that are handmade and done in small batches.

Of course there are many other factors that sell you on something. But as a social entrepreneur I’m enthralled with a return to quality. Globalization and greed has destroyed the viable economics of making small batch products. North Carolina is one of the hardest hit States in the US in this regard. Our furniture and fiber arts are now a fraction of the state economy it once was. The effect is a loss of thousands of jobs. A serious problem for many many people.

My mother’s father Lester was a huge influence on me. Not just because of his kindness but because of his craftsmanship. He worked most of his adult life making furniture. While he was a manufacturer he had pride in craft.

Granddad helped me learn to love making things. It didn’t hurt he gave me all kinds of tools and showed me how to use them. I expect its because of him I love things like Raleigh Denim. Its fascinating how people, long after their death, can have profound effects on their children. I wonder what lasting effects I will have on my son?

Raleigh Denim isn’t the only example. Here’s a video about Oxxford Clothes, who claim to be, the last hand crafted suit tailor in the United States.

As I work to create new businesses with awesome products and services I will remember these companies. May all the things I sell be as special.

Local Business, Google & Chapel Hill

BrianR — Wed, 26 May 2010 20:33:41 +0000

Here’s video of the Google press conference in Chapel Hill that occurred May 25. Thanks to the folks at RTP for capturing this. AGAIN they provided more detailed coverage than the local media.

He’s the link to the Google Economic Impact info. This is the PDF of data for North Carolina.

The face and future

BrianR — Tue, 25 May 2010 19:32:00 +0000

Internet search giant Google held a official press conference in downtown Chapel Hill, North Carolina today. You can read more about it in these news stories.
Herald-Sun
News and Observer
Triangle Business Journal

If I may I’d like to add a bit of personal commentary to this story. I feel Orange County, ALL OF IT, is well suited for the future of doing business. Especially on-line. A major reason I feel this way is because we’ve heavily invested in knowledge, quality of life, and creativity.

The Research Triangle Park blog wrote about this event today. They have a pretty good description of the event. Better than the pro-media press coverage in my humble opinion. But the part that most interested me was their last paragraph.

“But still, why choose Chapel Hill for the big unveiling? [Google Vice President for Global Agency and Industry Development] Penry Price had an answer: “We looked at the way business is growing in North Carolina.” He said they wanted a fair representation of the face and future of all the types of US cities Google works with, and Chapel Hill fit that bill.”

This is says to me that from an economic development perspective we should stick with our strengths and stop trying to be like the rest of the Triangle. i.e. building new shopping malls and office parks

I’m also crossing my fingers that this event hints at some Google Fiber coming our way…

Location, Location, Location

BrianR — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:12:05 +0000

When I was doing my original business market research for CCC I discovered that place is very important. This is the case for most physical businesses with public space. (ex. retail) Experienced business people express this with the refrain, “Location, Location, Location”

As I got into the day to day of running a coworking space the assumption about where our space is located seemed to be validated. I believe that being close to where people live, shop, and play is essential. But can coworking spaces exist in other places?

This is why I created the following survey. If you work at a Coworking space I’d really appreciate it if you could take it. The results are located here. You can even download the data and use it how you want.

I feel its essential we have big numbers of survey participants to validate or disprove this assumption. Once we’ve made it over two hundred participants I’ll elaborate more on why I think this is important.

Thanks!

Audio/Video and Animation Producer for Hire

BrianR — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 17:34:32 +0000

One of the constants of my creative life and career has been audio/video production. In college I edited a lot of video for the web and shot film for animation. After school I learned the non-linear film editing software AVID and worked in Los Angeles. Since then I’ve kept my skills current and obtained all the gear needed for multimedia production. Recently I made a animated piece using After Effects.

This is all just a way of saying I’m looking for freelance work. Recently I’ve put in several bids for a/v production work. Please check out my portfolio for examples and my resume for work experiences and education.

Here are some of this things I’d like to do for you:

Produce, record, and edit audio podcasts
Produce, record, and edit video for the web
E-commerce design and setup for multimedia products
Write and produce animation for the web using After Effects
Train people on audio/video production for the web

If you know anyone who needs these kinds of services please pass my contact information along. The best way to reach me now is via the contact form on the Carrboro Creative Coworking site. I’ll respond quickly and help you all I can. Thanks!

Carrboro Coworking is moving along

BrianR — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:30:44 +0000

Yesterday I signed a lease for office space in downtown Carrboro! After almost two years of work its FINALLY starting to happen. But this is only the beginning. So much more to do before we open. So much to do to run the space.

Last night I shared with friends and supporters the news.

Via Twitter

Via the Carrboro Coworking Google Group and Facebook

Right now I’m sending my PR release to as many media folks as I can. Please forward this to people you know. CARRBORO CREATIVE COWORKING SIGNS THE DOTTED LINE PDF

To top it off I recorded a video last night. Its the first one in a series that will document the journey to create a coworking space. Should be a interesting roller coaster.

Please consider purchasing a seat, desk, or office at Carrboro Coworking now. I desperately need to pre-sell as many as I can. Contact me for more information. Lots of info on the biz website.

Green Business in Orange County

BrianR — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:50:14 +0000

I’ve just added a few posts to this blog about Green Business. I’m espcially interested in seeing it grow in Orange County, North Carolina. (That includes Chapel Hill and Carrboro.) So you’ll see on the top right of this blog a link to all the posts in the Green Business category. I hope this becomes a resource for others.

I define Green Business as socially and environmentally sustainable economic activity. Wikipedia defines Sustainable Business as:

A business is sustainable if it has adapted its practices for the use of renewable resources and holds itself accountable for the environmental and human rights impacts of its activities. This includes businesses that operate in a socially responsible manner and protect the environment.

I’m really just learning about this and trying to fit my business into this mold as much as I can.

Create Green-Collar Jobs in Orange County

BrianR — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:34:11 +0000

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of seeing Van Jones speak. He co-founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and is founder and president of Green For All. He spoke convincingly of a future of increased equality and how one of the roads to this future is green jobs. Green-collar jobs are employment in the environmental or agricultural sectors of the economy. [Source: Wikipedia] But they also include any work that will help transform our society into a more environmentally sustainable one.

One way our local government leaders could participate in this national movement is to sign the Green Jobs Pledge. Its goal is to "rebuild American competitiveness and environmental leadership by growing a green economy that fights global warming, pollution and poverty at the same time." Here are the five steps this pledge asks our leaders to agree to:

Commit to Action
Create a Green-collar Jobs Taskforce
Identify Goals and Assess Opportunities
Create a Local Action Plan
Evaluate, Leverage and Grow

So far the the U.S. Conference of Mayors has agreed with Green For All that this pledge is good idea. Mayor Martin ChÃ¡vez of Albuquerque, New Mexico and County Executive Ron Sims of King County, Washington have put there name on it. You can download the Green Jobs Pledge Packet here. [PDF]

Let’s discuss ways we can build a green economy from the ground up, and see if we can get our elected officials to take the pledge.

This post was first published on OrangePolitics.org.

Its about Conversation

BrianR — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:08:15 +0000

Great blog post here about the ever changing read/write web aka web2.0, social graph, social media, etc. Jus READ THIS –> Ladies and Gentlemen, The Conversation Has Left The Building Here’s a good quote:

As Social Media evolves, the value of online conversations is becoming distributed and decentralized. As the host of any given conversation, it is almost impossible to expect your community to discover or congregate around your content in any one given place, especially the point of origin. Itâ€™s both the challenge and the promise of micromedia and social networks. The comments section of your blog, for example may not truly represent the community response or reaction because it may thrive across other disparate networks and communities, whether youâ€™re aware of it or not.

Also another gem ..

The reward for participating and adding value to these conversations is Social Capital. The penalty for self-promotion, one-sided conversations, or lack of genuine participation is evident in the lack of apparent ROI as well as the lack of respect youâ€™re granted.

I’m not sure how the web will change. But one thing is for sure… it will happen and quickly. Thinking about the tempo of change is good for staying nimble. HUGELY important for business, NGO, government, activists, and heck just about everyone.

Our mantra must be: Learn to listen and talk WITH others