Making the decision to pursue your business.
I'm sure anyone reading this is under no illusion that creating a business is easy. It really isn't. Especially if you are starting up by yourself with little or no prior experience. Fortunately at Arkode, myself and Matthews were both studying our respective disciplines when we decided to jump into this venture, so we had a solid foundation to work with at the start of our journey.
We were also fortunate enough to be accepted onto the work for yourself placement scheme offered by Sheffield Hallam University, so the decision to start this journey was much easier for us, largely due to the plethora of business support we receive in the way of advice. Most people wont have the luxury of academic support however, so deciding whether or not business is for you can be a challenge to say the least. One of the most important factors in my eyes, is whether or not you actually have either the skills you need to get the job done, or the ability to develop new skills along the way. I hope I can give you a clear road-map to follow as a guide to skills growth if you are feeling a little lost.
1: The challenge to identify what skills you'll need.
I think it's important, first of all, for people to realize how many skills have to actually go into business development. For us, our capabilities started off very specific (myself a programmer and Matthews a 3D modeler), but along the way, we had to become broad generalists in games development due to our business demands (and believe me there were a lot we hadn't considered beforehand). I alone have had to learn about graphics rendering, voxel technology and AI just to name a few, and I know Matthews has had to do a lot of 2D and animation work for our user interface and marketing materials. This is a big departure from what we were both used to!
I want YOU to start thinking about what practical skills you'll need to get off of the ground in YOUR field. If you are really struggling at this stage I want to set you a challenge. Write down what your ideal business model would actually entail in terms of definable goals (for us it is market and release a full game), then work out the tasks towards which you will have to contribute (make sure to include as much detail as possible), and lastly tie each task to an identifiable skill or skill set.
Remember when doing this that freelancers and companies are a lot more expensive than you might assume, so don't rely on the idea of being able to outsource everything. Once you've done this you can actually end up with a massive list of things to do, so get rid of any technical tasks non essential to the core of the business idea until you have a manageable amount of things to work on personally. Come back to this once you are done, and we'll carry on from there.
1.5: Don't forget the soft skills!
On top of our technical skills we've had to cultivate our skills as people, as after all, we are advertising ourselves as a studio and have had to attend numerous events, where at this stage myself and Joshua Matthews ARE the company. Cultivating our conversational skills and a genuine interest in others at events are good examples of how you'll have to develop soft-skills if you want to see your audience grow, so add things like this to your list as well. Even writing for this blog is an example of something I've had to learn how to do! The best skills are something that can turn into habitual actions, so keep a special eye our for those.
Okay, so with that done, you can now have a breather. You should be left with a clear picture of exactly what you'll need to do to make your business a reality in terms of your personal input. This practice of skill evaluation will give you a good overview as to whether or not your idea is feasible (and also what skills you might have to dedicate a lot of time to developing). The more specific you can get the better, and the fewer skills your strategy entails, the easier your life will be when pursuing your vision.
2: Plan to develop your newly identified skills.
One of the things that I initially wanted to try at the start of our adventure was create and follow a strict learning plan for myself, which for many may be a great idea. Especially so if your work involves having to take specialist classes or gain certifications for your industry. For myself I eventually realized however that I was learning a lot outside of the scope of what I actually used day to day, and due to the broad skill-set it quickly became overwhelming.
To deal with this I moved over to a learn as I go approach, which suits me much better and puts a lot less stress on my schedule. This way I only learn what is necessary for the task at hand, but it does cause a lot of issues when it comes to estimates for my work. This isn't actually too much of an issue for our duo though, as we have a very flexible approach to day to day tasks and few strict deadlines. If you were dealing with clients this would be an entirely different matter as you NEED to know roughly how long work will take.
A clear distinction between these two strategies is made apparent by looking at our own approach compared to that of another member of our co-working space. Jodie is developing her interior design business (Jodie Burns Interiors, or jodieburnsinteriors on facebook and instagram), with her main focus being to develop living spaces. Jodie has spent a lot of time up front learning about project management, which within her field is essential for keeping track of contractors and time-scales. This is exactly what I mean about evaluating ALL necessary skills for what you do. Time management in this case is not core to the actually skill of interior design but is ESSENTIAL for Jodie's business to work.
She couldn't just do this learning on the fly, because when it comes to peoples homes you cannot afford to have large delays in project work. People have to live in and around what you are doing, so their idea of how long things will take and being true to that is foundational to your reputation within a discipline such as Jodie's. So the next step in your own process is to decide what direction to go in. Can you afford to learn things on the go, or do you have to pencil into your schedule time to really grow yourself? If you need to do the latter create a little plan of action, or set aside time in your week to work through what you've identified (and don't overwhelm yourself like I did!), leaving a little room in your schedule for the next step.
3: The importance of networking.
When taking on all of this responsibility for learning there is a certain element of dependence that you have on other people and resources, so now is the opportunity to think about growing your contacts. If you're doing it right, people will eventually look up to you for the same help within your industry, and you should embrace this when the time comes. The internet in this case is your friend, and I implore you to make full use of it.
The reason this is so pivotal, is that as you are developing your business skills for the first time, you'll have a million questions and no one to ask. The internet will only get you so far when it comes to tailored learning. Remember that you have a unique business and the needs you'll have will reflect that. Not all advice will be helpful, and having that personal connection really gives you the tailored support you might need to take yourself to the next level.
Workshops and networking events are great for this, with both myself and Matthews having learnt a lot games industry professionals we've met along the way. Even when considering business experts, has really been useful in teaching us to pitch our ideas concisely to those who haven't heard of us before, or to those who might not be technically inclined, which is a great example of natural skill development! Don't get me wrong, I am still a quiet nerd at heart, but while it can seem daunting (especially in a room full of strangers), you really have to push yourself and get talking to others.
Lastly, a mentor is a great idea, and as scary as it might be to reach out it is more than worth it. Many business minded individuals actually welcome having someone to mentor, as it helps develop their own soft skills, so don't be afraid to get in touch with those you look up to. Maybe something as simple as a quick coffee or lunch could be really beneficial for both of you. Just set clear expectations as to what you are wanting to gain, what you are willing to offer, and as always, keep it professional. In fact we're going to meet our mentor for the first time this week (and I'm super pumped), so I'll keep you updated as to how that goes!
4: Put it into practice.
I know this has been a very broad overview of developing your skills so far, but hopefully you have the basis for what skills you need to develop, how you need to grow them and also who can help you along the way. The main thing is that you actually put all of this into action should you decide that business is right for you, and I encourage anyone in a position of financial stability that has a goal to go for it.
I know that personally I would have forever regretted not taking the risk and rising to the challenge of who I needed to be in order to make this work. Now I am confident that my skill set is beginning to really meet our businesses demands, but it's important not to ever just stop there. Keep on digging and improving not just on your businesses skills, but also your personal ones as well, and I promise you and your business will be better off for it. As always, thank you so much for joining us, and I hope everyone reading this has gained something and has a nice week ahead. See you next time!