Today was something of a watershed moment as we enrolled our first students through an extension of our business, The Creative University.

For some time we’ve been looking at online education as an opportunity to expand. It’s a natural extension of the content we create for other elements of our business. With this as another string to our bow alongside print, ebooks and eCommerce we are able to offer more to our authors, contributors and (now) tutors.

It’s also another way for us to deliver on our promise to inspire the creative lives of our customers.

It’s no secret that many crafters are interested in turning their hobby into a second, and sometimes primary, income. The growth of Etsy, Folksy, NotontheHighStreet and even the more commercial such as Fab.com all indicate the extent of demand for more artisan and unique products. At the same time, the squeeze on salaries and increases in cost of living are encouraging more people to seek out new income streams.

Put together, we felt we could help serve those customers that were thinking of making this leap with some practical advice and help. Our courses aim to do just that and cover a range of topics from Social Media Marketing (starting today) through to Writing and blogging. Our next course starts in February and is entitled ‘From Passion to Profit: Start your business in 6 weeks or less’ – Courses last 6 weeks, cost just £99.99 and the tutors are absolute leaders in the relevant fields. Discounts are available by becoming a Stitch Craft Create member – you can find out more details at The Creative University site.

An exciting day for us and the team and a huge credit to those that have worked to get this business live and successfully deliver our first students. Most of all, I hope an exciting day for those registering and hoping to start a business from their passion. If that’s you, then good luck!

A recent scenario was causing me to reflect on how I can better help up and coming talent develop into managers with confidence who are able to take ownership of projects and challenges and become leaders in the business.

I wondered if there was a business that could help with what I needed and so I spent a bit of time searching. I found a whole bunch of companies that offered training of various types. In-house, out of house, one day, two days, residential, different subjects and themes with varying levels of qualification. But I didn’t find what I was looking for.

What I wanted was this:

• Something to suit a host of different levels, from the new manager to the experienced
• Something that was appropriate to my sector and business
• Something that covered multiple management skills: Time management, negotiation, presentations, managing staff, difficult scenarios. All the things you might capture under the banner of soft skills
• Something that I could encourage my staff to take in online, in their own time whether at work or at home
• Something that didn’t require us to commit a full day, or even a half day of time
• Something that would cover key topics in short, digestible chunks, that could be returned to again and bookmarked
• Something that did all this with a trusted source that I believed would give good advice
• Something for managers in the UK that felt relevant to the UK
• Something that was free

I’d expected to find it, I’d expected to find the business that was changing the world of training, approaching it from a different perspective, using free as a marketing tool, taking advantage of video, YouTube and social media and challenging the established training model. But I didn’t.

Maybe this business is out there and I simply didn’t find it, but maybe not. If you exist and are reading this, please step forward – @Jawoollam is the best way to contact me. If it doesn’t exist, it should.

I’m a big admirer of the TED community for what it represents, the ideas it celebrates and its business model. It was through TED and a recommendation from a friend that I picked up on Simon Sinek and his principle of Start With Why. I’d missed this until now (it dates back to 2009) but after watching this video I immediately went and bought the ebook, which I’m now reading (review to follow).

Once you get your head around this I think it is a truly inspiring concept, summed up in the key phrase “People Don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”. How true that is, and yet how few businesses can really turn round and say they apply that thinking. I think this can be such an important concept and for businesses wanting to gain competitive advantage, or struggling to gain or retain market share – embracing the principles of start with why could be the key to unlocking success.

The core principle of Start With Why is the Golden Circle or Cone. Simon explains that most companies start with the what – “we sell televisions, do you want to buy one?” whereas where they should start is with the why? “We’ll bring the cinema into your home”. Even in that one small example, hopefully you get it. How much more powerful is that message as a focus for a business? Simon uses Apple as a case study to bring this to life and I think we can all understand it in that context.

Simon goes on to support this with a concept of The Split (how easy it is to forget the why as day to day business takes over and the Celery Test (how you can test if your why is defining you/your brand).

It’s a great concept, and like most great ideas has been focused on a simple principle. What’s more, it’s scaleable. Your why should be at the very heart of your strategy and as such should inform all your decisions, even the smaller day to day ones.

For competitive advantage, Start With Why.

Another international football championship is over, with England once again departing early to the inevitable penalty shoot out. I caught a review of the tournament on the radio and it got me thinking what, if any, lessons there were for business to take from the tournament…

Have a strategy
Spain have won three international tournaments in a row playing a style of passing football that you could argue is changing the beautiful game. I don’t have a good enough football knowledge to compare this Spanish team to the all time great sides, but it does seem they are defining a method of playing that other countries have to adjust to. For all the beautiful football, they’re also strong in defence and didn’t concede a goal in the knock-out stage of the tournament.

Lesson: Have a strategic plan built on strong foundations.

Bring out the big guns
The Portugal vs Spain game finished 0-0 after extra time and so was decided on a penalty shoot out. Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the best players in the world, was held back to take a later penalty but Portugal had lost before he even had the chance.

Lesson: Put your best people on your most important initiatives early.

Don’t write people off.
Arguably the player of the tournament, Andrea Pirlo, was released by AC Milan who believed his best football was behind him and he didn’t have the fitness to continue at that level. He stepped up Euro 2012 and tore into England and Germany.

Lesson: Take advantage of your experienced talent and don’t dismiss it.

Invest in youth.
It’s no coincidence that Barcelona have enjoyed domestic success during the same period that Spain have been dominating the world stage. With a great academy system and new talent coming through, Spain (and Barcelona) look likely to be threats for years to come.

Lesson: Have a pipeline of up and coming talent in your team you’re developing.

Don’t be afraid to stand still.
This is a tough one for me as I like to see new ideas all the time, but you can’t fault the study. A group of Iranian Economists conducted research into penalty shoot outs with the aim of determining the best strategy the goalkeeper should take. After analysing the data, the statistics showed that a goalkeeper would save more shots by simply standing still in the middle of the goal than diving to either side. So why do ‘keepers dive? It’s because they feel they have to be seen to be trying to save the shot – no-one ever gave the goalkeeper that lept one way or the other a hard time.

Lesson: Sometimes (just sometimes) standing still and observing is the right option.

There you have it, 5 business lessons from Euro 2012.

I attended the Exeter Like Minds conference recently. Other commitments meant I was only able to join on the Friday but it was an interesting and thought provoking day nonetheless. The conference itself was set up in a way to really encourage participation with a whirlwind of immersives, endeavours, keynote speakers, panel sessions and feedback opportunities; this was a hard working and rewarding day.

For me, the highlight speakers were Chris Carey from the Performing Rights Society and Robin Wight, President of Engine. Chris talked about lessons of music industry, with strong economic data to support this was a thought provoking session and particularly pertinent to the my industry, publishing. Robin closed the conference and (dressed in purple suit, yellow shirt and red shoes) took a brief  trip through advertising history, lessons learnt, the social opportunity and how understanding brain science was key for marketeers.

Aside from the insight gained from all of the expertise of speakers and panelists, the day reminded me of two things that are so easy to forget with the urgency and demands of day to day business:

Learning: I’m a huge advocate of the importance of continous learning. In a recent staff meeting, we were discussing the company training budget. While I understand a level of need for company sponsored skills training, I think some of the best learning is self initiated. Seeking out expertise online, reading blogs, industry news, attending events, following industry leaders through social media and always being prepared to question and probe.

Keeping your external perspective: it is so easy to get wrapped into the internal business and close your eyes to what is going on outside. When was your last store visit, competitor review or even customer meeting? In my experience, incremental business growth & innovation comes from looking externally to your organisation and understanding and applying these insights to your business.

Invariably, the challenge here with these comes back to finding the time. To help with this, the best tool I’ve come across is the important/urgent model which I use to determine my priorities. If you aren’t aware of it already, suggest you check it out.