Paul Smith talks business

Here's a fascinating interview with fashion design guru Paul Smith, who talks about many aspects of growing a business in the creative industries, including:

- How he succeeds as a creative entrepreneur by saying no to many potential clients, choosing only those projects which fit his brand and excite his creativity. He has (politely) rejected the opportunity to design 3 hotels, 5 mobile phones and 2 cars - and that's just in the last year!

- How he manages his company's finances and business growth in such a way that he can be selective. He avoids the pressure to constantly grow his creative business. Crucially, he manages cash flow carefully so that he has never needed to borrow money from a bank.

- How he became 'big in Japan' by being respectful of Japanese people and culture (when others were being brash), and took his time to build solid business relationships.

See video on the T-Shirts and Suits blog:

http://blog.davidparrish.com/tshirts_and_suits/2011/11/paul-smith-i...

Tags: Bloomberg, Eye, Francine, Lacqua, Paul, Smith, creative, designer, entrepreneur, fashion, More…guru, industries, to

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Permalink Reply by carina bauweraerts on November 28, 2011 at 16:33

Hello,

Thanks for sharing this ! Very interesting !

Carina Bauweraerts

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Permalink Reply by Mainda Kiwelu on November 30, 2011 at 12:31

Hi David

I really enjoyed this post - thanks for sharing. I was struck by three things in particular about Paul Smith:

- How he has allowed himself to go with the flow and letting his instinct and values inform his decisions.

- How he has gained confidence from doing, and the dedication he has in learning his craft. He seems to have managed to not get sucked in by the "noise" of what's going on in the industry/media

- His self-awareness. It appears to me that he is very aware of where his strengths lie. he hasn't over-reached himself and has surrounded himself with good employees and built fruitful relationships.