British Library Business and IP and Red 34

Told it how it was

Yesterday I went to glean some knowledge of business at what might seem a somewhat odd place for enterprise - The British Library just between Euston and St Pancras stations

The British Library is an institution that surprises it has the great artists work and exhibitions of diverse cultural significance (Punk at the moment).

A  'celebration' of Punk 

I've seen quite a few speakers addressing business audiences but Julie Deane of Cambridge Satchel Company really stood out.

First of all she told her story - and it was a clear one full of practical lessons learnt that would apply to anyone growing a business.

Here's the story many of us might be familiar with from Google's recent campaign



But it also reflected the virtues of keeping to what the speaker felt was 'right' Julie made clear her expectations on fair treatment not special treatment for people involved in small and start up businesses, she was also clear on her own strengths and weaknesses (she doesn't like networkers and is suspicious of experts descending from on high  and overcharging for things like branding.

Julie who started her company with £600 and the goal of sending her two children to a good 'fee-paying' school where they were not subject to bullying has become an object lesson in how to grow a company.

The head of the Cambridge Satchel Company  is now actively promoting small business for the British Library made a strong argument for using the declining asset of Public Libraries throughout the country to act as a credible resource in helping to build the next wave of enterprises.

Eduardo Paolozzi's statue to Newton outside the British Library 

Julie also shared amusing anecdotes like the one about how she'd bigged up her number of employees to 4 when it was in fact a school girl (doing a few after school hours), Julie's Mother and the dog (Robert - security) this was then revealed to her local paper when  they visited for a photo-shoot.

It was clear that Julie was star struck by the recognition that big names brought her like George Michael and the Rolling Stones  but she made even clearer  how touched she was by Sophie Ellis-Bextor's support for the 'brand'.

A great business lesson and more tomorrow from another session I attended.

Red 34

Well here's a Red that references earlier red chairs but is that thing you'd expect a modern business person to build an office on the run - Chair, Laptop and Coffee

Yesterday afternoon at British Library and an example of someone who deserves to succeed  being resourceful