Are we doing enough to forecast creative and business longevity?

Over the course of a swift 90 minutes, we delved into the past to build a sustainable, supportive, and practical plan for how to approach the art of forecasting, crossing many paths of expertise and interests along the way. We invite you to share your thoughts with us; get your perspective heard, and more importantly, your plan underway… 🔮

In business, we’re playing the long game. Forecasting can be an intricate and ever-changing challenge - it doesn’t happen overnight, and requires a lot of hard work. How can we strike the right balance between a healthy pipeline, and positive wellbeing? Get curious, get creative, and get planning ahead of time with your team in tow.

Cultivating longevity is often a negotiation between chancing risk and chasing reward. Be it profit or pipeline, the more certainty we can depend on in business, the more assured we are in our future. Flattening the ups and downs of a burgeoning business brings with it a whole host of benefits - the capital we accrue at the highs accounts for those all too familiar lows, giving us that much needed boost at the times when we need it most. Hitting the sweet spot of sustainable forecasting and healthy longevity answers the all important question of balance; how can we predict, plan, and profit from the future unknown?

✨ It’s ok to play it safe. Uncertainty is natural, expected, and necessary for forward movement and progress, but it won’t always serve us – less risk favours longevity.

⏳Your knowledge, experience, and perspective will shift over time. Change your tune from “I don’t know the answer”, to “I don’t know the answer yet.” Get skill-swapping and expand your expertise to move forward.

🗒 It’s time to get manifesting. Don’t believe in the divine powers? No sweat – the same rules apply. Get imaginative and write some BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) with a clear plan of action. 

There’s a depth to forecasting, an all-encompassing approach that gives the future of your wellbeing with as much weight as the profitability of your sales. We can’t move forward without a comprehensive understanding of the present – if we want to project a fulfilling future of work, we have to consider business from every angle. If that means holding the mirror up at an unflattering lack of productivity, or a candid glimpse into a sub-par marketing strategy, then so be it. Good forecasting is a group effort, and looks like more than a 5 year plan. It’s an ongoing process, and one that includes everyone, keeping health on an equal footing with wealth.

📈 Expect the unexpected. Schedule internal retrospectives, weekly stand ups, and regular check-ins with both colleagues and clients to track change before it happens.

🌿 Be sustainable. Forecasting means crafting (an often crowdsourced) plan that can support itself and run indefinitely. Plan smart and plan ahead of time.

👥 Invite everyone to the table. Forecasting is an unfiltered process of reflection, and one that includes your whole team – make it democratic.

As an industry, we have an opportunity to forecast with the next generation at the forefront, providing them with the space, skills, and support needed to push boundaries. Whilst you can’t teach drive or motivation, you can offer insight and inspiration, crafting a blueprint to help guide up-and-coming creatives. For the businesses developing a strategy that both empowers and employs emerging talent, get creative and ask for their input and outlook.

💼 Pursue education and training. Education gives you the theory, a real-life job gives you the skills, context, and opportunity. Both are necessary to get ahead in the industry.

🧑‍🏫 Learn from the past and assume you are wrong. The waterfall methodology doesn’t serve us anymore – explore how (and why) we’ve transitioned into an age of agility and what that means for the next decade of business.

🏆 Explore alternative learning spaces. There’s a wealth of knowledge outside of the lecture hall. Get familiar with a different way of learning, and build your future through experience.

The crux of longevity is possibility. There’s an excitement attached to forecasting, a thrilling unpredictability that seems to both motivate and demoralise us. We might not be able to predict, but we can plan – it’s time to take the future by the proverbial horns, and get practical with some final tips from around the table…

✏ Get stuck into repeatable processes to improve your efficiency. Work out where you sit on the bespoke vs automated approach to processes. Experiment, build, and iterate on a structure that can be both customised and replicated. 

🖐 Try the “5:1” method. Start with your avatar (who it’s for), move onto your solution (what you’re providing), nail down your conversion method (your marketing strategy), and work out the source of custom (where they’re coming from). Keep this going for one year and reflect on your progress

🖇 (Re)position to focus on outcomes over inputs. Framing your product or service as a valuable (and value priced) outcome can help to structure a strategy focusing on what you will achieve first, followed by what the project demands in resource.

⏰ Continue (or start) to nurture long term relationships. Increasing trust and certainty through authentic collaboration pays dividends. Think about projects in years, not monthly sprints.

🗣 (Re)focus on your existing clients. Onboarding is labour intensive, time hungry, and depletes resources. Invest in your existing network and work on a retainer basis.

🎨 Nurture your creativity and pace yourself. Make space to enrich your mind, business-free. Experiment with regular creative sessions with your team to help manage workload and limit burnout.

With thanks to everyone at the Roundtable; David Bracey, Barry Bloye, Mariachiara Restuccia, Rod Rivers, Dan Black, John Foster, and Martin Edwards.