xBlog: The visual thinking weblog
12th June 2008

Conversations With Thought Leaders: Jim Coudal Reinvents the Business Model

“Coudal Partners started as a traditional ad agency. Then Jim and Co. morphed it into something else: a multidisciplinary design consultancy that does everything from running an ad network to creating consumer products to cultivating a vibrant community of creative types. We caught up with innovator at the Seed Conference, a design and entrepreneurship pow-wow he helped found. Here he discusses Coudal’s business model and popular blog.”

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12th June 2008

Saving the Spark: Developing Creative Ideas

“Ideas. They’re at the heart of every creative process. However, almost no really good ideas are flashes of inspiration. They may start that way—a single glimmer of something special—but in order to work, they need to be honed. Like a really good cheese, they need to mature. Indeed, the ‘flash of inspiration’ idea—the Eureka moment—is only part of a longer process that, if ignored, will see most ideas simply fizzle out.

So, how do you ‘have’ ideas? Sit about and wait for them to pop into your head? If only most of us had the luxury to do so. No, for most of us, ideas have to be squeezed out of us every day. To stand up to this challenge, you need to arm yourself with some good tools.”

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12th June 2008

8 Things You Should Include In Your Terms of Service Agreement

“If you’ve been a solo freelancer for any significant stretch of time, you’ve probably learned the hard way that a work project can go horribly wrong. They turn out to be life lessons in the long run, but there are ways to protect yourself.

Working with bad projects or bad clients generally boils down to mismatched expectations and inadequate communication. Your best safeguard is to make sure you and your client are on the same page before any work has even begun using a Terms of Service Agreement, which essentially puts into clear, written language what you expect from your client and what they should expect from you.”

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