Opening Up: Introducing Our Strategic Programmes for Creative Entrepreneurs
Words and photos: Miguel Barbot
Over the past decade, me and my team at Barbot Bernardo have been quietly working alongside creative entrepreneurs, including visual artists, designers, musicians, architects, makers, hospitality ventures, cultural organisations and even the public sector.
Much of this work arrived at our desk through word of mouth, trusted introductions, relationships built over coffee and studio visits. We've preferred an intimate way of acquiring new clients, with relations built on trust, openness, and time.
But lately, we've been thinking about access and new ways to get out of our bubble and diversify the creative people we work with.
When operating through word of mouth, most of the new leads reached out to us with, if not a completely clear sense of what we do, at least with a good enough idea. After an introductory meeting, I would customise and send over one of our three pre-defined proposals.
Why We're Sharing This Now
With a bigger focus on promoting our projects and an exponential increase of leads arriving through our clients, we need to have a sort of preparatory work, so the new potential clients, on the one hand, can understand if what we do fits their needs (many times they think they are too small or too unstructured for a strategy project), and on the other hand, to come to a first meeting with a more precise idea of a potential collaboration with us.
So here I am, for the first time, properly introducing our Strategic Programmes for Creative Entrepreneurs.
This isn't about suddenly deciding to "offer services." I've been doing this work permanently since 2014 at Ofício and Barbot Bernardo, and, as an independent consultant or a bigger-firm employee, at least since 2004, after my junior year in an Innovation consultancy.
What's changed is our decision to make what we do more accessible and transparent, and be clearer about what strategic support can actually mean for a creative business.
Curious? You can know more about our strategic programmes in this section of our website.
What We Actually Do
When we say "strategic programmes," we mean participatory, educational, hands-on work work that treats you as the expert in your own business or creative field; we don't do the typical "seated-down" consulting that parachutes in with generic advice drafted by an intern and ChatGPT. To put it more simply, I, will be a close partner who works alongside you and your team, session after session, sharing tools and frameworks that you'll use long after I'm gone.
My approach has always been pedagogical: before Alice and I founded Barbot Bernardo, most of my consulting projects were developed in tandem with classroom training on the same subjects. That’s why we decided to include the business management are in our certification by DGERT as a vocational education and training provider.
So, it means that our strategic programmes are certified as training and we teach and learn as we work together. Between sessions, you'll have homework — tasks that keep you actively shaping your strategy and building crucial knowledge, not passively receiving it. And after the programme, you will earn a training certificate to hang on your studio!
About our Programmes
We've designed two core strategic programmes, plus custom options for specific needs. You can find them with more detail on this page.
Strategic Mentoring: Focused support for those thinking about a new business and entrepreneurs who need expert guidance on specific challenges.
Strategic Market Planning: Comprehensive strategic planning for those creating a new venture or established businesses ready to develop or refine their market approach.
Custom Programmes: If your needs fall outside our standard packages, we'll design a custom programme that addresses your particular challenges and opportunities.
Who This Is For
Over the years, we've worked with many different cultural and creative businesses and entrepreneurs, from visual artists, to makers, design studios, independent retailers, cafés and restaurants, architecture practices, craft businesses, or cultural organisations. We understand the realities of cultural and creative work — the tension between artistic integrity and commercial viability, the challenge of scaling without losing soul, the specific economics of your field of work.
The Bigger Picture
This work connects to everything else we do. Through Ofício, our creative agency, we can support the visual and communication side of your strategy. Through Saber Fazer, our education and research unit, we bring expertise in craft pedagogy and sustainable production.
We've also been proposing and managing European cooperation projects, supporting multiple grant applications, and built strong local and global partnerships, something crucial to understand the Europe-wide ecosystem we and our creative clients are operating in.
I will be a close partner who works alongside you session after session.
A few months ago we published a post on our journal about how our work is helping independent and creative businesses and how we are helping them shape the retail landscape in Porto.
A few of the wonderful creative people we have been working with. You can also take a look at some of our strategy case studies in our journal. Credits: Miguel Barbot, Alice Bernardo or our clients’ social media / websites.
If You're Curious about our programmes
If you're facing strategic questions — whether you're just beginning or you're established and ready to evolve — I'd be happy to talk with you.
You can reach me at info@barbotbernardo.com or present your challenge here.
