When Sugar is not the sweetest thing - the fear that holds back creative would-be entrepreneurs

NESTA Insight Out participant Gaylie Runciman and business partner Deborah Norton talk about their own experiences of turning a creative idea into the commercial reality that now is digital installation business rm*.

"There are days when you just don't want to get out of bed because it's far too frightening," admits Gaylie, recalling the early months of founding her business. "But other days, you're on such a high."

With Fine Arts backgrounds, Gaylie and Deborah stumbled into business almost by accident. They teamed up to help another artist with her installation, and it was actually this third artist who spotted the partnership's longer-term potential.

"We began to give it proper thought," says Gaylie. "Then Insight Out took us somewhere else. By the end, we were taking ourselves seriously." And so now, it seems, is everyone else.

The business

As makers and installers of digital content, rm* has produced innovative work for events, broadcast and for public spaces, amongst others. Within retail, it produced a mixed media looped film for a jeweller's workshop/gallery and its work in the music industry includes creating an animated music video for the band Watercooler.

Using cutting-edge hardware, including 3D stereo projections, rm*'s mission is to produce visuals which inform, entertain, and function as art. Already it has forged valuable relationships with key players in the digital industry.

But if the future looks exciting, Gaylie is under no illusion about the scale of the challenge on which she has embarked.

She says: "We knew that, first and foremost, we weren't business people - so we embraced all the help we could, and every opportunity to learn."

On Insight Out

"One of the first exercises was to sit down and look at our business values. You have to get that right – to know what you're aiming for, how you want the business to develop.

"We realised that earning a living - and therefore, the commercial aspect of our business - was important. But so was maintaining control and integrity. And Insight Out said, 'That's OK.'"

You can be creative and commercial

"One of the barriers stopping creative people starting their own businesses is fear," maintains Gaylie.

"We worried we would be given a business model into which we'd have to fit. In fact, the most inspiring thing we learned at Insight Out was that it is possible to do it on your own terms.

"That's what creative people need to know. There are compromises, as in anything, but you can hold onto something that is your own - and onto your creativity.

"Fine Arts students should understand that nobody's trying to over-commercialise them. It's about equipping them so they have more control. Nobody is more of a brand than Damien Hirst. That's not a criticism, it's an acknowledgement."

Art college – the perfect breeding ground for business

Perhaps one of the most surprising realisations during their journey has been the extent to which their backgrounds have actually equipped them for business.

Gaylie says: "In business you get setbacks, critical feedback, and you have to rise to challenges and come up with better ideas than the first ones you thought of. Actually, as arts students, we'd been doing all that for years!"

Gaylie and Deborah's top tips:

• The most valuable lesson we've learned – That it is possible. Go for it!
• Market from the start. "It's tempting when you get work in, to completely focus on that work. But you have to take time out for marketing. You've got to keep yourself out there."
• Charge a fair rate for your services. "Every creative person undercharges. You think up some great ideas and images – and you don't often realise that not everybody does that."