On to the Next Task
I haven’t been one to display a huge amount of emotion whether it’d be something unpleasant or even receiving good news altogether. For me, it would be all about moving on to the next task that’s ahead and never really giving myself much time to dwell or reflect on the path at hand. This month I got a chance to reflect on the beginning of my journey leading up to this very moment of writing these words concluding this EBMS program. As I began to look forward to the next task ahead, I couldn’t help myself not to become emotional about the milestones that I’ve come to achieve up to this point. My goals for this final project course was to complete a full business plan based on the objectives and concepts learned from the entire program, to present a formal business plan to my peers and faculty family of Full Sail University, and to graduate from the Entertainment Business Masters of Science degree program.
The thought of starting a business to most people is one of the scariest things in the world, for good reasons. Being in business for yourself is being 100% committed to the services you provide within the range of your company. One of the safety nets of having a good job is benefits like healthcare coverage and 401k account. As a business owner, you look deep into the aspects of financial managing, looking ahead to three-years of projections that you look to meet. For me, this journey has been beyond fulfilling and everything that I’ve could have asked for from an educational institution.
Last month’s courses were all about putting it all together, but this month was focused on ironing out the wrinkles and dressing up the presentation of the actual plan itself. After all, first impressions are everything whether you are seeking investment from equity funders or bank institutions. That was the month where there was a moment where the light bulb came on for me and I realized that I wasn’t just creating a plan from a business owners perspective any longer. I started looking at things from the investor's standpoint and started asking myself, “would I invest in this idea if it were presented to me?”. This is where the creative side of the idea met the logical side, but the creativity of structuring an idea to be published to the public eye came from the Media Publishing and Distribution section of the program.
In this course, I came to appreciate the flexibility of the different directions that this industry has to offer. I discovered that it is more difficult to obtain a credible agent to represent an artist's creative content than it is to reach a representative from a publishing and distribution company to solicit their work too. This allowed me to think outside the box to figure out what creative content can I make available to sell beyond me just solely focusing on ticket and admission sells. I came to realize that there could be an open window of opportunity to work with promising music producers that lack the knowledge of protecting their creative content. This allowed me to put on the hat of a talent manager and would be able to provide them with necessary tools, such as a press kit, to self-publish the media content on behalf of the architects.
Although I would have the platform and the skill set to be successful in this particular sector, there is a number of liabilities that I would have to consider if I really wanted to move in this direction. Advance Entertainment Law made this milestone very achievable along with my company as a whole. To enter such a competitive business within the live entertainment industry, one must understand all the risk that may hold serious legal liabilities. As I reflect on the journey during the month of this EBMS course, the key concepts for best practice within the field dealt with good negotiations skills. One must understand the legal lingo of protecting specific intellectual properties on any and all documents.
One of the highlights of the course, for instance, was the pleasant surprise of how aware I’ve become to be able to identify legal liabilities from a specifically proposed obstacle course competition in particular. This is a skill that demonstrates a solid understanding of identifying different liabilities, no matter what that industry field is. I also learn that it is extremely wise to take the necessary step to protect your mark by applying for a federal trademark and registering a domain name containing trademarked elements. This was something that I immediately grasp my attention with my business. I personally found it refreshingly satisfying to understand the ins and outs of the contract jargon as well as legal liabilities laws to have a more meaningful contribution when structuring my business plan.
Looking back at the beginning of this program, I can honestly say that Product and Artist Management was one course that I really underestimated prior to taking the class. My initial impression was that it had nothing to do with what the core of my business. That was before I found out that class emphasize was about making money. Little did I know that PAM would be the course that simulates my interests in managing products and talents’ as a subdivision to my company. The internet has become a world of its own and the research that was done during this class help grasps a niche for the market that I’m targeting.
There are many different leadership styles that can be used in a wide variety of situations, including being able to adapt to all styles of leadership when communicating with different types of personalities in the industry. Product and Artist Management focuses on knowing your audience with detailed market research. It is almost mandatory for managers to stay relevant in today's music industry because it leaves the impression of knowing who's currently hot. You see, an artist manager does more than just book the gigs for their talent, they also become a life coach. PAM not only exceeded my expectations, it also allowed me to expand my thinking to maximize other areas of revenue streams.
No matter what the provisions are on a manager vs. artist's agreement, the primary goal is to create a career roadmap that is realistic and full of updated inputs from the artist and their team. This brings me back to the class teaching of Elizabeth Counsman. Reflecting on what I've learned in my Negotiation and Deal-Making course is that it's vital to be able to clearly communicate with people on a conversational level. This course has exceeded my expectations and sharpen my skill set as more than a negotiator, but a better communicator. I was able to explore different types of contracts that would be used in my industry specifically in the live entertainment field.
The types of contracts used are Independent Contract Agreement, Performances Agreement, Rider Agreement, Personal Appearance Agreement, Non-disclosure Agreement, Venue rental Agreement and Sponsorship Agreement. Although each agreement will hold a certain value of importance on its own, it's the negotiations leading to the agreements that will be the challenge to face. Things got a bit interesting as one particular assignment involved me playing the role of a manager with a classmate and based on our conversation I had to negotiate on terms that we both would agree on. What made the assignment even more exciting, my classmate that I was paired with was actually an artist himself and turned out to be a great learning experience for the both of us. Understanding the characteristics of whom I'm negotiating with, will serve as a valuable tool moving forward in my career in the entertainment industry.
Going back in time to further reflect on this journey, was how I learn to effectively use social media platforms as a professional weapon of choice to go along with a professional portfolio website, thanks to Digital Marketing. This course taught me that there is a science behind advertising digitally and measuring the results of my marketing efforts. Creating a digital canvas was is a great learning experience in putting together a complete professional marketing campaign. This is met to introduce my business concept in an organized and concise manner. Strategically identifying who I plan to market to as well as other key categories were designed in a canvas to display information such as industry analysis, revenue stream, and pricing, competitors, campaign preplanning, etc.
Over the years, social media has become a vital platform to companies in the industry to display visual content that directly relates to there business brands and/or products. My peers and I was given a list of Lynda courses and were to watch at least one that relates to our industry and I decided to watch was Twitter for business. Some key takeaways that I will continue to use moving forward are the list section of my account profile. This is an area that will often be used to follow competitors without having them on your timeline. Other takeaways that are just as important would be advertising with Twitter and the analytics and promoting your content to a mass audience is one thing, but knowing more about who are your followers gives a different perspective of how to use this platform.
With every campaign in place for a business, there will always be the element of a budget that helps operations move according to plan. No matter what medium a person uses to control the funding, the Business Finance course of this program really makes you pay close attention to your spending in both business and personal side of the coin. This was one of the most important classes of the program for me personally. One of the biggest challenges during my past experiences where financially conveying why a transaction is needed to be made, as well as reading and understanding annual reports when it was presented to me or looked up. Although funding at the time didn’t seem to be a problem, budgeting the necessary and unnecessary expenses was becoming an issue that needed to be addressed.
In other words, financing is simply the act of bringing money into an organization. The very first day of starting this course, I quickly realized the level of importance to understanding the business financial aspect of this degree program for the business that I am creating. One of the goals accomplished was to set up a three to five-year financial plan that covers the projected income and operational budget for my live entertainment company. I have to admit that diving into companies annual report was a bit overwhelming as I overcame the task of familiarizing myself with analyzing two major companies annual reports. Being a business owner, you must have a solid understanding of the principle of finance to keep your company profitable and learning about the fundamentals of finance helped me think outside of the box in terms of thinking about proper strategies, to seek sponsorships for my business and the projects that it will produce.
The most common misconceptions about the word branding are often recognized as a logo or an identity for corporations; or maybe even a product, service, or company. However, either one of them is correct. The month's course of Business Storytelling and Brand Development was highlighted on my calendar since the beginning of this degree program for many reasons. Creativity is the bread and butter of my approach to competing in an industry filled with competitors. I have learned that an effective brand is a story that is told to a target audience in hopes for an emotional connection.
Personal branding helps with this in connection with the services and products I offer. This was the preplanning stage for my digital portfolio to organize a personal brand strategy. My brand is a reflection of my work ethic and by ensuring that my main focus relies on the quality as well as the prodigious hospitality of any work that my brand is attached to, it will stand out from competitors in the industry. The course content provided really helps me understand the importance of analyzing my industry’s growth, as well as identifying the main competitors and current trends in the industry market. One of the most important concepts that I will always carry with me professionally is the ability to give a piece of myself personally to my target audience.
In the first week of the Project Team Management course, I was asked to pitch a project proposal based on my field and continued to build on it throughout the entire program. This is a course where I felt I was extremely engaged in and often would think that I’m putting way too much information on about my proposal. Well, the one thing that I can quickly reflect on this topic is that it was highly emphasized that there's no such thing as a project that is too organized. It was about bringing a brainstorming idea to life in a form of a project plan to be defined and break down the work structure of it. That seemed to be the fun part for me due to the passionate behind me orchestrating live events for some time now.
Rigorous research and analyzing help me determine the benefits and drawbacks of my project, and as a result choose the most appropriate project management methodology that’s suitable. It takes preparation-months and months of careful planning and organizing to pull off a live event at the caliber that I am planning for. Solidifying the date of an event and marking a firm goal with a deadline on the work breakdown structure is a vital stage in the planning process. Everything from here on out turned into a domino effect in terms of thinking about all the necessities needs such as proper IP and liability insurances to obtain. Based on the structure created, we took in a step further to wrap up the month by focusing on creating a risk management guide and budgeting as well as creating a team and quality management plan helps break down the responsibility roles where outside help may be required.
Just like any other profession, you always need to be able to stand out from the rest especially as a CEO of a company. That executive is considered the red apple, inside of an all green apples classroom that can communicate with other members of different departments, and will naturally obtain a business suaveness towards each project at hand. The Executive Leadership course has prepared me to expect the unexpected from a wide range of situations by defining what kind of leadership style I can take into my profession. Now that I think about it, this course was the beginning stages of preparing for my final business presentation by being introduced to the Pecha Kucha Presentation assignment in that second month of the program. Telling a story with practically just pictures and very little words paints the picture of exactly the message or point I’m trying to get across to the viewer.
Being prepared for any situation starts by being knowledgeable of all theories or traits. However, within my field, you’re likely to be exposed to a wide range of different situations where I have to be ready for mentally. 48 Laws of Power was a book that I have always want to read but often found all the reason in the world to not make time to begin reading it. Universe has a funny way of putting want right in front of you, as that turned out to be one of the two class textbooks throughout the month. My journey was set in virtual stone as I prepared a road map of goals, that I wished to accomplish from this master’s program and now set to create a whole new set moving forward.
As I reflect at the very beginning of this entire program, it's crazy how the same dreams that brought me to this purse my vision have evolved within its approach. There is always a moment in a person’s life, where they can imagine doing something that revitalizes their thought process. A moment where they can imagine doing something that they love doing every single day. That very moment is when they realize whether they are on their path or away from it. That moment came to me when I completed a turning point video assignment that gives viewers an exclusive introduction to myself.
Classic recording to say the least, but I could remember exactly how I was feeling when I first did that assignment. I was confident in what it was I wanted to do, but I could clearly see that I didn’t really have the identity of who I was as a business owner and how I wanted to make things happen. Mastering my craft on this journey that I'm on requires me to blend the two discipline and a childlike spirit together into what we know as the Dimensional Mind. Personally, I think there's always something to learn and for me that will always make me a student of the industry. If there is one thing I can take away from the first month, it's that my purpose for my idea is bigger than myself.
The growth from where I started to where I am now is a huge milestone that I’ve accomplished. I have incorporated my business in my hometown state, I have constructed a full blueprint of my operations in the form of a business plan, I can effectively defend my business concept in a logical manner to make sense to potential investors and although I can go on, the big take away is that I am as confident than ever moving on to the next phase of my journey. I am extremely grateful for the wonderful instructors that played a part of the process of getting me to the end of this road trip of the EBMS. Now that the arrangements of family and loved ones are set for them to witness me walk across a graduation stage, this is merely just the beginning. Now I am in the position to take action in ways I once couldn’t have imagined.
There were obstacles along the way that could have derailed my train off the tracks, yet again and again, I continue to fight through it all with resilience. No one will ever feel the pain that motivates me but everyone will see the passion I bring to the table with the know-how and knowledge to reach the maximum potential in every project that I am involved with. The picture is crystal clear now as I continue my journey of operating a live entertainment company. The dreams are reachable goals, now that it's all put together. Although there is always another task ahead, I’m going to enjoying this moment and be grateful all I have and will accomplish.