Final Project: Business Plan - Mastery Journal Reflection Assignment
Final Project: Business Plan
Mastery Journal Reflection Assignment
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When I first entered the Entertainment Business Master degree program, my goal was to become a disciplined and enlightened entrepreneur in my field of music. By the end of this degree program, I wanted to be able to effectively manage my businesses financially and legally as well as to be able to build a strong brand to market my products. I would have the tools and knowledge to become an effective and successful leader in this industry. Below is a summary of all the wonderful information I learned from each course.
MDL 510
Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership
This course aimed to teach us how to become a master of our chosen field. It helped me with discipline, professionalism, and inspiration for becoming a successful songwriter and entrepreneur.
In this class, we were told to analyze the works of two authors, Robert Greene and John C. Maxwell. Next, we were told to choose the authored leadership style that we could relate to most. I decided that I am a Maxwell leader. I chose this style of leadership for many reasons.
I want to see my peers grow with me! I genuinely care about people and I always look for opportunities for them to progress in their crafts.
In Maxwell’s chapter on Influence, he speaks about Level 2 of leadership called Permission. In order to get people to follow you, you must have a genuine love for people, see through other people’s eyes, and include others in your journey (Maxwell, p. 15). Every opportunity that I get, I love to share it with my peers and help them with their journeys. For example, I am an aspiring songwriter, therefore I try to stay aware of the up and coming songwriting contests. However, when I do get the notice about a contest, I always let my other songwriting friends know about it. In turn, they always look out for me also.
I think it is better to be respected than to be feared because in my experience if they fear you, their alliance with you will not last. Respect has earned me lifelong friendships and connections with amazing people.
MAN 630
Executive Leadership
This course taught us the qualifications of an executive leader in the entertainment business. It helped me to learn how to be an effective leader in my field of music education and songwriting. A great leader has the ability to inspire confidence in others and convince others to follow their movements. Leaders come from many industries and walk of life. Some of the greatest leaders are multi-talented.
Pharrell Williams is an example of a multi-talented leader. Pharrell Williams is considered a leader for his people skills, vision, creating positive change, and problem-solving. Author, John C Maxwell, helps to define these traits in his book Developing the Leader Within You. For example, Williams displays his leadership trait of vision in his interaction with other artists. Maxwell says “People do not follow a dream in itself. They follow the leader who has that dream and the ability to communicate it effectively” (Maxwell, 1993, p. 141). It is hard to imagine an era of millennial music without Pharrell Williams because of his strong vision for timeless music and his efforts to implement it. Williams can see what is missing and compliment the artist’s sound. That sort of vision created hits like Justin Timberlake's 2002 Justified album and ultimately earned Williams a Grammy for Producer of the Year.
MAN 603
Project and Team Management
This course taught me how to effectively manage projects and teams by identifying the necessary components of a successful project and determining the necessary team member skills for that project.
Team Building is very important in the music industry. Believing that we can succeed all by ourselves is a far-fetched myth and proven untrue. My Project Team Management class enabled me to discover my strengths and weaknesses in team building. I had the opportunity to electronically lead a team of six individuals whom I had never met before. Considering everyone’s scheduling, personalities, and opinions was a challenge. However, I managed to get them to share their proudest achievements and strongly encourage each other in the process.
In this class I took the DISC personality and found my traits to be 44% Dominance (which Describes the way you deal with problems, assert yourself and control situations.) 34% Influence (which Describes the way you deal with people, the way you communicate and relate to others.) 17% Steadiness (which Describes your temperament - patience, persistence, and thoughtfulness) & 5% Compliance (which describes how you approach and organize your activity, procedures and responsibilities.
Feel free to take your test at – https://www.123test.com/disc-personality-test/index.php
MAR 630
Business Storytelling and Brand Development
This course taught me how to build a strong brand that can capture the attention of the business and consumer market.
You must understand that you are a brand. YOU are the very first brand for anything that you will do. Your brand is how people perceive you, what they can expect from you, and what people will know you best for.
I had the opportunity to learn how to search for a trademark name for any company name I might have in mind for my very own businesses. I also learned to weigh the pros & cons to having a name. By the end of my research, I found that I was in the clear with exception of a person or two that are using the name loosely but not professionally.
GEB 6508
Entertainment Business Finance
This course taught us how to make effective financial decisions within our field of study. This class taught me how to locate funds to start my projects and/or businesses and how to manage these funds.
Coming into the course, I expected that it would be difficult because numbers and equations were not my strong suit. However, I am proud that I made it. I know that I needed the tools to understand how to budget my publishing company and create a profit. I wanted to learn how to make lucrative business decisions and see risky options before I chose them. For example, if I decided to invest in a song by fronting all advertising, business, and legal costs towards making a deal with a movie producer, I would need to know the amount that I should invest, amount of time it would take to recuperate my investment, and at what point I would start to see a profit. I would also need to know what to do with the profits. I now understand my options for reinvestment.
MAN 6446
Negotiation and Deal-Making
This course teaches students how to become effective negotiators and deal makers in the entertainment business. With this class, I learned how to create strong contracts for my music.
This negotiation course gave me the refresher that I needed in my self-management journey. If I am going to get ahead in my career, I must negotiate deals on my own behalf. We were introduced to so many negotiations such as BATNAs, WATNAs, objective criteria, separating the person from the problems, and so much more. We were also introduced to an interesting topic called game theory. The negotiation techniques and game theory concepts combined provided a clearer understanding on how to get the most out of your negotiations.
BATNAs stand for your best alternative in a negotiated agreement, and WATNAs stand for your worst alternative in a negotiated agreement. These BATNAs and WATNAs should be considered before a negotiation as part of the preparation for the actual meeting. It helps to make a list of all the things you can do if this agreement does not work out and from there you choose your best and worst choices also known as your BATNA and WATNA. This course taught me how to use the BATNA and WATNA to my advantage when negotiating and to prepare myself for the worst if the negotiation doesn’t work out in my best interest.
EBM 591
Product and Artist Management
This course teaches students how to resolve problems that can arise in artist and product management. This class helped me to learn how to use and apply tools and techniques to mediate situations that can occur in managing my musical products.
I also had the opportunity to do a lot of research on “millennials” (ages 20-35). Did you know that out of the 57% of young NYC event-goers, that 73% of them are female!? I thought this was a very interesting statistic, which made me wonder if this percentage reflected the demographics on spending at events. This opened my mind to the possibility that female millennials are the top spenders in their demographic. Therefore, it could be more effective to market products to their tastes.
This class opened my eyes to just how much data is out there that can be used to make realistic predictions on sales and projection. If you intend to be a great manager, this class is highly recommended. As a singer-songwriter, I can now find my target audience and demographic. I can also better determine how to price my songs and use best management practices to help them to sell in the market.
BUL 5628 Advanced Entertainment Law
In this course, we learn how to protect and defend intellectual property. I also gained an understanding of how the entertainment laws are affecting my field in music in the digital world.
My original goal for this course was to learn how to protect and defend my intellectual property in the entertainment industry. I also wanted to learn the entertainment laws and how they can apply to my field.
This course met my goals by which I could observe various court cases involving intellectual property infringement. My favorite case was the WEATHERLY v. UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING GROUP case of 2004 (Cooper, 2004). This case was opened when Weatherly discovered a miscalculation on his royalty statements. When he first tried the issue, he lost the case. The first judge Honorable Mackey used the delayed discovery rule to make his final ruling in favor of Universal Publishing Group. However, Weatherly used his right to file an appeal and fortunately won having the appeal court judge reverse the first court’s decision based on the same delayed discovery rule.
One of the legal concepts from this course that would be helpful to consider in regards to my professional music publishing business is the liability. Investopedia defines liability as a company’s financial debt or obligations that arise during its business operations (Investopedia.com, 2016). This is a very important area in business. By researching the types of liabilities that can affect a music publishing company, I can build my business in a way to protect it any myself from legal or monetary repercussions that could arise. For example, by simply adding a liability clause into my general co-publishing contracts, I can give a prospective client a very clear notice of what we will and will not be responsible for if he/she is sued by an outside party for infringement. This can include attorney’s fees, settlement payments, royalty reimbursements, etc.
MMC 6256
Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution
This course provides students with a full comparison of the old distribution models and the new ones. I also learned about digital rights and digital publishing.
Another point I learned from this course, was the importance of having a press kit. I always knew that a 3-4 song demo was required just like any product that you wish to sell. However, I now know the requirements include professional artist photos, a biography, a gig sheet, a song list, an equipment sheet, a booking information sheet, and a section for press clippings or blog reviews for the artist as well. Luckily there are various sites online that make it extremely easy to digitalize your EPK in seconds.
This course has exceeded my expectations. Songwriters and independent artists would benefit from this course in a large way. Having the tools to take control of your career is essential. This ensures that you can have the chance to create your very own vision and brand. Today, artists do not need to solely rely on large music companies to push the music. They now have the option to self-distribute and profit from it directly.
MAR 681
Digital Marketing
In this course, students learn about marketing plans and coordinating them online and offline.
During this course, I studied the marketing #GaveMeSomething marketing campaign/contest administered by singer/songwriter Jess Glynne. She used Instagram, hashtags, and website to promote this campaign. Glynne managed to gain enough attention during this campaign to successfully include a handful of her fans in her music video “Gave Me Something”. She used Instagram, hashtags, and a website to promote this campaign. to its success.
After successfully taking a course on Twitter marketing, I learned how to incorporate three tools into my business twitter usage. The first tool was to “pin a tweet”. This tool would help to gain extra engagement on an important tweet. The next tool was to “create twitter lists”. Lynda contributor, Batesole, mentioned that this tool could be used to keep tabs on your competitors (Batesole, 2016). Finally, I learned how to use Twitter analytics to track the effects of my company advertising
GEB 612
Business Plan Development
This course makes students use all the business skills from the all previous courses to create their business plans.
My original goal for this course was to get started on my business plan. I was looking forward to the feedback from the instructor in efforts to improve it. I also wanted to use all the tools I gathered from the previous courses to put the plan together.
Surprisingly, the course director made the plan preparation a pleasant one. I was challenged when it came to the financial assignment portions of the plan, however, it came together in a way that I have never seen before. It is very interesting to see real-life numbers on what your prospective business could cost. Having this sort of insight helps me to have a better idea on the kind of funding I will need to get my business up and running.
Final Project: Business Plan
The last course of the program is called Final Project: Business Plan. This is the course that utilizes all the previous programs before it to challenge you to finish your entire business plan. My business plan process was not as hard I thought it would be because I was well prepared by the previous courses. The trickiest portion was writing the Executive Summary. This is the most important portion of a business plan because it is the first page that a potential investor will read. This is the first impression and selling point for your dream business. Ultimately, you need to paint the vision for a reader to see the potential in the business in the same way that you see it.
I enjoyed every course in this program and I will hold on to every assignment for the future. I can honestly say Full Sail has given me all the tools I need to get out there and to be a successful entrepreneur. I am proud to walk across that stage to accept my new diploma because I earned it. Thank you for taking this journey with me! This is the beginning of endless possibilities. #TeamLyricalLove
IG: @TheRealLyricalLove
Email: [email protected]
http://sgprince68.wixsite.com/shontalprince
Area: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Investopedia.com. I (2016, November 28). Liability. Retrieved February 26, 2017, from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/liability.asp#ixzz4ZqLLNhVx
Cooper, P. J. (2004, December 13). No. B170395. Weatherly v Universal Music Publishing Group. United States Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, Division Eight. Retrieved February 26, 2017, from http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-court-of-appeal/1258902.html
Infographic: Engaging Event-Goers in SF, LA & NYC. (2016, August 26). Retrieved January 29, 2017, from https://www.eventbrite.com/blog/infographic-engaging-event-goers-in-sf-la-nyc-ds00/
Batesole, B. (2016, May 5). Twitter for Business. Retrieved November 6, 2016, from https://www.lynda.com/Twitter-tutorials/Twitter-Business/480768-2.html?org=fullsail.edu
Greene, R., & Elffers, J. (2000). The 48 laws of power. New York: Penguin Books.
