#dalahemedia

[iam4rio-blog]

Mastery Journal: Advanced Entertainment Law

           Just complete the course, Advanced Entertainment Law, here at Full Sail University. I recall my objective for this course originally was to obtain the knowledge and understanding of material given in the course. Although I have taken a few law courses in my undergraduate degree, Audio Production, it seems as though I was not as interested in the subject as I originally thought. Something about the course just did not engage me nor motivated me to do my best but more so do the minimum. At the end of the day I understood the course work and materials provided.

           I did learn that if one is not careful one could face lawsuits worth millions of dollars. Lawsuits could have easily been avoided with a simple fee payment to proper parties involved in licensing. Other elements of the course I recall were bad contracts between managers and artists. It takes just as much as one call to a lawyer to review a contract. It seems as though many artist fail to consult lawyers to review their contract, prior to signing the document. Which leads to contract disputes and the attempt to get released from them. Things become such a hassle when people fail to do their research and/or pay the proper fees in order to avoid any type of lawsuit.

           Overall, my downfall during this course was my lack of motivation in the subject at hand. It was the cause of my low grade and procrastination in doing assignments. Despite all of that I know that I have an understanding of law in the entertainment industry and know what I should and should not do when it comes to legal matters. Will always do my research when working with music to verify that all fees are paid and that the proper people get their credit where it is due.

[iam4rio-blog]

Mastery Journal: Product & Artist Management

We all judge, we judge things prior to knowing about them or trying them out. This course is no exception. What I thought about this course in the beginning was boring, long, and nuisance. I figure it was going to be boring and not tune me into the course. But of course, I was completely wrong with my judgment.

I was extremely into the whole four weeks of this course. It amazed me that so much information and knowledge is required to be effective at management, whether it is a product or a person. Product and Artist Management is far more important than what most think. There is so much strategy, marketing, advertising, etc. placed into a product or artist that knowing and keeping up with current statistics, demographics, technology advancements, and social media networks all take a huge part in the way management takes place. 

The knowledge I have gained from this definitely opened my eyes up to things I was once blind to. Knowing my artists demographics of listeners and buyers will help me save time and money on marketing and ads for my artist. Knowing my target market allows me to focus my resources directly to that target market. 

In conclusion, this course was definitely more than what I expected. I was given the knowledge required to be an effect manager. Allowing myself to be productive and resourceful. Using my fingers to my advantage researching statistics and demographics. I won’t let me learning stop there, I do plan on still reading the text that was given to me. I feel that even though I have read the chapters I may have missed a few things that I might have over looked the first time. At the end of the day I was extremely satisfied with my learning experience throughout this course.

[iam4rio-blog]

Mastery Journal: Negotiation & Deal Making

In the beginning my goal for this course, Negotiation and Deal Making, was to have the knowledge and understating in order to make the right and proper choice for my business and clients. After four weeks of reading, researching, and obtaining knowledge I feel the confidence in being able to have successful negotiation. It was nothing I have expected to be at first, however it did surpass my expectations and then some.

I must admit that I was nervous and reserved about this course. I was overthinking what it was going to be like to the point of creating a negative image of the content to be learned. I taught my self to believe that it would be a lot of reading and not enough hands on learning of the course. Was I began the course it slowly came together and created a better understanding of the course. It is definitely mush easier to understand negotiating and deal making after completing research and assignments that place my mind in the mindset of negotiation and deal making. Learning the different clauses for contracts, techniques in personal thinking, and the ability to separate myself from the deal was all very informative and useful. Overall, I received what I wanted and needed out of the four weeks in this course.

What I do plan on doing is continue reading the material provided in this course to further enhance my understanding in negotiation. I feel as though this course would be the most useful and effect learning I have received. Not only can I apply this to my business, I also can apply to my own personal life. Whether I need to negotiate a pay raise, personal loan, purchasing a new vehicle, or even purchasing my first house. I never knew negotiation and deal making is frequent in my every day life.

[iam4rio-blog]

Mastery Journal - Business Storytelling and Brand Development

          Over the last four weeks has very knowledgeable, informative, and eye opening for myself; and the outlook I have towards my company name and brand. It the beginning of this course I didn’t realize there was so much work put into building and creating a brand, that it made me take the back seat and overview my own brand. Prior to this course when I decided the name of my company, DaLaHé MeDia, I thought about making it personal and meaningful to myself first. It consists of the first two letters of my first, middle, and last name (Dario Larry Herrera). The word MeDia stands for “Me and Diana;” she is a five year old inspiration and motivation for me to strive to greatness, my daughter. Because of the personal meaning of my company name I wanted to represent that in my company. Want my current and future clients to feel welcomed and at home. Provide a relaxed environment for them to do business with and at.

          Prior to taking the course, Business Storytelling and Brand Development, my objective goal was “to have an understanding of how to properly develop a brand, more specifically, my brand.” Amazed with the amount of information I have received I believe I have the key to a successful brand. It is all coming along piece by piece; I am able to polish my brand to a successful level. There will be some rebranding done along the way in the next coming months, from logo, to motto, to mission statement, etc. My new goal objective it to recreate my current brand into something memorable and unique that catches the eye of many. Learning the beginning of current major companies around the world gave me the insight I needed; they all started with something somewhere and built it up and improved it along the way.

           My main goal for my company and brand is to provide a service(s) to a client that leaves a mark creating a bond of loyalty between the two. I believe that my future course will give me more information and knowledge I will need to reach my goal of a successful brand and company. Being able to attain this current and future knowledge will help me in the development stages of my brand. With time, effort, and hard work I will reach my goal and begin leaving that mark of loyalty.

[iam4rio-blog]

Mastery Journal - Project and Team Management

It has been a long four weeks of greater improvement and learning. My original views on this course, Project and Team Management, were not very uplifting and positive. I began the course with a negative connotation of what I was expecting in the four-week duration. Rather than form teams and do a team project assignment, it was quite the contrary. It was more so what it takes to handle projects and teams. It was sort of a how-to guide to being successful in projects and teams. It has taught me that I have a list of things I need to improve to make me an effective leader and team player. My original objective was to learn how to be effective and more productive in handling situations when it came to project and team management.

 After four weeks, I believe I have gained the proper tools to assist me in accomplishing my objective goal. This course has allowed me to be opened minded in group settings by being prepared to take on situations or concerns that may come.  Not only that, it taught me that a person cannot carry out a goal, at times, by themselves.  Behind every leader is a strong team of individuals helping reach the goal; making achieving a goal so much easier with a smoother passage. It was so much information I was able to obtain in the course that I, in the past, wouldn’t have gave it a second thought.  Thankfully, the first three courses I have taken showed me that being open minded and willing to attempt something new and different is ok to do. Taking the possibilities to newer levels just by thinking outside the box.

 Overall, I have very satisfied with the results I have seen in my learning. Appreciative in the given information that has helped me reach my original objective of this course.

[iam4rio-blog]

Leadership Style

Currently taking the course, Executive Leadership, as my second course in my Masters program. I have learned many different good and bad ways in which to be a leader. The course textbooks provided are Robert Greene’s “The 48 Laws of Power” and John Maxwell’s “Developing the Leader Within.” The fact that there are many ways, traits, and skills for a single person to become a great leader surprises me. I have always assumed that having a lot of money made you a leader, and this course proved me wrong.

Based on the readings and learning from the course, no matter what job position I end up with, I would prefer my leadership style to be similar to John Maxwell with a potential hint of Robert Greene. The style I see Maxwell portray is the “good guy” leader. He seems to morally do the right thing(s), being more compassionate and relationship based than that of Greene’s. One of my favorite Maxwell leadership traits is self-awareness. Focusing and working on that personally would definitely help me be a leader as well as create them. Greene’s style, from my observation, seems to come off as “Do what you need to do to get on top.” For example, Greene’s Law 7 “Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit (Greene),” that allow tells me to become a leader by using others and act like you did it yourself.

There are some laws that Greene speaks of that I just couldn’t do as a person, no matter how bad I want to reach my goal. I mentioned earlier that my leadership style would have a hint of Greene. Given that the entertainment industry is extremely cutthroat, for example, if you don’t get them first they would be more than happy to get you. Unfortunately, that is the way things are in that industry so I would feel the need to exercise some of Greene’s laws over the style Maxwell has.

My main goal as a leader and the style of leadership I want to present would be someone that is genuinely humble yet feisty. I would want people to see me as someone who wants everyone around them to be successful and at the same time would want them to know that the nice guy can be the tough guy.

Greene, Robert. The 48 Laws of Power. Penguin Books, 09/2000. VitalBook file.

[iam4rio-blog]

A look into my Mastery Journey Timeline.

[iam4rio-blog]

Inspiration

“You can bet you last that my head won't hit the floor... never! Im still standing.”

If you feel the emotion she gives through her voice with these words, you can take the inspiration and motivation this song has. Has got me through many situations and after each one I realize, as bad as they may have been, that I was Still Standing.

Monica is such a motivational artist. If you follow her social media outlets (@MonicaBrown) you can see how inspiring and motivating she is. It truly humbling and amazing to see and artist like this.

“Still Standing” is from her 2010 6th album with the same title.