brandonmccraemastery-blog

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Mastery Journal: Final Project: Business Plan

For this class I really focused on encompassing everything I learned into this project. Understanding business plans was new for me so I am grateful for the help our professor provided throughout the course. Also, I was nervous presenting and pitching a business plan but I am glad that I got that experience as I will need it in the future. This class really embodied my journey through Full Sail and has meant a lot to me. I am grateful for the opportunity to attend this school and I will do the name well as I enter the workforce.

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Brandon McCrae: Mastery Journal - Business Plan Development

I had high expectations for this class. I really wanted to dive into my business plan and get feedback. I really wanted to do research for my business. My original goals for this course were to start were to learn how to write a proper business plan to pitch to investors. The course really met this goal. I learned more than I expected because I did not know what was included in a business plan.

In week 1, I learned about what is included the company description which includes the mission statement, products and services offered, and the legal status and ownership of the company. Also, industry analysis and trends were included in the business plan which industry growth statistics, market opportunity, barriers to entry, and long-term opportunities. Week 2 is when the Target Market was developed which included market description, market size and trends, target customers, market readiness, and strategic opportunities. Then I wrote a section on competition which included the competitors, market share distribution, barriers to entry, and strategic opportunities. I also had no idea about a Marketing and Sales Plan which included advertising mechanisms, customer needs, sales mechanisms, and sales team organization. Then writing a financial analysis was one of the more difficult but rewarding tasks thus far in this process.

My skill has definitely changed during the course and I have much more confidence in writing a professional business plan. I do not think that this has to stop with the entertainment industry. I believe that I can transfer these skills into a corporate environment as well.

I learned so much from this course. I really took a liking to it because I hope to be an entrepreneur within the next year or so. I want to start multiple businesses as well as get into real estate. I will apply these techniques into my personal life in a corporate environment on how to progress businesses. Business plans can also be rewritten and you can go back to the drawing board for revisions.

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Brandon McCrae: Mastery Journal - Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution

Coming into this month, I no idea what to expect but I had a ton of goals. Having so many previous internships in media, I knew this class would provide a ton of insight into how media works as well as publishing and distribution on a local, regional, and national level. Some of my goals included learning about the new digital publishing and distribution models. I also wanted to learn how to protect myself or my content and monetizing my content. I want to create my own content in the near future and protecting my content while monetizing it. This class has given me the information on the media side that I need to succeed in this industry.

I took so much from this class within these first three weeks. As an agent myself, and an aspiring CAA agent at that, learning about query letters is very important. I work with models, but I work alongside literary agents at my department, and this is something they use to determine whether to take on some writers and decline the others. So, understanding this from the opposite perspective was important, especially when it came to writing my own proposal letter.

This class has taught me so much that I can apply to my business aspirations but to my career as well. I want to work in media as an agent. Preferably working with musical artists and so learning how artists pitch themselves to agents is very critical. I want to learn to navigate this industry with proficiency and this class has taught me that and more. I have learned how to give my content the proper privacy and protect myself as well as earn income. I even added my own input which included affiliate marketing and giveaway marketing to add to my marketing plan for my business idea.

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Brandon McCrae: Mastery Journal - Advanced Entertainment Law

When entering this course, I had no idea what to expect. I knew I wanted to learn more about intellectual property and ways to protect myself as I venture into my own business affairs. I had no previous experience in business which is why I knew this class would be relevant to my aspirations going forward. My main goal was to simply learn how to protect myself and prevent being sued. My company is a concert promotion company, so I know the risks that come with it. These things could include being sued for any injury that happens at the concert or even a burglary taking place.

Overall, my goals were not only met but surpassed. I needed to learn how to protect my business. Once I learned about intellectual property and liabilities, I knew how to move forward with my business endeavors. There were so many things that I was unaware of such as copyright law, trademarks, clearances, and rights owners. Had I not known this; I would have struggled to properly perform any business transactions. Learning the case studies really helped me out. Once I saw how certain cases were handled, I knew what would protect me if I were to get in any of these situations. I completely understand contracts as well. So, this helps me to establish everything with the venue owner and artist before the show so they know what each person’s role is and everyone can be held accountable.

Not only do these concepts help in my personal business endeavors but in business in general as a working business professional. I aspire to do work with record label operations and will be pursuing an M.B.A. after finishing school at Full Sail. Understanding how to protect yourself or another business is a major skill to have and will help you separate yourself in regard to employment. This will have a huge impact on my career success and will help propel me into the workplace. I am very appreciative of this class because it has surpassed all expectations of what I thought I previously knew about intellectual property and liabilities.

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Brandon McCrae: Mastery Journal

Entering into Product and Artist Management was very exciting for me as an aspiring talent manager. My goal was to get an in-depth understanding of the roles and responsibilities that talent managers and artist managers undertook. I am currently an intern at CK Talent Agency and would love to learn how to grow in this industry. I had more interest in artist management than anything, but product management turned out to help me in my business endeavors more than anything. I am currently learning how to target my audience and using affiliate marketing to create revenue off of my videos. The most important thing is to have a takeaway from each class. This class has helped me in many ways. The assigned reading, Artist Management for the Music Business by Paul Allen, has been very beneficial to my progression as an aspiring talent manager.

In regard to artist management, I have learned what to look for as a talent manager, creating inventory and merchandise, understanding interpersonal relationships and interactions, as well as the legality of the business with contracts, trademarks, copyrights, and releases. For the product management side of the class, I learned how to develop a business plan for your product and apply market research analysis to target your audience and build your brand. This allows for revenue to come in and rive business results. I have such a better understanding of how to manage business functions within the entertainment industry which gives me confidence as I look to apply to Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, Creative Artists Agency, William Morris Endeavor, Songtrust, and Downtown Music Publishing.

For me personally, this was my favorite class. That probably has a lot to do with the fact that this class has been the closest thing to my dream job that I can think of. I am really inspired by this class as it gave me a ton of reassurance going into my career. I graduate in June and  can’t wait to move into my career.