jharper617

[jharper617]

Mastery Journal Assignment

This month in my Business Plan Development course, I have learned a lot more than I thought it took to run an actual business. The following bulleted list were my goals prior to this class:

•      How to properly conduct a formal business plan

•      How to apply feedback given from peers and my professors for my business plan correctly

•      Develop strong business skills on a professional level

Out of the three bullet points, I believe I accomplished the first bullet point and the third bullet point. I feel as though I truly connected with the third bullet point most of all. There is so much to conducting a business plan let alone an actual business. Starting up a business is really tough. Becoming aware of the in’s and out’s for starting up a business enhanced my personal business skills. It is more to starting a business than what people realize or neglect to understand. Especially if they are wanting to buy or rent a building for a storefront/office space. Conducting every aspect in the business plan will ensure a successful launch and beyond (at least to three years at maximum) including the salaries for all of the employees, rent for the building itself (if you didn’t buy the building) and all other essential amenities to ensure a consistent amount of clients. You have to encompass enough money to start a business. I unfortunately did not connect with the second bullet point because other than my professor, none of my peers gave me any feedback because it was not a part of any assignment given for the course.

Even though my business plan will not come to fruition until the year 2030, I know that I will be more than equipped to prepare for it within the years 2028-2029. I owe it all to this course and especially this program at Full Sail. 

Thank you!

[jharper617]

Mastery Journal

Original Goals:

•      How to properly protect and monetize my creative content

•      Become more aware of piracy, digital rights management and legislation

•      Learn how to set up a publishing plan along with a distribution plan

The following list above were my goals for this class. I have learned about all of these goals in this course. I have also successfully met these goals by doing the assignments every week and paying attention to the lectures along with the text provided this month. Prior to this class, I did not think about all the necessary documents that would need to be cleared for a project to go through. Whether if it is for a TV series, a movie, music, and/or a video game, there are many ways to go about obtaining a successful pitch so it can be greenlit by executives.

Choosing music as my creative content for this course was the best decision I have made. This course has given me so much insight on what goes on legally behind closed doors. In order to book a gig, an artist has to have an electronic press kit readily available to present to their target market. Creating an electronic press kit was so much fun! Before learning about query letters, I assumed that there was only a pitch meeting to take place between companies that wanted to collaborate or companies that wanted to collaborate with an artist and that’d be it.

With the materials I have learned from this course, I will be utilizing the information for personal usage as an upcoming recording artist in the music industry. I will be creating a true EPK very soon. After I am very seasoned in my career and I choose to retire, I will bestow this information onto my future clients at the Aspiring Elite Agency.

[jharper617]

AEL Mastery Journal

As we further progress in this program, I must say that this course was one of the best courses I’ve taken. Not to discredit the other classes because they are just as excellent, however, this course honestly opened my horizons to what I want for myself and my future businesses. The following list were a set of goals I had prior to getting in this course:

•     How to fully comprehend entertainment contracts and property protections

•     How to learn various strategies to protect my rights through a digital domain

•     How to properly examine how trends can affect the way contracts are structured

I can say that I have achieved learning all of these goals after this month. My goal in ten years is to successfully launch my business for aspiring performing and visual artists. Clients ranging from singers, musicians, dancers, choreographers, fashion designers, fashion illustrators/stylists, graphic designers, directors/producers, models and photographers. This course has prepped me to prepare for this. Learning about trademarking has been the most interesting topic I have learned this year. Becoming aware of court cases that deal with this topic have intrigued my interest in trademarking for my business. In last week’s assignment, we had to fill out three different types of paperwork. The paperwork was the following: Business Registration, Copyright Registration, and Trademark Registration. The worksheet I would be filling out the majority of the time for my business would most likely be the Copyright Registration. I say this because with my clients apart of their training is to compose a reel of their work on social media. Filing the copyright registration for will be to avoid their content getting blocked on social media once its registered. With this knowledge, my staff and I will be educating our clients on how to do this on their own, so they know how to handle themselves accordingly if legal action needs to be taken place.

[jharper617]

Mastery Journal

Prior to this class, the following list below were the aspired goals I wanted to reach by the end of the course:

•     How to address situations with artists as their manager successfully

•     How to resolve those situations with the artists effectively

•      I would like to apply the techniques learned in this class as I jumpstart my own career

I feel as though I have accomplished all three of these goals and a lot more. I’ve learned through this course that it is a lot more than just giving yourself the label as an artist manager. Granted, prior to this course, I knew that it would be the manager’s sole purpose would be to promote the artist. This is true; however, this course has allowed me to view this and my goals through a different lens. This course has allowed me to view artist management through various perspectives. Learning about the expenses and negotiating contracts alone has given me so much more insight about what it takes to become an artist in the music industry. Not only that, it has also given me insight on what to look for in a manager. One of the biggest takeaways I got from this class would be knowing your audience. As an artist is it important to know what audience you want to appeal and attract. For myself as an up and coming artist, I want my music to appeal and attract everyone. People of all races and ages will relate and fall in love with my music. It is my dream to inspire for everyone to become a greater version of themselves. What better way to transcend that message than through my music? Through all of the lectures, it has shaped me to become a much better artist. I’m working and perfecting my craft thank you to the professors over this course for steering me in the right direction.

[jharper617]

Mastery Post

Prior to this class, in month one for my Mastery Journal Timeline, I made the following goals on what to expect to learn for this class. The goals are listed below: •     How to enhance the skills on growing an entertainment company effectively

•     How to become a strong negotiator and deal maker

•     How to establish a strong business presence

Although it is only the third week, I personally have learned a lot more than I thought. My expectations for going in this class were to just discuss the recording artists versus their managers and how celebrities go about handling endorsement deals. However, I was partially wrong. Dealing with negotiations and deal-makings are a part of any and every aspect of the music industry. Pretty much everything you can think of pertaining the music industry revolves around negotiation aside from endorsement deals. For instance, music licensing for artists that want to use samples of an older song for their own, high-profiled appearances as special guests at events, and even going on tour. There is a lot of negoitations that go into creating the venues for each city the artists want to perform at. The artist’s team along with the team that has each venue has to mutually agree on a deal suitable enough to satisfy both parties to rent out the arena for each night of their concert. I was not made aware of that until I got to this class. Another thing that I’ve learned thus far is how you respond in the negotiation determines if you get the deal or not. Maintaining a respectful attitude can go a long way for a deal. It is vital for anyone getting into the industry to make a strong relationship with your legal team. Establishing a working connection with your attorney can save you from getting into debt.

[jharper617]

DMK Mastery Journal

My original goals for this course were the following:

•      How to make effective marketing plans

•      How to enhance my social media presence as a whole

•      How to effectively promote entertainment in a digital environment

Each of these goals were met by the content provided each week. Prior to this course, I thought I had a pretty good understanding of marketing. I failed to realize that there was more than what meets the eye when it comes to marketing. I have learned a lot about marketing in general through this course than I ever had before. In this generation, everything is evidently powered through technology. With that in mind, I learned that there is more than one way to market a brand or a business. I just thought social media was the most efficient way to market yourself. Be that as it may, social media is not the only way. I learned that SEOs and keywords are essential to the digital side of marketing. It will help create and possibly build more traffic to your business. There’s billboarding, radio broadcasting, television broadcasting, flyers, brochures, etc. I knew about these types of marketing before; however, I wasn’t aware of how much time, effort and money that goes into marketing yourself. It puts you in a financial strain especially if you are doing it all by yourself. I now fully understand why companies aren’t using so much of their money to promote their businesses because it will essentially lead them to bankruptcy. As an aspiring self-entrepreneur, I will be applying the material I learned in this course personally and also professionally. The project that I’ve been working on in this program, I will be tackling in the future. Knowing how to prioritize what finances go into my marketing now will definitely help me when I reach to that point. Not only that but how to attract potential clients for my business. Thanks to this class, I am confident by the year 2030, I will be efficiently and effectively one of the top entertainment companies in the world.

[jharper617]

Mastery Journal

Prior to this course, I had the following goals:

•     How to successfully identify and differentiate entertainment business opportunities

•     How to make smart and professional financial decisions through the business

•     How to properly fund my own entertainment program in the future

I have learned about all three of these goals listed above. This course has allowed me to understand the business aspect of the entertainment industry. The irony of it is, I plan on opening this business 5 to 10 years from now. My goal I am trying to accomplish now is to become an entertainer in the music industry. So then later on down the road, I can open up my own company for allowing those who want to make it in the industry possible for them to do so.

Money is the name of the game in this business and how you invest in it will determine how successful you will become. People who desire to run a business is the target audience for this course. I’m not saying that I do not want to run a business. I want to bethe business. The goal for me is to have multiple sources of income consistently coming in. With the knowledge of proper financing from this course, I know what exact approach to take when investing in stocks and possible endorsement deals in the future. When it comes to the music industry, the money artists receive stem from the revenue made. The revenue are the people who listen to their music, the fanbase. Streaming the music determines how much money they make and if you own the masters to your own music, the more money you make. In 1996, Prince described the scrutiny artists- specifically black artists go through in laments terms. “If you don’t own your masters, your master owns you.”

[jharper617]

Mastery Post

In this course, I’ve learned so much more than what I expected to learn. Business Storytelling and Brand development exceed my expectations on how to build a brand, my brand. For my profession, it is a ‘dog eat dog’ culture and it is getting more challenging to break into this entertainment industry every year. I personally do not want to follow another else’s footsteps because I am creating my own. In doing so, creating my brand will help me set myself apart from my counterparts. In other words, I want to be so successful, my name will speak for myself as far as representing my brand is concerned. Mr. Kenneth has pushed me to become a better advertiser and advocate for myself. According to Braveen Kumar from Shopify (2017) “You can't build a brand without being consistent and maintaining that consistency as you extend your brand to every part of your business. But it all starts with establishing what that consistency is going to look like and the feeling you want it to evoke.” There is a lot that goes into building your brand. This is a task you most certainly cannot do alone- you certainly NEED a team of people to help you. Crafting a branding strategy has been one of the easiest things I have learned from this course and it has also been the most helpful. If you have everything mapped out in an organized fashion, it will most likely make creating your actual company business plan a lot easier. Having a certain image for yourself can affect your brand in a positive way or a negative way.  Forbes Magazine article stated the following, “You want to be in control of all of those impressions. Why leave your professional reputation to chance, when you can be your own PR guru and manage your image? Your personal brand is all about who you are and what you want to be known for.”

Kumar, B., & Kumar, B. (2017, June 16). How to Build Your Own Brand From Scratch in 7 Steps. Retrieved from https://www.shopify.com/blog/how-to-build-a-brand

Muse, T. (2017, April 05). The First Step To Building Your Personal Brand. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/dailymuse/2012/02/14/the-first-step-to-building-your-personal-brand/#4d67c70d6201