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Mastery Journal Program Reflection

As I complete the final course of my Entertainment Program I can’t help but to reflect on how much I have learned over the course of being enrolled in the program. I ended up taking a break much longer than I expected but I was halfway done and I know if I had never got back to it I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about it and I am so glad I did! In this final course, the Final Project it made my Dreams more real. I feel now, more than ever, that me being able to own my own studio one day is closer than I think. After completing this program I now have the tools and roadmap to get to my goals and I have to say that I am very excited about it. Also excited about the idea of having a Business Plan. It needs work but I have something. For many years I’ve always steered away the idea of writing a business plan because it seemed like it was a lot and too much to process but with this Business Program I am happy to have something to work with and continue to improve upon. Since starting the program, I have found an office and small location to do my photo shoots and provide the services. I have new business cards and marketing material for the location I’m currently in. I wanted to open my first location in Atlanta but I realized I needed to start small. Initially when I started my Business Plan I wanted to start big but as I went through with trying to make sense of the numbers I saw that I was trying to start off too big. I appreciate the journey and the professors that have helped me along the way and I am excited for what my future holds.

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Business Plan Development

Originally my objective for this course was to start to develop a real world business plan for my business and that’s exactly what I have been able to do with this course. I found it to be more difficult that I expected with the Analytics and money part. It has been a little overwhelming for me personally trying to process it but that’s something that I deal with personally with being able to wrap my mind completely around a lot of information at once especially when it has something to do with numbers. I have not been able to fully grasp it but I am working on the material now that I found a little difficult. Oddly enough, what I enjoyed was working with the spreadsheets and messing around with the numbers of my products. It gives me a much better idea of what my price ranges should be for my products and how much I should try to sell per month and/or year. I have never felt that a Business Plan was easy and I have been intimidated by it but as we are halfway through the course I feel a little better about creating one even with the bits and pieces that I don’t understand yet. I plan to apply all of the material professionally. Not sure why anyone would want to do otherwise. We have been fortunate enough to work through this Master program with our real world business and this is going to do nothing but help us progress further with our actual business. Whatever numbers we come up with in my excel spreadsheet is going to be a continued work in progress as I use this to help me get funding for my business. All I need is just enough to get me started and I can take care of the rest. I know I will be successful with this. The blueprints that have been given to us throughout the entire program is showing us exactly how to be successful. Your business plan is everything, and the hardest part is getting it started but once you get it started it’s all about maintaining it and adjusting it as the life of your business begins to change and evolve and that’s exactly how I plan on using it.

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Publishing & Distribution

Going into the Publishing and Distribution course I was initially expected to be overwhelmed with all this information about how the big entertainment companies publish and distribute their creative work. What I really enjoyed about this course is that it actually focused on publishing and distribution for independent artists and business owners. The course focuses not only on one medium but on a few. My focus is primarily film, but I enjoyed learning bout book publishing as well because that’s something that I want to branch off into, for myself.

Learning how to pitch film and TV was my biggest take aways because everything that comes before that, (ie. Ideas, writing, production.) is hard work but easy compared to selling the product to publishers and or distributors but honestly the way that I have fallen in love with Gum Road, it has changed the way that I feel about creating media content.  I don’t have a reason to look back after discovering Gum Road. The Publishing and Distribution course is bringing everything around in full circle since I started the Entertainment Program at Full Sail. I feel more equipped than ever to sell my services and products knowing that I don’t need or want to go through a major company. We are in a new time with Internet and the platforms that are available to us.

Having to go through major companies was one of my concerns when first starting my company but now the power is in our hands and right at our fingertips with the internet. This is a new wave of entrepreneurship and I love the process of learning and applying the real world information that we are receiving through this program. I do plan to eventually go the route of pitching my work to major publishers but for right now I am excited about being able to publish and distribute smaller projects for now.

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Entertainment Law Reflection

Initially going into this course I had an open mind to what I would be learning but I did think it was going to go very deep into things that an Entertainment Lawyer would only have interest in but this course really focused on us as business owners and how to better protect ourselves and our companies. The information that we received about the entities and how we should form them was very useful. I have always felt that I need to incorporate as an LLC but after our class lectures I’ve determined that I may need to actually become a C-Corp.

Entertainment Law is something that we will all need to continue to teach ourselves on and stay up to date on. We wear a lot of hates when we are building a business in the beginning and until you can afford to bring on certain positions we will need to fill the role of an accountant, marketing, and being a lawyer. Simply we need to know the law especially when it comes to contracts, intellectual property, and labor laws. If we don’t we can find ourselves in hot water unintentionally. We have to know our stuff. There is no way around it.

My biggest concern personally is contracts and insurance. Documentation concerning both of these can be very lengthy and wordy and filled with jargon that we may not be familiar with so it would be wise to seek professional counsel on both if we are confused about anything in the contract/writing.

The entertainment world is a MONEY BUSINESS. It’s a dog-eat-dog world and if you are not careful you can very well be one of the dogs that are eaten. Not to say that YOU need to go in with the idea of eating everyone but definitely be mindful of the people that you deal with. Pay attention to what they say and what they do. Do your research on them. Ask around for people who are familiar with the people that you may start to deal with. Even though we may be nice people, unfortunately we may find ourselves in situations where we have to be cutthroat. It’s nothing personal, it’s all business!

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Product & Artist Management

This was one of the classes that I wouldn’t  mind spending more time in. This is the real-world experience that we need to practice and apply to the companies that we are currently building on. Not to say that any previous classes are not real world but for me, PAM was more relatable and engaging because this is more of the stage of where I am in creating my business. Most of the previously classes were skills and knowledge that I will need to apply in the future, after my business is up and successfully running.

My favorite project was the Major Players review. Looking into these major companies humble beginnings made me realize how close I am to being just as successful in the entertainment industry I just have to be willing to do the work and make the sacrifices. 

I didn’t think I would learn a lot from this course because I don’t plan to manage Artists or their products but I learned very quickly as to how these same principles can be applied to anything you have to sell. I definitely have the tools I need to be able to lead a Product/Artist Management project. I feel much more confident now just from what we have read and learned over these short few weeks. No successful business is out there just throwing things at a wall and going with whatever sticks. Everything is, or at least should be, a strategy. I’ve bookmarked all the links that I could so that I can come back to  review because there was so much good useful information. I am going to go back through the information to apply step by step to my film studio. 

After taking PAM I feel 10 steps closer to fulfilling my dream of becoming an independent Studio Owner/producer. Research! Research! Research! Is all a part of the industry game and must not be neglected if you want to be successful and one thing for sure is that networking and developing relationships will be my priority as I continue to build my studio business.

I’ve developed ideas of how to premiere my studio and organize the grand opening event. I am going to do a innovative campaign for the studio months before it opens and I am going to personalize as much as I can afford to create that exclusive experience that can’t be found anywhere else while I continue to bridge the gap for independent creatives such as myself.

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Negotiating & Deal-Making - Reflection

Coming into the Negotiating and Deal-making course I was expecting to learn the skills of negotiating. To be honest, initially I have always thought negotiating to be a way of knowing how to out-smart or outwit the other parties involved.  I personally do not value having such skills that involve outsmarting or tricking someone into do someone. I enjoy fairness and honesty in everything I do but I also understand that in business things can be a little more cut-through, unfortunately.

I’ve always felt that being great at negotiating is something that you’re born with but as I have gone through this course I can now see that the skills, strategies and techniques to negotiating can be taught. Also, negotiating can be a very healthy process if done correctly. Also, an understanding of communication styles and psychology is, in my opinion, are two of the biggest key factors when negotiating and deal-making.

I’ve learned my strengths and weakness with being a quiet supporter and I think an advantage of being a quiet supporter is that I am great at researching and analyzing situations and I have a relatively clear understanding of emotional intelligence. Learning my strengths and weakness from this course will give me the tools to be successful in most, if not all negotiations, that I am involved in from here on out.

One of the weakness that I plan to strengthen and I feel I was already working on was my fear of conflict. Conflict doesn’t necessarily always have to result in an argument or fight. It’s all about how you approach the situation and know when to say when or to take a break from the negotiation. I’ve always have had the fear of being forced into a corner because of a negotiation coming up short notice but you/I have the right to request more time to analyze the information and if at anytime you feel as if you’re being strong-armed you can simply say no deal and the other parties involved can find someone to negotiate with.

There is more control in deal-making than I expected. The next time I go into negotiating I will be fully armed and aware of my boundaries and limitations but welcoming to the underlying needs of the other party. Just because we are negotiating doesn’t mean we can’t have a personal relationship and it’s actually encouraged. We should establish those great partnerships for future endeavors.

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Digital Marketing and My Goals

My initial goal for the Digital Marketing course was to develop an effective strategy for marketing my business. I want to be sure to have techniques and a plan in place that is tailored to my  services and market. 

The Course that I reviewed was the "Small Business Marketing  Fundamentals. It was a lot of information to take in all at once. I will have to go through it again to be able to obsorb it all but the biggest take aways for me were how important it is to know your competition and to do your research even if you feel as if you don’t have any. No matter what you may think as an entreprenuer you always have competion even if it's yourself. 

This leads to my second take away that you have to know what makes your different from other businesses that are offering the same services. When it comes to developing your business and your brand you have to look at the expereience that you provide to your customers not just the service itself and this is where many startups fall short. They are so concerned about the numbers that they forget the emotional part of the business. Developing these experiences and relationships are just as important at the numbers. 

My third take away is knowing when to say when. When it comes to your budget, as a entrepreneur you need to know when it's time to bring on help and hire staff or specialists to assist in the development of your business. Naturally we will want to try to save as much money as possible and not bring any extra people/expense on but we have to be able to live in our truth and understand that in the long run it will benefit you and the company all together. 

When you bring on specialists to focus on one part of the business this allows you to focus on another part of the business that needs development. As an entreprenuer you do not need to spread yourself thin of duties and responsibility. As I listened to the course, I was actually pleased to have selected the one that I did because it was so informative and it feels as if it was the most informative course out of all of them. This course is the foundation of the other courses and makes you understand the importance of marketing. Not just teaching you how to market.  

The first thing that I plan to apply to my business is to narrow in on my market. Right now I have such a broad range of people that I want to provide services to. With photography and videography services you are opening up to any and everyone and even though at a glance it may seem like a good idea to be will to provide these services to a large range of people, it's still important to develop a niche and/or speciality because this will allow you to have a laser focus on your market and in turn allow you to get better results of your marketing campaigns.  

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Negotiating & Deal-Making

My original goal/objective for the Negotiating course was to obtain better skills in being able to negotiate. As an aspiring entrepreneur I knew it's something that I couldn't avoid but there’s always been this fear of not being successful at it and getting the bad end of the “deal” as a result of it.

 Originally, I believed that being able to negotiate was a gift. Either you had it or you didn't but after going through this course I've come to realize it's nothing like that. There's technique and strategies that are in place that you can actually learn.

 Obviously I'll need to practice while applying the techniques in order to be an effective negotiator but what I do like about going through this course is learning that anyone can become a great negotiator and it's not necessarily going to be a situation where you didn't know the negotiation was coming. In the rare case that it does come up short notice, you have the right to ask for some time to gather your thoughts and analyze what you want and what you have to offer to get what you want and also do the same for the other party.

 With the new techniques that I have learned I’ll be able to apply it in many aspects of my life; Personally and professionally. It changes the way that I’ll do business and even how I write screenplays. Something as simple as what I’m willing to do pro bono.

 The next time I’m asked for something at a discounted price, it will be very clear as to what I am doing, the limits and what I will get in return. It will have to somehow benefit me and my business if I am not taking cash payment and it will have to be more than “exposure” as I so often hear when it comes to my services.

 This also prepares me to have something ready if I ever ask someone to do something at a discounted price. I also notice the change in how I watch and listen to people, marketing and entertainment. I have a completely new perspective on business and negotiation and am much more welcoming to it than I was before taking this course.

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Business Finance - Reflect

My goal for this course was to learn how to raise funds for my business so what I’ve learned is not exactly what I expected but it’s in the same area, learning how to manage the money of your business. Which is equally as important as getting the money so I am very happy with the material that was received concerning this subject. I mentioned in my initial goal that financing is my weakness due to so many financial avenues, formulas and aspects that are involved when running a business. It’s still overwhelming to me. I plan to take some extra time to invest in reviewing this material again and thoroughly because it’s imperative that I know it and understand it.

 My favorite aspect during this course was capital budgeting. Learning this process and formula assists me in determining or making a better decision in what I spend my money on or buy. There is an entire presentation on capital budgeting and it’s proved to be very beneficial for me to apply as this is the stage of business that I am in right now. I am currently purchasing camera and video equipment for my business and with the capital budgeting process this allows me to figure out the amount of time that it will take for me to make the money back that I initially invested and when I will actually start making money from the investment. I recently purchased a steady cam and should be profiting from it within 6 months if I book a project at least once a month from now.

 An aspect that I personally struggled with during the course was reading the financial statements. This is definitely an area that I will have to revisit. This is so important to me and any business owner to understand. As entrepreneurs we must know and comprehend the movement of money in our business.  That’s the only way that we’ll be able to sustain our business and then eventually be able to grow.

Business Finance is one of the top most important things when it comes to running your business and you have to know how to analyze the data/information on a monthly/annual basis. As a business owner we have to know where our business currently stands and know how to plan and execute for the business’ future and this all starts with the management of finances.

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Business Storytelling & Brand Development - Objective

My objective for the Business Storytelling and Brand Development Course was to have developed a branding strategy for my business and I can honestly say that I have something great in the works! I am extremely satisfied with this course as I have never really focused on just the development and branding of it, let alone the story behind it. I’ve only focused on the finance aspect of business. How do I make money from this. 

Connecting with my clients has always been important to me but after taking this class i realize now that it was a generic connection. Acquaintances versus friends/family. and that’s where the storytelling of your brand comes in. Your Businesses story brings personality to your business. The story gives your business it’s spirit and life and that’s what clients connect to. That’s what they come back to. The come back to the feeling of your business not necessarily the product itself.

My current strategy needs plenty of work but I am happy with where it is today. Before I didn’t even have a story. But now I know what my company represents and who exactly it connects with. It’s important to have a narrow focus on what we are trying to do in a business. And this course has helped with that. Otherwise many of us would have continued to be very broad with our brand in hopes for clients to come pouring in simply based on our products and services alone. I’m sure we will get those customers but the goal is to make sure they come back for a second, third and forth time. That’s where our branding and storytelling goes to work. It develops a lifestyle of its own.

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Projects & People, How Do You Manage?

Initially my goal for this course was to obtain skills that will assist in directing media projects and learn how to manage people and various tasks at one time and I can honestly say that I have successfully obtained those skills.  Project management is a very important skill to have whenever you’re running a business and the assignments that I benefited from the most as of today were the timeline and budget assignments.

I really like the fact that we were asked to build a timeline/planner for a job that we dream to do one day. This assignment made things more real for me and actually made me realize that these things are not that far out of reach. Before this course I felt as if planning a video shoot was out of my reach and since I didn’t know how to “plan” it or didn’t know how it  “should” be planned, its something that I probably wouldn’t have bothered to do on my own until I was in the position to do it.

Now that we were asked to do the assignment, I have a template now and I feel more confident about actually managing a video project on my own and this was something that I came up with on my own. It’s more real and tangible at this point. Instead of me dreaming about it, or saying one day I am going to produce a commercial campaign I’m seriously halfway there already just from the timeline assignment alone. (Well maybe not halfway, but you know what I mean.)

Completing the visual timeline allows me to look at the entire picture with a snapshot and I am able to absorb the entire project. It makes it more manageable for me personally to be able to look at it like that.  Just thinking about it in my head makes me feel overwhelmed and makes it appear to be a bigger project than it really is.  I can see what exactly needs to be done, when it needs to be done and who needs to do it.

The budget breakdown also gives me overall picture of how much needs to be spent and guides me in spending it most effectively. Both of these tools that we created in this class has inspired me to complete a small project this summer and I will most definitely be added to my tool box as I build on my entertainment business.

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Film Industry Reseach - My Interests

As an aspiring film entrepreneur and leader, it’s imperative to understand the “forces that influence” the entertainment industry. With my intense interest and passion for indie filmmaking, I’ve been able to research a few subfields of the film industry: The challenges of being an independent filmmaker, Georgia becoming the new Hollywood, Rental Houses and other film entrepreneurs.

My dream is to close the game for independent filmmakers who don’t have the resources to produce their own films! I was fortunate enough to meet a lot of talented and creative people, but one thing I notice class after class was the lack of resources/funds for our short projects. Oh, how much better things would have turned out if there were things available to us more readily.

As brand new filmmakers we didn’t have the network that professional indie filmmakers speak of. Even with them, “filmmakers are struggling to secure financing to produce, distribute and market against a backdrop of dramatic changes.” (Bowman, 2009) Not to mention we had to crank out a 10-page script, table reads, be green-lit, vote on above the line staff, do a casting call, lock location, raise funds, work with an unmotivated group, on top of our 9-5 jobs and other life tasks, all within a 10 week span.  

I recall sitting in the back of the class watching the professor list the never ending items on the board as I went into a daydream about what a difference it would have made if there were a resource affordable and available to us as students. After all, we are in Atlanta and from what I hear this is the new Hollywood.

Many states like, New Your, “have created tax credits to attract productions to their state.” (Cody, 2013) As a new Georgia resident, even if I weren’t a filmmaker, I’d still hear the talk about Georgia and the film industry. Entertainment is a multi-billion dollar industry and Georgia has become the go to state to shoot film and television because of its state income tax credit! We are at the beginning of a new wave out here in Georgia, as the film industry takes over the state, fast and furious.

With the film industry in Georgia moving at such a fast pace, equipment supplies and utility trucks are in need to transport the equipment. As independent filmmakers we don’t have the thousands of dollars to fork over to get that kind of support for our independent films. Ryder Systems Inc. recently went “Hollywood” to provide special studio rental trucks for the major production giants at approximately $100/day. What about the little people? (FYI: We tried to raise $500 once for our student film. We barely broke $100.)

My ultimate dream is to finally close the gap and allow independent filmmakers get back to do what they do best, making films and let my company be their one stop shop, all things film at a reasonable price. I’ve identified a problem and now I have a solution. I’ll be taking the same approach as Timothy L. Christian with his company Night Fox Entertainment. “Night Fox Entertainment has been created to finance, develop, acquire and produce live action motion pictures across a variety of platforms. NFE also invests in outside projects involving A-list talent as well as up-and-coming actors, directors, writers and producers.” (PR. N, 2013). I’ve identified a problem and now I have a solution.

 REFERENCES:

·      Bowman, D., & Myers, J. (2009). The indiest of indies need exhibs, too. Hollywood Reporter Weekend Edition, 411(14), 17

·      Cody, R. (2013). The Power of Entertainment Tax Credits. Tax Adviser, 44(12), 811-812

·      Elstein, A. (2014). With state's film tax credit, CEOs make bank. Crain's New York Business, 30(24), 0001.

·      Mermigas, D. (2010). Indies forced out of the box. Moving Pictures, 54-55.

·      PR, N. (2013, August 5). Entrepreneur Launches Film Finance And Production Company Night Fox Entertainment. PR Newswire US.

·      Ryder System, I. (0010, January). Ryder Goes Hollywood with New ‘Studio Truck’ Rentals for Film and Entertainment Industry. Business Wire (English).

·      Smith, G. (2016, April 7). America's New Labor Shortage: TV Workers Are Real Hard to Find. Retrieved April 10, 2016, from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-07/hollywood-is-running-out-of-tombstones

·      V. (2013, June 9). Learn How to Be an Entrepreneurial-Minded Filmmaker with Tips from Ted Hope. Retrieved April 10, 2016, from http://nofilmschool.com/2013/06/learn-to-be-entrepreneurial-filmmaker-tips-ted-hope

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Executive Leadership & Reflect

I’ve been working in the corporate world for 12 years now and I have had my fair share of leaders, good and bad. I actually learned a lot more about being a GOOD leader from the bad leaders that I’ve had.  Executive Leadership course is where I wanted to learn the foundation of being an effective leader. I was initially expecting to learn, “How To Be An Executive Leader” but this course was geared more towards the type of leader that we already are. Asking us to hone in on our strengths and recognize our weakness and strategize on how to strengthen them.

I’ve learned that I am more of a Maxwell-kind of leader and that’s okay but I do know that you have to know the rules played by the Greene kind of leaders. You can’t play the game and expect to win if you at least don’t know the rules at the very least. People in the entertainment industry are cut throat and will not think twice about screwing anyone over. I’ve actually experience this recently right before I started with Full Sail University.

I volunteered a lot of my time and energy into helping him with his business ventures and we had discussed on various occasions how he was going to bring me on full time after I graduated from my bachelors program, as his employee. I have since graduated and haven’t heard from him since. He stopped returning my calls and emails. Every time I read something from “The 48 Laws of Power” I can’t help but to think about this guy. Especially when I read Law 7, “Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit.” (Greene, p. 56) When I read that law, I literally closed the book, sat back and thought about all the things that I did out of “the kindness of my heart,” and this guy walked away with all my legwork in tow.

That whole experience and the readings from this course have changed the way I think completely. Instead of me being nice to people and feeling they are innocent. I keep everyone at bay. I think they are “guilty until proven innocent.” No matter who they are. It is imperative, as leaders, that we protect ourselves from the beginning of interacting with new people. Everyone wants something and they will use anyone and anything to get to it.

“The 48 Laws of Power” weekly reads have the biggest impact on me personally. With every turn of the page I can’t help but to smile because so many things that have happened to me (Professionally and personally) is starting to make sense. The kind of people who have come in and out of my life and I understand myself a little better as well because by nature, I am an introvert and easily a Maxell style leader. Knowing what I know now, I have to implement some Greene practices and tactics. (Just because I’m a “nice” person doesn’t mean I’m exempt from being eaten.)

Reference: Greene, R., & Elffers, J. (1998). The 48 laws of power. New York: Viking.

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My Mastery Journey Presentation

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My Timeline Journal for my journey over the next few months.

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This is the very day that changed my life forever. Eric Thomas came and spoke to myself and the fellow Airmen of Patrick AFB, FL back in Jan 2013. He spoke for about 45 mins and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. This very moment changed me for the rest of my life. I felt like he was speaking directly to me. This was the day that I decided to separate from the military and pursue my dreams! And tonight... As I type this, I am preparing to go capture footage of the Legend & Motivational Speaker Les Brown! Someone that I’ve been listening to as well and has inspired me to pursue my dreams.

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My LinkedIn Account