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Business Plan Development

If you like to start a business, you should hire someone to write you a well thought out business plan, or you have to have the ability to write one yourself. “Focus on all the many ways you benefit, both from your own actions and from those around you who help you achieve your goals” (Abrams, 2015). I expected detailed information about what needs to be addressed in a business plan, what are things to include and what needs to be left out, and I hoped to get detailed insights from an experienced businessman. I was not let down. This month’s course Business Plan Development focused on writing the first chapters of our own business idea. Our instructor Steven Burhoe has many years of experience in how to start businesses, how to write a business plan, and how to sell a business and shared many insight stories and knowledge. Useful tips were given throughout the lectures, like to always hire an attorney and an accountant to make sure that everything is started legally correct. The first chapters of a business plan include company description, market analysis, target market, competition, sales, company operations, technologies used, management, and finances. It is very important to implement all these chapters and to do a profound research on each topic. This course helped me to do a structured research on all the needed topics addressed in my business plan and changed my view from an employee to the employer. To think strategic business, rather then dream about big fancy ideas that won’t make money. Our course instructor taught me to stay on top of every decision made that make sense for the next years to come and to always have an exit strategy at the time you start a business. The courses’ content helps me to write a profound business plan that I will be able to present to an investor, who hopefully will join my business idea.

References:

Abrams, R. (2015, November 27). THANK GOODNESS! I Own a Small Business - PlanningShop. Retrieved December 20, 2015, from http://www.planningshop.com/2015/11/thank-goodness-i-own-a-small-business/

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Digital Marketing

The original goal of this course was to learn how to use mobile trends, mobile technology, and online marketing tools to be able to provide digital marketing for a client, an artist and my own company. The first half of this course concentrated on SEO – Search Engine Optimization. Before this course I did not realize that there are so many options to optimize the search results and direct more traffic on your website or blog. Amazingly, Kristin guided us through GoogleAdWords, Google Analytics, and introduced us to the Keyword Planner. In order to maximize the possibility to guide customers to your website, you should first look for keywords customers use to research about things within the industry you try to work in. After you researched the keywords that are most used for research on Google, you should add these to your website in headlines and your text. “Even the best SEOs are not magicians. They can't simply place a site at the top of the engines when there are hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of others that offer basically the same thing, and provide basically the same information. If they could, you'd see a whole lot more millionaire SEOs.” (Jill Whalen – highrankings.com). The SEO world has many options and functions, which are not easy to understand. Apart from SEO, which is the organic search engine marketing, there are also in-organic marketing tools. If we look at in-organic digital marketing, which is paid online advertising we use the term SEM (Search Engine Marketing). Cost-per-Click (CPC), Pay-per-Click (PPC) and sponsored links can be purchased to reach a broader audience for our product or website online. GoogleAdWords helps us to start an online marketing campaign.

My goal is to actively go through every step that we learned in this class and use it within my websites and ad campaigns. Although I have understood the concept, it is another question to use is practically. I hope that we will do so within the next 2,5 weeks of this course. It is definitely a very valuable course content.

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Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution

I was looking forward to this course, since I am a musician and also have multiple book ideas that I would love to publish one day. But how can I publish my content, as well as content within the Entertainment Industry?

This course focused on book, music, film and gaming distribution. It started with an overview over the history of printing and distribution. From the time where Johannes Gutenberg introduced printing in Europe to the newest print on demand (POD) printing possibilities. The content was delivered through informative lectures, video clips, the course book, as well as presentations from students. What was new to me was the possibility to self-publish a book or music content with minimum financial burden. POD makes it possible to not having to give away the copyright to publishers but to self-publish and receive a good amount of royalty income.

I expected to learn about the different distribution and publishing deals and I was not let down. The traditional deal to give away the copyright and only receive 10-20% of royalty income seems outdated. A co-publishing deal means to keep the copyright and split the royalty and copyright income 50/50 between the composer and publisher. It is advised to not sign any kind of deal without the professional advises of a lawyer. There are many different deals and ways to publish and distribute the content we create. A lawyer or business advisor who has been working in this field means valuable savings on time and money to distribute content. The course assignment to create a query letter, an EPK and to think about the different ways to get in touch with a music agent, and know how to create the content that promotes the musician is very valuable. The four different industry fields (music, gaming, film, and books) give a broad insight of the different industry settings. I value the fact that I learn not only important tools within my field of the music industry, but also of the other three spectrums. 

Even though we are only half way through this course I feel to get a good idea about the ways and tools to self-publish books or music content. I am thrilled about the next two weeks to receive a larger knowledge of the course’s content due to Kim Craft’s expertise.

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Advanced Entertainment Law

You would think this class’s title seems like many legal issues and laws discussed in class. You are totally right and I loved every bit of it. I was prepared to learn about American Laws, which we need to know inside and out within the entertainment business; learn about intellectual property, and how to protect rights in the digital domain. Our instructor Cassandra Willard is a lawyer with every cell in her body and she makes law fun.

This class taught me “law language” and how to read contracts. A contract needs to define terms, use clear words, give specific details, and include exit agreements, non-compete agreements, and non-disclosure agreements. A contract should be individually written for every artist, contractor, or employee. It is essential to cover everything within a contract, to not have issues in case of something going wrong. I am thankful to have learned a lot about intellectual property, since I was not aware of the importance of the protection of it. Once I start my business or produce intellectual property I have to look at the things I need to trademark and copyright. Are there trade secrets I need to protect and am I possibly creating something that I need register as a patent? More then ever the internet is quickly spreading content and is very important to protect my intellectual property before it goes viral and other people could monetize from it. Since our businesses need a web presence it is important to know what to look out for when it comes to website concerns. A website needs a disclaimer that makes people aware of intellectual property in use and personal jurisdiction. A website needs to be safe and protect the companies but also the users personal information. Safeguard the intellectual property that has been used on a website is important. Also if I use someone else’s intellectual property on my website, event or wherever, I have to have clearance or a permit for this.

Ultimately it is safe to say, that we have to protect ourselves, our personal content and artistic creations. After completing this course I have a much closer view on my and others intellectual property protection.

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Artist and Product Management

This class was one of the biggest reasons why I came to Full Sail in the first place. In Germany I worked as a vocal coach as well as coaching a band, and a singer. Other management duties in my previous work life and those two talents, made me fall in love with artist management. My Mastery Journey Timeline goal for this class was to receive an overview of Product and Artist Management and to learn about artist management techniques that would help me to strategically place an artist or a product successfully within the industry. This course content taught me a lot more, due to Cassandra Willard’s insight of the industry. Many guest speakers came to class that gave us a lot of detailed insights of their work within the entertainment industry. Also meeting them gave us the opportunity to connect with people within the industry and secure an internship position, or even a job.

Artist management is all about the connection between the artist and the manager, and the ability of the manager to connect with as many people within the industry to place that artist wisely. The team around the artist needs to work on fulfilling the artist’s career plan, and give everything for the artist to be successful. For the product management, I learned that answering the why a product is important to a customer is far more important then what can it do. If we can make people believe in the company and product, they will buy it more likely. Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk about the Golden Circle inspired me to always start with the why do we do what we do. I want to take this concept, and apply it to my artist and product management journey in the future. I can only thank Cassandra for this wonderful class.

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Negotiation and Deal Making

We negotiate every day in our lives. To know about negotiation techniques, habits, strength, and our weaknesses is a foundation to be successful in negotiations and in deal making.

My goal for this class was to learn about those techniques and find out what I am doing right and wrong negotiating. I can say that I have learned a lot the past month and appreciate the in-debt lectures and real-live negotiations.

Negative emotions come up quickly and can easily destroy a successful deal making. Knowing about negative emotions and how to separate the people from the problem were techniques that I learned about. To separate the person from the problem we need to change the perception towards the situation, work through my and the opponents emotion and communicate well. By doing so, the negotiation process is easier and an agreement might be reached. Objective criteria should be used to find a common ground to negotiate on and get away from subjective opinions. Finding mutual benefits for both parties is helpful so that both people would benefit from the agreement. To have a BATNA (best alternative to negotiated agreement) gives a peace of mind, but shouldn’t hinder the negotiation process. It is an alternative option, but not always better then agreeing on a deal within the negotiation. People will use dirty ticks in negotiations and it is very wise to be prepared for those.

I need to be well prepared for every negotiation or mediation I will have in the future. Research on the topic is the basis to be successful. I analyzed that I need to leave negative emotions behind, focus on the positive, and on a solution that makes everyone happy. I feel prepared for my next negotiations and hope that I will learn more and more in my studies, employment and life to be a fair negotiator.

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Entertainment Business Finance - Personal Review

For this course I expected hard work, a lot of research and to gain indebt knowledge about financial structures to use within the Entertainment Business. I hoped to learn the tools to write a Financial Plan for my company and my clients, and I wasn’t let down. This course taught me well. I had to jump into the financial language and terms and used them in research papers and assignments. Through the use of vertical and horizontal analysis of financial statements, I learned how to evaluate a companies financial situation and future goals. “Understanding financial statements provides little knowledge unless you can use the financial statements to determine potential profitability” (Adelman & Marks, 2004). I am glad to have been challenged with these tasks and will gladly take this for my own companies advantage. Although I knew about crowdfunding, I learned that there are different types of crowdfunding and might use this option to receive start-up capital.

What I am taking away from this course is the work I put into the Pro Forma assignment, which was detailed and helpful all the way. The Pro Forma assignment asked me to put my business idea into numbers for the first time and see if my idea has the potential of a financial success or if I rather let it go and focus on something else. I had to research the different variables like the salaries and wages, taxes, insurances, utilities, capital assets, loans and mortgages, and many more. To write a financial business statement before starting the business is essential and to use as a forecast. “Forecasting in business is the process of estimating the future demand for our products and services” (Adelman & Marks, 2004).

As my course director said: “Hire an account, hire an account, hire an account”. I will take this advice to heart and do just that once starting my company. I am very glad to have taken this course and am looking forward for the next courses at Full Sail University.

Reference:

Adelman, P., & Marks, A. (2004). Entrepreneurial finance: Finance for small business (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

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Finding my Personal Brand Identity

My original Mastery PDL timeline goal for this course was to receive an overview of brand development, to learn about the construction of a brand story and to identify my own personal brand.

I am pleased to acknowledge that this course helped me to see brands in a different view. What is the brands massage, who are the customers, what is the marketing strategy, and what is the brands corporate culture, etc. The course definitely provided an overview of brand development through videos, articles, and personal statements from our instructor Ken DeGilio. The Brand Brainstorming Worksheet can be used as a start to think about a brand idea. What are the visual elements, are there direct or indirect competitors and what are their names, is there a brand hero, what is the backstory of the brand, is the brand’s name protectable, what are features and benefits of the brand, what are the brand’s attributes and what is the position statement about. See www.launchmobmedia.com The next logical thing to do would be to fill out and create a business model canvas on www.bmfiddle.com. These are the first steps in creating and developing a brand. There has to be knowledge about logo design, taglines, mantras and mission statements.

The three important questions (Who are we? What do we do? And why does it matter?), have been eye opening in defining my personal brand. Before this course, it was easy to say who I was and what was I doing. But why was I doing what I was doing, wasn’t that easy to answer. But as I learned, if we sell a service or product through emotions and an emotional need first and then secondly connecting it to the functionality, customers will most likely purchase the product/service.

The construction of a story about the brand is as important, maybe more important, than the product itself. No one is going to buy it, if it isn’t appealing to any customers. Brand stories are always attached to emotions, like sport games, music, Mother’s Day, or something else.

If you look deeply into the construction of your brand and makes sure you touched on all laws and tactics within branding, your brand has a way bigger chance to be successful. I am looking forward to keep working on developing my personal brand, as I have a clearer view on the direction my brand needs to go. 

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Characters in Teams

This classes’ content was all about the study of personality types and how to handle the different characters in teams as a project manager. I have done character studies in my past, so it was not a new topic for me. But the DISC test was new and informative. It categorized me into the Dominance personality type, which I knew I was due to other tests in my past. Dominant people thrive to leadership positions and like to keep emotions out of the work process. They like to get work done efficiently, rather then talk about the way to get it done.

 The character studies helped to understand how to interact with the different personality types. Since I often fall into leadership roles, it is good to know how to take work approaches or emotional differences between the different personalities. I know that certain characters get very emotional and I tend to keep it on the business end of things. But I do need to address issues if they occur and always find solutions to make everyone happy. For this the Characters in Team and Conflict Resolution Policy assignments helped, to get a better understanding of it. I can use the conflict resolution policies that I created in the future, to hand out to team members and have them work and interact by those policies.

 Through many team-building activities we learned how to break the ice between team members and how to include everyone and give everyone a role within the team. Some activities worked very well, and some didn’t. I wish that we had discussed the learning content of every activity after the activities were performed. I will use some of those for later team building processes and hope to form a great team environment in my future projects.

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My Leadership Style

          SinceI was a little girl I lead other people. I was the one that made the ultimate decision which games to play. I have always been good at connecting with people, telling them no, criticizing, motivating them, and always tried to be respectful. Becoming an adult, I had to fix my attitude. I got moody and let others feel I was not feeling right. I worked at the Stroke Unit and with patients that had the Parkinson disease. This made me realize how privileged I am to be healthy and to have the ability to move, talk, and walk by myself, every day. This ultimately changed my attitude towards life. Maxwell speaks about attitude being the “extra plus in leadership” (Maxwell, J., 1993). I would say that it is the key aspect to leadership. If your attitude is wrong, if you are moody, your followers or co-workers will most likely adapt to your mood, and the work atmosphere will go down, which leads to a downfall on productivity. The chapter “Creating Positive Changes” definitely had a context that I needed to hear and will apply in the future. Because of the family-driven structure of my business at home, my dad being and old school CEO, he didn’t like change much. Employees feared to bring up ideas of change. In the future I will take the Profile of a Leader in Trouble (Maxwell, J., 1993, p. 49), analyze why my dad wasn’t able to apply changes, and then work with his weaknesses to turn them into strengths to make positive changes in the business.

            I am more a Maxwell leader then a Greene type of leader. I surely am applying some of Greene’s Laws in my leadership style. For example I never put too much trust in friends and family when it comes to business. I learned the hard way that family can betray you the most, because they know your weaknesses and might use those against you. I took out of this class, that 1. It is ok to not trust family in business and 2. That leadership is the ability to obtain followers and making sure that they are doing and feeling well. Leadership surely is a game of scheming, working with people, and their mind-sets. But to me it is working for people. I like to think that leading people means making sure that they become the best they can be, for the company to have a great productivity and success.

           The Maxwell style of leadership suits me, because I personally do not pursue a career where I had to walk past corpses in order to get where I got. As a woman in the entertainment industry I have to be tough, take bad jokes and work harder than most men. That never put me down and I can handle that. I experienced that people like to follow me because I have a plan; I know the steps to get there and will lead others to get there on an organized way.

           What the reader can take out of this post: You must check your attitude at all times. If your attitude is off, the attitude of your employees will most likely be off, too. It might not be the best choice to work with family. Once you have issues with them at work, most likely that will show in the personal relationship out of work, too. Changes are necessary. The entertainment industry is a fast growing and changing industry. Keep track with trends and apply them to your work, better is to set trends. Be aware what kind of leader you are, for it is important how you act around people and what type of people you will have to hire to be successful.

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Inspiration to be a leader!

The boss drives his workers; the leader coaches them. The boss depends on authority; the leader on goodwill. The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm. The boss said "I"; the leader "we". The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown. The boss knows how it is done; the leader shows how. The boss said "go"; the leader says "let's go". (Maxwell, J. C., 1993)

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To sum up what I have learned at the first month at Full Sail University, I had to create a Mastery Journal Timeline. Here is the link it. I have enjoyed this class and can not wait for the next month to start!

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View Sarah Hartmann's professional profile on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the world's largest business network, helping professionals like Sarah Hartmann discover inside connections to recommended job candidates, industry experts, and business partners.

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Inspiration

I wake up every morning trying to be better. To better myself, my mind set and my skills. My ultimate inspiration are my parents. They had build up everything they own with their own hands and imagination. They taught me I can be everything I want to me. Made me the person I am today. One day I want to buy a house in France for them and sit with them in the sun and talk about life accomplishments.

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Very useful tool to organise articles, that can help stay up to date within your field: www.feedly.com