Shabazz,Courtney_Mastery Program Reflection Assignment

5/20/2018 Shabazz,Courtney_Mastery Program Reflection Assignment

By: Courtney ShabazzFull Sail UniversityAugust 26, 2014

Mastery JournalEBMS

Program Reflection

Entertainment Business, Masters o Science degre

umblr: http://thecourtneyworld.tumblr.com/post/95860112880/mastery-program-reflection-assignment


Month 12- Final Business Plan

Month 11-Business Plan Development

Initial Final Project: Business Plan Goal: Is to have a well-presented business plan not only or mypresentation, but also to use as a part o my portolio to present to potential employers.

Te final class o my journey in the Entertainment Business program at Full Sail University was FinalProject: Business Plan. Troughout the year we were taught different skills and acquired differenttechniques to create a business and implement these efforts in our uture career endeavors. Teobjective or this course was to finish our written business plans, finish our financials and presentthem to a panel.

During this last month o the Entrainment Business program, I presented my final project on myartist management business, Mesh. Te pitch was a 5 to 8 minute presentation where we each wereindividually critiqued. I learned a lot rom this assignment. One, it is important to practice andannunciate during your pitch. wo, smile and remain confident. And three, graphics and chartsenhance the pitch.

I also learned the difference between equity verses debt. My business will likely utilize debt because Ido not want a potential investor to make any creative decision in my business. Tere is still so muchto learn as finish our last week o this program. With thing rapping up we were given a gem o towhere to search or employment. We were told look at the S&P reports to see where the company isexperiencing growth. Tere is so much that I have learned rom this class, learning will go beyondattaining this degree.

Initial Business Plan Development Goal: Lean how to create a well-organized business plan and

understand what is important to place in the plan and what is not.

Te best part about accomplishing my goal in this months course is that the way that Mr. Burhoelaid out the assignments helped me organize mysel, and my business plan. I mastered my goalbecause each assignment was broken down into sections with specific instructions, examples andbook sources. Tis was a vital part into why I understand the basics o writing a business plan.

A business plan has a limit to its length, which may vary depending on the industry. It is importantto be concise, yet detailed. A business plan does not have to lack creativity, but there is a standard.Statistics, branding, and numbers must all make sense.

In this class, the objective was not only to have the written business plan, but also to get advicerom our peers. In the event o the business plan will soon be pitched, each o us got the chanceto get our elevator pitches critiqued by one another and the chance to explain the name ourbusinesses.

BPD taught me that there are multiple actors in getting an investor in this case to believe in yourcompany. It is all about money or return on investment, essentially. What can I as a business owneroffer the investor? Tat was important to know or uture business ideas that require an investor.


Month 10- Digital MarketingMy initial Digital Marketing Goal: Study how to use social media and my website to market mysel or potentialemployment.

Understanding your market is the oundation o every marketing activity, online or off. I you dont know

who youre speaking to, or what your audience cares about, its unlikely that your message will resonate withthem (Stokes, 2013).

I have accomplished my initial goal o learning how to use social media and how to utilize my own proes-sional website to market mysel or potential employment opportunities. Te quote above is important indoing so. Te target audience I am trying to gain attention rom is music-marketing departments inrecord labels or event coordinator jobs. Tis can be accomplished by increasing my search engine optimiza-tion (SEO).

Tere are certain SEO techniques that I avored in this course. First changing my website name to my name,as well as, using the blogger blog rom the course and attaching it to my website. Te website will consist o:my blog posts, portolio, and rsum. Applying Google Analytics, Adwords, back links and more. Te plan isto strategically put your personal brand or company and a position to be ound.

We also worked on marketing campaigns, in which we were taught no step could be skipped. Whencurating a campaign plan it is important to create a road map. In this case the road map is the markeing can-vas. It is a very useul tool because it helps the marketer and the team be organized. Research is an ongoingstep within any campaign and it is important. Te marketing canvas just helps cut done the inormation tothe most important and most fit or the campaign.

Stokes, R. (2013). Market Research. eMakrting: Te essential guide to marketing in the digital world (). : Quirk

eMarketing.

Month 09- Media Publishing and DistributionInitial Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution Goal: o be knowledgeable enough to create the bestpublishing and distribution plan or my business.Te objective or Entertainment Music Distribution and Publishing was to understand that are ways beyondusing a major corporation to get your product to the masses. I learned how to distribute and publish books,film or television and music through this course.

Te project or this class was un. I enjoyed the hunt or a songwriter agent and creating a business letter orthem. Te idea or this was genius. Te best part o this class and the project was that it taught my classmatesand I not to be dependent on major corporations. Te idea o sel-publishing and distribution in hip hop hasalways been a thing. Now that I have somewhat o an understanding o how to go about this, I can take this,and bring it back to some o the artists that I know.

Honestly, it was rereshing doing project 2. It brought me back to my undergrad days o rushing and creat-ing press kits or the clients we were given in class. Although, this was not as intense and detailed oriented, itbrought me back to sort o enjoying PR again. I realized a long time ago I did not want to do PR because it wasnot or music. I was doing hard news, smalls businesses, and press kits or authors. Project 2 showed me howto create a press kit or the music side o the business, which is an industry we did not ocus on at my tradi-tional journalism school at FAMU.


Month 08- Entertainment Law

Month 07- Product and Artist Management

Initial Advanced Entertainment Law Goal: Be able to comprehend a contract without the help o a lawyer.

My goal was super ambitious! I WILL ALWAYS NEED A LAWYER. Te objective or course was tohave an understanding or entertainment law, as well as possible contracts or permits a person start-

ing a business will have to sign and figure out when starting a business. With that being said, both theNegotiation and Dealing Making and Entertainment Law courses have given me a better understandingo what to be aware o when overseeing a contract. Tis class has been an eye opener on the importanceo understanding contracts, copyright laws, and the legal issues that come with starting a business.

Te lengths some companies go through to only look out or its best interests are amazing. In class webriefly touched on employer contracts, and how it is important to understand the parameters o thecontract. I now know it is ok to ask to take the contract home to understand and question the terms ina contract. Some contracts eatures what may seem to me as ridiculous now, terms afer termination orleaving a company o having to not work with a competitor within a certain distance or state. It is very

important to read beore signing anything!

Te intellectual property that stuck out to me was the copyright laws. I never knew that you needed alicense to play music in a gym or a place o business period. Who knew there were actual jobs to go intobusiness establishments seeing i their playing music illegally? Over spring break I went into a riendsstore that he owned, asked him i he pays to play the music throughout the store. He said yes luckily.

Starting a business not only deals with possibility o getting into legal trouble or playing music illegally,but there are other problems that can be the down all o a business. Te intellectual property audit drafgot me a little bit worried. Tere are more so many scenarios I will have to plan or in order to start myentertainment camp business.

Initial Product and Artist Management Goal: Explore becoming a well-rounded leader. Educate mysel onhow to market and manage a product and or artist.

Te objective or product and artist management to recognize the person in charge and the people whosurrounds that person is important. In this course the major project was to find a start-up company,technology-based, and research them and their product. I chose a company called Nymi. I actuallyreached out to them through witter and got a response back. We had to explore the product they werepresenting and recognize everything rom competitors and competitive pricing to how the actual prod-uct was being managed.

And then there is artist management. Never had I thought the artist management position would bethis intense. I sort o thought the manager hired a well-qualified team who were experts in their fieldsto handle business that the manager did not have an expertise in. Tat still holds true, but I now rec-ognize that the manager should at least know the basics o how to read a contract, financial statements,construct a press release, and more. Being in this position takes patience and passion.


Month 06- Negotiation and Deal-Making

Month 05- Business Finance

Initial Negotiation and Deal-Making Goal: is to develop negotiation and deal-making skills and be wellversed in those skills.

Te one class that I was excited or the most entering into my Entertainment Business masters pro-gram at Full Sail University was the Negotiating and Deal-Making course. Te objective o the coursewas just that, how to negotiate and how to make deals. Christi Foley taught this class. We practicedthe art o negotiating and deal-making throughout the month. Each o us was given the chance to be amediator as well as negotiate.

Christy showed us how to watch or dirty tricks rom others in the process o negotiating. She playedclips rom the trailer Oceans Tirteen, and we had to identiy the type o dirty tricks that were beingused by the characters in the movie. Tis activity allowed us to practice detecting dirty tricks. We weregiven three steps on how to handle scenarios like the ones shown in the movie trailer. Tese steps are:

1. Recognize the dirty trick2. Raising the issue explicitly3. Questioning the tactics legitimacy/ desirability

Initial Entertainment Business Finance Goal: Become comortable with devolving financial projections. Iwant to be confident with numbers. Tis is the class I am looking orward to the most.

My business finance instructor, Michael Koch scared me with this act, 40-50% o new businessventures ail in the first 5 years. Koch showed us to complete a 3-year Pro Forma, which is basicallyprojected numbers or a business. Te objective or this course was to get us started on researching theexpenses we may need to cover or our businesses. I now understand how to read an income statementamong other things.

Mr. Koch taught us other lie lessons in the realm o personal finance. Because o this class I havetalked to my parents about helping me start a Roth IRA. We also discussed how to make your businessprofitable, and weather your enjoy starting a business then selling it or sticking with the company orlie. Te important actor o this class was to know that i your finances are not in order your businesswill not last.

We also read Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. A quote I really enjoyed reading the book wasrom the author. Kiyosaki said, Te single most powerul asset we all have is our mind. I it is trainedwell, it can create enormous wealth (Kiyosaki, 1997). I 100 percent agree with that. I admire his entre-preneurship.

Rest in Paradise Mr. Koch!


Month 04- Bus. Storytelling & Brand Devel.

Month 03- Project and Team Management

Initial Business Storytelling and Brand Development Goal: Create my own brand identity that the world willresonate with.

Tis month has been a world wind. I have learned so much, and such a little bit o time. I beganbuilding my business model, and have developed a name and logo or my potential business. Te name omy company I went the meaningul to me route and people who listen to Hip Hop and R&B.I decided to go with, Mesh. Te idea is to be able to combine my love or marketing, advertising, PR, andmanagement.

Te reading and the class assignments have helped me out tremendously with developing my businessideas. I learned a lot about what colors mean when using them or your logos and how intensive theresearch is in when developing a logo and brand name. In the beginning o the program when askedwhat to be expected out o this classes and how I would execute, I said:

Goal: Create my own brand identity that the world will resonate with.

o Strategy: Research the biggest brands in the industry

o actic: Identiy brand managers and ask questions.

o Full Sail Multimedia tool or utorial: Lynda.com has a tutorial called Building Business Relation shipswith Simon . Bailey that will help me reach my course goal.

I have partially reached by goal o building a brand identity that would resonate with the world. It hasyet to be tested, so Ill have to wait on that aspect o my goal. Tis class has reenergized me in wanting tostart my business, but it mostly has ignited my eeling o wanting to work in the marketing departmentor a record label. Ken has me more intrigued with marketing and advertising.

Initial Project and eam Management Goal: o learn how to maneuver around set product budgets withoutcheapening creative ideas.

Te objective o the project and team management course was to understand how to work with differ-ent personalities and the responsibility o delegating tasks. First, we were given the chance to learn a bitabout ourselves through character test, which was interesting. We learned about conflict management,leadership, how to organize a group in a positive way, and how to phrase directions without soundinglike you are giving an order.

Te main project or this course was to create an event or the Full Sail Library. A group o us: James,Edgar, French, and I had all decided to do a major event at Full Sail. Our project is called Trottle. Wewanted to really showcase the art scene at FS, as well as have an unplugged event. Nick Carver, thecourse instructor, gave the class ree range to do whatever we wanted, the only rule we had was to becreative. We created surveys and passed them around campus, made a logo or the event, made flyers,thought o backup plans i things like weather would go wrong, and pitched the idea to our classmates.


Month 02- Executive Leadership

Month 01- Mastery: Personal Development

Initial Executive Leadership Goal: I had several goals or this course, but my main goal was strengthenmy skills in networking. I ound it hard to cultivate relationships with those who are not my peers. I ofenasked mysel questions like: How ofen should I email this person? What should I say in the email? Learn-ing how to manage relationships or uture business ventures is my main goal.

Executive leadership was course o just that leadership. Troughout this class, we read Robert Greenesbook, 48 Laws o Power and John C. Maxwells book, Developing the Leader Within You. Both bookswere to guide us into a path o what type o leader do we want to be. A Greene type o leader, a morebrash, cut throat, in your ace leader or a Maxwell type o a leader, a person who shows you rather thantells you. Tis class was to help us understand the role we would be in when starting a business. Andwill not only help when developing our own business but, as we walk though lie.

Executive leadership taught me that it is important to standout in whatever you do. aking initiativeshows leadership in those early stages o a person career. Not everyone will be Maxwell, being able touse the laws Greene has written about will be useul in knowing how to react to those situations as wellas being able to play the game with my competitors. Te music industry is ull o Greenes and Ill beready or them when it is time.

Initial Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership Goal: o have an understanding o who I am as aleader.

Te Mastery course was based around Robert Greenes book, Mastery. It was a positive class thepromoted positive thinking, which is important. Te leadership role consists o being positive. Tepeople, who are under you, ofen, take on the attitude o the boss. Tis presented the concept o being amaster in your field o work.

Tat entails constantly wanting to learn new things. It opens you up to understand a huge part o beinga master o your craf is being able to listen to others. When you see a problem it is being one,recognize there is a problem and then solving that problem. All things I have learned rom this courseand rom parents. o master a craf is to be a critical thinker.

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Shabazz,Courtney_Mastery Program Reflection Assignment