Leadership Portfolio Month 11: Business Plan Development

Assignment: Business Plan Expert Research

Summary: For this assignment I had to do research on two professionals and find out what their opinions were on business plans. I ventured onto a business plan website called BP Plans, which was a series of not only question and answers from many different experts, but also had them give their advice and opinions on particular matters. For this assignment I chose both Tim Berry, and Jeffrey E. Edelheit.

What I Learned: I learned from running through Bplans.com as well as the other linked resources, that when it comes to business plans, details are a huge factor in creating a successful one. I also learned that when it comes down to it, profit isn’t everything in a business plan. This is because as Tim Berry says, if you have cash flow, you can keep your company moving. 

I also learned that since details are very important when forming a business plan, which I truly need to work on this business plan to ensure that I have properly created a more strategic and definite approach to what exactly needs to be done in order to have my business plan be not only successful, but also a sellable plan for other states.

How This Applies: This assignment helped me to understand from an experts perspective on how to have a properly make a business plan.

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Leadership Portfolio Month 10: Mobile Marketing And Commerce

Assignment: Survey With People 

Summary: For this assignment I had to conduct a survey regarding mobile technology and peoples thoughts about it. I managed to find six very different individuals from not only different states, but also different ages as well as statuses.

What I Learned: I learned that when it comes down to interviewing people regarding cell phones, people seem to be very emotionally either positive or negative to everything. The biggest thing that I have also learned that makes me curious was the question regarding getting an application that would update them on the information that they would need. This actually makes me think twice with applying this to my business as well as the application of my marketing from a mobile marketing perspective. 

When it comes to actually applying all this to my business, this leadership portfolio has given me more of an incite into my actual demographics, which are unrelated to the demographics I interviewed because this was more of an experiment. In the end I have also learned how to properly conduct a survey required to get information from not only customers, but from random individuals as well.

How This Applies: This assignment gave me a chance to understand how to conduct a survey, which in turn can help me when it comes to gaining feedback from my companies' customers.

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Leadership Portfolio Month 9: Internet Marketing And Search Optimization

Assignment: Digital Media Plan

Summary: For this assignment I had to create a digital media plan for my company. The digital media plan includes the following, competition, industry trends, target audience, goals and objectives, campaign budgeting and duration, channel rationale and budgeting, campaign management, and a customized KPI for my company. All of this was put together from not only the research done from the entire class, but as well as specifically found for this project.

What I Learned: I learned how to use sources to find the demographics of a website. I also learned how to brainstorm ways to properly get my website to the top of googles search engine.

How This Applies: This assignment gave me incite on how to properly allocate a target demographic from the internet and create a proper plan that coincides with the research.

Click Here To Review The Digital Media Plan

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Leadership Portfolio Month 8: Entertainment Media Publishing And Distribution

Assignment: Publishing and Distribution Plan

Summary: For this assignment I had to create a strategy for my business. Since Miami Club Scene has nothing to sell but services I decided to use the record label I am creating for my music formerly known as Windigo Records. For this assignment I had to create a mission statement, an executive summary, a company description, a summary of my product, as well as the manufacturing, distribution, marketing, and promotion of this product.

What I Have Learned: Although it is unrelated to Miami Club Scene, I learned how to properly create a plan for what I wanted to do for my music. I also learned about many resources that I can use to my advantage.

How This Applies: This assignment helped teach me how to critically think about how to get my product out there. This in turn helped me to understand how important resourcing and outsourcing can be.

Click Here To Review The Publishing And Distribution Plan

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Leadership Portfolio Month 7: Advanced Entertainment Law

Assignment: Interview With Lawyer

Summary: For this assignment I had to find a lawyer and interview him. During the weeks that we had off I ventured to Miami  and went to the district where all the lawyers were more present and conducted a search. After countless declines and many references I stumbled on Professor Lionel S. Sobel from Southwestern Law School. From there I asked my questions and got fairly simple and straight to the point answers.

What I Learned: I learned that it is difficult to find lawyers, especially within such a small time frame. I also learned that when it comes to talking to another lawyer, they are more interested to talk to you if it is business rather than just asking questions regarding their work.

How This Applies: This applies to leadership because I had to do not only extensive research, but also travel to many law firms in Miami in order to try to get an interview. This taught me how to be persistent and challenged me to do extensive research as well as utilize references to find the correct person.

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Leadership Portfolio Month 6: Product And Artist Management

Assignment: Interview and Presentation of an Artist or Product Manager

Summary: For this assignment I was suppose to interview an artist or product manager and than create a presentation. I decided to choose Chris Williams not only because he manages his own band, but he is also the co-founder and manager of the company Classic Cases, which makes road cases for expensive gear. I decided to personally go to his shop to see what and how he does everything as well as interviewed him on how he manages Classic Cases and what it takes to become a product manager in the industry.

What I Learned: I learned that it takes a great amount of time, energy, blood, sweat, and tears to manage a product. I also learned that managing a product can be a grueling and rigorous job without the proper knowledge, people skills, and determination. When it comes to product management, image is everything.

The last thing I learned is that it is good to have well structured questions as well as a list of these questions to hand to the interviewee before the actual interview occurs.

How This Applies: From this assignment I was able to learn not only how product management works, but I also was given incite on how to properly manage a product via word of mouth.

Click Here To Review The Product Management Presentation

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Leadership Portfolio Month 5: Negotiation And Deal Making

Assignment: Negotiation

Summary: For this assignment I had to make a negotiation with someone. So I decided to negotiate with Chris Williams, both guitarist and manager from Rising Up Angry. For this assignment we negotiated a percentage that would be given to me for every CD sold. This is because I recorded the album for free on mutual terms but also I needed them to understand that I needed to at least make something other than just experience. 

The negotiations went very smoothly and at the end of the negotiation a proper resolve was made. With all things considered and all numbers reviewed a decision was made on the understanding that both of us wanted to continue our mutual relationship going and keep this relationship long term. So in the end I get .40 Cents for every album sold as well as possibility of extra if the album becomes successful. In return I would work on their next album for little charge, which would be just enough to pay bills. This is because if I want to continue to working with them, they need to be able to have a strong career

What I Learned: I learned that emotions could easily harm a resolve. This is usually because sometimes it is difficult to take personal feelings away from the facts. I learned that in order to truly understand what I am negotiating I must understand the problems both sides may have. This could have been accomplished through much more thorough research, which I admit I did not do enough of. 

I also learned that communication is very much needed in negotiation. When it comes down to it, it is as simple as this, if you cannot communicate well with others, than you cannot properly negotiate whatsoever.

How This Applies: This assignment applies to leadership because it taught me how to maintain myself in a proper negotiation. I learned how not to use my emotions and that if I learn to make a mutual agreement, that it can benefit not only myself, but another, which in turn can create a more lasting relationship.

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