Writing a successful business plan

If you are thinking of starting your own business then you know you must have a business plan and that business plan needs to be able to show investors why they should invest in you. So if you are like me and would like some sound advice on how to make sure you business plan is the best and gives you the best results, here is some advice from two experts on writing a business plan.  The first expert is Mark Cuban.

Mark Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, successful businessman, and billionaire entrepreneur. Mark’s best area of business is in Internet business. One key piece of advice Mark gives about writing your business plan is to ask yourself, is there an actual need for the product or service. Asking this question is so important because if your service or product is not one that is needed, then investors will not see the need invest their money into a business that will not give them a good return on investment. Mark has recently started a new platform for entrepreneurs to seek funding from him for their own business. He gives the entrepreneurs 12 rules if they want to receive funding from him, and one that stands out to me is the rule that the business plan must show that it will be profitable within 90 days. This too shows the investor that the business will bring in income and they will receive money back on their investment. Mark has confirmed to receive money; you must show that you will bring in money.

Martin Zwilling is the second expert I researched. Martin Zwilling is the CEO and Founder of Startup Professional, Inc. He has been published in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and Business Insider writing about business plans, so I would say he knows what he is talking about and the business world agrees. Zwilling gives me a different look with regards to my business plan has he explains what turns off investors. This is equally important because by knowing what not to do you know more on what to do. He gives 10 things that turn of investors in his Forbes article and one that stuck out to me was “don’t be negative”. Zwilling explains not to talk about your competitors or customers in areas you can’t back up. If you are making a statement about your competitors and customers it should be supported by third-party data. I found this to be key, because it is easy to think and speak about competitors and customers from our own point of view, which is probably in favor of our business. By having third party data it shows investors that we have proof, like having creditable sources in a research paper.

Both Mark Cuban and Martin Zwilling have great tips on how to have a successful business plan. I will be using what I learned from each of them in creating my business plan. If you are planning on starting your own business, I suggest taking a look at the articles each of them have done on business plans.

Resources: 

  http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/

  

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2009-02-10/tech/30004645_1_business-plan-funding entrepreneurs

http://www.forbes.com/sites/martinzwilling/2011/02/04/ten-top-investor-turnoffs-around-business-plans/ 

     

Green Marketing aka Digital Marketing

This word “green” is being used more and more these days with people becoming more aware of the environmental issues taking place globally. When you hear the word now, you think environmentally friendly or something having to deal with being environmentally conscious. My focus is on “green” entertainment and while the industry is definitely new and growing, there is an area used in the entertainment industry that has been “green” since its existence. I am talking about digital marketing (green marketing), more specifically social media marketing. 

The introduction of social media marketing put a new spin on marketing, allowing for even more targeted audiences and not to mention reaching a larger audience at little to no cost. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn seem to be the most popular out now and if you have all three not only is your target market that much larger, but the types of people you are reaching is different within the three.  Another plus with using social media marketing are the different types of marketing you able to do. With each of the three social media sites listed you are able to market on your home page and provide links to other pages to help market. For example DigitalLA is an entertainment organization that I think does a good job utilizing social media marking. They have the three main social media sites, but each one seems to be used for different purposes. Facebook is used to announce an event, post pictures from an event, provide a link to an event homepage, and give status updates on an event. Twitter is used to follow an event as it is taking place as a kind of live interview, tweeting attendee questions and responses. LinkedIn is used for more of a networking tool. DigitalLA can use LinkedIn to market to other organization or people who would like to collaborate on an event or hire them to do it event for them. Although DigitalLA’s homepage could use some work, they have the right idea on using social media marketing.  To see more about DigitalLA and how they are utilizing social media marketing visit http://digitalla.net/. 

Jazz It Up with social media marketing

Yesterday, Saturday September 3^rd the Trinity House, a local transitional house for homeless women and children hosted their first “Jazz It Up Concert”. The concert was to help bring awareness and raise money for the homeless women and children in San Diego. My wife’s company was hire to work with the Trinity House on the concert so I was able to enjoy the concert. The concert was a big success and their digital marketing had something to do with that.

Facebook was a major part for the “Jazz It Up Concert” digital marketing. Facebook gave the event a large target market and cost them nothing in marketing. Each of the members working on the event used their personal and business Facebook pages to help market the event. They simple placed the “Jazz It Up Concert” flyer as their profile picture and this provided details on the concert and a link to the concert website with more details.  With each of the 10 business/organizations working on the concert having over 500 friends on both their personal and business profiles reaching at least 3,000 potential customers. The concert brought in 300 people from social media marketing alone. At first this might not seem like much but with the concert bringing in 500 people with an estimated 700 people total.  With a majority of the total ticket sales coming from free marketing I would say the marketing did its job.

Other than the social media marketing success another area to look at was the SEO from the “Jazz It Up Concert” website. I searched Google for the concert and my results came back with the smooth jazz calendar being the first website from the search.  With the top search result being the calendar of the local jazz radio station helping with marketing. Another point with regards to SEO is when I started to type the concert title the first suggestion in the Google search box was Jazz It Up San Diego. This is another top search result using the concert title as keywords, which benefits the result optimization, and makes it easier for potential customers to find information on the concert.  Overall I would say the digital marketing for the concert did its job. You can read more about he concert at http://thetrinityhouse.org/JazzItUp/

"Go Forth Music"

Yesterday I received an email from a friend in New York who studied entertainment law and had recently partnered in started a new LLC. Her email asked me to vote and comment on a panel discussion she and her partner are trying to have at an upcoming conference. The panel discussion they want to have is centered on a new demographic of artists, “Music Middle Class”. When I saw this new demographic I thought about my friend 3D and how he could be placed into this demographic. Music Middle Class is defined as musicians that fall between “superstar” and “starving artist” status, make a steady income, and maintain a level of control over their careers. As I read more about what she and her partner were doing, I began to think about how many artists or artist managers out there who would find this new demographic a helpful selling point? I am sure there are more than one might think, and just I was thinking this my friend and her business partner have thought of this and provided a solution, “Go Forth Music”.

“Go Forth Music is an artist services firm dedicated to providing quality strategies and support services to musicians and music industry entrepreneurs” (goforthmusic.com).  As I looked at the site I thought to myself, this is exactly what new artist needs and what a valuable source this is. The services offered are the exact services in which most new artist need the most help with or do not have the time to deal with. Along with offering services such as website design and planning an album release, the site also offers artist professional mixes and press kit examples.

For me the press kit examples are key! Having recently done a press kit, I know how valuable they are for an artist, which I think most already know but knowing what goes into the press kit is even more important. By providing this example Go Forth Music has given artist and mangers a reliable and valuable tool to use as a guideline. I can honestly say if I did not have press kit example to follow when I did my press kit, I would not have known where to start.

The last thing I thought was very cool about the site and services was that they are coming from two people who have worked in the industry and have the educational background in the industry. This helps a new artist and managers feel comfortable using the information provided because the source is reliable. Overall the message and feel I take from Go Forth Music is that they are there for the artist and that’s most important whether you are artist yourself or managing an artist.

I will be using Go Forth Music for some consulting and working with my artists. To checkout the website and learn more about Go Forth Music please visit http://goforthmusic.com/

"Ready As Now"

This week I was introduced to a new song from local hip-hop/rap artist and friend, 3D. I am helping 3D with some guidance on his musical career so when he has a new song he ask me to listen and tell him the best place to introduce his new music. 3D’s new song is titled “Ready as Now” and compared to his later works the track introduces a new 3D that is definitely ready to take his musical career to the next level. The title itself gives the impression 3D is ready!

So after listening to the song I thought wow this song is READY AS NOW and where can we get distribute this song to get the most airplay out of it and push his career. The song can definitely be played in the club atmosphere, but it is not a song to be played on the radio. The radio version would need too many edits and I think would take away from the song and lyrical content, so with that in mind I thought of other outlets. I sent the song to some friends in California and New York who are also in the music industry and they suggested using the song in local strip clubs.

At first I thought wow the strip club, but then I thought about the words in the song and it actually makes perfect sense. After thinking about how opportune this song could be to introduce to that scene I begin thinking about how beneficial this could be to 3D’s start up. I thought about how the DJ’s in the strip clubs also DJ at the other clubs in San Diego and if they see how much hype it gets then they will give the song play when they are DJing in other clubs. Along with DJ’s promoting the song at different clubs, the people at the strip club hear the song; ask who the artist is, and then look 3D up on YouTube. Once they view his YouTube page they can hear other songs and are able to purchase his music through iTunes.

A strip club theme song will not be the song 3D introduces to radio and mainstream to launch his career, but it will be the song that will help him get more of a buzz and help him when he does burst into mainstream. 3D and I are going to start contacting local strip club DJ’s and getting them the song this week. We will have to come up with a distribution plan focusing on the right strip clubs to connect with and maybe some club DJ’s we are already connected with. Again 3D is “Ready as Now”.

To listen to the song checkout http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9UbZsRLo-8

Attorney Rachel Young Interview

This week I had the pleasure to interview attorney Rachel Young and learn more about being an attorney, working with an attorney, and an overall better understanding of contracts. Rachel currently has her own law office, located in San Diego, CA, which handles legal matters ranging from Family Law to Entertainment Contract Negotiations, which is the precise area she will be able to help my business with.  She has been practicing for about 8-9 years and from the looks of things she is doing very well. I asked Rachel some questions during our interview and two questions that gave me some great feedback for my own business when creating a contract; what are some key elements to making the contract good? And secondly, has she dealt with liability issues before?

When creating a contract Rachel pointed out everything that we want to go into the contract should be written and discussed by both parties before initial negotiations begin. She said this would be important for my business so we are sure to provide our clients a clear and precise vision of the services we will be providing them. Rachel explained to me about a simple case she had in which an event planning company was hired to provide a DJ for a family reunion. The event planning company hired the DJ and the day of the reunion the DJ was present but did not perform to the family’s expectations. Rachel explained to me that because the event planning company was only hired to provide the family with a DJ and this was the only service in the contract the event planning company was not held liable for the faulty performance of the DJ. Although this did not look great for the company, the liability fell solely on the DJ and his pay had to be renegotiated based on his actual performance. In the end it was good the event planning company specifically said in the contract what service they would provide and moving forward they would include in their contracts what would happen in case of situation like this, or they would only refer services to clients and require a finders fee.

This example Rachel told me about was the perfect example of a situation I might encounter with my business, so I now know how I can avoid a potential situation like this, and if it does happen how to handle it appropriately. Rachel’s suggestion of only doing the referring and charging a finder’s fee was a great suggestion that I had not thought about, which will open up more service opportunities for my business.

At the end of our interview I ask Rachel if she would consider doing consulting with my business on our client contracts and replied, “yes of course, but then I will have to charge you for my services and recommendations”.  To which I replied, “ yes of course, just don’t hurt my pockets too much”. We both laughed at the comments and ended the interview laughing. If you are in San Diego and need an attorney I would suggest hiring Attorney Rachel Young. 

Green Controversy aka Green Entertainment

“Going Green” is a huge controversy in and of itself, so naturally within the green the industry there is major debate and controversy on current policy. The controversy is seen here in the states with oil companies and environmental groups, but the United States it’s the only country having its own green controversy. I’ve read 3 different articles about current green controversy and they all seem to lead back to one source, the government. I personally think although the government may be moving toward a greener US and world, they have their own agendas will continue to move at a pace that is conducive to that agenda but still keeps the people thinking they will change. There is hope though; two of the three articles I read do demonstrate the government pushing for a greener world.

The first article comes from Anusha Subramanian in Business Today. The article discusses how the Indian Cabinet recently had a reshuffle and former minister of state for environment and forests, Jairam Ramesh, is now in charge of rural development but received a promotion in Cabinet rank. The article basically shows how Jairam who was know for being very adamant on environmental policy change in the Indian government has set a high bar for the minister of state for environment and forest. Although he no longer has the say he used in those terms, all the commotion he has caused did its job in the end. The people are now more aware and educated on green and the new minister will have to follow suit and keep the people happy but not the fellow government, or keep the government happy and risk upsetting the people.  I personally think the new minister will play her cards in a moderate manner and keep both sides happy, implementing green policy that will keep the governments green spending lower and the people green movement pushing forward.

The second article is about our own President Obama continuing to step up to green plate. The article comes Vincent Reitano with GREEN and SAVE Staff. Vincent’s article discusses how President Obama revisited LED lighting manufacture plant. This simple visit I big for the green movement, if President Obama approves of LED lighting then it must be worth the switch, well that’s what I like to think the way people preserved this visit. Even if Americans did not see it this way, it still shows that our nation’s leader is supporting the green movement and job creation. With the current state of the economy creating jobs is a necessary and arguable going green is a necessary, so put the two together and you have a formula to help kick start the economy. I guess the controversy still remains on whether need to focus our efforts on alternative sources of energy or stick with good old oil and fossil fuels? A better question and argument create more jobs or keep the same old jobs and economy?

Lastly I read on article with pointed out the Green Cities in the US and Canada written by Kaid Benfield via NRDC.org. This article shows my point of how the government can seem to be into the green movement but some of what they present just doesn’t add up in favor of the movement. The article discusses the top 5 cities in Co2, Energy, Waste, Buildings, Air, Water, Environmental Governance. Unfortunately as stated in the article not all of these categories results were comprised with one set standard, but some results were quantitative, qualitative, and subjective. The main point that stuck out to me with this article is the fact the Los Angeles is in the top five cities for air quality, CO2, and waste. I could see if the article is pointing out the top five cities with the worst in the categories.  The waste category may be something Los Angeles is doing well compared to other states, but air quality and CO2 emissions not at all. Everyone knows there is still a thick a layer of smog around the city and it is know for having some of the worst traffic in the US. If you have traffic that means there a lot of cars on the road which means more CO2 being emitted into the air, making the air quality worse. Also, Los Angeles will be shutting down one of it major freeways this week for expansion construction and that means more cars and more CO2. Kaid stated city rankings of any sort raise as many questions as they answer, and I would have to completely agree. Los Angeles being in the top five cities for Air Quality raises enough question itself.

All in all the article were very informative with regards to what’s happening in the green industry, or as I like to call it green entertainment. I have listed the discussed article links below, view them and get your dose of green entertainment; it will open your eyes to being green conscious.

http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/cabinet-reshuffle-jairam-ramesh/1/16963.html

http://www.greenandsave.com/green_news/green-politics/president-obama-revisits-led-technology-cree-8384

http://www.greenandsave.com/green_news/green-lifestyle/green-cities-us-canada-kind-conclusion-co2-energy-waste-buildings-air-wat