Taking Advice From The Experts

The first business plan expert that I took advice from was Paul Grant, who is the founder of The Funding Game and NextMentor in the Mentoring Program. He mentioned that the most important piece of a business plan is the executive summary. He stated that it is important to make the executive summary easy to read and not too lengthy. This is because of the fact that investors take a first look at the executive summary to decide if they want to read on or meet with you in person. Investors look at an executive summary like an employer looks at a cover letter or resume.

When developing my business plan, I put a lot of thought into the executive summary based on Grant’s recommendations. This not only made the summary more concise and to the point, but it really helped me prioritize the points of the company that I needed to get across in a short amount of time. It helped me weed out sentences based on what the investor needs to know, before getting bored and running out of time. It really helped me define what makes my company unique and something worth investing in.

The second business plan expert that I took advice from was from Greg Alexander, the CEO of Atlanta Family Fun Centers. He stresses the importance of reducing the risk for an investor, and to show that you take your competition seriously. It’s recommended that you leave room for unexpected changes in your business plan.

While developing my plan, when I needed to adjust numbers or budgets at all, I at first started getting really frustrated. One number change in my budget could make me have rerun and rethink the entire plan. After doing this a couple of times, I started to realize that although I did have to do my work over again in order to make a small change, it was probably a good sign. It is important to be confident with a business plan, but it definitely needs to be something that you are able to alter due to conditions, sales, competition etc. It definitely helped me assess lots of different possibilities and changes and how to go about altering them.

The third business plan expert that I took advice from was Sean Christiansen, the Chief Technology Officer at the University of Central Florida Venture Lab. He stated that one of the most important parts of a business plan is pointing out potential competitors’ barriers to entry. He mentioned that it is extremely important to point out to investors how you will prevent competitors from gaining control of your market.

I felt like I learned a lot during the development of this part of the business plan because it not only helped me realize what advantages my company would have over competitors, but helped me realize what the company would have to do to in order keep our customers and make it more difficult for competitors to come into the market. Before, I honestly was only thinking about competitive advantages and gaining new customers, but Christiansen’s words made me realize that I not only have to be proactive towards what my company can offer, but also reactive when thinking about other business looking for my target market as well.


References:
http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/

The Importance Of Knowing The Business

After graduating at the University of Washington with a degree in Drama, I was a little unsure where to go from there. I had completed a few internships in the television industry (which I loved) but was also involved in theatre productions as well. My mind was all over the place. What did I want to do? Acting, stage production, television production, writing, casting, journalism? I wanted it all!

There was so much that I wanted to do in the industry and it was hard facing the pressure that I had to decide on something. That is precisely when I decided to get my Masters in Entertainment Business. Throughout the program I have definitely realized certain aspects of the industry that I enjoy more than others, but I wanted to have a solid foundation in the industry as a whole.

At first I let it bother me when people asked me what I wanted to do with my degree and I didn’t exactly have an answer. Don’t get me wrong. I think it is extremely important to set goals and have a plan of action in mind, but I have come to the realization that knowing the industry as a whole, makes you extremely marketable and versatile in the industry and you won’t be limited as to what you can accomplish.

Let’s take actress Octavia Spencer for example. If you missed the Oscars, click here to see her win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. I did some research online and actually found out that she started her career in casting, but was asked to audition by the director of A Time To Kill and landed a role in her first movie. She has been landing acting roles ever since. I have no doubt that her experience casting has helped her acting ability as well. She isn’t the only one who has followed this pattern. There are several actors on SNL that started out as writers who continue to both write and act.

These may be lucky coincidences but I have a feeling that a huge part of these entertainment professionals being so versatile, is their knowledge of the industry and experience. Even if you start out at the bottom, you never know when an opportunity might arise and getting as much experience in the industry in general, will help your credibility. Although I intend to create goals for myself, I just want to get involved in the industry in any way possible, whether it’s taking tickets, interning, working as a production assistant, etc. There will be a lot to learn and it will help me out greatly in the long run! I am officially inspired!