The Hard Part------ Making My Business Plan

Having a great idea and then translating it to paper so that you can acquire funding and have a clear vision should be motivation enough for any entreprenuer to get started on a thorough business plan. A business plan is essential to any business yet many business owners jump the gun and start companies blindly without proper planing. This is one way to ensure that you are part of the eighty percent of small businesses that fail in their first five years. This statistic should scare you if you’re thinking of starting a new business, especially since the majority of new businesses are financed first by personal savings and personally secured debt. The main reason a new business may fail is due to financial distress which usually steam from poor planning. Approximately 30 to 40 percent of new small businesses experience bankruptcy or are sold or closed to avoid further losses. Doing extensive research is key and for most actually getting started is the hardest part of making a business plan.

For my case specifically, I find that the financial breakdown is the hardest part of the business plan. You have to research everything from the industry standard for pricing of your product/service, to listing expenses for everything you need from buildings down to the office supplies you need for your secretary (and of course the cost of salaries.) Finding a company that is exactly like what Im trying to provide is difficult as well so I have to set my own standards in some areas. The best way to set your price is to  find out how much your time and product costs and mark it up 25%, however in retail i think the mark up is much more. 

The main things your business plan should translate is how your business is going to make money, how you are going to differentiate from your competitors, and why you are creating the company so you can know what to turn down so you can keep the focus of your mission statement.

Consumers Spending More Time Watching All Screens

Source: http://blog.nielsen.com/


Americans may choose to consume video on the “best screen available,” yet traditional TV remains the screen of choice. Nielsen data shows that consumers’ time with TV, Internet and Mobile video continues to increase across the board. Online video grew 13% in Q1 2009, driven by both strong brand marketing and large media events including the Presidential inauguration, the Super Bowl and March Madness. With broadband levels increasing in the U.S., online video audiences will continue to grow as consumers begin to upgrade their PCs to support increased video consumption. Mobile video viewing has grown a significant 52% from the previous year, up to 13.4 million Americans. Much of this growth continues to come from increased mobile content and the rise of the mobile web as a viewing option.

Out of all different age groups, 18-24 year olds show signs of watching DVR and online video the same amount of time – timeshifting 5 hrs, 47 minutes per month, and watching video online 5 hrs, 3 minutes each month.

The Entreprenurial Leader and the Team

The team that is choosen to build a business is a crucial piece that will determine the success along with other factors such as finacial backing and the industry selected. You have to build a team of stars and that may cost big bucks that you may not have especailly in the begining stages of your company. So the entreprenuer has to think of innovative and cost effective ways to recruit the best talent to come on board. I am considering looking to recent college graduates that may be agree to a lower pay scale in compensation for a lack of experience. This can also be a high risk seeing that young people are highly energetic, and excited about new ideas but may not necessarily have the proven track record of a seasond executive. I am considering taking on a partner myself that may compensate for my weaknesses being a new entreprenuer. I have networked and come across an potential investor that is interested but I want to present him the best financial picture that will get him hooked on my idea.

Your team is the connection to the success of the business and I feel that my network is solid yet they will not come cheap because they are some of the best in their fields. This will create an air of excellence when providing a service and/or product, however its also good to have a lost coast structure that may yeild similar results. I am also reseaching ways to cut cost such as hiring individuals as an independent contractor and interns so you dont have to worry about paying or things such as benefits.

I think the best solution would be to hire star players in areas I am not proficient in (but still knowledgeble) such as accounting and information tecnology and hire other team players with excelllent potential to be leaders on an executive level and grow together. This will cover all ends and provide a balance of the cost initally spent on aquiring the ounding organizational struture which will change and grow as the business changes and grows.

Where Should I Begin??

I chose to venture into the media and entertainment industry, however in my attempts to research the industry I am having trouble finding historical, current, and future projections. I see tons of articles and data on the M&E industry in India, apparently this industry is booming there now. I need some insight on where to find good data to continue researching so I can make a business plan that works. So far I have the basics, a description of where I would like to go with my business. Maybe it would be best to research each aspect separately instead of the M&E industry as a whole? What do you think??? Here is my breakdown of the M&E industry and the areas I am interested in:

A. Industry Description and Outlook

1. Media Industry

The media industry consists of all the public mass distributors of news and entertainment across media such as television, radio, web (blogs, podcasts, messag boards, video sharing, and online magazines), print (magazines, books, newspapers), film. MSM is an acronym for mainstream media which uses techniques such as advertising and propaganda due to some media being biased. Media communicates to entertain, inform and influence their audience.

2.      Description of your primary industry

• Public relations

Public Relations is the art and science of managing communication between an organization and its target audience to build, manage and sustain its positive image.

• Film

Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects and is considered by many to be an important art form. Films entertain, educate, enlighten and inspire audiences. Any film can become a worldwide attraction, especially with the addition of subtitles that translate the film message.

• Internet

The Internet is a more interactive medium of mass media  that is worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected computer networks that transmit data. Contrary to some common usage, the Internet and the World Wide Web are not synonymous. The Internet is the system of interconnected computer networks and the Web is interconnected documents, linked by hyperlinks and URLs. The World Wide Web is accessible through the Internet, along with many other services such as email, online chats, and web pages.

·         Blogging has become a huge form of media, popular through the internet. A blog is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary or other material such as videos. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order.. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Micro-blogging is another type of blogging which consists of blogs with very short posts.

·         A podcast is a series of digital-media files which are distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and computers. The term podcast, like broadcast, can refer either to the series of content itself or to the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also called podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster.

• Book

Publishers print books which are literary work or a main division of such a work. A book produced in electronic format is known as an e-book.

• Journalism

Journalism is the discipline of collecting, analyzing, verifying and presenting information regarding current events, trends, issues, and people. Journalists often record important events, and producing news articles on short deadlines. Many news organizations claim proud traditions of holding government officials and institutions accountable to the public, while media critics have raised questions about holding the press itself accountable.

·         Some publishers print magazines which are often printed in color on coated paper with a soft cover. This periodical publication typically is published weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly with an advanced date on the cover. Magazines contain a variety of articles, generally financed by advertisers and/or purchase by readers.

·         A newspaper contains news, information and advertising printed on newsprint. Recent developments on the Internet are posing major threats to its business model, however. Paid circulation is declining in most countries, and advertising revenue, which makes up the bulk of a newspaper's income, is shifting from print to online.

Networking 101: You know Somebody That Knows Sombody

In my Venture, Building, & Sustaining a Successful Enterprise course we had the pleasure of having guest speaker Eric Mathews, co-founder of Mercury Technology Labs, a venture creation, innovation connector, and business development organization. He informed us of some important lessons that he learned from his experience as an entrepreneur. One thing that stuck out to me was on average, entrepreneurs fail 3.7 times before their fist success. I’m already past fail #1 (Yeah! I think ) so I’d like to hope I’m still on the right track. He also said that even though one may fail, it is best to fail fast and continue on while youth is an advantage. Another word of advice from Mr. Mathews was “Do it now!”, which is kind of where I was conflicted. After seeing something that I was so passionate about and that my audience loved so much not make it due to lack of financing sort of chipped away at my drive. However, with this class I hope to build a solid business plan that will make investors want to jump at the chance to be involved in my future fortune 500 media company.

Dr. Fabian introduced me to Lorretta McNary a local TV host in the Memphis area and we have a meeting set up this weekend to discuss working together to help build each other up to reach our business goals. It seems as if she has the resources I need and have the some of the resources she needs which will hopefully be a perfect fit. I also have been networking and was introduced to Yvette George another TV host and radio personality in Memphis. Ms. George has been an evolving figure in the entertainment business since 1990 and I look forward to meeting with her as well to gain as much knowledge of the entertainment industry as I can while constructing my business plan. So the main things I pass along to my classmates and other entrepreneurs is your network is important to your net worth and never stop going but know when to change directions.

Check these links for more information on these remarkable people in the Memphis Area:

http://www.ericmathews.com/about.html
http://www.yvettegeorge.com/about_yvette_george.htm
http://www.lorettamcnary.com/about.html

New Business Blues

My dream hasn't always been to start a huge Media Company providing entertainment for the masses, but as I got older the passion to follow my dreams became my motivation to push forward. After deciding how to best use my talent & enthusiasm for writing I decided a magazine would be it! ...right in the beginning stages of the recession. In my mind I could do anything; and I can with proper planning and a solid foundation & network. Unfortunately, beginning a new magazine is hard work, stressful & EXPENSIVE. However, it can also be very fun, lucrative, and rewarding. In my case, the bad outweighed the good. Advertisers had become hesitant and/or cheap because of the recession which lead to lack of funds being the pitfall for my dream.

My go-getter personality also has its pros and cons. I am open to taking risks but sometimes move hastily and expect everyone to be able to keep up. This may have affected my organization by relying on split second decision making without having a contingency plan or
taking the time to weigh out options.

When re- launching My Future Fortune 500 company I will avoid these previous drawbacks because I made the mistake once and learned from it, hopefully. I will take the time to plan, build a solid team, and raise sufficient funding to survive the 'new business blues' which is trying to build a brand, a customer base, all while paying for the overhead costs to do so.