Final Business Plan

This was my last class for the Entertainment Business Masters Degree with Bill Thompson.  Bill has been an excellent instructor and has many life experience to share with the class, many are pretty impressive and others make you go. "HA-no way" but its true regardless.  Bill has been an awesome support structure from offering to look over resumes and even give a letter of recommendation.  His eyes light up any time that he has or can help out a former graduate of Full Sail University and I am glad I had the opportunity to be not only in his class but to attend Full Sail University in general.

Final Business Plan class had me sweating.  I can say I'm not one for public speaking but over the last year my fear has not gone away but when it comes down to it, if you practice enough times you will do fine.  I had one goal for this class which was to be able to present a business plan, and I gotta say I nailed it hook, line, and sinker.  In the beginning of the degree program we as students get told that we will be working on a Business Plan that we will present to a panel of people for our final project.  Now I was thinking like 5-6 people that I didn't know possibly investors are coming to grade us on how well we do.  Let me clear things up and fast forward to month 12 in Bill's class.  Our panel was 4 people and they were previous instructors to include Bill and our Program director, who at the time of my presentation was the first time I've met her.  I had practiced my Business plan presentation a million times and was ready to use everything I have learned to make it the best possible.  On the day of presentations I was 5th out of 6 students and wish I was first but regardless I got to see all my other classmates go first I am glad we all had different plans.  I went up and presented flawlessly and while on camera in font of 4 panelists and 5 classmates.

After my presentation Steve from Business Plan Development grilled me on my Target Market and how will I draw more people into my business.  When I say grilled he just asked me a few questions for clarification but it actually helped me out more.  These business plans and presentations are real world stuff that I can take to investors tomorrow and ask for funding if I chose to.

In month one I couldn't wait to graduate and now in month twelve I look back and see all the success that I have achieve and learned. like how to prepare Pro Forma Financial Statements, have a good understanding of Entertainment Branding and Storytelling, to publishing and distribution.  Also learned what it takes to be a good leader.  Along with how to manage team strengths and weaknesses to efficiently start and finish projects. I have also learned a good bit of knowledge on how to do online marketing with SEO and Google analytics. I also have an understanding of Entertainment Law and how it pertains to the Entertainment Industry and the biggest achievement is writing and presenting a complete business plan.

I can now say that I have accomplished something that many people only dream of, I have a Masters Degree, I have also completed another goal in my life and I look forward to working with my future employers in the next chapter of my life.  I want to Thank all my course instructors for sharing their experiences and giving us the guide lines we need to succeed  in life and in our future careers.