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Similar to MUC110 LEC12 Entrepreneurship (20)
MUC110 LEC12 Entrepreneurship
- 2. Why be an Entrepreneur?
Being your own boss lets you…
• Define the terms of your expertise and your
enterprise
• Determine the limits of your success
• Take advantage of new opportunities,
quickly and nimbly
• Command the attention of potential clients and
industry influencers
• Demand equal play in strategic partnerships
• Meet the top dogs and do business with the most
dynamic players
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 3. Know Thyself, Know Thy Audience
To be a successful Entrepreneur, you must:
• Understand what makes you different, better,
more valuable
• Understand which audiences will be most
attracted by your music product or service
• Become an expert on trends
- Constantly scan for new lifestyle brands, products and
services
- Be a Futurist- imagine what consumers will want and
need in the next 2, 5, 10 years- Then help them get it.
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 4. Develop a Strong Brand
• You, Inc. is THE brand you are selling, no
matter who you work for
• Delight Your Audience
– Provide experiences, not just products
– Be an Innovator
• Be Consistent:
– Mission Statement
– Branding
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 5. Remember, You are Always Selling
• Create your own Buzz/ Sell Yourself
– Create an active presence online—websites;
e-commerce; social network sites; Blogs; Videos
(YouTube); Merchandise; Licensing.
• Develop an authentic, powerful story about
your brand/ work that you tell to everyone
– The elevator pitch
• Don’t wait for someone to discover you.
Put yourself in the right place to meet people
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 6. Build and Care for Your Network
• Make a business card- carry it with you at all
times
• Create a promotional plan and work it with
focus and determination
• Go to industry conferences and local music
events; offer workshops and lectures to
schools and organizations; volunteer; help
other artists, producers and music execs.
Organize music festivals, concerts or events.
• Create a client/customer database; find good
reasons to contact them on a regular basis-
stay “top of mind”
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 7. The Entrepreneurial Spirit
• You are not just doing a job, you are building
a business system
• Do you have the right temperament?
– Employees “Security is more important than money”
– Self-Employed “I want to do it my way. Total control
is more important than money”
– Entrepreneur “I want to surround myself with the
smartest team, so I can succeed. Work smart,
not hard.”
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 8. The Entrepreneurial Skillset
• Self-Awareness & Business Skills
– Possess Emotional/Psychological Courage to
overcome fear & resistance
– Develop Business & Technical Expertise
• A strong desire to focus on Leadership skills
• Manage cash flow
• Manage people
• Manage time
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 9. The Entrepreneurial Skillset
Before you start, take a personal
Inventory. Check in with yourself about
your:
• Goals
• Personal style
• Resilience
• Independence
• Risk Tolerance
• Reasons for wanting to own a business
• Appetite for the realities of business- accounting,
taxes, contracts, selling
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 10. Are you prepared…to fail?
• A Large number of businesses fail in the first
5 years
• A business usually fails BEFORE it is launched
• A word about failure it happens!
– Losers quit when they fail,
Winners fail until they succeed
– Failing faster helps you succeed faster
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 11. Laying the Foundations
So, how do you succeed?
• The #1 job of an entrepreneur is to design
the business BEFORE there is a business
Business Planning is crucial for success.
• Step I- Gather Information
– Study other entrepreneurs and business systems
– Learn from your mentor(s)
– A successful business is NOT a product;
A successful businesses is a system
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 12. The Business System
• Every business, no matter what size,
is a combination of functions
• To succeed you need to manage each function
regularly and with well developed skills
• The baseline functions your business needs are:
– Product/Offering/Service/Experience
– Marketing/Communications
– Legal
– Back-end Systems/Administration/People Management
– Cash flow
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 13. The Business System
• How many of these functions are you
skilled in, today?
• What else do you need to learn?
• Who do you need to hire?
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 14. Learning the vital functions
• You cannot be an expert in all the functions
– Product/Offering/Service Concept development
– Legal Contracts, IP, Attorneys
– Communications Marketing , PR, Sales
– Systems Operations, distribution, manufacturing
– Cash flow Accounting, Budgeting, Forecasting
• Pick one or two functions, study and learn
what it will take to become the best at these
functions.
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 15. Learning the vital functions
• Plan to build out the rest of your team with others
who are the best at their functions. (Hire Your
Weaknesses)
– Marketing Managers
– Attorneys
– Publicists
– Human Resource experts
– Accountants
• BUT, always be sure you understand what the
other functions are doing. Keep learning…
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 16. Prepare for the Business Plan
• Define the Mission of your company
– The most successful businesses do one of two
things:
• Solve a problem
• Fill a need
– Your mission should be centered on who you
are serving and what you will provide them to
improve their lives.
• Envision a continual learning process as part
of your mission- build a feedback loop into
every step of your business-building process.
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 17. Prepare for the Business Plan
• Define the Goals of your company
– Goals should be SMART-
• Specific/Smart
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic/Relevant
• Timely/Time Specific
– Goals should address each of the functions in
your business system
– Goals should be short- and long-term 90 Day
plan, 1 year plan, 5 year plan
– Goals, Planning & Research= Your Business Plan
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 18. Write the Business Plan
• What is a Business Plan?
– A roadmap for growth
– a tool for raising funds
– an internal outline of the mission and goals
of the business
• Business Plans can be 5 pages or 500 hundred pages
• Write the plan you need for your audience-
internal, business partners, venture investors
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 19. The 7-Question Business Plan
• Who are you? Strength and Depth of Management
team
• What do you plan to sell? Product, Service,
Experience you are offering
• What makes your approach unique?
Differentiated vs. other offerings already in the market?
WHY will people want yours?
• Who are your customers? Demographics,
Psychographics, Geographics, Behavior/Usage, Unmet
needs?
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 20. The 7-Question Business Plan
• What is your potential market?
How many people will want your service or product when
you launch? How many more will want it in 2 yrs, 5 yrs,
10 yrs?
• How will you make money? What is your
business model? When will you be profitable? How stable
is your cash flow?
• Who or What could kill your business?
Who are your competitors? What technologies could
disrupt your business? How will you deal with them?
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 21. Operational Set-Up
Complete administrative/operational tasks:
• Choose a business entity–
Sole Proprietorship; LLC, Inc.
• Create a business name/brand identity
• Put legal protections in place- Copyrights,
Trademarks, Liability Insurance, Partnership
agreements, etc.
• Get required professional/business licenses
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com
- 22. Now what?
You are up and running, now
SELL, SELL, SELL
© 2007 musicbizclasses.com