Mastery Journal for Jennifer Vitale

In my Master’s of Entertainment Business Program at Full Sail University I took the following courses:

 1.     Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership

2.     Executive Leadership

3.     Project and Team Management

4.     Business Storytelling & Brand Development

5.     Entertainment Business Finance

6.     Negotiating and Deal Making

7.     Product and Artist Management

8.     Advanced Entertainment Law

9.     Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution

10. Digital Marketing

11. Business Plan Development

12. Final Project: Business Plan

 Each course taught me something about myself that I can use in my career in the music industry and some courses taught me skills that I use in my everyday life and my career at Metlife.

 In my Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership course this is where I learned to create a blog.  We created a blog about anything we wanted.  I started my blog on talent management.   I thought it was cool how to set up hyper links on the blog.

 In my Executive Leadership class I learned a lot about different leadership styles.  One of the most interesting things I learned in one of our readings from the The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Green was Law #1, which states:  Never Outshine the Master.  It’s interesting but true that bosses have egos and if you appear more brilliant that them it can create a problem for you.  This is sad but true.  

 In my Project and Team Management course we learned about managing teams, which I enjoyed.  These skills learnt in this class I practice in my daily life in my current career at Metlife. The assignment I remember most was a team assignment.  We had to find a game and work with peers.  Our game was about survival and it really got us all to think. 

 In my Business Storytelling & Brand Development class I wanted to learn as much as I could about branding an artist.  At the start of this course I was completely overwhelmed but the resource book “ The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding” I found very helpful.  I am much more positive about branding an artist now.  I understand the need for the visual brand.  

 Entertainment Business Finance class gave me the tools to help me manage money better.  I have always been terrible at managing money.  I loved our last “Goto” session, which discussed ways in which we can get out of debt.  We learned how to create Pro Forma Financial Statements.

 One of my favorite classes was Negotiating and Deal Making.  This class showed me things about myself that I need to fix.  I also learned how to correct them in my deals and negotiations with others.  Game Theory- doing your research is a tool I have started using and definitely use in all my negotiations now.

 The Product and Management class was the class I was least happy with.  I really thought I knew a lot about management and this class proved me wrong. I found the class very difficult al around.  I felt I wasn’t prepared well enough for this class and didn’t get that warm and fuzzy helpful feeling from the instructor.

 Advanced Entertainment Law I loved.  This class opened the door for the possibility of “law school”.  I am considering Entertainment Law now.  I haven’t committed 100% yet to the schooling but this course was interesting enough and I did well enough where it made me feel that should be my next step in my education process.  I learned so much about the legal part of the entertainment industry.

  Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution is where I learned he differences between managers and different type of agents.  I always new there were difference between a manager and agent but did not realize there were so many different type of agents.  Literary agents, songwriting agents it all depends on what you are tying to get into. I loved the course book.  I will reference back to it many times. Learning the correct way to do an EPK was awesome.

 In Digital Marketing I learned about Google Analytics.  Its quite interesting how you can see traffic through these tools right at your fingertips.  I liked the learning of key words and long tail phrases.  I use these techniques in my daily searching today 

 The last two classes have been very helpful.  Business Plan Development took us through each part of a business plan to help us build the business plan we needed for our last class.  Of course these are tools that will be used when we start our own companies.  

  In the Final Project: Business Plan my favorite part of this course are all the different things we are learning around the Business Plan. The Job Interview skills and sites and the lectures on the different pieces of the businesses plans are very helpful and references I will save and use in the future.  I feel I have gained a great understanding of how to successfully write a good business plan.

I am very excited that this will be my last blog post in my Master’s Degree program.  

As I review my journey over the last year I reminisce on the different courses and what each course has taught me.  Below are a few quotes that sum it all up for me.

 1.     “Success is not final.  Failure is not fatal.  It is the courage to go on that counts.” –Winston Churchhill

2.     “In School your taught a lesson and then given a test.  In life your given a test that teaches you lessons.” –Tom Bodett

3.     “Be a master of your fate not a slave to your problems” – Marinela Reka

4.     “A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger.  You don’t have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.” –Nelson Mandela

 How do these quotes sum it up?  

When I started my journey at Full Sail in my Bachelors degree program, I put a goal in mind that I wanted A’s not B’s or C’s and when I got my first F because I totally missed the point of one of my assignments I felt like I failed and immediately wanted to quit.   I picked up and brushed it off and re-took the class and succeeded and graduated. That is my experience with quote #1.

 I am a talent manager; I have experience with managing new artists, casting dancers and have a pretty good reputation.  When I took the product and management course for my masters program I was for sure I new all I needed.  I struggled. Very shocking but I did struggled. I couldn’t make the “Go TO” sessions because of my work schedule, the pairing with other class mates was difficult because of timing and the tests I never did as well as I set out to in my goal. So quote #2 is a reminder that life experiences and education are completely different.

 Juggling school, long work hours, personal situations, children and family is difficult but it can be done with dedication, organization, and a very tight schedule. You make the effort and you can do it. That is my quote #3.

 Last but not least, in my leadership class I learned a lot for the industry but for my day-to-day job as well. Quote#4 was a quote that stuck out to me and made complete sense.  It goes a long with negotiating and deal making too.  I find it interesting with the presidential debates that are taking place if quote #4 was followed the right president will be picked.  

 I am so excited to be graduating soon with my Master’s Degree.  The Business Plan courses have been so helpful and such an eye opener on many things.  My material I will be saving because in the near future I am going to attempt to open my own talent and management company if I do not secure a great job as an A&R or casting agent at a prestige company.  I thank all my instructors throughout my journey.  I am well educated and know what my next move should be.

It’s hard to believe that I am in the last course of my Master’s of Entertainment Business journey at Full Sail University.  Everything seems so far away when you start out and now it’s a month away.  I am very excited.  The last two months are all about creating the business plan.  

 My first time ever creating a business plan was for a business I opened.  It was very difficult to do when you weren’t sure what you were doing.  The second time I touched a business plan was in the Entertainment Business Bachelors program.  It did get a bit easier but still so much to learn.  This is the third time I am touching on a business plan and I must say I am still learning and do not have it mastered.  The financials are difficult and you have to be very specific. It is so easy to go over budget when you think you are spending too little or not enough.  

 This course has met all my expectations.  I was expecting a step-by-step guide to learn to build the plan; which we did receive. I was hoping for more information on the financials but to makes sense because we had a few other classes that touch on this in the program.  My goal in this course was to just gain more understanding on doing a business plan and it accomplished just that.  Thanks to these courses, business plans that I write for programs are coming much easier. The format and structure now comes very easy.  The financials will always be the area that will take me some time and will need my focus.

The first “expert” I chose to summarize their views is Kevin Geiger. He is an artist as well as a producer. He worked on “Reign of Fire” as a digital artist, Species as a Computer Animator, and Chicken Little as a CG Supervisor just to name a few.  He hasn’t really had much of a career since 2009 but what he has done has been substantial. Kevin offers insight on how to have an indie business plan.  Kevin says there is 5 things investors look for. 

1.     How they make their money back.

2.     Your cash flow projection.

3.     Your team

4.     Your business plan.

These are key components for investors because if they are putting out money they want to make sure that the company they invest in has their stuff together and is not walking into the company blind with know thought on how they will succeed.  

 The second expert I chose is Tim Berry.  He is a business plan expert and successful entrepreneur with an MBA from Stanford.  He has been called the Obi Wan of business planning, he has written many books but the one that is most relevant for us is called Lean Business Planning.  His philosophy is lean business planning.  He says it is a simple process to follow to be successful.  Tim says, “ Stay focused, grow fast, and adjust quickly to change and set priorities.” These are the key components to the teachings that he provides on business planning.  He has a mission to help everyone and anyone who wants to open and own a business. His key components are called PRRR. This means plan, run, review, and revise.  

 Tim’s key components are a lot different from Kevins.  Kevin is telling you what investor’s want.  Tim is actually providing tools to follow to succeed

 References:

Burhoe, S. (2016). Expert Views on Business Plans. Retrieved September 02, 2016, from http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com 

Business Plan Expert Tim Berry. (n.d.). Retrieved September 02, 2016, from http://timberry.com/business-plan-expert/

As you all know I am on my Master degree journey at Full Sail University.  I have three classes left.  The course I am taking write now is called Digital Marketing.  When we were asked to post a mastery journal only part of the way through the class I knew I couldn’t really elaborate on the course, as I would like.  I really didn’t have a goal for this course yet.  The material I already learned was awesome but I wasn’t sure how I could apply it yet in my every day life.  

 We discussed searching things in Google and using keywords and a technique called long tail phrases that really narrows your search. I know I will definitely use that. Then I looked up and notice the group of awesome adults outside playing Pokémon Go.  Pokémon Go has taken over the world; I think.  Then I thought, “What a fabulous Digital Marketing concept.”  

 In a world full of chaos with terrorist acts, serious gun violence, rebel police officers, communities taken the law into their own hands and a political race with two candidates many are not happy with, society has turned to Pokémon Go as their past time.   As you walk down the street, drive by a park or cemetery, even on your lunch break you will notice a group of people in specific areas and I am sure you wonder, “What are they doing?”  Most likely, these groups of people are playing Pokémon Go.

 “Pokémon Go is a free-to-play, location-based, augmented reality game developed and published by Niantic. It is the biggest creation for Nintendo. It is the #1 game in the country.  The game is excellent.  It keeps a person engaged and its technology is awesome and the biggest benefit is that it gets you out there walking.  So what is the downfall?  There are some problems.

 1.     It eats your phones battery life.

2.     There is a safety issue with this game.  There have been reports of people walking into things, going to places alone that might not be too nice for them to go and there even was a serious car crash reported because of the game.

3.     For a Pokémon game, real “gamers” say its “watered down” and there are a lot of bugs that need fixing.

 Though these are some problems, the fans of Pokémon Go do not care. I sit outside a lunch enjoying the sun and watch my fellow co-workers run to a designated tree and statue to get more “Poke Balls” as they refer to them.  It is hysterical but makes sense.  When our world is in chaos we look for outlets.  The #1 outlet has always been music but today with this new technology the gaming industry is taking the world by storm and everyone is enjoying Pokémon Go.

 This article link is all about Pokémon Go and how Pokémon Go is Digital Marketing.  So, for all you gamers; here you go.  Enjoy! http://www.fathomdelivers.com/blog/careers/your-digital-marketing-career-and-pokemon-go/

  References:

 Lynley, M. (2016). The brilliant mechanics of Pokémon Go. Retrieved August 04, 2016, from https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/11/the-brilliant-mechanics-of-pokemon-go/

  (n.d.). Retrieved August 04, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2016/07/07/the-5-biggest-problems-with-pokemon-go/#46d897a02dc8

I am just about done with my Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution class at Full Sail University. The last few classes have met every expectation and this class is no different.  I loved the course book and material.  The information in this course book (out of all the classes I have taken) I will reference and go back to and use throughout my career in the entertainment industry.  This class answered so many unanswered questions and really breaks some very tough topics down very easily.

 I always wondered if when I put press kits and digital EPK’s together if I had all the material I needed. This class answered that completely for me.  I have always asked myself, “How do I get a label’s attention for my artist?” This class answered that question completely.  This course book will be part of my library every day moving forward.  It was excellent material.  This course goes into what type of agents are needed other than a booking agent, what you need to write a pitch letter to those important companies, what you need to pitch your music, book, TV Show, film and even a game.  We also learned the difference in publishing traditionally vs. doing it yourself.  This course didn’t leave anything out.

 This was one of the best decisions I have made for myself to continue my education in this masters program with Full Sail University.  To anyone thinking of continuing his or her education at Full Sail University or continuing your education in the entertainment industry, Full Sail’s entertainment business master program (EBMS) is everything that it expresses to be.  Don’t wait to do it.  Enroll now!

My advance entertainment law class, made me really want to further my education and possibly go to law school. This class was one of the major reason’s I decided to per sue my master’s degree at Full Sail University. I really enjoyed this class at Full Sail University.  

 The instructor was awesome.  She really understood the topic and she was very helpful. She broke things down in a way that you not only understood the assignment you needed to complete but made it easy to understand cases you may read about as well.

 Part of my job as a mom-manager is making sure that I negotiate the best deals for my son’s career.  For years, I have done this without school and without the tools needed. I negotiated a lot with emotion. I learned in my negotiation and deal making class that by separating the person from the problem can help me better negotiate.  In this class understanding the different laws and how they can affect an artist or business made this very understandable.  

Now that my son is moving on I have been thinking about negotiating for other artists.   I believe I would be excellent at negotiating for other artist after this class. This class made me realize, that I am more intelligent than I thought.  Law is hard but if you understand the specifics it can be easy.  I wasn’t sure if I was capable of law school but this class has given me hope.

 For those of you thinking about the Mastery program at Full Sail University; my advice says, “Do it”.  Some of the classes are really awesome and worth the entire program.  It takes you to a whole different level than the Bachelors program.  

I just finished the Product and Management Course in the master degree program for Entertainment Business for Full Sail University.  One thing I feel I am really good at is talent management.  I must say every time I have taking a class at Full Sail University on talent management I have been challenged and learn that I do not know as much as I think I do.  This course was a lot more difficult than I expected.  

 For me, it is very important to sit in on the live “Go To” sessions and it was unfortunate for me that the time of these sessions; for this class, were not at a time that I could participate.  All my questions I guessed at while watching the archived sessions.  This was not a good choice in this class.  I was a little intimidated by the instructor.  She was very knowledgeable and very strong.  I am not sure why but I felt a little insecure going to her for questions.  Wrong choice! I really could have learned more if I asked all the questions I had before making the mistakes I did.  

 I saved all the downloaded “Go TO: Sessions because I thought they were awesome.  They were so informative.  In this course there is a lot of pairing up with classmates for assignments.  I had an awesome partner for the last two weeks. Pairing up is usually a challenge for me because my schedule is so crazy but my partner understood that and we really worked well together.  

 This course had two different parts to it and I felt that I would have preferred these to courses to be to distinctly different courses.  The course taught a lot of facts that are important to know with royalties and branding which I would have liked to discuss more.  I felt just as I got comfortable with a topic we moved on to something else.  I didn’t do as well as I anticipated.  

 For anyone starting their journey at Full Sail in the masters of Entertainment Business my suggestion is to be on your game immediately with this class.  It is very fast paced and a wealth of knowledge that you need.  You miss things if you blink.  

I really enjoyed my negotiating and deal making class at Full Sail University this month.  The instructor was awesome and well prepared and really demonstrated how much she wanted you to learn as a person.  This made me really want to learn more.

 Part of my job as a mom-manager is making sure that I negotiate the best shows, events, and contracts for my son in the music industry. This class was able to show me things about myself when I negotiate and what I can do or need to do to change them so I can better negotiate.  I do not always get the yes, so with these new skills I am hoping that I will get more yeses, or at least a mutual benefit outcome.  

 I negotiate a lot with emotion and I am not sure I separate the people from the problem very easily.  This course taught skills that allow me to think before I negotiate. With the ability to think before I negotiate will allow me better understanding of the negotiation.  It will allow me to separate the person from the problem by stepping in there shoes and really understanding what the bargaining party wants.  Knowing this will allow for better negotiating.

 Game theory is definitely something I will be using.  Game theory, in a way, forces you to do research. Research allows you to learn more about the bargaining party.  It makes your negotiation easier because you have facts and knowledge you wouldn’t have if you didn’t do your research.  You go into a negotiation knowing exactly what you can ask for, what you will risk and what you will sacrifice when you do your research.  

Entertainment Business is one of the most important classes I have had so far and definitely the hardest.  When you think about making money and starting a business a lot sometimes can seem really easy.  Managing the monies and keeping the business afloat is hard.  This class gives you the tools to managing your money properly. This needs to be done all the time if you want your business to be successful. I can say I really understand income statements and how budget projections work but the ratios and why they’re needed still throw me a bit.  I have learned the importance of forecasting future years.

 Our last GOTO Session was very good.  The discussion was about our debt and finances as individual and there were some really good topics discussed on how to try and start to clean up credit and investments to make and to not make.  I wish I were a younger college student.  This would have been really good advice to follow many years ago.  It is still excellent advice to follow but learning it 20 years later than you should gives you a disadvantage with time.    

 The Pro Forma was an excellent assignment.  It really gets you thinking about your business and what the potential outcome can be in two years and then again in three years. It was interesting to me to find that the first few months and then again in later months my company I would be in the negative.  This type of forecasting in the real world can help you really plan for when you will fall short.  It gives you the ability in the beginning to help you stay afloat and know what you need to increase revenue or get more start up money to help these downfalls.

Marketing and branding has always been a tough subject for me.  I thought it was about a name and a reputation but I have learned through the Business Storytelling and Brand Development course that it is more visual.

 When this course first started I wasn’t sure what to think.  I knew I needed to know as much as possible about developing a brand. After the first two weeks I was completely overwhelmed and totally confused.  The direction of this course was a lot different from other Full Sail Courses.  I finally felt like I was connecting in the third week.  The light bulb started coming on.

 I was very much interested in learning to brand an artist.  It is much easier to brand a company.  I have learned that you need to look at the artist as a company and start there.  The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding is a guide that is a huge help.  Recognizing some of the important factors reading the blogs and comparing them to this guide has been extremely helpful for me.  When I look at my artist I understand what is needed to brand him.  His name and reputation still means a lot but visual branding is most important.  There needs to be something that stands out, that is recognizable, people friendly for the people to remember and want to come back for more.  

In this months project and team management class our focus was to learn how to work and manage a team and understand the different personality traits each of the team members bring to the table.  As fun as this course was I found it a little difficult because you really had to get out of your own mindset to understand how others think.  

Our first task we had to build a team and play a game that had to do with team management.   I took the initiative to find a game and put it out there to gain a group.  Building a team online I thought would be difficult task but I learned that taking the initiative to start something would allow people to join in.  I had a team of go-getters.  Each of our personalities came across.  It was an organization of things for survival.  Derek took the lead in explanation of the different survival techniques we could use from his years in the service.  Shannon and Nishelle added knowledge of different items we had and how we can use them.  I, as the organizer kept us in sync and made sure everyone was happy with the choses.  We worked together and accomplished our task with time to spare.  

Another assignment that was very memorable to me was our timeline.  When you think of all the fun jobs the industry you forget what it takes to accomplish some.  It is really hard work.  The timeline along with the budget got me to realize the importance of scheduling and time management.   It forced me to really step out of the box and think of the different players that are needed to make things happen.  I have a “do it myself” attitude, so this was really good learning for me.  

In our last week we had an assignment called The Conflict.  In this assignment we created a policy to resolve conflict.  I loved this exercise.  Thinking out and writing down steps to resolve a conflict can help in my daily life not just professional.  I am taking away quite a few good tools from this course.  

The course didn’t meet my expectation because it is taught more differently than the average class.  It was fun allowed you to think out of the box and the instructor was enjoyable as well.  I looked forward to our GOTO sessions.  The reading material was also very good and it is something that will be useful throughout my professional years. Those of you soon to take this class you will enjoy it.

Reference:

When I first became a manager, I was definitely a Greene type of leader; very bold, very bossy and too the point.  I had all the good and bad of this leader type working for me.  Everyday it was something.  I was very argumentative.  I needed to make my point heard and it seems I always offended someone.  As a master student in Full Sail University I relate so much to The 48 Law’s of Power by Robert Greene because I had already experienced ta lot of them.  I didn’t even know there was a difference in “types” of leaders and through education, more experience and learning, I realized I needed to change as a leader.  I realized what I was doing wrong and wanted my employees to be more comfortable with me so I empowered them more and delegated more which, allowed them to participate in our changes and help recreate some of our standard operating procedures.   When I read chapter 1 of Maxwell ‘s “Developing the Leader In You”, I quickly analyzed where I thought I was with “The Five Level’s of Leadership.” (Maxwell Pg13) Before I reevaluated myself as a manager I was at step 2.   I have accomplished 3 and working on 4.  Today I am 70% Greene and 30% Maxwell. 

As an employee, I always tried to outshine the master, which is Law #1 of Greene’s 48 Law’s of Power. This worked against me many times. I have learned as a manager to allow and employee to help and feel good about their work.  I never used their work and took credit for it myself as it states in Law #7.  I always tried to show my appreciation to my employees but this did back fire on me a few times and I did lose a bit of my value as a manager.  I did gain my value back but it took me a few long months to get my value to the company back. This law was an excellent one for me to read about because in a way it was a missing peace in my leadership skills. Learning to use this effectively is a huge benefit.  I am a master at Law #11.  I have learned how to keep people dependent on me and therefore this usually means job security for me.  I learn my position and learn it well and I never give all the secrets or short cuts away.  Changing careers and now entering into the Entertainment Industry, I have a few additional skills that will help me stay unique and be considered and asset. As a creative director it is my job to “create compelling spectacles” which is law #37. I have to make sure the audience visualizes and feels everything that is happening on stage. I have been building my son’s image for a long time and we use color, dramatics and symbols all the time.  When fans take pictures with him they “throw up there L’s” for Luminous.  That is a symbol we use. I feel my combination of 70% Greene and 30% Maxwell will work very effectively forme in the industry.  

 References:

Maxwell, J. (1993). Developing the leader within you. Nashville: T. Nelson.