Experts Views on the Value of Business Plans

Expert Kevin O’Leary says that having a great idea is not enough. The idea is just the start. The entrepreneur then has to stay focused on the end result. Staying focused means sacrificing certain things, for example a social life. These distractions will not only delay success but they might hinder it entirely. He also says to not be afraid of failure. Failure sparks innovation. Doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results is the definition of insanity. Try something new after you fail and succeed at that then you will no longer be a failure.

I believe the most important section of a business plan to an investor is financials. Investors want to see the money. They want to know when they will make their money back if they decide to invest in your business. Investors want to know the price point of the items sold, how much inventory can you sell, and what is the net profit in the end. My business plan has changed to accommodate enough profit for the investor after they have seen the financials.

After financials the investor is looking at the branding of the business. Branding explains what the business is, and how it is marketed to the masses. Branding is very important, it is the identity of the business, and how it distinguishes itself from the competition.

Expert Barbara Corcoran is more concerned about the person behind the plan. She wants to see the drive, work ethic and qualifications. The management section of the business plan is important to her. She also wants to see who is doing a good job and who isn’t. Corcoran is concerned about the team around the business. If one member is not up to scratch then in brings the company down.

The bottom line is to have a business plan that lays out everything in your business so that there are no surprises to the investors or to the entrepreneur.

Kevin O'Leary and Barbara Corcoran

Kevin O’Leary and Barbara Corcoran are two of the five investors on the ABC television show Shark Tank. Robert Herjavec, Daymond John and Mark Cuban are the other three investors. The premise of the show Shark Tank is to listen to business pitches, and for an investor to make a deal with the owner of the company.

Kevin O’Leary started a software company called SoftKey in his basement, which he later sold it to Mattel for $3.2 billion dollars. “Barbara Corcoran turned a thousand dollar loan into a real estate empire in Manhattan.”

When deciding on which entrepreneur to back, O’Leary and Corcoran have different criteria. In a video entitled “Shark Tank Season 3 Set Visit: The Sharks Tell All!” from June 15, 2012 Corcoran mentions how O’Leary is just after the money or return on investment. Whereas, Corcoran claims that she cares more about the entrepreneur and the product.

O’Leary himself backs up Corcoran’s claim in his article “How to Win in Business Negotiations: Never Forget, it’s All About the Money!” Here are some of his tips from the article. Know what you want and can accept from the deal. Be reasonable in your demands. If you don’t know what you want, how can you explain why you want it? If you set up the negotiation showing the other side what is in it for them they will be more inclined to accept your offer. Finally don’t’ let greed get in the way of closing on a good deal. If it is a good deal take it. Don’t try to push for more and then lose it.

Corcoran credits her success to being able to develop great advertising hooks. She says that the hook is the key. Once you bring the people in then you have to find a way to make them trust you. She says “If people trust you, they’re going to buy from you, if they trust you they’re going to recommend you—and it’s in the recommending that build the empires.” On of Corcoran’s strategies for expanding her business was to publish a report on what she wanted to accomplish. For example she wanted celebrity clients so she published the “Madonna Report”. Because that ran in the paper Richard Gere became a client of hers.

Corcoran says, “I think entrepreneurs have to be born with the talent to work with people. A lot of people that want to be entrepreneurs, but they don't have the people talents, and I think the part that's made is your background, how hungry you are to succeed.”

I agree with this quote for Corcoran, but I would like to add that motivation is more important then the people skills. People skill can be learned, however, motivation can only come from within you.

Tri-Castor

The Trenton Thunder is doing something new this year, and that is streaming their games live on the Internet. In order to accomplish this task they need a Tri-Castor. A Tri-Castor is a device that acts like a switcher in the control room. It has multiple camera inputs, with graphics, and audio channels. The Tri-Castor is great because it is compact and portable. Trenton Thunder has five camera feeds that input into the Tri-Castor. However, an unfortunate quark to the Tri-Castor is that only one camera can be previewed at a time.

The use of a Tri-Castor has changed their whole operation. The Tri-Castor operator has a lot going on during the game. The operator controls everything. One-person switches between the cameras, captures the replay footage, controls the audio and displays the graphics. Before the game the operator has to update all of the graphics with the correct stats for the night. The graphics feature is a lot like Photoshop in that multiple layers go into making one graphic. These graphics are mainly for lower thirds when a batter comes to the plate.

Live streaming is something only a select few Double A teams have. The Tri-Castor is not new technology, but it is something that the Trenton Thunder value very much. Now that they can stream live new advertising spots have opened up. The radio broadcasters narrate the game. However, in between innings they get muted on the live stream. As of right now this is dead space in the stream. When advertisements get sold that gap will be filled. This is one of many options the Thunder can give to their sponsors looking to advertise with them.

MiLB.com is where these games can be found. MilB.com hosts all minor league live-streamed games. The set up is similar to MLB.com streamed games. A person needs to pay a subscription in order to watch the games. Live streaming has been a great advantage to Thunder fans giving them another option to watch the game. The use of a Tri-Caster is what made live streaming possible for the Thunder.

GCH Concert

On April 29^th Gym Class Heroes performed at Six Flags Great Adventure. I was lucky enough to work this concert. The day starts with setting up backstage. This includes getting the dressing rooms ready as well as the catering area. In the dressing rooms has to be everything the band requested in their rider. The rider is a document that the band uses to make their stay as comfortable as possible. This document is extremely important because if something is missing the band can decide not to perform. Fortunately, everything met the bands requirements and they performed.

Then the band arrives and we unload the equipment. The step up is the longest process of the day. There are a lot of heavy equipment that has to make its way to the stage. Four to six guys are carrying one crate at a time. The contents get unpacked and placed in position. Then cables are run to all of the equipment from the sound and lighting booth. Once everything is hooked up the sound check begins.

That takes us to lunch, and a little down time to hang out with the band. By now fans have started to line up outside of the arena. We try to do our best to entertain them. An hour and a half before the show is a meet and great between the band and a lucky few fans. Then the gates open an hour before the show. Security is now in place to control the crowd. The show goes on and everyone is enjoying it.

After the show and everyone leaves, it is now clean up time. This is by far the worst part of the job. People make a mess no matter how many garbage cans are around the arena. None of them get used. Everything is one the floor. Simultaneously the equipment is getting packed up. Packing up takes a little bit longer then unpacking because of rolling up cables, and making sure everything fits back into place.

Once everything gets packed up, the band is ready to go. We say our goodbyes and start to prepare for the next show. That is what a typical day is like. It is a lot of hard work, but it is also a lot of fun. Next time you are in the area come to Six Flags Great Adventure and see a concert. Most are free with theme park admission.

Six Flag Great Adventure Concerts and Events

I have been working at Six Flags Great Adventure for the past 5 seasons in their entertainment department as a show technician. This year in addition to that I will also be working their concerts and special events. I am excited for this new endeavor especially because I plan to start my own concert venue one day, and this will be an excellent learning experience for me.

            So far this season there has been one special event. It was the New York Boys Choir who performed for over three thousand people. For this event Great Adventure used an outside audio company to supple the equipment because the venue had no audio equipment in place. It was just an empty theater that has not been used for years.

I learned a lot from this event. For example, I learned how to take an empty space. and create an audio setup around it. I learned the methods of unloading and reloading the equipment trunk. Of laying cable efficiently, and hidden from audience view. Of setting up and positioning speakers for maximum audio quality. At the end of the event I learned how to properly pack up the equipment. That includes the proper way to roll up and tie a cable.

I am glad that I had this small event as my first event. In a way it was a practice for the future. The next event is a concert on April 29^th in the Northern Star Arena, which can hold ten thousand people. Gym Class Heros will be performing. I am looking forward to working on a larger project like this. I love knowing that what I do behind the scenes makes it easier for the artist to perform and entertain the audience. That is the whole reason I do what I do, to make sure that people have a good time at the concerts I help setup.

This summer should be filled with a lot of learning and fun. It is something I am looking forward to.

Cirque du Soleil

On April 11. 2012, I went to see my first Cirque du Soleil show. It was the Michael Jackson The Immortal Tour, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA. They did not disappoint. The show was amazing. Cirque du Soleil did a great job blending together Michael Jackson songs with audio clips from his interviews. It had many styles of entertainment including: a mime, dancers, acrobatics, and gymnastics. It also had great visuals as well such as, videos, props, and costumes.

Cirque du Soleil is known for its’ over the top productions. They are the masters of transporting the audience into the world that they have created. Cirque prides itself on the eight key characteristics that define who they are. These eight characteristics are: acrobatics, acting, art forms from around the world, imaginary worlds, dance, daring, dexterity, and grace.

For the Immortal World Tour they defiantly showcased these talents. For example, there was a performer who portrayed a monkey so well that in the beginning of the show I thought he really was a monkey. The way he moved, and swung his arms was just like a monkey. There was also a performer with one leg. That was not a disadvantage for this performer. He was amazing. The way that he can breakdance, and use his crutches like hand stilts made him by far my favorite performer.

Cirque du Soleil first formed in the early 1980’s in Quebec, Canada. “In 1984, during Quebec’s 450th anniversary celebrations of Jacques Cartier’s discover of Canada, the province sought an event which would bring the festivities to all Quebecers.” That invent was the first Cirque du Soleil tour. Today Quebec is still the headquarters where performers go to rehearse for months to prepare for a show.

Cirque du Soleil has many shows to choose from. The Michael Jackson Immortal World Tour will be touring the US until August and then going over seas. I highly recommend everyone to go and see this great show.

Industry Experts

     I recently watched some podcasts with entertainment lawyers discussing a variety of topics. These entertainment lawyers are Mark Litwak, Greg Eveline, and Stanton “Larry” Stein. They discuss distribution, copyright, and media consolidation respectively. The following is a summary of what they discussed in the podcasts.

     Mark Litwak mainly talks about contracts for film distribution. The filmmaker has to know if the distribution company distributes to theaters, home video, or television. That information is crucial to the filmmakers marketing plan. In negotiating a distribution deal filmmakers should include certain clauses in the contract. A performance clause is a must. This clause allows the filmmaker to get out of the contract if the distribution company does not hold up their end of the deal. Distribution companies ideally want long-term deals. If the filmmaker agrees to this, after the first few years, distribution companies don’t try very hard to distribute the movie. That is why short-term deals are better and they can always get extended. (Litwak, 2011)

Another important clause is the audit clause. This grants the filmmaker the right to check the books of the distribution company. This is an important clause to make sure that the distribution company is spending the allotted budget on the filmmaker’s movie, and not another movie. (Litwak, 2011)

The next podcast is from Greg Eveline on copyright law. Eveline stresses that artist should write their own songs because money is found in the publishing. The melody and lyrics of a song can be copyrighted. If the artist only performs the song they do not hold the copyright. In most cases the record label would hold the copyright. This is called a work for hire or assignment. The record company employees the artist, for a salary, and then has the right to own the copyright. For many artist, they well get a change to recover their work because of a right of reversion. The right of reversion states that after 35 years the artist can get the sold copyright back. (Eveline, 2011)

The last podcast is from Media Concentration in the Entertainment Industry with Stanton “Larry” Stein. Stein talks about the 6 conglomerates that control what we watch, listen to, and read. Some examples are Disney and Time Warner. These 6 conglomerates control 6 thousand TV stations, 15 thousand radio stations, and 80% of the newspapers. (Stein, 2008) This is an issue because it causes a lack of creative and informative content for the general public to consume. Because these companies are so large the artist, or profit participant, sometimes has to sue the company. They have to do this because the company does some creative financing to hold on to the money, and not give the artist their fair share. That is what Stein does; he represents the artist in these cases.

These experts have helped me in thinking about my business plan. I will be distributing my videos to the home theater market. It is good to know that there are different distributors, and knowing which one I need to do business with. Copyright is something I will have to deal with all the time. Being a company I will have to have work for hire contracts if I want the copyrights to a product. I don’t see how the last podcast relates to my business plan, but it is just good general knowledge. Try to have your own thoughts, and not to freely except everything the media gives you. They only portray one side of the story.

For more information on these topics please see the following videos.

References

‪Entertainment Attorney Mark Litwak Gives Us A New Look Into Hollywood - Filmnut

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NryrU1uwqPI

‪A Seminar in Copyright Law with Entertainment Lawyer Greg Eveline

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei50ZKq0Y_k

‪Media Concentration in the Entertainment Industry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuVAGMr-ytw