Business Plan Resources and Getting Started with Your Business

There are several different ways to fund a business today.  Starting a business with a partner or a family member is a very popular alternative as to taking out a loan from a bank or other types of loan sources.  This is also a great way to avoid having to pay off high interest rates or other types of fees associated with having to borrow a large amount of money to fund your business. Sometimes being business partners with friends or family members can have a negative impact in the long run though.  If things turn sour or you have conflicting ideas or issues happen to arise, this could quickly put an end to a great business idea or a successful company.

 There are also several different types of alternative resources that could be used to help fund your business as well. Some of these alterative ways could be from things such as collecting funds from wealthy investors who have an interest in your company.  Having a foolproof business plan with the potential to grow and succeed is the best way to have possible way in order to get investors interested in financing your business plan.  An angel investor is someone who invests a large amount of money in your company and than they will also own a share of the company as well. 

One thing that you would definitely want to make sure you are doing correctly as well as educating yourself on would be the legal parts of this agreement.  This would prevent any possible issues that might occur down the road that would put a halt on your businesses productivity.  Also knowing the ins and outs of your businesses financial structure will also be something that you would want to know very clearly before starting and operating.  Knowing how to successfully run and operate a business as well as build your team is essential to have a successful business today. 

Reviewing Business Plans

The first expert that I chose was Carl J. Schramm.  Schramm was a professor at the University of Syracuse.  He was also the president of the Kauffman Foundation that become the world's premier organization dedicated to encouraging entrepreneurship and understanding the role of innovation and the new firm formation play in the economic growth.  His career started as a founder of the nation's first research center in health care costs at Johns Hopkins University. Schramm also co-founded several companies specializing in economic growth and development.  

             No matter how good a business plan is, it is still not enough by itself to attract investors.  The key components that investors are looking for in a plan would be factors such as the product you will be selling, the competitive advantage you have and what your market is.  These components are considered key because they are what makes your investment successful and without a competitive advantage it would unlikely for investors to be a part of your plan.  The suggestion that Schramm used that I will be considering for my plan would be creating a well founded outline that will highlight what makes my business stand out for my competition.     

           The other expert that I had choosen is a woman named Andrea Cockerton.  Cockerton is an independent pitch expert who advises entrepreneurs on pitching for certain funding or strategic partnerships that deal directly with the impact of a business.  Cockerton has also worked with corporates such as Microsoft and national law firms as well as spoken at networking events across the country on the art of pitching.  Cockerton co-founded a business based in Cambridge, UK called brickhandlebag.com. This company teaches life saving and self defense training classes for women. She is currently an M.D. mentor for fresh events.

            Some of the critical components that investors will be looking for would be the investors wanting to do a background check on yourself as well as your business team in order to make sure that they are fully qualified in that specific area. This is crucial if you want investors to spend money on your company. If you and your team do not have a great reputation than they are most likely not going to invest in your company.  The more confidence that your investor has in your team the more likely they will want to invest. You will also want to make sure that your product has a place in the market and that it has a great enough need so that consumers will want to purchase it.  The suggestion that will definitely help me would be making sure that my business team is fully qualified and has a great reputation.  A failing business that is associated with your name will only hurt your upcoming reputation so you will want to make sure that you will make only the best decisions that you and your team could possibly make.  

References

N.A. (N.A.).  Bio.  Carl J. Schramm.  Retrieved from http://carlschramm.com

N.A. (2012).  Andrea Cockerton.  The Business Hub.  Retrieved from http://www.thebusinesshub.info/guests/andrea-cockerton/

N.A. (2009).  Small Business. The New York Times.  Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/allbusiness/AB12322189_primary.html

Berry, Tim. (2015).  What Investors Look For in a Plan.  Entrepreneur.  Retrieved from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/79834

Digital Marketing Reflections

Throughout the month of Digital Marketing in the Entertainment Business program at Full Sail University I have learned a great deal about what it takes to market in the morning digital world today.  My original goal for this course was to learn about what it takes to market a business over the Internet and how I could use this to my advantage in the future.   Some of my other goals throughout Digital Marketing were to improve branding and make the best use of online sales by learning different marketing strategies and using demographics to my advantage. I also wanted to learn about how to use different social media websites in order to target a certain demographic of buyers for the products that I was to promote.

I had been taught in the first half of this class about how much of an impact digital marketing has throughout the world today, as well as how widely used it is.  Having to do research on projects, such as our Google analytics projects and our research blog, we analyzed different websites in order to find out how widely used digital marketing is throughout the world today.  We had also used these websites in order to find out who our target market was so that we could narrow down where and who to advertise our products.  These projects had also helped us to identify impacting trends within the entertainment marketplace throughout the world today.  

Throughout digital marketing we also posted our work on different websites such as www.Blogger.com and http://goo.gl/0651b in order to show off our work throughout the entertainment business program. We had to review our classmate’s work and comment on it as well as help to add or improve on their thoughts if anything was missing or should have been added.  One online reference known as sethgodin.typepad.com helped me learn how “technology gives you the chance to speak up, build a platform and show the way.”  Overall, Digital Marketing was a great class that I would recommend to anyone who is serious about marketing in the digital world today.  

Digital Marketing and Technology in the Future

Digital marketing today has never been so important and is now the main source of advertising throughout most of the world.  Digital marketing has become todays fastest growing way in order to communicate, interact, deliver and engage in any organizations branding, communications and products or services.  Online data is used in many circumstances in order to figure out what a businesses’ demographics are so that you can narrow down your marketing strategies and techniques in order to focus on the people who you are mostly likely to do business with. In 2008 only 10% of the world’s small businesses were using social media for marketing purposes and by 2013 this number had grown to 87%.  This number will only continue to increase over time and more and more businesses will continue to merge into the digital world even more. 

            Today most people in America rely mostly on technology to get whatever they are searching for, especially if it will save them a trip to a shopping store.  Why spend the gas money and extra time driving when you can save yourself all the hassle and get what you need with the touch of a button.  Having almost anything shipped to your front door seems to be the preferred choice of most people in today’s society.  The largest online electric commerce company called Amazon

now offers a new section of its website where consumers will be able to hire local service providers such as plumbers, singers, and even a goat grazing service to help clear unwanted vegetation.  Services like these will help attract more customers searching for goods or services that their competitors do not offer. 

            More online companies are expanding their horizons and digital marketing has become essential for the progress of most businesses today worldwide.  Here is a chart showing the percentages of all the digital advertising used in marketing around the world today.  Without digital marketing today it would be very difficult for businesses to get their products out to the public since most of the world relies on technology for the main source of their knowledge.  For businesses to be successful they must have a strong marketing plan. Advertisement by using digital marketing and technology will only increase their results and help them reach their goals, and objectives in the future.    

Digital Media

Following key trends in todays Entertainment industry is key to the success of their business.  Online technology is expanding rapidly and since the market of most Entertainment business expand to locations all over the world, it is crucial to be able to rely on your digital media as a form of advertisement.  According to Strategy & some of these key strategies in the Entertainment field would be having multiple revenue streams, scarce distribution outlets and a distinct exploration window.  In order for Entertainment businesses to stay up to date and succeed they need to drive both off of innovation as well as efficiency.   They must also be able to adapt to new strategies, capabilities and operating models in order to address several key imperatives. 

Over the years more and more types of advertising and consumer spending has gone digital.  The result of this would be media companies needing to reduce the cost of their content. These would include reducing the number of staff editors as well as content producers and instead managing networks of external contributors.  Digital media also has the ability to develop a greater scale and consistency in approaches in content production and technology.  This new development of digital media has also produced more opportunities for new businesses, custom media, and marketing services. 

            Consumers today are not as interested in reading newspapers or printed materials and are also looking for interactive types of advertisement.  Making things fun and interactive will only keep the reader more interested in what they are reading and will help keep their attention as well.   Some of these examples could be interactive digital media, videos and required registration forms.  Being able to control targeted site areas and find specifically what they are looking for saves them time and also keeps them interested.  From a marketing perspective this is a huge plus for your company.  Online technology is expanding rapidly and will only continue moving forward since digital media has become the main source of advertisement.