EOC Week 10 - Final Exam Evaluation

This class has opened my eyes in a perspective that I have never seen the real world in the way this class presents itself. I would have never thought of myself being a businesswoman and that I would understand how to run and create a business. And after learning more and more about what it takes, especially in the creative side, it doesn’t have to be that hard to pull it off. It’s not going to happen overnight, but much planning and preparation needs to be done to make it happen. Knowing what kind of customers you need and how you are going to make these customers want your product (business) is key. Outside of the book and strategy, another thing I have learned from this class is determination and confidence that you can do it and WILL do it. “Action speaks more than words.” My idea for my business plan is a coffee shop with live music. I like mom and pop’s kind of businesses because they are real and they connect with costumers more than just thinking of making it big and receiving money. And after doing this assignment for this class, I have really considered doing and opening this kind of small business someday. It really is something I can see myself pulling it off. As far as keeping up with all the assignments, I kept with all my tweets and blog posts. For the actual business plan, I was hard for me to express in writing how I envisioned the plan in my head. I was missing a few things but I at least tried and had everything for my production binder. Later on I intend to fix my business plan.

EOC Week 9 - Tennis Clinic

As all of us deal with having work to pay the bills, Rob Johnson was bold enough to quit working for a newspaper to follow his dreams. Living in Orlando, FL he decided that he was going to teach tennis, his passion, at a couple resorts. The theory was simple in charging only $50 an hour and the hotel would get 10% of it. To start off, he invested $500 for custom "Coach Rob's EZ Tennis Academy" T-shirts. The good thing about Rob is that he was pursuing his passion as a Tennis player and he got to do that everyday. The bad thing about his plan is the lack-of plan that was involved. Already knowing that his placement of living was Orlando would've been the first red flag because the weather includes humidity, and lots of rain. Having these weather issues blocks off hours or days of income. Most of his clients were children that were forced to take lessons by their parents and in result, he had to babysit rather than teach. Along the way, he also realized that teaching was not for him because his passion way playing tennis. Learning about Rob in this article showed me the importance of doing research and building a business plan correctly before getting yourself into a situation that will ultimately backfire.

EOC Week 6 - How Do I See Myself Starting in the Industry?

As of right now, I have only half a year until my expected graduation date. What I need to between now and then is focus on my portfolio for graduation and put together my demo reel. In the meantime, I plan to expand outside of school and bring in outside work to my demo reel, which would set me aside from my fellow classmates. An advantage to that is networking and meeting new people to expand those connections needed in the industry. After graduation I see myself starting in the industry working on little projects and charging a small amount and build by reputation by word of mouth. Aside from doing projects on my own times, I am going to also seek and hope to be a part of a company which will advance my career forward. In order for me to find a job, I can apply like crazy to various jobs postings or I can successfully be connected into one through my networking and connections. I plan to mingle with those in my field and constantly meeting new people to get my foot in the door.

EOC Week 4 - Executive Summary

My business, Beat Café, LLC is not only a café for friendly, stimulating conversations, and a relaxed environment, but also a venue for fun and entertaining live music performers from different genres. There are only 3 other known café-venues in the city that have struggled to maintain a constant customer volume. My efforts to engage college students and young professionals are to build a sense of community and solidarity, and most importantly a fun space to mingle. I will strategize my marketing efforts to catch the attention of these customers by having a large presence in their college campuses, professional office districts, and frequented retail stores. I will differ from my competitors in that I have a very specific goal geared towards a very specific population, so my coffee and food products, as well as music performer would be geared towards them. I plan to take out a business loan for $10,000 dollars through a trusted bank and with my qualified business partner plan to oversee a budget and annual growth rates reach 15% in 5 years.

EOC Week 3 - Where are you now and where are you going?

Right now I have five classes left to graduate and I need to start thinking about what I'm going to do after graduation. Before attending this school I knew nothing about Audio Production. I was just a musician all my life. I’ve always been musically inclined and music is one of my passions. Attending this school has made me appreciate music much more to know the basic theory of audio in general and how it works. But since I’ve been enrolled, I have left behind being a musician and just been focused in school. As we’re required to crossover with the video world, I have come to love video and film as well. That’s a whole different beast, but I can see myself working with video. I’ve always loved movies so now I can crossover between both worlds. I’ve came in contact with an arranger/composer within the last month, and it has got me thinking in getting back into playing the piano and possibly being able to be an arranger/composer myself. I can see myself in many different situations, and I feel like I will want to do more than one thing because I tend to be well-rounded and that way I won’t be bored because there will be something new to be doing everyday, within the audio, video, and musical world.

EOC Week 2 - Get Some Copyright Law Under Your Belt

http://filmmakeriq.com/category/screenwriting/protecting-your-work/
While only a subcategory to this massive online filmmaking community, this webpage is loaded with great content. Often pooling top stories from around the internet it gives you some of the most entertaining and useful information that I have come across. For someone looking for specific examples of copyright in action this is a great page.


http://www.alllaw.com/topics/intellectual_property
Intellectual property is the area of law that deals with protecting the rights of those who create original works. It covers everything from original plays and novels to inventions and company identification marks. The purpose of intellectual property laws are to encourage new technologies, artistic expressions and inventions while promoting economic growth. When individuals know that their creative work will be protected and that they can benefit from their labor, they are more likely to continue to produce things that create jobs, develop new technology, make processes more efficient, and create beauty in the world around us.


http://fairuse.stanford.edu/
This website, which has been up and running since 1996, is filled with many different pages all with information pertaining to copyright laws and regulations. The webpage is updated pretty regularly with new stories and examples of practices. Actual attorneys and professors are used for insight giving a balanced view and opinion about certain topics.


http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html
This page is filled with a good amount of quick and dirty questions and myths that may have been lurking in your head about copyright. The explanations are very simple and they don't try to through the legal jargon book at you. For someone looking for a couple of quick tips and popular questions this is a good site.

http://www.technologies.msu.edu/inventors/intellectual-property
Intellectual property (IP) is any work or invention that is the result of creativity, such as a manuscript or design, and can be protected by statute or legislation, such as patent or copyright. It includes inventions, discoveries, know-how, show-how, processes, unique materials, copyrightable works, original data, and other creative or artistic works. IP also includes the physical embodiment of intellectual efforts (e.g., models, machines, devices, apparatus, instrumentation, circuits, computer programs and visualizations, biological materials, chemicals, other compositions of matter, plans, and records of research).

EOC Week 1 - What Sacrifices Are You Willing to Make for Your Career?

As much as no one can't have everything they want at all times, making career choices is something that life brings to you to experience. Starting with the fact that I’m currently attending college, unfortunately I am getting by with a “pay your bills” job. Most, if not, almost everyone usually goes this process and it is sometimes dreadful and painful when you are not in your line of work and your desired work, let alone, a part time because taking more than a full load at school is already enough to try and handle. But as time passes and you get closer to graduation, the thought of a “real” job is now to think about. Where do I go? What job should I take? (If different offers on the table) and what am I willing to sacrifice for the bigger picture in the end? Unless you know somebody from within the company, and even then it’s hard to make it work, you’re going to have to start at a low-paying, very bottom position in a company, and eventually work your way up. Let’s say this is for your line of work, but what if there’s a job position that pays very well, but is not in your line of work? Either route there is a sacrifice to make. For the time being, I think I am more willing to take the good pay, with benefits to save money first until I make the other sacrifice to take a pay cut, which I would have money stocked up from the previous job, to then work myself up in the chain in my desired line of work.