You're Getting a Master's Degree in What?

Hi gang!

Chris French here from Modern Midwest Entertainment! What a difference a year makes, eh gang?! This week, I graduate from Full Sail University's Online course and I will earn a Master of Science in Entertainment Business! Amazing huh?! I thought so too! Now, in reference to the title of this post, that's the question my mom asked me recently when I told her I was about to finish up my Masters. You see, I already have a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, so that makes me a people person. But what exactly did getting this Masters entail? Well, I sat down with my mom and dad and explained it to them what my classes had been. . .now I'm going to explain it to you.

First off, we had the Full Sail Orientation. Of course, with any school, you've gotta get oriented into the procedures and policies of the school. You have to learn class schedules, or in this case, homework schedules; availability of your professors and so on. Well, in the orientation, we also learned to use the Full Sail Online (FSO) platform, because, without learning that, we wouldn't know the hows and whys of what we were doing.

While the Orientation was in full swing, we simultaneously started our first class, Media Literacy and Research Methodology. I'll be the first to admit, I'm not a researcher, BUT. . .THIS kind of research I could really get into, since it was going to be about entertainment. . .or so I thought. Actually, we had some pretty straight forward research assignments, as well as learning, or in my case, relearning, the APA Format of writing. It was actually rather interesting to me to relearn things I had forgotten and to see the changes in the APA style from the last time I was in college, 10 years previous, to now.

Next came Executive Leadership. Now I am lucky, in that I spent time in the US Navy, which gave me some leadership skills already, but I was amazed by what I was taught in the Executive Leadership class. I never realized, at the time, that a blog can be an effective leadership tool. I had never used a blog much before. I had read a few, but had never written my own. Learning that a blog can show leadership through industry knowledge was something that I had never imagined. The blog I created, which you happen to be reading right now, was rough at first, but, as I researched; and found good knowledge about the topics that were presented toward us over the next few months; I realized that I have a lot of good information on this blog that will show that I can be a leader in the entertainment industry.

Project and Team Management was not an easy class. The assignments in this class could not be completed without a team effort. The culmination of this class was a team project in which I was part of a team that put together a non-profit organization called Green, that was geared toward feeding and sheltering the poor and needy. We came up with the idea of a benefit concert. I used expertise I have in radio broadcasting to create the radio campaign for this particular project. Our 14 page project document turned out to be a huge undertaking, but one, in my opinion, that truly taught me what being part of a good team can do for a person.

For me, Business Storytelling and Brand Development was an awesome class, even though I had to take it twice (first time, I had too many things going on outside of school that kept me from concentrating on class). The text for this class, The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al and Laura Ries, covered so much about branding that I never even thought about. I know so much more now about how a business brands itself in order to achieve maximum effectiveness of the business and what businesses do to put the brand name in the consciousness of people. I am still using this book, along with all my books, to work on my businesses.

The next class I had was, to me, the scariest class I ever had. Entertainment Business Finance was scary to me because I am NOT a math brain. We had formula after formula of calculations to use for different aspects of business costs, analyses and all sort of figures. I was on the phone nearly daily with the course director, and thankfully, he was able to show me different ways to get to the same conclusions with my numbers. As I said, I'm not a math brain. . .but I survived this course!

Next came a course I had fun with, Negotiating and Deal Making. In my current professional life, I have to apply these skills to dealing with mentally ill people in crisis. In my new professional life, I will use these skills to help people I represent get the best deals possible while working for a mutually beneficial deal for both parties. I will admit, I had a lot of fun with a phone negotiation that I did with one of my classmates where I played a former "BIG STAR" and I got to negotiate the contract for a reality show. I was being a bit hard headed with this, but we managed to come to an agreement. It was awesome!

When I got to Product and Artist Management, I thought I knew what it takes to manage an artist, as I had tried a few months previous to this with a friend of mine who has been on the music scene for about 10 years (he has worked behind the scenes with the like of Brian Vander Ark of The Verve Pipe). I was less than successful at the time. During this course, I was able to find out what it actually takes to manage an artist, or bring a product to the masses. One assignment that stands out to me in particular is when we were asked to create a product pitch. I created a product pitch involving First Alert fire safety products and Comedian/Actor Denis Leary of the show Rescue Me. I really enjoyed doing that pitch and the research accompanying it.

Advanced Entertainment Law came next, and, even though my comments are brief on this, I will say this: This course is the one that convinced me to turn my attention to Entertainment Law for part of my future. I learned more of law in general in this course than I ever knew before this, even with my current profession in mental health.

Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution was an interesting course. The assignment that sticks out most for me was learning how to create a literary press kit, and how to find a publisher for my material. I never knew how many independent publishers there are out in the world today. I encourage anyone that has an idea for a book to run with that idea and learn what I have about creating a press kit and getting yourself published!

As I was getting near the end of my course, I had Digital Marketing after Media Publishing and Distribution. The concepts of Digital Marketing has always eluded me. I had tried time and time again to learn these concepts, but I had failed. Until I took this course, that is. The course director took the time to explain in simple terms the concepts of Digital Marketing and I honestly can say, I felt like a dunderhead when I learned it was a lot simpler than I thought.

Finally, we came to Business Plan Development and the Final project Business Plan. I felt a sense of pride as I went through the assignments of these two courses and completed them. I ended up with a fully functional business plan for an entertainment venue that I can shop to investors and most likely get some money to make that venue a reality!

And there you have it. On Friday of this week, I will have the degree.
It's been a long, fun ride. . .but I made it.

Talk to again soon, gang!

SEE YA!

Where Do We Go From Here?

Hi Gang,

Chris French here at Modern Midwest Entertainment! A question was posed to me recently and I've been giving a bit of thought to it. I was asked, "Where do you see the entertainment industry going?" That is an  interesting question and one that I'm going to answer, in my own opinion, right now.

As you all know, for the last seven or eight years, we've had an explosion of video sites and social media on the Internet. Traditional entertainment is still big business. Movies, live entertainment, music and the like are still popular sources of entertainment, but, for people who live in outlying areas, live entertainment isn't always a viable option. With the cost of gas, and the economy being what it is, people just can't afford to drive long distances to see good quality live entertainment more than maybe once or twice a year. Even music on the radio is getting harder and harder to come by, with the advent of the HD stations, and subscription satellite radio services. If you don't have the money to put these in your car, you don't have the selection of music that people who can afford it do.

I see the entertainment industry heading toward more people staying at home and paying for videos and music through the computer. It's already starting to happen. Sites like Hulu are charging people to watch the programming from TV that they could have seen for free even as recently as six months ago. Even now, as I have a satellite dish on my house, I have to pay for my local network affiliate channels. Yes, live entertainment can now be beamed out across the globe in an instant to people who can't afford to travel to be there, but at what cost. Entertainment is meant to bring people together. It is meant to be a shared experience with other people. I have a feeling that, as technology progresses and we seclude ourselves more and more, entertainment will eventually be encapsulated and the humanity of it will be squeezed out.

I hope that I am wrong. I hope that the entertainment industry will take the new technology and make itself bigger and better. I hope it will fling open the doors wide and the shared experience of entertainment will be something we can share with our children, and their children, not just something we reminisce about.

Have a great Memorial Day, gang. To all of the men and women who've ever served in uniform, I say THANK YOU!

SEE YA!

The Truth (About Financing) is Out There!

Hey gang,

Chris French here from Modern Midwest Entertainment. You know, I'll be honest, I don't have a lot of money. I don't have much in the way of rich relatives, either. In order for me to get a business off the ground, I'm going to need a few things. Number one, partners. Having people on board with me that are willing to share the burdens and the triumphs of owning a business is a great thing! Not only are they also invested with time, resources and such, but partners are also a good, creative resource to bounce ideas off of! A lot of good ideas get started not by one person, but a group of people! The second thing I'm going to need, and which is the focus of this blog, is MONEY!

A business just doesn't happen because of one's good looks. If it did, I'd have been in my own business 15 years ago. The main ingredient to get a start up from concept to concrete is cash! A person or a group can have the most fantastic idea ever thought of, but without the capital to back that idea, it'll just stay an idea. Very recently, a list of websites was given to me as a means to check out potential financing sources for my business. The website I'm going to talk to you about right now is called Opportunity Finance Network (OFN).

As I looked around this website, I became excited, because I could see the potential for me to get funding for my business right away. I went first to find out what kind of qualifications are needed to obtain financing. I looked at the qualifications:

Have a primary mission of community development and/or serving economically disadvantaged people and communities. For organizations that are part of a larger corporation, the parent corporation must also have a primary mission of community development.

Be a Member in good standing (i.e. current on dues, completed annual survey, etc.) of OFN, or commit to becoming a Member prior to closing the financial transaction;

Demonstrate that the use of capital is consistent with OFN’s mission;

Be a private, independent financial intermediary;

Use financing as a key component of their community development strategy;

Have a demonstrated track record of at least two years of community development financing;

Demonstrate the capacity to use capital productively; Demonstrate at least two years of operating surpluses in the last three years.  Source: Opportunity Finance Network Application for Funding http://www.opportunityfinance.net/uploadedfiles/financing/For_CDFIs/Application.for.Financing.pdf

I know, at the moment, that I don't meet the qualifications for this program, but, once I do, you better believe that I'm going to look into joining them and seeing about them helping to grow my business. I noticed an initiative that OFN and Starbucks have started called "Let's Create Jobs for USA". I personally like this, and I am going to donate to this. I want to help create jobs, that's one reason I'm starting a business. This is also another reason I want to try to get financing through OFN, due to their concerted effort to put people back to work.

The OFN website also offers a great deal of professional advice about starting businesses, along with sites about business policy, the OFN brand and what it can do for a business, and news about industry so businesses can keep up to date on what's happening in industries. OFN also offers knowledge sharing and strategic consulting to its members. I'll tell you, gang, if you have only one option to check into for financing and so much more, I would definitely recommend that you check out OFN. That's all for now gang, take care, and enjoy your weekend!

SEE YA!