Entertainment Business Finance

I am currently wrapping up my masters course in entertainment business finance. I believe it took me twice as long as anyone else to work through the course work because I had to read, and reread the material and research and re-research because I refuse to fail, even though I am very conscience I am not enjoying this. It has been an eye opening course and I have come away with two themes, which I was well aware of before. One; you are not required in this life to be good at everything. I am not good with money. I am an impulse spender. I don't really look toward the future when it comes to saving and investing because the future is not promised. “No day but today” right? I’m not completely irresponsible, don’t get me wrong, but I am committed to living to be happy, and not buying those awesome jeans would make me relatively unhappy. That being said, I don’t have to be good at understanding finance, investment, stocks, and such because luckily there are people out there who ARE good at this stuff. I will seek these people out and hire them so my company can be successful. Two; I will hire an accountant as our company grows. There are ridiculous amounts of reasons why hiring a CPA is a good idea; changing tax laws, finding ways to invest, income statements, annual reports. Basically it’s a great idea. Probably the best idea to grow the company. Just writing all of that out makes my palms sweat and my blood pressure rise. I do respect the need for this course though in the end, and totally enjoyed the case studies because they are actual representation of our industry; the industry my husband and I own our company in and live and breath daily. The case studies really helped me to see the need to create a financial plan for the future of our company. Now, while I don’t want to make this plan myself, I'd rather go to the dentist; I am glad that I will understand while I have the accountant work through it for us.

Social Media and Small Business

This week I was blessed to involve myself more in our business and dive into editing the website, and social media pages. I feel I am continuously learning about the nature of people, and the human condition. I amazes me when one pursues and pushes for success there are others out there pushing back. I'm not writing about mere competition, but sabotagers of anyone's success other than their own. I say this because the more public our crusades to better our businesses, and grow our small companies become, the more they are open to scrutiny and at times backlash. Facebook, and comparable sites put our business on public display. The social media sites make it easier to find out information on a business without ever stepping in the location, or speaking to a company representative. I know I am not alone in the fear of putting your hard work on display for the world to see in such volatile forum such as Facebook. We should be proud of our hard work as small business owners and what we are achieving, but at times this can be a scary space. I read an article addressing the same fear, "Is Social Media Bad for Business?", by Juliet Barbara; "Social media does have a powerful amplifying effect. But just like any technology, it can be used for good or evil. The key is building the right social strategy for your brand. It’s not a “one size fits all” marketing solution. It has to be adopted in strategic, tailored ways". In her article Barbara cites work from Sam Fiorella, a partner at the marketing firm, Sensei Marketing. Fiorella approaches business and social media marketing this way, “A successful business cannot lay in fear of risk but embrace the rewards it can achieve. Brand negativity by those few you speak about will occur even if your business never logs into a social network. In fact, there’s a greater risk since that negativity will be the only content feeding social proof around your brand. Social media does embolden haters but it also provides a new soapbox for great experiences. If anything, social media has increased the importance of building positive customer experiences online and off.” Fiorella does a good job in expressing what I try to convey about having our small businesses out there in social media cyber world. I think we should all proudly fly our independent flags high. We started our companies because of our confidence and hope in their success, not fear of the unknown, and certainly not in fear of the internet bully, so we should continue with the entrepreneurial spirit in the same way online.