As a business owner, I had the wrong concept of approach to
business. I started my business at the age of twenty five years old. The nature
of my business covers online marketing and management of artistes. But truly, I
started with experience; however the practical knowledge of owning a business
was absent. I say absent, because in some else’s business I know that I would
get pay at the end of the month. Now that I have my own business, I couldn't
polish off information for any manager or executive director, because I am the
head and I would be sinking my own business. I remember when my business plan
was analyzed by a business consultant from the Jamaica
Business Development Corporation. I am sharing this information with you,
because I don’t want young entrepreneurs to make the same mistake like me. She
wrote this report:
In general, most business plans follow a particular guide
and as such are there headings in a business plan which are expected to be in
it. It seems as if a more comprehensive template could have been used. I have
attached a simple business plan template which can be used as a guide.
General Findings:
Aesthetics
Content
1. Table of contents has no page numbers, and
some elements in the plan are not been shown in the tables, eg. SWOT analysis.
(I assume this is a simple mistake)
2. The first section of the business plan should
be the Executive Summary, this is a summary of the plan no more than about two
pages. Someone should be able to read this summary and know everything about
the business, its products, customers, owner, goal, financial projections, start up or existing business, and also what’s
the purpose of the plan, is it a guide for management or for seeking investment.
Etc.
3. Business Description.
Is this the business’ Background/ History?
Is it a start-up or existing business, what have you done so
far, why this business?
What business are you in? is it that you will manage the sales of music, or you will be managing an artistes presence online via. the
various social media platforms. How will it attend to all the needs of the
customers? Or is it artist management overall, including bookings, capacity
building and other forms of promotion?
Who is the Owner / General Manager? What are the skills,
experience of the manager?
How will you choose to register your business? i.e. sole
trader, partnership or Limited Liability
Company.
Vision statement
Your vision statement is not stating what you want to become,
what your future looks like. For example you want to be the leading online
marketing company when it comes to online management of musicians and writers.
Mission Statement
Your mission statement is a statement to your customers
stating why you are in business. For example Prime Managements aim is to
provide the best online marketing
management service to musicians and writers through our membership programme.
Both mission and vision statements were vague as it did not
speak to your service offerings nor your customers.
Goals &
Objectives
Most goals seem good, they are SMART with the exception of a few i.e. “secure
funding” how much, by when?
What do you mean to become a top seller? Be more specific,
also “to access both online and local”
You may also want to be a bit more realistic with the
numbers i.e. having 500 registered, market share and profit expectations?
3. Overview of
Entertainment Industry
This is the Industry Analysis.
In this section of the plan, you give a good account of the
industry in general, i.e. namely describing the current trends. However it is too
long and lacking in other aspects. You may want to do a PEST
analysis, (Political, Economical, Social and Technological Analysis) or Porters
five forces analysis
You have provided information re: the trends but no
information regarding the actual business that you want to get into which is
primarily the management / monitoring of sales of your members music and books.
Your business is artist management therefore the industry is the artist
management sector which I would consider a sub-sector to the overall entertainment
industry.
After identifying the industry, give an overview including brief
history, Factors affecting growth or decline, Government regulations affecting
industry i.e. copy rite law, JCAP etc. and Leading businesses in the industry
(locally) and their operating practices. You can also try to estimate the size
of the industry in dollar value, current trends in terms of management,
technology, marketing etc.
Also customer data, so what is the size of your target
market and their buying behavior. I assume your target market to be recording
artists, composers, and authors etc.
This section is too long with unnecessary information, just
give a brief description of your services in point form
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5. S.W.O.T. Analysis
STRENGTHS
|
WEAKNESSES
|
OPPORTUNITIES
|
THREATS
|
Have the
knowledge to use information technology properly and the Online Platform to
maximize profit.
|
Bad- and
low-quality production, poor marketing, low capital and mismanagement are
problem face.
|
To gain
access into the wider market place (World wide Web).
|
Piracy and
illegal download of music with unlimited circulation.
|
Have the
necessary skills to manage the business properly.
|
Lack of
owned funds.
|
Growth of
niche markets, new customer segments,
cultural movements and new technology
|
Fans who
strike out against organization fees, charges and policies.
|
BEEP will
provide support for the business.
|
Business
is new
|
Virus
attack on websites
|
|
System
failure with hard drive.
|
Loss of
music on the website by network failure.
|
||
Artists
are of the poorest class
|
Potential
to attract new and expose artist which would boast sales.
|
||
The
opportunity to grow and expand membership and revenue.
|
|||
Able to
build fans base online with song link being share with fans.
|
|||
Have the
opportunity get advertisement deal
|
|||
Able to
sell ringtones
|
STRENGTHS
What is BEEP?
What is your management history?
WEAKNESSES
Bad- and
low-quality production, poor marketing, low capital and mismanagement are
problems faced- if you are talking about your clients or potential clients,
this should be an opportunity for you
Artist being
of the poorer class is not your weakness
THREATS
Artist
managing their own accounts because of technology and ease
*The
Strength and Weakness are internal to the business and you may have control,
while opportunities and threats are external, for which you have no control.
6. Factors Critical
to Business Success / Keys to success
Business registration and raising of capital can be
considered goals
Your keys to success are the things you have to do in
business to ensure success, i.e. having the appropriate software or systems to
effectively manage/ monitor your artists eg. Relationship building, competent
staff or effective partnerships, etc.
7. Operations
This section seems fine.
8. Market analysis
Who is your target market? How much? Is it that you are skewing your target market
to Christians or performers of Christian music?
If so why? You are selling your services to the musicians and authors, this
is your primary target market as it is they whom you are providing this service
for. The purchasers of music are the end users or your indirect target market
unless you are in the business of selling digital music hence your main target
will be the end users i.e. the individuals who buy music online.
9. Marketing
Strategies
What about online marketing strategies
10. Pricing Strategy
·
Uploading fee: $ 1, 600.00 per song upload
·
Registration fee: $ 1, 000.00 per artist
Isn’t this your prices for your service? What was the
strategy behind it, is it based on competition is it the market price market?
11. Organization
Who is the manager(s) is it you? What makes you capable of
managing this business, do you have any management experience? (resume’)
Provide a list of key positions and responsibilities.
BEEP
JBDC
What kind of support will they give?
13. Financial
Analysis
There are no assumptions to the financials.
Also if you are seeking a loan you may need more than a one
year projection
And again you have to be realistic, especially in terms of
sales figures it is better to underestimate.
It seems more marketing oriented, you should also put goals
and other things to be achieved in the implementation plan…..
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