Every business owner must have a strategy, in other words a proposed plan of action they hope and pray will get them from here to there. But what is “there”? And how are we supposed to come up with a plan if we aren’t even sure where “there” is?
Ultimately that is why business people develop business plans. Likewise, I have a business plan. Though far from a “Master Plan” – which I feel would be a self delusion – it does help me gauge whether or not I’m on target with my original purpose and function as a business.
Ariel Hyatt’s Music Success In Nine Weeks campaign inspired this post. There are six essential considerations that I use to analyze my business. These consideration should be applied to nearly every aspect of the overall plan.
They are:
- Creative – You businesses product or service
- Financial – Capital for expenditures
- Social – Staff, personnel and industry contacts
- Technical – Operational needs and equipment
- Informational – Legal, Business or Marketing knowledge
- Structural – You industry’s market place
A – ONE MONTH GOALS
- Creative: Need to organize and catalog current copyrights with audio and documentation.
- Financial: Submit three (3) of my best songs to five (5) contacts per week (4 x per month).
- Social: Build social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter) + 4 / week.
- Technical: Acquire Hosa or Mogami 8 channel snake TRS – XLR-M.
- Information: Legal, Strategic and Industry advice once a month.
- Structural: Sign-up for at least 3 general music tip-sheets and 3 specific to urban music.
B – SIX MONTH GOALS (Nov 2010 – Apr 2011)
- Creative: Two new songs written, recorded and ready for exploitation.
- Financial: Acquire min. $2500 from outstanding music production fees.
- Social: 200 x LinkedIn; 1200 x Facebook | Bandpage; 1000 x Twitter; 2500 x mailist.
- Technical: 2 x Odyssey equipment racks; BLA 33609 clone; Inductor EQ; iMac .
- Information: Legal for representation to Record Companies.
- Structural: Determine whether genre is viable or not.
C – TWELVE MONTH GOALS (NOV 2010 – NOV 2011)
- Creative: Three new songs written and recorded for the year. Submissions.
- Financial: Acquire payment from placement.
- Social: Purchase subscription for the Music Publishers Registry.
- Technical: N/A
- Information: Legal, Strategic and Industry advice once a month.
- Structural: Add another genre or sub-genre.
This is a method that I have picked up and modified. It was originally passed on to me by Eric Beall (@EricBeall). So if you find it useful be sure to thank him and leave something in the tip-jar (figuratively speaking of course), even if just a “like” on his Facebook page.
Photo courtesy of Andy Buscemi
Posted on November 7, 2010 by Hakim Callier
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