Predicting the Future

  If you could predict the future, in any area of your life, how many different scenarios could you come up with?  How about if you could foresee future benefits for your business before any other competitor could, giving you the upper hand on market infiltration?  Not possible?  I am here to tell you it is.  Many of the most successful entrepreneurs have been able to foresee a product or service needed for customers, before the customers even realized they did.  A great example would be Steve Jobs.   In his biography, Steve had this extreme passion for his work, that many viewed him as an extremist. Steve was able to understand a need for a phone that could have multiple interfaces allowing a customer to multitask by listening to music, browsing the web, among sharing/viewing pictures.  The innovations did not stop there.  He continue on his path despite the many challenges that were tossed his way.

My belief is that there are many useful resources readily available at our fingertips to better predict the future.  Many can find algorithms, and other tested findings by doctors which can be elaborated on and applied to our very own organizations.  Some of these are predictions in the financial world to help predict the quantifiable future of projects, are the opportunity cost, weighted average cost of capital, and  present value of annuity.  These three things worked together can give a investor a clear understanding that your organization knows what it is doing, with its resources.  In order to successful get an business off the ground it needs to have the necessary capital to produce its products or services.  To attain this capital, one may consider the owners investment, equity financing, and debt financing.  The owners investment is the opportunity cost of initial investment.  The debt financing is the borrowing of funds from a lender, at a certain rate of return.  Next, equity financing is an alternative choice.  This type of financing, has one pitching its product/services to investors and they determine whether to invest a certain amount of money for a specific term set forth by the contract.  In essence, if the company is successful in its projections, the investors, then own a certain % of the company, with returns of its investment.  These three things can be looked at in greater detail by watching interesting video's by Investopedia.

These three things need to be considered when trying to finance your company and help you predict your future earnings and how they will be used.  For more information on being able to better predict the future of your company, stay tuned on my blog.  Thank you.

To Sponsor....or Not to Sponsor....

If you had a million dollars right now and you had to give it away to one company or multiple companies, which ones would you choose and why?  Most would say, well I want to make sure my money was used well or for the goodness to others!  According to IEG, the leading organization is sponsorship, valuation, consulting, and measurement, Sponsorship is a multi-million dollar industry.  Many music artists, famous sports experts, and models, are paid by companies to wear and promote or use products thus increasing the marketing and awareness of its products.  An great example can be found here when a wine company sponsors a company called Constellation Inc.  

Many music artists and famous role models make money just by wearing the products that other organizations offer or even use the services other companies offer.  Reebok sponsors Alicia Keys in a recent advertising campaign for its company.  Alicia got her message out about her Girl on Fire Tour as well as her wearing Reebok shoes promotes the company.

Sponsorship provides many rewards for upcoming organizations, but how do you get the money or product from the companies wishing to endorse you?  IEG has a product that gives you full access to all the training tools necessary to learn about how to put your package together for thousands of different companies.  Below is a quick and simple step by step guide for the new beginner.

1.  Define your product/service
2.  Define your target market
3.  Set your objectives
4.  Develop a marketing strategy
5.  Now develop an ACTION plan
6.  Build your sponsor packet:  This is a description of who you are, what you do, who you are looking to target, your marketing strategies, and put it all into a package.

LASTLY,
  1.  Figure out what companies you want to endorse your company, music, or service
  2.  Find the right person to make the proposal to the company
  3.  Initiate contact with the company
  4.  Businesses budget for sponsorship once a year so being in contact with them every month can keep you informed.
  5.  Once a sponsor is secured, follow up with the sponsor to show how their sponsorship was used in marketing materials and so forth.

Sponsorship is not rocket science and there is a great deal of money to be made in this field.  As a student at Full Sail University, I would highly recommend this as a great starting point for new musicians, and companies.  Always ALWAYS remember that you are selling an experience.  Bring what your value is to the table and lay it out there for the sponsors to see.  Grab the attention, and intrigue the emotions of those you meet.  If you show your passionate about what you do and what your company represents, others will believe with you.

Do you have an IDEA?

  IDEA is a Health and Fitness Association that was developed in 1982 as a resource for fitness professionals.  It is a direct link for fitness professionals to be able to view unbiased research in the fitness field.  It is also a professional educational place for fitness enthusiasts to be able to connect to educational resources for ongoing training and technology in the field!  It provides industry leadership and helps link fitness clubs and small business owners in fitness together to gather the most up to date advice and expertise.  It allows access to professionals in this industry to be able to connect to over 6,000 articles and 6,300 fitness videos in their exercise library.

  IDEA provides those involved in the fitness educational field a way to stay connected with the most up to date information, regulations, and industry standards required by law.  It is a place where to be able to meet others with special expert advice to help guide others into understanding their clients more in depth.  IDEA helps fitness professionals gain their required continuing education requirements to stay up to date on their fitness certifications.  The 24 hr access access to over 500 educational fitness video's is informational and inspiring for others to grow and learn about their field.

  Lastly, IDEA is an association recognized by many of the top fitness leading companies such as ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) and ACE (American Council on Exercise).  Being able to understand and be on top of the newest available technologies in the fitness industry will be crucial to the success of my company.  My desire is to be a first mover in interactively engaging technology with fitness and dance professionals as well as theater.  This association will provide the right tools for me in getting the answers that I need if I am in question of how to incorporate fitness dance routines and theater into implementation.  I can gather different exercise ideas with a mix of well blended routines that will keep an party pumping at each one of my franchises.
 
  Some of the newest trends in the fitness field is in the at home fitness programs developed by many of the top leading professionals.  The insight taught in this association will provide me with the helpful tools to incorporate the fitness industry into my vision for live entertainment and get people pumped about going out of their box, and go home with a new outlook on life.  My dream of incorporating real life struggles and passions will help guide and inspire many to grow physically, and intellectually.  My next stop, is to gain useful information in the theater industry so that I may understand fully, how to creatively infuse the two.

What does FREEDOM mean to you?

   Adam Baker has a Ted talk discussing the importance of freedom.  What does freedom mean to you? This discussion talks about the vicious cycle of what Robert Kiyosaki states is the rat race of life.  Debt has completely consumed our nation.  Want proof?  Look at the current debt of the United States!

Many are so consumed with student loans, house loans, car loans, credit cards, and other forms of debt that all it would take is for one serious incident or emergency to throw off the balance, that would have them treading water and reaching for a life preserver.

Adam Baker gives us a different perspective on this so called freedom that we are given in our grand country of the US.  His example of his own family circumstances gives us a clear vision of what the truthful realities that many of us are facing today.  The wakeup call of 18 grand of debt came to full force the day that they took their baby girl home from the hospital.  It made them rethink their life strategies and where they wanted to go.

Freedom to them was to trade their "stuff" for experiences.  One may consider selling all that one owns to travel across the world crazy.  Although this might seem extreme to someone, one might want to consider what would truly make them happy for the rest of their lives and WHAT is holding them back from that happiness.  Debt seems to be the underlying factor for the answer to this.

Freedom is something our forefathers fought for years ago.  How are we using it?  Are we sitting around, going to work, to buy things, and going into debt, or are we living our life with freedom and zest, enjoying every minute of the day and every experience that we are apart of?

So what is the solution?  Ask yourself, if you could do absolutely anything in the world for the rest of your life what would it be?  Also ask yourself if you are living life that way to your fullest potential NOW?  If not, how can you change that?  Do you want to?  When one wants something so bad that they can taste it, thats half the battle.  The other half, is the action.  Doing something about it.

Do you dream of owning a successful business?  Dreams of traveling the world?  Dreams of making a true difference in this world?  Well let me tell you, its attainable.  It first starts with changing your thinking.  YOU MUST BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN.  Your drive to start will begin your journey, and then you surround yourself around the people that will inspire you, encourage you, and help you push yourself to that PLACE of what FREEDOM means to you.  When times get tough, distractions will kick in and other circumstances change that may bounce you off the path.  EVALUATE everything and ask yourself if it follows suite with those goals you so do desire.  If not, TAKE CHARGE of your actions and LOOK to where you are going.

Adam Baker sums this TedX video of challenging us to STOP living life by the SCRIPT.  Have a moment of clarity, step back and analyze your life for just a few brief moments.  Find what defines freedom for YOU because "That is an idea worth sharing".

I also want to take the time to encourage you.  If you are consumed with debt and don't see financial freedom to live the life that you want to live, there is HOPE.  Take a few moments to watch this short video clip of the company that I currently work for, Primerica, be inspired, and give me a call.  I am calling you to ACTION today, because action is the first step to gaining that FREEDOM you desire.

Amity

  Today I would like to discuss with you this brand new organization, hot off the block called Amity.  Many have never heard of this word, neither had I until I looked it up.  Wikipedia  defines "Amity" as friendship.  Other known definitions call upon it as harmony and peace among nations.  Perseverance Productions analyzes the many successful business leaders out in today's market.  If one wants to discover success, one may desire to analyze the other strategies that the most successful people have used to achieve their goals.

Success can be defined differently in many others lives.  Market research could easily show that if one were to produce a survey asking one simple question, "What is success?" there would be multiple answers.  Some clearly see that success is defined by the accumulation of financial wealth.  Others may define it as the vast amount of knowledge, used and applied.  My favorite inspirational speaker, Earl Nightingale  states that success is defined as "The progressive realization of a worth goal or ideal".

What Earl meant by this is that if someone had decided that they wanted to be janitor, and they set out on that track, and made steps in this direction, they are considered successful.  Anyone in this world progressing towards a goal, whatever that goal may be, is considered a success.  Failure is giving up.

Amity Inc. was founded by two young brilliant mothers who never gave up.  The challenges that they overcame and still do to this day, are a natural case of Nightingale's definition of success.  After much observation, I have come to conclude many thoughts as outlined below.

1.  They had passion. Not for the accumulation of wealth, but for the people.  For those hurting and in need.  Their vision provided no expected financial reward or return, but developed a bond of love that held the community together like glue.

2.  They had vision.  Doors open when one is willing to take leaps of faith.  Not all answers come when needed, but they always came when the time was right.

3.  They sought to understand that weakness in itself is a form of strength.  Admittance to their weak areas gave them power over competition because it was managed properly.

4.  They focused on their strengths and came to realize how light the burden is if there are many helping to carry the load.

These four small critical areas of this organization is what defines their core values and I expect great things to become of this now small entity.  Keep your eyes posted.  Below is a short video clip of one of the owners favorite leaders in the field.  They would listen to his words of wisdom before each day started while sipping over a cup of coffee.  This sort of inspiration could surely lead us all.

Entertainment Fitness Industry

  Today I would like to take on a new challenge.  This challenge resides in the entertainment fitness industry.  More and more each day, the fitness industry is clouded with multiple programs to help people loose the weight they so desire and to achieve personal fitness goals.  Some great examples of the the newest programs are with BeachBody and Zumba Fitness.  These programs are the newest and most innovative ways to stay in shape but while having fun.  What if there was an entertainment company that mixed theater with fitness?  What if everything that you learned in a fitness routine also sent a message to your viewers?

   The message could be anything from teaching values, to the struggles every day that teens have.  Other thoughts of theater would include utilizing props such as basketballs, jump ropes and chairs.  The music choice would have an impact on how viewers responded to the message and in turn, they could gather knowledge about a certain subject going on in the world we live in.  My challenge is this.  Gather a record of the best kept musical records of all time and make a statement.  Children from all over the world, woman, and men can come together and demonstrate what they want the world to see and know through dramatic theater and fitness production.  What's your message?

Successful Business Strategies

  As an entrepreneur myself, I realize the importance of an successful business strategy to infiltrate the market and surpass the competition by offering products and services where needs are not being filled. In this series of blogs, I will take you through many different entrepreneur's that held down their strategies, and rose to the top.  Not only will I focus on a series of large corporate being's but also the small little dainty ones that you may pass by along your path.

 I have a firm belief that everyone was placed in your life for a reason and there is much to be learned from just about anyone.  My own grandfather taught me things that I still consider and respect to this day.  The first person that I would like to talk about is Howard Schultz.  Who is Howard?  If you like coffee(like I tend to on a hot steamy day) you may pass by one of his coffee shops, also known as Starbucks.

I became interested in Howard Shultz and his company strategy back in 2004 when I attended as small community college a couple of years out of high school also known as Beal College.  I had a passion for understanding how organizations work, and his book called "Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company, one cup at a time" also co authored by Dori Jones Yang.

Howard discovered in travels throughout Europe and especially Italy, the vast amount of small Barista's  that offered sensational smelling coffee.  He admired the romance of the coffee shop atmosphere and how those things brought together the community in the country.  His thoughts were swarming of how to bring that atmosphere back to the United States by the masses without loosing quality.  He developed this centralized system of management that has allowed the company continuous growth for years.  At once point he had left the company, but shortly returned as CEO to bring it back to life.  The internal issues were resolved by closing doors to many shops and reorganizing the company.  This strategy worked and the stock prices soared once again!

Some of the things that I gathered from Shultz's book included:

1.  Have a vision and passion.  This vision must be the big picture of where you want your company to be long term(5-10 years), medium term(2 years), as well as short term (1 year).  This vision can be broken down into many smaller steps which will be the goals for the organization.  The goals need to be measurable.

2.  Treat your employees well.  Howard wanted to ensure every employee felt a part of the overall vision.  He understood the concept of caring for them and gave them all health benefits.  Some of the most critical advice one can give is to learn to ask for help when it is needed and understanding one can't do it all by themselves.  Attached at the end of this blog is a short interview with Howard Shultz which explains how he started the company and gave much of his glory to his employees.

3.  Understand Change.  Change is crucial to the success of any company and in the words of John C. Maxwell in the book Developing the Leader Within You "Change the leader, change the organization"!(pg. 49).  Everyday other companies strategies change, new emerging technology as well as governmental policies can interrupt the daily flow of activities.  A leader in any industry must initiate the change, foresee the future, and anticipate how it is going to affect the organization.

4.  Care for your community.  Howard not only provided a service, product, and atmosphere for the community but in efforts to give back Starbucks built water projects, immunized children, and built schools.  These selfless acts of social responsibility shows the true dedication of Starbucks.  You not only see the results of Howard's efforts but you can see and hear his sincerity in caring for those around him.

I hope that you enjoyed this tidbit of information on this company which I have been curious about for years.  His book is well worth the read, and we can learn much from his business strategies to implement within our own company.