Business Consultant Archives | Page 4 of 4

Making a Living as a Musician: Do You Have the Right Frame of Mind to Break New Ground?

As an amateur musician CPA, I marvel at the musician who can not only make a decent living, but break new ground. Take Jazz for instance. I have learned a lot about jazz from my son, a UCI jazz piano freshman. He’s picked up that jazz attitude that jazz guys write and perform really technically advanced music, and should be placed on a level above R&B, and Blues. Now, before writing hate mail, remember, he is 19.

My response to him is that as an artist, you may be right from an technical point of view, but art needs to be appreciated by society in order to be woven into the culture. Otherwise, your “high-brow” music is just academic.

This is why I am blown away by those who broke new ground in their genres: The Beatles, Elvis, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, George Gershwin, and many more. Not all of them became rich, but they enriched our culture for generations to come.

But there is a money problem. How does a musician break new ground, and make it big? Bruce Houghton tried to quanitify this in his article A Musician’s Minimum Sustainable Scale. I commend him for trying to help the musician quantify “success,” but the article begs the biggest question: How does a musician make it big in this new industry.

If you are a reader, I will recommend two books. If you are not a reader, I will explain their main points, and maybe you’ll become a reader.

Good to Great by Jim Collins explains how a company can be the world’s greatest at if they develop three things: a) A passion, b) Something that can make money, c) Something that you can do which will make you the world’s best at it.
Blue Ocean Strategy by Kim and Mauborgne outlines the attributes you need to work in an industry where the competition becomes irrelevant. In a nutshell, focus on what your customer wants and is not getting, and eliminate what you are giving the customer that is not wanted.

What does this mean to a musician who wants to make a great living? Good question. I can’t tell you the answer because you’ll have to develop that. But I can point you in a good direction using the principles outline in the books:

Play your passion. If you are a jazz artist, don’t write hip hop because it is selling. If you are going to be the greatest in the world, it will have to be within your passion.
Listen to your audience within your passion. Dylan said that he was not leading the 60’s revolution, but just reflecting what was happening. Of course, this resonated with the 60’s youth, and fed more into his art to be the best.
In order to make a great living, you have to expand your passion’s reaches to a bigger audience. Let’s take Arnold Schoenberg and his 12-tone music system. Some say it was the most influential music of the 20th century, but if you play it for the masses, most will plug their ears.
Now, let’s compare that to Paul Desmond’s Take 5 with the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Now, here was a 5/4 time signature that was not common in pop music, but Desmond was able to take his passion, of which he was one of the best, and write it to where the album Time Out became the top jazz album and a top pop album. The Dave Brubeck Quartet, partially under the writing of Desmond, unknowingly fulfilled of the Good to Great and Blue Ocean Strategy theories of business. They hit all of the points mentioned above.

The question is, what is your artistic-business strategy? You can sit there and moan about piracy, bad record deals, and shallow listeners, or you can be the greatest at what your passion is and make a lot of money.

Web-centricity: An Opportunity for Business Technology Management

Have you ever built a toy race car? I remember the first little pocket wooden race car I built for my son’s Cub Scout race. I did it once when I was a Cub Scout, so we worked on it together. We made a reasonably good-looking car, and got it rolling nice and straight. I thought we did a pretty good job…

…until we arrived at the race. Some of the fathers were engineers and very versitile in wood carving and aerodynamics. Our car looked like a shoe box racing against formula one cars.

We were outgunned, and so will you if your small business doesn’t try to stay abreast of the new technology. The April 2011 McKinsey Quarterly article, How new Internet standards will finally deliver a mobile revolution by Bengi Korkmaz, Richard Lee, and Ickjin Park, tells of such a game-changer. A new word, web-centricity. The article tells of the next generation of HTML, called HTML5. The article claims, “The next generation of the Internet standard essentially will allow programs to run through a Web browser rather than a specific operating system. That means consumers will be able to access the same programs and cloud-based content from any device—personal computer, laptop, smartphone, or tablet—because the browser is the common platform.”

What this means is your phone becomes as powerful as your desktop because it will have the capability of running tasks, not as apps, but as cloud computing software stored on remote servers.

As an entertainment business manager, this has implications to my clients who are artists. Sometimes, the only thing limiting their creativity are the tools they have to work with. As a CPA business consultant, I struggle to teach my small-medium business clients to adjust their strategies in lieu of the horizon the lays ahead of them. You “skate to where the puck will be,” not to where your competition has already ventured.

So, what does this mean? Do you go out and buy every technological improvement that comes on the shelf? The obvious answer is no. To be more successful than your competition, is to develop a strategy that includes the tactics of keeping your ear to the ground. The web provides a plethora of information to those who take the time to access it.

As a business consultant CPA, I strive to alert my clients with anything that can benefit them. But opportunities are a kiss in the dark. You can easily miss one if your eyes are closed.

Community Business Strategy: Love Your Neighbor as Yourself, and Maybe Even Turn a Profit

“Art is what you can get away with.” Andy Warhol.

Almost three years ago, I co-founded a local art charity called Foundation of Local Arts. Our mission was (and is) to support and educate the South Bay about art. We produced local shows and gatherings raising money for the local school art programs that were being drastically cut. When we needed donations, press, or volunteers, we approach the local Manhattan Beach businesses.

An article by a Ms. Thursday Bram, Build Your Local Economy to Build Your Business reminded me of the value of business community involvement. The article set out a little strategy, but it really didn’t go far enough from a strategy point of view. For example, let’s say you want to support a local environmental charity. Let’s do a quick little analysis using the SWOT tool and look at a business charity community strategy:

Strengths: What does your business have to offer to the charity other than money. Money is good, but you, and your business, have certain strengths that can both benefit the charity, and showcase your business. Let’s say you are a restaurant. Perfect! Donate food, or at least provide it at cost. You will build up good will, help a needy cause, and demonstrate your restaurant’s skills.
Weaknesses: What aren’t you good at? Let’s say your restaurant doesn’t recycle, or operates wastefully with water. That is not a good thing if you are going to support an environmental charity. You may want to wait until you clean up your act before supporting this type of organization.
Opportunities:Once you get a reputation as a civic leader, opportunities run amok. Don’t over extend your business, or yourself. Set your tactics in light of your overall strategy.
Threats: If you choose to support PETA, you might alienate your business because of political ramifications. On the other hand, if you are in a community that strongly supports dogs, the choice may be beneficial. View you business involvement through both charitable and business eyes.

Many business owners work 80 hours a week and claim they have no time for community and charity. Creating a synergy between their business, their charitable passion, and their community may just bring back the balance (and for many the purpose) that they lack in life.

American Business Culture: Do You Have Italian “Horse Brains?”

My Italian grandfather was born in Calabria, Italy in 1899. He only had a 6th grade education, and struggled to support a family of 11, much of it during the Depression. However, when he died 1988, he and my grandmother owned a successful restaurant, and 7 homes in the Los Angeles area. Even though he was proud that I attended UCLA, he use to say, “You study books, but I am smart because I have ‘horse brains.'” Then he would snort like a horse.

By horse brains, he meant, “wisdom,” the knowledge of life. And, he probably got the Italian translation of “horse sense” slightly off, but I got the message.

Katie Morell’s article, 6 Ways to Create a Positive Corporate Culture reminded me of my grandfather’s advice. She lists six points that would help change a company’s corporate culture. The list is:

Define Your Legacy
Hire Smartly
Listen
Engage
Reward
Prepare to Change

Now, the article may seem like good advice, but I think the author can use a little horse brains. According to Jim Collins of the book Good to Great, Katie should have put item #2, first. Build your dependable, self-motivating team first, then decide where you want to go. Jim said be rigorous, not ruthless. He throws out some practical disciplines:

When in doubt don’t hire–keep looking
When you know you need to make a people change, act.
Put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems.

As you can see, using wisdom to choose your people first, before defining your legacy, or strategy eliminates a whole list of business social problems that surface down the line. You may say, “So, fire all the individuals that don’t work efficiently?” Not necessarily. Most people have a passion for something. Find that passion in an employee if you think they can perform as someone that can take ownership in their duties. However, some employees (or business partners) may not have the passion for your company. That is the time to part ways. Align your business with passionate individuals, and your employees will help you drive your business in a direction that can make the company great.

Venture Capital Risks: As a Business Owner, Don’t Give Them Your First Born

Everyone loves to hear of a business gamble that pans out big time. As a business manager for entertainers, I have worked for some big names. Over 25 years ago, I learned from my mentor that he started as a TV lawyer in the early 1950s. The field was wide open and attorneys not only tested the legal waters, but also their billing practices. My employer started with an unemployed writer who needed some contract negotiations. He didn’t know what to charge the writer, so at this early stage, he took 10% of the writer’s new production company. My mentor charged for his services soon after that, but in the 1980s he cashed in his 10% holding when the writer/producer “went public.” The unemployed writer had evolved into one of the biggest names in television.

The Don Charlton article, The Most Important Word When Raising Money for a Small Business, reminded me of that conversation. What is a start-up willing to bargain with an angel investor for cash or services? Mr. Charlton stated, “The best piece of advice I can provide is one that was given to me recently: change your mindset from ‘give up’ to ‘trade.'”

Now, this is good advice, but how does one wrap their arms around “trading?” I’d like to give his advice some teeth:

Always use a lawyer: This can be costly, so try to negotiate a ceiling to the legal fees.
Exit plan for your angel investor: Set a time limit with some required milestones that would “cash out” the angel investor. For example, if the company’s net worth reaches $10 million by five years, the investor will receive 30% of that amount or more if valued higher.
Create multiple classes of venture capital ownership: If you use an LLC, as oppose to an S-corporation, you can create different levels of ownership along with different rights. Make your class of ownership different than your angel investors with a bigger upside.

We are approached weekly for our expertise in business plans and strategic planning. We see so many new owners who are looking for angel investors. As a new business owner, lay out the possibilities like those I stated above. Your attorney can counsel you as to the application to your situation.

Business Proposals: If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Find a Cooler Kitchen

They sat perched on the kitchen stools like two vultures waiting for the next customer. The problem? The pickings were slim.

My stepfather and his friend, Dan, decided to open their own plumbing business, but they only had one client, a Beverly Hills house designer, who didn’t need them that day, or the next. So, they sat by the phone talking about the employer they just quit. Dan, a Texas plumber, who took one bath a week whether he needed it or not, puffed on his cheap cigar.

That was the last straw for my mother. Out they went. Their business model needed some work, but it wasn’t going to be done in her kitchen.

Mike Periu talks about flawed business plans in his article, 3 Signs That Your Business Model is Flawed. Here is what he has to say:

Accounts Receivables and Accounts Payables are ignored: Mike is correct, but not in every situation. I prepared two recent business plans and ignored the accrual basis because one was a market, and the other a movie studio. Both require payment for goods and services at the time of the sale, or at least every week. To create AR and AP just for the sake of creating it would not add to the business plan value. But with that said, if you are a manufacturer or service company that does not collect cash immediately, then you must stagger your income based on some reasonable collection scheme.
Your income taxes aren’t calculated correctly:This is elementary to most accountants. However, recent business plans we have prepared are for flow-through entities where taxes are paid at the shareholder level. It is very hard to project taxes for the shareholders since each of their tax situations will differ. However, in the case of deferred distributions, we did make an assumption to distribute tax monies for profits recognized.
Sales forecasts are calculated using the top-down approach: This is probably good advice, that we have practiced, but with a different perspective. We don’t look at market share, but compare similar companies in the business plan we created. Then for the first two years, we have discounted the revenue and built it up slowly until the company was earning what a similar company in size would.

Business plans, strategic planning, business models, business proposals, what every you call it, take an objective eye. It is nice to dream, but dreams don’t pay the rent. Usually, clients that come to us require 2-3 times the investment than they projected just to stay afloat before the business becomes sustainable.

Business proposals need a disinterested financial person that can give a candid assessments about your assumptions. Prepare for a worse case scenario is better for the solicitors, and the investors. If your investors object to this assessment, you are working in the wrong kitchen, and have to find another to cook up a business proposal.

Serving as a Volunteer? You Don’t Have To Wait for Heaven to Collect Your Reward

Every weekend, my wife and I drive to Malibu and saddle up our horses. If you are passing by, you may do a double-take. Looking closer, you would realize that we are dressed in park ranger uniforms equipped with a first aid kit, GPS, and police radio. Our mission: to patrol the National and State Parks assisting hikers, equestrians, and mountain bikers. In other words, we are the eyes and ears of the licensed rangers and are allowed to write off the costs of doing these patrols as an unreimbursed volunteer charitable deduction. Our tax proof is not only the receipts and expenditures, but a report by the National Park Service that logs every minute of our volunteering. So, if the federal government (IRS) wants to pester us about the deduction, they can argue with the federal government (NPS).

Are you volunteering for schools? Houses of worship? Boy Scouts? Your good deeds will not go unrewarded. Here are some tips:

You can deduct 14 cents a mile for the endless driving you do for an organization
Did you donate baked cookies? Save the receipt, you can deduct the cost of the cookies.
What about the washing of your scout uniform? Deduct it.
Manditory conventions for the organization (my grandfather went to them for the Masons).

To deduct any of these, you must have proof that you paid for them and a letter from the organization authenticating them as performed for the organization.

Charitable and governmental organizations are in a financial crunch, and need your services to help meet the needs of the public. In our case, the volunteers of the Santa Monica Mountains federal and state parks, saved the parks over $1.3 million in 2009. However, when serving the organization, don’t forget to claim your just reward by deducting it on your tax return.

Discuss you personal situation with a tax professional before making any decisions.

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Internet Ad Revenue Breaks Record. Are You a Spectator or a Player?

When I was 13 (1970), my stepfather took me and a friend to the Olympic Auditorium to see one of my favorite wrestling heroes, Rocky Johnson. I thought this guy was so cool, and I thoroughly enjoyed his coolness in wrestling. My stepfather on the other hand, laughed at me when I got upset because Rocky’s nemesis, Freddie Blassie, would bite him on the forehead when the ref turned his back. It pissed me off to see my hero lose the match through unfairness. So, my stepfather took me to the live match in downtown Los Angeles to show me that it was all fake.

He was right, but I was still entertained. Not by the wrestlers, but by the adult people in the audience. Even though they could see the fake punches and kicks, they were into it as if they were in the ring. What a hoot! But as history was being made in the ring, the audience did not (and probably could not) become a part of it.

Such is the case of the Internet which is changing the way we do business every day. In the AP article, US Internet Ad Revenue Hits Record in 2010 by Barbara Ortutay, the author reports another record set by those who advertise on the Internet. Now, remember, these are Internet companies who are paying hard dollars to get to you through your computer. It does not count those of us who do not advertise but, reach our target audience by serving them, and contributing to the dissemination of knowledge.

The question is, are you participating in Internet history, or are you watching it pass you by? Just think of how much you rely on Google and Opentable, not to mention apps like Yelp and Groupon. What are you doing in your business life to contribute to history? Just like when George C Scott said to the West Point graduates. “Thirty years from now, when you’re sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee and he asks you, ‘What did you do in the great World War II,’ you won’t have to say, ‘Well… I shoveled shit in Louisiana.'”

It doesn’t cost anything to start a blog. It doesn’t cost anything to feed the machine. I tell my clients (even those in the entertainment industry), today is the best time to promote yourself in the history of the United States. It takes three things:

Creativity
Persistence
Ignorance of the fear of failing

Check out some of our other articles that may help you. Life is too short to sit back when you can make a difference in your business and personal life, and the lives of others. Don’t be one of those who dwell on the days of shovelling shit, when you could be one who contributed to feeding the masses.

Small Business People Need is a Strategist, Not a Marketer and That Person is You.

About five years ago, a partner and I were interviewing a tech guy for a position in our business intelligence software firm. The prospect was pretty low key, and was not really very personable. At the fifteen minute point, he asked, “So, what role do you see me playing in the company?” I glanced to my partner, who allowed me to take the lead. Scooting up in my chair, I peered into his eyes. “Jim,” I said, “I think you would be a good fit dressed as a giant taco, twirling an arrow on Lincoln Blvd.”

Jim’s mouth dropped open as silence saturated the walls. Then, my partner couldn’t hold it back any longer and burst into laughter. The prospect had no sense of humor, we certainly couldn’t work together. We couldn’t afford a marketer, but we needed our employees to fill that gap with some positive communication skills.

Ivana Taylor touches on communication from a quantitative, as opposed to a qualitative point of view in 6 Reasons You Don’t Need a Full Time Marketing Person in AMEX’s Open Forum . She pushes the concept of hiring an outside marketing person, (obviously promoting her skill set).

However, resist chastising her for self-promotion, and try to pull some pearls of wisdom from the article.

You see, I agree with her, but only to a point. Frankly, there are so many resources on the web, that you can (as a small business owner on a budget) do your own marketing. You don’t need an inside or outside marketer, you just need to hire an outside consultant to teach you for a limited time.

This consultant should be well-versed in SEO and social networking. Once you understand these concepts, you should adjust your web page to leverage them. Such things as blog articles and news releases are just two of the tools that should mastered.

But every one is doing that, right? No. The field is wide open. Your marketing strategy should be to bring prospects to you. How are you doing that now? Word of mouth? Well, you better hope people are doing a lot of yacking.

This is not to say that you can carry it alone. There will be a day where you will grow so fast, and so big, that you may have to re-evaluate whether to bring in your outside web marketer back in. In fact, an annual meeting would be a nice “tune-up” once you bring your marketing plan.

In any event, as a small business owner, your strategy must always evolve with tactics that can be measured by some sort of metrics. Don’t throw money at your SEO/ SE education without determining what you want to accomplish. Then build the tactics to get there.

Whether an Artist, or a Business, You can Write Your Own Story

When I was 15, I wrote a song for my girlfriend. She said the music was alright, but the lyrics (the inspiring, personal lyrics that revealed my love for her) sucked. Well, never the one to go down in flames, I got back at her….I married her seven years later(serves her right, and she’s still stuck with me 32 years later).

I enjoyed reading Mark Winkler’s article, You can Write Better Lyrics published in the April 2011 online edition of Music Connection Magazine. He laid out a laundry list for song writers that I adapted for business and strategic plans.

Come up with a great title: Like in a song, you need something short and sweet that can interest people. Some think the Executive Summary of a business plan fits the mold, but there is more. You should be able to recite an “elevator speech” in less than thirty words that spells out the proposition.
Be Specific: Winkler advises that lyrics should be specific to tell a story in a song. The same goes for a business plan, however, a lot of the specifics can be relegated in the accompanying financial statements and notes. You don’t have to tell every detail in the body of the plan.
It’s the Music Stupid: Just like a great set of lyrics will not save a bad melody, a great business plan will not save a bad business idea. Research the masses to see if your business idea will be accepted.
Writing is re-writing: One thing our business plans have done every time, if forced our clients to re-write some of their assumptions. Like in a song, when the dog starts to howl, or your friends struggle not to laugh, its time to rewrite.
What you say counts: Winkler advises your words to be golden droplets in the minds of those who experience them.
Step away from your piano and guitar: Just as the tune can stand on its own, so the business plan must pass the smell test. All the fancy footwork will not sway a savvy investor. Oh sure, there are those who can stomach any heavy metal song with a lot of distortion and Marshall amps, but the songs that live in the hearts and minds of the hearer need more. In your business plan, make sure you transfer your passion to the investor.
A song is not a poem: A business plan is not an MBA thesis. You are trying to convince people to part with their money. Dazzle them with brilliance, but don’t baffle them with bullshit.
Your lyrics must sing: So should your business plan, and it must not be a requiem.
Need I repeat–repetition of words: What message are you trying to convey about your new business? Is it the same thing that others have done? Are you creating your own blue ocean where competition becomes irrelevant?
Know your genre: There are many diverse rules in business. Are you a manufacturer? An e-tailer? What about a record company? You must know what is NOT working in these industries. As I said in a previous article, you must know the industry, and more importantly, know the target market. What are they clamoring for that the industry is not providing? What expensive service or good, is the industry providing that the target audience does not need?

Business plans and song writing require a set of skills. Most times you only have one chance to sell what you are offering. Make it count.