entertainment business management Archives | Page 2 of 11

Roots and Rooted Maps, the Kunta Kinte of Strategy

Remember in the TV series Roots when Omoro, Kunta’s father, held his infant son,Kunta Kinte, up to starry sky and said, “Behold the only thing greater than yourself!”

I felt the article, Remapping your strategic mind-set by Pankaj Ghemawat was screaming that to egocentric senior executives about mental maps, and the executives’ view of the world. Mr Ghamawat wants executives to focus on a “rooted map to leaders enhance their intuition about the opportunities and threats inherent in our semi-globalized world.” Rooted maps, unlike conventional maps “depict the world from a specific perspective with a specific purpose in mind…They do so by adjusting the sizes and proportions of countries in relation to a specific home country… ”

This type of concept could be used by small business. Now, the obvious application is for a small business to draw a map according to countries it exports to. In other words, if their target is countries where English is commonly spoken, then they would “blow up” the size of those countries on the map.

However, a small business that does not export can use the same type of map. For example, in Southern California a business may want to see which districts are Spanish speaking and “blow” those districts up on a map. You should also color the districts by size and have a quantitative legend to add another dimension.

Small businesses have a tremendous ability to act like the big boys. As a CPA firm, we see both worlds at times. Try a map like this and see if it shows you something greater than what you have known.

How does your sales strategy match the map? How does your allocation of resources match the map?

Strategic Planning for the Artist: A Los Angeles CPA Business Manager’s Attempt to Integrate Business Concepts

Tomorrow, as a Los Angeles CPA business manager, I will be merging two of my skills with a client. My entertainment business management skills, and my strategic planning skills. This client is a singer/songwriter who produced a music demo and video. My question to her was, “So what?” If you pursue the path of other musicians to acquire a contract, a 360 deal, you are no better than them, and may be just one of many homogeneous artists trying to make it.

This actually happened to my dad, Bobby Norris, in the 1950s. He signed with Capitol Records as a rockabilly artist, only to receive very little promotion for his records. It wasn’t until after he died, 2003, that he receives the recognition that he longed for as one of the original rockabilly personalities.

As a Los Angeles CPA business manager, I really don’t see artists driven in their profession from a real strategic planning position. I did stumble onto a book that seemed to address strategic issues. But I will have to buy the book to see if they do more than just scratch the surface.

So how would I, as a Los Angeles CPA business manager recommend how an artist should strategically work their career? Here is a short answer to a long question:

Identify an issue. What are you really trying to accomplish? It has to be more than “be a star.” You have to really focus on something and list your assumptions on why you are equipped or not equipped.
What is your vision? Quantify what you want. For example, to have 1 top ten single on the charts every year, or play to an average of 200,000 per event. See Jim Collin’s Good to Great and Build to Last for big, hairy audacious goals.
Why would the fans want you? You must focus on your fans. Many books like Blue Ocean Strategy help you think on a level of satisfying your fans and creating an uncontested marketplace. Don’t give the fan more of what they heard. Find out their needs and satisfy them.
SWOT analysis and quantifying: Now you can look at your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. You must also put some real numbers to your goals.
Lay out your strategy
Reduce the strategy to tactics

I’ve produced this approach, in part, from Johnson and Smith’s 60 Minute Strategic Plan.

In my opinion, as a Los Angeles CPA entertainment business manager, you must think strategically about your career and stop focusing on yourself. Focus on your fan base and serve them the art they deserve and are entitled to. As Los Angeles CPA business managers, we try to work with clients on the front end, not just record the results on the back end. That is where we strategically differ in our profession.

Does Your Company Culture Prevent You From Change?

In business, or in a non-profit, one thing that bugs me is when a group of individuals agree on a vision, but very few want to see it through to implimentation. Oh yes, there are excuses, but the result is still failure. The business culture destroys the vision.

Gardini, Guiliani, and Marricchi’s article, Finding the right place to start change discusses change in a business culture. They say, “Our recent experience at a European retail bank shows the benefits of starting to implement change by focusing on the employees who have the most influrence over the daily work that needs to change.” The article discussed how they bank struggled to get bank managers to change. So, what was the article take away? The authors suggested the a company take two concurrent steps to change the company structure:

Change the pivotal people first.
Build a comprehensive program.

This article didn’t really say much and at first glance it looks like it regeritaged Jim Collin’s book, Good to Great. In that book, Collins emphasizes to get the right people on the bus(the wrong people off the bus), and then figure out where to drive it. His theory differs from the article in that once you get the who you can decide the what. The reason is because a company therefore can then easily adapt to a changing world. Secondly, Collins argues that if you have the right people on the bus, the motivation problem goes away. Lastly, the wrong people on the bus will sabotage any advances you try to make.

So how do you know which people to have on your bus? That is really the tricky question. One way is to lead by example as a “Level 5” leader. Collins defines these leaders as those who are ambitous for the company, and not themselves. In other words, a humble, but ambitious leader.

So, the trick to changing any business, small and large, is to change yourself and the leaders around you. Once you do that, you can find those who emulate these qualities as the riders on your bus, and the most likely group to impliment your changes.

Jeff Bridges: Be an Actor or a Singer, His Skills Are Transferable. And In Business, So are Yours

Many articles surfaced earlier this year about Jeff Bridge’s crossing over to country music. Some were not flattering. For example, theweek.com quoted comments that branded Jeff as “country-lite,” and “a troubadour tourist.”

But the critics missed the biggest point about Jeff Bridges. Back in the late 1980s I work on the Bridges family(Lloyd, Jeff, and Beau) in a business management firm. I remember my boss commenting about Jeff being the consummate artist. He said Jeff knew what he loved to do (act) and did it intensely. He also mentioned that Jeff’s wife, Susan, took care of the typical things in life and family allowing him to pursue his career unheeded. It is no surprise that Susan was the first person Jeff acknowledged after receiving his Oscar.

But the critics missed the point. What Jeff demonstrated, was that he could transfer his artistic skills from one medium to another. The movie Crazy Heart was just his first vehicle, and it won’t be his last.

The same can be said for anyone today, whether an artist or small business person. This is echoed in 8 Tips: How to Make Your Company And Career More Dynamic by Shira Levine. In the article, Shira quotes James Marshall Reilly who says:

“We’re lucky, because these days, our skills are more transferable. ‘Advances in technology have facilitated easy access to self-education and idea exploration,’ he says. That makes it easier to take information we’ve previously learned and apply it to other ideas, concepts, industries and businesses. ‘These iterations allow the individual to grow intellectually rather than stagnate in one position,’ says Reilly. ‘They also allow for the influx of new ideas to established fields as people move around and infuse new lines of thinking into conventional and often rigid spaces.'”

The Reilly article equates our current society status to the Renaissance period, when there was an explosion of ideas in society leading to leaps in the area of art, science, literature, etc. If he is right, then everyone reading this article, no matter what you profession, has the opportunity to be a part of it.

For example, if you are a singer/songwriter, are you just trying to match the path of those before you, like acquire a recording contract? Or how about a small/medium sized business? Are you evaluating every new technology in light of how you can change your company?

Looking at our CPA practice, we have done just that. Many companies cannot afford comptrollers and an accounting staff due to the economy. What we have devised systems that provide accounting, tax, bookkeeping, and access to any of our financial affiliates. We have leveraged the current paperless and remote access technology, among other things, to provide this service.

The skill transfer also surfaces from our entertainment industry experience. As business managers, we sometimes deal with all financial aspect of entertainer’s lives. We have transferred that skill to our small business clients if needed.

You don’t have to be an actor to transfer skills. The pallet of gifts are there for you to use. You just have to grab the brush and execute a strategy.

What is the Difference Between a Business Plan and a Strategic Plan?

Business plans are very familiar to me. I receive calls from time to time to design one for individuals who have potential investors. In doing so, I try to incorporate some form of a strategic plan in the product because new entrepreneurs rarely think on that level.

Business plans and strategic plans are different though. Take Johnson and Smith’s book 60 Minute Strategic Plan for instance. They state that, “a business plan is [used] to evaluate teh viability of a business…Business plans keep the company on its rails as it relates to key tactical financial and operational ratios…In a word, a business plan explains the ‘what.’

Johnson and Smith contrast strategic plans as “requiring leadership and inventive thinking and assume higher risks, leading to higher rewards. The strategic plan is an internal leadership tool used to plan a course of action to address unanticipated problems or opportunities…” In other words, it explains the “why and how.”

Bill Birnbaum, author of Strategic Thinking distinguishes the two types as strategic thinking and tactical thinking. I would have to side with his distinction between a strategic plan and business plan. The strategic plan is used to help you decide what to do, and the business plan (or company budget forecast) is used to decide how to do it.

If you are a small business owner, or an entertainer, the concept is the same. Strategic thinking will make you focus on the needs of your customer, how your product benefits your customer, and the reason why a customer would want to buy your service. Or as Birnbaum states it, “In thinking strategically, you’ll be concerned with doing the right things, rather than doing things right.”

Let’s take an entertainer for instance. I am meeting next week with a recording artist who wants to stand out. What we will not look at in the recording industry is what is being done now. The reason why is that why duplicate things that are working in an industry that is moving a break-neck speed, or duplicate business models that are not working? No, instead, we will be exploring her talents not only in the recording industry, but other industies with the vision of producing a specific message about who she is.

The same goes for small business. If you want to be an industry leader, you must distinguish your strategic plan from your business plan. Using Jim Collin’s phrase, you will never achieve your “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” (BHAG) if you are 1) duplicating what others have done in your industry, or 2) just doing an annual budget. The annual budget is contained in the Annual Operating Plan (OAP) which must move an organization towards teh BHAG.

If you want to move your career and/or business beyond your competitors, you must start thinking strategically by implementing and executing a strategic plan. If you are one who only focuses on the future business plan or budget by looking in the past, you will be on operating on a financial treadmill. You may seem like you are moving forward, but all you will be doing is spinning your wheels.

Strategy: The Placement of Music in Film/TV(or the New is the Old)

Back in the day…music from TV crossed onto the charts. Remember Hawaii 5-0, Mannix, Peter Gunn, Mission Impossible, and Magnum PI? I don’t know if there was a strategy to cross over, but you don’t see this type of proliferation of TV music today. Instead, some of the highest rated programs are using music from the 1960s and 1970s. For example, The Who’s music on CSI: Miami.

So what kind of strategy is a musician suppose to undertake?

Cliff Goldmacher’s article, Four Things You Can Do To Improve Your Odds in Film/TV Song Placements seemed to advocate a person to be more of a business person, than musician. Cliff offers the following suggestions:

1. Make sure your song is professionally recorded and performed–Well this is hardly advice. Anytime you set out to launch a strategy, you always do your best. It may be the last chance you get. Don’t be afraid to hire outside people and take your time. To rush the implementation could blow your only chance.

2. Do your homework–This reminds me of the businesses who still send out mass mailings. Focus your strategy using all available information about the industry you are approaching. You may be able to find a new tactic on pitching someone. My favorite was when Kris Kristofferson landed a chopper on Johnny Cash’s property in order to give him tapes of his music. (Kristofferson previously flew a chopper in the army.)

4. Get Known for a Style–Now this is where the 60’s differ from today. The styles born out of the counter-culture varied from folk, to British, to rock, not to mention the jazz horizons that were crossed. If you have a unique style, use it. If not, at least be known for a certain style, so that music supervisors will know who to call for it.

In any event, strategizing a music career to TV or film is like any other business strategy. It all comes down to what makes your product different, and how does it meet the needs of the end user. This theme is repeatedly discussed in such strategy books as The Blue Ocean Strategy and Good to Great.

Even Entertainment CPAs in Los Angeles Make Odd Business Decisions

In the last few weeks I have received not one, not two, but three phone calls from actors who are looking for a Los Angeles Entertainment CPA. Two of the calls actually were the parents of child actors. The services they requested varied a little, but the one thing that they did not like was the fact that they could not find a Los Angeles Entertainment CPA who prepared tax returns. What they usually found were Entertainment Business Managers who wanted to charge 5% of their income to handle their financial affairs(including tax returns). As one mother told the business manager, “What could you possibly do to justify taking 5% of my daughter’s income? She doesn’t own a house, or require any more than a few bills to be paid a month.”

I told each of the prospects, as entertainment CPA business managers, that we have never gauged services by billing a percentage of a client’s income. Over twenty years ago, I had worked for firms that billed that way. But, I believed it to be an inaccurate way of gauging a business manager’s value of service. Sure agents, personal managers, and some attorneys who help “create” the wealth. They have a legitimate reason to charge in such a way, but not entertainment CPA business managers and accountants. It’s true at times, that I am involved with contract negotiations, but my function is not to promote the client and create the opportunities.

A year ago I heard that entertainment CPA business managers and accountants are shying away from this practice, possibly because of the economy. But these last phone calls seemed to say otherwise.

So, what’s the point? If you are reading this, you are probably not an entertainment CPA business management firm like us. The point is whatever business you are in, you must always, always , always focus on the value you are providing the client and customer. Just because you think you are worth your fees or price doesn’t mean you have convinced the client that you are.

Whenever you are fortunate to get a phone call from a prospect who tells you that your billing structure is obsolete, you should re-evaluate your business strategy and billing practices.

Now some entertainment CPA business managers and accountants may say, ” Fine, you take the little guys and we’ll concentrate on the A+ level actors and musicians.” This attitude is what drove US Steel and Bethlehem Steel out of business. Micro mills slowly chipped away from the bottom up with a better strategy starting with the lowest grade of steel. Eventually, the smaller mills moved up to take the high grade steel, too, driving the big companies out of business.

As entertainment CPA business managers, our company promotes good business strategies, not just for our CPA firm, but for our clients. The small flame client you have today could be the big shining star tomorrow. And the shining star of today may be just a little brighter than what you think.

Business Opportunities: Gas Stations Making Their Own Music

Back in the 1960s, it wasn’t unusual to find four gas stations at an intersection in Los Angeles. These were full service stations who would fill your tank, wash your windshield, and check your oil. You would also just hand them your money (not credit card) from your open window to pay. These stations would try so many ways to attract customers and build a niche market in their neighborhoods.

Union 76 (currently Unocal) distinguished itself by creating a relationship with the former Brooklyn Dodgers. Union 76 would give away many different types of Los Angeles Dodger’s baseball memorabilia when you purchased a certain amount of gas. One such item was a flexible 45 rpm record of a Dodger player interview. Vin Skully would interview a Dodger player like Sandy Kofax. Union 76 had found a niche market with Dodger fans–forget about the gasoline.

Jon Ostrow’s article, How To Conquer Your Musical Niche reminded me of Union 76’s niche serving with automobile/Dodger fans. He laid out a number of items that a band should consider:

Demographic (age, gender location)
Similar / influential artists (remember to start locally, then branch out to the regional, national and global scale)
What are the influential promotional outlets?
Where do the fans exist online?
What blogs do they read?
How do they find out about new music?
Are they into fashion? If so, what brands?
What are their favorite hobbies?

At first glance, you may think this pertains to only musicians. But, look again. Here is the list converted to a 1965 Union 76 strategy:

Demographic (age, gender location)–Are they near a freeway that can lead to Dodger Stadium? Are they male?

Similar / influential artists (remember to start locally, then branch out to the regional, national and global scale)–Unocal may have start in certain neighborhoods and branch out.
What are the influential promotional outlets? Use Dodger radio to advertise Union 76 items.
Where do the fans exist online? What radio stations do Dodger fans listen to?
What blogs do they read? Advertise in the Sports Page of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner.
How do they find out about new music? Who do auto owners learn to about gas? Mechanics? Make sure each station has one.
Are they into fashion? If so, what brands? Sell Dodger hats at the stations.
What are their favorite hobbies? Unocal hit the head of the nail with Dodger fans.

Each business or band can use similar questions in nailing their niche market. The Blue Ocean Strategy is a strategy concept that can help you in searching for it.

Where Do We Go From Here? Strategic Planning In the Fog

The yellow bus lights glowed in the dark as my only beacon. I couldn’t see 20 feet in front of me on Highway 99 in the central California valley, but we had to get to Lake Huntington. The four cars packed with my companions followed my lead. At last, I saw the exit. Moving off the highway onto a dark farm road, my concern peaked. Where were the street signs behind the foggy shrouds? At last I stopped at an intersection and was able to see a sign, but only after I stood in the middle of a dark intersection looking almost straight up.

If you have been planning for the last three years, this story should sound like your attempt to plan strategically. Hugh Courtney’s Strategy under uncertainty lends us a flare in such dismal times. He offers a four-level framework for determining the level of uncertainty surrounding strategic decisions and for tailoring strategy to the uncertainty:

Level one: A clear enough future: Courtney states that managers can use the usual strategy tools in a clearer future as this. However, I see that medium and small businesses do not know what those tools are. The biggest private producers of jobs in this country, small business, usually work in a strategy void. Thus their decisions and plans are usually uninformed and a product of crises management even in the best of times.

Level two: Alternative futures: Outcomes are clear by hard to predict. Take the Ford Edsel, for example. The car seemed like a good strategy with a ready market, but it went the way of the do-do bird. This is where probability analysis can come in according to Courtney. For small businesses, look at the downside to each alternative. Is one downside greater? You may want to go the other way.

Level three: A range of futures:Taking Courtney’s cue, small businesses must limit their strategic options. Don’t take the shotgun approach and consider ten different strategies, for example, because you can. Your brain will explode, not a pretty site. Again, focus on the downside of your options.

Level four: True ambiguity: This option happens in an economic free-fall, or at least a controlled fall. More than ever, I recommend small business to take a Blue Ocean Strategy viewpoint and focus on the needs of your clients. Eliminate those attributes that your industry is providing clients that they can live with, e.g., meals on a commuter flight. You can take this approach for any other above levels, but at this level, it is usually a matter of survival. The wrong decision could land you in bankruptcy very quickly.

If You Are Reading This, You’ve Proved My Point

Last January, I again participated on the planning committee for the 2011 Entertainment Industry Conference for CPAs and attorneys. We agreed on most of the usual topics to be presented at the conference. Then, I suggested social networking. The idea was written on the board.

Fifteen minutes later, a respectible CPA turned to me and said, “Rick, I know social networking is a sexy topic, but I doubt it is what our attendees are looking for. They won’t come away with anything.” I nodded my head and thought to myself: Thank you. You just gave me an extra 12 months to blow my competition out of the water using social networking and SEO.

Skeptical? 5 Key Social Media Findings That Affect Your Business by Glen Stansberry lists some new findings:

1. Americans spend most of their time online on social network and blogs–If you are reading this blog, you have contributed to the 23% statistic that more time is used reading blogs and social networks than checking emails. You may have also found me because of what I have been doing for over a year. Writing

2. Seventy percent of active online adult social networkers shop online–Sell where your buyers live, online. We are all going there. Have a bigger presence than your competition.

3. Fifty-three percent of active adult social networkers follow a brand(only 32 percent follow a celebrity)–Adults follow brands across social networks.

4. Sixty percent of social media users create reviews of products or services–When was the last time you reviewed a book on Amazon, or rated a restaurant on Opentable? You are contributing the movement. If your business is not on there, then you are behind the curve.

5. The number of mobile Internet users is up 47 percent from last year–I have actually trashed a rude restaurant that made us wait an hour beyond their seating estimate. We were outside with our 85 year old father-in-law on Father’s Day in the dark. My bad review went into Yelp before I reached my car in the parking lot.

If you are resisting the social network, SEO revolution, you are risking the well-being of your business. But, before you jump in, do some research and learn. There are consultants that can help you. Then, create a strategy and stick to its implimentation. Your online presence will not increase overnight, but the constant creation of content will get you noticed.