Since
I never had the aspirations to begin my own business, I could never understand
the importance of needing to take specific business plan classes, which is
exactly what I had to do in order to complete my Master’s degree for
Entertainment Business. It may sound logical that if one is getting a degree in
business that they further have plans to start their own business, however, as
someone who takes their job as an office manager and personal assistant quite
seriously, I simply wanted to have the greatest amount of knowledge in my
arsenal as possible to make me a valuable employee. I wasn’t sure how I was
going to use the business plan knowledge and spent my time attempting to come
up with a fictional company based off the final project I used to for film
degree, and a real life scenario from my previous job and the documentary that
we had been working on.
However,
the further I got along in the business plan I realized that it was very
similar to putting together project proposals, except instead of focusing on
one project for the company, you were focusing on the company as a whole. I had
put together several project proposals and several funding packets that had
many of the same aspects to them and I realized that was going to be how and
why this courses helped me so much in the long run.
Even
if I never do follow through and open a business, being able to logically put
together all of the information about a company, or singular project, is vital.
It shows potential investors that you have all your cards in order; that you
know exactly what you are doing, what you hope to do, how you will make money,
and what you will then do with your profit. They want to make sure they are
investing in someone who can help get them their money back and then some, there
will be no point in going to someone with a business plan if you cannot tell
them how much you will be spending, how much you project to earn, and how you
will be earning it. Despite that no company is ever a solid thing, and both the
location and economic climate of the area have influences, you need to put some
amount of planning into it.
It
wouldn’t be smart to open an ice cream shop in Alaska (though I’m sure there
are some) however; it would be smart to work with snow mobile repairs in the
same area. Knowing your target audience and what you want to do with your
business shows investors that you are ready and willing to make money. Your
business plan helps get you there.
All
of the knowledge that I accrued in the class will be vital, whether I reference
it for future funding packets or venture to use it while making my own business
plan but I think the most important things I learned were about finances, even
if I was a bit shaky on them. I’ve always had the ability to work within a
budget and handle money in that respect, but in order to project how much
something as vast a company would cost, and then make based off what I was
assuming was a fictional product, was quite difficult for me. Even if I didn’t
get the numbers quite right, it helped show me the type of planning that goes
into working with the finances of opening your own business and I know it will
be invaluable information for me in the future.
