Mastery Journal - Business Plan Development (Assigned School Work)

Graphic by Shibam Sarbswa

I began my education at Full Sail University in March of 2013 in the Entertainment Business Master's Degree program. I was told by a friend (who happened to graduate from the same program at the same school) prior to enrolling, that I would need to have a business in mind because the program was geared more towards preparing students to consider becoming entrepreneurs than it was preparing them to join the workforce at an existing company in the entertainment industry. This statement is merely an opinion of my friend's and should be treated as such. I feel that the program does a great job in preparing students to enter the entertainment field, regardless if the student is anticipating embarking on entrepreneurial endeavors or not. 

Having said that, my current course is named Business Plan Development and is the 11th class out of 12 across the Entertainment Business Master's Degree linear class spectrum. In other words, I'm graduating very soon and need to utilize what I've learned in order to apply it to my final assignment; my very own business plan.

I've wrestled with various entrepreneurial ideas along my way at Full Sail. Many of these business ideas filled roles in various markets but weren't trades that I could imagine investing everything into for the foreseeable future. Many more of these ideas were the opposite in that I could imagine investing everything into for the foreseeable future but couldn't fill roles in any markets that are accessible to me.

Graphic by Feisty Ash

I've developed something that I can invest with my spare time while working towards paying off my student loans. This development will help me transition my LLC into my full time investment while saying farewell to my lifetime of working for someone else.

While I'm not at liberty to currently disclose my venture, I will spend some time addressing how valuable my current course is to my future endeavors.

My original goals for this course were to obtain a better understanding of the pieces that makeup the Business Plan puzzle and to develop a better understanding of what it is that I want to create with my education; a future of entrepreneurship or continuing to work for someone else. I find this class extremely valuable as it's surpassed all expectations and is one of the (if not thee) most important courses in this degree. 

I've learned an exuberant amount of information and resources necessary for creating a complete and attractive business plan for the sake of securing potential investors. I've not only learned about business plans in this class, I've learned much more about business itself. I've completed over 50 college courses over the past 10 years, and this class is one of the most important to my future and professional career.