Fuzed Gospel

What is the next best thing, what will capture the hearts of the people? How will the entertainment industry evolve with the story’s it tells, whether through music, movies, television etc. We live in a day where just coming up with an idea, and leaving it without any backing or future story line is becoming boring.

I love when I can find a great movie, and find out there is a sequel or with todays trend, that there is a prequel, which completes many left behind holes. You see this with Star Wars and all its remakes, Planet of the Apes, and even The Underworld Trilogy which now has a 4th installment in the making.

I recently stumbled across an article by Media Missionary School that talks about a concept that is becoming the future trend of the Entertainment Industry. The article describes it as TransMedia Storytelling, where the viewers create their own ideas and encourage the writer to implement their thoughts.

TransMedia storytelling is about creating multiple platforms and formats. The goal is to use mass media to develop a media franchise. The goal is to create an open source where the fans actually take ownership and help create content. You become the artist, and you add content to the original story. Or you enhance the original story.

I think this is a great idea, because after an original concept is made and gets into the hearts of the people, they then become the ones that start off a new round of brainstorming. Giving the writers ideas that may have not come to mind during the original contents creation.

The article discusses movies, and television, but I see this as an aid to the Christian Entertainment scene also. If an artist writes a great song, and has listeners come up with what they envision when they hear the song that can aid in the direction of the video, and also give artists an idea of what to include on the next album.

A downfall in song writing is that sometimes the message is great, but the people can’t relate to it. This TransMedia idea can really break open writers block, and buzz for a following to stay loyal to their favorite artist.

The TransMedia article is a great read.

I’m about to come up with a Media Franchise,

~Morris

There are plenty of million dollar ideas out there, but when searching for ways of financing them and getting sound advice, those ideas slowly become discouraging. In this blog post, I have a glimpse of hope for people that are persistent about getting their million dollar idea off the ground. There are actually quite a few options available to finance start-ups, but beyond that mentorship is key. Two sites that I am going to share are the Association for Enterprise Opportunity and the Economic Development Association.

The Association for Enterprise

This organization is a one-stop shop resource for under-served entrepreneurs. They major on getting the right information to those striving to become successful and provide jobs to their local communities. They have a track record of over 2 million success stories of entrepreneurs supporting themselves, their families, and the communities they live in. I appreciate, amongst all the info on the Enterprise website, that there is a place where you can find statistics about enterprise opportunities within a particular state. Also there is a resource that also allows you to find an organization that can help support you and your business venture. One quote that I found to be very insightful on the site was that “if one in three microenterprises in the United States hired an additional employee, the US would be at full employment.”

The Economic Development Association

The purpose of this organization is to generate, sustain, and stimulate growth in distressed areas within the United States. These places include rural and urban areas In the U.S. that are low income, and high in unemployment. Similar to the previously mentioned organization, the EDA majors on empowering various communities to look from within and take on their problem and take action to move in a positive direction. That direction is in the area of creating jobs, and enterprises within their own community. If any one knows what’s best for a community are those that live within that environment. One new investment that has been funded in Florida is a $472,000 initiative in Jacksonville for Fresh Ministries to expand their Beaver Street Enterprise Center. Going along with the mission of EDA, this enterprise expansion will create technology jobs.

I really enjoy that these two organizations provide key support for those that have come to a stand still in their business endeavors or for those that are at a pivotal position to expand. Leading people in the right direction is help that is hard to come by these days. As an aspiring entrepreneur being successful and creating jobs are goals, but receiving mentorship from organizations like the EDA and Association for Enterprise are on the list as well.

A businessperson can never have too many resources in their corner. I look forward to learning more about the services these two sites have to offer, and am more excited to get closer to getting my business venture off the ground…

closer to becoming that million dollar idea,

~Morris

Resources:
EDA Website
Association for Enterprise Website

For this post, I will be delving into the area of writing a business plan. I am currently pursuing the task of starting up Fuzhen, inc, my company which majors on Christian Entertainment. Before getting into the details on what I came across, I will say that I believe having a business plan is a step in the right direction for aspiring entrepreneurs. Not just because the plan is a key component when pitching to investors, but more so an asset that will help get your thoughts down on paper.

Two experts that I found were Dr. Jay Ebben and Guy Kawasaki. The two have achieved much in their careers, and are currently still active in influencing people’s lives. Dr. Jay Ebben is a professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. Dr Ebben has his MBA and Ph.D in Entrepreneurship with specializations in Small Business/New Venture strategies.

Guy Kawasaki is a man from Honolulu, Hawaii with a MBA from UCLA. He used to hold the position of chief evangelist at Apple, and has written about 10 business savvy books.

The Experts Thoughts on Business Plan Writing:

Key Points from Dr. Ebben
1. Telling Your Story When Writing Your Business Plan
a. Develop Your Story
i. includes Narrative and Economic Pieces

b. One Big Mistake
i. People lack on the Economic Piece of the Story
c. Have a Closing to your business plan

Key Points from Guy
The Zen of Business Plans
a. Write for the right reasons
b. Make it a Solo Effort
c. Pitch, then plan
d. Put in the Right Stuff
e. Focus on the Executive Summary
f. Keep It Clean
g. Provide a one-page financial projection plus key metrics
h. Catalyze fantasy
i. Write deliberate, act emergent

After reading the points in depth mentioned by Guy and Dr. Ebben I find that passion or the narrative piece (as Dr. E describes) are important but they have to be paired with a strong economic piece or include thorough financial projections. If investors don’t see how money will be made, the idea may be a good one but not worth someone’s hard earned capital. The economic piece is key for investors but should be key to you as well. If your company is not showing projections on at least breaking even, why waste your time.

I am going to read more on the thoughts of Dr. Ebben and Guy, I want to be sure I get my business plan right.

Plan Writing (The RIGHT Way),

~Morris

I am highly interested in immersing myself in the Gospel Industry. I do not want to be considered the black guy who talks on black gospel, or the black attempting to cross over into the white contemporary Christian genre. I want to be the one who is a part of the team who fuzes the two together, seamlessly.

I find myself more and more being affiliated with endeavors that bridge the Gospel together on one platform. There’s has been a bridging in secular merging with Christianity, gospel genres, marketing on a local marketing scale attached to opportunities to belong to a national campaign. The core of my being is Music and the most recent bridge is finding ways of combining Social Media with the endeavors of independent artists, and underground venues.

I currently am brainstorming ways to build buzz of an artist that produces results in their record sales, buzz, and venue attendance etc. The brainstorming has turned into the beginning stages of a promising Viral Marketing Campaign.

“Before you can define viral marketing, the mortal must think about what they want to accomplish in their viral marketing campaign.”

Key to this campaign is to be interactive with your audience online through social media, and with sincere genuine content dispersed to that audience.

1. Potential Campaign Ideas

a. Suggesting the recording of a personal shout out to fans (:30 second – 1min duration)
- Saying Hello to Fans, informing them of upcoming events

b. Strategically release a interview of Artists thoughts behind their passion and reason of doing what they do everyday
1. This will be accomplished on Skype or some means of YouTube etc...
- this too will be no longer than 2-6 minutes

c. Then the next buzz will be to initiate an online social media competition.
- This will accomplish multiple things
1. Create buzz for new album
2. Will be an organized way of Locking in Pre-Orders
3. Provide incentives to fan to participate

I could delve deeper into what this campaign will offer, but a cook never gives over his trade secrets without a non-disclosure agreement. In closing, I foresee how just as I want to bridge the various platforms of telling the Gospel, I can also find creative ways to do that too through Marketing. In this case, I have found and learned of the means of using social media or virally supporting the endeavors of an independent artist. I am excited to see how this will flourish. Social media is like a virus that one may not want the cure for, but secretly seeks to see how far its epidemic spreads to all, while gaining buzz and the financial incentives it has to offer. This is the beginning of me being the steering arm of a potentially strong Viral Marketing Campaign. If this goes well, streams of gold are on the horizon.

Anticipating,

~Morris

I came across a new Gospel Artist who is using Twitter to aid in their PR. His name is Freddy Washington. He recently came out with a new single entitled Jesus. He promoted the single by hosting a competition that allowed people to win an iPad 2. The competition had three criterion:

1. Download new single
2. Follow Freddy on Twitter
3. Tweet and Facebook the Following Message:
a. Just bought “Jesus” on itunes by @FredWah and was entered to win a FREE iPad2! Click for Details: http://bit.ly/kwhUxB

b. You’ll be automatically entered into a drawing 2 win a FREE iPad2 from Freddy Washington in celebration of his new single “Jesus!” Tweet this message as many times as you like between NOW and May 31st.-The more times you tweet, the greater your chances to wiN!

This was a definitely a creative way to gain traffic, and offer an incentive in supporting his efforts. He also used people that are already well known in the Gospel Industry (ie Mary Mary) to get this out to their fans.

For more info on Freddy Bio:

A native of New Jersey, Freddy has had a heart for service from a young age. His parents, Bishop Freddy Washington, Sr. and Dr. Pamala Washington, lead the W.O.R.D.Church in Penns Grove, New Jersey where Freddy leads worship passionately. In fact, it was his father’s music ministry that inspired him to venture into the music realm himself. Although he's currently standing on his musical debut, he’s no stranger to the music industry. His musical blend is a beautiful reflection of his influences. Legendary musicians like Andrae Crouch, Phil Collins, Bruce Hornsby and Michael W. Smith all had a part in shaping Freddy at a young age. While traveling internationally as a sought out preacher and musical clinician, he achieved immense success as a writer and producer. He garnered Grammy, Stellar and Dove Award nominations for production with artist Da'Truth and Gospel newcomer Melinda Watts.

Freddy has a unique perspective on the role of worship in the lives of Christians and after years of being faithful to his parents ministry and while writing and producing for others, he knew it was time to create something only he could answer for. What he's created is The Jesus Record, a full-length double disc album that makes the most of what he's learned and turned it into something that he can not only answer for, but be proud of. It's received a ton of positive reviews and the buzz over it seems to be building, particularly after the debut single "Jesus" fell on the ears of label and national radio executives alike. When asked why he created The Jesus Record with such intentional focus, Freddy says reverently “It’s the perfect love, peace and hope that is the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s the greatest story of redemption and salvation that the world will ever know."

~Morris