Building your business.

1. Building your business
2. Getting business
3. Protecting yourself-cost plus... Stick to your guns, don't work for free. 

• Diversify- get yourself a account and lawyer.

KCVLAA.org- will volunteer there time for free to help you out. 

Be prepared. They provide a lot of help. 

• Build a good relationship with your boss. They might let you take time off work to do individual projects.
• Back up your projects. 
• Losing your files could lose your business. 
• WGA- Writers Guild of America- this will register your work. Make it easier to argue in court in case someone else comes up with same idea.
• West office- works with scrips
• East office- manuscripts, plays
• Copyrights- 35$ is the government way of saying its your idea legally. 
• Trust your vendors- build a good relationship with your vendors and they will keep coming back to you. 
• Enjoy yourself
• Give to others- 

How much does it cost you to wake up?

How much money does it cost you to wake up in the morning?

• If you make 50,000 and want to work 1000 hours a year.. your time is worth $78

1. Plan
2. LLC
3. Website
4. How much it cost you to wake up. 
5. Marketing 
6. Do the work

• Marketing yourself- 
• Believe in you. 
• Networking- use your friends. 
• Much stronger than networking groups. 
• Friends you can trust.
• Friends can also become vendors. 
• Make sure they are dependable. 
• Micro Manage is bad.
• This frustrates the worker and when your frustrated your work suffers. 
• Contracts-
• When dealing with friends a hand shake is okay.
• When dealing with new companies use contracts.
• This shows that you have made a commitment. 
• First payment should be 33% of total cost.
• This shows that they are committed as well and this allows you to have cash on hand.
• Once you present them with a working model/draft you charge another 33%.
• This allows you to pay your vendors. Even if the project is scraped you can still pay the vendors who will want to work with you again next time. 
• Final 33% is to pay you. This is collected when the project is completed. 

Building your own business.

Starting your own business. 

• Have a plan. 
• Should be reviewed every year. 
• What your going to do. 
• How 
• $$$

But thing to do is have a primary job and a secondary. 

• Create space @ amazon.com
• Published on demand.
• Make sure your saving 

• For your own business you need to get LLC
• $225
• For 7$ more you can do business as different names. 
• Make sure you file article of incorporation. 
• LLC- Limited Liability Corporation. 
• Which means that if you get sued they cant take your personal money. They can only go after business related. 
• Make sure you put magazines in your companies name. 
• Taxes- as a business you are responsible for all 18%
• Good news is you can deduct almost everything as long as it is related to your business. 
• Unlimited tax deductions up to $150,000
• Get a business card- use vista print for free cards. 
• Make sure you have:
• Email
• Website
• Full name. 
• Phone number. 
• Website-
• Make sure your name is in the website. 
• You can rent a server 
• Then your email becomes part of your business. I.e., paul@paulco.com
• If you have a project and want it all to go to one email then send it to a named email i.e., charlie@paulco.com it is more personal then info@paulco.com
• E commerce- SSL can hide your personal info from random crazies. 
• Make sure your website is updated and current. 
• Content for website.
• A biz- meaning that you need to keep the info only about that business. 

cover letter

Resume

• Cover letter
• Sales-

Dont do this:

Dear sir or madam, 

My name is (your name) I would like a job with your company. I don't know much about the job. Also, I don't have any experience. However, I am eager to learn and know that I would spend all my time working for you. 

Again, id really like to work for you. Can we meet to talk about what I might be able to do for your company? Anytime, any where would be great.

Thanks, 

(your name)

• Now big corporations take your cover letter and send it into a machine that looks for key words
• Its key word recognition. 

Example of cover letters:

• Don’t put willing to relocate at the top of cover page. 
• This is a sales letter. 

• At the top left write the hiring manager.
• This takes some research. 
• Its Mr. Or Ms. If we haven't met yet. Don't use Dear, 
• Should have 3-4 paragraphs 
• Each paragraph should be 2-3 sentences. 
• Needs to open with a hook. 
• Use.. Hey, you! You want! You get! Buy now!
• (hey you) Start with a story that will grab the readers attention. Use vivid word stories. 
• Found out that communicating well in school has improved my overall GPA. 
• (you want) paragraph 2: talking about job that needs to be done. Tate your benefits.
• (I got) tell them how you have fixed a problem before.
• If you don't have any experience in the job your applying for say how something like: I was the night manager at burger king and was responsible for the night cash count down. I can get your job done efficiently as well. 
• (but it now) don't leave it open ended. Say that you will contact them if they don't contact you.  
• Closing: make sure you put thank you, at the end. 
• Put your full name.
• Put your full address.
• Email
• Website.  

FEAR as a way to SELL

1. Story
2. Language
3. Sell

• Selling the benefit of the change.

F-EAR

• Fear is a good device for change. I.e., insurance, soap, Presidents...
• 4 part fear appeal 
• Emphasize the negative. 
• Strengthen the fear of appeal.
• Personalize the message. 

1. Introduce the threat- stronger the threat or “hey, you!” the more you get their attention. 
2. Demonstrate that the audience is at risk- decision is made by reader (does this apply to me)
3. Introduce the solution- has to be workable... How it will work?, how it will work?, when will it work?
4. Show the audience that they can preform the solution. 

How to strengthen the appeal

1. Convince them that it is serious- because its likely to happen. 
2. Make many references
3. Vivid word pictures- describe what it will do to you- use concrete word pictures. 
4. Personalize the message-
1. Reference often to your audience chances... Give them numbers. Odd numbers. 
2. Personalize- say “you” stand a greater chance...
3. Emphasize the commonality 
4. Negative statements- 

McDonalds taking over the world

McDonalds: 

1980:  back to selling to kids

• Kids are treated like adults
• Invented new meal. After school meal. 

1981: selling to late night crew. 

• Invented 24hour concept.

1982: selling to grandparents. 

• Old people want to feel involved.
• Part time employment is invented. 

2000: back to selling to dad.

• Dad is a business professional and wants his kids to love him. 
• He can buy love at a dollar a piece. 
• Could be divorced. 
• No mom

Other countries McDonalds Ads.

• Ads are more direct.
• Where is McDonalds going next?

McDonalds selling McDonalds

McDonalds: own real-estate

• Hamburgers got its start in the 1920’s 
• People used to go home for lunch: thats where the 1 hr lunch break got its start. 
• White Castle was born: white because white reminds us of CLEAN. 
• More for the younger kids. 
• Most new burger joints were born in California
• McDonalds, Burger king, Taco bell
• Ray - targets kids
• 1962- 1st ronald McDonald commercial
• Ronald is much different then what we know now. 
• He wears a plate of food on his head. 
• Targeted kids
• 1963- Ronald targets MOM.
• “your mom is always right” “dont talk to strangers”
• 1965- McDonalds ad:
• Targets DAD
• Dad with kids and neighborhood kids going to McDonalds. 
• 1967- Clean cut men who work at McDonalds. 
• Get business experience 
• Shapes you for life.
• No mention about food
• Just tells who they are: institution.
• No hippies... Just good clean cut people. 
• In the span of 10 years Ray has gone from selling simple hamburgers to selling to Kids, Dad, Mom. 
• 1974- still all men
• All about cleanliness. 
• 1977- “we do it all for you” break all the rules by selling breakfast
• Mom appeared in commercial 
• Women are working behind the counter. 
• Mom serves breakfast so why not have women serve you from McDonalds
• 1978- the customers are selling the food.
• Big Mac is introduced.
• 1979- Chicken Nuggets are introduced. 
• Small nuggets that kids will like. 
• Only KFC at the time was selling chicken. 
• Breaking more rules. 
• 1980- selling the burger. McdLT
• Now putting tomato on it. 

• We have seen the birth of the drive through
• Using advertising to target specific people
• Mom
• Dad
• Kids
• Breaking all the rules: selling breakfast, chicken nuggets.

Camera shots for Ads

Visual narrative- invented in 1914 but based on 1000’s of years of theatre. 

3 shots of the visual narrative: displays emotion. 

• Wide shot: (WS)- think as a paint brush- it puts the base story down. establishing shot- see the world they are in and whats going on.
• Med. Shot: (MS)- think of as a screw driver, it has multiple purposes. expo shot- 80% of shots are (MS)- kinda bland but thats what were used to. 
• Close-up: (CU)- think of as a hammer, it only has on use. the exclamation shot- exact opp of wide shot. Only about 5% is told in (CU) look at this and nothing else. 

Examples of ads...

• Fast Food- CU
• Car’s- CU
• Band aid- WS into MS then CU of band aid
• Pizza- CU of melting cheese bite

• Typical scene starts with WS then moves to MS then to CU of what were talking to then back to a MS and WS. 

selling CARS

• Watched pontiac, and transAM commercials.
• GM Looking at cars as a life style. 
• In the 80’s we only got to see the car in two directions. Its was more about stories. 
• In the 90’s and 2000’s its more about camera angles
• Showing us things that are out there. Out side the box. 
• Women driving a car and she is blind. Gets a thrill out in the desert. 
• New corvette commercial is selling the benefit. This is new kind of ad. 
• 2010’s are now back to selling by stories. We see this in the suburban monkey ads. 
• You learn more when you laugh. 

Conservative VS Liberal

1950’s: balance of buying power is shifted to the kids. 

From the 1920’s-2012’s a lot has changed.

Music and radio are the big entertainment form.

1917-18: WWI: depression

1918: flu pandemic 

1939: WW2

1940: soldiers come home and party

• During the war jobs are on the rise, GI bill: edu is paid for.  

1950’s: teenagers, mad men, 

• Transistor is born, now the radio is portable.

1955-59: baby boomers are born.

• Color tv is born. New entertainment... But still a family value. 

1960’s: hippies are born. 

1970’s: PC is born: entertainment becomes an individual value. 

1980’s: walk-men is born: entertainment is more individual.

1990’s: mp3, mp4 is born: now completely independent. 

2012: tablet, iPod, smart phones. 

• Parents and kids are always on different spectrums of conservative and liberal. 
• Grandparents and grandkids can be on the same spectrum towards the end of grandparents life. 
• When you are conservative you brand choices are predictable because you know what you want.