The other night I started to think about how to build a 6 figure entertainment company.
Then I called a few friends who run large companies (8 and 9 figure)

A brainstorming session then turned into a business plan and a marketing plan (still writing it out)

The concept..
To highly target a market and dominate it

if anyone is looking for something in that market to be the ONLY provider found

to outsource the booking process and paperwork so that I can focus on the fun stuff (entertaining and being a geek)

To increase profit margin by increasing the price of the gigs and streamlining the shows to lower cost of supplies. (still brainstorming)

To build a marketing funnel that passively builds leads to market to year round and book a higher % of events

I will be talking weekly with a mastermind group of business owners NONE of which are in the entertainment industry.

I will give a weekly update here just so you can see if I am on track and to get feedback from the community..

This is a EXPERAMENT that I am running to see how different a entertainment company would work if it was run like a hard hitting corporate CEO..

things I want to figure out
1. Will this make an entertainment company more of a Job or provide more freedom
2. Will this allow for a faster growth of a entertainment company
3. Will this build a business model that can be replicated and GIVEN to other entertainers so they can have more freedom in life... (if it works, and I believe it will)

so what do you think??

Count ME In for what-ever you got going bud!

I LOVE a good 'experiment'!

Thanks for sharing this.

I believe every successful business starts with a business plan!
Look forward to your next post!!

Don

Thanks for sharing this. I look forward to your next instalment and see how it all goes for you.
All power to your elbow.

Dave

I like your enthusiasm and motivation to share with us here on the Café.

I can not foresee the future, but I think any venture at the start will be more
of a "job"; especially after the honymoon phase. The key is in the execution and
as they say, "the devil is in the details".

I look forward to hearing more...

Go man go!

Just to be clear, when you say you have friends that run 8 and 9 figure companies, you mean 10 million and 100 million dollar companies right? I’d love to have a master mind group like that!

The size of your pay check is only hindered by the size of your imagination.

I wish you the best!

Ken,

I have a couple of friends at that level in their business's

so I got a few of them on the phone and as we talked they started pulling in other friends and introducing me... was a GREAT conference..

and then we all decided to make it a monthly 1 hr mastermind by the end of the call

what I really like about working with people who know NO limit in success is that they have a unique perspective on things and can see vertical markets where all of US would just dismiss them and walk away

One of the guys literally told me to stop ignoring where the money is because it's something I don't want to do.. then explained HOW to outsource that market to grow the company where ALL I am doing is marketing it and spending an hour a week getting updates from the manager in charge of that division. Turning something I don't like into a profit that helps grow the things I do like.

Example
I hate spending time on the phone to qualify a lead (don't mind booking gigs just don't like the 3 phone calls it takes to book 1)
So OUTSOURCE
Disadvantage
- I no longer have control of customizing certain aspects of shows and modifying price on the fly
Advantage
- It has already increased close ratio
- saves me TONS of time
- Has increased Profit (we raise the price 30%)

so I am loving this
and am working on redesigning my website today to keep up with this (=

so off to play with some CSS in wordpress (after church that is)

I am interested in learning how to enter a new area ( such as moving to another state) and learning how to start from scratch. See if they have any ideas ( or if you do) on how to start from scratch and how to make a client list securing work.

Magicjg,

Check out James Muntons web site http://www.zerotobookedsolid.com He moved from Wash DC to Dallas and this course tells you how he did it. I have been doing the course and it is full of great information.

-stephen

Magicjg,

As entertainers we have a B2C and a B2B business.

So going into a new market would be the same as if you where starting a new company

1. Build a business plan
2. Build a marketing plan
3. Build a marketing calendar
4. Live by the calendar

-----

This is exciting for me
I havn't touched my website in almost 2 years
the current marketing format is dated and weak (only in position 5 for the phrase that made most of my income in 07

so I am treating this like its a TOTALLY new business
like it's a new market

So the steps I am going to be going through are going to be the SAME as you would need and I am laying them out here right now..

any numbers I share will be based off of TOTALLY new leads and will exclude any referrals from old clients, or repeat gigs from old clients...

I am also running another company so I am doing this PART TIME.. just like many on here would be forced to do

As in conventional booking agents, or as in hiring someone just to make those calls?

1st update...

Website Redesign underway
Market Plan about 3/4th done
Keyword Research DONE (I am contemplating posting what keywords I am aiming for but not sure if this would be wise until after I am ranking)
Event / party contracts written and ready.
projections written and milestones set for the 1st 6 months

Math that MUST BE DONE

# of gigs = Goal Earnings / Profit per Gig

to find the cost of a gig

Cost per gig = Goal earnings per month / how many gigs I want to do per month

SOOO to hit 6 figures (planning 120k so there is a 20k margin for supplies and such) there needs to be 2307 PER week billable so How many of YOUR gigs do you need to do PER WEEK?? (don't answer just figure it OUT)


So I have my #'s of how many gigs I want to work and How many I will need to book for others to hit my goals.. They all look very doable in a town like Atlanta..

Next update will be to ask for thoughts on the new website
and possibly the new marketing materials

Thank you Stephen.

One thing I don't see in Mike's planning is any thought being given to his actual show! There is a reason why Kenny-boy is so busy in Atlanta. He is a good performer. He also comes up number one in google. Coincidence? I think not.

Best,
James

Steve,

I have hired someone to make those calls and book gigs..
I am now using a system that brings in leads and the assistant then calls and works out the details.. she also has my full schedule and knows what days I don't want to work and what days I cant work


James,
The show is a no brainer.. I am always spending time at perfecting my show and never see it as getting there.. To the point of trecking off to vegas for master class, multiple times... always looking at new things to add and always testing something in the show..

I just want to point out a subtle distinction.

It's not about what you think of your show, or how much work you feel you've put into it. It's about what your customers and audiences think of your show. Do they think it's great? Your show and value should be so good that you are getting lots of spin-off business, referrals, repeat business, etc. Your show should be naturally drawing more business to you.

- Donald

Donald I agree

But guys keep in mind... I'm a balloon Guy not a magician

I use magic in my show but it isn't the show.. my show is comedy balloons in a magical way

I have not had a full show up untill mid last year (THANK YOU MASTER CLASS)

I am constantly working on my show and paying attention to what clients are saying..
the focus on this is not the SHOW.. The assumption of this is that anyone who goes after me on this (if it works) will already have a show that people love..

this is about the business and marketing of the business .. The show and performance is something constantly being worked on it's just not a variable in this as what I am doing is about booking NEW Clients, and not someone who has seen you before.

Now to finish the new template of the website so I can start on new copy tonight
--
Writing Copy is a WEAK point in what I do.. I'm a traffic guy.. so this is one of the hardest stages of this whole thing.. I need to go read Dean's Blog and Jack's Blog.. and some copy blogger as well LOL at least I have the advantage that I am the #1 balloon guy in town (because the guys around the same skills all market themselves as magicians hehehe)

Next post will be with the new template complete followed by new content

Mike,

Thanks for sharing. I find your posts to be informative and inspiring.

Keep up the great work!

Lou Serrano

Basic Template finished...
the site still needs tons of Work..

the gallery is in BAD shape
the menu needs to be cleaned up and redone

new blog themes going live this week..
and my graphics guy is supposed to be cleaning some of the gallery up as we switch to Nexgen (a wordpress plugin)

as I get content updated from 2 years ago I will update

Link building campaign started on 1st keyword phrase
20 blog posts ready to start feeding to build weight..
12 web 2.0 properties being lined up to push for all 10 links on page 1

This is gonna be fun (=
once we start seeing 1st page domination I will tell you what the keyword is and what properties we used

and then 30 days later the number of leads from dominating the market

BTW YES!!!! I am talking about all 10 organic links on the front page of Google being MINE pointing to ME for EACH phrase I am going after..
we will only go after 1 phrase per month though because of how much work goes into taking over the entire front page..

Is your entire strategy for building your client base in this project through SEO? I'm asking to better understand and I do admire you for your courage to go for a big goal and share the experience with us.

If "yes", I am particularly fascinated as I have found prospects sourced off the web to be overall very low quality leads. As opposed to your experience, I found my 6-8 months time studying and refining SEO and adwords to ultimately not being an effective use of my time. There may be differences between us that explain: different geography and target markets.

My site works very well as an on-line multi-media brochure to support my off-line efforts. But, beyond that, I do not consider SEO etc to be an important part of my marketing mix (at least in that other areas produce better results for me).

I'm interested to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks!