jenkinsjourneyfsu-blog

[jenkinsjourneyfsu-blog]

“Final Project: Business Plan” mastery journal

This month I had the pleasure of taking the “Final Project: Business Plan” under Professor William Thompson, to finally complete my journey to mastery.  During this course, Professor Thompson assisted me with finalizing my business plan for my company, Diamond Heist Group.  He also provided more detail on what exactly investors would be looking for when considering investing in a company.  I was provided with the tools to get my business plan to look as professional as possible, and how to effectively present it. One thing I really enjoyed about the class was that Professor Thompson took the time to also show us how to prepare for the next step of finding employment after graduation.  He provided information on perfecting my resume and cover letter, where to look for jobs, and how to prepare for the interview. Overall this class met my expectations and beyond.

The Entertainment Business program in general has honestly been everything I was looking for!  When I originally started, I wanted to find a program that was focused specifically on what I was interested in.  As a result, I’ve been a lot more focused, and I’ve retained so much more information than my undergrad experience.  I gained a good understanding of Entertainment Branding, Publishing and Distribution, knowledge of Digital Marketing, knowledge on legal matters pertaining to the entertainment industry, and successfully completed a business plan.  I also learned how to create Pro Forma Financial Statements.  The experience has been well put together, very positive, and all while providing a vast amount of new knowledge.  The program also has taught me a lot of life skills.  In example, I’ve learned how to be a better leader and role model in general, how to spot different personality types and leadership styles, and how to adapt in certain situations in order to always come out on top, etc.  

Moving forward, I plan to work a traditional 9:00-5:00 position while I continue to build my company, Diamond Heist Group, after hours.  I would however, like to find a 9:00-5:00 position that's closer to my career field, opposed to a job just to get a check.  I plan to use the knowledge obtained, as well as Professor Thompson’s interview skill notes to find an open position at one of the many marketing and advertising firms here in Atlanta.  I plan to continue building my brand and clientele until I become one of the biggest names in the industry.  Looking forward to the next step!

[jenkinsjourneyfsu-blog]

Business Plan Developement

This month I had the pleasure of taking the Business Plan Development class under professor Steven Burhoe.  As my journey to Mastery comes to an end, this course took parts from each of the previous classes we’ve had over the last several months, and helped put them together to form a more structured and professional plan for my prospective business.  We learned the ends and outs of writing a professional business plan, included what needs to be included, as well as how specific it needs to be.  We also began developing the financial planning for our businesses.   Professor Burhoe explained how the Business plan was to show potential investors exactly how you planned to structure and run your business, as well as how you planned to make money.

My original goal for this course was to gain a better understanding of how to turn an idea into a business.  This course met my original goals and expectations because it showed me how to take my idea and form it into a formal plan of action.  Before taking this course, I had no idea of what was expected in regards to a business plan, or how to properly formulate it.  This course also helped me get my ideas in order, and helped me gain a clear understanding of what exactly it would take in order to make my idea work financially.  

I will apply the material learned in this course personally or professionally.  Diamond Heist Group has several sub-companies that I plan on including in order to make the entire idea run more smoothly.  With one month left in the program, I am more confident than ever that I can turn my ideas into not only real companies, but profitable companies as well! This was a great experience and I look forward to my final course!

[jenkinsjourneyfsu-blog]

Critical roles of a CEO

Effective leadership is truly a must have in order to sustain any company, but especially when first starting out!  For a startup company, it is very important not only to have an effective leader, in position working as either the CEO or president; but to also have a great management team under he or she to help put the plans in motion.  When looking to find a CEO/ president of a company, I think it is good to look first at education and experience.  According to Trammell (2014), CEOs are like diamonds, they’re hardened and formed under crushing pressures and intense heat, and they are judged by degrees of quality.  A lot of that “intense heat” can be compared to education, and their experience leading up to that point.  A leader is usually one who has overcome many obstacles in their life, and ended on top. A true leader is also one who has experienced their fair share of failures, but were able to learn from them and grow.  

A good CEO must be able communicate effectively.  The entire staff must be able to understand and see the vision clearly. An effective leader must also care deeply about the mission of the company and its messengers.  Overtime, a certain level of trust must be built between he or she and their subordinates.  Lastly, a great CEO must always be decisive, ethical, and honest.  These, I feel, are some of the critical roles of a CEO and good startup management team overall.  These are also the same standards I try to work towards and uphold for myself.

 Trammell, J. (2014, June 10). The Three Qualities a CEO Must Have to Succeed. Retrieved May 05, 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/joeltrammell/2014/06/10/the-three-qualities-a-ceo-must-have-to-succeed/#3e4933fd774b

[jenkinsjourneyfsu-blog]

A Great Time to Be Independent

There has never been a better time to be an independent artist, than right now! No matter, what genre of music you listen to, if you were to look up the Billboard top 100 in that genre, I’m sure you’d find multiple independent artists filling up the rankings. Amazingly, this has been a consistently growing trend; when just a few years ago it was deemed nearly impossible. A key role in this transition has been due to the transition from traditional CD’s and download purchasing of music, to the new free streaming frenzy.  Due to the fact, an artist can now put out his music online for free and gain mainstream exposure, the big major record labels are no longer needed. There was once a time, an artist couldn't reach the mainstream music websites, or obtain mainstream radio airplay without the help of major label backing.  Now everything is assessable depending on who you know, how big your budget is, and how popular you can become on your own.  There are many reasons why I believe independent is now the best option for artists looking to become professional musicians.

 According to Atkinson (2014), “Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, saw its hit song ‘Thrift Shop’ hit No. 1 in 2013, the first time since 1994 that a song without the backing of a major label reached the top of the charts.”  With the newly updated ways billboard, and other music ranking organizations, are calculating their list, independent artist will continue to have better opportunities to seize their spot.   Regarding Billboard top 100, Trust (2013) says "Generally speaking, our Hot 100 formula targets a ratio of sales (35-45%), airplay (30-40%) and streaming (20-30%)."  He goes on to say even YouTube data has now been added into that equation.  Today, music coming from outside the major labels now make up over 50 percent of the content streamed online (Atkinson, 2014).  

 On December 6, 2016, “Chance the Rapper” made history after breaking one of the biggest independent artist records in history.  That Tuesday morning, The Recording Academy revealed its nominations for the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.  Chance and his 13-song mixtape/album, Coloring Book was shockingly nominated for multiple awards, including Best Rap Album. This made his Coloring Book project the first streaming-only album to receive a Grammy nomination ever (Payne, 2016)!  On February 13, 2017, Chance broke yet another record after becoming the first artist to win a Grammy without selling physical copies of his music and with no major backing (Wang, 2017).  This was a shock to the world, and made a bold statement for all independent artist who have no desire to sign to a major label.

 In 2009, Hip hop Superstar Jay-Z confirmed that after buying out the remainder of his contract with Island Def Jam for a reported $5 million, he was "a completely independent artist" (Kreps, 2009).  This was a very large step for the independent artist movement considering how large of an artist Jay-Z was at the time.  The act raised a lot of questions and made artists everywhere really think about the obvious “is a record deal really necessary”.  After Jay-Z made this bold move, a lot of other well established artists followed suit. Like Jay-Z, recently, Frank Ocean found himself in a similar situation.  In late 2016, after a long-awaited return, Frank confirmed that the “’seven-year chess game’ that involved him slowly buying back all his master recordings, hiring new management, and buying his music back with his own money” was finally over.  He talked about how he was not comfortable knowing he was responsible for his own success, but wasn’t “reaping the lion’s share of the profits” (Wang, 2016).  Once out of his contract, Frank immediately put out an album that awarded him millions of dollars and new business ventures.  Wang (2016) goes on to write “Artists in 2016 are waking up to the fact that they need some degree of control over their own content to survive the hectic, opaque world that the advent of digital streaming has created”. 

 Mac Miller is another very well-known hip hop artist who has set ground breaking records throughout his 8-year career.  Mac Miller first became popular when he made headlines in 2011. His album, Blue Slide Park, sold 145,000 copies (certified gold) in its first week and topped the Billboard 200.  This made Miller’s project the first independently-distributed debut album to hit number one since Tha Dogg Pound’s Dogg Food in 1995.  This was only the beginning for Mac Miller.  The next year he would go on to make the Forbes list after he grossed an estimated $6.5 million in record sales and touring profits.  Mac continued a very successful independent career up until 2014 when he signed a $10 million partnership and distribution deal with Warner Bros Records.

 In conclusion, the information given above sheds light on the new trend of immerging successful independent artists.  There are so many new great opportunities artists have now as an independent that they didn’t before.  Even schools are changing their education curriculums to adapt to the new times.  The president of Juilliard School in New York, Joseph Polisi, spoke on how Juilliard’s curriculum now gives its music and art students “tools in writing, speaking, and development of business plans” as well as lessons in theory and technique (Wang, 2016). “We’ve become a more realistic school about the vocational needs of artists in the 21st century… the idea of having greater independence…”, Polisi says (Wang, 2016).  Universities such as Full Sail University have also followed suit with programs such as the “Masters of Entertainment Business”.  Throughout this program, the professors really focus on independence, and teaching students as if they were to go the entrepreneur route.  This practice will undoubtedly better prepare students for the harsh reality of the music industry today.  A reality where you may be forced to do, at least, most of the leg work on your own. Although, once that is done and the benefits are reaped, I’m sure anyone would agree, it’s a great time to be independent!

[jenkinsjourneyfsu-blog]

Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution

This month I had the pleasure of taking the Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution course, taught by professor Kim Craft.  This class most definitely met my original objectives of finding ways around traditional record and publishing deals.  I feel this class was exceptionally great for students looking to go the more entrepreneur route.  I also want to point out how much I enjoyed our course reading material written by professor Craft.  I felt the book was very informative, and a great read.

We learned things during this course that I feel I can take back and apply to my business, not only upon graduation, but right now as well.  We first learned the needed background information regarding traditional publishing, new school publishing practices, agents, as well as self-publishing. The first project during week one showed us how to write a sample query letter, and all the steps involved to be most effective.  I really enjoyed this assignment because this topic is one I’ve wondered about before; the process of getting through to certain organizations without the help of major label backing.  This will prove to be useful for me later when looking to gain the attention of publishers for my clients.

Another assignment I really enjoyed was project 2.  For this assignment, we were taught the best way to put together a professional Artist press kit.  I enjoyed this project because the knowledge gained was great, and it will be very useful in the future, being that every professional artist should have a press kit. A press kit can be described as an artist resume.  This can assist getting the artist signed, booked for shows, or endorsed by some type of sponsor.  I also enjoyed this project because I was able to use one of the artist I currently manage.  The artist needed a press kit done, so I was able to “kill two birds with one stone” sort of speak.  

[jenkinsjourneyfsu-blog]

Advance Entertainment Law

This month I had the opportunity and privilege to partake in the Advanced Entertainment Law course, under Professor Cassandra Willard.  This was one of my personal favorites because I didn’t have much of a law background at all.  In addition, I have a good amount of connections in the industry, but none in the field of law.  So, overall this course really excited me because I knew it could potentially be one of the courses I gained the most knowledge from.  It turned out to be just that.

           I gained a vast amount of new information about Entertainment Law over the last few weeks.  A lot of it was new information, some was correcting misconceptions I had in my head regarding different issues, and some was taking previously known info a step further.  In example, I had no idea about some of the specifics of the Copyright Act.  Sometimes, there are specific statues that permit recovery of fees for violating whatever that law was.  The federal Copyright Act is one of those statues.  The law gives the court permission to, at its discretion, award “reasonable” attorney fees back to the winner of the case at hand. I think this is great, especially for a smaller company that may not have the funds to take on a more established company for some type of wrong doing.

           Although I had prior knowledge of certain things like Trademarks, Copyrights, and Patents before taking this course; as I stated earlier, this course took previously known info a step further.   In example, I had no idea even some registered intellectual property is only protected for a certain amount of time.  An example of this is trademarks.  A registered trademark is only protected for 10 years, then can be renewed if necessary.  A registered patent is protected for different lengths of time depending on which specific type of patent it is.  A registered copyright can last up to 120 years.

           All the new knowledge gained during this course can be proved helpful, and will surely be applied in order to help my business in the future.  I learned how to go through the intellectual property registration process, where to register, and even filled out a mock form.  These are some examples that can be applied immediately.  Overall, this was an awesome experience!

[jenkinsjourneyfsu-blog]

Product and Artist Management

           Another class complete, another step closer to completing my journey to mastery.  This month I had the pleasure of taking the Product and Artist Management class under Professor Christine Winn.  This class was very exciting for me because it spoke specifically to the main area of focus for the company I’m looking to build, after obtaining my master’s degree. I’ve been working as an artist manager for a few years now, and I must say this is truly one field where the learning process never stops.  I’ve acquired a wealth of knowledge about artist management through my own experience, but this class proceeded to build on that knowledge as well as provide areas of improvement.  

           The main idea of this class was focused on the different roles of an artist manager.  Artist management tends to spill over into a lot of different job titles; Product Management being one of the biggest.  This class taught me that I must learn to be deeply involved with product management in order to be a more effective artist manager.  For example, in today’s music industry the artist themselves, their music, their live shows, “merch”, etc are all examples of products.  My job as an artist/product manager is to learn as much as I can about the different products my artist has available.  After becoming familiar with those various products, I must then use research and analytical data to assist me in narrowing down a target audience.  Before a manager can successfully execute their product manager duties, they must first establish this niche market.  

Some of the research and data companies I have become more familiar with during this class include GumRoad, Twitter analytics, Facebook analytics, and a few different mobile apps used to break down data regarding artist Instagram accounts.  I plan to use these companies to later assist in segmenting my artist’s target audience into specific groups like age, gender, race, lifestyle, geographic, etc. With this information, I can successfully bring my clients closer to their core fans, as well as make messages more personal for different groups we are really trying to reach.  According to Professor Winn, this along with a few other key points learned in class should create more avenues of profit for my clients.  This is just a few examples of the many lessons learned in this class.  Overall, this class was a great experience that I’m sure will prove beneficial for me in the near future.

[jenkinsjourneyfsu-blog]

Whether success or failure, you need to move forward.  The momentum is what is critical.

Frederique Dame

[jenkinsjourneyfsu-blog]

Learn as much as you can from those who know more than you do, who do better than you, who see more clearly than you.

Dwight Eisenhower

[jenkinsjourneyfsu-blog]

Negotiation and Deal-Making

This month I had the privilege of taking the Negotiation & Deal-Making class.  This class was very important to me along my journey to Mastery.  As an artist manager, I’ll be forced to negotiate many different types of deals for myself as well as for my clients.   I started this class wanting to learn how to effectively communicate in effort to win more negotiations. I was also very interested in the science of negotiation in general.  For example, what makes people good negotiators?  How do you maneuver through a negotiation where it seems the other party isn’t willing to budge?

One of the key things I learned in this class was about game theory, or the science of interactive, rational decision making.  I truly think Game theory should be used in every decision-making process.  It helps one further assess all their options, and even predict the outcome of each decision so that you can make the best possible choice.  Game theory can also help predict your opponent’s next move so that you can be better prepared before even entering a negotiation.  This practice can go along way if used correctly.

Another important concept I learned during this course was about BATNAs and WATNAs.  BATNAs and WATNAs are “Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement” or “Worst Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement”.  The BATNA and WATNA concepts teaches that every negotiation is not going to go 100% in your favor.  Sometimes one must figure out what area you’re willing to take a loss in, in order to gain in another.  WATNA is used as a reminder of what you definitely don’t want; while BATNA is the equivalent to saying “it’s not exactly what I wanted, but it's the best possible outcome in this situation”.

Overall, there were many key concepts I learned during this class.  Some of them I had heard before and some that were new to me.  I am highly satisfied with this learning experience, and look forward to using this new knowledge in the field.

[jenkinsjourneyfsu-blog]

Win, lose, or draw... but we will not die not trying

Eric Thomas

[jenkinsjourneyfsu-blog]

Marketing Mastery Tumblr Journal

My goal for this course was to learn how to sharpen my digital marketing skills to effectively get my point across, and spread awareness of both my clients and my company.  I wanted to learn how to better use some of the tools I’m already using, and more importantly, learn about new resources I had not known about until now.  Aware of how powerful the internet is in today’s society; I’ve always focused a lot on having a good online social media presence. So far, Professor Stewart has been doing a great job of delivering assignments and lectures that have been both very informative as well as engaging.

For my mastery journal assignments for this course, I chose to take the Lynda.com course entitled “Instagram For Business”.  I chose this course because Instagram has become one of the leading social media tools today, and is one of the main social media outlets I use for my own company.  There were a lot of key points I took away from this course, but my top three would have to be “Researching your competition on Instagram”, “Interacting with the Instagram community”, and “Utilizing hashtags”.  When it comes to “Researching your competition”, up until now, I hadn’t followed many of the companies that would be deemed completion.  I mostly follow business partners, peers, and inspirational pages such as celebrities I look up to.  I thought more from the aspect of focusing on what I have going on, rather than comparing and contrasting in order to become better.  The section made me realize how important it is to keep up with the completion, even only if to use as a tool to see where you stand, and ultimately find a way to out beat them.  

Before taking this course, I also took more of the celebrity approach of using Instagram to make posts and just letting the world perceive how they may.  The section entitled “Interacting with the Instagram community”, provided key facts and proof of how much more effective you can be when engaging with your fans and followers.  By doing so, you can also extend your reach a lot further, as they began to repost due to feeling more personally involved with your brand.

Lastly, the “utilizing hashtags” section provided insight on how through hashtags your able to reach an audience you may have never reached due to them searching a hashtag that may have led them to your page.  Overall this was a very useful assignment and I look forward to putting the new knowledge gained to use!

[jenkinsjourneyfsu-blog]

Entertainment Business Finance

           This month I finished another step along my journey to mastery.  I had the pleasure of taking a very challenging, yet much needed Entertainment Business Finance class.  I must admit I was very intimidated when I first began this class because math has never been one of my strong points.  I was very worried that there would be a lot of math involved with the weekly assignments, and I knew that finance formulas can be very difficult sometimes.  I was also worried that a month’s time would not be long enough for me to really gain an understanding of the subject as a whole.  Yet, all of my worries and doubt came to an end once I watched Professor Woodward’s first go to session.  He explained he didn’t plan on instructing a very math heavy class, rather teach us the fundamentals of entertainment business finance that could be used now in our current life and business ventures.

           We started off the class by getting familiar with reading and understanding the information found on a company’s Annual Report.  We also learned about the more detailed financial report called the 10K Report (or 10Q), required of all publically traded companies to be published by the Securities and Exchange Commission.  We were asked to examined two annual reports from major entertainment companies and discuss some of the information found on the report such as the differences, similarities, as well as some of the specific numbers pertaining to the two.  As the month continued, we later learned about the time value of money and how to determine it.  We also learned the importance of the break-even investing.  

           In the past 4 weeks, this course has been an enlightening experience.  What I enjoyed most is like Professor Woodward explained, this class has taught me a lot of information that I can use now instead of waiting till I graduate. Some of this information includes learning how to not only properly invest my money, but learning how to equate specifics of each investment to determine how long it will take to get my investment back.  Overall, I will be taking a lot away from this class and I’m grateful for the opportunity.

[jenkinsjourneyfsu-blog]

Absorb what is useful, discard what is not.  Add what is uniquely your own.

[jenkinsjourneyfsu-blog]

Business Storytelling & Brand Development

This month was a very interesting and creative month, as I had the pleasure of taking the Business Storytelling and Brand Development class under professor Ken Degilio.  When I started the class, I really didn’t know what to expect.  After the first week I could tell that this class would provide me with a great deal of information to improve my own personal brand as well as my company.  We began the month by learning how to build your own personal brand, and using your personal brand to assist you in building your company’s.  We learned that the first step is taking the time to figure out the basics of your company or brand.  This included answering questions such as what service or product you want to provide, how will you differentiate yourself, and what message are you trying to deliver to the public.

Another thing we focused on during the class was the importance of researching and studying companies and brands that are similar to your own.  When researching these companies, you want to focus on what these companies do well, what they could do better, and ways you can differentiate your brand in order to stand out amongst companies as such.  Some companies similar to mine would include Roc Nation, Live Nation, and 300 Entertainment.  I look at these companies as motivation, as well as a sort of place marker of success that I must reach and surpass.

I really enjoyed this class overall because of the creative freedom professor Degilio provided us with.  The assignments weren’t so structured, he simply explained a general idea of what he was looking for and left it up to us as to how we wanted to get it done.  This class also provided me with an abundance of information that will assist me in improving my company right now instead of after graduation, and so on.  Overall I’m very satisfied and thankful I had the opportunity to be apart of such a great class!

[jenkinsjourneyfsu-blog]

Project and Team Management

This month, I’ve finished another step along my journey to completing my master’s degree in Business Entertainment.  I had the privilege of taking the Project and Team Management course under professor Nicholas Carver.  This was actually very exciting for me because I’ve also been looking into getting a project management certification once I’ve completed my master’s degree.  I began the class eager but not knowing what to expect.  We started off right away with a team assignment that kind of forced us all to get out of our comfort zones.  I’m very comfortable and familiar with group assignments having partaken in plenty in the past, but this particular one was different by far because the class is online.  The assignment forced us all to reach out, exchange personal information, and communicate with people who up until this point were complete strangers.  All in all, the assignment turned out very well and taught me a lot about my classmates and group projects in general.

Once we finished that introductory assignment, we dove straight into the beginning steps of creating our own projects.  We learned how to effectively research and brainstorm these projects so that we could pre assess certain factors that would determine whether the project was a success or not.  As we continued, we learned important tools such as how to assess the risks, create a budget, develop a timeline, and properly disseminate tasks to the right person.   Put together, these factors provide the blueprint to overseeing a project from beginning to completion.  

We also learned about the importance of being a leader, really knowing your team members, and each one’s specific personality type.  We first took a personality assessment ourselves, then learned how to distribute tasks to others based off their knowledge and personality type.  This proved to be very helpful in could make your job lot easier if done properly.  The class as a whole taught me a lot about myself, improved my skills as a leader, and showed me the importance of insuring that my members are put in the best positions to succeed individually which helps the team succeed.  The skills learned in this class will most definitely assist me later on in my career field as a record label executive.

[jenkinsjourneyfsu-blog]

Leadership Master Journal Post

           When trying to decide whether you have or want to develop more of a Greene (2000) or Maxwell (1993) style of leadership, there are a few things one must first assess.  Influences such as your natural personality as well as your chosen industry or job you are hoping to get into, are in most cases the determining factors. I feel over time; I’ve developed more of a Greene (2000) style of leadership, although I have some Maxwell (1993) traits as well.  If I had to put it into percentages, I would say I’m 80% Greene (2000) and 20% Maxwell (1993).  My natural personality makes me a person who tries to help others, and put the group’s interest over personal advantage, as much as I can.  But I’ve learned through a lot of different life experiences, in agreeance to Greene’s (2000) lessons, that having this mindset can sometimes bring about bad circumstances.  

           One of the topics Greene (2000) touches on in his book, The 48 Laws of Power, that really stood out for me and provides a great example to my previous statement, is “Law 2: Never Put Too Much Trust in Friends, Learn How to Use Enemies”.  In this section, Greene (2000) states, “Friends limit your power and you may give them a position they don’t deserve”.  I personally have felt the backlash from similar situations like this in the past because I just naturally want to help others succeed. There have been times when I was fully aware of a person’s weakness in certain areas, but still chose to work with them, and gave them a chance based on personal relationships.  I insisted on helping change people that were also fully aware of their flaws, but had not committed to changing themselves.  This can be very detrimental to one’s, brand, company, as well as the personal relationship with that person once that business relationship has to come to an end.

           As a result, I’ve learned over time how to still feed my natural urge to help others, yet also protect myself, as well as any business I’m associated with, from getting harmed in the process.  According to Maxwell (1993), “People need to change their perspectives, not their problems.”  I’ve learned to reassess issues a few times and try to look at the problem from different point of views.  In example, as stated previously, I’ve learned in order to help others, they must first be interested in making the necessary changes for themselves.  I believe in helping all mankind in any way I can for the progress of the greater good, but there are now certain barriers and blockades you must past in order to gain my trust.

Situations such as the ones stated above, other life experiences, and just simply being in the entertainment industry, have forced me to “harden my shell” in a sense not so much to harm others but in order to protect myself.  I’m interested in working in the music entertainment industry. My dream career goal is to start as an A&R and artist manager/developer, and work my way up to one day being the president of a major record label.  It is common knowledge, that the music industry is very “cut throat” in a sense, and is full of people with more Greene (2000) styles of leadership. With that being stated, it is very difficult to even maintain, let alone thrive in this industry, if you’re know willing or able to adapt.  When it comes to negotiating and making deals, a Greene (2000) type mindset is much needed in order to protect yourself from making bad decisions on the defensive side.  On the offensive side, a more Greene (2000) state of mind will assist me is putting myself in even greater positions in life then I could ever imagine.  As Greene (2000) stated under “Law 28: Enter Action with Boldness”, “Ask for the moon and you will be surprised how often you get it.”

References:

Greene, Robert. The 48 Laws of Power. Penguin Books, 09/2000. VitalBook file.

Maxwell, John C. (1993). Developing the leader within you. Nashville: T. Nelson.