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shrutishah22-blog · 5 years

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A Successful Business Plan: Decoding the Secrets

Every ending has a new beginning. Studying at Full Sail University for over eleven months, today I completed my last course, Final Business Plan. Every business needs to have a written business plan, whether to provide a direction to the company or to attract investors. In the prior month, our professor, Steven Burhoe taught us the importance of writing a complete and thoughtful business plan, whereas our current professor, Bill Thompson taught us how to write a perfect business plan for our startup company idea and how to pitch the idea to potential investors. In Week one, we started by presenting an elevator pitch of our company. This one-minute pitch comprised of the problem or the need for our company in the market and what solution do our company brings to the problem. Later, we completed the rest of our financial statements which we had started in our prior class, Business Plan Development.

We not only completed our income statements and but also analyzed our start-up costs. For starting my digital marketing agency, AdGuru, I would require roughly $200,000. In Week 2, we collaborated all our previous months’ content and wrote a 30-40-page Business Plan. The highlight of our Business Plan was our Executive Summary. It was an abbreviated version of each section of our business plan. Later, in week 2, we learnt the importance of taxes and how tax issues are different for different legal structures, be it Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, Corporation or an LLC. In week 3, we studied the importance of Equity Financing and Debt Financing and prepared our company snapshots which we submitted in advance to our Entertainment Business management faculty, who arrived as panelists in week 4 and graded our presentations.

We created a 5-8-minute presentation for our potential investors. They made us understand what it feels to present in a real-life situation to real investors. We included topics from all our 12-month class, which included, marketing, branding, legal matters, publishing and distribution. After presenting it successfully, the feedback given to me by the panelists was highly-appropriate and extremely crucial for my startup business plan. This course was extremely helpful to me. My original goal was just to create a basic business plan, but I ended up learning a lot more. This type of fluid and flexible document can be invaluable not only to my new hypothetical business but also to any new organization that I would be joining as creating a business plan will help me understand their company’s plan of action better.

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shrutishah22-blog · 5 years

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Why Do I Need A Business Plan?

Studying at Full Sail University for over ten months, today I completed my eleventh course, Business Plan Development. Before starting this course, I used to always think what could bring value to a company’s long-term success. Later, our professor Steven Burhoe taught us the importance of having a complete and a thoughtful business plan. It gives my business a direction, defines objectives and maps out strategies to achieve goals. A business plan is not a document that I create once and store it in my bottom drawer. It’s a living guide that I should develop as my business grows and changes. Successful business review and update their business plan when circumstances change. Additionally, if I need finance for my businesses, I will require a business plan to show banks and investors as to why they should invest in my business venture.

In week 1, we prepared a minute pitch for our company, which included our companies’ services, location, a compelling story as to why we got into this business and how our business would be funded at the startup level. Eventually, we wrote the mission statement of our company and identified the legal status, obstacles and long-term opportunities for our company. In week 2, we did a detailed SWOT analysis of our company and identified the target consumers and competitive positions of our company. Later, we analyzed the mechanisms to reach our target market. Our professor taught us an important point of difference between marketing and sales. Marketing gets our prospective clientele to the door, but salesperson gets the commitment to pay. This helped us get a reality check and we understood the importance of having both the teams in our organization.

In week 3, we successfully created our monthly marketing and sales budget and later analyzed a key aspect of operations in our respective companies. Steven had asked us to identify the secret sauce that would make our company more efficient than the competitors providing similar services. We also planned on what technology we would be using and when would we implement it. In week 4, we will finally create our staffing budget and startup cost budget. Steve helped us in estimating funds that we will require to start our own company. This course was extremely helpful to me. My original goal was just to learn how to create a basic business plan, but I end up learning a lot more. This type of fluid and flexible document can be invaluable not only to my new hypothetical business but also to any new organization that I would join as creating a business plan will help me understand their company’s plan of action better.

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shrutishah22-blog · 5 years

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Media And Publishing Trends In The Entertainment Industry

The global media, publishing and entertainment sector is undergoing rapid disruption. Publishers are recognizing the growing correlation between customer experience and brand loyalty in this hyperconnected world. Studying at Full Sail for over nine months, today I completed my tenth course, Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution. The three initial goals that I had set for this course were, understanding the difference between traditional and digital publishing and distribution models, what role does Social Media play in the distribution industry and lastly, how different is distribution for movies and television from the music industry. Our professor, Kimberly Craft started with the basics and then eventually, explained each and every term in great depth.

In week 1, we wrote an effective query or pitch letter to a hypothetical agent. Professor Kim not only us how to write a pitch letter but also how to find an agent for a traditional publishing deal. Additionally, I learnt the meaning of the terms like, industry contracts and publishing contracts. In week 2, we learnt the brief history of printing and how it created a revolution in the evolution of publishing and distribution. Professor Kim also taught us how unsolicited works could land production houses in a lawsuit and that is the reason, authors and songwriters require an agent to solicit their work. Later, we learnt the importance of film treatment and their types, Original Draft Treatment and Presentation Treatment. Lastly, I learnt how to make a real Film Treatment. I had multiple options like a Film or Television Treatment, Game Design Document, Book Proposal or a Press Kit, out of which I chose a Film Treatment. Later, we were been hypothetically given a situation, that our agent loved our pitch letter and now we need to work on our Film Treatment.

In week 3, Professor Kim focused on making money through Publishing and Licensing. We learnt the different kinds of licenses in music and media industry and how to collect royalties from them. Later, we learnt different kinds of music publishing deals like, Single-Song agreement, Co-Publishing Deal and Self-Publishing Deal. Eventually, we were been given real-life case studies to solve, where we acted as licensing and publishing experts and helped upcoming artists understand legal matters. Finally, in the last week, I will get a chance to present a current event related to any form of entertainment media content and will have an open discussion with my classmates. Lastly, we would be working in a team on the Google Doc Collaboration assignment where we would be divided in teams and me and my team members would be researching recent articles on Film and Television and analyzing them. We would also be learning the importance of Digital Marketing tools like Social Media on Publishing and Distribution.

This course was extremely helpful for me. My original goals were just to learn basic publishing and distribution terminologies, but I end up learning a lot more. Gaining knowledge in Self-Publishing and Traditional Distribution Models will help me tackle several matters in future and enhance smooth functioning of the book, movie or music industry, whichever path I choose, in order to expand my digital marketing agency.

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shrutishah22-blog · 5 years

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Advanced Law: Redefining Role In The Entertainment Industry

Understanding the impact of law in the entertainment industry and my legal rights as a business owner or as an employee, will act as a key to success. A major part of entertainment law is drafting and negotiating contracts, non-compete agreements and litigation. Studying at Full Sail university for over eight months, today I completed my ninth course, Advanced Entertainment Law. The three initial goals that I had for this course were, getting familiar with a few legal terms like, plaintiff, statute etc., reading court cases and understanding their technical terms and lastly, knowing a few legal procedures as an employee and as a business owner. Our professor, Cassie Willard not only taught us how to examine laws in the media industry, but also how will it help us in growing our own hypothetical company.

In week 1, we identified potential legal liabilities within the entertainment industry by finding possible cases on NexisUni. Prof. Cassie gave us two options, firstly, we could pick previous cases with three different legal liabilities and analyze them or pick one legal liability and find three cases on them. I chose the latter option. This helped in achieving my second goal, that is, understanding the technical terms in previous court cases. Later, in that week we gave our first assessment which focused on Legal Terminology, Jurisdiction and Alternative Dispute Resolution. In week 2, we were given a couple of case studies from which I chose, Corwin v. The Walt Disney Company for my case study presentation. After presenting this case study, I achieved my first goal, as I learnt the meanings legal terms like, Daubert Motion To Strike Portion, Motion For Summary Judgement and Motion For Reconsideration. Disney won the case, and this happened because the evidence submitted by the plaintiff was extremely weak. Additionally, this presentation taught me what kind of strong proofs does one require when filing for a copyright infringement case against an established company, like Disney.

In week 3, we completed our IP Audit assignment where I listed four IP items to protect my digital marketing agency, AdGuru Digital. Lastly, I wrote what license or permission will I require from the American Marketing Association (AMA) for my agency to function. Additionally, I filled a Business, Copyright and a Trademark registration form for my agency and this assignment helped in achieving my final goal. In week 4, we studied cyber law and we will do an assessment too on this by the end of the week. In my opinion, this is an extremely important topic that we studied because there’re a ton of complaints regarding Internet frauds and even FBI places a high priority on investigating them. Lastly, we’re working on our research paper where, in order to avoid making those same mistakes, we would be analyzing industry concerns and applying the court’s final verdict to our business strategy.

This course was extremely helpful for me. My original objectives from this course was just to learn basic legal terminologies, but I end up learning a lot more about Entrepreneurial law. Having knowledge in licensing, copyright infringement and non-compete agreements will help me tackle several matters when I intend on starting my digital marketing agency in Florida. In short, after taking Prof. Cassie’s class, now I understand the importance of legal matters that will enhance smooth functioning of my digital marketing agency.

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shrutishah22-blog · 5 years

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The Art And Science Of Artist & Product Management

The artist and product managers require a combination of both art and science in order to handle the day-to-day business dealings. The artist is in charge of creating the art and usually has an overall vision for the project but it’s the manager’s job to take that vision, map out a viable plan and execute it. Our classes here in Full Sail, have equipped us with tools like market research and finance, but according to our professor, Thomas Jenkins, the most important skills of artist & product management are learned in the trenches, that is, while experiencing difficult situations in the real world.

Studying at Full Sail University for over seven months, today I completed my eighth course, Product and Artist Management. Our professor, Thomas Jenkins not only taught us the basics, but he also showed it to us practically by making us watch YouTube videos of some phenomenal artist managers and later we incorporated those tactics in our assignments. We started with artist management in week 1, where we were given real-life situations and as artist managers we needed to analyze and help our artist to overcome the hurdles. Additionally, we analyzed and followed what kind of leadership we need to use in these situations. By the end of the week, we researched two talent agencies or firms, their milestones in growth and how they evolved over time.

In week 2, we chose an artist manager and presented a case study on his life. This helped in gaining an understanding about how successful artist managers deal with their clients whereas, in week 3, we went in depth with product management. Here, we picked one industrial area, be it, music, television, radio or movies and with the help of Nielsen, we researched one current key happening in our specific industrial sector. Finally, in our last week, we selected our choice of artist and then introduced three products that would help enhance his/her image in the industry he/she is working for. With the help of a sales funnel, we did a monetary analyzation of the possibility of our products or services and then presented one to our class.

For me, this course was extremely helpful, as I plan on starting on doing digital marketing for movies or for brands. Whenever one works with artists and different industries and when we plan on marketing their babies (projects), it’s very important to understand their emotional aspect and how our work builds a connection with their prodigies. This is what artist and product management is all about.

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shrutishah22-blog · 6 years

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The Ultimate Guide To Negotiation And Deal-Making

Negotiation skills are important in both formal and informal day-to-day interactions. It’s a strategic discussion where each party tries to persuade the other to agree with his or her point of view. Finally, they come to a conclusion that both parties voluntarily accept and are ready to work towards it. Studying at Full Sail University for over six months, today I completed my seventh course, Negotiations and Deal-making. We all negotiate in our day-to-day lives, be it, reducing debts or trying to get a better deal in a car showroom or accepting a new job.

Our professor Eric Miles not only taught us the basics, but he also showed it to us practically by making us watch YouTube videos of some phenomenal negotiation experts and later we incorporated those tactics in our assignments. In Week 1, we learned the fundamentals of Negotiation. In order to be successful at business, we should aim in creating a win-win situation for both the parties. We also learned some of the technical terms that are used in Negotiations like BATNAs, underlying benefits, bargaining positions and mutual benefits. In Week 2, we learned some important clauses like Sunset Clause and how to proactively prevent negative emotions. Additionally, we learned the importance of body language in communication.

In Week 3, we learned the importance of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Professor Eric taught us how Litigation can be extremely expensive and not everyone can afford it. This is where a thorough knowledge of ADR processes come to our rescue. These processes include, Arbitration, Mediation and Conflict Resolution. ADR processes are ways to resolve disputes outside the courts. Arbitration is often used in commercial disputes and is decided by one or more persons, commonly referred to as arbitrators or the arbitral tribunal. They render an arbitration award which is legally binding both the parties to accept the decision, whereas in a mediation process, the decision is not enforceable.

Finally, in our last week, Eric taught us the importance of Game Theory and we were given topics to present in the class. For me, this course was extremely helpful when I plan on starting my company. Having a basic knowledge in legal matters can help me tackle several matters and understand whether my partners are violating our respective contracts or not.

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shrutishah22-blog · 6 years

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The Importance Of Digital Marketing In The Entertainment Industry

When it comes to Digital Marketing, there’s always more to learn. The importance of social media to web marketing can’t be overstated. More and more small-scale and large-scale businesses are implementing digital marketing tactics to effectively reach and engage with their target consumers online. Studying at Full Sail University for over five months, today I completed my sixth course, Digital Marketing. Our professor, Dr. Dan Spellman taught us how to develop an effective digital marketing strategy by defining a business concept, target market and identifying the keyword strategy for our brand.

As the online search market expanded, one clear leader emerged, Google and with it they bought AdWords, also known as Google Ads. In week 1, we identified our company’s direct and indirect competitors. Prof. Dan taught us the impact of keyword clustering and how it helps in growing our organic traffic. In week 2, we learnt to define the objective of our campaign for our respective companies and what marketing channels we will use. For my digital marketing agency, Ad Guru, I decided to create an SEO-optimized website, Social Media marketing, AdWords and activate Digital PR. Prof. Dan shed light on the importance of traditional marketing channels too in today’s digital age. In week 3, we learnt how integrate messages and media in order to develop a holistic marketing approach.

Social Media is a powerful tool when it comes to creating awareness for your brand. Before, I started this course, I was always confused, which one is better when it comes to creating brand awareness, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Social Media Marketing (SMM). Dan helped us understand that SEO and SMM are inter-related. When we share content on SMM channels, we’re not only getting engagement, but we’re also bringing visitors to our site. This helps us in boosting our SEO-optimized site’s visibility. SMM corresponds to SEO and indirectly influences the website’s performance.

In week 4, we collaborated all our three weeks digital marketing plans for our brand and presented a comprehensive marketing plan to the entire class. Although, I have five years of Social Media marketing experience in India, but this course taught me the importance of SEO and Google Ads. In future, I have plans to do Google certification courses in SEO and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) that will help me digitally market a movie or brand in a much professional way.

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shrutishah22-blog · 6 years

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The Importance Of Finance In The Entertainment Industry

As the saying goes, it takes money to make money. How you finance your business can affect your ability to survive it in bad times and bolster the next success in good ones. Some may argue that, finances are not necessarily as important as vision and a great product, but they’re crucial in making that good stuff happen for you. Studying at Full Sail University for over four months, today I completed my fifth course, Entertainment Business Finance. Our professor Christopher Woodward not only taught us the basics but in week 1, he showed the importance of filing your taxes practically by making us watch YouTube videos of the popular animated show, The Simpsons.

By reading a few chapters of our course book called, Entrepreneurial Finance by Philip J Adelman and Alan M Marks, I understood the importance of seeding money in a new venture. Entrepreneurs only have dreams and ideas until they have some capital to put their ideas in motion. We have all faced that dilemma, where our small business loan leaves us free to own and have absolute control over our company but it also leaves us with lasting financial obligations. In week 2, we learnt the importance of Time Value of Money while making major financial decision for our venture. We learned how to calculate the Future and Present values of Annuities and Lump Sums and how to apply various Capital Budgeting methods.

While most businesses have some amount of debt, especially in the beginning stages, too much debt compared with revenues and assets can leave us with more problems than making loan payments. From this course, we learnt, no matter how well our business is doing, we need to prepare for rainy days and storms too that is, unfavorable business circumstances. In week 3, we learned, what is Break-Even and how to calculate it in advance for our company whereas week 4 proved to be extremely crucial. Here, we not only learned how to manage our personal finances, but we also learned how to forecast the startup costs for our business.

Success can bring a business to a difficult crossroad. After the completion of this course, I have clearly understood that, to take more business and attain greater success, along with creative strategies, my company needs significant financial investment too. Financial planning helps in keeping the company in a strong shape and maintaining the integrity and longevity of the company.

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shrutishah22-blog · 6 years

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The Ultimate Guide To Business Storytelling & Brand Development

Brand development is all about using the right process, method or technique whereas storytelling is described as an art. Creating quality brand stories require skill, insights and ongoing efforts: it’s definitely something that cannot be mastered overnight. Studying at Full Sail University for over three months, today I completed my fourth course, Business Storytelling and Brand Development. From this course, I wanted to learn how create my own website, what is business storytelling and ways to start your own brand and after completing this course, I am confident that I have learnt a lot more.

Our professor Kenneth DeGilio not only taught us the basics, but he also showed it to us practically by making us watch YouTube videos of some phenomenal digital experts and later we incorporated those tactics in our assignments. In Week 1 we learnt the foundations of building our personal brand by reading a few chapters of a book named, The Brand Called You and later we learnt about how personal branding is a leadership requirement and not a self-promotion campaign. We build our own personal branding foundations by creating our own website using Wix.com. In Week 2 we learnt the importance of differentiating our brand from the rest. We learnt this by creating our own Business Model Canvas and later explaining our Industry Research Brief in an APA style paper.

In Week 3 we learnt the importance of brand identity and created our own brand logos, taglines, mantras and also learned how to pursue a strong brand whereas in week 4 we learned what is Business Storytelling by following CC Chapman’s theoretical modules. I made my first company introduction video using a new tool, Adobe Spark. I have a five-year experience in Digital marketing for movies and brands and my core strength is Social Media marketing. For this course, I decided to create a plan for my own Digital Marketing agency which later I will show it to potential companies as my expertise and strengths. My baseline would be, “if I can manage my own Digital Advertising agency, I will definitely be able to manage a team in your respective company.”

Under my professor Kenneth DeGilio’s guidance, I now look at brands with a different perspective. Today, if I write any new brand story, I ask myself three questions, who are my potential customers, how do I reach my target audience and am I still appealing to my existing audience? In future, these strategies will help me digitally market a movie or brand in a much professional way.

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shrutishah22-blog · 6 years

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How To Be An Effective Project Manager In 1 Month?

Life and work become extraordinarily stressful if we can’t manage our projects and priorities well. Studying at Full Sail University for over three months, today I completed my third course, Project and Team Management. Under my professor, Lester Frederick’s guidance I understood the big difference between being an individual contributor to a project and being the person responsible for the project. We started with understanding what’s leadership and how do we role play as a rotating Project Manager in our teams. Since, we had more number of Game Design students, professor Lester effectively placed an Entertainment Business student in each team in order to bring creative and business minded students together.

In Week one, we learned how to define a project whereas in week two we started actually planning the entire project and created a work break down structure that helped us narrow down the lists of tasks, activities and resources. With Project Plan 365 software, we created an entire plan using a Gantt Chart and Resource sheet. The project that I chose was my personal website. I wanted to make responsive resume website for myself since ages. With Lester help, I realized the importance of planning in a project. We also learnt various Project Management Methodologies like Waterfall, Agile, Scrum and many more. It’s because of these methodologies that I have a clear outcome of what my completed project will look like.

In Week three, we learned how to execute the project effectively. We understood how risk management is important to increase the likelihood of meeting the project objectives. By learning Budget plan, I have now made sure that my website will not exceed money or time that I have decided with my team in advance. Learning Conflict Resolution styles in Week three was the cherry on the cake. In Week 4, I learnt how to pitch our project to potential investors. We also learnt the importance of Team and Quality management for our project as well as the difference between Quality control and quality assurance.

During Personality Assessment class, we evaluated our personalities and discussed with our teams in class. Surprisingly, in just one month, my team and I, we got really close. Team projects in class helped us in thinking out of the box. Professor Lester made me realise it’s easy to get distracted from completing our project without a clear purpose and deadlines, so we need to place milestones and keep moving towards them. In future, when I become a Project Manager, these policies will help me mingle with my team in a much professional way.

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shrutishah22-blog · 6 years

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Greene Or Maxwell, Who Am I?

Ralph Waldo Emerson says, and I quote, “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.” I believe, leadership is all about standing out from the crowd. Currently, for my Executive Leadership class, I am reading two books, “The 48 Laws Of Power” by Robert Greene and “Developing The Leader Within You 2.0” by John C Maxwell. Greene and Maxwell’s approach towards leadership is like night and day. The viewpoints of both these authors are poles apart. Greene’s leadership style is more on the lines of the laws like, crushing your enemy totally, getting others to do the work for you, but always taking the credit whereas Maxwell talks about traits like influence, leadership and creating a positive change.

Working for 5 years in the Entertainment Industry has made me realise that in order to be an effective leader and gain followers, I need to know my leadership style. If I were to rate myself on how I lead, I would consider myself 40 percent Greene and 60 percent Maxwell. I will use Maxwell’s leadership to structure my own team together so that they follow me not out of fear or position but out of respect. However, I will also use some of the Greene laws because I need to deal with devious leaders in the Entertainment industry. Greene says, and I quote, “Pose as a friend, work as a spy.” I can use this law in order to deal with leaders who believe in using people and taking their work credit. Never outshine your master is another Greene law that I can use to boost my leader’s ego in order to keep my position secured.

In my opinion, the best way to explain Greene’s laws and Maxwell’s traits is by comparing Marvel’s two avengers, Iron Man and Captain America. These two superheroes love mother Earth and genuinely have a great affection for their companions, but Iron Man is keener on keeping secrets from his friends and doing things the way he likes whereas Captain America is all about working together as a team and keeping people first. Even though, Iron Man is more powerful than Captain American because he can fly and with his vast scientific knowledge he has the most updated machines but Captain America by following Maxwell traits proves to be a better leader.

In the long run, when I reach the pinnacle stage, I would prefer using more of Maxwell traits than Greene’s laws in order to enhance team-spirit and determine my organization’s success.

References:

Be Like Steve – 9 Leadership Lessons from Captain America (2016, June 10). In ventureteambuilding.co.uk. Retrieved September 12, 2018, from http://www.ventureteambuilding.co.uk/leadership-lessons-from-captain-america/

Emerson, R. W. (2018, September 12). Ralph Waldo Emerson Quote. In izquotes.com. Retrieved September 12, 2018, from https://izquotes.com/quote/ralph-waldo-emerson/do-not-follow-where-the-path-may-lead-go-instead-where-there-is-no-path-and-leave-a-trail-342254

Greene, R. (1998). The 48 Laws Of Power (1998th ed., pp. 1-250). New York, NY: Viking Penguin, Penguin Books.

Maxwell, J. C. (2018). Developing The Leader Within You 2.0 (2018th ed., pp. 1-165). Nashville, TN: HarperCollins Leadership.

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shrutishah22-blog · 6 years

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We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated

Maya Angelou (Angelou, 2018)

References

Angelou, M. (2018, August 26). Maya Angelou Quotes. In BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved August 26, 2018, from https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/maya_angelou_165173

Retrieved from Brainy Quote

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shrutishah22-blog · 6 years

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