You Are Destined to Be One of Them!
A recent LA Times’ article documents the ascendancy of alternative business models in Hollywood. Successful filmmakers — Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, John Lasseter, George Lucas—have worked outside the traditional studio system, starting their own companies and producing great movies while avoiding meddling studio bosses.
The “Hook-up” between venture capital and Hollywood’s ‘creative class’, is allowing an increasing number of creative types to bypass the vaunted studio system and get direct funding for their creative projects. It is widely acknowledged that using the Internet to market and distribute independent films is low cost and incredibly effective. Internet buzz and ingenious use of viral marketing contributed to the phenomenal success of The Secret earlier this year.
Securing direct funding gives independent filmmakers and writers creative control of their projects. This process challenges the established studio system. The independent producer paradigm parallels the Silicon Valley’s startup culture. Writers are keeping control of their intellectual property and producing their projects independently with venture capital. The Silicon Valley’s influence extends beyond an active and enthusiastic venture funding pool. The other prime driver of the independent producer movement is affordable and increasingly more assessable technology. Technological change always affects the existing business model. Historically, those enterprises that can’t adapt, or won’t compete just go away — think buggy whips and button hooks.
The Internet is being used to successfully market and distribute films like ‘The Secret’ and other original songs, books, business products. As the ‘Cluetrain Manifesto’ predicted, it is easier to identify and reach a market that is passionate about a specific product and are willing to support it online or ‘In Real Life’. By skillful use of the Internet, early-adapter entrepreneurs are challenging traditional business models and marketing their products directly to their eager target market.
Most successful online businesses sell information in one form or another — books, reports, training courses, entertainment products. Facilitating access to information and entertainment, by bypassing the traditional gatekeepers, is the philosophy behind the Cluetrain Manifesto. The crucial component to consistent online profitability is maintaining an unwavering focus on your user, visitor and reader. Do that and all the rest — the Search Engine Optimization, web design that maximizes Return On Investment, fall into place as a natural consequence. It is all about the customer, the end-user and adding value. Profit, business success, financial freedom all rest on the value added to products and services.
What’s In It For Me!
Many of the Millionaire Mind Intensive Graduates are looking for ways to either monetize aspects of an existing businesses or investigating various passive income stream opportunities. I want to encourage you to carefully examine your own “Big Ideas” those wishes, dreams, secrete aspirations as possible seeds for your financial freedom tree. Each of us has unique knowledge that can help other people. Start by doing some online research, Google your field of interest, study what is already out there, look for ways you can “Add Value” to the market. There is no limit to how the Web can be utilized — even raising investor capital has become easier by using sources like www.prosper.com
Knowledge workers, writers, musicians, artists, business and life coaches can all sell their intellectual property directly to their customers online. The future belongs to a tantalizing new hyphenate — the writer-entrepreneur, artists-turned-business professionals. Folks just like you, who start their business enterprises to market their Big Idea and incidentally become financially independent by creating a business paradigm operates under a radically different set of rules.
Here Are A Few Inspiration Seeds for Your Financial Freedom Tree
After barely a year in existence, YouTube was bought by Google for $1.65 billion.
On the Internet, good ideas travel fast.
“The world is about to change. Anyone with an Apple computer can make a movie now — it’s never been a more democratic medium. The studios should be very afraid. Once the independent financiers start going directly to writers, things could change really fast. I ask myself every week — why aren’t we all working with them?
Look at the movies they’ve made. They are the new Medicis.”
—Scott Frank,
Writer “Minority Report” and Director “The Woodsman”
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