Back By Popular Demand!  The band and I performed again live in concert at Fuller's Pub 3209 W. Irving Park Road Chicago, IL 60618.

Lenore Raphael

 I sing her praises as a jazz impresario and as a human being. Lenore Raphael, I am proud to say is a Steinway jazz pianist without equal. She is a composer, music instructor, recording artist and host of her own Jazz radio show.  I have come to know her as a consummate artist and a wonderful humanitarian. I chose her for this interview for these reasons and because we have developed a rare friendship over the last couple of years in which we talk about nearly everything from the business to our families, to sports and our pets.  I have grown to love her as a fellow artist and friend.
      
  We initially attempted to conduct the interview via email then both agreed that the better way would be to connect by phone. Lenore is a resident of New York City.  I am a resident of Chicago. Our schedules are often otherworldly. Lenore performs all over the world. I alternate between school, performing and trying to run two totally different companies. I am honored that she thought enough of our friendship to take the time to partake in this interview. She is indeed a rare person, with exceptional music abilities. She is a lover of traditional jazz. We share that love in common along with the fact she loves cockatiels. She has one; Spike and I have two; Bubba and Spanky. 

     Lenore Raphael was born Lenore Hyams June 01, 1942 in New York City. She is a jazz pianist influenced by the likes of jazz greats, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans and George Shearing.  She began her foray into music at the age of four. According to Lenore, she heard her brother playing the piano and although she did not yet know the chords by name, began to replay them to near perfection by ear.

     In her teens, as a prodigy, Lenore performed classical music at Carnegie Hall.  She received  formal training in classical music at the High School of Music & Art in Manhattan, later going on to New York University where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in music.   She has studied jazz piano under both legendary Barry Harris and Michael “Mike” Longo.

     She has performed with the late jazz vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist, Ken Peplowski, American jazz tenor saxophonist, Illinois Jacquet and trumpeter and flugelhornist, Clark Terry.

     Today, she has a thriving musical career.  She literally performs across the globe adding stints throughout the United States, South Africa and Europe. Everywhere Lenore performs her performances draw spectacular accolades.  

     Her CDs include The Whole Truth, Reflections, Wingin' It, A Beautiful Friendship and Class Act.  Two of her recordings “Invitation” (2006) and “Loverly” (2012) were nominated for Grammys.  Additionally, a series she helped to create has become a model for teaching young students the fundamentals of jazz in the curriculum of many schools.

     From this interview, just when I thought I knew everything there was to know about her, I discovered I had a great deal more to learn about the extraordinarily accomplished Ms. Raphael.

1.  Me: Lenore, this interview focuses on your experiences with different negotiation techniques.   And, aside from the issues you and I are experiencing getting you booked here in Chicago at the Jazz Showcase, the club of my childhood friends (laughing, but this is a true story), how difficult is it for you to negotiate the type Typically, who handles setting up your bookings, promotions, online presence etc.?

Lenore:  Typically, I do it all myself. I really do scheduling, salaries, travel, hotels, incidentals etc.? I have been doing it as long as I have been in this business.  As you said before, nobody knows you as well as we do ourselves. OK, well each situation is different, you. What I do very often, if I know somebody is playing in a venue already, I will ask him or her certain questions without telling them me how much they paid you, how was the pay? Did they get you a hotel? Did they make it part of the total amount?  So, I sort of know what I am getting into even before I get into it, I then have a good idea what I can ask for, what I might ask for and what is going to be the hardest part of the negotiation?

2.  Me: Is there any average time frame for you to get this all done?

Lenore: Really, no there really is not. Some people get back to me immediately, say when can you be here?  Others say I’ve booked this so get back to me in six months or a year. Others say were are book for the next year or so, I can’t even talk to you. Each situation is different. So really there is no average.

3.  Me: How do you go about selecting the artists you choose to perform with? Are you like me, in that when you are going to perform you want to have the whole enchilada in place; scheduling, salary, hotel, and travel expenses etc.?  I am somewhat new to the online side of the business although, I have actually been in the business performing for years. You are not new. With all of the stuff you have out there your websites, music, etc., do all of these things help you to set up performances?  Are the deals you set up inclusive of the other artist or do they provide their own deals and accommodations? Who provides the contract for each party involved in the deal?

Lenore: Absolutely! I think to a great extent you do have to sound people out.  This going to sound strange, but you can get a pretty good idea of what they are going to do for you by looking at other artists they have had there. So, if you see a big name or a name you recognize you know the deal is going to be better, then if you see a bunch of local performers on the website or wherever. And you then say oh they’re booking locals with an occasional out-of -town artist performing there so I can’t expect that much. That is a good way to do it, actually. Look who is playing there.  People do check websites.  They really do, they check websites. Often again, it is a question of budget. I recently had an experience, and I won’t tell you where, the budget was really nice, I got to pick my own musicians who came with me. That’s kind of a rarity these days.  What I am finding more and more is that they will book me and I will usually get some local players.  What I am finding which is great, there are great players everywhere these days. So I know there are certain cities I can go to now and I just make a call. I know these people. I have played with them. So If I know I am going to Denver I have four basses I love playing with there, in Florida, I have a couple of bassists there and so forth.  And so it also depends on the budget. If someone is playing with me I just simply tell him or her, I have the contract this is what you are going to get paid, here are the details. That is all they need to know.

 

 4.  Me: Are there times when your performance deals are difficult to execute? In such incidences, how do you resolve this conflict? What do you do when you come across the other party’s (e.g. the club owner or it could even be another member of the band, etc.) difficult attitude?  How do you separate the people from the problem when you are negotiating? What tips do you have for new negotiators who are trying to do this?

Lenore:  Well, the truth is thank goodness, I haven’t run into to that that much. Occasionally, I run into someone who doesn’t want to pay me what I want so forth or so on.  I think in certain situations it’s a value added.  In other words, I might say something like yes I might negotiate, but I can bring in “x” amount of people, I can guarantee the place is going to be full. I really have think carefully how to negotiate on what I want, it is not always possible to get what you want. I will say there is only one time I absolutely did walk away from something.  It wasn’t that they were a problem. They did want me. They did not want to cover airfare. It would have been totally impossible for me to cover the airfare and make any money at all. I did unfortunately have to walk away from that. But, recently I had a negotiations with somebody, whose name I won’t mention. And I was prepared to walk away. And I wanted something and I essentially said, “Thank you very much, but I think I will have to pass.” And he did get back to me. He called me back and said, “OK let’s do it” and he did agree. Evidently, somebody there said,  “You gotta have her.”  “She is great”.  He thought it out and he said ah, She'll bring people into the club and even if she doesn’t, it will bring the reputation of the club up.  He thought it out. Because up until that time he had been booking mostly local people. He can say now I have national artists here. I am booking a national artist now in terms of the reputation the club had, right?  That was a good negotiation, to get what I wanted.  It’s economics. Will it pay for itself? For new negotiators you have to know what you want, be definite about it and be prepared to walk away if you have to. And don’t pay to play! Do not let anyone tell you if you play you have to pay.

5. Me: How do you handle positional bargaining tactics?

Lenore:  You mean you give me this I give you that? I really had to be honest; I have never had to deal with that. I really haven’t.  Most of the dealings I have this days say, “This is what we pay.” “This is the budget.”  What a new person today should ask immediately is, “What is your budget?”  What do you cover? What do you take care of? I really haven’t had too much haggling back and forth. Either, I have been lucky or I don’t know. I find most of these days the contracts come, you look at the amount, you say, “Okay that’s cool or not.”

6. Me: Do you have an attorney to write up and review your contractual agreements?

Lenore: I use to have an attorney to take care of that. I don’t now because I am pretty much aware of all the little things in in the middle that say in case of whether we cancel or in case its acts of God kinds of things.  So, haven seen lots of contracts to this point I pretty much know what to look for and what to watch out for.  And, what I need to put in of course, which is my own rider that says I want this, this and this, which they usually will cooperate with. But As far as needing an attorney at this point, I don’t bother. If it were an issue of signing with a record label, then I would have an attorney look at that.

7.  Me:  Have you ever used objective criteria in an effort to come to a mutual agreement with the person you were negotiating with? Examples would include using statistics, past practice and data to shore up your position.

Lenore: I don’t.  Well yes, actually, I guess I do in a way.   In a sense, if you can call it that, I call and say,  “Hey, we have played at thus and so and have sold out.” “ We sold the place out.” “They had to put up a sign that said,  “Sorry, no more people.” “We’re sold out.” So you can use that as a negation to say look we can sell the place out.  You are going to make money.  You are going to sell drinks. You’re gonna…  Statistics? I don’t know.

8.  Me: Have you ever had to employ or resort to any so-called dirty tricks to get the other party to see you point of view. You are so classy; I cannot fathom you using such underhanded tactics.

Lenore: No, I can say that unequivocally.  No. Some people might, but no. I do want to add something it just occurred to me.  The reason that it is not really a great thing to do, club owners, festival brokers, etc., they all talk to each other and what goes around comes around.  And, if a venue says thus and so did that, they’re going to tell everybody, chances are you are not going to wind up playing in too many places. You know word gets out.  They all talk to each other. From a negative standpoint, but from a positive standpoint too, they talk to each other. “Well, how did Lenore do at your festival?”  “She sold the place out.”  “They loved it.”  “She got a standing ovation.”  You have to watch what you do.

9.  Me:  I have a question I have been dying to ask.  How accurate is your Wikipedia profile?

Lenore: Yes, I know the guy who wrote it. And he actually ran it by me before he put it up. And it’s pretty accurate. Yeah. The only thing I wish they would leave out is the year I was born. There are no secrets on the Internet! (We both laugh).

10. Me: I tell Lenore not to worry, because of her magnificence, the year of her birth, made it a very good year indeed!  (The interview has concluded).

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenore_Raphael
http://www.lenoreraphael.com/

Name and Contact Information: Lenore Raphael,


http://www.lenoreraphael.com/
Email: swinginfox@swinginfox.com

Link:
http://rcmcltd1.tumblr.com/Nash_Sandy_Interview%20Blog%20Post%20Sun%2001%20Jun%2014%20%28Revised%29

Performed in concert live Sunday 21 Dec 14 3932 W. Irving Park Road Chicago, IL 60641

Today, I am graduating with a Master's Degree in Entertainment Business Management.

Entrepeneurship

For this BP blog post, I deliberately sought out the opinions of both a male and a female recognized “expert” in the field of writing and/or reviewing business plans. These experts can from the world of business plan development, angel investing, venture capital investing, and academia.  I felt I would gain a totally different perspective by doing so. With that objective in mind, I chose Tim Berry and Ingrid Vanderveldt .

Tim Berry by profession, is considered an entrepreneur, business planner and angel investor. According to Entrepreneur online, Berry is also by his own description,
The chairman of Eugene, Ore.-Palo Alto Software, which produces business-planning software. He founded Bplans.com and wrote “The Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan,” published by Entrepreneur Press. He is also a co-founder of HavePresence.com, a leader in a local angel-investment group and a judge of international business-plan competitions. (Berry, 2013)

 Ingrid Vanderveldt, on the other hand, serves as,
 the Chief Executive Officer at Green Girl Energy. Ms. Vanderveldt has been Advisor of Current Motor Company since October 4, 2011. She is also the Chief Executive Officer and Owner at Ingrid Vanderveldt LLC. Ms. Vanderveldt serves as Managing Director and Owner of VH2 Energy Investments LLC. She is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Dell Corporate Ventures. She created and oversees the $100 million Dell Innovators Credit Fund for Entrepreneurs & The Dell Center for Entrepreneurs. She is the Co-Founder of The Billionaire Girls Club and is a Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) Member. She is working on legislation with State Senators to bring out a State-wide EIR bill in 2013. In 2012, she helped architect The Federal EIR Bill with Senator Mary Landreau (LA) & Representative Mike Honda. She is a seasoned business television personality and is the creator of the CNBC series “American Made“ and “On the Road with iV". Ms. Vanderveldt is a Co-founder of the Glass forum. She is an entrepreneur, investor and business television host whose work is focused on Empowering a Billion Women by 2020 (EBW 2020) by providing tools, technology & resources to empower entrepreneurs around the globe. She serves as a Member of Business Advisory Council at BELLE Capital USA, LP. She serves on the Advisory Boards of Current Motor Company since October 4, 2011 and advises it on its sustainability initiatives, on Springboard Enterprises, World Blu, and the Young Entrepreneur Council. In her philanthropic work, she is working on her first entrepreneurship & leadership school for women & girls and has provided grants to 27 women entrepreneurs in Haiti. She is the 2012 Alumna of the Year for The Savannah College of Art & Design where she earned a Masters in Architecture. She also holds an MBA in entrepreneurship from The University of Texas at Austin.  (Bloomberg Businessweek, 2014)

I surmise that both Tim Berry and Ingrid Vanderveldt would rank uniquely qualified to be referred to as “experts.” In Berry’s online articles for Entrepreneur he covers such topics as:
How to Anticipate Cash-Flow Problems, The Art of Business Pitching Has Changed. Are You on Board?, Your Mission Statement May Be Utterly Useless or a Gold Mine, Do I Need to Go to Business School?, 8 Ingredients Every App and Software Business Plan Needs, The Worst Business Plan Mistake Entrepreneurs Make, Leadership,  10 Business Plan Benefits You Might Be Forgetting, How and Why Business Plans Have Changed, Marketing, Marketing ROI: Budgeting Your Money Wisely, How to Build a Lean and Efficient Business Plan, When Is the Best Time to Write Your Business Plan?,  and Reworking Your Business Plan? Consider These Tips. Exploring each of these topics was right up my alley.
Ingrid Vanderveldt, was asked in an article in Forbes written by contributor Emily Bennington what her life was like as an intrapreneur and  asked to explain Vanderveldt’s desires to fix young America, and her lofty goal of empowering a billion women. ( Bennington, 2012)

Vanderveldt serves as “the first-ever Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Dell. Dell is the multinational computer technology company based in Round Rock, Texas, United States.” (www.dell.com, 2014)

In yet another online article, this time Tech Cocktails, Ingrid Vanderveldt expounds upon the opportunities that Dell has for young entrepreneurs. “Through the $100 million Dell Innovators Credit Fund, which she created, Ingrid helps funded startups (led by women and men) get access to scalable technology to grow their businesses.” (Newman, 2014)

In this same article, Vanderveldt also says, “there are over 3.5 billion women on earth today, and expresses her lofty mission to empower a billion of them by 2020.” Her desire is about bringing women “tools, technology, and resources to thrive and become leaders and entrepreneurs. In particular, Vanderveldt hopes to see a mobile device in the hands of every woman."  (Newman, 2014)

Vanderveldt in a You Tube video she does for Tech Cocktail talks about the importance of mentorship for women and the necessity of “paying it forward” for those rare women who are succeeding today. Also she says, “the entrepreneurs she knows out in the world are the ones that are genuinely setting up opportunities that really, do solve a problems that make life easier for someone else.” (Newman, 2014)

·      What are the critical & key components that investors are looking for in a plan?

 Berry says, “Business plans have to be the work of business owners and managers, not outsiders.”

·      Why are these considered key?

This is considered key because business owners cannot and should not delegate the responsibility for knowing their businesses inside and out to an outside source. This is strictly the responsibility of the business owners. Berry goes on to say, “In those rare cases when having a specialist develop a plan as a consulting job could work, the owners must make very sure they still own it, know it, and live it. After all, it is their business.”

Another critical and key component is that you provide an effective and engaging pitch.  It has been drummed into my head that the attention span of investors is very short, a poorly developed and executed pitch line can sink even the most otherwise excellent business plan.  You want to make your pitch grab the investors attention within say, 45seconds and keep him or her engaged to consider the rest of your proposal.

And, another critical component is to know your numbers. Investors want to know exactly how they are going to wisely invest their money.  Not knowing your numbers or how much each phrase of your business is going to cost, shows you are not ready to have an investor.

Yet another critical component is to not give to much information. Having too much information thrown at them all at once as with most people overwhelms investors. Keep the plan well developed but succinct. In other words, get rid of the fluff and provide the “bottom line to investors.”

You also need to include your salary in the numbers that you provide to investors. After all, you are an employee of your own company as well. Be sure you have allocated that fact in your budget.

Still another component involves not giving away too much equity in your company too soon. Another article in Entrepreneur suggests,
While you may be tempted to give investors a higher percentage of your company in exchange for more cash, don't do it. As your company grows, you may need to raise additional rounds and give away more of your company down the road, so remember to think ahead. (Clifford, 2012)
Something else to keep in mind, business owners vying for investment dollars should know that  investors typically invest in:
    •    Internet: 31.9 percent
    •    Healthcare: 20.9 percent
    •    Mobile and telecom: 13.3 percent
    •    Industrial: 6 percent
    •    Electronics: 3.8 percent
    •    Consumer product and services: 5.3 percent
    •    Services: 4.5 percent
    •    All industries that don’t fit into the aforementioned categories: 14.2 percent (Clifford, 2013)
Furthermore, I think it important to know where these investors (particularly angel investors) can be found. Clifford’s article grants us key insight into which area of the country to find them.
    1.    New York Angels, New York
    2.    Tech Coast Angels, Los Angeles
    3.    Launchpad Venture Group, Boston
    4.    Central Texas Angel Network, Austin
    5.    Golden Seeds, New York
    6.    Sand Hill Angels, Sunnyvale, Calif.
    7.    Investor's Circle, Durham, N.C.
    8.    Alliance of Angels, Seattle, Wash.
    9.    Common Angels, Boston
    10.    Maine Angels, Bar Harbor, Maine (Clifford, 2013)

·      Which of their suggestions are you considering for your plan?

My view is to take all into account all of the suggestions presented here.  My goal for my corporation is to be successful right off the bat. If I can avoid the pitfalls and utilize the advantages, I am all for it.  After all both Tim Berry and Ingrid Vanderveldt have the success to back up their contentions.

                                                  References
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=141436748&privcap
Id=145478148&previousCapId=4333534&previousTitle=PDM%20Bridge,%20LLC       
http://tech.co/ingrid-vanderveldt-dell-2014-03
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223591
http://www.entrepreneur.com/author/tim-berry
www.dell.com

My band and I performed here last in concert. The crowd and staff loved us. A great time was had by all!