My elevator pitch for the instrumental entrepreneur BUS 368 FT - Business Communications Prof. Wells B. St. Ann

Introduction – who am I? I am a musician from New Orleans I am also a college student/entrepreneur that attends Talladega College. I want to create a brand of brass instruments strictly to satisfy all types of musicians from all walks of life. As a musician growing up in New Orleans, I’ve experienced the hardships of being in an unfortunate middle/high school marching band program. So, I would like to create a brand that is affordable but almost indestructible. And that can bring back the spark in band

Music programs are overlooked but with my concept I’m going to help music programs grow My concept is basically an idea of what I can do to help improve the way musicians and beginners see the musical and artistic world. I would love to be able contribute to help better the education of the younger minds. Wouldn’t you? The concept of this idea is to create an instrument based off of how different schools handle the instruments provided and how well they perform with them. We all know that marching bands are big in the south. School marching band programs are slowly losing its students interests because of the lacking with instrumentation, funding, and moral support. With my idea, I feel as though I can help schools gain back their spunk and spark by creating an instrument with a new and improved sound that can attract new students for recruitment as well as improvements and to help build up better programs. Believe it or not, a student at a school with poor instruments will have the urge to go to the school with better instruments. With that being said, I want to keep band alive.

They say that band is dying but this is what they aren’t looking at They say that band is dying but this is what they aren’t looking at. (facts) “Students who participate in school band or orchestra have the lowest levels of current and lifelong use of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs among any group in our society.” - H. Con. Res. 266, United States Senate, June 13, 2000 “High school music students have been shown to hold higher grade point averages (GPA) than non-musicians in the same school”.~ National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 Every year, at least 20 different instruments get totally replaced because of wear and tear, accidents, and other acts of nature, Causing band programs to spend extra money on repairs and replacements. – My personal experiences Music enhances the process of learning. The systems they nourish, which include our integrated sensory, attention, cognitive, emotional and motor capacities, are shown to be the driving forces behind all other learning.~ Konrad, R.R., Empathy, Arts and Social Studies, 2000 Playing music positively affects the development of children's cognitive skills. It builds confidence, self-discipline, and inspires creativity. It increases productivity and helps kids and teens connect socially with their peers. Students in the arts are found to be more cooperative with teachers and peers, more self-confident, and better able to express ideas. -http://www.aswltd.com/gallup.htm

The potential for growth The musical instrument industry is a large business that I feel focuses on more string instruments and drums. If we can bring the focus on brass more the chance for profits would rise higher. The instrument industry has a high demand amongst the elementary, middle, and high school band programs but funding for them isn't as abundant for them to get new ones and repairs. This results to me having to step in with instruments that are affordable and isn’t costly with repairs.

The exit plan I plan to have at least 5-10 fundraisers for musical instruments for different schools, thus me having to partner with some of the competition to help gain the clientele that is needed. I will then put a music retail and repair shop in various cities across the south just to start up my plan to fully expand. After that, I will head to different schools just to examine how they operate and how well they are taking care of their instruments. I will also make valuable and affordable offers to that band and go from there.