Self-Direction

This week, you will be tested on your ability to self-direct.  On Sunday, my wife gave birth to our son, so I will be out for the next two weeks on leave, which means you are fully responsible for completing your work without my assistance.  Please use this blog, the PowerPoints from our Google Drive, and Google search as your guide through your daily assignments.  Keep all notes in your master file (and back it up to a cloud or other storage device) and make sure to date all your work for organizational purposes:

Monday: Company Logo & Tag Line
If I asked you to describe the company logos for McDonalds or Chevrolet, I'm sure you could all do so without hesitation.  Much like tag lines ("Creating confections made to perfection," for example), a logo is an integral part of your brand identity.  Please use today's class to brainstorm and make note of a clear description of your company logo.  You will also make note of at least three tag lines your business will use.  This, combined with your vision you created last week, will help transition into your tasks for the rest of the week.  Please remember to date your work on your working document and keep everything in one master file (Google docs, MS Word, etc.).

Tuesday: Mission Statement and Company Goals

Now that we have completed our marketing plan, we can devise a list of goals for the organization, along with a company mission statement.  For those of you who prefer to write in bullet point fashion, feel free to create a list of your company goals/objectives.  If you are more comfortable writing goals and objectives in paragraph form, go for it!  Have at least 5 measurable, easily identifiable goals for your first year in business.

For your mission statement, it wouldn’t hurt to see a few well-written models.  Use the business plans in my classroom and check out this link for some solid examples of well-written mission statements.  A few of my favorite from the link are from Advance Auto Parts, Applied Materials, and of course, Starbucks.

Below is an explanation of each component, taken directly from the scoring rubric:

• Company description: origination date, industry, legal description, location, brief history (if an existing company).

·      Mission statement: A brief statement that represents what company stands for; narrow enough to give direction but not so vague that it could apply to any other organization.

Wednesday: Planning and Organizing

Management can be broken into 4 main components: Planning, Organizing, Leading, and Controlling.  Today we will focus on the first 2 components. 

For the Planning Component, you will need to have your company goals in mind.  Address how you plan to achieve each goal in a few (3 to 5) sentences.  From the rubric:

·       Planning: What are the goals of the business? Identify strategies to achieve each goal.

For Organizing, you will need to break down the number of employees, identify a chain of command, and describe the job of each position in the organization.  From the rubric:

·       Organizing: How is the firm organized to be able to meet objectives? Organization chart to specify what jobs need to be done and by whom.

Thursday: Leading and Controlling

Leadership is an important aspect of running a successful business.  Have you ever noticed that most pets take on the personality of their owners?  Have you ever heard the saying, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” and realized it to be true?  The same applies in business.  Read this article about corporate culture, and explain how you will lead your employees.  If you are a 1-person operation, how will you direct yourself in terms of staying on task and holding yourself accountable to the highest standards necessary to succeed? From the rubric:

·       Directing: How are directions, assignments, instructions and information provided to employees?

With respect to controlling, think back to your lesson about performance evaluations.  How will you measure employee productivity?  Will you use measurable performance indicators?  Will you use 360-degree feedback?  Will you be the only judge of their performance? How will you make your employees happy to come to work and know when they’re doing well, or how to improve upon their shortcomings?  From the rubric:

·      Controlling: How does the firm monitor progress toward achieving goals?

Friday: Catch-up and Blog

I understand we have done a lot this week, so I’m going to allow Friday to be a catch-up day.  Once you’ve completed the tasks for the week, write a blog about your work. 

·      How well have you stayed on task? 

·      After thinking about the management function, especially the leadership component, how well do you think you will lead your organization to success? 

·      What topics, if any, that we talked about in class on Monday helped you with this portion of the plan? 

·      What part of the plan did you absolutely nail?  Feel free to copy/paste that into your post.

Again, feel free to separate your blog entry into sections by addressing each question.  This will make the entry easy to read and will ensure you touch upon everything properly. 

I hope you had a great week! 

Work is Still Work

"Baseball, it is said, is only a game.  True, and the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona."

-George Wills

“I think about baseball when I wake up in the morning.  I think about it all day, and I dream about it at night.”

-Carl Yastrzemski

The above quotes describe an unparalleled love for baseball that two men have.  They describe a passion for the game that consumes them, and provide a great example of what it takes to succeed, not only in sport, but also in business.  When I assigned the task of completing a business plan for my VE class, I prepared them by showing videos and providing articles that detail how passion for something can be the difference between an average business and a thriving one.  Students were encouraged to create a business in an industry in which they have that passion so that they could remain focused and productive.  Thus far, I have seen glimpses of it, but now we need to turn up the heat. 

Through the first week of preparation, many students have fallen behind, and I estimate about 80% of them are in need of stepping up their game.  Because I understand that plans sometimes need to change, and that the process isn’t always right on schedule, I have moved last Friday’s task (the 5 Ps) to this Tuesday.  Also, since the marketing mix and management plan account for more than 50% of the grade, we will take the next 2+ weeks to finalize these areas of the business plan.  I will also provide a framework for the purpose of the plan and how to set goals for the business once students have completed the “vision” of their ideal business.

So, without further adieu, here is a breakdown of this week’s tasks.  Again, you’ll find Tuesday’s task identical to last Friday’s so that students can get back on track and be in the right mindset for completing an excellent business plan.

Tuesday:

First, look at the 2 quotes at the beginning of my blog entry this week.  Think about things that occupy your mind all day and dream about at night.  Is your business plan designed around something you have this much passion for?  When you graduate, your focus for your career or major in college should be just as strong as this.  It will certainly help you succeed in whatever endeavor you choose.  This is just some advice.  I hope you find it helpful. 

Now, do some research about the 5 Ps of marketing.  Refer to this article (which describes 7 Ps) along with the rubric I’ve shared on my Public_Faculty folder, which details 5 Ps.  Use your answers to yesterday’s questions about your specific vision for your business and the explanation of the 5 Ps to break down:

1.     Product (or service)

2.     Price

3.     Place

4.     Promotion

5.     People

In today’s blog entry, you will type a description of each of these aspects of your business.  Once complete, you will have a rough draft for the first piece of your business plan!  

Wednesday:

Today we will focus on our target market.  If you are creating a business plan, you must know who your customer will be.  You’ve touched upon this in previous assignments, but today, it’s time to really define who it is you plan to have as a customer.  Here are 2 aspects of your target market that you will need to address:

o   Identifies a specific group of consumers toward which firm directs its marketing efforts.

o   Separates layers of market according to some of the following: demographics, geography, psychographics, benefits, etc.

Though today’s assignment is only 2 simple questions, your analysis and work will take you the entire period to complete.  Think smart, work smart, and put your thoughts into coherent, complete sentences.

Thursday:

Today’s focus is on your industry.  We will complete an industry analysis by answering the following questions:

o   Demonstrate an understanding of the real world industry by providing information about size, profitability, current challenges, competitive pressures, etc.  Use information found on the internet to analyze and critique how big you will be at inception, how large you wish to grow over time, and what barriers to growth exist in your industry.  Today’s lesson will be very helpful when completing part of your SWOT Analysis as well.

Friday:

Today is all about knowing your competition.  While you have outlined some strengths and weaknesses of direct competitors already, today we will refine that analysis and add to it by doing the following:

·      Competitive analysis: Identification and examination of characteristics of competing firms. (If there are no direct competitors, analysis of indirect competitors.)

·      How does the competition earn business?

·      How do they keep business?

·      Why would someone want to switch their allegiance to your business instead of theirs

Now, you can probably expect to complete today’s task pretty quickly.  That’s great!  You will use the last 15-20 minutes of class to blog about your progress on this week’s tasks.  In today’s blog, detail 1) How you may/may not have changed your focus so that you could get caught up (did you start to think about how your passion translates to this project outside of class?), 2) How much more clear your vision has become for the business, 3) are you on schedule? Behind schedule? Ahead of schedule? And 4) On which aspect of this week’s tasks did you absolutely nail it? Feel free to include a portion of that work in your entry.  You can complete this entry, and future entries, by listing each question and addressing them individually or just write your entry in paragraph form.  Just make sure to use complete sentences, and take pride in your work.

A Journey of a Thousand Miles

In order to prepare my VE students for writing their own individual business plan, I have already shown them four videos about how to raise one’s standards, how to back them up with consistent, manageable rituals, and how to achieve excellence (found here, here, here, and here).  These videos should help students begin a strategic thought process for creating a solid business plan.  Below is a breakdown of the work we will complete this week.

Monday: B/R: 2 minutes: Take out a pencil and sheet of notebook paper.  Write your name and today's date on top of the paper.  Log onto the computer.  Open a web browser and turn your monitor off. 

From here, I will share success stories about former colleagues and business connections I had in New Jersey who were extremely successful in their own business ventures, and what they all had in common (do what you love).  I will explain the saying, “if you do what you love for a living, you’ll never work a day in your life,” and how I don’t fully agree with it.  Running a business is difficult work.  Maintaining profitability and managing competition is not easy, however if you work in an industry that you are passionate about, you will be intrinsically motivated to succeed, and it will feel less like work.

After this discussion, we will go to our Google+ page and click link for my blog entry from last Sunday.  In this entry, I outline weekly tasks and provide links to other information for creating a website.

***Disclaimer*** This project requires attention to detail and the workload may be so great that you do not finish each day’s assignment during class.  We are working on a strict timeline, so you will be required to complete any unfinished work for homework.  The fact that you are planning a business in an industry you enjoy should make any homework at least somewhat pleasant.

This week’s outline looks like this:

Monday/Tuesday

Read about starting a business here (Monday) and here (Tuesday)

Take notes on each article/blog in the same way you took notes on our videos last week.  What did you find interesting?  Jot down at least 3 “nuggets of wisdom,” either with direct quotes or your conclusions about what you read from each article.  If your conclusions about the article are that you disagree with the author, explain why you disagree.  This will help you make the right decision about writing your own business plan.

List at least 2 business ideas you would consider for your business.  Suggestions include:

·      Coffee shop

·      Photography business

·      Restaurant – extremely difficult for this assignment

·      Landscaping business

·      Sporting goods store

·      Training facility

Then find at least 1 direct competitor in Clarksville or the surrounding area.  We will begin to pick apart what makes them successful and how we can make our business better.

Wednesday

Begin class by writing a blog entry about our research from Monday/Tuesday.  Your blog entry will describe the project and serve as a breakdown of all your work so far.  This will help you gather your thoughts about the business and have a target as a direct competitor.  Your entry should include:

·      What industry/business/aspect of life are you passionate about?

·      What are the 3 nuggets of wisdom/conclusions drawn about each article read?

·      Which 2 businesses did you consider for your plan?

·      Who is the direct competitor you targeted?  Is this competitor successful?

Once finished, you will write down strengths and weaknesses of this direct competitor.  Be specific in your analysis.  List at least 5 specific strengths and 3 specific weaknesses of that competitor.  This will help you build a vision of your own business.

Thursday

Today the focus is on creating a vision for our business.  Answer each of these questions as thoroughly as possible.

What will your business look like? 

Where is your business located? 

What do your customers want from your business?  How can you satisfy them as much as possible? 

How does your business differ from your competitor? 

Is your product/service cheap or expensive?  Why? 

How do you plan to get customers in the door and keep them coming back?

Friday

Do some research about the 5 Ps of marketing.  Refer to this article (which describes 7 Ps) along with the rubric I’ve shared on my Public_Faculty folder, which details 5 Ps.  Use your answers to yesterday’s questions about your specific vision for your business and the explanation of the 5 Ps to break down:

1.     Product (or service)

2.     Price

3.     Place

4.     Promotion

5.     People

In today’s blog entry, you will type a description of each of these aspects of your business.  Once complete, you will have a rough draft for the first piece of your business plan! 

In addition to this, we also need to pay our salaries, complete a weekly newsletter, sell merchandise, decorate our display board, and get our promotional email out to potential clients.  Again, this requires you to manage your time and do more with the same amount of time that had previously been allotted to you during a school week.  Have a great one!  See you tomorrow.

Back to Business

Happy New Year!  On Tuesday, we begin our second semester of VE.  While we’ve certainly accomplished a lot our first five months of school, there is plenty of work ahead.  In addition to operating our business, raising funds for next year, and preparing for our Mock Interview Competition on April 9, we will also have to write an individual business plan.  Writing your individual business plan is your first major project this semester, and will be completed in conjunction with our normal business activity (sales, promotions, weekly newsletter, bulletin board, payroll). 

As you can see, there is a lot to do.  You may be asking yourself, “How will we complete all of this work?”  It’s a fair question, and I have a great answer for you.  This week (Tuesday through Friday), we will watch four different videos about how to create measurable, attainable goals that raise your standards in school/business.  Hopefully these videos inspire you to raise the bar in your life outside of school as well.  As you watch these videos, I will stop periodically (every 2 minutes or so) and we will discuss some of the important points you learned during that time.  In addition to our discussion, it is your responsibility to take notes on what you found to be most significant/profound/useful to you.  I call these “nuggets of wisdom,” and you are responsible for at least three nuggets of wisdom per two-minute segment. 

By Friday, you will have a list of 60 nuggets of wisdom, which will be your guide to increasing your productivity.  There’s only so much time in the day/week, so you will need to be able to do more as you progress through the year.  Additionally, these videos will help you begin a strategic thought process for creating a solid business plan.  You will have an easy homework assignment on Friday after we finish the last video.  You will complete the homework assignment in an email over the weekend.

The videos will be shown in the following order:

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

Video 4

Feel free to check them out in advance and watch them even after we finish this week’s work.  Each time you watch them, you are likely to glean new “nuggets of wisdom.”  

The operational tasks we need to complete are as follows:

Weekly Newsletter – HR

Bulletin Board – Admin and CEO

Item of the week + website update to highlight item of the week – IT/Sales

Promotional Flyer for Item of the week – Sales

Payroll, utilities, procurement of inventory, journal updates – Accounting/Finance

Have a great week!  I’ll see you Tuesday.