Perfect Practice Makes Perfect

When I was on the baseball team at Rutgers University, we used to have inspirational quotes hanging all over the locker room.  Sadly, the only one I can remember is the above Vince Lombardi quote.  I truly believe that in order to perfect or master something, it is of the utmost importance to focus on doing every aspect of it perfectly.  If you just practice, but practice the wrong way, you'll never get closer to your goal.

With that said, this week we are going to practice the business plan presentation all 5 days of the week.  We will have a panel of guests watch us perform and ask us questions, just as we had last year.  I am confident that this year's group can score just as high or even higher than last year's team.  With a strong written business plan, this year's team will have a great shot at moving on to the State finals.

Below is a breakdown of what we will do throughout the week:

Monday through Friday:
Clear Targets: We can create a business plan presentation AND We can analyze and critique a business plan
On Monday, we will allow the presentation team to review their parts in the presentation and get ready to present.  During that time, we will complete operations AND finalize our artifacts to submit for our Trade Fair Competitions.

After about 15 minutes of prep and work time each day, we will allow the Presentation Team to read through and practice their presentations.  As the audience, we will play the role of investors and ask the Presentation Team questions we think need to be addressed.  We will also provide feedback on how the presentation looks/sounds, and work on improving as the week goes on.

Please see below for Competition and Operational responsibilities for non-Presentation Team Members:

You will all be assessed on the quality of your work as well as how well you work with one another.  Making sure your final decisions are in the best interest of the organization is of the utmost importance, so please be sure to focus on the big picture rather than individual preferences.  The better we work together, the prettier our bottom line will look at the end of the year.

Here’s a breakdown of what each group will do and who is responsible for each task:

Trade Fair Competition Artifacts:

Impact Marketing Artifact:

I would like at least one sales representative and one representative from Admin or HR to focus on this competition.  We finished in 3^rd place last year, so the bar is set high for this group.  Please refer to the rubric (linked above) and feel free to ask me if you need assistance.  MS Publisher is the best Office Suite to use to work on this.

Newsletter Artifact:

Please refer to the previous copies of newsletters I emailed you before we left for break.  I really enjoyed working on this project last year and know that this will help us with future newsletters we make throughout the year.  Since this is a weekly project HR and Admin complete, I would like these departments, along with a representative from Sales AND one from IT/Web Design to get this done. 

Please divide your work appropriately and don’t hesitate to ask me if you have any questions about what to include in your project.

Business Card Artifact:

This is a project made specifically for IT/Web Design.  The task of designing our business cards is very important.  We have never made business cards before, but I feel as if we need to have them this year.  I need two IT representatives (including VP of IT) to take this project on and make it work for us. 

Please refer to the rubric, manage your time wisely, and make this project great.  I am available for assistance as needed.

Day-to-Day Operations:

Employees who are not focusing on the business plan presentation or competition artifacts have to carry the load of maintaining our business and keeping things running smoothly.  Remember, just because we have these deadlines for the Trade Fair doesn’t mean we don’t still have a business to run.  After all, without a successful business, how can we really speak so confidently about ourselves in the business plan?  Without a strong business, what good will all these strong marketing artifacts really do to keep customers once we’ve gotten them in the door? 

That said, we need our remaining employees to complete our typical operational tasks.  Employees need to be paid, orders need to be filled, sales calls need to take place, our website needs to continue to improve, and all of our financial transactions need to be recorded.  With fewer employees, this means there will be zero downtime, so make sure you work diligently on the upkeep of our brand.  See below for a breakdown of tasks and responsibilities:

Tasks and Responsibilities:

·      Upkeep of website – IT

·      Sales Tasks (Calls, Item of the Week) – Sales and IT

·      Invoicing: Finance

o   Please check our company email, create unique invoices for each order, email invoices, and log entries into our Sales and Accounts Receivable journals

·      Maintain accurate inventory records – Sales and Finance

o   Check our wholesale marketplace to update inventory records and update each sales transaction

o   Journalize purchase of inventory in our Cash Payments Journal

·      Payroll – Finance and Bryanna

o   Keep records of who’s present and pay each employee accordingly

o   Bryanna has experience with Accounting, so she can help with this

I know this is a lot of work, but this class is handpicked specifically because you are all capable of accomplishing these tasks better than anyone else in the school.  Take pride in this and put your best effort into getting these tasks done.  When these tasks are done, you will have a lot of things to add to a personal portfolio that will help you with your college and scholarship applications. 

I’ll see you soon!