Define Your Business Identity

This week, we will have a far more structured class schedule to begin class before working in your teams on your business plan AND operating the business.  This is because I would like to guide you toward being more detail-oriented than you have been.  I understand classes are only 45 minutes, however some of your plans are only scratching the surface of what you need for a quality product.  Please see below for an outline of the tasks you need to complete and resources associated with the tasks.

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 ("The world on your plate," 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.  We will break out the chart paper and markers so you can actually draw your logos for display around the room.  You will also make note of at least three tag lines your business will use on the back of your chart paper.  

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 - These are Two Separate Items

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.  We will do more with these later this week.

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: Management Function - 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: Management Plan - 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: Blog

I understand we have done a lot this week, so if you have tasks left to be completed on Friday, feel free to take care of those first.  Once you’ve completed the tasks for the week, write a blog about your work, using the following questions to guide you.   Feel free to copy these questions, bold them, and answer each below the question to make the blog easy to read.  Your blog should be at least 200 words beyond the words used in each question:

1. ·      How well have you stayed on task? 
2. ·      After thinking about the management function, especially the leadership component, how well do you think you will lead your organization to success? 
3. ·      What topics, if any, helped you with this portion of the plan? 
4. ·      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 have a great week!

Time to Market Your Company!

"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.  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.  

Tuesday:

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 Friday’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 your Google Doc, 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.

Partner Business Plans & Company Operations

This week, I'm going to go bare bones on the blog.  There will be no images or motivational quotes. Here is a breakdown of business plan teams.  Please see below:

Anaya & Dakota
Jessica &Tationna
William & Darran
Drake & Andrea
Tariq/Ka'Dondre/Skyler
Chaz/Orion/Robert
Brock/Andrew/Michelle
Shane & Taylor


Yes, I allowed the vast majority of you to work with your #1 choices.  I had a change of heart when making partners, since I was considering setting up mostly pairs, but I am confident in you guys.  In the end, I believed you will be motivated to work more efficiently with your #1 choices more than a secondary choice. Hopefully my belief in you is validated and I will get 8 great business plans.

In any event, we will use the presentations from our Google Drive VE Folder to guide us daily through creating the business plan.  In addition to creating the plan, you will also need to operate the business (scaled down) AND blog about your progress throughout the next 5 weeks.  Here's a breakdown of our tasks:

Business Operations - ALL TO BE COMPLETED MONDAY:

• Everyone make a purchase on the network first - this should take no longer than 7 minutes
• Attendance - Drake
• Payroll - Finance
• Item of the Week - Sales
• Newsletter - Admin & HR
• Sports at a glance for week of 1/9 - Check with CEO for update in basketball schedule
• Article about what makes an attractive company website
• Employee Spotlight - William P
• EVERYONE SHOULD BE WORKING BELL TO BELL IN MY ABSENCE

Business Plan Tasks:

Tuesday:
-Discuss how successful individuals thrived working in an industry on something they love

-Decide on your business - focus on something you love

-Work together to create company vision

-Create Google Doc to log your notes about your company vision (Share the doc with me)

Wednesday:
-Read this article about choosing the right industry

-Discuss how successful business people know their industry

-Analyze the industry in which you will operate

-In your Google Doc: Write a short paragraph about your industry and list at least 5 things your business will do to succeed in your industry

Thursday:

-Find at least one direct competitor and one indirect competitor

-Analyze their businesses

-In your Google Doc, break down the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor (direct and indirect - I suggest you create a table for each competitor and list strengths on the left & weaknesses on the right)

-In your Google Doc, type a short paragraph about how you will differentiate yourself or how your business will not have the same weaknesses as your competitors. Essentially, in a few sentences, explain how your business will be better than your competitors

Friday:

-Create a more clear image of your company vision by answering the following questions (feel free to number them as they are numbered below) in your Google Doc:

1. What will the outside of your business look like?
2. What will the inside of your business look like?
3. Where is your business located (use a perfect world scenario, as if you had access to the location you desire)?
4. What do your customers want from your business?  
5. How can you satisfy them as much as possible?
6. How do you differ from your competition?
7. is your product/service more affordable or more expensive than your competitor?  Why?
8. How do you get customers in the door and how do you keep them coming back?  EXPLAIN THE EXPERIENCE A CUSTOMER WILL GET FROM DOING BUSINESS WITH YOU

When finished answering these questions, you will type a 200+ word blog entry about whether you believe your business can succeed and how well you are working with your partner.  Don't forget to share the blog with me.

See you Tuesday!

Back At It - No Slowing Down

I hope you all enjoyed a fun and restful Thanksgiving break.  My family and I have had a great weekend and I look forward to getting back to school on Monday.  With only two weeks before semester exams, many tend to ease up on things and take it slow before Winter Break.  During this time, the most successful people take advantage of the laziness of others and pull ahead while others lag behind.  By working hard these next two weeks, we will continue moving Make-A-Meal to the top of the Virtual Network.

In order to achieve our goals, we will need to stimulate the economy.  One way we can do this is to spend our money instead of holding onto it (unless you have a big purchase you are saving up for).  Another way is to motivate others to buy from us.  We obviously need to drive the economy by making good purchases and allowing the stronger businesses, like us, to thrive.  That’s why our main focus (outside of operating the business) is buying from well-run businesses.

While we will still focus on pushing our sales forward (CEO and our VP of IT have worked on brokering partnerships with other businesses), we should also focus on buying.  In the real world, when you have discretionary income, you should purchase things that you want.  Given that any money you have left at the end of the year gets drained from your personal bank account anyway, once you’ve purchased everything you need, you should spend your remaining money on things that might interest you.  This drives the economy and the process of purchasing can help you build even more contacts with other businesses.

That said, each day this week, one of our objectives will be to make a purchase on the VE Network.  Below you will see from whom each purchase will be made each day:

Monday – A business you remember from the Trade Fair – please consult with those who attended the Trade Fair for assistance if needed

Tuesday – Another business you remember from the Trade Fair

Wednesday – A firm outside of Tennessee (California, NY, NJ, NC, SC, MI)

Thursday – A firm outside of the United States – There is a solution for purchasing from international firms and we will cover this on Thursday

Friday – Everyone in class decides upon a single firm from whom we will all make a purchase

Each day you make a purchase, you are to actually pay for your purchase immediately, using your own money and transferring funds by adding a payee from your bank account.  This is to be done EVEN IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE AN INVOICE.  If you have any trouble figuring out this process, please consult with someone from Accounting/Finance, as that entire department has experience using this feature in the Portal.  After you have paid for your product/service, you then must email the firm directly, thanking them for providing you with something you wanted AND encouraging them to visit our website to find products/services of ours that might interest them.  You will request that they email you directly if they have any issues finalizing a purchase on our site.  This will ensure that we close the deal on the sale and receive payment.  The result of this transaction SHOULD ensure that we receive a lot of orders on our site.

In addition to purchasing goods on the network, we have a lot of other tasks to tend to.  The most daunting task that must get done this week is handling inventory records, purchases and sales journal entries, and handling payroll properly.  Next, we also have to improve upon our weekly newsletter.  Each week, there is progress on this project, but there is still a long way for us to go.  Finally, we will need to make sure we are moving forward with the best looking website possible.  We need to make sure the site is easy to navigate, user-friendly for purchases, and has a well-functioning shopping cart that generates a follow-up email confirming details of the purchase.  This will help sales and finance stay on top of accounts receivable.

Below is a breakdown of tasks to be completed by department:

Accounting/Finance

• Consolidate sales spreadsheets from Trade Fair
• Complete funds request from Trade Fair Sales with facilitator
• Update inventory by making appropriate purchases on wholesale marketplace
• Review what we have in stock
• Deplete inventory of what was sold from Trade Fair
• Replenish inventory so that we have at least three to five of every item in stock
• Debit Merchandise Inventory for each item and credit Cash when you purchase each item
• Complete sales journal entries for each sale at Trade Fair
• Your receipts (see “Form Responses” from Trade Fair) are your source documents for each transaction - Begin with R1, R2, R3, etc.
• Debit Accounts Receivable and Credit Sales – Central Bank and Credit Sales until we receive funds
• Debit Cash and Credit Accounts Receivable – Central Bank once funds are received
• Complete Purchases Journal entries for all inventory purchased
• Accounts payable – Wholesale Marketplace is vendor
• Pay cash for inventory purchased – from firm bank account
• Complete Cash Payments Journal entry when cash has been paid out
• This should be a single cash payment entry covering all inventory purchased
• Pay employees – please make sure to take out appropriate taxes/insurance withholdings and allowances

IT/Web Design

• Add Trade Fair Bundles to website.  These bundles could easily sell if people see them on our site
• Add new products and services to website – we have discussed adding specific desserts and other items, so let’s do it
• Please make sure we have a functioning cart – If you are really at a loss for how to make it work, consult with another firm.  Unfortunately, this is not an area of expertise of mine, but Chaz excels at figuring out web design issues.
• Work with Sales to complete “Item of the Week” flyer for week of 12/6-12/10
• This flyer will be distributed 12/ to all on our mailing list

Sales

·      Please add specific desserts and appropriate bundles to our inventory spreadsheet

·      Reach out to firms from the Trade Fair and make sure they are aware of our new products

·      Work closely with IT to ensure our website AND product line are in line.  At the moment there are some discrepancies that you need to address

·      Please make sure all 4 sections of the display board are decorated and include information about our products.  This will ensure everyone knows what we have to offer

HR/Admin

• Weekly newsletter - Please include:
• An article about OUR trade fair results, positive experiences from the Trade Fair, ideas for next year’s booth - this might end up being a 2-page article
• Employee spotlight - Conduct an interview and include highlights or full questions with answers
• An article about what’s going on in business today (I’d love to hear about Black Friday and Cyber Monday as well as anything about Christmas shopping)
• Be sure to include more color and images as we had discussed previously

In addition to this, I also need two students to work the concession stand with me after school on Tuesday.  Please select three students on Monday and have all concession inventory ready for the after school rush,

Let’s keep pushing while others are taking an early break.  Our effort these next few weeks can really catapult us ahead of the rest, so let’s make the most of our time.

Midwest Trade Fair 2016

This week, we will make at least one purchase on the virtual network and complete the following departmental tasks:

HR/Admin:

• Weekly newsletter: Include articles about:
• Thanksgiving
• Sports at a glance for 11/28 – 12/2
• Trade Fair Results/Reflections

Sales:

• Please update the display board as much as possible

Finance:

• Payroll
• Sales transactions

IT:

• Consult with sales department and add wholesale marketplace items to our online menu

When I return to class on Tuesday, we will give a Trade Fair report, summarizing our sales numbers and discussing things that went well (as well as things that did not go well).  

We will then discuss ways to make next year’s Trade Fair even better.  After this, all students will write a reflection about how we can improve the process of planning and organizing the preparation process for 2017-18.

That’s it for this week.  See you Tuesday!

Finishing Touches Before the Trade Fair

This week, we will take care of all the finishing touches for our Trade Fair, in addition to tending to everyday operations of the organization.  We have a lot of work to do and only so much time left.  Every day counts, so please make sure we stay on task and pick up slack if someone else needs it.  Here’s a basic list of what needs to get done for the Trade Fair:

• Briefing on Business Plan Presentation
• Create package promotional signs (we will discuss pricing strategies in class)
• Compile list of items needed for booth (search closet to find things we already have)
• Procure items we don’t currently have for booth
• Create as many decorations as possible for booth setup
• Create accounting system (spreadsheet and/or Google Form) for tracking sales and sending receipts

CEO must designate assignments for each of the aforementioned tasks and maintain a running log of our progress on each task.  All employees must share out their progress at the end of class daily and write a reflective blog post about their expectations for this year’s trade fair.

Departmental tasks (in addition to Trade Fair Tasks) are as follows:

Newsletter:

To be completed by HR, Admin, and 1 Sales Associate

This week's installment should include articles about the following topics:

1. Productivity during Thanksgiving Week – use this article http://www.inc.com/murray-newlands/5-hot-productivity-tips-for-thanksgiving-you-need-to-know.html
2. Shared responsibility in the workplace – use this article http://www.evancarmichael.com/library/martin-haworth/Sharing-Responsibilities-in-Building-Workplace-Relationships.html
3. Sports at a glance – basketball and wrestling events for the week of 11/21 – 11/26
4. Employee Spotlight - Select an employee and spotlight him/her
5. Sales update - Write an article about our updated product list (compile list of German/Italian/Greek foods in our European section of the buffet)
6. Newsletter team will be graded on quality of each article, as well as the design and overall appeal of the newsletter according to this rubric

Display Board for Trade Fair:

This needs to be brainstormed, designed, and created this week. Work with the Booth Design Team to create flyers for the promotional packages we’ll sell at the Trade Fair.  Since every student has $15,000 to spend, we’ll discuss pricing of different package options (see below).  In addition to the package flyers, you can create other eye-catching designs (use either Publisher, PowerPoint, or Word) that can be included on the tri-fold.

Booth Design:

This works hand in hand with our Trade Fair Prep tasks, so please make sure this gets done.

Trade Fair Preparation Team:

Work with booth design team to determine materials needed for Trade Fair.  Compile a list of items, as well as an expense breakdown. Also create sales packages for customers at Trade Fair.  Team will be graded on how comprehensive the list is, as well as accuracy of cost breakdown.

Website:

Need cart (or a button that allows the customer to fill out the order and receive an invoice) updated.  Request assistance from other firms if necessary.  Also, ensure correct products are available online.  Team will be graded on completion of these tasks.

Accounting and Finance Operations:

The first thing we need to do is set up a system for tracking purchases at the Trade Fair.  Last year, we used a spreadsheet only, but other firms created a Google Form that generated a receipt for each purchase.  I would like to use both this year, so on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we’ll work on taking care of that.  

Starting Thursday, please journalize all transactions, pay all employees, and ensure our inventory is accurate and recorded properly.  Team will be graded on how accurately each entry is journalized and completion of other accounting departmental tasks.

Sales Tasks:

Please make sure this week's flyer is completed.  Determine Item of the week and have an appealing finished product.  Also, please work on emailing other firms (specific employees when possible) our flyer and please create a customer satisfaction form to be added to our website.  Have at least two and no more than four questions with multiple select options.  Team will be graded on aesthetics of flyer, number of sales of item of the week, and completion of form.

That's it for this week.  I know it's a lot to do, but you're all capable of getting it done if you work from the time class begins until class ends.  I'll see you all tomorrow!

The Stretch Run

This week will be our final two opportunities to analyze and critique our business plan presentation team as they prepare for Thursday's competition.  With that said, we need to be productive and practice our best so we can shine when the lights go on.  Remember the quote "Perfect practice makes perfect," and be prepared to look at every detail when getting ready for the event.

On Monday, Rebecca Bartlett from US Bank will visit our class to help provide guidance as we run through our presentation twice.  Please make sure to thank her and be prepared to explain to her how the competition works.  I've provided her the rubric and the PowerPoint in advance, but you will also need to catch her up on some things that may not have been addressed last week.

On Tuesday, although there is no school, I strongly suggest that the competition team gets together to practice talking through their slides as a group.  My team two years ago (who scored a 92 out of 100 on their rubric, the 2nd highest score of any team competing that year), got together for 4 hours, worked through their slides AND the questions that the judges could ask.  This helped many things, including:

• flow/continuity of presentation
• ability to focus on judges rather than the slides
• understanding of key concepts (economic environment, profitability of business, ABILITY TO SELL THEMSELVES)
• the "so what?" of each slide

I have emailed you all the list of judges questions and expect you to be comfortable answering them. PLEASE ALSO CONFIRM YOUR WARDROBE FOR THURSDAY.  I know you have committed to specific attire, but make sure everything fits and looks professional. 

Wednesday will be our last day to practice.  We will again run through the presentation at least twice (preferably three times).  Be confident, challenge yourselves to get better, and follow the rules of presenting:

1. Know your audience
2. Know your content
3. Hit your talking points

In my absence on Thursday, those who are not presenting will write a blog entry of at least 200 words predicting how you think the team will do.  Be specific with how you think the team will score on each portion of the rubric.  Use the rubric to guide your writing.  Be respectfully transparent in your writing and share your post with me (GMail).  

I'm excited for this week and know we will do well.  Let's optimize our performance by working hard in AND OUT of class so we have our best chance at making the finals!