Week 6 Post Prompt - Introductory Paragraph

Here is an initial stab at an introductory paragraph for my business plan. I've incorporated a few suggestions from the 2/17 MOO session. Let me know what you all think and, please, suggest changes.

The nature of our struggling economy means that more and more individuals are starting side businesses, working out of their homes or out of mobile offices. Consequently, many of the support services provided internally by larger businesses and corporations are lacking in these new, smaller, leaner enterprises. These services include, but are not limited to:
• graphic design,
• pre-press and print services
• copying
• electronic communication & faxing
• business signage and graphics
• specialty promotional items
• packing & shipping
• P.O. boxes
• Meeting space
Our business concept addresses the needs of home-based, mobile and small businesses by combining many of these missing support services in one location. Each support service is equated to a module or application. These modules can be added to over time as new needs are identified - like adding ‘apps’ to a portable communications device.
Additionally, as the initial location solidifies a core collection of apps needed by the target demographic, the concept will be packaged into a franchisable enterprise and offered in new markets.

Week 5 Post Prompt - Map to the Future

If the business plan is a roadmap for planning a new venture, the pro-forma cash flow is the paper it’s printed on. John Welsh published an excellent book a few years back. In his “The Entrepreneur’s Mast Planning Guide”, Welsh made this very point. The cash flow allows the business planner to forecast the success of a business under a variety of conditions. It is a crystal ball that allows you to look into the future of a proposed venture and answer the question, “what if”.

My week was spent assembling and tinkering with cash flows relative to the venture I’m seeking funds for. Download this truncated version and tinker around with it. Try changing monthly sales numbers for each month to see what it does to the long term prospects of the venture. Hopefully you’ll see the power of this tool.

Week 4 Post Prompt - Change Management

A single statement that serves to "manage change" as my primary thesis in my mission statement might be phrased along these lines:

A new business venture should be established that centralizes various communication services in a single location for small, home-based and mobile businesses, and that possesses potential for future expansion into multiple markets as a franchisable enterprise.

Problems a reader might have with this statement most likely rest in its presumption of a need for this type of business. That presumption will be met in the form of a business plan.

Week 3 Post Prompt - Presentation Methods

For this week's assignment I chose to use Microsoft Powerpoint, not because it's my favorite, but because it's easy to use in a pinch and quick to master when you're familiar with other Microsoft products. That, and it's widely supported on multiple platforms without a lot of monkeying around with plugins and downloads. I don't utilize the various whiz-bang features of PP when I'm in a hurry, though. To speed things up and get exactly what I want without having to relearn the program every time, I use screen shots that I edit in Corel Draw and Corel Photopaint, programs I know like the back of my hand. By using programs I know and exporting finished graphics as PP-ready jpg files, I save time, effort, headaches and, most importantly, get exactly what I want in the format I want it in. The moral of the story is that if you aren't a PP expert but are competent with Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop or any number of other programs, most of them offer a jpg export feature. Consequently, you can get exactly what you want without jumping through the PP hoops.

Week 2 Post Prompt - Needs Statement Draft

A draft of one of my proposal's needs statements.

Week 1 Post Prompt:

What problems do you want to work to solve? Be as descriptive and complete as possible, and perhaps relay the mission statements of the organizations you are thinking about writing on behalf of here."

This semester I am interested in writing a business plan for a new venture that will be presented to two possible investment groups. The first plan will be presented to a group of investors (A) who have already expressed interest in the venture. The second plan will be presented to an existing business (B) as a proposal for expansion.

Group A is interested in realizing a return on an investment. They will primarily look at cash flows to determine if risks are minimal and profits realastic and significant relative to other investment opportunities.

Group B is interested in expanding market share within the paradigm of an existing business culture. The goal is to present the expansion as compatible with their current enterprise while offering significant enough advantages to loosen their investment purse strings.

Welcome to Markel's 5383 Fandango Blogspot!

I am completing my last year in the MATC program at Texas Tech while also serving as Director of Support Services for a regional printing company and raising three yunguns'. I live in Bryan, Texas in the shadow of Texas A&M University where I completed undergraduate degrees in Political Science and Business.

Here's to a great semester!

Markel