Business Plan Textbook

Before you begin work on your actual Business Plans, you are required to--as a group--research, select, purchase, and review a business plan instructional text. What follows is a reminder of this expectation from the course syllabus:

...once groups for the Business Plan Project are established through the Job Application Project, your group will be charged with the responsibility of researching, reading, and purchasing a "business plan" instructional text. You will be required to write a one to two page (250-500 word) "review" of the book which details the reasons for your choice of that book, its merits, organization, and special characteristics, as well as reasons for excluding others you considered.

So, by Thursday, February 26th, each group member will be responsible for conducting research, reading, and selecting a business plan text they think would be of benefit for this project. Then, each member will post a blog tagged 'your group name' in which you write a brief review/recommendation (150-250 words) of the text.

• Why did you like this book?
• What features were especially good?
• Why is this the one you recommend for this group (type of business, amount of detail, etc.)?
• Why is it better than some others you looked at?
• Be specific, thorough, and insightful.

Then, as a group, you will select and purchase (collectively) one text that you will use as a guide and write a 250-500 word comprehensive review of the text (see the verbiage above). This review will be posted to the course site and tagged BP Book by Tuesday, March 3rd.

Business Plan and Marketing Analysis Exercise

As a group, you will complete the following activities related to the development of your Business Plans and Market Analysis and Strategy documents:

• locate at least six business plans from your respective business idea, service, or industry (e.g. e-commerce, social networking, inline dating sites, software development, open-source development, technological support, health food industry, restaurant industry, charter services, limousine service, third-party asset management, etc.);
• thoroughly analyze each of the business plans in order to determine consistencies among them in terms of
  • content
  • sections/organization
  • design
  • resources the plans include (or draw upon)
  • the types of rhetorical appeals the plans make to connect with its audience (ethos, logos, pathos)
  • how the plans convince readers that they suggest profitable investments
  • the type of visuals used (e.g. charts, graphs, tables, graphics, etc)
  • with particular attention--globally--to the market analysis/demarcation and strategy
• post your thorough analysis to your group blog, tagged 'your group name'

Ultimately, this activity is to function to 1) give you to opportunity to locate, read, and analyze business plans in your related field, 2) determine what the expectations for business plans (and market analysis/strategy) are in your business or industry , 3) work in your groups to accomplish a goal, and 4) help you refine your Group Action Plan, which is due on Thursday.

Data Representation Activity

Today's class exercise puts together several concepts from the past few weeks and the readings you were to have prepared for today.  In your BP Groups, you will:

• Find relevant data on your market/industry from the databases introduced in class (links to the PowerPoint resources here)--or, select some relevant data from the sources your group has alread found.

• Create two representations of this data, one which you consider unethical and one which you consider ethical (Example here).

• Write a 150 word defense of each representation that explains why these representations are ethical or unethical? Refer to (use) two specific quotes from the article you read for today in creating your defense.Consider the guiding questions for Visual Ethics on pages 102 and 103 of the article related to
  • Content
    • Selection
    • Emphasis
    • Framing
    • Accuracy
  • Graphic Type
  • Aesthetics
  • Placement
  • Personal Values (group)
  • Community Values (society, business type, etc.)

• If you need help creating a chart in Excel, here is a Youtube video. Attach this document to a blog post, tagged Data Representation.

Resume Extravaganza

 

Rhetorical Choices Assignment

Below, please find the directions for the blog entry, Rhetorical Choices, which gives you the opportunity to explain to me why I saw and heard what I did in your pitches. This is your chance to take the power away from me in terms of grading.

Complete a blog entry that explains, justifies, or clarifies the rhetorical choices you made in your pitch. Why did you choose to present the information you did? Why did you organize it the way you did? Why did you use X as a visual aid? Why did you dress the way you did? Why did you do everything that you did in the 2 minutes you were give? You need to make clear that what we saw and heard was well-thought-out, planned, and executed as you had wanted. Essentially, I want to understand your thought process--the decisions you made.

Tag this entry Rhetorical Choices.

Skills Analysis Assignment

Assignment 1: Skills Analysis / Self Assessment Exercise

In order to create and respond to job ads (i.e. Job Application Project), and to be successful in those positions, you will need an in-depth understanding of the skills required by entrepreneurs. To aid that process, the class will create and then complete a thorough, rigorous, and realistic inventory, analysis, and assessment of vital skills, abilities, qualifications, etc. The results of this activity will prepare you to interact with the job ads and lead you to a greater sense of your strengths and weaknesses. This realization (or affirmation of your current self-perceptions) is paramount to your success in subsequent projects in the course, and—I would argue—future entrepreneurial ventures. Knowing what you want and what you are good at will, in the end, save you time, energy, and money.

The project contains two steps. First, every class member will bring in a list of 15-20 skills they feel are important for entrepreneurial success. As a class, we will narrow down those skills to a list of 20 that will influence the writing of the job ads and application materials.

Based on that list, each student will write a T-letter that demonstrates their strengths. The T-letter uses two columns, one to list a skill and one to demonstrate concretely how an applicant possesses those skills. List the skills you best embody in the left hand column and then demonstrate those skills with specific experience in the right hand column. If you cannot concretely demonstrate a skill (i.e. with institutional support), you cannot include it in your T-letter.

In the end, you will be responsible for two deliverables for Assignment1:

• A list of entrepreneurial skills posted to your blog (and two comments to other students' lists)
• A T-letter analysis (based on the skills set created by the class)

Grading for Assignment 1

• 30% - Entrepreneurial Skill List
• 70% - T Letter