Introduction.
In this assignment I will be setting up my own business that can be run within the local area of New Mills in Derbyshire and in the area of the school. The business I will be setting up will provide a service rather than a product. In this assignment I will be outlining the legal requirements that must be followed in order for your business to be legitimate and legal. Competition in the local area must be identified in order to compete in the local community and to ensure that the business can be as successful as possible. The legal format of the business needs to be decided upon, for example should we be a sole trader, a partnership or a limited company? I think that the legal format of my business should be a partnership, as I am practicing business in a group. This will be explained further on in my assignment. I will need to highlight why I have chosen this legal format and whether it is justified, for the business.
I will be identifying the sources of finance and help and advice that may be accessible to the business owner. I will outline how to financially manage your money successfully so that we are not missing a penny. I will be defining start up costs and running costs and what they are and what the start up costs and running costs of my business will be.
To make a profit is the reason why people set up in business so I will identify why it is important that my business must make a profit. I will be providing examples of cash flow forecasts and how they may be a weakness and showing what break-even charts are, as I will produce this information from the business that I create and run in order to write this assignment.
My business idea
Before you start a business it takes months of careful planning and negotiations before you can actually set out to do your aims and objectives. First of all I must brainstorm business ideas of what service our business may include. I must identify the aims and objectives of the business and the mission statement in order to clearly define the business plan. Below is a diagram showing the ideas that I had for my business activity:
Garden maintenance Service.
Dog walking service
Valentines day messaging service
Child minding service
Brain storm
Cleaning service
Escorting service
Home work service
Car washing service
Having considered all of my ideas and deciding that I will undertake a lot of research both primary and secondary and remembering that what I am doing must sell a product and/ or a service, I have chosen to do a Valentine Day Messaging Service. I have chosen to run my business in the couple of weeks leading up to the time of the 14th of February (Valentines Day) 2007, this gives me five months to gather myself and establish as a business.
I am going to do a valentines card messaging service where students/ pupils can pay a certain amount of money to have a card delivered to another member of the school. I will be making the cards with specific designs that make them attractive to my target market. I have chosen this plan for my business because it's a popular attraction to the youth of today, valentines for some is an important time, people feel the need to splash out on gift and cards for their loved one. I plan to also diversify to suit the needs of my customers. What I will diversify into will depend on the market research that I will conduct, in order to identify other gaps in the market and increase profitability.
I have also chosen this business because of the time scale. I don't want to be too restricted in my time, as this type of business plan needs to be planned carefully for it to be a success, also the time I have, has given me sufficient time to conduct a fully flourished market survey and to analyse the opinions of my target audience and identify the gaps in the market.
The other business ideas that I had were not as realistic they would have had to have been operated outside of the school in a market that hard to gain access to and I could have potentially lost out on certain aspects and the needs of the market. As there are approximately 700 pupils in the lower school and an estimate of 180 students in the sixth form who come every day, you have a better chance of successfully advertising your service or product because they will see it repeatedly as they walk the next scheduled lesson. The School is a good place to do business as it would be easier to conduct market research and easier for your target market to get hold of your product or use your service.
