Week 12

This week I have not had too much to do. I have posted more pictures to my social media page and my Etsy page. I have had 3 sales this week. For Week 13, I will be spending time on my final presentation/assignment. I have not run into any issues this week. Everything is going as planned.

Week 11 - Progress Report

This week I did not really do anything will my project. I did not have any sales so I spent my time working on other classes. I am doing a lot better with time management and will start working on my final assignment next week.

Week 10 - Progress of Start Up Venture

My business is going well. I finished my Online Showcase this week. I used Powerpoint. I really enjoyed this project!  This week, I took a lot of pictures of crafts that my parents have completed. I also took pictures of the tools they use to create their tasks, and some pictures of them as they were crafting. I will upload these pictures to our Facebook Page to help people to see how these crafts are made and to try and get some participation from potential customers. I have not ran into any difficulties this week and I do not foresee any difficulties coming in the future. I have created an agenda of what needs to be done and when I will complete these tasks to help me with time management and organization.

Week 9 - Progress of Start Up Venture

My business is still running well. It is basically moving at the pace that I expected. I haven’t really had any difficulties with the business, but I was having some problems with the Online Showcase Assignment. I do not have a way to record audio or video on my computer and because of Covid, I am not able to go to the library or borrow a laptop from a friend. I decided to not include audio or video and just do a Powerpoint Presentation. This is safer than borrowing equipment and potentially getting myself and others sick. I am learning that I am a procrastinator and that I need to make an up to date schedule in order to keep organized. I have not learned anything new about running a business this week.

Week 8 - Progress of Start-Up Venture

So far, my project is going very well. I am enjoying working with my mom and dad to help the world see the amazing art they are producing. Sales have been going well and I am starting to get orders already for Christmas. There is really nothing that isn’t working at this point in time, everything is going great. I have learned how important it is to make sure your business is focused on sustainability and I really enjoyed The Pitch assignment that we did a couple of weeks ago. When I first started this class in September, I had absolutely no desire to run my own business, but after spending time on this project and learning from the assignments we have done so far, I am starting to get an entrepreneurial spirit and am considering opening my own business!

Where will I get the money?

If my business starts doing well, I may need to consider potential financial sources for helping me with start-up costs. I could apply for start-up grants and subsidies. This money is not a loan; it is given to the business. Because other businesses will also be applying for these grants and subsidies, I would need a back-up plan in case I was not chosen, or in case I did not qualify for some reason. Other potential financial sources for my business would be personal investment, love money, and bank loans. I do not currently have enough money for personal investment, and I do not expect to have that change in the near future, so chances are, this financial source would not work.  Love money, is money from a family member, friend, spouse, etc. This money is usually considered as an investment into the business which is to be later paid back. The “love money” financer may also want to be involved in the company and potentially own shares. My other option would be to apply for a bank loan. Even though my business currently does not have expenses, I could use financial sources to help me purchase cameras for taking better pictures of the crafts I am selling, or I could purchase tables and other tools to help display my crafts. I could also use the money to rent booths at fairs or markets to help me sell my products in person at events and not just online.

Discussing BlueRoof's Business Operations Plan

My business is fairly simple. I will be creating a Facebook Page and an Etsy Page for selling my Father and my Mothers crafts. I will be making a small percentage of profit for each item specifically that I sell. The rest of the money will be going to my parents to cover their time and their efforts crafting. There is no specific amount of crafts that are being requested at this point. All of the tools needed for my parents to complete their crafts are already available at their home, which is where they will be doing their crafting.

This business has virtually no expenses. I will be posting pictures of the crafts that they currently have completed. I will also make sure our customers understand that they can customize orders to their specific wants/needs to make the crafts personalized. There is no licensing or permits that will be needed for this business. The only tools that will be used are a camera phone for taking pictures and then a computer for managing and organization our free marketing platforms (Facebook and Etsy). I already own both of these tools, so again, it will not be a cost to the business.

5 posts!

Local Competition

     Local competition was a challenge for me to find because it does not really apply to my business. My business will be operating online and offering sales across country or even internationally. Since my business will be selling homemade wood and fibre crafts made by my parents, I chose to research two fiber arts sellers and one wood craft seller. The two platforms that I will be using are Etsy and Facebook. Because of this, I have researched how other craft sellers are using these platforms to their advantages, and/or disadvantages. I also researched a competitor that my mother often buys from on Kijiji.

1. Debbie Loveday – Kijiji

     Because of this competitors’ choice of platform, I found it difficult to learn anything about her. I could not find information on her total sales or views. She did not have a Business Facebook Account which would definitely help raise awareness to increase her sales and customer engagement. Debbie sells hand knit items at a very low price. Her target market is customers who are looking for small orders of acrylic at a low cost. She has 8 current listings, one of them with 313 views in only 2 weeks. This is quite a large amount of view considering she has virtually no marketing. 2. KDEstudio21 – Etsy

     This competitor sells handcrafted wooden earrings using an Etsy page. This page was started in 2018 and has 4,046 sales, with a 5-star review. KDEstudio21 offers free shipping to the USA when ordering $35.00 or more. Their Etsy site was last updated on July 23, 2020.

     KDE does have a Facebook Page, although it is basically never used and hasn’t been used since September, 2018. The page only has 2 likes and 3 followers. KDEstudio needs to use Etsy and Facebook more often and attempt to increase customer engagement. I would assume that the person who crafts the items is also running their social media platform. Unfortunately, although talented in crafts, it appears they are not very confident using social media platforms.

3. Kween Bee – Etsy, Facebook, and a Person Website

     This competitor has it all. Her Facebook Page has 4695 followers and 4739 likes. She makes posts regularly and typically replies to messages within a couple of hours. She sells hand knit items as well as knitting patterns. To increase customer engagement, she asks for customers that buy her patterns to take a picture of their finished product and send it to her, she will then post it onto her Facebook Page or her website. Kween Bee has a link to her website and Etsy page on her Facebook Page.

     On Kween Bee’s website, she offers free YouTube knitting instruction and patterns with a link to purchase “ad-free” patterns on a site called “ravelry.com”. Kween Bee really is a “One-Stop-Shop” for all “yarnies” alike. She even offers links to other websites where you can buy the exact yarns that she uses so you can create identical crafts. Her pricing is “reasonable to high end” because she offers extremely high quality work. Her Etsy page was created in 2009 and has 263 sales with a 4 ½ star review, last updated in August of 2020. ____________________________________________________________

     With my business, I will only be using Facebook and Esty. My parents, who are the ones who create the items that I will be selling, do not want to be managing too many platforms when I pass the company on to them once this semester has been completed. This discussion has provided me with some very useful information on how to use these platforms to my advantage and I look forward to getting started.

Perception Gaps - My First Job Interview

     My “Art of Human Communication” Gen-Ed class was asked to provide a blog explaining what a Perception Gap is and to include an example of a personal experience with ideas of how to improve the communication impact of this situation. Here is my blog,

     Google states that “A “perception gap” occurs when the intention you set forth and communicate is misunderstood by your audience.” You may communicate verbally or non-verbally. Non-verbal forms of communication may be things like your appearance, your body language, or your punctuation for things like a job interview. By understanding exactly what a perception gap is, you can learn transferrable skills which will help to prevent these gaps from occurring. It takes at least 2 parties to be able to overcome perception gaps. The party being judged needs to carefully monitor their methods of communication to ensure they are communicating the message in which they are attempting to communicate. The other party/parties needs to try and not judge through stereo-types and their past experiences, but make an active attempt to think outside the box. The easiest way to describe this point of view is to think of the saying “Do not judge a book by it’s cover”.

     An example from a situation in my life of a perception gap is the first job interview that I had as an early teenager. This interview was at grocery store for a position stocking shelves. I worked very hard to prepare myself for this interview and dressed up in a way that I thought was appropriate for the position I was applying for. Unfortunately, the first comment that the interviewer made was regarding the pair of jeans that I was wearing instead of a more appropriate pair of dress pants. The interview ended up being extremely short. Since I did not get the position, I am assuming that the interviewer thought that I was not taking the interview seriously enough, when in fact I was. If I was to re-take the interview I would definitely dress in proper business attire to help decrease the chance of a perception gap occurring. I wanted to communicate to the interviewer that I was serious about this position, but unfortunately, he judged me on my clothing instead of my employable skills. His mind had been made up before I ever even had the chance to engage in verbal communication. As I stated above, it takes at least 2 parties for a perception gap to occur, so therefor it would also take at least two parties to overcome a perception gap. The interviewer may have completed an interview in the past where a person was not dressed to his standards and then ended up providing a bad experience for the company. Just because this may have been a prior experience for the interviewer, does not mean that this will always be the experience that occurs, or that these two events were even related. This ties into my image that I have included which states “We do not see things as THEY are, we see them as WE are”.

https://www.google.com/search?q=example+of+perception+gap&oq=examples+of+perception+g&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l4.9509j0j9&client=ms-android-bell-ca-revc&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

Message Map Example for Entrepreneurship Class

Strengths and Weaknessess

Hello Everyone,

     My name is John Russell. I am a 2nd year Business Admin student. I am taking an Entrepreneurship class through Ontario Learn. The students in this class were asked to create a short blog about their strengths and weaknesses.

     I believe that my most dominant strength is my leadership skills. I have always been drawn towards leadership roles even before I actually understood that it was a strength of mine. I was captain of my Rep. soccer team growing up and often organized social gatherings and group work for school. Last semester, I took a business class (Business Community Project), where my group had to create a report on the benefits of creating a Facebook Page for non-profit organizations and include a “how-to” with step by step instructions for creating a Facebook Business Page. I ended up being asked to lead the group by my peers. We did an incredible job and our professor is now using our work as the template for future classes! I really take pride in my work and enjoy being able to help others, these are also strengths of mine. BUT, my leadership strengths also lead to weaknesses for me.

     I find it difficult to rely on other group members sometimes, which leads to me taking on more responsibility for group assignments than I should. I am taking an “Intro to Human Communication” course this semester. In this course I hope to identify and address my weaknesses. Once I have identified my weaknesses, I hope to learn communication skills that will help me to properly communicate them to my peers in a professional manner.

     Thank you for reading my blog about my strengths and weaknesses. I look forward to reading blogs written by my peers.

Regards,

JohnRussBlog 

JohnRuss Introduction Blog

Hello Everyone, This is my first time using Tumblr. I am a 2nd year Business Admin student. I look forward to working with everyone this semester. Thanks, JohnRussBlog