This week in Independent Study and Mentorship, I have been focused on setting up a platform for a new website for the company. With the help of my mentor, I decided to use Big Commerce or Big Cartel to set up the website as they had very good options for small businesses in terms of e-commerce. I will be able to link a payment processor to the website so that the funds go straight to the bank account I will be creating in the near future. As of now, the website will be a landing page which will show the logo of the company and everything it is about. In the future, after contacting manufactures and developing the phone case, the individual cases will be added to the website so one can purchase them. Next, I will be sketching the phone case in order to finish the request on fiverr.com. I need to do this to ensure that the designer knows exactly what I am looking for. I want the designer to perfect the phone case and make it to the highest quality possible. The most important thing for the business at this stage is to make sure that people are satisfied with the case. Without this, less people would be attracted and the company would not end up growing as much.
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This week in Independent Study and Mentorship, I have completed my eleventh mentor visit with Joshua Meek. It has been a long journey so far and I have truly learned a substantial amount of information about entrepreneurship. Without his guidance, I would not be where I am today and would have been behind of the game. During my mentor visit on Friday, I learned that I needed to complete the EIN for my business and find the best credit card processors. The EIN is from the IRS and makes my business taxable; it is also required when creating a bank account for the company which I have attempted to do (was unable to get bank account due to being a minor). Secondly, I need to research about credit card processors. In order to fill pre-orders, I will need some way of getting the money from the individual to myself. Many people use credit cards so it is very important that I get a credit card processor. This will enable me to make transactions straight from my phone and will help raise capital for my company. The business is slowly but surely making progress and the final product is coming closer and closer to my reach.
This week in my Independent Study and Mentorship class, I have been dedicated towards contacting designers. My business partner and I have set deadlines on what we must finish and when we will need to have it done. In order to challenge ourselves and make sure that we finish the prototype before the final presentation for ISM, we must start working now and whenever we find free time. We have contacted a designer that we both agreed with on fiverr.com. We asked for his input on the phone case and for help with finding dimensions for the phone case. We hope that he will be able to help with this because he has past experience with designing phone cases and has knowledge in this area. It is important to take precaution so we do not end up creating a phone case that is too small or too large. Also, my business partner and I have been working on ways to show the designer exactly what we want the phone case to look like. We must create detailed sketches demonstrating how the parts of the phone case will be interchangeable as it would be hard to convey this with words. The process of creating a prototype is foreign to me and I am slowly learning more and more about it. By the end of the year, I will know how to create a company based on a new invention and will have a better understanding of how the entire process works overall.
This week in Independent Study and Mentorship class, I have completed research on what type of phone to start with for my phone case company. I looked at who owned most of the market share and what percentage of phone users for each type of phone wore cases the most. I have found out that Samsung contains most of the market share but that is spread across many different type of phones. This would not be essential for me as I would need to create a separate case and mold for each type of phone. On the other hand, iPhones also have a large portion of the market with less types of phones. Statistically, iPhone users purchase more cases for their phones than Samsung users so this would be an optimal place for me to start marketing to. In the future, I can expand to Samsung cases once enough capital is built up and the business begins to run more smoothly. I will be starting with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus as they are the latest model of the iPhone and more and more people will begin to purchase them. Determining which phone to use was a large step in moving forward as I now have a clear direction to move forward in. For the future, I must do research on what dimensions to make my phone case in order to ensure the perfect fit. This will take trial and error but after this is completed, the business will be ready to go towards the manufacturing process.
Throughout this week in Independent Study and Mentorship, I have worked towards getting a bank account for my phone case company (CaseBloks) and prepared for the upcoming original work speech. I went to the bank to go set up a small business account and was told that minors (those under the age of eighteen) were not allowed to open a business account. This is a major bump along the road as I was hoping to run all the expenses and profits through the bank account. However, there are alternatives that I can take such as running all the expenses off my personal card. Through doing so, I will be assured that the company can actually bring in profits and pay for everything that needs to be purchased. Secondly, I have worked on my original work speech this week. It has made me think in depth about my original work and what it was all about. I realized how large of an accomplishment completing a business plan was as I reflected on the effort and determination it took to finish. I truly emerged from the experience as a different person with a much better understanding of a business. In all, this week has been full of lessons and reflections on what I have done and need to improve on for the future.
This week in Independent Study and Mentorship was filled with many exciting opportunities and chances for me to show off everything I have done throughout the year so far. It was the Research Showcase where all ISM students in the district were at the Star (Cowboy's practice facility) with their boards and original works. I set up my board with my laptop showing off my business plan and my research portfolio containing everything I have done through ISM to that point. Throughout the showcase, many people came up to me and asked about my topic of study. This was a great opportunity as I was able to get first hand experience pitching my business to people I have never met before. I was being critiqued on my speech by my mentor which helped me learn what to say and what not to say. Furthermore, I was able to see what everyone else has done through the year by visiting their boards and asking about their topics of study such as finance or marketing. The research showcase has improved my speaking skills and been an outstanding experience towards my overall ISM journey. In the future, I must think to what I want to do for my final product. I am planning on creating a prototype of my phone case to give a solid representation of its actual functions to others. This will help me as I will need to know what changes to make before I begin manufacturing the case. Overall, this week presented itself with many opportunities and learning experiences.
This week in Independent Study and Mentorship class, I was working towards moving to the next step in my phone case company. I have completed all the essential things to this point which would be the business plan but now I must move towards working on getting a functional prototype of the phone case. After I am able to complete this, I can start manufacturing and selling the phone case to all my friends and family. I have created a list of people who I believe would be interested in buying the phone case. I plan to contact all these people and send them a pre-order form I have made so I can get all their information. Pre-orders are important so I can fund my business and the cost of the mold for the phone case. This will limit the need for me to put my own money in the business and is a strategy I have learned from my mentor. This strategy is called using OPM which means Other People's Money. Furthermore, I have chosen a couple 3D designers from fiverr.com that could help me design my product. I will choose the best one from the list and get working on my company. The future is looking bright with the Research Showcase just around the corner where I would also be able to gain more support for my company and explain everything I have done this year in ISM.
The next important event in my Independent Study and Mentorship class is the Research Showcase which is on January 18, 2016. For this showcase, I must create a display board that shows the most important parts of what I have learned so far and it also must include my original work. I have decided to include my business plan (will put this on computer in front of the board so people can scroll through it), topic proposal, quote, mission statement, mentor information, how to be successful in field, and the original work proposal. I will also include pictures of my logo and one visual that shows entrepreneurship. I am excited to create the display board as it will show all the important things I have done this semester and help me reflect on improvements I still need to make. After the research showcase, I will need to direct my focus towards thinking about what to do for a final product. At this point, I believe the finished company and a prototype would be a good final product that shows how much time and effort was put into completing it. Also, by the time I get a prototype, I can make final changes to the case and start production with the manufacturing team. Overall, this week entails preparations for the research showcase and final product ideas.
Throughout Christmas Break and long before that as well, I have been working on the Original Work for my Independent Study and Mentorship class. For my original work, I chose to create a business plan for a company I am starting that sells a new type of phone case. Throughout completing this, extensive research and time has gone into the process and I have learned a lot about the way a company works. I had to step out of my comfort zone and find out information by calling many professionals and asking for their input/suggestions. Through spending around a total of twenty hours producing the business plan, it shows that this was not something that could be completed in one night and took a lot of thinking. I had to consider all possible options to expand and grow the business. Also, I was challenged as I needed to know how all parts of a business works such as financials and marketing. It took a wide variety of skills and higher level thinking which has turned me into a much more intelligent individual today. I look forward to the future where I will soon be producing a prototype for the phone case.
This week in my Independent Study and Mentorship class, I have make significant progress on the business plan. I have finished the company summary, product/service description, and the market anaylsis sections. This had given me a much better grasp of where I want the company to go in the future and who my competition will be. I now feel as if I completely understand the market and feel like I will be more properly geared towards knowing the direction of the company. Through completing these sections of the business plan, I was forced to think about my product and how it would be different from the rest on the market. I also had to think about where I was going to store the product and how I would be shipping it to the customer. One thing I must still find out is how much it is going to cost me to produce the product. This will require me to make phone calls to manufacturers and acquire an estimated cost. I can then work on the financial section of the business plan and get accurate numbers. For next week, I will be working on finding someone who can make a prototype for the product and finalize the logo for the company. The business is finally heading underway and I am very excited to continue along the journey.
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