Week 1 Project: Business Plan - Part I

 This assignment was to help me understand how to put together a successful business plan. This is something I have been wanting to work on for a while and this assignment helped me to better understand how to put together a successful business plan. I will use this as a rough draft for my business plan and go back and revise as I learn more.

Enjoy!


Company Description
Operations and Management

Week 1 Analysis: Vision & Scope

Vision and Scope

This activity helped me to better understand the steps I will be taking to start my own business. I enjoyed going into depth about different aspects of owning my own business. This was a great activity I enjoyed working on it.

Company Name: Mandee's Photography Studio

Mandee's Photography Studio will offer several different photography services. Such as for weddings, graduations, births, maternity, family photos, friends and much more. This company will hold a high standing name by the professional work we provide our clients with. As the owner, I will be in charge of capturing images, editing photos, and finding out what services will best fit my clients needs and budget to assure my client is happy.

My business will remain in local in the Los Angeles, California area. However, if requested we will travel up to 45 miles for a small fee and mileage paid. My clients will be local Los Angeles residents, and residents from surrounding areas such as Torrance, Long Beach, Santa Monica, Venice, Hollywood, South Gate, Whittier, etc. This business will includes myself and my husband as the owners. Our main goal is to do most of the work ourselves until we get well established and are able to hire help. One day in the near future we will have a studio to capture indoor photo shoots for our clients and this will be our main office.

The customers we target can range from anyone looking to have professional photos taken for themselves, for an event, newborn, party, wedding, birthday, etc. I will work with local newspapers and local bloggers to get my work out there to bring in more business for myself. I will also utilize social media to arise awareness of my business and work. I will work together closely with my husband for any business advice I may need for my business to assure a successful outcome. If needed we will seek outside advice from professionals.

Our goal is to have this business up and running by the end of Winter. By Spring time 2016 I hope to have a studio for capturing indoor photos and using as a home office for our photography business so we can expand offerings to our clients. After the business is open for 6 months – 1 year I feel it is vital I find a studio for my business. I will purchase a Mac computer for my studio. Other items will be needed as well for the studio such as a printer, backdrops, props, etc.

I am creating this business because I have a passion for photography and I love to capture pictures for others and myself. Photography has always been a huge part of my life, and being able to capture precious moments for others makes me happy. My clients will come to my studio to get all their photography needs because they will see the high quality of work, professionalism, and how well we work with our clients. Clients will keep returning to us for photos because they want a special moment to be captured so they can cherish it forever. I believe a bank would invest in this business because people are always hiring photographers to capture moments for them.

I will finance this business personally and off of money made from photo sessions, and selling my ItWorks products. One day I would like to have 1-3 employees depending on how the business is doing, and wat our budget can afford. I have a really good feeling about this business and I am excited to get started on this adventure.

I know this business will be successful for my husband and myself. Between the two of us we have the skills and knowledge to run a successful business and keep our customers happy and spreading the word on to others. I want this to be a family oriented business, we have children so that is something important to us and I can see it being something important to potential clients. 

Week 1 Practice: Business Structures

This is my Week 1 Practice Assignment Mind Map. The purpose of this activity was to understand the different types of businesses and to show us what we could possibly benefit most from in the future. I enjoyed this practice assignment it really showed me the difference between Corporations, Sole Proprietorship, etc.

Link to my Popplet

Week 1 Exploration: Web Designer & Serial Entrepreneur

The purpose of this activity was to show us other information on businesses that were started up by people just like us with an idea and the will to succeed. I really enjoyed these case studies they gave me some ideas of what to and what not to do with my business. 

Review for Soapbxx

I have so many ideas I would like to do with my husband to start up our own business from a photography business to Social Media handling for businesses that need help getting everything started, kept up to date, etc. After reading this case it really gave me the inspiration I needed and some good tips on having employees and being able to pay yourself as well.

I think by budgeting and making a strong business plan it will help my business to be successful without over spending, not bringing in enough to pay employees, etc. By keep everything in order and having my finances in order this will help my company to be more successful. I believe organization is an important key to someone or a business being successful.

After seeing this case study I will make some changes to my business plans I have for myself. I know by starting a business there will be many risks to take and by getting all the information I can before hand will help me to not make common start up mistakes.

Review for Cloudred

I like how he said he took a “leap of faith.” I agree moving on from working for a Cooperation for years to owning your own business is a leap of faith because you don’t know will happen a year down the road or even 10 years.

Hiring someone else to help you with work with a big client is always a risk you never know if the person will deliver or not. For myself, I like to just complete all the work myself so I know it gets done and I know it is done the way I like it and if anything bad comes of it I only have myself to blame.

I don’t think I would alter too much from reading this case study. To be honest it didn’t have as much information as the first case study for Soapbxx.

MCBS Blog Post

When I took Graphic Design and Communications we were learning how to work with Photoshop which was something I had little experience in at the time. I enjoyed working with this piece and using the different tools available within Photoshop. I created this banner to fit a Facebook cover photo for a business my husband and I run together. I am adding this piece to my portfolio because it is something I use to promote my business and can benefit my future business. I changed the font and decided to go with Noteworthy and a different font to make the name of the business stand out. I changed the coloring and text from when I first created it. I don't remember the feedback because we took the class a while ago. I chose this piece to be added to my portfolio because this is something I would like to use to promote my business. I am seeking a 1 Star Rating for my project.

MCBS Portfolio Submission.

I would like to submit this project for a 1 star rating to my MCBS Portfolio. I created this a few months ago in Professional Communication and Presentation. I feel this piece should be added to my Portfolio because it helps an employer get to know me and my qualifications in a short amount of time. I created this project with Keynote and searched for different pictures online to add to my presentation as well as some of my own personal photos. I got really good feedback on this assignment from my instructor and my peers I haven't made any changes to the project because I didn't have any suggestions and I felt happy with the outcome of the project. Please share any feedback that could be helpful to making my Professional Persona Presentation better.

Link to my Slide Share presentation.

Controversy and Conflict Surrounding Brand Journalism

Over the past several years, the way our news has been brought to us has changed tremendously with the rapid growth of technology. The art of storytelling has become more popular. With this happening it has given people increased access to digitally publish their stories to the web (i.e. websites, blogs, email, mobile, social media, etc.) without having to worry about the traditional journalistic publication process. With the widespread use of social media networks, mobile devices and other content creation tools by the public and media creation agencies, there has been a dramatic decline in traditional journalism today.

 In a report by Alex T. Williams (2014) on Pew Research Center he states, “Over this 10-year stretch, the number of reporters decreased from 52,550 to 43,630, a 17% loss according to the BLS data. In contrast, the number of public relations specialists during this time frame grew by 22%, from 166,210 to 202,530.” (Para. 6)

Journalists positions are slowly fading away causing some to seek new employment opportunities within the media industry.

Brand Journalism vs. Traditional Journalism

The job of a brand journalist is to persuade the audience to make a decision that benefits the company. Brand journalism is used by any organization that has contact with the public that could include restaurants, school, government agency, etc. These stories can be told in video, audio, text to print or post online, and photographs and be distributed over social media networks, blogs, websites, etc.

Journalists’ goals are to satisfy the reader, but being a brand journalist you must satisfy the reader, editor, and brand organization (i.e. non-profit, government agency, charity, etc.) you’re working for.

“Brand journalism is journalism produced on behalf of a brand, but it’s not used just by brand. It can be used by any kind of organization, or for any cause.” (Bull,2013, para. 1)

Traditional journalism has a variety of jobs from reporters, sub-editors, photojournalists, the editor, news editor, feature writers, and specialist writers. Their jobs consist of gathering information and reporting it in written or spoken form, finding stories that fits the needs of their company, and writing columns for their newspaper or magazine to name a few. Journalists must tell the truth in their writings and keep the opinion making to their readers.

Traditional journalists are people you see on the news channels or that you read a story from online or in a newspaper. Their stories can vary from breaking news, politics, or agriculture. The traditional journalist has a very important job in the eyes of many because with out them we wouldn’t hear about stories that don’t make it around the world.

The Media Industry

The change in online media has presented challenges for the traditional style of marketing techniques by organizations still using old age media techniques. (i.e. magazines, journals, banner ads, and print newspapers) Information sharing will never be the same for “old school” journalists. Some of the changes being sought include the shutting down and consolidation of print media outlets throughout the country.

Are traditional journalists doomed? The drop in subscribers means lost revenue for companies, which causes layoffs and reductions in the quality and quantity of news reporting, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center report. (2013, Pew Research Center) These changes in how we receive our news today is winning over the people by millions.

Content Marketing

“Not only is the adoption of content marketing on the rise (93 percent of marketers use content marketing this year compared to 91 percent last year), but 42 percent of B2B marketers consider themselves effective at content marketing, up from 36 percent last year.”(2013, Pulizzi, para. 5)

The use of social media has increased enormously over the years. Businesses today are spreading their content widely over at least 6 social media platforms, making their content to be widely spread throughout the Internet. The purpose of content marketing is to attract and retain customers by consistently creating and curating relevant content with the intentions of enhancing consumer behavior.

Content marketing is communication with your customers and prospects without selling. Instead of pitching the product or service you’re delivering information that makes your buyer more intelligent.

Journalism and Marketing

The two terms journalism (e.g. editorial work) and brand journalism (e.g. content marketing) have provoked controversy within the media industry. “Journalists focus on storytelling, fact checking, and style; marketers care far less about Oxford commas than reaching their business goals. Journalists tend to be realists; marketers tend to be aspirational.” (2014, Burg)

Marketers typically have a direct point they want to make to deliver within their audience. Whereas when it comes from a journalist the delivery of that message changes. As a journalist working with marketers it’s important that the two are on the same page when it comes to the big picture. Ken Kaplan states, “The reporter would take his pencil out and add arrows and start moving things,” Kaplan says. “As much as he ripped what I wrote apart, he took a few minutes, and we’d get on the same page.That’s the kind of stuff we want to help our marketers do.” (2014, Burg)

Digital Tools for Content Marketing Initiatives

Concerns have raised debate throughout the media industry; companies have now developed and implemented digital solutions to mitigate such concerns of brand journalisms’ transparency issues, brand credibility and integrity. Brief lists of some of the content marketing digital tools out there are; BrandVoice, OutBrain, Skyword, and Curata to name a few of the well-known digital tools available. Tools like these enable marketers and brand journalists to curate relevant and the highest quality content as part of a successful content marketing strategy.

Although, these tools are all created by various companies and designed with different features they’re all content marketing solutions meant for storytelling and marketing.