Mapping Out the Business Plan
This week has brought so many memories. Back when I was still doing my BA, be had a similar unit where we had to create a business and of course write down a full business plan. The difference was that it was a group assignment, and we really went all out. We even went to an estate agent. A lot of work, but a lot of laughs too.
Anyways, fast forward to today, I am currently halfway through my research and started drafting the business plan for this week. I am not exactly business-minded, so the business jargon does not come exactly naturally. In addition, I find it easier to concentrate when I write everything by hand. I started this exercise by looking for some resources online. I came across a two-part article published by AIGA were it breaks down different sections of a typical business plan. I found this article handy because of the detailed explanation and also because it is aimed for design businesses, as opposed to other articles where they are more generic. You can read the article here (part one) and here (part two).
I also looked at the work I did for the previous workshop challenges for this module. Turns out that it was indeed a good idea to link each task together. And as I already mentioned, business jargon does not really come naturally to me, and not that fond of typing unless I know exactly what I am writing about, I thought I would go the usual way. I would write it down in my notebook, bit by bit in simple English, using a new pack of felt-tip pens that I just bought, and I absolutely had to try. So far, the “business plan” looks like this…
As part of this ‘mapping’, I thought of doing a S.W.O.T. analysis – an exercise where you think of and write down the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a potential or existing business. Definitely helped in covering a couple of sections in the actual plan. I still need to cover the financial side of things and elaborate for on the client and competitors’ profile, however I was thinking of typing in what I have got so far, otherwise I will get lost in my notes, turning the business plan into a business ‘jig-saw puzzle’. As far as expenses go I think I am more or less covered. What I need to focus more I think it to put myself on the map as a freelance graphic designer, particularly for my target market.
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The Challenge Behind the Workshop Challenge – How I went about Putting Together the Business Plan – Lindsay Aquilina – Graphic Designer
[…] sections of the Business Plan. I have a previous post regarding my work-in-progress (check it out here), but that part of the research covered mostly the core of my business. When it came to looking at […]