Nice people thread 2 - now even nicer

treliac

michaels wrote: »

We had a touch of ground frost last mon/tues and I believe this did for the bizzies.

Did we? :eek: Mine are still in fine fettle thankfully!

vivatifosi

michaels wrote: »

We had a touch of ground frost last mon/tues and I believe this did for the bizzies.

Could that be why I've had half the apples fall off my tree early?

PasturesNew

I am going completely mental here. Finally picked a product and have been on the business plan it seems forever. I've never actually seen/read a business plan before, never needed to, so there was a whole big "what the heck do I put in it" learning curve.

So far I've properly researched/sourced everything, as if it were entirely real. I have data and evidence for everything, from SSL certificates through to serviced offices, PPC campaigns, click through rates, conversion rates, cost of acquisition of the customer, lifetime value of the customer, marketing costs/channels, bulk mail services, merchant accounts, payment processing options, comparison of transaction fees and overall %age of turnover for such things. I know the market size, market location, target market and have calculated based on getting 0.005% of available business within 3 years (yes, picked that one figure out of the air in desperation). I know the precise value of my members list, based on industry stats (with sources/evidence)... I have hosting, features, benefits, comparisons.... And I have nearly 40 pages.... and it's still not done. Still got one more section to do. Also, need to find some free mindmapping software and create an entire mindmap. Done half the profit/loss etc spreadsheet. And I still need to cover the Distance Selling Regs and other legal requirements.

And even when all that's done, I still have to do an entire Powerpoint presentation from scratch. Then check I have everything, do front pages, table of contents, find out what this Harvard refererncing system is and ensure I used it. Then print it all out, bind it, package it up and hand deliver it 20 miles away tomorrow morning.

I think it's going to be a loooooong night.

I thought she said this was 2 hours' work when I asked

michaels

I guess my only comment is how many hours work is the course supposed to be and what percentage of the course is this project - it may be that you are providing an MBA style output for an undergraduate module? What you have done is probably way more than what is expected but they still can't award more than 100% of the marks?

Can you cut some corners by presenting a summary of what each section should include with a subset of details and a note that you would provide similar for the other details in real life but that doing so would not add any further to this particular assignment?

PasturesNew wrote: »

I am going completely mental here. Finally picked a product and have been on the business plan it seems forever. I've never actually seen/read a business plan before, never needed to, so there was a whole big "what the heck do I put in it" learning curve.

So far I've properly researched/sourced everything, as if it were entirely real. I have data and evidence for everything, from SSL certificates through to serviced offices, PPC campaigns, click through rates, conversion rates, cost of acquisition of the customer, lifetime value of the customer, marketing costs/channels, bulk mail services, merchant accounts, payment processing options, comparison of transaction fees and overall %age of turnover for such things. I know the market size, market location, target market and have calculated based on getting 0.005% of available business within 3 years (yes, picked that one figure out of the air in desperation). I know the precise value of my members list, based on industry stats (with sources/evidence)... I have hosting, features, benefits, comparisons.... And I have nearly 40 pages.... and it's still not done. Still got one more section to do. Also, need to find some free mindmapping software and create an entire mindmap. Done half the profit/loss etc spreadsheet. And I still need to cover the Distance Selling Regs and other legal requirements.

And even when all that's done, I still have to do an entire Powerpoint presentation from scratch. Then check I have everything, do front pages, table of contents, find out what this Harvard refererncing system is and ensure I used it. Then print it all out, bind it, package it up and hand deliver it 20 miles away tomorrow morning.

I think it's going to be a loooooong night.

I thought she said this was 2 hours' work when I asked

michaels

Things I have learned about me by posting on here.

Does anyone else find this board in particular a journey of self discovery. I used to think I was extremely right wing and I now feel I am a bit of a leftie in comparison to many. I have also discovered that my views are considerably more libertarian than many others who have a much stronger belief that some all powerful body known as 'govt' can take better decisions for individuals than the individuals themselves. Does no one else fear that this thinking leads down the road to totalitarianism of the Nazi sort?

So are others also learning about themselves and where they fit compared to their peers?

Sorry for posting on the wrong thread but I was just putting this out for a chat rather than starting a new thread that would either be ignored or become a slanging match.

silvercar

Does anyone else find this board in particualr a journey of self discovery. I used to think I was extremely right wing and I now feel I am a bit of a leftie in comparison to many. I have also discovered that my views are considerably more libertarian than many others

Totally agree. I used to think I was as dry as a desert, with a few extremely wet oasis. Now I'm all at sea with a few dry islands.

PasturesNew

I am now doubting myself. I've kept reading the question to see if I'm still meeting its objectives ... and I am wondering if "Write a business plan" really meant ALL of it, the WHOLE thing... or if it actually meant "just a bit of it, only we've written the question badly so it's ambiguous".

And there's no way to ask/check ...

It says "write a business plan.... state [stuff here]...." so I have written one, and thought the question meant I needed to ensure I included the [stuff here]. Now wondering if they actually meant JUST to do the [stuff here].

No way to ask. Nobody to ask. So have to plough on.

Just found two more sections for the BP though

PasturesNew

michaels wrote: »

I guess my only comment is how many hours work is the course supposed to be and what percentage of the course is this project - it may be that you are providing an MBA style output for an undergraduate module? What you have done is probably way more than what is expected but they still can't award more than 100% of the marks?

Can you cut some corners by presenting a summary of what each section should include with a subset of details and a note that you would provide similar for the other details in real life but that doing so would not add any further to this particular assignment?

I think you're right, but I have no way of knowing. I have no idea how many hours of work the course is supposed to be (it was what they loosely call 30 hours' guided tuition). But no idea how much time this stuff is supposed to take.

Bit late for a summary now, nearly done it all

PasturesNew

michaels wrote: »

Things I have learned about me by posting on here.

Does anyone else find this board in particualr a journey of self discovery. I used to think I was extremely right wing and I now feel I am a bit of a leftie in comparison to many. I have also discovered that my views are considerably more libertarian than many others who have a much stronger beleif that some all powerful body knwon as 'govt' can take better decisions for individuals that the indviduals themselves. Does no one else fear that this thiking leads down the road to totalitarianism of the Nazi sort?

So are others also learning about themselves and where they fit compared to their peers?

Sorry for posting on the wrong thread but I was just putting this out for a chat rather than starting a new thread that would either be ignored or become a slanging match.

I've just learnt I'm poor.



I had NO idea others had such huge incomes until I came to MSE. Maybe MSE is predominantly posh people.

PasturesNew

Random link, if anybody's interested in targetting the micro business, small business, or home business owner, this link (when the f3cker works) apparently provides the answers: http://stats.bis.gov.uk/ed/sme/smestats2008-ukspr.pdf (16pp)

It's unavailable at the moment though so I've not read it myself.... but it's on the list for a quick scan as it'd be a point for another source (.... still need to find out this Harvard layout stuff, to make sure I am complying).